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3.6l Lfx swap into 2008 impala ls with a 3.5.

30K views 85 replies 13 participants last post by  Neanderthal 
#1 ·
What do you guys think about swapping the 3.6l lfx engine and 6 speed auto trans from a 2012 impala into a 2008 ls impala with a 3.5l

I know it wouldn't be a plug and play type thing bit they couldn't have changed that much to make it that much different.

Maybe that motor being the same as the one in the new
Camaro's and Cadillacs (but front wheel drive of course) will open up the bolt on performance aftermarket? Even slight modifications but still being able to make aftermarket parts work would be great!

Then having that 6 speed instead of the shitty 4 speed trans would be nice!

If the new impalas are geared different regear my car along with it?

I really have done 0 research on this and am just posting an idea that popped into my head 5 min ago.

Im just pickin brains and bein curious. I don't plan on doing this but maybe when my car starts getting up there in the miles it would be a strong option.
 
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#2 ·
I think that with the cost, it would be wiser to just buy a 2012.
 
#4 ·
Well for one buying one brand new makes no sense the only way to buy is certified used after 2 years. That's when the cars aren't way over priced and rapidly decreasing in value.

Two I still owe $10,500 on my car loan and have a little over 4 years on my loan.

Three I'm 19 and no way I will get financed on a car that new without 50% down even with my connections. ( my score is great but history is only a year old

Four insurance for a brand new
Or even 2 years old on a upgraded and faster car will be through the roof.

Five I have alot invested in after market parts and don't have my stock ones to swap back on. Body, interior, electrical, ect. No room and too much money just sittin around.

Six I have done alot of jap and german motor swaps some very rigged and some very nice and they are never way to difficult or way over costly ($3000 max).

Basically the answer isn't always buy a new car. While it is alot easier to swap cars. It's just making the best of what you have. The rest of my car is pretty good for having 80,000miles on it and it doesn't make sense to get another car just for a motor. Esspecially when you owe more than its worth.
 
#43 ·
Thats why I don't buy a g8 or a srt8 charger or 300. I also don't want a two door. And insurance is sky high on those cars for a 19year old. Another car isn't an option it's about making the best of what I have period.


Say this new motor does go in 4 years. I would have no problem ripping it apart and rebuilding it on a weekend for a grand or so. This motor would be worth it and I wouldn't wanna kick myself for dumping money into a piece of shit 3.5l that is already being discontinued or rebuildiń this garbage 4 speed slush boxes in these cars. It would be worth it to put the time and money into it when I have a 30mpg supercharged v6 with 440hp or even a twin turbo setup. That would be a setup worth fixing and rebuilding and keeping for many years to come.

Honestly when my loan is up I'll be going and getting a Chrysler 300 srt8 or a g8 gxp. I'm a four door guy. I have always had coupes (toyota supra, grand national, camaro, monte Carlo, Lincoln mark viii) and I just like a 4 door car that is fast. Why the hell is that such a issue with Chevy. I really hope by the time I'm in the market for a new car that they have a rwd or AWD 4 door with either a v8 or a boosted v6 making at least 415hp. If they do I might be a Chevy customer again.
 
#6 ·
If you can find a wrecked 2012 impala where the front end and engine are good, you might be able to make a deal. Make sure to get PCM with engine or just drop cradle on yours and swap in cradle of new one. That would be the easy way I would think.
 
#8 ·
Haha gasoline + spray bottle = squirt squirt under the dash. But then I would run into the whole expensive insurance issue and federal prison lol

The complete motors are $2000 I don't know about the trans. ECM and tcm are probaly a couple hundred. I doubt I'm gonna get a 2012 car or front clip for under $4000
 
#86 ·
Hire one of the stars from World's Dumbest to steal a junker and run it into the rear end of your chosen, unoccupied Donor car.

Set it on fire and collect insurance.
All the mods on World's Dumbest are felons, so this could create new career opportunities.

I am still working on my Vacuum to Personal Helicopter conversion. I have hit a few snags.
I wondered what that buzzing around my head was.:dizzy:
 
#11 ·
Then I'm running into the whole Dollar per hp issue. I was planning out a remote mounted turbo set up that was only gonna run me $1200 in parts and I would do all the work myself and I stop planning it because I though there would be a better hp per dollar option being I could only push 4psi boost on stock internals.

Iv also been talking to alot of w-body performance companies about a adaptor to put the 3.8l intake manifold on a 3.5 then I could run a supercharger but it would need custom internals also to push any noticeable power.

Basically I was thinking in a year when my motor was shot this would bet golden ticket to some horsepower and a large aftermarket.
 
#13 ·
This is not going to actually happen...just saying........ not worth the time, effort, car off the road for a V6 NA to V6 NA swap....even if it is 300 hp....
 
#16 ·
Wow, apparently my engine has been dead a long time, I didn't know they only lasted 6 years! Crap, that means we have to replace almost every engine in our fleet here at work too!
 
#28 ·
Seeing how I drive 55,000miles a year at a minimum (that's just my work commute) and I bought my car with 60,000 miles on it on a 5 year loan. Also I drive the pennsylvainia to jersey commute which is stop, go, 80mph, 0mph, ect. It is a very rough 55,000 miles a year not cruising around town Also WOT passing happens alot. I do drive my car harder than most but Nj driving is some of the worst in the country. So in 2 years I'll have over 180,000 miles on my car which is alot for a Nj daily driver and is gonna be a never ending money pit with these crappy outdated underpowered motors.
 
#22 ·
I am still working on my Vacuum to Personal Helicopter conversion. I have hit a few snags.
 
#23 ·
What, like weighing more than 5lbs?
 
#25 ·
You all wont be laughing when I do a fly by on my Hoover.
 
#27 ·
Wow, I got into that one kind of late for that reply. Guess I should have read a little further... I like the idea of the flying vacuum though! Go for the Dyson and maybe the vortex motor will give you additional lift -LOL!
 
#29 ·
The 3600 LY7 (and derivative LP1) are members of General Motors' new High Feature (or HFV6) engine family of modern DOHC V6s. This new family of engines was introduced in 2004 with the Cadillac CTS. Holden sells the HFV6 under the name Alloytec. The High Feature moniker on the Holden produced engine is reserved for the twin cam phasing High output version. The block was designed to be expandable from 2.8*L to 4.0*L.

It is a 60° 24-valve design with aluminum block and heads and Sequential Electronic Fuel Injection. Most versions feature continuously variable cam phasing on both intake and exhaust valves and electronic throttle control. Other features include piston oil-jet capability, forged and fillet rolled crankshaft, sinter forged connecting rods, a variable intake manifold, twin knock control sensors and coil-on-plug ignition. It was developed by the same international team responsible for the Ecotec, including the Opel engineers responsible for the 54° V6, with involvement with design and development engineering from Ricardo, Inc.

The LFX is an enhanced version of the LLT engine. Introduced in the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro LS, it is 20.5 pounds (9.3*kg) lighter than the LLT, due to a redesigned cylinder head and integrated exhaust manifold, and composite intake manifold. Other components like the fuel injectors, intake valves, and fuel pump have also been updated. Power and torque are up slightly from the LLT. The compression ratio is 11.5:1.

The 3.6*litre (3564*cc) LLT is a direct injected version based on the earlier LY7 engine. It was first unveiled in May 2006, and the DI version was claimed to have 15*percent greater power, 8*percent greater torque, and 3*percent better fuel economy than its port-injected counterpart. The LLT engine has a compression ratio of 11.4:1, and has been certified by the SAE to produce 302 horsepower (225*kW) at 6300 rpm and 272*lb·ft (369*N·m) of torque at 5200*rpm on regular unleaded (87 octane) gasoline. This engine debuted on the 2008 Cadillac STS and CTS.[8][9] GM will use a LLT in all 2009 Lambda-derived crossover SUVs to allow class-leading fuel economy in light of the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. In the Lambdas, LLT engine produces 288 horsepower (215*kW) and 270*lb·ft (366*N·m) of torque.[10][11][12]
 
#30 ·
Rumor has it that General Motors has been tirelessly working on a pair of new twin-turbocharged V6 engines to bring about a new age of fuel economy and performance to its vehicles. As the stories go, the V6 engines are a familiar 3.0L and 3.6L in size. We’re here to report that this story is only half true. Fortunately, it’s the better half.

Contrary to other reports around the Interwebs, we have it on very good word that General Motors is not, and was not, developing a twin-turbocharged 3.0L V6 engine. Instead, all efforts are focused on the development of twin-turbocharging the popular 3.6L V6 that’s found in pretty much everything larger than a Chevy Cruze.

The goal of this engine is to offer the kind of horsepower we find in today’s 6.2L LS3 small-block V8 mill. That’s 430 horsepower, but we’ll give the window of 420-440 horsepower for the upcoming TT V6 for the sake of being*optimistic. And because of the turbos, the torque band will be much broader and more available compared to a naturally aspirated V8. And because it has two less cylinders than a V8, there will be gains in fuel economy. We say that’s a pretty good heart for something such as, say, a Cadillac ATS-V.




All in all thinking about this motor is deffinitly a huge waste of time since gm is working so hard on them and making this there next golden child motor. You guys are right...
 
#31 ·
I have 2 3.5 motors well over 180k, and 4 others damn close to it, believe me, whatever you do to your engine is probably no worse than security officers do on patrol every night, not to mention the amount of time spent idling would realistically put that figure much higher. All I'm saying is, the motor isn't going to wear out, they just keep going. Its the rest of the car that breaks.

Looking forward to this TT V6 though, its about time GM joined the rest of the world!
 
#32 ·
I'm already seeing all different kinds of oil seapage around and on the bottom of my motor. I mean most are probaly a simple bad gasket letting oils seap but it's only at 80,120miles. It's not a high compression high performance bored out stroked out motor. I shouldn't be seeing that. That just goes to show the quality parts put into this motor. Not to mention my water pump (I think) whining like a supercharger. This 3.5l motor is a joke an everyone thrashes them. They are a cheap throw away engine for a cheap throw away base model economy car.
 
#33 ·
I'm all for this swap!

He didn't ask if he should do it, he just asked if it can be done. I don't see why it couldn't be done.

It would be the easiest to find a donor vehicle, as you'll most likely need the wiring harness, axles, motor mounts, ecm, tcm, downpipe, and possibly even the subframe in addition to the engine/trans.

I would imagine it's not that hard of a swap. Since it is a factory option in these cars, no custom adaptors or brackets would need to be fabricated.
 
#34 ·
Yeah, i gave up on this thread awhile ago. It turned into flying vacuums and telling me how long my engine was going to last (as if someone who has no idea how i maintain it and how i treat it knows better than me). Advice is appreciated but not when its not requested and had nothing to do with the subject on hand.

For those of you who do care about the thread subject...

This looks to be a smart swap as of now and with time this will only prove itself. This motor being so new everything is very hush about it. But this motor will be taking on a huge role.

GM is looking to make this motor the new golden child V6 and is heavy into development with it. They are trying to duplicate what they had with the 3.4l and 3.8l. They are trying to accomplish this with the 3.0l taking the 3.4's place and the 3.6l taking the 3.8l place. This could also be said with the 3.5l/3.9l but they weren't as popular as the 3.4/3.8 and are being phased out after just 5 years.

This LFX 3.6l motor is said to be able to push 350hp with just a premium fuel tune all motor. That is without the twin turbo setup that is said to be in the works over at gm as a factory option reported in the 425hp range. You could also get a bolt on supercharger setup that includes everything down to the ecu and push 440hp on premium fuel and same mpg for $5700.

I also love the idea of a integrated exhaust manifold. Very nice for the absolute ease of turbocharging and motor swapping. Lower emissions, narrower engine size and noise reduction. With the catalytic converter closer to the engine exhaust point, the emissions reduction process begins sooner, resulting in lower emissions. The new cylinder heads decrease the overall width of the engine by 4.6 inches (117 mm) for significantly more packaging space in the engine bay making underhood work easier. Due to less surface area, the new design contributes to a 1 decibel reduction in engine noise at idle.(some of that from a article found on the internet60DegreeV6.com - 3.6L DI Heads w/Integrated Exhaust Manifolds)

The new composite intake manifold from the factory also gets me excited. Composite intakes can be a lot stronger and resist heat a lot better than any metal. That is perfect for making the most of your forced induction, keeping the intake air cooler and keeping your intake intact under positive pressure.
Just take a look at the composite lax intake for the ls1/ls6 that fast just came out with. Even has a way to vent intake pressure should a backfire happen or you push too much boost.
LSX Composite Intake Manifold - Car Craft Magazine
 
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