2nd Generation Specific (1986-1992) 1986-1992 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections.

20B or not 20B that is the question...

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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 08:47 AM
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20B or not 20B that is the question...

Ok, sorry for the lame topic, but I hope it got your attention...

I currently have an '86 NA. I am getting ready during the winter to tear it down and redo a lot of it.. It has a body kit currently, but will be removed to be repaired/replaced while the car is being torn down and repainted. The engine will be removed at which point I can redo the electrical system. While I have the engine out I thought about swapping in a 20B cosmo. My current engine is a rebuild with slight porting, and with only 47,000km on it. So even w/o swapping I have a decent engine. I probably never would have thought about getting a 20B if it weren't for the fact that my friend can get me one dirt cheap imported for me.

Now I definately don't need the power, I am not doing any serious racing, altho I intend to go to the track a couple times a year.. but the idea of having a 20B in my rex just makes my mouth water.

My first question I guess if it is even worth my while. The time and effort it would take to mount such an engine in my 7. Hell, would my tranny even be able to handle that much power?

I've also heared things like the 20B not being as reliable... so in the long run, it probably wouldn't be a good choice? I guess I should probably go look up as much as I can about it, but I thought I would get some people's opinions first.
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 09:13 AM
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First of all...all 20bs are Auto...so you would need and Auto tranny to boot....I dont think your drive train would be able to handle the power either....and if its a SE with 4 bolts....(i dont know for sure) but it would probably blow your wheels right off.....Also you would need to redo the front end so it cna handle the weight of the 20b
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 09:14 AM
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With the money it costs to do a 20b correctly in a Gen 2...your better off buying a Gen 3 if you want a fast 7
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 09:17 AM
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That's what I was afraid of... but I wasn't sure.. with the price I am getting this 20B I can sell my 13B I currently have and make a profit. But converting my 7 to an automatic would be hell for me... to me, anyone who buys a sports car in an automatic flavour should be shot.. but oh well... I guess I will weigh the pros and cons, or hell, it might almost be worth it to pick up another 7 w/o an engine for cheap, this time an automatic and drop the 20b in that... would almost be cheaper.
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 09:22 AM
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yeah but the Auto tranny fmor a gen 2 still wont handle the power of the Cosmo 20b....its a huge project
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 09:23 AM
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If you want a fast 7 I would just buy a Gen 3...like i said..it would be cheaper...theres a 20b forum here ask them, they know more the i Do
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 09:40 AM
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Originally posted by Raptorchef
If you want a fast 7 I would just buy a Gen 3...like i said..it would be cheaper...theres a 20b forum here ask them, they know more the i Do

There are plenty of fast FCs running around.
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 09:44 AM
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Stock to Stock FDs are faster...I wasnt trying to say that FCs are slow.....
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 10:05 AM
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yikes... well... I've been doing some quick research and reading so... first off, FC's are easier to do a swap in... FD's reqire a LOT of extra parts that are quite expensive apparently... altho both conversion (FD and FC) are expensive, no doubt there... it seems most projects ahve used TII tramissions... which means manual is just fine...

and yes, mine is a GX so I would need to convert to a 5 lug nut system on my car... I don't need to be sliding accross the icy pavement in winter when my wheels fly off from the amount of torque being produced...

Getting the parts for an fc conversion would be easier for me, I ahve lots of friends to get parts from and know a lot of people that could fab parts should I need them. I guess I will just have to keep checking into things as time goes on before making my decision.
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 10:10 AM
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Well Good luck
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 10:16 AM
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why would you need n automatic for a 20b?
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 10:17 AM
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I thought the 20bs....came as autos...and there no 20b tranny made for them.....but im not expert
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 10:19 AM
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An engine is an engine is an engine.. engines are not autos OR manuals.. it's the tranny that depicts what your call will be... and you are right, there is no tranny that is specifically thought to be used with them... many people have tried all sorts of different transmissions... but the TII seems to be the most popular from what I have read thus far.
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 10:33 AM
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If you're going to answer a question, at least know what your talking about.

You don't need an auto tranny for a 20B swap. The engine will bolt up fine to the NA or TII transmission as long as you use the proper flywheel and clutch assembly (match them to the transmission). Use a lightweight flywheel so you don't have to change the front counterweight.

It's not so much installing the engine that's hard, because it's easy to buy/make engine mounts. It's all the other stuff. EMS system, FMIC, fuel, exhaust, little things. Figure $10K (engine excluded) as the minium. I know it could be done for less, but $10K is a good start. I would recommend installing the TII tranny, driveshaft and rear end. The torque from the 20B could make the NA parts short-lived if you aren't careful.

There is a 20B forum here, so I would suggest looking at that for the details.
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 12:07 PM
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wheeeeeee, you guys are all talking about my pipe dream, lol....
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 01:51 PM
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You don't realize what's involved with this project. You're a new poster, do some research and you'll realize it's not worth it.

4-lug or 5-lug doesn't matter much at all, 5.0 mustangs produce over 300ft/lbs of torque and still have 4-lug.
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 01:56 PM
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how about you take the turbos and manifolds off it and just sell me the short block? then you can buy an FD
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 04:57 PM
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i was curious as to how a tranny from one car would be possible to put on another, like this one http://www.eliseusa.com/rotary.htm
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 05:25 PM
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i have an auto tranny, in my rx7 no difference in performance, just isnt as fast in the 1/4th mile. i plain on changing that tho. Question, sence i already have an auto, and lets say i could find a cosmos whith everything there and could afford a new ecu ever use the old one) would it be any easyier to do on my 1990 S5 Auto? If i striped the drive train from a cosmos.
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 05:54 PM
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only 10k for a 20b swap? interesting.. .

i thought a lot of stuff needed to be fabricated. hell, when i blow my 13BT way down the line i might have to look into 20B swaps
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 08:20 PM
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doing the 20b conversion is easier than you think first you can bolt the engine right to the stock 13b mounts using the engine mount kit from cork sport ,second you can use either a t2 tranny or third gen tranny , more people prefer t2 tranny and dif they are stronger than third gens parts , get an ecu haltech i know works well however microtech might also be good though not many people can tune them just yet , the hardest thing is making all the intercooler pipes etc. i am planing on doing the swap when im done wit school although im planing on big singles and looking to push 900to 1000 hp , i know some third gens in jersey wit three rotors pushing 900hp and there streetable. good luck wit every thing if you go threw with it total prce range your lookin to spen for swap around 10,000.00 to 13,000.00 depnding on your set up .
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 09:21 PM
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Originally posted by Mephis
i have an auto tranny, in my rx7 no difference in performance, just isnt as fast in the 1/4th mile. i plain on changing that tho. Question, sence i already have an auto, and lets say i could find a cosmos whith everything there and could afford a new ecu ever use the old one) would it be any easyier to do on my 1990 S5 Auto? If i striped the drive train from a cosmos.
We have done dyno testing on identical engines using both a Mazda stock TII transmission with redline fluid in it, and a stock Mazda (actually, its made by Jenco for Mazda) 4-speed running B&M trick shift fluid. The automatic really is as bad as they say. It costs a lot more power, and is not strong enough for consistent launches Our fresh Jenco's would last 2-3 good launches before letting go. It really was a Mom-and-Pop slushbox, never designed for any kind of performance use. We chose to change over to a prepped reverse manual valve-bodied C4 automatic for our drag car as Mazda does not offer a useful automatic.

Changing out your transmission will be the number one performance gain you can make.

Having the automatic would not make things any easier for you in completing a 20B swap. The automatic from the Cosmo was completely different from that of the S5 Jenco. You would need to make your own mounts, and use the stock cosmo ECU and automatic for this to work. It is not worth the effort to run the automatic, either run a TII transmission, or change over to an aftermarket automatic for drag strip-only purposes.
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Old Jul 26, 2003 | 09:38 PM
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but yes, I will look into it further before I actually decide whether to do it or not.... but concidering, I am replacing my exhaust, intakes, wiring harness and electrical systems, and pretty much everything else under the hood, would it be any worse to do it with a 20B than a 13B? My exhaust is the ****, my header is cracked to **** and there is no hope for it, and I would never want to weld it, so I have to replace it, and while I'm at it, I want to replace the Y pipe and everything else down the line as well... So whether I get a 13B or 20B I have to get a new exhaust... My intake was poorly done (it was done be previous owner) so I am replacing it as well... My electrical system is slowly dying and falling apart. And while it was all out, I planned on getting a new ecu anyway.. so instead of preparing my purchases for a 13B I can just buy everything with a 20B in mind, so really, I'm not doing really anything extra for a 20B than I would my 13B I currently have.

And as I said before, the price I am getting this 20B I can sell my 13B for more and gain a profit off of the engine swap which will pay for the engine mounts and all that... the only thing I might have to do is pay a bit more to have some parts frabricated for me which isn't that big of a deal since I know some people that do it for a living... either get it done for really cheap or free.

But the more I read about it, the more I feel that it's possible. THe expensive part for me is gonna be the interior when I have it done. I am replacing my whole interior with new leather seating, and replacing the dash and consoles with brushed alluminum and black vinyl. Then comes the audio and video systems. That I will probably have to wait a couple months before I can afford.

I guess now I should start posting in the 20B forum so I can get a little more insight and advice from people who have actually done it.
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Old Jul 28, 2003 | 11:00 AM
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so am i the only one who wants an N/A 20b?
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Old Jul 28, 2003 | 12:07 PM
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InstallDaemon -- if you can get that 20b for that cheap, I'd get it, and resell it for a tidy profit. Use that money to build up your current setup, or sell both motors and buy a built 13BT -- or do a 13bRE swap...
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