Hi, Long time lurker here.

I am in process of collecting the pieces to do a tubo Ecotec swap into an '88 coupe. In looking at potential doner cars I am faced with a choice and am looking for some community advice.

I am looking at GenII Ecotecs (LHU and variants) from cars like 2008-9 Cobalt SS or up to 2013 Regal GS. These engines have the turbo facing to the back of the car and intake tward the front. The other option is newer GenIII cars, 2014 and newer mostly, that have the turbo facing toward the front of the car and intake to the rear.

Any thoughts on advantages one way or the other?

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Matt Berube

there are guys here with a lot more experience than me, but the newer ecotec motors we see at my oil change shop ALL burn oil more than the older ones.

in regard to the turbo location, do you want more heat to the cabin or to the trunk?

The 'newer' gen Ecotec you speak of is the LTG motor, which was used in numerous vehicles, both FWD and RWD. The LTG is a pretty good motor, but if you get one to do your swap with, while the engine is out of a car I would recommend some rework on the engine to make it more reliable.
Basically those engines come with hypereutectic pistons and they can be the weakest link in the engine. I would recommend that you replace the pistons and rods with forged units. The LTG is equipped with forged rods, but it is my understanding that the aftermarket forged pistons available for this engine require new forged rods because the wrist pin diameter is different. Also if you plan to squeeze the engine for more power, you will need new camshafts that have a larger fuel high pressure pump lobe. The OE system is supposed to be reliable to 350HP, but above that you need more fuel and to get there you need to replace the camshafts with ones that have a larger high pressure pump lobe on the intake camshaft. Or you could get a Norstrum high pressure fuel pump kit, but that's about double the price of an intake camshaft.

It's going to be hard to package the exhaust coming out the turbo, a muffler, and one or two tailpipes with a rear-exhaust engine. Are you looking to fit a catalyst as well? There won't be much space between the exhaust manifold and the trunk...

I'd go for a front-exhaust engine, with an exhaust line routing / muffler similar to stock Fiero. Things will be a lot more roomy.

I run an LNF in my 09 Solstice GXP with 375 bhp - basically just a modified turbo that pushes more air. The engine internals are fine up into the 400 bhp range but above that forged pistons are advisable.

Your biggest issue will be packaging - will you have to move the turbo location etc. Are you looking at using the whole Cobalt engine and trans or mating the Ecotec to your stock Fiero transmission?

if you need a LTG set up, I have one for sale.

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum4/HTML/078635.html

Rob