1986 Pontiac 6000LE pulled from a field

[aspenwillow]

2.8 carbed. According to the seller it sat for about 10 years. Wiring and hoses are chewed up. It cranks and runs for a few seconds if you pour gas into the carb. What needs to be done:
Deep clean inside and out
Rewire as needed
Replace all rubber fuel/vacuum lines
New dashboard (pulled from late Buick Century)
New paint (will probably paint it all the bottom color)
Replace fuel pump
And much, much more
https://www.holley.com/products/fuel...hoC6sUQAvD_BwE
Will this carburetor work? I know it will need a vacuum advance distributor. Also, what cylinder head and cam choices do I have? I don't need anything crazy but with all GM 60 degree V6s in junkyards I figure there's something out there that will bolt on without trouble and improve performance.

[tlc1976]

Nice find. I'm not much on which carbs or cams will work. There are iron head and aluminum head engines, you have an iron head style. From what I understand the aluminum and iron heads physically interchange but won't run because of compression ratio and possibly other things. The early 90s Lumina APV (and others) used a 3.1 version of the iron head engine, it had a TBI intake, and a front cover similar (or same as) the aluminum head engines.

In 2005 I got a 89 6000 wagon out of a coworker's field. Had been sitting 6 years with a blown head gasket. I put in a battery, some gas, fixed a brake line, and drove it home (though I had to stop every 5 miles to let it cool down and add more water). Put in a low mileage engine I found for $50 and drove it for 9 years, long trips downstate for my daughter in the middle of winter every 2 weeks, it never let me down. We got rust up here though. I welded the trailing arms once, but the floor and gas tank was starting to give way and there wasn't much left to weld to this time around.

I also had an 86 Celeb wagon with a carbed 2.8. Got that car for $50 back in 1997. It ran really good for awhile. Don't know what happened, but eventually it just wouldn't run right. I tried rebuilding the carb to no avail, but I'm not a carb expert either. Eventually I just hard wired the choke open about 1/4" with a paperclip and it ran much better.