I think
while your trying to decide if you want to swap in
an EJ20 you need to think about your goals for your car. What do you want
out of your car? What are you willing/able to spend on this project? One big
thing you need to think about is, while your car is under the knife, what
will you drive? Last but not least, don’t forget to factor in engine management(i.e.
tuning) into your budget for the project. Tuning is a major factor in getting
the most out of your engine.
That being
said, requirements for an engine swap are not set in stone. I will give you the
absolute necessities, as far as I can
remember.
Engine (cost me $1600)– You will want as much of the engine as you can get. At bare minimum, make sure the engine has been compression and leak-down tested and is OK. Check the general condition of the engine, make sure there are little or no oil leaks and such. Check the condition of the vacuum hoses and electrical harness. If the hoses are in bad shape, you may need to replace them. You will most likely need to use some hoses from you old engine. The condition of the electrical harness will basically decide what you will need to do for the engine management.
Exhaust (cost me NA)- Check that exhaust is in good shape,
you will need the headers, including up-pipe.
Engine Management (cost me NA)– You will need some soft
of electronics to control the engine, and you have a number of options:
(1)
You
can get the ECU with the engine you are swapping. This requires at least two
wiring diagrams, one for your old engine, one for the new engine, and someone with a good knowledge of electronics/wiring/etc to read
the diagrams and create a custom wiring harness to connect your new ECU with
your current chassis harness. Someone like Rallispec
in NJ can do this, but they usually are very backed up.
(2)
You
can get some kind of independent engine management system. For example, Link, Haltech, MoTec and Wolf make
systems that could work. You will most likely need to get a system that comes
with its own wiring loom that you then connect directly to your engine/sensors.
You will probably want one that can use the stock sensors on the engine you
buy, unless you want to buy new sensors that will work with the system. This
site has a comparison of some of the features of some of these systems: http://www.emergent.com.au/200sx/ecudata.html
(3)
Your
other option, probably the worst option, but the cheapest, is to use your
current ECU on the new engine. This will require the use of some sensors/parts
from your original engine. For example, you will probably need to use your old throttle
position sensor, air flow meter, idle air controller and any other sensors that
are not compatible with the current ECU. You will most likely need to buy some
kind of fuel controller and possible a timing controller to help the old ECU
control the new engine.
Transmission (cost me $400)– You don’t need to
get a new tranny, you can use your old tranny.
As far as I know, all the EJxx motors can use all
the EJxx trannys. The
bolt patters will match up. You may or may not need a new clutch. If you have
the money, you will probably want to upgrade your clutch and flywheel while
you have engine and tranny apart (if you tranny is from a turbo engine, then you need to get the turbo
clutch, if the tranny is from a NA, you need a NA
clutch). If you go with a new tranny, you need to
be sure the front and rear differentials will work together. I am still not
sure how this works exactly.
Crossmember (cost me $150)– You need a crossmember
from a turbo 2001 or earlier Impreza or Legacy. You can find one in a junkyard
if your lucky. The turbo crossmemeber
has a shape that allows the up-pipe to fit.
Front Swaybar (cost me $60)– The turbo crossmember
requires a swaybar from a turbo car as well (Legacy
or Impreza). It’s shaped differently to fit the different crossmember.
Here are
some notes about my experience:
The engine
is from a 1993-1995 JDM Legacy turbo, with single VF10 turbo, (silver) water to
air intercooler, closed deck, 8.0:1 compression.
-
There’s
some speculation as to why the intercooler heat exchanger is silver, some say
it’s because it’s from the Legacy STi, or Legacy Type
RA… nothing is known for sure yet.
-
The
engine is rated at 200hp from the factory.
Thing to
look for when buying/importing an engine (things missing my
from my engine):
-
Anything
that is more then 1 inch off the engine. The wiring and hoses were cut about
1" off the engine.
-
Any
accessories or components that are not connected to the engine. i.e. the MAP sensor and MAF sensor were not included.
-
You
will need water hoses and a radiator(I used parts from
my EJ18).
-
All
vacuum hoses that connect to something off the engine. i.e.
The hose to the MAP sensor and the hose to the brake master cylinder.
-
If
it comes with a water-to-air intercooler, you will probably need to get the
intercooler radiator and water hoses and water pump.
-
Accessories
may or may not be included: so you may need an a/c compressor, alternator, and
power steering pump. All the hoses/wires for the accessories were cut and
unusable. I needed to use the A/C lines and power steering lines from my old
engine.
-
Depending on what wiring
solution you use, you may need to use accessories that are compatible with
that specific ECU. What I did was use my EJ18 power steering pump, alternator
and a/c compressor and hoses/wires, but I had to file/dremel off some of the a/c compressor. As far as I can tell,
it is difficult to mismatch accessories from one engine to another, but it
may be possible with some work.
Links:
general swap info:
good autospeed article on inporting engines from Japan
Mike Shields knows his stuff for more info: http://www.spdusa.com/
swap shops:
rallispec in NJ
Japanese Automotive in Toronto
i-speed usa in CA
"Give the Lachute people a call. Last time I was up there they had a V2,V3,V4,V5,V6,V7 drivetrains all in stock. Probably a number of them have already been spoken for, but they're definitely the place to go for a swap. They've certainly done more swaps than anyone else North of the border.
877-568-3121"