McGavin Motorsports
3400SFI Beretta Z26
14.2 @ 97mph
The information provided on this page is more or less an informative story of what has recently happened to my car. It is not meant to be taken as a set of instructions on how to do what I did. This site stems off of my old site (I was and am still a stupid kid as the old site shows) - http://www.angelfire.com/super/ghettoretta/index.htm
Latest Update - * 2/13/04 - supercharger information has been updated.*
(previous updates are at the bottom of the page)
The Story:
October 10th, 2001, I was on my way back from the movies with my girlfriend and all was well. I raced a GTP around this huge bend on the highway and since those cars are boats I beat him pretty badly considering how bad those cars beat me in the strait aways. I couldn't have been happier with my 1994 black Beretta 3100 Z26, considering the platform it was based on. The very next day I started hearing a knocking at higher RPM's that didn't go away once the engine warmed up. The day after that, Friday, I changed my oil and found metal shavings in the oil. Many people are telling me it was the bearings, a mechanic at the dealer said a connecting rod was going. I never really did take it apart and figure that out. I stopped driving the car that day. It had just broken into six digit mileage too.
My brother-in-law works at a chevy dealer near me. One of the guys he knew there had a 3400 sitting at his house. It was a 2000 year model and it had about 18000 miles on it. That same guy listened to my engine and diagnosed it to be a connecting rod. He then offered me the 3400 for $250 and he would drop it off at my brother-in-laws place, where all the work on my car was to take place. I originally wanted to stick with the 3100 block I had, but the more I thought about it I knew I was going to bore out the cylinders once I had the money, 4 years away. So, I figure this would be the same as that, and it basically is.
One week after the 3100 started knocking I was the owner of a 3400 long block with the heads, aluminum valve covers, and lower intake manifold. The rest is how I went about getting to where I am now piece by piece.
Performance Cylinder Head Work
Exhaust Manifold / Downpipe Modifications
Putting Together The 3400 With 3100 Parts
Coolant Sensor Wiring Harness Adapter
EGR Adapter Plate
SIDE PROJECTS:
ROCKER ARMS - (not possible, idea canned)
HEADER - (not worth down time and fabrication, but others are doing it)
HOW TO DRIVE THE 4T60E TRANS (JUST SOME INFO)
Updates - This is just a log of how things are going after the install, any problems after its all said and done. Also some track times once I get them. This log begins 10/29/01 - second day of driving the car and the day that I am writing this.
11/2/01- I got the exhaust tack welded in a couple spots and re-secured on nice and tight. I blew a radiator hose off, I guess I didn't put that on tight enough. My attempts to find an extra bolt for the water pump were foiled and I HAD to go to the dealer and pay a few bucks for a single bolt. I replaced the coolant bleeder valve - $8 dealer item. The upper intake manifold for a 3400 costs $86 at the dealer discounted price.
11/10/01 - I went to the track and the junkyard today. I ran a 15.412 in the 1/4 mile and the car was running while I waited to do the run for about half an hour, so the car was very warmed up. It also had 2 brace and the front seat still in which weren't in when I ran a 15.427 with the 3100 in the car. Also the car had cooled down and had ice on the intake when I ran that with the 3100. So I figure, from experience with the 3100 doing this, I gained about .3 seconds in the 1/4 mile with this engine setup compared to the 3100. Remember I still have the 3100 intake, which has about 20% less volume per runner than the 3400 intake. Putting a 3400 intake on a 3100 would be a good upgrade I think. EGR mounting is different though.
11/13/01 - I found the bolt I just paid about $3 for at the dealer in my garage, damn it. The coolant bypass hose is leaking from it's seam, not good. Its just a slow leak but the whole thing has to be replace to stop that. I am having flanges made for the headers I am going to be making soon (fingers crossed). The flanges should be done today. I also saw a nail in my one nearly bald tire this morning, damn it again. Yesterday I started to polish the spare 3100 plenum I have. Its looking good. I plan on selling it when I'm done.
11/26/01 - I'm out of money but not projects. Casper's adjustable fuel pressure regulator (AFPR) available at www.partsforyourcar.com for $189.99 looks as if it fits the 3100 and 3400 perfectly. Also, its looking a lot like the factory 19 lb injectors for a for mustang will "bolt" right up to the 3100 to replace it's 17.6 lb injectors. There's debating about this going on at the beretta and fiero message board. The only problem is that it's all talk and no ones doing anything. I should be able to get actual results with the ford injectors in hand courtesy of Ebay and more money.
11/26/01 - I also forgot to mention that I grabbed a charred but useful fuel rail and a few injectors from a Z26 on that trip I took to the junkyard. I compared it to my spare 3400 lower intake and it lines up perfectly. Which is very good news. I'm still waiting to get the upper 3400 intake piece.
11/29/01 - I added the projects section which is basically just a bunch of stuff I'm looking into and thinking about doing.
11/30/01 - Quite a bit updated. I have had 3 more header flanges made, 4 total, along with one more for the fixture to make the headers to. Just looking at pictures of the 3400 and 3100 rear manifolds I'm seeing a difference in the part that connects to the downpipe, but not much else. Next week I should get the fixture made for the headers and pic up some tubing. I got a second job on the weekends to bring me back out of broke status to help me pay for my habit, my car.
12/22/01 - Well, the shop I work at has been slammed with work and my life has been hell the last week, so everything car related was put on hold. The flanges for the headers are going to be reworked, not sure when. I just want to make a few minor changes in the bolt patters. I've kinda scrapped the idea of a single front header for something better. I learned my lesson that there isn't much of a market for these cars and also, looking at the exhaust pieces so kindly provided to me by ErichZ26 I know that for this to work I would also have to make a single piece to replace both the front manifold and crossover pipe due to spacing issues. I am getting the upper intake piece for the 3400 next week and when I find the time I'm putting the 3400 intake on after smoothing out the inside a bit more. I also found out that the 3400 throttles are 56mm and have room left over to be bored out. It would have to be slightly more customized to work on a 3100 from a Z26, but I think it can easily be done. The shaft from a Z26 3100 can be used on the 3400 throttle and the throttle body itself needs a small chunk of it cut out from the casting too. I'm going back to school soon, 2 weeks. So there wont' be many updates or projects for a while now. Look at the 4T60E information I put up today too.
4/11/02 - Back at work... back from Daytona Beach... what a damn fine trip. I put a link to a page of pics from the trip above. I have some good ideas for the car, but I am unfortunately very short on money. How much work I do will depend on how much extra money I can make at a second job. Right now I HAVE the entire 3400 intake with gaskets. I am getting a 60mm throttle body, courtesy of myself, along with fuel injectors from a 5.0 Mustang and an adjustable FPR. All of this is the minimal of what I am going to do to the car this term. I am also polishing the the inside of the intake as much as I can on my own. I need to ask my guy at Impastato Race Engines about milling the heads or bigger valves. I need to get prices and advice from him. I've decided against the turbo because it would be crazy to do that to my daily driver with the amount of spare money I usually have at any given time. The goal this term is 14s and make the car look a little better. I've been looking into lowering springs and a friend says he can put in hood vents if I want them. Only time will tell. I gotta get a second job and make some calls first.
5/2/02 - A certain aqua Z26 Beretta also has a 3400 now. Since it is attending Berettafest 2002 and so is the McGavin Motorsportz Z26, steps are being taken to secure a victory. Parts are being overnighted from Japan right now. Nothing is for sure but no details are being released until my arrival at the fest on June 20th, my birthday. You will probably not be seeing any details accept for a picture at this site a week or two before the fest at most, maybe a picture of a timeslip.
LINKS Check out these useful links.
email me at mrmcgavinz26@aol.com for questions