New engine vs. adding turbo to current one.

I'm hoping to get a little feedback on whether it would be better to put in a new SR20DET or add-on a turbo to my current 5 speed '94 G20 with 119K miles on it. These are excellent engines that should last for hundreds of thousands of miles, so keeping the existing engine may not be so bad. I have read P10DET's write-up on his turbo install and it seems rather involved. If I get a new SR20DET, I will most likely want to go AWD as well, so that will add a whole new level of complexity. Any thoughts? Can anyone give me approx. $ figures of one vs. the other?

I searched through a lot of threads before posting and I didn't see anything similar to this, but if there is, slap me around and tell me to look harder so that I don't waste your time (I don't want you guys to be writing the same thing 10 times a day :)

Originally posted by dwightr5150
I'm hoping to get a little feedback on whether it would be better to put in a new SR20DET or add-on a turbo to my current 5 speed '94 G20 with 119K miles on it. These are excellent engines that should last for hundreds of thousands of miles, so keeping the existing engine may not be so bad. I have read P10DET's write-up on his turbo install and it seems rather involved.


If you think adding a turbo to and existing engine is not involved, you're kidding yourself. You have to source water and oil for the turbo as well as creating drainbacks for them as well. In the case of the oil, that involved drilling a hole in your block, threading it, and tying the drain line into it.

Like anything, they both require you to do your homework. Adding a DET to a 91-93.5 G20 is about as straight forward as it gets. Adding it to a 94+ is a little more involved due to the fact your wiring harness will not fall into place like it does on the earlier cars. Still, it's not all that hard if you do your homework.

Originally posted by dwightr5150
If I get a new SR20DET, I will most likely want to go AWD as well, so that will add a whole new level of complexity. Any thoughts? Can anyone give me approx. $ figures of one vs. the other?

I searched through a lot of threads before posting and I didn't see anything similar to this, but if there is, slap me around and tell me to look harder so that I don't waste your time (I don't want you guys to be writing the same thing 10 times a day :)

There is a great deal of information on this subject in the SE-R mailing list archives. It has been debated many times. Here's the basic gist of it: Fielder's Choice.

The DET is not "New". It is a used engine, usually with low miles. OTOH, because the Japanese know they will be replacing their cars relatively quickly, they sometimes are not cared for all that well. Sometimes. Degree of difficulty is probably about the same either way.

http://www.se-r-list.org

There is a link there to search the archives.

forget about the AWD unless you have at LEAST $8000 laying around. and i am not joking

So how do you convert an engine to FWD drive if it was made for RWD or AWD??

You can't use the RWD DET motors, you can use the AWD - you have to replace the flywheel on them, but our tranny will bolt up to an AWD DET (what a lot of us here have) and work fine.....
Hope that clears it up.
The only thing that makes the DET awd is the tranny
chris

Originally posted by G22DET
forget about the AWD unless you have at LEAST $8000 laying around. and i am not joking

Yep. Thanks Luke. Meant to say the same thing. At least $8k plus cutting the the car apart and welding in a new center tunnel. Probably have to cut and weld in the gas tank area as well.

No thanks.

Originally posted by MauiBlueGRide
You can't use the RWD DET motors, you can use the AWD - you have to replace the flywheel on them, but our tranny will bolt up to an AWD DET (what a lot of us here have) and work fine.....
Hope that clears it up.
The only thing that makes the DET awd is the tranny
chris
Gottcha......so wait, there is no way to use a RWD DET?? what is so different between the two?:confused:

If I remember correctly you cannot mount a FWD gearbox to a RWD SR20DET... the mounting points/holes are in the wrong place.

So let's see, drop at least 8K for new SR20DET and tranny, cut apart and weld car, be without car for at least a month (because I don't have all the time in the world to work on it). I think I will stick with current engine and add the turbo after doing ALL of my homework, because as incredible as it would be to have a turbo AWD G, it's out of my league at this point. Thanks for the opinions and for letting me know where else to look for more info.

Originally posted by Anthony
If I remember correctly you cannot mount a FWD gearbox to a RWD SR20DET... the mounting points/holes are in the wrong place. The RWD SR20DET's are mounted long ways, where as the AWD DET's are transversly mounted like the Primeras.

What kind of car is a G20?

Originally posted by 92BlackLT-1
What kind of car is a G20? A good kind - check out www.g20.net and you'll see. check the faq there for info as well