engine swap, not typical?

i was wondering if anyone has a engine swap into one of our cars besides the dohc 1.6? I have been looking at alot of different front clips from rear or side engine wrecked vehicles. I have to get alot of measurements but one could be in the future. i think any dohc 1.8 or bigger would make a geo a awesome daily driver. I have been thinking along the lines of a dohc 420a, new chevy Ecotec, or a dohc honda engine. My friend and mechanic really wants to find a caddilac shortstar v6 in it. they claim the engine is only 2 feet wide and puts out 220 to 240 horse power. just wondered if any of you guys have thought about any swaps lately?

Well, any motor bigger than the 1.3DOHC or doing a 1.6DOHC mod(The 1.6 are all SOHC, but the DOHC head can be bolted to a 1.6 block) adds so much weight to the front, the car would handle like a yak. Also, it would kill the braking. The 1.3DOHC swap is a very powerful motor for the little car, and with a turbo, would be more power than you'll ever need. A turbo 1.3 can put out 300hp if you're a good tuner, 200-250 for a rookie. A stock 1.3 is still a quick low 16 second motor. Perfect for a nice zippy daily driver. But doing any type of V6 swap, would require a TON of fabrication, and would add a lot of weight to the car.

I am more interested in straight line racing if i did a swap, were weight in the front end would be a good thing. the only reason i wouldn't want to do the 1.3 or 1.6 dohc swap is because it would be cheaper to but a suzuki swift in my opinion and not have to do any of the work. i do not mean any offense to geozuki by that because his car was awesome and if i remember right he found a good donor car. very hard to do. i doubt it will happen because i am putting time and money into my 1st gen rx7 now. just wondering. i would think with getting rid of alot of luxurys like the ac and moving the battery to the back would free up alot of room. fabrication of mounts and exhaust wouldn't be that hard. just have to get time to do the measurements and then look for a donor car.

Well, for a pure straight-line racing car, a V-6 would be nice. GM made a turbocharged 3.1L Turbo V-6 for the old turbo sunbird's and sunbird convertibles. And old buddy of mine measured for one of these swaps a while back, and it will fit just fine inthe engine bay without cutting anything. Also, the shock towers have almost the same dimensions as the sunbird convertible. So there would be minimal modifying to the CV axles. If you did an inverse mount, elminated the front hood latch support bar and used hood pins, a large radiator, and a steel motor carriage instead of modding motor mounts, you'd probably have a very solid car. And perhaps with a lil boost, and some big a$$ slicks, it would run a mid 12s 1/4 mile easily. Just take the sunbird front knuckle and strut, adapt them to fit the metro's lower control arm and ball joint, mount the engine so the axles are as straight as possible (easier on them for drag racing, less breaks), cut the axles and re-weld them to proper length, and so on and so on. But yea, that would be my recemmondation, or maybe a 3.5L out of a dodge intrepid R/T (254hp N/A) But those with the tranny bolted on are pretty big.

the caddy shortstar was the only v6 i had thought of. I would like to find a engine that will fit but also has a good after market. that is why i was thinking of the 420a out of a dohc neon or non turbo eclipse/talon. Or of course a honda motor but as that would be cheaper to mod people would probaly just think it was a hatchback civic. :) I would love to try to shove something in there with variable valve timing like a mitsu mivec or honda vtec. I think i will just wait until i see something i can use for a deal. besides i have to get my other project running 1st. i don't really want to go boosted just want to keep it all motor for my daily driver. it would be awesome to get 200 wheel horsepower out of anything i put in it. the car commutes about 80 miles 6 days a week. my co workers would be pissed if they could not keep up with my little geo. no car makes you smile as much as a sleeper. :)

:iagree: Sleepers are the best. And a metro is a great sleeper. Just make it look clean. Nothing ricy or fancy. People get sooo pissed when I smoke their little grand am gt's and such. The look on someone's face as the lil geo goes flying away from them is the best. Makes all the time and effort worth while. And so does the awesomely low insurance and 30mpg with my 1.3 :)

twin engine idea, suzuki makes the arctic cat motors and they have a 660 four stroke turbo engine that makes 110 hp stock, put one in front and one in back, cook them up to 150 each and you have a weight balanced 300 hp monster, these engines have been around forever in the foreign mini car market, not saying it would be easy, but very interesting, they couldn't weigh too much

i love twin engine cars but that would completely take it off the daily driver list and the low budget swap list at that. i have seen a twin engine, turbos on both engines, tiburon that runs on methanol. last i heard it ran 9's in the quarter. anyway i want something low budget. for example i see alot salvageable 2000 up caviliers. if i could get the front clip of one with the ecotec motor it would be sweet. my dad could fab up mounts or a cradle if need be. i really don't think i would mind using a automatic as that is what my geo came with. i would still like to keep it a all motor daily driver. if i was going with boost it would be something very small and then i also would have to make way for the intercooler and etc. looking for a all motor swap right now, and maybe think about boost afterwards. i look at it like this. decent tires, a little weight reduction, and a all motor 4 banger close to 200 hp will put me into the 13's pretty good. damn good actually. thats faster than most production sport cars. stangs, sti's, evo's, all run high 13's i believe. i love a sleeper. anyway we will see. i should probaly take some measurements under the hood and post on here to get some help seeing what engines would fit. sound like a plan?

Ehh, the auto trans is too big, and it's too weak to handle more than 100hp. You'll also break axles like no other. The automatic's have un-equal length axles, while the GT 5 speed uses a mid-shaft, with equal length CV axles. The GT auto's have a mid-shaft also, but the axles are still thin.

sorry i should have been clearer. i didn't mean the dohc cam swap. i meant something custom. i am leaning towards a 420a out of a neon. I used to have a neon so i know a bit about there motors. a sohc version would be easy to find. now here's the trick. The sohc guys will get the mopar performance computer for a dohc because it works better in the long run even for the sohc engine. I could get the computer and just buy a street ported dohc head. there are alot of sites with info on this swap. I believe it is tti racing who sells the lightest balanced aluminum pulley for this motor too. throw in some cams, spark upgrade, intake, and exhaust, and you have yourself a bad little geo. 2 reasons i was wanting to stay automatic. for one i would have to put a clutch pedal assembly in a automatic car ! :( and besides if i can use the 420a, the 3 fastest neons in the world are automatic. hell if it would fit i might even look into the 2.4 stroker option.