First Car - Future Transplant?

[turbotrana]

I'd take your parents EL and turbo that. I wouldn't worry about the 24V head as with the turbo kit I have in mind it will do 500hp at the wheels. I have some auto mods that strengthen up that auto trans heaps. Get some EL Gt rims and you will have a real nice and quick car. The BA Turbo is nice but its a bit of a lard arse at the moment and I wouldn't consider buying the series 1 new or second hand until all problems are sorted out.

[ducatijb]

Mate,save your money,finish Uni and learn to drive and then worry about getting yourself a hotrod

[Guest Cizza]

I'd take your parents EL and turbo that. I wouldn't worry about the 24V head as with the turbo kit I have in mind it will do 500hp at the wheels. I have some auto mods that strengthen up that auto trans heaps. Get some EL Gt rims and you will have a real nice and quick car. The BA Turbo is nice but its a bit of a lard arse at the moment and I wouldn't consider buying the series 1 new or second hand until all problems are sorted out.

I need reliability, 500hp from that engine is going to require some hardwork and lots of money. As ducatijb said, I'd rather finish uni and then build a hotrod - or anything that requires heaps of cash.

At the moment its the 24v heads for sure... turbotrana, if I go forced induction, ill give you a buzz. Just remember, with the 24v heads the engine can pump out close to 300kw with mild boost.

I wonder how much power the bottom end can cope with?

[faygun]

If you modify your parents EL with BA falcon heads, its not gonna be very reliable. At the end of the day, you ll run into some problems and then it will be at the mechanic for a while. You ll get it back and then something else will go wrong. Off to the Mechanic again.

Im not trying to put you off Cihan. I would love to see an EL or AU with a BA twin cam head. But realisticly, I dont see the point.

Just a quick example of the problems I had encountered with a corolla once I used to have. It was a GTi, with forged pistons, stronger conrods, and a compression ration 10.86:1.

It went pretty good for a 1.6. I would hose off most stock 6 cyclinders. One day, the engine stuffed up on my way to uni. Appareantly it was running too lean.

Anyhow, I took to a workshop, where they told me that it would cost a fortune to re-build the engine with that compression ratio and forged pistons and etc. So I told the guy to put in a supercharged 1.6 (4AGZE) in it.

It took nearly 2 months. And then I had problems after problems for a year until I sold it.

Examples of the small problems are: stock gearbox slowly started to let go but never died in my hands, when the car was cold, you couldnt drive it (this was due to poor tuning (that bloody @#$%& workshop)), and heaps more like leaking fuel, etc.

Examples of big problems: I went for coffee one night and that coffee cost me $1500 that night thanks to our fellow officers at EPA and RTA. I got defected for emissions control, modified engine and plus lots more and more. I still think about that night and get the sh!ts big time

Finally I had enough of the car and decided to sell it. I sold it for much under what I paid for it, mind you dont forget I changed the whole engine and this and that.

So, to be honest, at the end of the day, its not worth it. Just save your money, get an EF/EL XR6 manual, put extractors, cold air intake on it. And you ll be happy with it as a first car. Its still fast and looks good and still pulls in looks

Edited 08/03/04 01:21 AM by faygun

[Guest Cizza]

Buddy, thanks for the advice, but a BA engine is just an EL/AU block (from what I can gather) with a 24vlave head. Everything else is the same, apart from the ECU (maybe even that?). The reason I want it Unichip tuned is to prevent the possiblity of running lean or rich.. their work is garuanteed and proven by dyno sheet. The fuel and ignition maps are tuned for the individual car, there is no reason why a very safe 200kw tune with the parts in my sig isn't possible on 98ron fuel. The addition of a $300 rising fuel pressure regulator can also increase rail fuel pressure manually prevent flatspots and make the most use of the stock injectors. The compression ratio stays the same, only thing chnaging is the number of valves, which will allow the same power as an NA BA develops...

All I have to find out is the cost of the new heads, and what ECU mods are needed to cater for VCT etc.

Its different to mucking about with turbo cars... Alot less can go wrong.

Thanks for the concern though.

Cihan.

Edited 08/03/04 03:40 AM by Cizza

[3rdTurbo]

Buddy, thanks for the advice, but a BA engine is just an EL/AU block (from what I can gather) with a 24vlave head. Everything else is the same, apart from the ECU (maybe even that?). The reason I want it Unichip tuned is to prevent the possiblity of running lean or rich.. their work is garuanteed and proven by dyno sheet. The fuel and ignition maps are tuned for the individual car, there is no reason why a very safe 200kw tune with the parts in my sig isn't possible on 98ron fuel. The addition of a $300 rising fuel pressure regulator can also increase rail fuel pressure manually prevent flatspots and make the most use of the stock injectors. The compression ratio stays the same, only thing chnaging is the number of valves, which will allow the same power as an NA BA develops...

All I have to find out is the cost of the new heads, and what ECU mods are needed to cater for VCT etc.

Its different to mucking about with turbo cars... Alot less can go wrong.

Thanks for the concern though.

Cihan.

You're young and enthusiastic - but take the guys' advice.

The mods you suggest would involve the car being off the road for some time and there would be countless reliability/setup issues.

Faygun is spot on. I once had an '88 Celica SX FWD with a '91 GT4 3SGTE turbo engine. Great car when is was working. It spent 2 weeks on the road and 2 weeks off - broken gearboxes, clutches and later had problems with the brake cylinders.

Go with the EL. Start small (e.g. filter, exhaust) and then go for a more ambitious project. I reckon a reconditioned engine would be the best money spent. Next I would consider renewing the suspension and put in some good brake pads. Don't waste your $$$ ricing it up.

I think you're getting a bit carried away - You will have more trouble insuring an EL with a BA DOHC head than a jap import. For what you have in mind I would suggest you should be prepared to spend $10k to $15k at least to perform the mod you are contemplating.

Alternatively, get an EF/EL XR6/XR8 instead.

[TurboDewd]

Yawn, isnt this thread over yet?

[Turbo6man]

Yawn, isnt this thread over yet?

Nah mate, not yet.

He asks for advice.

He gets advice. And there is (for once) a general consensus in that advice.

But, yes BUT, Cihan is determined that he's going to do it his way and keeps arguing AGAINST the best advice on offer.

That's cool Cihan, but why bother aking for advice in the first place?

All the guys here are keen to help newcomers in every way. As you said yourself this is a good forum and there is a lot of experience here - listen to what the old hands are telling you and save yourself a lot of grief and expense in the long run ...

BTW - I am a long way from being convinced that the 24 valve head will even mate up to the EL block. As yet I've heard of no-one doing it and I am thinking there has got to be a simple reason for this. One thing for sure is that you will NOT be able to use the Ford wiring loom or ECU/PCM unit as they are totally incompatible in their way of operation as between those two models. So you will have to source a complete stand alone aftermarket ECU, one that not only controls fuel injection and ignition timing but is also capable of operating your VCT and I think this is going to be your downfall with the whole idea. But good luck if you can get it to work and please be sure to let us all know how it goes. There would be plenty of people wanting to do it I'd reckon.

[faygun]

He asks for advice.

He gets advice. And there is (for once) a general consensus in that advice.

But, yes BUT, Cihan is determined that he's going to do it his way and keeps arguing AGAINST the best advice on offer.

That's cool Cihan, but why bother aking for advice in the first place?

No offence to you Cihan or anything, but Turbo6man is right. But Turbo6man, sometimes the best way to learn is by the hardest way. Just like I did :banghead: :banghead:

Cihan, Im not trying to put you off but just telling you my advice and experiences.

That corolla I have mentioned before COST ME over $21Gs.

considering I have bought it for $14K, and at the end of the day sold it for $10K. but I have learnt my lesson at the end of the day.

[GlennAUII]

um... will this car bve able to be insured with a turbo engine? if so will it be able to be insured CHEAPLY?

also you must be rich if your first car will be a turbo EL