Hi,
Yea, ive read or been told most of what I need to do now. Robert, the guy that did this in an E36, kindly sent me some pics and has been answering questions for me. The thing im suprised the most about is the sump. There appears to be plenty of room for the rear sump, but he had to go with the CRS custom sump for his swap. Ive been meaning to ask him if it was just the stamped sump portion that was hitting, or the actual aluminum portion that hits. I am also wondering if he ever tried a Tundra/sequoia/landcruiser 4wd sump..they appear to be even more to the rear than the soarer/sc400 rear sump. If I can get my hands on one of those, I might give that a shot before I go custom.
My mount plan is to use the LS400 factory engine mounts, as they sweep forward, and from my rough measurments, sweep forward enough that they land right ontop of the front crossmember. Im going to be a bit different than most....I plan on welding my adapters straight to the crossmember, allowing me to use the factory toyota aluminum engine mounts, and factory or megan racing bushings. Not sure if im describing that very well, but basically: the block interface if going to be stock toyota, I didnt see the need to re-design something they have already made. The Toyota stock aluminum mounts will be prettier, lighter, and all in all, stronger than anything I can make.
LOL...im gonna take one guess at what the purple smiley means, and Im guessing its not the happy version nor means a cig! lol... I chose the compact, because well, I have always liked them, they are quite rare in the states, and the big one...they are about 500lbs lighter than a coupe stock! The other reason would be: there is a following for the hatch (318ti.org) and everyone that has a hatch is looking for more power. Right now the only options are:
1.DASC supercharger...3grand to do it right, and you end up with 200hp..not worth it imho
2. BMW S50/52 swap..the easiest and most stock..but even more expensive than doing this....I could have gotten an entire S50 swap local for $2500...and that was considered by many on the forum to be a KILLER deal...2500..a killer deal...hmm..on average your looking at $5000 for that swap in the usa.
3. chevy LS* swap. very nice, and plenty of power. Fairly easy to swap.....but all aluminum LS* motors are still pretty spendy $$
4. ford 302 swap....I almost did this. This is what im trying to model after. Low cost engine thats readily available, mods are cheap and easy, a guy makes a swap kit for $350 that includes the mounts and a manual on how to wire it up. This is probably the cheapest route of all, but the problem with this one: the 302 stock is all steel, even the heads, and its quite heavy, it will affect the handling of the car. The 302 while easy to mod, does only make about 210hp stock. Its old tech, looks old tech, and will never get anything resembling good fuel economy.
Thats when I thought about the 1uz:
engines are all over the place and cheap as.. got mine for $150
they are lighter than just about anything else I could get my hands on (gm ls* motors are about the same weight I believe, good luck finding one for $150!) It is for sure lighter than the bm S50, and im pretty sure im going to gain only 15-20lbs over the iron block, huge aluminum head M42 that was in there (ive never seen a cylinder head as big as the M42s before..wow it was huge..almost twice the size and weight of a 1uz head!!)
The fuel economy of a stock 1uz in a 2600lb car should beat all the other engines listed..and probably tie the M42, or come damn close!
Hopefully I don't sound like I'm on a high horse or something, but I'm trying to forge the way for a relatively cheap, lightweight, powerful yet fuel efficient swap for e36 drivers. In the end, I believe I can make a swap kit that would put this swap on par financially with the other swaps. The hardest part about all this by far has been on the transmission side.
