FAQ: Series I to Series II / Series III Engine Swap

What everyone is saying is you need to carefully inspect the wire diagram from both to be sure of the pinout of the plugs are the same.

You have possession of both cars, just unbolt the bulkhead connector and see if they are physically the same in all respects.. Well thats what I would do anyway.

All I have access to is my 98 so I can not answer from experience.

Im in the same boat here.

Im looking at a 95 Rivi with a bad motor. Havent heard back for sure on it though, but starting to look. Not sure if tis N/A or supercharged.

Its funny it looks JUST like my G/Fs rivi. same odd ball color and all.

Now in the last Rivi I took the 95 N/A rivi and dropped in a Series 3 motor, with all the Series 2 sensors, wiring, fuel and intake forward.

The car runs well now I got most of the issues sorted out. So looking to do another.

If I can pick the car up for $300 Im gonna get it this weekend or next week.

Ryan from Ohio wrote:

Im in the same boat here.

Im looking at a 95 Rivi with a bad motor. Havent heard back for sure on it though, but starting to look. Not sure if tis N/A or supercharged.

Its funny it looks JUST like my G/Fs rivi. same odd ball color and all.

Now in the last Rivi I took the 95 N/A rivi and dropped in a Series 3 motor, with all the Series 2 sensors, wiring, fuel and intake forward.

The car runs well now I got most of the issues sorted out. So looking to do another.

If I can pick the car up for $300 Im gonna get it this weekend or next week.

Just make sure it's an N/A car - the S/C car is Series I and will cause a lot of headaches to swap to a Series II or III 3800.

I have a question. I have a 1991 Rivi its done me well for the condition i purchased it in and for the amount of money i spent. I enjoy the rivi and dont want to get rid of it but i would like to make it a sleeper project. What obstacles will i have to over come should i attempt to put a series 2 3800 out of a bonneville ssei as an engine and trans swap? Unless im mistaken the trans in the two vehicles are identical that being the 4T60E

Bringing back an old thread here.

The wife's 98 has that 98 GM peeling paint issue. Where the paint doesn't stick to the primer, and flakes off in great sheets. Its starting to look pretty ghetto for a Riv.

I could paint it, but body work is out of my area of expertiese, and I could end up spending quite a bit.

The engine is great and strong, and I hadent really though about sticking it in something else untill I spotted a cheap 95 Riv for sale. The 95 won't start, but the body is immaculate, silver, and has the sweet dark gray lether interrior. They want 700$.(remember US guys, this is Canada all auto prices are 200% compared to you. even with our strong dollar, go figure.) I can't paint the 98 for that cheap.

Since I have the entire engine, drivetrain, PCM, electronics, etc.. from the 98, should I have a go at a swap? If I take everything from the 98 should it be as straightforward as swapping everything?

Maybe I'll see if I can get my hands on this car just in case. I'd love a grey interrior.

Not to peer pressure you but... DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!

Well, my '95 had the peeling paint issue too, so there are no guarantees.

I spent about $700 on a decent Maaco paint job, but I realize Canadian prices are higher.

If it were me, I'd paint the newer car if you like it. However, you mentioned body work, so if there are dents & dings, that could change the equation.

GM did so many upgrades to the Riv by 1998 - suspension, brakes, steering. I'd like to see a swap, but something tells me the paint is an easier issue to solve.

well, after some thought, I think I'm going to paint the 98. .... with some sqrivi bumpers. More expensive, but better results I think.

Both options are good - the S1-S2 swap would not be so bad since you have the entire donor car, but you'll find some mounting issues in the subframe area I think. Nothing you wouldn't be able to handle. But you'll also be happy with the '98 painted. Make sure they strip first, that OEM paint really sucks. The good news is that it's so bad it comes off really easy with a chemical paint stripper. I stripped my whole trunk lid in 30 minutes with a chemical stripper... But it needs to be sanded down to primer at minimum.

I have had a 95 rivi and ive done as much or with it so now im focusing on body and interior upgrades im planning on swapping a series II with a gen V m90 and a zzp hd trans and thoughts.

do a search for ,engine swap. everything you need to know in there.

I have but I'm having issue with no dog bones on the 95

dog bones?

If u look under the hood of any series 2 or 3 caru have these mounts the go to the radiator support they are called dog bones

not any series 2....rivs don't have dogbones

robo hes talking about the front mounts grand prixs and such have

i have owned gtps gtx's sseis monte's and so on I have had my rivi for some time and now im picking up a junked gtp and i want to pull the pcm and eengine out of it and swap it into the rivi and use my zzp hd trans do i use the same ounts as the series 1 then

Whats all do you need to do a series 2 swap into a 95 rivi? And how hard is it?

Pipes wrote:

Whats all do you need to do a series 2 swap into a 95 rivi? And how hard is it?

...depends on if the 95 had an S-Ii already, some did.

Albertj

Yeah its supercharged.

Pipes wrote:

Yeah its supercharged.

the blown 95 was an S-i, the NA a S-II.

I know you are in for a lot of work but I don't know exactly what. ..Maybe another member who's done the swap will chime in. Peace out.

I'm looking for direction on installing this 07 GTP motor in the rivi. I own a series1 95 that sounds like, well I HAVE spun a rod bearing .If there is a writeup on changing from a series 1 to series3 i havent found it. If there is anybody that has done this swap i would appreciate the help

Cross posted from your other thread: (I'm going to reccomend that you delete the other one since its in "promotional refrence section")

You are going to have to hope that billboost sees this post, as he is probally the single active person in the 3800 comunity that knows exactally whats involved. A guy called rivman did this ages ago but that swap was to a series 2. Your swap should be the same except you will have to mess with changing the drive by wire to normal cable throttle and a few other changes to the engine. I don't think rivman really documented much, at least not here, and hes since sold the car, and I believe its been demodded. The transmission will have to change too, (Needs to be the 4t65, 4t60 won't hold up well even after you adapted it in.), and there is a bit of messing with the PCM. Your advantage is that since the 95 riv is OBD1.5, you can tune it to accept the series2-3 engine and 4t65 transmission, so no messing with a PCM swap and not too much messing with the wiring harness. If you are serious about doing this swap, make a post over at http://www.bonnevillepro.com so billboost sees it, and consider carefully what the guys there say and suggest.

Merged this post to the Series II swap thread. There are some similar ideas throughout, so maybe a quick read will give you some direction. If anyone has additional info specific to a Series III swap, feel free to add.

(the Reference forum post was deleted)

Thanks Gentleman, I'll try to keep it in line,I've read the seriesll swap thread front and back not to much info on the serieslll That i have found.A few of the main questions are to do with howto hook the electronics up.As i'm familar with some of the things needed to make this swap Trans,TB... what else?... picked the 07 GTP motor up over the weekend...Pumped , checkin out the the Bonnie boys right now preciate it