Turbo to NA ??s

[skid542]

Since I'm now looking for a new Legacy I'm thinking of trying to find a SS and put my current, good, NA engine in. I don't really have the time and the money required to be playing with boost right now but I wouldn't mind having an engine to be building in my spare time. So that brings me to my question - how difficult would it be to convert to NA.

I have access and the ability to swap everything over from my current car, MAF, box, ECU, engine, maybe the exhaust?. I want to use the transmission of the turbo which should be a problem if I'm just swapping engines, but would I need to swap crossmembers?

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks.

[Legacy777]

You'd basically need to do everything I did....but backwards.

You could probably leave the extra sensor wiring alone, and just swap the cam & crank (+) pins.

I'd say it's pretty doable.

[sammydafish]

if the SS had a good engine, why would you take it out? Just don't mod it and it will be fine. You're just making more work and asking for headaches.

[Matt Monson]

The only things you will need to change are the cam and crank sensor plugs, as Josh mentioned. You can leave the boost stuff floating.

You will also need to use the NA crossmember because the NA exhaust won't clear the turbo x-member...

[skid542]

Thanks. Can I just use the turbo exhaust on the NA engine and not have to change crossmembers?

The idea is that if I did the swap I would also be doing to get better gas milage. Which brings me to asking, how hard/would it make a difference to swap ECU's as well.

Thanks.

[evolutionmovement]

The turbo will be a restriction in the N/A line and running it without oil and coolant wouldn't be a good idea. You could get a pipe made to take its place or a header mod on the N/A to come under the turbo crossmember's wall on the right hand side (left side's fine). It needs to come down 3 or 4 inches to clear the extended wall.

[skid542]

You're missing the idea I think. I am not going to run a turbo, I want to run a completely stock EJ22E in a turbo car.

[206er]

If I am understanding correctly you want the ej22e in the car for mpg, and the ej22t out to start building on?
you might as well just leave as is seeing as how you are broke. seems like a lot more trouble than its worth.
sell the ej22e for 600 bucks(its all newish right?) and bury the money in the yard for when you are ready to build a motor. you could make some scratch parting the old car too.
just to stir the pot... the ej22e shortblock can take more abuse than its given credit for, with certain improvements that is. I bet the sale of your rebuilt heads could easily fund some ej25's.

[sammydafish]

there is absolutly no point in doing this. if you want a turbo car, buy a turbo car, if you want good fuel economy, buy a non turbo car.








why do people insist on making things rediculously more complicated than they are :rolleyes:

[skid542]

Hehe, alright...


I was just trying to get an idea for how easy this would be so I have more options while I'm looking for a new BC, which has been exceedingly difficult BTW.

[evolutionmovement]

You mentioned using a turbo exhaust on the N/A. I don't see how you'd do that without having the turbo in line or a pipe made to mate the uppipe and downpipe. That may be easier than getting an N/A exhaust and having the right side head pipe lengthened and would give you better ground clearance. This isn't a complicated project at all. I'm running a turbo block as N/A while I rebuild a 2nd turbo to stock specs so I can repull the lower mileage turbo block in the car now and build into something big. I swapped the motors and all their ancillaries in a driveway alone in a few hours. The only mildly complicated thing requiring fabrication is using the exhaust with the opposite crossmember. Good turbo cars are hard to come by and they're old and someone elses problems. I'll take a car I know to be good over an unknown any day. Swapping an engine is alot easier than rust or electrical gremlins to deal with.