B230f+t vs LS swap

[JohnMc]

.......Maybe stop listening to that guy. There's no advantage to carbs.

 

[Ceej]

.......Maybe stop listening to that guy. There's no advantage to carbs.

Agreed, they are worse in all ways. Maybe the simplicity of tuning the fuel is about all I can think of.

 

[2manyturbos]

Let's go backwards 35 years technologically speaking. Carbs make a cool vintage show car pop. In the real world, they suck in more ways than one.

 

[JohnMc]

Agreed, they are worse in all ways. Maybe the simplicity of tuning the fuel is about all I can think of.

And even then, fiddling around with jets that have overlapping effects, swapping jets around... it's not really easier.

Not compared to plugging the laptop in and tippy-tapping on some keys to alter the fuel map.

 

[Ceej]

And even then, fiddling around with jets that have overlapping effects, swapping jets around... it's not really easier.

Not compared to plugging the laptop in and tippy-tapping on some keys to alter the fuel map.

Very true lol. Also, I just looked into making a 5.0 put out 300hp+ and it seems to be pretty damn expensive.

 

[dl242gt]

Soo, you got the $$ numbers for the V8 swap. But I haven't seen any numbers for the better brakes, better wheels and tires, better suspension you are going to need. So that will certainly eat up another $2k or more of your money. After all you want to make a car with supporting systems up to it's performance level.

 

[240wagonguy]

The buyin for an LS swap depends on where you live. Here in the rust belt, truck engines are cheap. Even if you buy one from a partout, it's $500 for a good running under 150k miles 5.3L. These engines just run so long that the replacement market isn't huge for them. Now if you like hacking stuff up and have the space, you can get rotted silverados that run mint for $500. I have several sitting here now. I've got a Denali with 287k miles that I'm making money on parts now, and the 6.0L runs perfect. That's going into my drift 740.

If you want a cheap stick shift for LS swaps, check out Fabbot. it's a $420 (Nice) adapter that uses a 4L60E bellhousing (pretty much free) and a Colorado AR5 trans. Those are cheap, like $100 to 200 already pulled from junkyards around here. They can hold 600hp+ apparently. No exotic clutch setup either, just an fbody LS1 flywheel and clutch kit.

 

[2manyturbos]

It makes no difference whether he hops up the red block or puts the V-8 in there. The engine weighs the same and his horsepower goal is the same. All the suspension and supporting mods will be the same no matter which path he takes.

 

[Dicktater]

Op says it's a daily driver, I love making mediocre power with a 4 banger with my DD, why the magic number of 300?

250 to the rear wheel is much fun without the expense or the headaches to reach a number you pulled out of your ass. If it's your DD dependability is your first goal power level takes a back seat.

Yeah I know, I sound like Redwood Chair aka common sense.

 

[carfreak]

If your going to do a swap just do a b230ft with a 93 block it's basically bolt up and proven to fit. I've done a couple Ls swaps and there's always stuff you don't anticipate like cooling and hoses and gauges and instrumentals along with drive line and breaks and the list goes on. You can buy a 740 or a 940 running and refresh the motor with seals and do add ons outside on the stand and just bolt it in with the addition of some yoshifab parts or a little fab work.

 

[benflynn]

6.0s are 1100$ish around here. 5.3 are like 350-600.

 

[carfreak]

You can also get a brand new harness from Dave Barton for about 350 that's basically plug and play and he has a list of all the parts and pieces for the swap on his website make a couple junk yard runs and your ball park there. You can also keep your breaks drive line and suspention the same until you run into problems

 

[2manyturbos]

He doesn’t need to spend a dime on a harness. The harness in his 1989 240 will do the job perfectly.

 

[culberro]

My wife?s uncle is a die hard Mustang guy and he keeps bugging me to 5.0 swap it. Did you keep the fuel injection? He?s saying to do HCI and switch it over to a carburetor.

Kept it EFI, but used an Explorer/GT40 intake manifold.

A Summit Quadrajet and a $250 intake would allow for enough fuel and air to hit 450hp with ease. Toss on a programmable distributor for $200 and you have a running car. It's a bit crude, but it'll do the job.

Very true lol. Also, I just looked into making a 5.0 put out 300hp+ and it seems to be pretty damn expensive.

Making power is not that expensive. Get some ported GT40 or ProMaxx/Edlebrock aluminum heads (aim for 58-61cc on the chambers), and get a Trick Flow Stage 2 cam or a billion other cams.
The "V2" engine I posted up above is a combo that routinely makes well over 450-500hp to the crank when running a carb. I'm using the GT40 intake, so it's probably in the 350-400hp range. That's with about an hour of tuning with the microsquirt ECU.

 

[JohnMc]

If you want a cheap stick shift for LS swaps, check out Fabbot. it's a $420 (Nice) adapter that uses a 4L60E bellhousing (pretty much free) and a Colorado AR5 trans. Those are cheap, like $100 to 200 already pulled from junkyards around here. They can hold 600hp+ apparently. No exotic clutch setup either, just an fbody LS1 flywheel and clutch kit.

Interesting.

I've found the Nissan 6-spd to be a bit of overkill. I've never had a 6 speed before, and it just seems like... too many gears. Too close together, and the big fat power curve on the turbo LS doesn't really need that. Things might improve if/when I change up the rear axle ratio (putting a Ford 8.8 in) but so far - might as well just have a 5 speed.

 

[Harlard]

The "V2" engine I posted up above is a combo that routinely makes well over 450-500hp to the crank when running a carb. I'm using the GT40 intake, so it's probably in the 350-400hp range. That's with about an hour of tuning with the microsquirt ECU.

Or you can be a fancy pants and use a hi ram manifold and any of the hundreds of affordable and capable ECM solutions for a couple grand more. WHAT HAVE Y</a>OU DONE TO ME?

 

[Ceej]

He doesn?t need to spend a dime on a harness. The harness in his 1989 240 will do the job perfectly.

Cool that?s what I had read as well. Also, it?s my understanding that going the 16v route is pointless unless you plan on building the block because an 8v will do the same job up until the same power level as the 16v. Is that true?

 

[JohnMc]

I'm not quite understanding what your last sentence means, but a 16V head flows a lot more air than an 8V. And that makes more HP. You *can* make power on an 8V head, but you have to put a lot of money into head work and cams, and throw more boost at it.

I do think the use case of a 16V swap is getting a bit pinched, however, between BIG turbo 8V builds on one end and LS/2JZ swaps on the other. It's easier in many respects than a complete motor swap since the bottom end is still stock. But a turbo 16V, especially in a 240, needs a lot of custom parts to make it find and work.

 

[Ceej]

You should add at least another $1k for nickel and dime expenditures. That's always where you get killed on engine swaps.

I suppose but sometimes it can go both ways, save a couple hundred on a deal here, lose a couple hundred on something unexpected there. That?s what I threw the Misc $200-300 in for but sometimes things go sideways. I like to be optimistic and hope that it doesn?t though lol. Your name sounds familiar, was your car featured on Donut media?

 

[2manyturbos]

It isn’t pointless. The 16 valve breathes so much better at any RPM than the eight valve does. The expense just goes up like a skyrocket when you decide to build one though. Stock, they make the same horsepower as the B230 FT turbo engine does running the same fuel management system.