LSJ Supercharged Ecotec Swap (Page 3/45)
Fosgatecavy98 MAY 20, 11:58 PM

quote
Originally posted by ccfiero350:

I don't think it's all that diificult, it's just uncommon. Roger is selling kits now and the 2.2L ecotec and F23 are very common place and can be had in the $500 range.

I think after a few of these get done and along the way, refined parts, procedures and knowledge base will increase in quality and affordabilty. And it will become more common then the Quad 4 swap before long.

One of the main reasons for doing the 4 banger is that at 2.0L I will race in a class that I may have a chance at winning something. And the LSJ engine and LSD transmission combo really are just incredibable.



Exactly why I ditched my 3.8 for the ecotec. The 3.8, although torquey and not a bad motor put me a class that I was just wayyy underpowered. I cannot wait to race mine again
wftb MAY 21, 12:40 AM
when i first put in my ecotec ,i had it running in less than 6 weeks .there are a lot of statements like "it wont run without the stock hvac controls "or "if you dont have the donor cars radio hooked up the motor wont fire" or "the passlock system is impossible to get around "all these statements have been proven false .the only thing difficult about this swap is if you dont have all the donor car wiring harness and want to make the stock fiero guages interface with the ecotec harness . good luck with that one but i think rodo did that on his auto swap already .i used the cavalier harness and guage cluster because i dont care about a stock look because other than the body ,my whole drivetrain is modified any way .i cant wait to see how the supercharged engine runs .i am having lots of fun with my turbo set up .i have owned lots of fast cars and i am not kidding when i say this is the fastest car i have ever owned .the lighter weight and quick reving make it hard to keep my foot out of it .i cant imagine how fast fieroturbos setup will be .his motor is almost full race .
ccfiero350 MAY 21, 01:09 AM
I've done a lot of research on the electronic side of things. The LSJ ecu is differant from the regular N/A ecotecs. My goal was to use the factory harness and ecu as a stand alone unit. SC cobolts only have 4 gauges, tach, speedo, fuel and boost. Very nice looking I may add. Then it has a cool two line alpha/numeric display that tells you the rest. All the guages are diven from either the fast bus or slow bus. There is a bcu (body control unit) that takes care of every thing in the cabin and talks to the ecu thru the same buses. This can be done but I will probably go with an after market engine controler just because it's quicker and I will not loose as much billable time.

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yellow 88 GT, not stock
white 88 notchie, 4 banger

Austrian Import MAY 21, 03:20 AM

quote
Originally posted by Dennis LaGrua:

Very Interesting and informative post! High technology lightweight engine with great horsepower potential but IMO a difficult swap for the experts. Makes you wonder if Fieros would be using an Ecotec if they were being made today. Looking forward to hearing about the road tests.




I would bet money on that!! Ecotec is GM's global powerplant, and a great engine at that I might add. I used to think that the Honda engines were much better than the Ecotec (was very disappointed to find out that the U.S. spec Ariel Atom has an Ecotec powerplant), right until my friends (some of them are avid import fans) and some research convinced me that the Ecotec is an awesome engine. It runs much smoother and is better balanced than Honda engines too.

Speaking of: I think Loyde at FastFieros is either planning-, or already did similar swaps including the tranny. I'm sure he'd be willing to help out too.

Yay!!! We're a couple steps closer to make the Ecotec a common swap for Fieros.
-M
Fosgatecavy98 MAY 21, 11:35 AM
One thing I need to make clear, if your going 100% standalone (ie no stock computers at all) you (we) need to figure out how to make the alternator put out at its full potential. It is controlled by the stock computer, and without it connected to it, it will only charge at about 11.2 volts, with all the fiero accessories about 10.7volts. Its just enough to run everything on the car at once, but it wouldnt crank it back over after I had it running for a while.
Just to let ya know
ccfiero350 MAY 21, 12:51 PM
The alternator are a little smarter then they used to be. The LSJ uses a higher ouput version then the L61 but uses the same control signals. The small 2-wire plug that goes into the alternator turns it on.

On the L61,
Pin 1, OG color, is Generator Turn On Signal, needs 5 Volts to make it generate voltage. The ECU controls voltage with a PWM 15-87% duty cycle.
Pin2, GY/WH color, is Generator Field Duty Cycle Signal, is a PWM output to tell the ECU how much load is on and to adjust idle speed compensate for high electrical loads.

Tying pin 1 to +5volts will turn it on, I do not know if the internal regulator will take over and maintian the battery.

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yellow 88 GT, not stock
white 88 notchie, 4 banger

FIEROPHREK MAY 21, 02:42 PM
I've hard that you can bolt a Throttle body from the LS V-8's right up to the supercharged eco. Is that true? If it so i got one here collecting dust, it's from my LS4.

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REMEMBER KIDS 4.9 ARE NOT SBC's

longjonsilver MAY 21, 06:55 PM
im really excited to see another ecotec swap. im awaiting enuf guys to do this one that i might be able to attempt it myself. right now the skill level is too great for me. ill be watching this one develop
jon

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I'm the original owner of a white ' 84 2M4 purchased Dec 10, 1983 from Pontiac. Always garaged, no rust, 4-wheel drifts are fun!

ccfiero350 MAY 21, 10:22 PM

quote
Originally posted by FIEROPHREK:

I've hard that you can bolt a Throttle body from the LS V-8's right up to the supercharged eco. Is that true? If it so i got one here collecting dust, it's from my LS4.



The throttle body is an issue. The LSJ uses the fly by wire technology and the stand alone EFI units do not incorporate this. I have not researched much in this direction. Can you measure the bolt patern and bore diameter?

Thanks,

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yellow 88 GT, not stock
white 88 notchie, 4 banger

wftb MAY 22, 08:55 AM
by the pictures it looks like the engine / tranny wiring harness is all complete .can you go and get the donor cars wiring harness ? the ecu and bcu ,large fusebox ,small fuse box and all the relays and connectors are all incorporated into the package .you wont be able to make your saturn guage cluster work without the bcu .the harness it connects to comes out of the bcu .also does the drive by wire incorporate the throttle position sensor ? if it does then it probably goes through the bcu as well .
my swap was very easy to do because i got all the factory stuff out of the donor car . if you are worried about not wasting billable time ,spend the money and get the rest of the donor car's parts that you will need .since you are starting with a four banger ,you need a new fuel pump too .you might as well use the one that was meant for it .when you have all the factory parts , it all becomes plug and play .