3400 and 5 speed swap

[warren1995]

ok i have a 1995 z26 and it has the 3400 swap dune to it win i bout it late of 2012 and the auto is going out in it the 3400 is out of a 2000 grand am and i want to put a 5 speed in it and i have one four free out of a 1995 to 99 cavalier and all the parts to go with the 5 speed the thing is i don't know if it will work or what flywheel will fit the 3400 and what computer stuff i have to do. please help?

[MY91GT(Z)]

You use any clutch and flywheel from 3.1 flywheel and tuning not to sure, you may have to do obd2 swap also but ask heavywoody or 3x00modified on here they can let.u know a way around it

[heavywoody]

My eyes hurt from reading that.

Punctuation is your friend!

[warren1995]

thank you four the help iv been looking for a bout a february four a flywheel four it. are there any parts that i cant use from the cavalier? cuz i pulled all the parts from it four the swap

My eyes hurt from reading that.

Punctuation is your friend!

and sorry abut that

[Rettax3]

My eyes hurt from reading that.

My brain does too. Sorry. Warren1995, please, please, please proof-read your posts, just to be nice to the rest of us old-folks who remember the times before 'spell-check' and 'txting' ruined the already totally bastardized American/English language. Okay, that is out of the way.

Welcome to the site! I had (have?) a '95 Beretta too, a Z-26 with a 3400 intake dropped onto the original 3100. Despite the crappy OBD1.5, the '95s are nice cars. And swapping-out the auto for a five-speed is all good. But... Here is the bad news. The '95+ Cavaliers only came with four-cylinder engines. If your donor was a Z-24 with the 2.4 DOHC 'Twin Cam' engine or the '95 Z-24 with the 2.3 DOHC Quad, it won't even bolt up to your engine. If your five-speed came out of another sub-model Cavy with the 2.2 OHV, then yes, it should work, but is not a very strong tranny compared to the Muncie/Getrag 282 or (same thing) New Venture NVG T550. The 3400 has enough torque that it might limit the life-span of the tranny, so drive it with respect, and you'll probably be fine... The swap isn't very hard though, and it makes a world of difference in the driving experience. Have fun with the project, I am looking forward to hearing how it went for you, looking forward to seeing some pictures of the car, too!

[warren1995]

so i would be looking for a older cavalier like a 94 or older to git the 282. the donor car is a 95 cavalier so nun of those parts will work for the swap at all? any other cars that you can put down four the parts i can use? i have not puled the parts out of the car yet and i don't know what engine yet. im going to go look at it soon but i think it has a 2200 engine in it. and if it has a 5 speed that will work will there be a way to beff it up? thank you four the help i know that this is tacked about but hot much about the 95 z26's i can fined on here

[warren1995]

here is some picks of my z26 is has been in Minnesota all it life. The body has 231000 mils on and the engine and trans head 60000 in it win i bout it at 212000 miles. He put the engine and trans in at 195000 win the 3100 blue up and the engine and trans head 50000mils on them sens i bout it iv dune intact calipers intact CV shafts tune up and normal matins

[3X00-Modified]

If it's been in Minnesota all its life I would strongly suggest checking the rear axle/upper spring perch area and making sure it's not rusted through and unsafe before you go spending a bunch of time and money trying to convert it to a 5-speed.

[Rettax3]

Very nice clean looking car. Like 3X00-Modified said, check for the rust area common on these cars. There isn't really an economically feasible way to strengthen the Cavalier 2200 transmission, it just is what it is. I'm not saying it will disintegrate the first time you go WOT, in fact, I have a '97 Cavalier Z-24 with an intercooled turbo that probably isn't far off from the torque output of a 3400 (the 3400 is rated for 205 foot-pounds of torque, while the Twin Cam in my car is only rated for 155 foot-pounds, but the turbo certainly adds some, and HP output is a toss-up for who has more, but it is torque, not HP that eats transmissions), and it has been fine after a few years of driving around with this set-up.

The pedal set, master-cylinder, fluid reservoir, etc might still work okay for you, I'm not too sure of this since it is the '94 and older J-body cars (Cavalier, Sunfire, etc) that share most of their design and components with our L-body Berettas. If the parts are all free, it would certainly be worth the time to take them. If the engine is a 2200, and you decide to take the transmission, be sure to grab the axle-shafts (CV joints), as you will need those too. You will need to drill three holes in your firewall, one bigish hole for the master-cylinder to stick through, and two smaller ones for the clutch-pedal retaining bolts. If you peel back the carpet under your pedals, you should be able to find the place where you will have to drill in the sheet-metal as the inside layer is already punched-out for it, so you just need to drill through the exterior layer. I have a spare master-cylinder for the Cavy hanging in my garage next to a cylinder from a Beretta, so I will get back with you on whether or not the mounting-holes (which use the studs from the clutch-pedal mount) seem to line up right. Once you get a little further in to this, one of us can help you with which pins on the wiring into the auto-tranny's gear-selector switch need to be spliced into each other to let the car start, and which wires need to be grounded to make the ECM think it is in 'Drive' so you have the appropriate red-line (the computer will set a 4000-something RPM red-line if it thinks the auto-tranny is in neutral or park, but those are the only two gear-selections that allow electrical current to the starter solenoid, so you really have to trick it a bit).
Good luck, have fun.

[warren1995]

thank you for the info i really appreciate it i will got pull them and git back to you guy's on the parts i get and pics of me doing it if you have any more in thank you

[warren1995]

i have found a 1991 beretta indy pace car. Sadly it is junk! moter is blown body is gone but it is in tacked the 5-speed is still good and all the parts are still there and he wants $500 four it. The only thing i want to know be four i buy it is. Will the 5-speed work four my 1994 z26? plz git back to asap cuz he is going to junk it soon

[themixer]

yes that's the trans that you want! make sure to take the axles, mounts, shifter, console plate, and MOST importantly the shifter cables

[warren1995]

yes that's the trans that you want! make sure to take the axles, mounts, shifter, console plate, and MOST importantly the shifter cables

other than the (computer stuff) it shod dolt in? i wont have to do any thing with the speed o? cuz i jest stared a new job and i only drive 5minls to work and i cant have it down four more then 3 to 4 days so if there is any thing i am for gating plz let me know

[3X00-Modified]

a 95 5-speed swap if it's your first time ever will take more than 3-4 days... you need to weld mounts to the uni-body rails to even support the 282 trans, as well as swap out lower sub-frames and re-wire the harness to work with it, never mind install the pedal assemble, and mount the slave cylinder for the clutch pedal and so on.... Also you can not just swap in the computer from the 90 and wiring... that would be a nightmare and require much more work to do.

I think you still need to research this swap more to understand it's complexity in it's fullest when doing it to a OBDI.5 equipped car.

[warren1995]

ok looks like im going to do some more research on the swap and borrowing a car four a few weeks lol