Hey all I'm just wondering what you all preferance. Im wondering because I might want to make my 87 Gtu a J-spec TII (motor/tranny wise) So what do you all think? Keep the Gtu motor in or buy a Jspec TII and put it in?

 

There is no such thing as a 87 GTU

 

GXL maybe.

 

im pretty sure that 'j-spec' is too much work for no real benefit. just put an american version t2 engine and driveline in there.

 

my bad Gxl

oops thx

 

you're absolutely right. There is no real benefit. Probably because they are the same thing....
the "j-spec" and USDM TII engines are the same. Get whichever one you get the best deal on. If you get a j-spec engine, plan on a rebuild. There's about a 50% chance that it will need it before you ever get it into the car.

 

^Agreed, why not buy a us spec motor with a blown coolant seal or something along the lines + a rebuild kit made by you (look in the archives) and it might end up costing abit more than a jspec but in the long run you'll be thanking yourself you went the right way for a rebuild.

 

Now why do you say it will need a rebuild? Do you have personal exsperiance buying jspec motors?

 

No but i have friends that have boughten these "good compression" motors and have ended up having to rebuild them due to the motors being bad. I need to remember what happened, it'll come to me just wait.

 

I mean most companys do offer a warrenty and yea you can get a 13month motor. We will see how my motor is in a few days.

 

save your money..........keep the NA motor until it blows then do an S4 TII swap......

 

A junkyard motor is not far away from needing a rebuild. The JDM motors (my understanding) are ready for rebuild.

Who knows how long a junkyard motor has been sitting or how well it was maintained while it was in its former car. Sure the JDM sellers are telling you its great, buy it, etc. You know as well as I do a salesman is always true to his word, never lies, especially a junk dealer. Sure would be alot of work to go through (puttingin a motor) just to find out the oil seals have let go.

I would buy a front clip and use 'all' the parts to do a T2 convert. but I would go through the motor first before dropping it in.

 

yes, jspec TII engines are a risk. however, many local fellows along with myself have had extreme success buying one and dropping it in without any problems with it. mine has been going very strong in my daily driver for over a year now. it's a great deal even if you have to do a rebuild considering all the parts you get with it. but yes, be prepared to do a rebuild if you don't get a good one. just saying that there are good importers out there that make pretty sure that you get a good one.

good luck, have fun

 

the j-spec TII engines are also pretty cheap. You can get an engine and tranny for as low as $800 if you buy at the right time from certain companies. Put $1,000 into a basic rebuild (all they really need is a thorough cleaning and new seals, most j-spec TII engines have UNDER 30,000 miles on them. in other words, no new housings) and you'll have a perfectly strong engine in there.

 

isnt the wiring different for the j-spec ones? i thought i remembered hearing that theres an excessively hard amount of wiring involved because of different ECUs or harnesses or solmething... but i dont know where i heard it so it could be wrong.

 

no.....the only wiring issues are going from S4 to S5......the wiring/harnesses are diff.... example:

 

where do you get a j-spec motor from whats there website

 

I'd get a TII engine core and rebuild it. I'm never gonna buy a jspec again, you don't know how long its been sitting or where it has been sitting. But if you do want one, you can get a jspec tranny/motor set for $650 plus shipping. i'll give ya the site if you want it.

 

^nice diagram - back to this rebuilding J-Spec's after you buy them
It all depends on where you get them and whether or not you make the
proper evaluations before buying one.
I bought a J-spec from Sunrise Japanese - they work directly with yards in Japan
The only motors they sell over here came out of running cars over there
If you buy one with low compression (even though it has a warranty) buyer beware, right?
But there is no doubt that fully rebuilding the motor will give you complete confidence about what you have - but make sure you have all the intake nuts cuz we are all human (to figure out the joke get January's RXTuner)

 

so if i have an s4 n/a, and i buy one of these 600 dollar or so s4 JDM t2 engines and trannies, rebuild the engine, it should be the same as a regular n/a to t2 swap, the jdm makes no difference whatsoever, right?

sorry for hijacking the thread i just have lots of questions.

 

yup......except for some emmissions ****.....i think it should be like any other NA-TII swap.