20B swap

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Old Nov 17, 2007 | 08:14 PM
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20B swap

I have a 13B non-turbo motor right now and I'm looking into buying a 20B twin turbo motor. I'm going to get a blown motor for about $800.00 but the turbos are still good. I'm not sure if it includes the tranny or not but i think it does. Anyways I was wondering would i need a whole new tranny, rear end, basically just all new everything? Anyone here ever do a swap like this before and know how much it might cost me to complete it?
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Old Nov 17, 2007 | 08:24 PM
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There is a 20B section that has all your information. Also check out fc3spro.com, there is a 20B write up there
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Old Nov 17, 2007 | 08:34 PM
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also, if the motor is blown, it could've damaged one of the plates... that 20b plate cost like 2k...
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Old Nov 17, 2007 | 10:01 PM
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Originally Posted by venkatm
I'm going to get a blown motor for about $800.00 but the turbos are still good.
That's a great deal if most of the parts are still OK. I recommend reselling the parts for profit unless you are willing to spend a LOT of time and money on the conversion.

Originally Posted by venkatm
Anyone here ever do a swap like this before and know how much it might cost me to complete it?
Plan on at least $10,000. Most people spend about $30,000 though. Some of the show quality 20B cars are in the $50,000 to $120,000 range.

Originally Posted by Turbo II Rotor
Your in over your head.
^ agreed
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Old Nov 17, 2007 | 10:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Turbo II Rotor
Your in over your head.
Come on you guys. Can we start supporting people?
I agree 20B conversions require significant time, money, and care.
ANYONE can make that type of commitment.
Yes, a lot of ppl do get over their own heads w/ big dreams but can we just still supply them w/ information and warnings of what their heading into instead of shooting ppl down everytime they ask if they could "swap this into that"?
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Old Nov 17, 2007 | 10:14 PM
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$800 for a blown 20B? If thats true thats insane. As said its really expensive to do a 20B, I just started one, and my bank account is already crying...
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Old Nov 17, 2007 | 10:36 PM
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Originally Posted by cloudx189
Come on you guys. Can we start supporting people?
I agree 20B conversions require significant time, money, and care.
ANYONE can make that type of commitment.
I disagree.
I can count the number of 20B FC owners in here with...both hands.
The number of 20B FC owners WHO STARTED WITH A NON-TURBO FC with...one hand.
If "ANYONE" could do it, why haven't more people have?
Talk is cheap.
Get the $10,000 in parts...get the Turbo II drivetrain...and then we'll talk serious.


Yes, a lot of ppl do get over their own heads w/ big dreams but can we just still supply them w/ information and warnings of what their heading into instead of shooting ppl down everytime they ask if they could "swap this into that"?
No, the information is out there.
Why do we have to spoon-feed every newb who gets delusions of granduer to do this swap?
"If I had a nickel for everytime someone asked this question..."


-Ted
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Old Nov 17, 2007 | 10:52 PM
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Originally Posted by cloudx189
Yes, a lot of ppl do get over their own heads w/ big dreams but can we just still supply them w/ information and warnings of what their heading into
Er, isn't that what we did? Granted, some of the responses were terse if not blunt, but I think they drive home the basic message.

I think a lot of people get upset because they think their questions are not being answered as if those who have the knowledge are trying to hide something. In actuality, it's not possible to list a step-by-step procedure or a complete parts listing for a custom conversion like this. It will be up to the individual to figure it out, and the original poster does not have the background for this, despite the fact that he is asking very intelligent questions.
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 12:37 AM
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Originally Posted by cloudx189
Come on you guys. Can we start supporting people?
I agree 20B conversions require significant time, money, and care.
ANYONE can make that type of commitment.
Yes, a lot of ppl do get over their own heads w/ big dreams but can we just still supply them w/ information and warnings of what their heading into instead of shooting ppl down everytime they ask if they could "swap this into that"?
The thing is they ask a general question which shows that they

1: Have no idea what they are getting into.
2: Haven't even done a search.

A better question would be, "Where can I get information on ..." or something like that.

People we help other people when its something more specific. All his answers are here all he needs to do is click the search.
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 12:53 AM
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Think about how much it would cost to do a basic TII swap... Then multiply it times 5.
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 01:00 AM
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you could always go cheap and run a carb and modified distributor box.
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 02:34 PM
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I got a new car and I want to mod it. It's an 88 GXL. I just bought a full TII driveline (including front plate and oil pump, excluding rest of motor), a Koyo N-flow, The new greddy intercooler, and the mounts. Was thinking of full ball bearing single turbo on a cosmo motor(2 or 3 rtr, havn't decided).Got a few questions. Should I go with the 2rtr? I want reliability (at least 80k on a fresh rebuild) so should I get the 3rtr?

What do I need to do to the omp? anything?

Was looking for like 300bhp that could be adjusted to 450, but not sure if thats too big of a range. is it? I'll daily drive this thing at the lower hp setting, and just for the guy with the 'vette that always brags about his 1/8th times will I crank it up. Right back after that. Will the TII transmission hold up?

What type of turbo would be able to perform like this for me and get these numbers while remaining fairly efficient and staying away from surging? I'm not incredibly knowledgeable about turbos, so the more info you can point me to about the technical side of them, the better.

And this isn't really important, but what EMS and electronic boost and fuel trim adjuster should I run (in the posters' personal preference?) This will be a learning expirence for me, and I'll be dialing in the final tables myself on the dyno with a 5-gas analyzer hooked up. I'm looking for ease of programmability, but what I'm wanting in it shouldn't influence you too much. Just pick your favorite out, and I'll research it a bit more.

If I sound like I'm lacking knowledge in some area, please point me in the right direction.
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 03:20 PM
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Search! Oh and http://www.fc3spro.com/ has all the info you need.
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 03:59 PM
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Search would be a great idea if it were more innovative and useful. That was the first thing I did and I either come up with nothing, or everything unrelated. plus it doesn't show half the threads that actually fit the search criteria.

fc3spro has a lot of info, not all that I need however. It does speak of turbo efficencies, but not what that info means and how to use the numbers on the charts. It speaks of doing the swap, but not of how to make af pressures adjustable. Nor the differences in ems and the like.

Now, I could've missed some stuff, and then I would be more than happy with seeing links to those places on that site.

Aaron Cake or RETed, are you out there so we can get technical? I think you could help me figure this out a bit better.
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 07:22 PM
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change your preferences settings to show all instead of a limited date. Then search!

Ramses666
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 07:36 PM
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The following page is extremely detailed regarding the swap, including a chart with the different ECU options and the merits of them:

http://fc3spro.com/TECH/SWAP/COSMO/20b.html

I'm not sure what you mean by af pressures, but I assume you mean a/f ratios, which is pretty much a prerequisite for every standalone ecu.

Last edited by thetech; Nov 18, 2007 at 07:54 PM.
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Old Nov 19, 2007 | 08:59 AM
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I was looking to have he ability to change bhp on the fly with a small electronic controller or a large laptop. I would need to change fuel and boost pressures to achieve this. Or the fuel trim and boost pressure.
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Old Nov 19, 2007 | 10:51 AM
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All you'd need to do is alter the boost pressure, as your fuel pressure regulator would (or should be) receive boost reference from the intake manifold and adjust fuel pressure accordingly - this is standard on every turbo car and fuel pressure typically rises 1:1 with boost pressure.

Any number of manual or electronic boost controllers are available to deal with the boost pressure part of things. I think you have some research ahead of you, as these are fairly fundamental/basic principles that need to be understood before you should consider something drastic like an engine swap.

Good luck!
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Old Nov 19, 2007 | 01:16 PM
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Yeah, I think I'm going to hold off on the swap till i get sponsored as a D1GP drifter. But anyways till then. . . . the car has its stock springs "cut" so its freaking low and basically the shocks and springs are just blown right now since the ride is constantly just rough and bumpy. Any recommendations for a new setup? I'm planning on getting some tein coil overs but i can't seem to find any for an FC 1987 Or even none coil overs would be a start. I found these so far:
http://www.raceinspired.com/ps-1183-...1986-1991.aspx
But they seem a little too cheap?

Last edited by venkatm; Nov 19, 2007 at 01:20 PM. Reason: adding more information
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Old Nov 20, 2007 | 06:54 AM
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i would go ahead and buy the blown engine and if all parts are good sell it and work towards a good tII project......the money wont get your car finished but it sure will be closer to getting done than a 20b swap.....i own a 20b 89 FC but didnt do the swap myself....i have since taken it apart and back together again and i'm STILL scratching my head over whether i should sell what i got except the body and use the money to build up my 84 or bring the whole thing back with me to the states and do a parts for parts swap.............regardeless the route i go its gonna cost A LOT of time and money. im trying to find the best end prodect......the car its in is a right hand drive and is completely gutted and will NEVER again be street legal so thats why i can bring the whole thing back to the states with me. im seriously leanning towards selling what i got so i can fix up my 84 GSL-SE, but bad thing about that is that even though people who know of this swap and how hard it is to get their hands on the parts to make it work want everything DIRT cheap..........so good luck with anything you decide.
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Old Nov 20, 2007 | 04:07 PM
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Originally Posted by tigerboy rei i
I was looking to have he ability to change bhp on the fly with a small electronic controller or a large laptop.
Why not a large electronic controller or a small laptop?
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Old Nov 20, 2007 | 04:09 PM
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Originally Posted by venkatm
I found these so far:
http://www.raceinspired.com/ps-1183-...1986-1991.aspx
But they seem a little too cheap?

Your riding on cut springs and you're calling those cheap? Anything would be better.
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Old Nov 20, 2007 | 09:35 PM
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Originally Posted by tigerboy rei i
I was looking to have he ability to change bhp on the fly with a small electronic controller or a large laptop. I would need to change fuel and boost pressures to achieve this. Or the fuel trim and boost pressure.
Umm, any stand alone ECU will do this thru internal mapping features. You can run different levels of boost and already have the ECU tuned for this so there would be no reason to have to change as you have described. Buy a good ECU and have the car tuned. Run an electronic boost controller like the Greddy Prospec B and set one of the two boost levels to a something low like 10 PSI and your high setting to whatever you want. You can drive on 10 PSI and lower HPs until you hit the high setting. A manual boost controller would do the same thing.

No disrespect, but if you don't know this, don't try to do a 3 rotor conversion.
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Old Nov 28, 2007 | 10:49 AM
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Like I've said before, I know nothing of aftermarket ECM's. I'm here to learn, and get help. You taught me something I did not know. Terrific! Thanks!
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Old Nov 28, 2007 | 12:42 PM
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tigerboy rei i,

I've now spent three years on my FD 20B conversion and I say this with lots of experience particularly in what not to do, the 20B conversion is not a simple task. It's not just another swap. My comment above about the ECUs had to do with having the knowledge to do the conversion yourself. My advice to you is to take the car to someone that is experienced to do the conversion. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache and $$.

I took the time to read thru the http://fc3spro.com/TECH/SWAP/COSMO/20b.html website. The information contained is very good and very accurate. Also, the cost to do it yourself ($10,000 - $15,000) is right on. Make it $30K if someone else does it. Note on the bottom of the website that they're available for questions. Why not contact them and see if they'll spend some time helping you out?

If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to share my experiences with you on my FD, just PM me.
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