L31 into an '86 Regal Limited V8

[ATL Regal]

What mounts did you use on the block? Judging by the pictures on the first page you have the truck mounts. If that's the case it could be a reason the AC won't clear the hood. The pre Vortec accessory drive mounts the AC on the passenger side(same as the 307) of engine and I'm pretty sure it's at the same height as the vortec. It consists of 2 aluminum brackets very similar to what you already have but the AC and ALT are swapped. I'm not sure exactly what years have the bracket but I know my 91 and 92 chevy trucks had it, I'm fairly certain 93 had it and 94 should as well. 90 I'm not sure of. 89 had a steel bracket.

With all that said until I put my hood on I wasn't sure my ALT would clear with the truck brackets, but it did.

Cool, I'll look for these next visit to pull-a-part

 

[Doober]

To get the Vortec pump to work, all you need to do is use all the stock parts for a TBI G-Body, and simply replace the stock TBI pump with the Vortec pump.

Far as I know, the stock Vortec water pump will work with the TBI brackets, but you may have to finesse the bypass hose a little (goes to the intake from the water pump, like a BBC), not sure if it will interfere. Other than that I'm guessing you will be good to go, but you may also have get creative with the upper radiator hose, maybe try a stock Vortec piece.

 

[pencero]

^ the vortec water pump is better by miles but it's not a direct bolt-on. I couldn't get it to work out and ended up back at the stock unit from a silverado tbi motor. The mounting and bypass hoses were in inconvenient locations to maneuver without the proper shop tools around to make adjustments. The stock water pump is also much cheaper. As a matter of fact I have one here and nobody wants to buy it; you can have it for the price of shipping if you want.

 

[12gauge]

I don't mean to piggy back on your thread but I'm doing an almost identical swap soon and would like to chime in on your thread. The only difference is I'm swapping a 1998 L31 brackets and all from a Suburban into an 83 Olds Ninety-Eight B-body and I'm planning on going Carbed for simplicity. My olds currently had a 355 olds motor (350 olds bored .030) in it that is wore out and a TH400 trans with a 1996 Impala SS 8.5" rear end with disc brakes.

I was planning on using 1983 chevy caprice upper and lower SBC engine mounts from summit. (Maybe this will help the L31 AC clear?) I think a B-body may have an inch or so more hood clearance than a G-body.

I'm leaving the L31 whole except stripping it of sensors, it's fuel injection intake, distributor, and exhaust manifold.

I'll be putting on Jegs long tubes for a Caprice, a Jegs inline fuel pump with regulator and oil pressure kill switch, a Summit branded Vortec Squarebore intake with a 600CFM 4 barrel carb. and a Summit HEI distributor. I'm keeping my BOP TH400 and using a bellhousing adapter plate for Chevy to BOP.

I am interested in the information of the A/C hose re-locator block Nova Spoke of, if you have an more information on it that would be great.

And are the truck motor mounts taller than the caprice/regal/monte carlo engine mounts?

 

[Tyler]

Put a carb on it u gotta use a intake for the vortec heads and for headers use 305 and up sbc headers for the regal or cutlass and use sbc accessories like the power streering pump the water pump and the alt

 

[pencero]

The truck mounts will eat up that extra inch of hood space. Vortec is higher quality but you get what you paid for, might as well save money and spend hundreds less on a traditional head if you're not going to grab all that extra power by going efi...

 

[12gauge]

The truck mounts will eat up that extra inch of hood space. Vortec is higher quality but you get what you paid for, might as well save money and spend hundreds less on a traditional head if you're not going to grab all that extra power by going efi...

Actually carbed L31 Vortec motors make substantially more HP and Torque than the stock truck EFI does.

A stock fuel injected L31 is 255HP 330LB tq. A carbed L31 with the stock cam (L31 truck cams are identical to the 94-96 Impala SS LT1 Cam as far as the lift and duration so it's perfect for a heavy car) is around 315-330HP and 380Tq with a dual plane and long tubes. with a cam upgrade you can expect around 375-400hp and over 400lbs tq on an L31 with stock heads and long tubes. Also as stated above I'll be using a Summit brand Vortec intake.


I found these mounts at Jegs and Summit, and although they state they are for F-Bodies, the reviews say they work in G-bodys also. The space from the base to the bolt hole is 2.5" so that whould be quite a bit shorter than the Suburban truck mounts. I'm gonna buy a set. ATL Regal you should get a set of these to see if it'll let the A/C clear your hood.

http://www.jegs.com/i/OER/691/332648/10002/-1

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/oer-332648

As far as the engine I built this motor myself for a friend of mine and it only has about 20k miles on it since it was rebuilt and I had put brand new Vortec heads on it at that time. But the truck has major electrical problems and is a salvage title so I'm getting the engine for free. Also all the accessories are in perfect shape with a new A/C compressor. My Olds accessories are all shot, my A/C is still the original R12 and it's locked up, my power steering pump is toast, all of my pulleys and brackets are bent or wobbly, and the engine throws belts off monthly so I'm in dire need of a new belt system and accessories.

Also if anyone is interested here is a detailed carb swap on an L31 in a 2004 pickup truck using all the original pulleys.

http://www.gmfullsize.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145089

 

[ATL Regal]

What mounts did you use on the block? Judging by the pictures on the first page you have the truck mounts. If that's the case it could be a reason the AC won't clear the hood. The pre Vortec accessory drive mounts the AC on the passenger side(same as the 307) of engine and I'm pretty sure it's at the same height as the vortec. It consists of 2 aluminum brackets very similar to what you already have but the AC and ALT are swapped. I'm not sure exactly what years have the bracket but I know my 91 and 92 chevy trucks had it, I'm fairly certain 93 had it and 94 should as well. 90 I'm not sure of. 89 had a steel bracket.

With all that said until I put my hood on I wasn't sure my ALT would clear with the truck brackets, but it did.

Cool, I'll look for these next visit to pull-a-part

What engine for the '91-'92 year trucks? 305 or 350?

 

[ATL Regal]

To get the Vortec pump to work, all you need to do is use all the stock parts for a TBI G-Body, and simply replace the stock TBI pump with the Vortec pump.

Far as I know, the stock Vortec water pump will work with the TBI brackets, but you may have to finesse the bypass hose a little (goes to the intake from the water pump, like a BBC), not sure if it will interfere. Other than that I'm guessing you will be good to go, but you may also have get creative with the upper radiator hose, maybe try a stock Vortec piece.

^ the vortec water pump is better by miles but it's not a direct bolt-on. I couldn't get it to work out and ended up back at the stock unit from a silverado tbi motor. The mounting and bypass hoses were in inconvenient locations to maneuver without the proper shop tools around to make adjustments. The stock water pump is also much cheaper. As a matter of fact I have one here and nobody wants to buy it; you can have it for the price of shipping if you want.

Wait...... So if I use the brackets from a '91-'92 truck then my water pump won't work?

 

[ATL Regal]

Ok, I'm at Pull-A-Part now looking for a sending unit from a 4.3L V6 fuel injected gbody, anyone know what all vehicles they came on?

This is a list I got from searching Gastanks.com:
86 Bonneville
86-87 Grand Prix
85-88 Monte Carlo

I know the Bonneville is not a Gbody, but it uses the same gas tank on cars with that same engine.


I need to know what all years & models to look for the throttle body accessory brackets. Can anyone help me with that?

This is frustrating