joesurf79

My LS swap dream is looking more like this these days hahaha: +

Still getting the brakes sorted out?

If the weather does turnout great, and someone wants to host a total hack in exchange for lunch, I'll be the hack / lunch provider lol

Appreciate the Offer, Thanks man - But no longer necessary.

🤙🤘👍

Yeah I hear ya for sure. The cost to build a strong FA20 to survive boost added into the equation just helps balance the scales cost wise with the bare bones LS swap. Some of the people I'm talking about were tuned professionally to make right at the 240 whp level to meet a power/weight limit - relatively low power levels compared to the capability of those kits. The rods and trans just dont have the margin to survive long pushed that far past their N/A stress levels from what I have seen. The other part of this is a "life nexus" coming - kid number 2 is coming in October, so once I hit the "2 kids under 2" event horizon, the track time is going to take a hit. Hopefully not stop completely for long but it's going to get hit, no way around it.Combine some off time with a desire to tinker and the LS swap rubix cube starts to become an attractive prospect to spend an hour at a time losing myself on, mindlessly wiring a gauge, welding an exhaust joint, or making some radiator hoses. Coming out of the other side of the wormhole with an LS BRZ track car sounds like fun to me. Or It'll stall 3/4th finished and I'll wake up 5 years from now wondering what I was thinking hahaha! Keep in mind this isn't a street car that needs all the odds and ends that push people's LS swaps into the high dollar range. I dont need an AC solution, or factory gauge cluster integration, no ABS, So beyond getting the LS to run (power, ground, 58 psi fuel pressure), the clutch to engage / disengage, an oil cooler, a vacuum source for the brake booster the thing solidly mounted, driveshaft, some exhaust fab I dont see too many hurdles, GM performance makes a standalone kit that has a harness, MAF, DBW throttle pedal, and ecu all together making the LS3 a super simple install from an electronics perspective, increasing the chances that I can get it done sooner rather than never 🙂

Several reasons. The biggest one being that Everyone I have personally met and talked to that has boosted a factory internal FA20 - to a person - has blown at least one up on a "safe reliable professional" tune. At least one time. A bunch of really smart folks with more brains and more money than me who I've met have gone down that path, and thrown heaps of cash at it - and while factory FA20s survive boosted on the street longer, being pushed on track in hot humid TX summers, they're on borrowed time it seems. Just my observation. Yeah there are some outliers on the internet who are vocal, and rightfully so, but I've seen enough misery firsthand that I'm spooked. Talk to Ryan Payne for 10 mins and you're terrified lol! And if the block doesnt self ventilate, the transmission who's design envelope was 175 ft lbs of trq (with safety margin) gives up in dramatic fashion. Seen several break under boost. Reliable tune is a relative term. There may be something involved with the polling time of the ecu that seems to contribute. One of the gents above is on stock block #3, now has a motec running the show and claims great reliability - but that pushes the $6K to $8K, right? And thats not to say that an LS is instantly the most reliable motor in history, running it hard with adequate cooling in stock form presents a surplus of reliable power in comparison. Racing anything breaks everything, but an LS3 pushing my go-kart wouldn't be breathing hard. And if I part out all the BRZ drivetrain parts at 27K miles now, sell the Trans that has good syncros, etc...I (misguidedly) believe I can get the out of pocket cost down the cost of the supercharger and the inevitable 2nd donor FA20. Also - NA V8s are friggin awesome. 420 crank hp is plenty more than too much. And it'll do it happily I believe. And I'm certainly crazy 🙂 Boost yours first and I'll watch haha 😉

Ive got a bigger radiator and propper ducting on the car already, which will both work with the swap, as the radiator support remains intact, so everything forward remains unchanged. Im sure the diff will go at some point, but people running lots of boost dont seem to break them like eggs, so it will do for the time being. Super super amped on this idea. A new crate LS3 from GM is the cost of a used LS3 and transmission swap lift-out package of unknown maintenance history. But there is piece of mind that the thing will run mint if broken in properly and that if it bounces off the rev limiter too mant times it was indeed my fault. Thats a debate im having internally.

Your sarcasm-o-meter wasnt going crazy ?

They put it on scales and the cross weights are better than factory 😉 Cant chug the koolaid fast enough (or shiner after work, but whatever;)

Oh for sure. And thousands under budget, and with no gremlins taking hundreds of dollars and 10s of hours to solve lol!

Looks like the swap kit made by a company called Sikky is the winner for engine mounts, trans mounts, headers etc, Post swap their test car gained 75 lbs (comparable to a supercharger kit) and the weight distribution F/R improved from factory. This is looking like a legit path. They apparently have a wiring solution as well that runs the factory gauges, ABS, and Electronic Steering functionality as well. Time to actually start shopping for a cam-in-block Freedom Generator!

*directs wife to check Facebook* Need an FA20 block lol?

It has the electric motor on the column that varies the assist based on the vehicle speed etc. Not sure if it just varies the voltage that the motor gets to change the level. Guess I could just send it a constant voltage value that results in "decent" feeling assist and live with it. Racing the NA miata with no ABS, I could live without it. Nice to have but could live without. Power? Minimum of 100HP More than I have, and have those ponies made as reliably as possible into the sunset...

Got it!