Engine swap costing, pros and cons

[fly-s30]

Hey all.

I'm starting this thread to gauge what an engine conversion including engineering ends up costing at todays prices.  Seeing prices of Sr20's being similar to rb's, the question needed to be asked.

Open to all users and all engine swaps to post up.

What was involved? What did you source? bit and pieces? Half cut? Full car?

What conversion was in your opinion worth the cost?

What did the engineer deem to be necessary alongside the swap?

Any swaps worth a look into that arnt mainstream? Why is it worth it?

 

 

Thanks in advance

Darius

 

 

[nizm0zed]

Daruis

 

I think before anyone can give you the answers you seek, you need to give us a little more info?

Are you doing the basic mechanical? Eg, swap over the engines then off to a shop for wiring?

Or can you wire it all up yourself?

Can you/do you have the facilities to fabricate mounts, exhaust systems, body/chassis mods, intake piping, ect ect?

If you can do all of that then your overall cost can be quite low.

If you need to pay a workshop to do everything then you could easily spend $5-8k just in labour, if not more depending on the 'show quality' you want.

 

As for a source of donor parts, If you are planning on keeping the factory ECU and engine wiring, then a halfcut is by far the best way to go, you get a complete setup that theoretically you can start up in the halfcut and hear it running.

If your planning on going a lot more over the top, then you can open up your options a bit to get an engine/trans package from an importer or private wrecker. Bear in mind though that doing it this way you may not get all the bits you need, but that may not be an issue if your planning on an aftermarket ECU, custom intake manifold, custom turbo/supercharger install ect ect.

If you are planning on a swap that has the availability of conversion parts, EG the Castlemain install kit for the RB motors or some of the LS1 install kits out of the states, then you can take a decent amount of pain out of your install

 

I would budget around $1000 to get the engine mounted and plumbed.

Another $500 in wiring/relays/fuses/connectors ect.

$2000 for an ECU

$500-700 for a workshop to tune it

$1500 for something like a RB25 and gearbox upto $5k for a LS1 and gearbox.

 

Allways overbudget and still expect it to triple in cost, its just how it goes.

I dont know how much i have spent, it wouldn't be too painful compared to the 'average' but im capable of doing a lot myself and i have spread it out over a decent period of time.

 

Edit, i didnt include any engineering in my post because i havent gone through it yet, but from what i have heard from others, it can be expensive.

$1500 easy.

 

Hopefully some of the other guys can share something there.

 

[d3c0y]

This information is covered in detail so many times across multiple forums it's a joke.

Go do a few weeks worth of reading on what is already out there and all your questions will be answered.

[Scoota G]

I'm up to $5500 fitting a 302 Cleveland to a 260Z 2+2 and i'm up to bodywork and paint. I've done all the labour myself. After this step it'll be $800 - $1500 for engineering report. I obtained everything for the best price possible, swapped labour for parts, spent ages on ebay bidding and so on. Getting close to 1000 hours on the build now stretched out over 2 years. If i had've stuck with an l series engine it would be on the road now but that's hardly the point. The largest cost was under the hood but it all adds up and if i couldn't have done the work myself i would be up for another $30000.

[fly-s30]

Nizmozed In answer to your question, all fabrication will be done by us. 

Electronics are going to be outsourced.

This is a good start. Cheers

 

I will start looking at different options with engine and gearbox power v weight figures...3sge, ijzgte + r145, Sr20-z32 box, rb25.

D3coy ill have a look, though it would be good to see what is currently going on localy and relatively recently due to pricing differences the earlier or later a build is done.

 

[dat240z]

Read my RB25det build. Its fresh and the info is spot on when it comes to dollars spent. This site has every piece of info you will need, but as a basic rule Ive found that whatever you spend on parts (brakes,engine etc), eg 15k: spend half of that on other parts/items to make them all work (fittings, mounts, sumps, custom work etc) and the cost of parts at least again for labour.

 

15k parts + 7.5K parts compatibility + 15k labour - and it should be done right and safely...

or if your handy and can do a bit with your hands you can subtract the 15k labour......