LK9+F40 (Saab turbo LSJ) swap (Page 3/9)
KillerFrogg APR 17, 10:40 AM
Hot side on this unit is a v-band, cold side is one mother of an inside snap ring, just need a big pair of the right pliers. The compressor wheel is held on by one nut on the shaft, then you can pull that off, and the turbine wheel and shaft come out as one.
Joseph Upson APR 20, 10:30 AM
I've been looking at turbos for a non Fiero twin turbo project I'm planning and am familiar with this particular turbo at least in passing it in various forms. Since you are not installing it in its stock arrangement it might not be a bad idea to look for something more efficient and less bulky and weld on the appropriate flange. The GT28 series, or a T3 both with 60 series compressors should be better as well as less bulky on the turbine housing end and more importantly will provide more options.

It may not be important to you now but with time your mind may change in reference to the noise level. An open exhaust will be loud on a short tubing system and a sufficient muffled system may be difficult to achieve also in the small area remaining. I found myself revising mine several times until I finally got the noise level down enough to tolerate without hearing damage concerns as well as not wanting to disturb my neighbors. I kept the trunk intact which made it a challenge to muffle the motor with an aft mounted turbo without choking it at the same time.

Check the Saab forums for recommended upgrades as this is one area where manufacturers still tend to aim low in maximum potential unless you intend to stay with all stock settings.

[This message has been edited by Joseph Upson (edited 04-20-2018).]

wftb APR 20, 01:05 PM
I run a 20G turbo with a Hahn manifold. Turbo was sourced from Hahn as well. Out of the turbo a 2.5" pipe takes a 180 degree turn and goes into a catylitic converter from a base Solstice. From there another 180 and then a straight pipe back across to the drivers side and a 90 out to the single tailpipe. All 2 1/2 piping with mandrel bends. It is not noisey at all. Does not sound much different than my old system with a Camaro style flow master and dual exhaust. Gets a lot louder during high rev full throttle bursts but the rest of the time it sounds reasonable and doesn't leave me wanting to put a muffler on. Going from my old 16G to the bigger 20G, I had to put a dent in the trunk wall to get enough clearance for it. I got rid of the bottom of the trunk when I first went turbo.

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86 GT built 2.2 ecotec turbo
rear SLA suspension
QA1 coilovers on tube arms

[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 04-20-2018).]

KillerFrogg APR 21, 03:07 AM
To start with I am just going to stay with the factory turbo. It will just fine with that I want to do and later once that car is together there are a variety of larger compressor sizes that i can get that fit and will require basically no modifications to that work I will have already done.
It is hard to justify spending the money to replace it right now, especially when the computer and other electronics are going to end up costing about $2k or so and I actually need that to get the car driving.


The big snap ring mentioned earlier that holds the compressor housing to the center section. The joys of working 3rd shift and being able to use the tools at work.
KillerFrogg JUL 02, 12:32 PM
**The ecotech tear down post**

Kind of in order.
-Painted the valve cover. Couldn't do much else at the time.
-Pulled the head. Looks great.
-Block is fantastic aside from some carbon build up on the pistons. Factory hone still showing on the bores, so scuffing or ridges.
-Pulled the timing cover. Found that the tensioner for the accessory chain (water pump and balance shafts) had broken. The guide it pushes against broke. Good and bad. Engine was running when car was junked, but probably was making awful noises.
-Holy over kill batman. All of the Ecotech engines are built like this. Case is split at the crank, effectively acting as one giant main cap/girdle that sandwiches the crank to the block. 4 bolt main. 6 if you want to boost your ego and count the little ones.
-Oil pan. And thankfully the rest of the broken tensioner. All in one piece. It matches up perfect with the other half and does not look like made many if any shards.






KillerFrogg JUL 03, 10:48 PM
The 3800S/C removal post.

Got the 3800 pulled and off the cradle over the last few days. Brutal heat during the day so I have been working mostly at night.
It is kind of sad looking at the install of this engine. It could have been so much better than it was. The custom mounts someone made for it were all really nice and clean, great looking welds, and generally well done.
The wiring left something to be desired. And the fluids routing.
Engine is now in storage, aka the corner of the barn, till the time comes for it to get worked over for the BMW it is destine for.

-No wonder this thing was so weak. The sparkplugs on the back 3 cylinders were not even finger tight. 2 of them were half backed out.

-Blown head gasket? Oil was a milk shake. May have been me. I did nothing but do (crappy) burnouts between when I got the car and stored it a month later for the winter.

-ATF cooler lines were pinched at the soft line joint.

-Passanger side coolant line was rubbing on the re-positioned alternator's pulley.

-The accessory belt tensioner was left with the ribbed pulley, and was pushing against the flat back of the belt, cutting grooves into it.

-Lots of the wiring was cut off and just taped over with painters tape, lots of sections of the loom were way too long and just kind of tucked out of the way. One of the relays was just ziptied to a bracket on the intake.

-They somehow got the engine to run without the cam and crank position sensors????
(going to just backspace the big long theory I had about this because I just remembered my brother pulled the coil packs and igniter module off for his car and cut the harnesses going to it for his project car)

-Murdered the barn floor with ATF. Damn. I don't normally work with autos and I forgot how much fluid is in them.
Spadesluck JUL 04, 03:20 PM
ATF is nasty stuff more so when its burnt up.

What are you going to do with the spare 3800SC now? you may have mentioned it but I missed it somewhere. ha
KillerFrogg JUL 04, 03:50 PM
The 3800 is eventually going to make its way into a late 80's BMW that my brother picked up as a parts car for his project. Not going to be anything more than a track rat really. Maybe 24hrs lemons. Slowly have been getting parts for that. It's a series 1 3800 so it won't last long but it will get the project running.
foxgapfiero JUL 11, 07:43 AM
keeping an eye on this thread. I have an 84 convertible that I would like to swap an Eco and manual trans into.
KillerFrogg NOV 22, 05:00 AM
Its been a while! Work has been crazy, blew up the engine in my Subaru, so had to stop working on the fun stuff and rebuild that.

This winter will be slow as far as work on the car, but there is still a good bit of work I plan on doing. I have modification to do to the intake setup still, a bunch of pre prep on electrical, engine sensor stuff and calibration, and ECU integration with the factory dash, all of which will be well documented mostly because I don't have much else to do till winter is over.

Speaking of ECU, it is ordered and on the way. Going to run a Haltech 1500 + expansion module for some extra IO. I wasn't going to get the expansion module at first but thank you black Friday discounts. 15% off basically paid for the expansion unit.

Once it shows first thing planned for it will be to get it to drive the factory speedo.