SRT4 engine swap

[rosol16]

Just playing with idea and knowing very well that this would not be an easy swap. This is the neon motor not the caliber motor. I currently have an SRT4 its an ACR edition so I could sell the shell for a pretty penny without the motor. I just rebuilt the motor and trans so I know both are solid. The car puts 291 whp and 317 wtq. These numbers are stock turbo with a full exhaust and my tuner did a really good job. I have plenty of experience with car and motors but not very much with transmissions or conversions. With this being a fwd motor how hard would this be to convert to rwd? I would assume that rotating it the that the trans points to the rear would be the first option. Thoughts? I know that the SRT4 motors can be running 500whp on stock internal and still be pretty reliable. This swap would really just for power and the uniqueness of it and I don't believe the motor is much lighter if any than the FA20.

[Summerwolf]

http://www.stlsrt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10176


This is the only RWD SRT swap I have seen. I had a CSRT4 for a while as my daily and it was a blast. I don't think this would be a good swap for various reasons, but I did always want to build a kit car cobra with an SRT4 motor just to see the looks and to upset people when they saw the motor.

[go_a_way1]

Originally Posted by rosol16

Just playing with idea and knowing very well that this would not be an easy swap. This is the neon motor not the caliber motor. I currently have an SRT4 its an ACR edition so I could sell the shell for a pretty penny without the motor. I just rebuilt the motor and trans so I know both are solid. The car puts 291 whp and 317 wtq. These numbers are stock turbo with a full exhaust and my tuner did a really good job. I have plenty of experience with car and motors but not very much with transmissions or conversions. With this being a fwd motor how hard would this be to convert to rwd? I would assume that rotating it the that the trans points to the rear would be the first option. Thoughts? I know that the SRT4 motors can be running 500whp on stock internal and still be pretty reliable. This swap would really just for power and the uniqueness of it and I don't believe the motor is much lighter if any than the FA20.

Just dump it in the trunk and make it a mid rear engine car LMAO!!

[Gear_One_Performance]

your biggest concern would be making a bell housing adapter for whatever transmission you chose to go with. Once you tackle that all the wiring, motor mounts and various other little things you'll need to modify to make it fit should seem like cake.

[Anthony]

+1 for not 2J, LS, RB.

[rosol16]

Originally Posted by go_a_way1

Just dump it in the trunk and make it a mid rear engine car LMAO!!

That was actually a thought as well I mean that would be badass just to have lol and then we could get real crazy and go AWD!!

Originally Posted by Gear_One_Performance

your biggest concern would be making a bell housing adapter for whatever transmission you chose to go with. Once you tackle that all the wiring, motor mounts and various other little things you'll need to modify to make it fit should seem like cake.

I would probably try to use the T850 Quaffe that's in it if possible no sure if it is. Its a durable transmission for being stock many people run 500hp on this stock as well its the axles that I'm worried about. But if there is a will there's a way

Originally Posted by Anthony

+1 for not 2J, LS, RB.

Always gotta be unique a lot of people hate on the SRT4 but must will still agree that's its a great motor.

[Anthony]

I like the FA20 and would never swap to another 4 cylinder.
But... if you've got a stock FA20 in your car, but a fully built 4 banger sitting around, I can see it being worth it. My main concern with engine swaps is always balance and center of gravity. It's hard to beat the FA20.

[go_a_way1]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I like the FA20 and would never swap to another 4 cylinder.
But... if you've got a stock FA20 in your car, but a fully built 4 banger sitting around, I can see it being worth it. My main concern with engine swaps is always balance and center of gravity. It's hard to beat the FA20.

And this is why I will never do a swap. I didn't buy a light nimble sports car built really for nothing but corners just to make the front end 300 pounds heavier and ruin its balance

[rosol16]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I like the FA20 and would never swap to another 4 cylinder.
But... if you've got a stock FA20 in your car, but a fully built 4 banger sitting around, I can see it being worth it. My main concern with engine swaps is always balance and center of gravity. It's hard to beat the FA20.

I think the weight is the same and I wouldn't consider fully built but pretty close. Its JE forged pistons, Eagle rods, Titanium springs and retainers, Brian Crower S3 cams, ported polished head, Bored .20 over, machined crank, and strapped oil pan, and trans has a few upgrades as well. I don't think this would up set the balance that much weight wise maybe even lighter but it would change the center of gravity for sure

[Anthony]

Yeah, close enough for sure.

[continuecrushing]

where are you at that the srt-4 shell sells for a pretty penny?

The swap would not be worth it at all. Unique, sure. But not worth the massive hassel. Hell, a regular swap is still TONS of work, and thats with people who have already paved the road with some info/guides.

I used to own an srt, btw.

[NOHOME]

That recipe does not do a thing for me.

But it's your car, your time and your money, so please do keep us posted on how it goes. I am impressed by anyone who has the skills to do a clean swap regardless of the mix.

[akiranakayama]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I like the FA20 and would never swap to another 4 cylinder.
But... if you've got a stock FA20 in your car, but a fully built 4 banger sitting around, I can see it being worth it. My main concern with engine swaps is always balance and center of gravity. It's hard to beat the FA20.

Vorshlag Motorsports, who are doing an LSx swap in their FR-S, looked at the arrangment of the FA20 in the chassis and ascertained that, while low in CoG, it is heavy and not great for F:R weight distribution. The bell housing of the transmission is long, necessitating a long shift linkage, and more than 1/2 of the engine mass is in front of the front axle centerline. The FA20 is also the heaviest four cylinder aluminum engine they've ever weighed (presumably of similar displacement).

Skip to the "What's So Wrong With The Subaru FA20 Boxer Engine?": http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8275

I personally wouldn't ever swap a V8 into this car, I think the FA20 is perfectly suited for this application. Especially since I don't ever really plan to mod the engine for power. For reliability? Yes. I think if anything, it seemed like maybe the engineers could have improved the weight distribution by moving the engine rearward and used a shorter bell housing, but perhaps the bean counters intervened. I could see an argument for change in that area, but not swapping the engine entirely.

BUT. Some people want MOAR POWER. And that's totally legit.

It's probably impossible to get a similarly low CoG with another engine (except maybe with another horizontally opposed powerplant). But if you're willing to look past that, I don't see why an SRT mill or similar wouldn't be eye-wateringly fun in this chassis.

I'm personally waiting for someone to swap in a frankenstein Honda K24 into a Twin. K24 block, K20 head, TVS1320 positive displacement blower with A/W chargecooling, figure out a way to keep the gears from eating themselves and I'm sure you'd have a reliable track-ready weapon on your hands. Even though the CoG would be higher, you'd likely lose some weight in the process and gain a BUNCH of power and torque. Hell, even if you decided on an all-motor build, you'd get much more torque with the extra displacement not to mention a much more reliable motor with better fuel economy without all the direct injection complication. Of course, you'd probably have a nightmare of a wiring job awaiting you to integrate the gauges and various sub-systems.

[rosol16]

Originally Posted by Shutter

where are you at that the srt-4 shell sells for a pretty penny?

The swap would not be worth it at all. Unique, sure. But not worth the massive hassel. Hell, a regular swap is still TONS of work, and thats with people who have already paved the road with some info/guides.

I used to own an srt, btw.

It only cause its the ACR edition. Its black paint code PX8 so there were only 433 made and somewhere around only 250 left. I have people that just wanna buy my shell for almost 4k but I have refused to part it out as it makes me smile everytime I drive it. I don't understand why someone would pay 4k for just the shell when you can get a whole decent SRT4 for 4k but hey whatever they wanna do.