2nd fa20 gone, other options?
 

I love this car but she keeps breakin my heart. (And my wallet).

I lost my first motor last year and opted to swap in a used low km fa20, the cheapest option at the time, which has now died (likely cause I was dumb enough to do the valve spring recall).

The first time around I had considered doing an ls swap and I'm back to that or another motor as there is no way in hell another fa20 is going in it.

Question is: are there any other motors that are easier to install canbus wise or cheaper overall? I admit the project is bigger than what I can tackle in my driveway and I have been quoted 18 to 25k depending on ls and transmission I go with by the local LS swap guru.

Get a 2014 + FA20 and enjoy many trouble free miles like the rest of us.

What happened to your replacement? Silicone starvation? How many miles, and did you get in contact with the dealer? These dealers shouldn't be getting away with incompetence resulting in losses of thousands of dollars for their customers.

If you have the funds and the desire to stick it out and overcome issues....absolutely do an aluminum block ls based swap. It is fairly well sorted, and is the best swap in terms of maintaining handling and weight balance (best you can), also super reliable motor wise. There will be a TON of issues but it's probably worth it.

This

What’s wrong with the engine? Is it NA or FI?

The cheapest swap for full (headache free) canbus will be Pure Automotive’s K24 swap. If you do it yourself then it could be done for sub $15k.

Why are you popping motors?

I've done 120+ events, and 60+ boosted events on my original motor, and am still going.

To back up this guy. Dirt Fish regularly clocks over something like 5000 hours of rally time before tear down. And thats more than the wrx brethren



I bought this chassis based on the motor not being a glass pistol

My 2013 is daily driven and recall did. Been trouble free since I bought it.
Usual ware and tear items but nothing major besides the TOB.

If I was in OP's shoes I would abandon ship. Luck does not favor you with this car. Time to move on.

If you want to go LS, just buy a corvette. Or a Camero, hell even a new mustang.

There are way better cars out there than the 86. Just say'n

First one is I dunno. 2nd one is bad mechanics and should be covered by the dealership.

The only thing wrong with the FA20 is the "talented technician" within 100 metres.
The steering can easily turn away from kangaroos and "talented technicians".

K24 and never look back or sell the car and get into something else. LS swap doesn't make sense when you can get an LS swapped car for like $20k. There's an LS swapped BRZ by me (Michigan) for just north of $20k already completed and looks nice to boot.

I lied with the Dirtfish run time hours, they say they get above 1000+ hours not 5000.

still. thats a good ammount of hammering if you assume 6 hours a day they get belted on with everyone and anyone

166 track days between rebuilds! That's pretty darn solid!

What was the cause of the first engine, and how did you get the recall done on a swapped engine?

Is the car a daily driver? Have you ever dealt with the aftermath of a complicated swap? You definitely don't want to go with the cheapest shop for a job like this.

Anything that the stock ECU can't run is going to be about the same amount of pain to get all the electronics working right. Going with an ecu/wiring solution that includes ready to use firmware will make it easier (like the pure automotive ecu/harness kits for 2JZ, LS or K24).

That price sounds dangerously low in Canadian dollars, it should be more like $30k US for a turn key swap like this with everything working. What are they using to get all the electronics working? Have they done a swap into this chassis yet, or assuming it'll be like throwing one in an older car?

A pure automotive motec with harness and the proper firmware for the swap is like $8k cdn alone.

Good question! But, I am afraid, there will not be an answer.

Do an ls swap only if you want to keep the car and If you can do it yourself. It's really not that hard and will run about 10k. Not worth paying a shop that much. That was my experience with an ls1 and trans out of an 04 gto. I am currently selling mine for about 25k obo. I was in the same boat as yourself first motor blew but I didn't trust putting another fu in the a-20 so I went swap. Car is amazing with more power. Sell your car and buy mine then throw another 5k at it for a turbo or pro charge setup and be rolling in a 600hp+ brz for under 30k.

There's no way you're doing it for $10k complete with everything working...

Only thing left for mine is the ac and spitsnaugle just did it for less then a grand. There are several people who have documented the cost closely including wutsaiu and come in around 10k. Yes you can spend more but if you are smart do a little research on this very forum it can be done for about 10k. I am not a rich guy and have a family so I was very cognizant with regards to cost. I did not add up an exact dollar amount but I had to borrow 5k to get the engine trans etc. After that I kept a budget of 5k more max. I did not exceed that budget my proof of that is the fact that my wife and I share a bank account and I am still alive. In all seriousness i understand your skepticism and others who have not done it yet but it can be done for about 10k. I have not included any sell back items like old engine etc either. I do tell the original poster however it is not practical in my opinion unless you are able to do all the work yourself. I only outsourced the drive shaft and did all other work including wiring. I think that is the one that scares a lot of people and makes them go expensive computer and or wiring loom. I do not mean for this to sound confrontational in any way just want to let people know it is possible for about 10k. Would I have spent more if I could of, absolutely and most will but not because they had too.

So you have Cruise control, traction, ABS, full oem dash?

what ECU solution are you using?

To be fair I dont have cruise control and I do have a constant check engine light. I'm using a can bus translator from geralds projects, he's on here somewhere i believe it was $300. I do have all other things like tach speedo etc coolant gauge though I did install a second gauge in air vent that reads more accurately. Built my own canbus device based off of watsuai's budget 10k build but geralds had somemore features and will work with the ac and cruise control later if I install it. Check engine light is from ls1 ecu reading an issue with the check engine light itself ironically enough, might be a ground issue. I didn't do the cruise control because of how bulky the gto cable driven system is for an ls1 and the driving I do with the car. No highway commute back road fun. I'm sure it could be done for the cable system though but probably not worth it.

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Honestly, after everything that I sell, I'll most likely be in it for under 10k.

2nd fa20 gone, other options?
 

Yea no I understand. I have all the bells and wisthles as far as OEM stuff working most expensive ECU etc... and after selling my stuff I ended up a bit above 10k...


But it is important to make the distinction between “most things work” or most things work and I needed X and Y turnaround compared to everything works like OEM 100%. The price goes exponentially up on the last one.

I also went above and beyond with my build. I have a fully built 5.7 Liter with fully integrated emtron and sikky mounts Also have a fully build t56 and a mantic twin disk. I should tally up what I've spent so far. I'm usually really good at finding deals though.

A friend priced out a turn key LS3 swap through pure automotive in the states and got a quote for 30k CAD.