Ripping out the motor
 

So my engine is already leaking coolant into the 2nd cylinder so Ive decided to take out the motor and clean it up, replace all the gaskets, ect ect. can anybody think of anything that would be good to do while i have it out of the car? Its only got 6500 miles on it so i want to keep the engine. however i am going to this junkyard in new ringgold pa this weekend were it costs 80 dollars for a 6 cylinder plus 20 to have them pull it. My alero is a 99 gls 3400. will the engine from a later model fit as well? (just in case i see a super nice one :rolleyes2: ) or did gm do some fancy crap to make them not compadable?

The engines from 2004 have the metal LIM gaskets in them FYI.

So then what other years will work between 1999 and 2004?

why would you replace your motor that only has 6500 miles on it with a motor that you might not know the mileage and/or problems of?

iam almost defiantly not going to. i was just wondering what is compatible with what.

any 3400 in a alero from 99-04, grand am 99-05, and there are many other vehicles that used the same motor.

honestly you should open the engine and take the heads off and check out your pistons and see what condition they are, and then you will know what to check and replace while you have it tore down to the block

Any 99-04 engine will work but I believe the EGR stuff is different after 99.

While its out I would get ARP head studs and port your intake mani's. Also get an OEM HG. If it's out and you have another car to drive, I would pull it apart check all clearences on the bearings and thrust washers and make sure everything is still good, also do a compression test before you tear it apart in all cylinders but your fowled one.

You could also send it out to get the head milled a bit to bump compression just so you have a little more compression to play around with.

just my .02

You need to get one from a grand am or alero, 3400s from other vehicle are not worth the work as there are many differences like mounting brackets, fuel rails, coolant lines, etc.

I found out the hard way...

Thanks for the tips everyone. I will be doing work on it this weekend so ill post some pictures of my progress

Tell me more about this junkyard.

like kwhauk said only ga or alero. 99-04 will fit with the only difference being the uim mounting location for the egr. Either way just swap your 99 uim on and you are good to go. You do not need to pull the motor to do most of what you are talking about fyi. All the way down to the headgaskets is very simple with the motor in the car.

When looking for the 3400 for my 2001 GLS, i was told by several people that i needed to use the same year as earlier and later models have slight differences to the intake piping and such. Can anyone else back this up? I waited for the exact year as mine just to be sure.

I don't know about very simple, but definitely doable.

Or just use the newer style EGR since that upper intake flows better anyways.

According to Ben, the 03+ lower flows better, stock than the 99 mani does

back from the junkyard. I was very surprised there are very few aleros there. lots of grand ams tho. heres some pics of the junkyard. this is only a very small bit of it.

Next time you're there wanna look for some 97-05 Park Avenues??? I need some parts and can't find squat in yards around here (found 1 so far that I pillaged)

Yea sure what would you be looking for? pm me because iam going back this weekend.