The absolute biggest improvement between the 3400 and 3500 intake plenum is this: No silly thin-wall casting features where the intake bolts fasten to the lower intake...it's common, even in shops, to crack the casting on the intake manifold, requiring a new one to be sourced. The 3500 doesn't have that problem because the design has better than 1" of metal for the bolts to clamp down on. Good vid, thumbs way up.
That's crazy. It's funny though, I still think there are more benefits with the 3400 heads. The rocker studs being bigger and larger water jacket make it so much nicer for us here in Vegas where the entirety of the summer average temps are over 110!
Gasket: Does the 3.5 have the same problem as the 3.4 where the gasket on the passenger side of the engine will fail and cause one to loose all of the coolant?
The coolant leak on the 3.5L comes from coolant crossover gasket, and the transmission coolant fittings. All cheap fixes and from what I've hear the new crossover gaskets has been improved.
@@KMaffittGAGT and thanks for your service to us car guys. I have a 3.5 and I believe that 3.5 intake manifold is responsible for the mid range torque but I may/may not be wrong.
Is there any way to upgrade just the throttle body to the 65mm from the lx5 without changing the other stuff? If it is possible, would there even be any difference? If not possible, would just changing the UIM to the 3.5 yield any results in performance? If I did just change the UIM would I have to change anything else (the only reason I would change it is to get the 65mm throttle body). The reason I ask is that I really like the look of the "3400 SFI" under the hood.
So you'll need an adapter plate either way for the 65mm the (lx5) check out my other video on beginner mods. A throttle body is one of them. You'll need to port the opening of the 3.4 manifold to really make it worth it. The difference nwill be a slightly more snappy throttle. Maybe an extra mpg. That's about it.
@@KMaffittGAGT does porting involve a some time with a file or is it more involved? Also would it be something I could do with it on the car (don't know if getting metal shavings in the intake would be bad)? Removing it wouldn't be an issue but if I don't have to, I would prefer not too. Also in the beginner mods video you mention the TCE intake and I found one for sale for $250, is this one a direct bolt on, as in no port required? Or would I still have to port the manifold? I plan on pairing this with a tuned pcm from wot-tech or milzy, however I would like to do this first so I notice a bigger difference after the pcm upgrade. Thanks for the help btw, you are one of the only currently active sources I have found on the internet for modding support. I subscribed to the channel, keep up the good content!!
@@engineerisengihere44 so tce went out a long time ago. The source you found is probably milzy, which has been very hit and miss (more the latter) of getting parts from. Wot tech has been the go to and has had been a world of help. The tce is a bolt on if you get a hold of one. Or, grab a lx5 kit from wot tech for $150 for the same effect. For porting, wot tech even offers that as well. But the manifold needs to come off and you'll need a Dremel or something similar to grind it open basically. (Take the new adapter and color in with a black marker what the over lap is.) Tune will be the biggest noticeable gain, with or without doing those other mods.
That requires a trigger for the crank sensor. On the crank it has a different number of teeth for the ignition coils. It won't run without it. Sadly no one produces it anymore. When my 3.5 blew up I was gonna have to go back to a 3.4 until someone in the community hooked me up with one they had laying around.
Sorry but lots of questions can you use 35 heads the rest 34 and can you use 34 rockers on the 35 I've been rebuilding my engine and one of my 34 heads is warped but the 35 are alot cheaper to get and I want to do a full swap but doing it little at a time
What are the overall pros and cons of doing this swap? I'm currently rebuilding my 3.4. I've already had my 3.4 heads redone. But if it's overall better to go with the 3.5 top end I would rather go that route.
Pretty small difference. I've yet to see flow rates to show how much better the upper intake is. I do like have the coolant sensor in the head vs in the intake. It does add steps to make a throttle body work. I've done this swap a couple times myself. By itself probably won't notice a difference. Maybe a little better fuel economy.
At this point in time there are no confirmed #s. I'm working on a way to get that data for you guys! My goal is to test a 3.4 vs a hybrid vs a full 3.5 to show if there are any gains in real time!
There are lots of variables as to what you will gain. If you are just swapping the top end stock for stock you might pick up 10hp. It's when you start tuning and adding headers then you start to make more power.
Exactly! My test would be all stock vs stock down to injectors and such. To give somewhat of a baseline. I don't see much to be gained stock. Little more air, and drops compression.
So I wanna do this to my 3.4 camaro. I wanna make it a bit simple as I don't wanna do to much fabrication work myself. Could I get away with using 3.5 heads from a chevy malibu and a 3.5 lower intake and keep everything else the same, Also how would this effect the compression ratio?
No it won't i mean it will bolt up and run but the exhaust is different. 2.8 3.1and 3.4 the bolts are lined up, on the 3.5 the exhaust bolts are offset and won't line up with a 2.8 3.1 or 3.4 exhaust manifold.
So. If there's not much difference between the two.....where is it worth it to do this top swap. I'm not hatin..... not at all ...jus the opposite. Very curious about these 3.4 upgrades. Jus wanting to get as much info on these parts = this or those parts = that for improvements to be expected. I have an 04 copperhead gt I'm looking to mess with over the winter. So trying to do my research now. Ty
The top end has much better flow on the 3.5, better air distribution. Personally I do like having the coolant in the head. If you can grab parts cheap, def run the swap!
I can Def get parts cheap and easy ....buttt. not sure on all the upgrades and or changes I can make to get the most out of my copperhead gt I've heard of cam swap and a few other things. But idk which cam to get ....if u have a list......that would be awesome 👌 And. I'm in Columbus.....r u close ? Might make a trip. Would love a photo shoot or something with urs next to mine
@@curtissbennington9840 top end would set you up for success going with a cam. Just did that with the silver car. Went with the thumper which is more noise. But wot tech has a few others to choose from depending what you want out of it.
@@KMaffittGAGT awesome. ...ur thoughts on Port and polish? On the 3five heads & induction? I'm honestly getting together a motor that I can go full tilt with ....any and all mods and upgrades that can be done .....I'm doing ....;)
@@curtissbennington9840 won't hurt it! Port match/gasket match at least is a must. It'll take just about whatever you can to get power outta these things. 150 base is a rough start lol. I'm probably in the 250 range on the black car. Could be over estimating lol
For a top swap, no. I'd advise against ordering there. Wot tech offers an adapter for the throttlebody. All you'll need to do is adapt wiring for the map sensor and extended the coolant temp sensor wire.
So ive had a build of all 3 variants. 3.4, hybrid and a 3.5. If your able to locate the crank trigger to run a 3.5, you can go that route. But its just a slightly bigger bore, not much to gain. the top end is where the efficiency is!!
@@KMaffittGAGT I’m looking at building a RWD one, so I’ll need an S10 rear sump pan. I’ve read than the LX9 blocks are different and won’t fit the RWD pan.
It's been looked at as a better flowing top end. The upper really shows this! However there has not been any numbers to prove, this alone is probably a couple hp, its more of a mod to go with others!
So ive seen those two terms interchanged quite a bit over the years and even the packaging called it a micrometer! as far as the valves? what do you mean?
Just kinda looked for this vid to decode what intake to go with, and hey, I instantly recognize that engine.
The absolute biggest improvement between the 3400 and 3500 intake plenum is this: No silly thin-wall casting features where the intake bolts fasten to the lower intake...it's common, even in shops, to crack the casting on the intake manifold, requiring a new one to be sourced. The 3500 doesn't have that problem because the design has better than 1" of metal for the bolts to clamp down on. Good vid, thumbs way up.
I heard of this happening! But I've never personally dealt with it! Must have been lucky the last 10 years!!!
That's crazy. It's funny though, I still think there are more benefits with the 3400 heads. The rocker studs being bigger and larger water jacket make it so much nicer for us here in Vegas where the entirety of the summer average temps are over 110!
Definitely need to get numbers with a 3.9 intake manifold.
That's a whole different beast lol. I don't even think it would line up, not to mention adapting a TB! Trying to stick to common things people do!
Didn't know forsure. Never messed with it.
Me wanting to do this to my 3.5 with a 3.9 but I know the measurements won’t work
Gasket: Does the 3.5 have the same problem as the 3.4 where the gasket on the passenger side of the engine will fail and cause one to loose all of the coolant?
Your referring to the intake gaskets?; No different gaskets and coolant.
The coolant leak on the 3.5L comes from coolant crossover gasket, and the transmission coolant fittings. All cheap fixes and from what I've hear the new crossover gaskets has been improved.
@@KMaffittGAGT and thanks for your service to us car guys. I have a 3.5 and I believe that 3.5 intake manifold is responsible for the mid range torque but I may/may not be wrong.
Is there any way to upgrade just the throttle body to the 65mm from the lx5 without changing the other stuff? If it is possible, would there even be any difference? If not possible, would just changing the UIM to the 3.5 yield any results in performance? If I did just change the UIM would I have to change anything else (the only reason I would change it is to get the 65mm throttle body). The reason I ask is that I really like the look of the "3400 SFI" under the hood.
So you'll need an adapter plate either way for the 65mm the (lx5) check out my other video on beginner mods. A throttle body is one of them. You'll need to port the opening of the 3.4 manifold to really make it worth it. The difference nwill be a slightly more snappy throttle. Maybe an extra mpg. That's about it.
@@KMaffittGAGT does porting involve a some time with a file or is it more involved? Also would it be something I could do with it on the car (don't know if getting metal shavings in the intake would be bad)? Removing it wouldn't be an issue but if I don't have to, I would prefer not too. Also in the beginner mods video you mention the TCE intake and I found one for sale for $250, is this one a direct bolt on, as in no port required? Or would I still have to port the manifold? I plan on pairing this with a tuned pcm from wot-tech or milzy, however I would like to do this first so I notice a bigger difference after the pcm upgrade. Thanks for the help btw, you are one of the only currently active sources I have found on the internet for modding support. I subscribed to the channel, keep up the good content!!
@@engineerisengihere44 so tce went out a long time ago. The source you found is probably milzy, which has been very hit and miss (more the latter) of getting parts from. Wot tech has been the go to and has had been a world of help. The tce is a bolt on if you get a hold of one. Or, grab a lx5 kit from wot tech for $150 for the same effect. For porting, wot tech even offers that as well. But the manifold needs to come off and you'll need a Dremel or something similar to grind it open basically. (Take the new adapter and color in with a black marker what the over lap is.) Tune will be the biggest noticeable gain, with or without doing those other mods.
Can I just swap the complete engine from 3.5 to a 3.4?
That requires a trigger for the crank sensor. On the crank it has a different number of teeth for the ignition coils. It won't run without it. Sadly no one produces it anymore. When my 3.5 blew up I was gonna have to go back to a 3.4 until someone in the community hooked me up with one they had laying around.
Sorry but lots of questions can you use 35 heads the rest 34 and can you use 34 rockers on the 35 I've been rebuilding my engine and one of my 34 heads is warped but the 35 are alot cheaper to get and I want to do a full swap but doing it little at a time
So the 3.5 heads, hardware and lower manifold have to stay together. The upper is interchangeable.
What are the overall pros and cons of doing this swap? I'm currently rebuilding my 3.4. I've already had my 3.4 heads redone. But if it's overall better to go with the 3.5 top end I would rather go that route.
Pretty small difference. I've yet to see flow rates to show how much better the upper intake is. I do like have the coolant sensor in the head vs in the intake. It does add steps to make a throttle body work. I've done this swap a couple times myself. By itself probably won't notice a difference. Maybe a little better fuel economy.
@@KMaffittGAGT do I have to change to the 3.5 heads in order to use the 3.5 intake?
@@ericrainey3893 the lower one yes. You can just drop the upper on the 3.4 lower if you wanted. Port match the lower manifold to it.
What's the horsepower gain from the swap and can you feel the difference??
At this point in time there are no confirmed #s. I'm working on a way to get that data for you guys! My goal is to test a 3.4 vs a hybrid vs a full 3.5 to show if there are any gains in real time!
There are lots of variables as to what you will gain. If you are just swapping the top end stock for stock you might pick up 10hp. It's when you start tuning and adding headers then you start to make more power.
Exactly! My test would be all stock vs stock down to injectors and such. To give somewhat of a baseline. I don't see much to be gained stock. Little more air, and drops compression.
So I wanna do this to my 3.4 camaro. I wanna make it a bit simple as I don't wanna do to much fabrication work myself. Could I get away with using 3.5 heads from a chevy malibu and a 3.5 lower intake and keep everything else the same, Also how would this effect the compression ratio?
So that 3.4 has quite a few differences and I don't have much knowledge on them so I can say for sure if you can or not
No it won't i mean it will bolt up and run but the exhaust is different. 2.8 3.1and 3.4 the bolts are lined up, on the 3.5 the exhaust bolts are offset and won't line up with a 2.8 3.1 or 3.4 exhaust manifold.
@@ADHDcisGinger the 3.5 lx9 exhaust studs are like the 3.1 and 3.4 I run headers from a 3.4 on a 3.5
So. If there's not much difference between the two.....where is it worth it to do this top swap. I'm not hatin..... not at all ...jus the opposite. Very curious about these 3.4 upgrades. Jus wanting to get as much info on these parts = this or those parts = that for improvements to be expected. I have an 04 copperhead gt I'm looking to mess with over the winter. So trying to do my research now. Ty
The top end has much better flow on the 3.5, better air distribution. Personally I do like having the coolant in the head. If you can grab parts cheap, def run the swap!
I can Def get parts cheap and easy ....buttt. not sure on all the upgrades and or changes I can make to get the most out of my copperhead gt
I've heard of cam swap and a few other things. But idk which cam to get ....if u have a list......that would be awesome 👌
And. I'm in Columbus.....r u close ?
Might make a trip. Would love a photo shoot or something with urs next to mine
@@curtissbennington9840 top end would set you up for success going with a cam. Just did that with the silver car. Went with the thumper which is more noise. But wot tech has a few others to choose from depending what you want out of it.
@@KMaffittGAGT awesome. ...ur thoughts on Port and polish? On the 3five heads & induction? I'm honestly getting together a motor that I can go full tilt with ....any and all mods and upgrades that can be done .....I'm doing ....;)
@@curtissbennington9840 won't hurt it! Port match/gasket match at least is a must. It'll take just about whatever you can to get power outta these things. 150 base is a rough start lol. I'm probably in the 250 range on the black car. Could be over estimating lol
Can I use 3.5 head gasket on a 3.4 with 3.4 heads???
No. Different bore!
Do I need to buy the miltzymotorsport 3.5 swap kit or anything from it?
For a top swap, no. I'd advise against ordering there. Wot tech offers an adapter for the throttlebody. All you'll need to do is adapt wiring for the map sensor and extended the coolant temp sensor wire.
Do you need the new fuel rail off a 35
Retain the 3.4 fuel rail
Why not just use the 3.5?
So ive had a build of all 3 variants. 3.4, hybrid and a 3.5. If your able to locate the crank trigger to run a 3.5, you can go that route. But its just a slightly bigger bore, not much to gain. the top end is where the efficiency is!!
@@KMaffittGAGT I’m looking at building a RWD one, so I’ll need an S10 rear sump pan. I’ve read than the LX9 blocks are different and won’t fit the RWD pan.
@@AndySomogyi iirc I've seen a couple lx9 in rwd format.
Why would you want to do this?? Dyno numbers?
It's been looked at as a better flowing top end. The upper really shows this! However there has not been any numbers to prove, this alone is probably a couple hp, its more of a mod to go with others!
Did it or will it work in a g6 or something
The 3.5 parts are from a g6. So this video doesn't apply to g6, to upgrade for you is porting.
You mixed up the valve type. And the tool you have is a caliper not a micrometer
So ive seen those two terms interchanged quite a bit over the years and even the packaging called it a micrometer!
as far as the valves? what do you mean?