Can I do this with little change to the car? Thank you!
please search. there's TONS of threads involving this, especially in the third gen forum.
Desert Tuners
“When you come across a big kettle of crazy, it’s best not to stir it.”
with little mods? no. wiring harness inside and out, computer, many other things. kinda tough unless youre up ffor a challenge
Did I mention I drive a 2000 Lumina now?-----wigm-tuners.org member
Pre-00 is where you need to rewire the whole car. 00-02 you just need the engine wiring harness.
yea, I did this is in my '98 and I'll NEVER do it again.. it was hell, but a '00+ will be alot easier. pre-'00 require a full rewiring of the car and for manuals, cutting and rewelding the rear tranny mount about 4" back toward the firewall. its definitely possible, but costly and time consuming for a motor with less hp. you could spend the same amount of money on the swap that you would rebuilding the 2.4 with forged parts... unless you get REALLY lucky and find a complete donor car that hasnt been unraped in a junkyard for cheap.. the least likely of scenarios
R.I.P. JessE Gerard 7.11.87 - 1.25.08
The Radiation Nation Facebook Twitter Twisted Metal Alliance
and the 2.4 comes with more HP out of the box... swapping to the eco from the 2.4 isn't worth it IMHO... (i'd say the same thing if someone with an Eco wanted to swap to 2.4 ... its not worth it)
Yes the 2.4 sucks to work on... but you can make some power with it... Unless you are trying to have the fastest car on this site, the 2.4 will do everything you want it to do...
JBO Chat User: Speedline02 wrote:and the 2.4 comes with more HP out of the box... swapping to the eco from the 2.4 isn't worth it IMHO... (i'd say the same thing if someone with an Eco wanted to swap to 2.4 ... its not worth it)
Yes the 2.4 sucks to work on... but you can make some power with it... Unless you are trying to have the fastest car on this site, the 2.4 will do everything you want it to do...
the L61 makes 5 less horsepower than the LD9. but... the L61 makes up for it in the weight department. the LD9 iron block probably takes up that extra 5 horsepower with how heavy it is.
the only thing the LD9 has over the L61 is the low-end torque. the L61 has a larger aftermarket, can take some parts from the other Eco motors, and there's a TON of them out there. 2.4's are becoming harder to find. that's why I did an Eco swap in my 2002 Cavalier Z24.
Desert Tuners
“When you come across a big kettle of crazy, it’s best not to stir it.”
to each their own... i havent had a problem finding parts for my LD9... i just finished rebuidling and maxing out the head... the only other thing i can do to the head is run oversized valves, and i think a 1mm increase would show negligible gains..
i do, however, have the comfort of knowing it will take a lot more for something to "punch through" the cast iron block
the only reason I did the swap in mine was 'cause my Isuzu tranny ate 3 gears in one day, and that same day, I found an '04 Sunfire "Sportec" for $800 that was totalled 'cause of the frame gettin tweaked. it would've been a smoother swap, but the guy I bought the donor from tried to swap it into his '95 base model and didnt realize the extent of what had to be done, so he put the motor/tranny back into the car and sold me the mess he made; hacked up wiring harness, broken clutch and brake master cylinders, bent fuel lines under the car.. and the icing on the cake - he had trouble getting the motor and tranny into the car together, so he took a grinder and "shaved" parts of the bell housing down and made a hole into 2nd gear.. and in the process, broke the shifter arm and JB'ed it back together. I didnt see all this stuff til I got the car back to my house and began tearing it down... so if you do plan on the swap, get a GOOD donor car
to me, both motors are awesome.. the LD9 has the stronger iron block and more hp/tq, but the Eco has an overall lighter motor and from what I've heard, comes with forged rods and pistons. its all a matter of preference, and since you're '00+, you wont need to do NEARLY the BS involved with the older body style
R.I.P. JessE Gerard 7.11.87 - 1.25.08
The Radiation Nation Facebook Twitter Twisted Metal Alliance
FReQ Z (ikE-Zed) wrote:JBO Chat User: Speedline02 wrote:and the 2.4 comes with more HP out of the box... swapping to the eco from the 2.4 isn't worth it IMHO... (i'd say the same thing if someone with an Eco wanted to swap to 2.4 ... its not worth it)
Yes the 2.4 sucks to work on... but you can make some power with it... Unless you are trying to have the fastest car on this site, the 2.4 will do everything you want it to do...
the L61 makes 5 less horsepower than the LD9. but... the L61 makes up for it in the weight department. the LD9 iron block probably takes up that extra 5 horsepower with how heavy it is.
the only thing the LD9 has over the L61 is the low-end torque. the L61 has a larger aftermarket, can take some parts from the other Eco motors, and there's a TON of them out there. 2.4's are becoming harder to find. that's why I did an Eco swap in my 2002 Cavalier Z24.
you also forgot the fact of poor oil design and the lack of splash shield in the pan causing the usual spun rod on cylinder #3. the two other things is the fact you can pick one up at the yard for $500 w/ less the 30k. and the fact it takes the ecm out of the fender well saving it from water and a crash. only thing on the eco is the timing chain snapping, but then again there not as expencive as the ld9.
sure you can do it, but why?
Are you scared of the changes coming? The answer is on the inside.
I'd do it just for looks!
