lb 2.6 swap questions

[city hunter]

I had a few questions about this swap before I go ahead and do it.

FIrst anyone who has done it. How much does it throw off the cars balance?


Second, Is there any need for driveshaft customization from the km119 4 speed to a truck box km132 5 speed? Like different slide yoke?


Thats about it. i ahve a entire non intercooled g54b turbo on the 74 galant, and I am going to get rid of that so I might as well swap it into my lancer, Everything has basically already been done for me.

[stealth]

yes it throws car of balance
you need to make custom mounts moving engine back 40mm and still wont be right
but good enough to live with
not sure on tail shaft as there are several different versions of km132
cheers stealth

[Mr Aerospace]

I'm running an LC with a 2.6L, but don't quite know what the setup is under there. (Bought it as is)
Thus proving it can be done! I think it's just a plain swap if you keep the gearbox.
But...any tuning more than a d/d weber and you might as well kiss that gearbox goodbye. (don't think the diff will last long either)

There are two ways to deal with the longer gearbox though...either you shift the engine forward, and play with the mounts, or you chop the tailshaft and the tranny tunnel to fit the longer gearbox.

P.S.
KM119 is the narrowblock Saturn matched 5-Speed...
KM110 is the equivalent 4-Speed. (push down and left to engage reverse)

I'll actually get the gearbox info up in a sticky somewhere

[karl_2ltgc]

I had a few questions about this swap before I go ahead and do it.

FIrst anyone who has done it. How much does it throw off the cars balance?

Heavier springs and shocks, will sort out balance.
Stick the battery in the boot, can take about 5kgs outa the flywheel

[81GL]

But...any tuning more than a d/d weber and you might as well kiss that gearbox goodbye. (don't think the diff will last long either)

little bit sensationalised eh? ;)

As for fitting a longer gear box, you'll more than likely find a suitable length shaft from a sigma. for what its worth, the tail shaft in my GD came from an auto GH sigma. Perfect fit, and all the uni's swap over so just mix n match what you need to make it fit.

Nick.

[Mr Aerospace]

little bit sensationalised, eh

Yeah! well never let the truth get in the way of a good story!

[city hunter]

unfortunately we never had sigmas here. The engine already has 5lbs off the stock flywheel. Not much but it makes a difference, and I already have ab battery relocation it for it from the donor. I'm still undecided on the swap. I may just collect the fuel injection ecu and harness for the 4g32 turbo parts I have laying around.

[DanTurboLancer]

Ok im not sure what you are referring to with the Gbox models, but ill say with my experience in my 76 LA

I fitted the 81 GH 2Lt Turbo and 81 5spd GBox, total mission, the GBox was too bulky around the tail end and wouldnt fit into the trans tunnel, and also was too long, i had to cut some of the trans tunnel back to get the shifter to work, and then made up spacers and fitted longer bolts for the trans Brace to allow it just to fit.
But that added angle to the engine, lowering clearance for the bonnet, and steap angle for the front uni joint on drive shaft (dropping some power), and had to have exhaust lower to clear the Brace....
I think the later 2.6 Gboxes are more to suit that smaller shape, but it will depend on the model motor you go for, some of these guys can help you with that.
Im not too up on the Sigma models etc...

I had a Sigma drive shaft, and had to get it cut shorter to fit in, and had the factory Lancer rear Uni fitted, plus balance of shaft came to around $300 AUS...
But an auto item might be short enough, and again depends which model Gbox/engine you go with.


Prob different over there but in Aust a 2Lt Turbo, or 2.6 non turbo is the biggest we can have legaly in this model. And with those engine choices you have to have Disc Rear end.(but a V8 upto 302 is also Capacity Legal, and ive seen photos of one fitted! try to get that cleared by an Engineer but lol)


I later tried a Starion 2lt Turbo, bolted in , with alittle modding to engine mounts.
And the 5spd bolted straight in, and was a factory style fit compared to the 81 sigma.

the Lancer Diff isnt too bad, if you arent too agressive, i gave mine hell and it lasted awhile, but as expected with a welded centre, the poor little axles twisted and sheared.
It was regoed and only street driven
But i was doing 2nd gear launches!

Next in went a Jap sigma diff and it didnt last much longer, so its upto driver discression..

My biggest suggestion is invest in Brakes, mine was very skitish under braking

[karl_2ltgc]

Danturbolance - the BW box in 80/81 sigmas is a POS aussie thing. Also lancer/galants with autos have bigger trans tunnels.

City hunter. Your in the US right, so just grab a starion/conquest 2.6 turbo motor. Blocks are about the same as our 2.6, then just find a aussie magna head for it to replace the yank shit they come with and aussie magna efi gear, use the conquest box(you will need to convert to hydrualic clutch) and your cruising.

[DanTurboLancer]

City hunter. Your in the US right, so just grab a starion/conquest 2.6 turbo motor. Blocks are about the same as our 2.6, then just find a aussie magna head for it to replace the yank shit they come with and aussie magna efi gear, use the conquest box(you will need to convert to hydrualic clutch) and your cruising.[/quote]


Actually that is exactly the set up i have in my 2 door and it works great!
The guy that fit it mutilated the firewall alittle bit to fit the Hyd Clutch master cylinder but.
And its running a micro tech LT series computer.
But he has had to cut around the gear stick in the tunnel abit too.

Is the American version a Conquest or Starquest??

[city hunter]

yeah I have access t starion stuff. I was thinking of using a early l200 transmission instead just so I didnt have to bother withinstalling the clutch master from a starion.


and yeah we got the starion and along with the rebadged conquest under dodge/chrysler/plymouth as well.

As for the brakes, yeah they fade fast, Especiallyt when im going down hill on some of the local apsses. They are very twisty roads, I always get brake fade by 1/3 the way down and have to go pretty slow the rest of the way. I imagine with a slightly heavier engine it will jsut be worse.

[stealth]

how did you go with this mate ?
did you end up doing the conversion or not
wuold be cool to see sum pics
cheers stealth

[city hunter]

ended up with my rebuilt starion g54bt engine with hydraulic clutch.

Runs pretty good, needs a surge tasnk setup and more air flow from the radiator fan, but it's done.

[Rally_2.6LC]

I did the 2.6L conversion on my LC lancer (same as your Plymouth Fire Arrow pretty much).
it was a bolt in fit, efi gear needed a little more room but sorted that our pretty quick with an angle grinder and crow bar.
I put pics of my engine pay and car in the members rides section however the photos are a little small and i ahvent gotten around to making them bigger.

Can you buy new Starion Turbo pistons in the States? I have found forged ones by Wisco on ebay, but they are around $700 (depending on exchange rate) I would love a pair (and new rods for a turbo im building) but just cant afford $700 for pistons and $600 for rods at the moment....dont suppose you know of anything cheaper over there?

The other thing that is bloody expensive here is Autometer gauges, how are they over there??? some of them are around $250AU (bout $200US) a gauge here.



Cheers Matt

[city hunter]

I hate autometer gauges, and yes they are stupidly expensive for any gauge that will allow you to actually read it at night.. Overpriced and not up to par with a lot of other makers. I'd go with stewert warner over those, but I'd probably use some nice bli8tz gauges or what nto over both depending on the look im going for.

There are plenty of companies offering turbo pistons. If you are talking oem im sure youc an still get them. I dont care for aftermarket cast pistons. I had a bad experience with a set of clevite cast turbo pistons on my scorp. Lost a ring land with only 2000 miles on the engine. They just cant take the revs it seems. I do like the stock turbo pistons, I've put a lot of abuse on a few engines. 25lbs 18g detonation like mofo and retarding like crazy down the drag strip a few times lol..

Dad from http://www.enginemachineservice.com/conquest.html
carries hyper U pistons with moly rings for a good price. Only 165 or so usd. I thikn they are your best bet other than forged pistons.

He also has forged with rings for 525. Not sure what the exchange rate is right now but our dollar sucks ass so you may be ok.

Just check the page out, he is a very good guy to deal with for anything turbo g54b. Even has recon stock turbo rods for 34ea.

[Rally_2.6LC]

I notice on the site he has an oil pump for turbo application only....whats the difference between this and a normal one???


Cheers Matt

[MrBishi]

I notice on the site he has an oil pump for turbo application only....whats the difference between this and a normal one???

The turbo blocks run a different pick up tube that attaches straight to the pump, while the non-turbo setup bolts to the block.
Not an upgrade for flow (AFAIK)so not worth the hassle of making one fit a non-turbo block.

[city hunter]

Ironically I was looking at my montero setup the other day as im turbo charging it. Uses a early style pickup.. I think the later turbo pickups with the tube may actually allow more flow from the suction side as the hole seems to be larger all around. Then again they montero guys use the pumps all the time and the gears seem to be the same size, so there probably isnt a flow difference.

My personal opinion is they would not have changed the pickup if there wasnt some benefit, and the hole on the block seems much smaller than the pickup on a 84+ usdm turbo starion. A little restriction. The shorter distance ofthe draw on the later models should allow a little more flow im thinking.

And just to clarify, our 1983 turbo blocks had the old style pickup and oil pump. So something is different with the flow imo, otherwise why the hell would they change it.

Man I would love to send a letter to mmc and ask them to have their egineers that were behind the changes explain why they did it.