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Fitting an L36 HV3 into an L26

nik12937

nik12937

New member
Well, after seeing people say time and time again that an HV3 meant for an L36 could be trimmed to fit an L26, I decided a few months back to snag one off here since it seemed like a decent price. A couple days ago I started a LIM gasket job on my 05 since I got stuck with the crappy plastic ones, and replaced the lifters since a few have been sticking and getting steadily worse over the past year.

Just today I figured it would be the perfect time to trim and fit the HV3, so I got my trusty dremel, took off the tabs on the new UIM gasket, and proceeded to trim and test fit the HV3, taking only small bits at a time to ensure a snug fit.

Well, here I am, with an HV3 that's fitted as well as anyone could hope, and low and behold, the ports don't match up for ****. I have overlap on a few ports (which could be trimmed and isn't the problem), but the main thing is that there are gaps EVERYWHERE. Pictures included at the bottom. So to anyone who's fit an L36 style HV3 into an L26, did you have all these gaps?! Because even with my limited understanding of what makes good intake runners, I know sure as hell that those gaps will make me lose a TON of low end power.

Either you guys are insane and didn't care about the gaps, or the member that sold me this HV3 failed to tell me that it was warped to ****. If that's the case, thanks, you ****ing asswipe.

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I did the opposite, a l26 hv3 into a l36 and it wasnt that bad and wasnt gaps like that... I would be grabbing the correct uim if it was like that
 
The thing that confuses me is that I was pretty sure the same stock intake runners are used for both series of engines, at most a differently sized frame. But the ports would line up if that was the case.

I went ahead and bought a new HV3 actually meant for the L26. I honestly hope it warped, or else I feel bad for anyone trying to mismatch like I did. Glad to hear your swap worked out better though:P
 
I just wound up tossing it and getting one for an L26. You can mod one for an L26 into an L36 but not the other way around without having some weird fitment issues.

I've seen some people mod the stock insert for similar effect, or just leaving one out altogether.
 
I was able to successfully swap a l36 hv3 into an l26 one. Just slowly grind away each edge. I had about 2-3 hours into it
 


Place the insert in the manifold, and tap it in with a rubber mallet. It will get wedged in, so you'll need to gently pry it back out, but after you get it back out there will be rub marks left where you need to grind the insert down. I personally used a dremel with some type of abrasive disks, but even sand paper or something similar would work fine. The key is to go slow and only take off a little at a time. The L26 manifold seems to contact the L36 insert at the top. It seems that the manifold curves in sooner than the older design.

Now for all I know I did something wrong and it can work. Tim said managed to get his to work (congrats by the way!), so that's entirely possible. If you can get it to fit, you really want to put the gasket in place and see how well the insert lines up with the openings. If it doesn't line up closely, you'll have turbulence due to the air hitting those flat spots. You'll probably still get more top end, but you won't retain as much low end power compared to it fitting flush with the gasket.
 
I put it in their. Hit it with a hammer and seen where it hit than slowly ground off each side with a drill and abrasive disks. Dont take off to much from one side because it will cause gaps on other sides. Just go slow. Gasket match it when done to ensure the ports are all lined up
 
I gave up it was to short to begin with, both ends already had gaps that wouldn't seal properly even if I could get the rest of it to line up.
 


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