Looking to do an SR20 Swap

[cdrazic93]

Originally Posted by onefitz

Seems to be how everything starts.

Says the guy that wants to spend the cost of his car on an engine swap that'll make 250whp before requiring more $$ to be thrown at it.

You only ever hear about the bad experiences. No one goes on and on about the good. Not to mention these are word of mouth 'experiences' according to you.

If you can do an SR20 swap for less than 6k without any experience in engine swapping, you might be able to cure aids and solve world hunger as well.

Bahahahaha this all day erryday

[M23]

FA is a great engine. NA 200bhp and high compression stock. If this FA came out in the mid 90s, it would be considered very good. More power than a stock turbo SR. More power than all the B16, B18 and Type R DOHC's. The only other 4cyl NA engine that's better is the S2k; but that didn't come out till the 2000's.

SR's are very old, aged and corroded engines that have been sitting in the junkyard in the elements for 20+ years.

If you really want to swap for the sake of swapping, just swap in a Full Blown pre-built block. It's fully bolt on, same or cheaper than doing a custom SR swap and it can handle 500+ whp

[vividracing]

As big of a fan of the SR20 I am, it really doesn't make much sense. Save some money and just build the FA20. Good luck with either route!

[Calum]

[RobertPaulson]

Originally Posted by M23

FA is a great engine. NA 200bhp and high compression stock. If this FA came out in the mid 90s, it would be considered very good. More power than a stock turbo SR. More power than all the B16, B18 and Type R DOHC's. The only other 4cyl NA engine that's better is the S2k; but that didn't come out till the 2000's.

SR's are very old, aged and corroded engines that have been sitting in the junkyard in the elements for 20+ years.

If you really want to swap for the sake of swapping, just swap in a Full Blown pre-built block. It's fully bolt on, same or cheaper than doing a custom SR swap and it can handle 500+ whp

not only have they been sitting around but they were more than likely beaten to an inch of their life over in japan before being stripped, put onto a boat and shipping to NA.

but hey, if you got deep pockets why not spend it being unique.

[RobertPaulson]

Originally Posted by Calum

don't be that guy

[Reaper]

Well this is pointless.

The fa20 will make and hold more power much easier than a sr20. I daily drive at up to 460whp if you don't believe me.

As far as moneyis concerned look at my build thread. Tires, wheels, springs, big brake kit, gtx28 full blown turbo kit with lots and lots of dyno time on ecutek racerom, clutch flywheel, oil cooler, fuel system!, gauges, custom pan...blah blah blah...11,000 dollars. Daily driven at 450+whp

The sr20 is heavy. Also good luck getting the transmission to fit into this car.

Good luck getting the can bus system to work. Alot of shops are trying to figure this out now with ls swaps. Most swapped cars have no factory gauge clusters or body control ecu.

If you really want a swap use an ls or a 1uzfe v8. But it will be a gutted track car until someone figures out the canbus system. They are both lighter than a sr20 and are more reliable. Sr 20 s are long outdated and the beloved 2jz is next in line. Boost the fa20 will be alot cheaper even with a built bottom end. But then again FBM did make 600 Hp on a stock bottom end. And considering short blocks are 2,000 brand new I'll just put another stock one in if it breaks.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by nickw14

It's not that I need more than 350whp, it's that the power to price ratio seems to be so much higher than that of other engines. I don't think that I would be putting $20k into an sr swap. While I don't have any experience in swapping engines, I am fully confident that it could be done for less than $10k, if not less than $6k (since the engine and trans is only $2500).

You're 100% correct that 350whp on a car that, while I don't daily it I do drive it quite a bit, would be more than enough. However, am I willing to put $6k into a kit that will get it there only to find out that I will probably need a built motor to go any higher should I desire to in the future? I really don't know. I suppose there is always the option of putting my own "kit" together piece by piece, that would surely be much cheaper.

How much power are you thinking a stock SR20DET block is going to handle...? I would bet that you're going to want forged internals in it at roughly the same hp levels you would want forged internals in an FA20.

As for the swap, you're missing A LOT of things if you think it can be done for under $10k.

What ECU are you going to run? What cluster? What gas pedal for a throttle cable? Who is making your engine/transmission mounts? Can you even use the stock front subframe anymore? Will the SR20 oil pan clear everything in the engine bay? Who is making your custom driveshaft?

As for 350whp, you do realize that is double the stock hp, right? Have you thought about other supporting mods to make the car fun to drive at that power level?

[s2d4]

Originally Posted by wparsons

How much power are you thinking a stock SR20DET block is going to handle...? I would bet that you're going to want forged internals in it at roughly the same hp levels you would want forged internals in an FA20.

As for the swap, you're missing A LOT of things if you think it can be done for under $10k.

What ECU are you going to run? What cluster? What gas pedal for a throttle cable? Who is making your engine/transmission mounts? Can you even use the stock front subframe anymore? Will the SR20 oil pan clear everything in the engine bay? Who is making your custom driveshaft?

As for 350whp, you do realize that is double the stock hp, right? Have you thought about other supporting mods to make the car fun to drive at that power level?

Yeah no, my mates tell me SR is the way. They knows everything and can definitely do it for 6k.
Supporting mods, f that, my mates said no need, it'll handle 600hp like that car we saw on Facebook.

[evomike]

i cant wait for the hate i get after i throw my motor in the trash and either put my sr or a 1J in my car

[VacantSky]

Wants to put motor in car that hasn't been done before... comes to forum of enthusiasts who have never performed swap before for advice. Complains when flamed.


Honestly, your best bet is getting the job done and then bringing the final project here. Having never pulled an engine before or doing a swap isn't going to get many people backing you.


For 4k you can get a nice SC kit which will net you roughly 300whp. You'll have the safest FI for a factory NA engine with a lovely linear power band. All that can go wrong after a good tune is a belt snapped... On top of that: do some simple weight saving mods and you'll not need more power. Hell mine weighs in at 2650 full fluids and there's a lot more I can do to drop that. With full NA bolt ons my car surprises a lot of people in the know on how "slow" these cars are.... People may laugh at your "measly 300 ponies" but when you can get the car down to a streetable 2450lb, 300 ponies is nothing to laugh at


Besides all that, I love to see things done differently. I have several ideas on engine swaps. But I wouldn't bring them here. I'd rather get it done first. They're unlikely to happen though. keeping the FA20 just makes more sense.

My $0.02 of course..

[Manji]

Just to put it out there, I costed my swap at $23k.
$9k of which is motec/wiring/sensors.

My motor I got for $1500

My box $2500

Clutch and bell $2000

The rest is mounts $600, headers $1500, exhaust $400, driveshaft $800.

Then there's incidentals which I've budgeted as best I can.

Labour I'm paying $3k, and that's mates rates.

You won't do any swap for $10k. Maybe $12k if you run the ecu that's comes with the new motor independently from body ecu. I reckon you could rig up the heater and ac to work, and maybe the ps too, but not the gauges, not easily anyway. I didn't want to do mine half ass, so decided to use a motec m150 as it's going to solve all the issues.

It comes down to what you want. People say boosted fa20's are reliable, and it really comes down to your definition of reliable. I think theyre grenades. But that's because I like to be able to really beat on a car (I'm not talking highway pulls I'm talking full-tank sessions at the track) My gt86 isn't a track car, it's my street car, but I do take it to the track if I cbf loadin my race car on the trailer, or if it's hot and I want to use the GT cos it has ac.

I had a sc and it could only take 5 laps, 10 at most. Then I had a turbo kit on the car but realised that if that blew the motor, and then I built a motor, and them adapted a proper gearbox, I'd have easily spent what an engine conversion would cost. Especially when you consider the sale of the fa20 and the box. I'm more looking at just doing it properly and enjoying the car, rather than forever modifying it. Something I wished I'd done before buying two FI kits.

Here's where I was at a few weeks ago.
[ame]http://youtu.be/RU0wPr28trM[/ame]

[ame]http://youtu.be/0VZWtN_ppqc[/ame]

I need to make another vid as there's been more progress. Motor and box are mounted. Making headers and exhaust atm. Then it's sorting the ancillaries, ac, cooling, swaybar, t/b, intake.

One thing people don't get, is that it's not peak power to weight, it's torque to weight that makes a great car (IMO) and unlike an FI setup that has to wait or build it's torque, a larger displacement has it basically off idle.

It's going to make an epic daily.

Sure, I should've just gone and bought a 996 gt3, or a e92 m3, or an isf; but any douchebag with money can do that. I like that what I'll end up with you can't just go and buy, and it needed some knowledge/balls to do.

I'm building my car for me. I'll probably never sell it because I like how it looks, I like that all the parts it has currently and the ones I've put in are cheap to maintain and replace, I like that it'll have the realiabilty the toyota brand of 1970-1999 was known for, and I like that'll have supercar level torque/weight, without giving away that fact visually, or from making any huge compromise to realiabilty, drivability, or handling. But I'm paying a premium to achieve it.

Only other thing I'll add, I've had at least a dozen sr20's over the years. They get unrealiable at about 350whp; as in last a few drift events at best. At 300whp and only street driven they last, but then so do fa20s; so don't see what your achieving even considering an sr20 swap. Only time of consider an sr20 swap into a gt96 is if I had a spare built sr laying around. Which is why I nearly put a built 3sg beams in my gt86, because I have a spare race motor. But the whole purpose of me having a spare motor is so I can swap it quickly if need be.

TL;DR engine swaps in this car, done properly START at $25k. Take it from someone with experience with these types of builds, that is also a QS by day.

(In other words, I've spent my career focusing on costing things out accurately, so I'm sure as shit going to do it right when it's my own money.) I costed lots of options prior to choosing the 1uz. The ls3 option was more like $35k done properly - using a crate motor and new box.

[hmong337]

You're better off buying a fully built fa20 + a turbo kit for the kind of coin you are going to drop for a hybrid swap. If contemplating a hybrid swap, at least think about doing something with more than 4 cylinders! No sense in swapping a 4 for another 4...

[Thorpedo]

Going to be brutally honest here, sorry if I offend.

You want to do a swap just because of the bad stories you hear on the internet of the FA20. For every bad story there are likely many more good ones. I happen to be one of the good ones who **Knocks on wood** has autocrossed and tracked my car to death (more so the former) and has had nothing but a great experience. It seems pretty childish and narrow minded to want to do an engine swap based on the small sample of bad stories you heard.

Given what you have said you know and "what your friends have done" with the "old truck" there is NO WAY IN HELL you should even invest one more minute in researching engine swaps. You are in so far over your head you shouldn't even bother trying to swim. If your fear of the engine failing is ruining your experience with the car buy a different one and DO NOT DO ANY RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET. God forbid someone have an engine failure out of the thousands upon thousands who own the car. If a small percentage have an issue they all must be junk and everyone should worry about their engines exxxxploding.

Relax and enjoy the car. The reason I am chiming in is I know where you are coming from. Being an engine builder makes me always think I hear ticks etc and I have to slap myself and remember just to enjoy the car. Nothing is going to go horribly wrong (probably) and if it does, at the end of the day all I need to do is fix it. An engine swap in your case would be doing WAYYYY more work (or more likely spending way more money as you can't do the work yourself) then you would ever have to do to have the a problem professionally repaired even if something went horribly wrong with the FA20.