What’s Up D.O.H.C? 

There is a Snake on passenger side strut tower when Steve opens the hood.

I was a teenager when these engines came out and I was really fascinated by it. They were so unusually powerful for the day. Them and the SHO were well into the V8 numbers of the day. There seems to be a special amount of disgust from the mechanics though who had to work on them .....they hated em!!

This is my first time ever seeing this fellow . I like him , he is like me just like cars that are pretty damn cool .

I bought a car in 94. It was in the shop and the dealer gave me a Lumina Z34 Coupe for 2 weeks. I can barely tell you about the Hyundai that I bought but I remember that Lumina to this day. What a nice car that was.

HI Steve great video on this Z34. Theae were pretty good rides and definitely Dale Earnhardt helped out on Monday morning at the dealerships. Steve be careful out there even tho that wasn't a poisonous snake they still bite the tar out of you. They also make you hurt yourself getting away from them. I was once under a full-size long bed Ford that had been sitting for quite some time. So while I'm under the truck unhooking the driveshaft. A black snake must have been laying along the frame rail and rolled out across my chest. So inadvertently lowered my arms when it hit my chest.and sort of wrapped him under each armpit. When I realized what was happening I began to beat my head against everything under that truck trying to get out from underneath. When I finally got out from under the truck I was trying to get it off of me with my arms flailing in the air and dance moves only Fred Astaire and MJ could've done. Once the snake was off of me I had a huge egg shaped knot on my eye and a couple of cuts on my forehead. I had the worst case of the heebie jeebies that day also. I'm not afraid of snake per say but I like to see them 1st and they can go on about their business. ~Say, I've got the Heebies I mean the Jeebies Talking about The dance, the Heebie Jeebies Do, because they're boys Because it pleases me to be joy Say, don't you know it? You don't know how; don't be blue Someone will teach you Come on and do that dance They call the Heebie Jeebies dance Yes, ma'am Papa's got the Heebie Jeebies dance Say, come on now and do that dance They call the Heebie Jeebies dance Sweet mama Papa's got to do the Heebie Jeebies dance Woo, got the Heebie Jeebies Whatcha doin' with the Heebies? I just have to have the Heebies~written by the great Boyd Atkins🎷 and sung by the one and only Louis Armstrong 🎺 Y'all have a blessed day 🤙🏼 Namaste 🙏🏼

These were neat cars! My buddy had a '91 Euro 3.1, but the Z34 is next level. However, the Taurus SHO of the same era had the Yamaha engine and revved to 7200 rpm!

The old 2.8 and 3.1 Multi port had a real distinct sound. I remember having a corsica LTZ and it sounded really impressive for a stock V6 exhaust. You knew a Multi port when they took off. The Z24 Cavalier with the 3.1 5-speed are actually becoming a colectable who would think

You are one of the most mind numbingly interesting folks I know. Get better soon (not giving you chioce) Very special people like you are rare. Barrett Jackson did a great job bringing you on board.

the z34 sounds pretty nice goin down the road

Your knowledge of Z34 Lumina is very impressive! 👍

I was a dealer tech back in the 90s and did a fair amount of work on these engines ,they were bad leaders and had many timing belt issues due to plastic pulleys that would melt,fortunately it was not a interference motor and did not bend valves when timing was lost.

Steve you are my absolute Hero. When you opened that hood and that snake slithered off behind the engine. You did not even flinch. then you are standing in waist high grass. as it slips away under the back of the block. Yur Savage. Keep up the great videos. you hard work and research are amazing. MY FAVORITE. JUNKYARD CRAWLER for sure.

got my license in a lumina 4dr back in 1996 ... one of my neighbors moms had a 2dr z34 lumina and we all thought it was hot shit , she had a olds cutlass calais with the quad 4 before that and if we'd been smart we would've been drooling over that more

Alternator paid like 5 hours to replace, and don't leave the air duct off it. They would last a week without the air duct.

I test drove a used red Z34 back in the mid-90's with the 5-spd manual. Don't recall why I didn't buy it. I don't think I've seen a manual one of these since then.

I had a 91. What a cool and unique car. So roomy! Loved it. No issues. Man was that engine a screamer! Sold it at 14 years old when it got a engine tick. Plus I fell in love with a Bonneville SSEI...

04:42 That snake noped the heck out when you popped that hood. (Top center of the frame on the passenger strut tower)

I just love you guys saying "zee"-it sounds so funny. (My "Zed"-28, with headers, true dual pipes, and a M-21 four speed was a sweet ride. My two daighters loved it when the Secondaries and Cold-Air intake flap opened, and they were pined against the back of the back seat.) Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

We miss you Steve, I hope you get better soon

Cool engine, I believe it was also available in the Grand Prix GTP at the time.

I had my 86’ Monte Carlo SS stolen when I was stationed in SoCal. So I went to the Ontario Auto Mall, and found a 4-door Cutlass with this DOHC 24 valve engine. It was a sleeper, and pretty fast for the time. When I took it to my next duty station in Minot, ND, I took it into the Olds dealer there for an oil change. When I walked into the service bay, the whole dealership was staring at the engine. I asked if there was a problem, they said no, we just have never seen one of these before.

Good Morning Gents ! 🇺🇸

Um, yeah, kilometers... Steve's been huffing mildew off those floormats.

Those 90-91 lumina models were great cars. I remember my family had the euro 3.1. I learned to drive in that car.

The alternator is a pain to replace as well as it’s located under the engine. Also the lumina was more of a replacement for the Monte Carlo. The 3.4l DOHC was also found in the olds cutlass and Pontiac gran prix in the highest coupe trim packages

This was a nice video. The Z24 Lumina was the last car my grandfather owned, before he stopped driving. Memories of getting picked up from school on hot Texas afternoons. I can still smell this era of GM interior.

I saw one of these in the junkyard the other day. Cool to see these modern design features that aren't even that powerful but with 90's design styling.

My parents had a maroon 1982 Celebrity with a 2.8 liter V6. Loved that car.

Great video Steve and so happy that you talked about these wonderful cars and motors! Just a few corrections or maybe additional info. All W's body's from 1988 on had standard rear disc brakes, not specific to just the Z34's. The vents in the grill are not actual vents or allow air to go thru them, they have slits to allow the grill mounted turn signal/hazard/parking lights to be seen when illuminated. Lastly, the Z34's weren't the only cars to get the LQ1 motors in the Chevy family. Many people either forget or just don't know about the other Chevy member that could be optioned with the LQ1. I'm talking about the much more rare Lumina Euro 3.4 sedan. This is not to be confused with the Lumina Euro sedan which were all 3.1 cars. These Euro 3.4 sedans were essentially the 4 door version of the Z34's with one exception being all of them were automatic transaxle cars...no 5 speed option unlike the Z34's. These Euro 3.4 sedans were only made from 92-94 and only offered in White, Black, and Red. The only interior color was Medium Slate Gray...like the Z34 that you reviewed. Thanks again for reviewing these cars! I own 2 LQ1 cars and love them so much! Keep up the good work! Oh, one more thing. I can now do the timing belt change out in about an hour after years of practice. Not that bad of job to do. Like most things mechanical, the right tools for the job help tremendously.

You find the coolest, most forgotten about gems... Where on earth is this yard?! 🤔😲🤔

That is a Canadian Lumina because the speedometer is metric - that 130 was KPH. The MPH scale was inside of the KPH scale, opposite of a USDM speedometer.

I remember those were pretty quick for the day and also, like most GM's that used a separate camshaft carrier housing, it leaked oil all over the car. I even saw one catch fire and it burned to the ground with all that oil.

Very interesting. I never really knew anything about the Z34. Thanks for the lesson!

I remember my dad making a quip that this era was not a Super Sport era, but the Attack of the Killer Zees. But you could get a LQ1 in a non-Z34 Lumina. It was called the Euro 3.4. These Z34s always looked really good to me, tho.

A good platform for the 3800 enthusiasts. 5 speed trans, guys put in fwd grand prixs, monte carlos, impalas. And some guys swap the supercharged 3.8 buick in them z34s

I'd love to see a thunderbird super coupe. Direct competitor to the z34. Motor trend did a write up about them in the mid 90's if I'm not mistaken. As we all know they never make mistakes. Except for one

Who saw the garden snake slink away when he first opened the hood.

Love these 90s videos🎉❤

I owned a brand new Black '92 Z34 and I loved it! had it about 6 or 7 years. I had the 3 speed auto and the Bose sound system with that massive amplifier mounted under the back dash.

I remember being a kid in the 90's, and my sister telling me that lumina backwards is animal misspelled. I looked at her and said how did you know that? I'm the one with all the car magazines. Way too funny.

Someone beat me to it on the kph issue…so I’ll reminisce on my first gen SHO days and how pleasing it was to roll upon a Z34 at a stoplight. The SHO easily handled a Z34 mainly because of its rev potential. Nowadays bragging rights revolve around the Kw size of your battery….please keep up the good work…I hope never run out of old cars to review

I had one of these... a couple things to point out- the Engine was a modified cam in block engine, retrofited to be DOHC, very far from a clean-sheet design. They were intended to be 285hp however, the transaxels were not capable of handling the output and so they were detuned. The engine's 60 degree bank angle is the natural bank angle for 6 cylinder V type engines- otherwise you'd need a balance shaft and to split the pins on the crank to alleviate bad vibrations.

Pontiac in the mid 90' also had the 3.4 DOHC available in the Grand Prix GTP.

I always thought the styling on these was very nice.

Hey Steve great video as always. But one correction that twin cam was offered later in the 4 door euro. My dad and I drove one brand new with the 3.4L 210 hp

Great stuff as always, learning like never before, Thanks Steve.

Those "vent" on the front house the turn lamps. Those 3.4 s ate alternators, 92s had a cooling scoop but they tended to feed water into the it in heavy rain. From 93 on they did not have that scoop. I had a 93 and it had 3 alternators in the 110,000 miles I owned it. A friend has a Grand Prix with the 3.4 and 41,000 miles and it is on its second alt.

Those were cool cars! They made a nice sound too!

Early Z24s (Cavaliers) came with 2.8 and 3.1 V6s. Shame GM didn't shoehorn this engine into that chassis to continue that tradition.

I would pay to see a video restoration of this car.

That is a KPH speedometer!

Whats sad is the bone yard is exactly where you have to go to find these 90's GM cars. They were such a staple of my childhood. Save for the few nutty people who have pristine undriven examples this is where most of them ended up.

Very cool car , it would be nice to find a survivor of one now . Is that a big old Rust Brown Mercury to the right of it ?

My Dad had the Oldsmobile Cutlass version of this car Black with Gray leather I loved that car shouldn't have let it go.

(Back in the 90's) One of the guys at work bought one of these. I thought it would run pretty good. Turned out to be not quick. He only kept it a short time and traded it in for the Bonneville. We both couldn't understand why it was so doggy for a brand new "performance" car. The Bonnie had torque you could feel in the seat of your pants.

My dad had the euro 3.4 lumina the 4 door version of this car when I was a kid lol

I owned this engine in a Pontiac Gran Prix. 1991. It ran very well. Bit of torque steer though. Transmission sounded like a blower under the hood.

You know Steve is humble when he drowns himself out with music when he's asking for interaction/subs

I remember helping my buddy change the Alternator on his z34 ... OMG !!!!

Thanks for covering this odd stuff Steve. I have a 87 Lebron(J-body)premium turbo coupe 5 speed with digital dash and voice alert. Would be cool to see a video on that. Seems like 80s and 90s cars and trucks are becoming more expensive just because they were used and abused and mostly scrapped.

The double overhead cam WAS available in a NON-Z34 car. I had a 4-door Lumina with that engine. Might not have been the same year as the one your showcasing but a 4 door nun the less.

I loved theses. But keep in mind the Euro had a few of the same options, including the 3.4 as a later option for that sedan and coupe.

Happy Friday Everyone !!!

Cool walkthru! Buddy of mine in college had a 1991 in about 1997-1998 had a few head gasket changes but he somehow got 120k mi out of it, 5 speed manual, ABS, upgraded stereo. Was a fun car to drive I recall. He had to sell it because something was seriously wrong with the engine in the end, was burning oil pretty bad. I really do not see many (any?) of these on the road anymore?

Years ago I saw a Fiero with one of those engines swapped into it. That was a fun car, and something that GM could have and should have built! A high revving V6 in a full size FWD passenger car is not the right tool for the job, much better to have something with good low end and midrange to get the heavier car up and going, but that motor in a small nimble lightweight mid-engine RWD sports car, and you have something that would be a blast to drive!

wow 2000 foot pounds on the automatic ! THAT 180 mph Speedo is one for the Books !

I have a 95 Grand Prix...everything you mention, the spring, 4-wheel disc, it's there. But those DOHC 3.4's, they all died. Mine has the fairly reliable 3100. Crazy thing is that in 2004, they came out with a 3500 pushrod that makes about the same power as this DOHC design.

I just found this channel and have to say this guy is awesome at making videos. Hope he does the gmt800 I saw at some point. Subscribed.

One of my co workers years ago bought a brand spanking new 1992 Z34. It was glossy black with some red accents. It looks great but had to be towed back to the dealer on 2 occasions that I remember within the 1st years he owned it. It looked good but his seemed to be a real lemon.

I had a 1991 Ford Taurus SHO. My girlfriend's uncle (in head to toe Dale Earnhardt garb) had one of these and was always talking shit about wanting to kick my ass in a drag race. So we, and a car load of my girlfriends family, went to a long, straight, country road with no traffic and I beat him by more than two car lengths, 4 times in a row. He was so pissed! Then he said he could beat me top end and I pulled away from him and beat him my 3 car length up to 120. He didn't much like me after that. Granted, I don't think he took very good care of his car and I was and still am fastidious when it come to maintenance and upkeep.

Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge Steve. I learn alot from you.

Z/24 Was actually the option code for the 1967,1968, 1969 Impala SS 427 cars

Our neighbors daughter had one, to put an alternator on it you had to drop the cradle to get it out...

I think redline was more like 6750 rpm with the manual. The thing was originally supposed to be sub 300 horses.

The 3.8 supercharged would've been great in these.

The idea behind the 180 mph speedometer was to strengthen the NASCAR. In 91 the lumina was what they ran.

OMG - the mechanics down at the Chevrolet dealership must have HATED working on these things! That V6 looks like it had to be shoe-horned into that engine bay! Flipping through that brochure makes one a bit melancholy thinking about a time when American automakers were actually in the car business…….😕

Did my drivers test in a Corsica, then ended up with the lumina.

Then there was the Ford Taurus SHO. My mom owned a 1993 model with a Yamaha built 3.0V6 and 5 speed manual. It was a quick family car. My cousin and I maxed it out at 143MPH. Yep, dumb teens back then.

I had a 1996 Monte Z34 and it wasn't fast but was fun to drive. Open the air box and exhaust and it sounded like a damn V8

@ 4:43 when Steve opens up Hood there is a little garter snake up on the strut tower under the hood trying to wriggle away. Where is Katie when you need her? Probably at a photo shoot❤

I remember those stupid seat belts mounted on the door! Worthless if the door opens in a crash!

These motors were massively detuned because the transmission couldn’t handle the horse power, My buddy had one he called it the SHO stopper.

Car probably faster than the foxbody gt and the 305 camaros back then with 210hp in the car definitely a sleeper I wonder how much power it will have if it had a small turbo on it.

Dale Earnhardt was actually a 7 time champion. It must have been 4 when that manual was written.

Did the dog bring in the glass dolphin hanging from the mirror or was that actually already in the car?

I have the 92 earnhardt #6 bugger bear to work on. I'm in the middle changing motor out. Motor has to come from bottom.

These engines were notorious for going boom unfortunately. When they went you couldn’t find a used motor at the junkyard and if you did it was 3500 used. And that was in 2000. If I remember correctly the timing belt breaks and the engine is an interference engine meaning the internals just all bang together until they explode when the belt breaks.

I was wondering if you ever did a video on a Toyota T100 pickup? Is there even any in that junkyard? I remember you did one on a Dakota pointing out that it was one of the first mid-sized pickups but I saw a T100 the other day and was reminded of that they were also mid-sized. Most of them up here in Minnesota have been reduced to brown dust by now so they are rare.

Built for bottom end highway performance apparently.

My demo when I sold Chevys.... LoL Well, one of many demos.

Should have discussed the W-Body platform development! GM invested $7 BILLION into this chassis and lost several thousand dollars on every car they sold. This was a significant part of GM's slow downward spiral to their bailout in 2008. That engine also screams up to a 7000 RPM redline! It's meant to rev and BOOGIE!

In Arizona we dont see glass do that. Interesting. Didn't the z34 have better suspension for "road racing"?

Buddy had one of these. Snappy car. Comfy seats. At 85k miles the timing started to fail. Still ran, badly though. Car was about 7 years old. Local mechanic wanted $1800 to repair timing. Dealer wanted gonzo more. He sold the car. DIY guy spent 4 months doing the job himself. Lots of these cars went to the junk in pretty nice shape. It just got eclipsed by supercharged 3800's and the expense of repair made them worthless well before their time.

Get it started.

Wait until you have to remove the passenger side CV shaft to get the alternator out on that X motor

Given a choice the 37 Buick in last vid, gets the nod for revitalization 👍 🤷‍♂️

id love to buy this...

Those engines are a 3.1 ohv engine modified into a Dohc engine. A true nightmare to repair. All that engineering, they gained 10 horsepower over the turbo 3.1 v6. Then years later ford sees what a pain in the arse the engines were and made the 4.0L sohc out of the reliable 4.0ohv.

The Camaro's 25th anniversary was 1992, not 1990. Chevrolet's marketing people apparently couldn't add or subtract except when the bottom line included a dollar sign apparently. Sad that the Carmaro's 25 anniversary amounted to a tape and stripe package, ditto for the 2002 model before the Camaro took an eight year hiatus.