Dave's perpetual project

Post by **david58** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:31 pm

Big Dave wrote:Now I get it! Skid and baja5 are scared

baja5 · Post by **baja5** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:38 pm

Yep, scared it is.And I'm with Leather, definately go with a Honda 4 cylinder.Preferably one that is reverse rotation so you have 4 gears of reverse, then I'll still be faster

Big Dave · Post by **Big Dave** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:02 am

Turbo_Manx_Maniac wrote: Steve layed out ~$5K to do that 2.5T conversion after the dust settled. This was his second time around too. He used the wiring harness and computer from Outfront, and did all the work himself. I'd say you could shave off $1K if you didn't use braided hoses, used a stock turbo, built your own harness and tuned it yourself as well as a few other shortcuts. Not worth saving the $1k IMHO.

This is going to sound dumb, but I had bugeted $6K for upgrades to my current 2110

And all that is just new heads, new H beam rods, new valve train, FI, turbo, a DTM shroud, and a Mallory ignition w/ boost retard. That setup would have gotten me ~200HP on race gas, but reliability would be questionable at best.
Kinda makes $5K for a 2.5T look like a bargain

petew · Post by **petew** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:28 am

werl that's just obvious then isn't it. SUBIE IT!!!

Post by **Leatherneck** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:42 am

I need to compare numbers on both engines, HP and $$ but didn't Honda go through a F1 season with no engine failures? Can anybody else say that? That is pretty impressive.

petew · Post by **petew** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:13 am

I think you'll find an ex-F1 engine would cost a little more than $6k....but that's not to say I wouldn't like to see one in Dave's baja.

baja5 · Post by **baja5** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:20 am

The only real viable honda engines that are 4 cylinder and run the right way are the K series.In the type S RSX they put out right at 200hp, but are taller that a Subaru and cost quite abit more.Plus, Big Dave has his heart set on a Turbo.

Turbo_Manx_Maniac · Post by **Turbo_Manx_Maniac** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:35 am

The other nice thing about a Subie is once your all setup, if you blow the engine a new JDM core is $900.

They start up cold and idle nicely, are way smoother than a VW, make decent power, and have been as reliable off road as anything else.

bajaherbie · Post by **bajaherbie** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:25 pm

Leatherneck wrote:I need to compare numbers on both engines, HP and $$ but didn't Honda go through a F1 season with no engine failures? Can anybody else say that? That is pretty impressive.

honda also went without a win

honda has since bailed out of f-1 and sold the cars/equipment to ross braun, former ferrari big wig. now they are converting the cars to mercedes power(i believe)... they are keeping the same drivers though.

baja5 · Post by **baja5** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:09 pm

bajaherbie wrote:
Leatherneck wrote:I need to compare numbers on both engines, HP and $$ but didn't Honda go through a F1 season with no engine failures? Can anybody else say that? That is pretty impressive.
honda also went without a win

honda has since bailed out of f-1 and sold the cars/equipment to ross braun, former ferrari big wig. now they are converting the cars to mercedes power(i believe)... they are keeping the same drivers though.

Damn women drivers.

perrib · Post by **perrib** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:17 pm

I think you should skip the subie and go straight for the supercharged LS1. Welcome back Leatherneck.

Big Dave · Post by **Big Dave** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:13 am

So I have pretty much settled on a 2.5L Subie. I am on the fence about adding a turbo. I could do it, but I think it would just scatter my trans. So I am thinking n/a, at least for a while and save some coin for the brakes.
Who has the best deals on CNC brakes? Does a full bodied baja need 4 pistion brakes front and rear? These things get expensive quick! Especially when I add the parking brake option to keep this thing street legal.
Once again, polyperformance has a good website, but their prices seem pretty steep on these things.

http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/Ser ... 17718.html

After reading Skidmark's review of the Jamar brakes, I'd like to stay away from them, but it seems like that is what places like Moore and Dan's are selling.
If I have to pay these prices for quality, I will...but I won't like it

rickosuave1987 · Post by **rickosuave1987** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:36 am

I would go with a 4 piston set up for the rear since the rear of bajas seem to do a lot of the braking work. You should be ok with 2 piston fronts, but i dont know if the price difference is worth the 4 or not...

I ended up with a 4 piston wilwood/T-3 rear brake set up for just over $300...look for some used parts

Big Dave · Post by **Big Dave** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:39 am

During my free time I have been reading everything I can about Subaru engine swaps, which seems to be very popular with the vanagon as well as sandrail croud, but not so much with bajas. I guess we are a cheap crowd

I talked with the guys at Outfront and I think they want just a little too much for a N/A turnkey engine. But I do think their Stinger ECU/harness and exhaust header is the way to go. Their chopped sump is $270, but they sell a pre-made laser cut 3/8" plate to do the mod yourself for $50. I think I can handle chopping the oil pan down and welding on a new plate and save $225

I think I will get an adapter & flywheel from Hecker Machine and reuse my 1700lb KEP w/ a new Cush Loc disk.
For a radiator, the guys at Outfront recommended a 28 x 16 dual pass radiator with 2 fans. Here is where I think I will have to go a slightly different direction from most others that have done this conversion.
I want to try mounting the radiator much closer to vertical and up as close to the firewall as possible. I think I can put the bottom of the radiator just above the engine and basically touching the firewall and lean the top back enought to clear the stock vents below the rear window--say 30* or so. That should put a few inches of the radiator sticking up above those vents and leave a pretty good volume of air in front of the radiator. I know this isn't ideal as its not going to get much of a breeze, but I don't really want a big wing on the back of my car. Also I am thinking that the radiator will be more like 25" wide and 20" tall so that it will fit down in between the supports for the rear cage--which has yet to be built.
Here is what I'd like to use:
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... 700+400304
It only a single fan, but the shroud should multiply the effectiveness of the fan...I hope.
Now I know this setup will rely heavily on the fan for cooling and should it fail, I may be walking, but in my research, I saw several bajas where the radiator was mounted under the rear parcel tray, or like SHMOs car, in a custom enclosure. The problem in those designs seems to be getting cool air to the fan and a method for keeping the hot air from being recycled back into the radiator. I don't think that will be a problem with my plan. Also as I was thinking about this, don't lots of desert trucks run the radiator in a similar fashion? They aren't exactly in the airstream passing over the top of the truck.
I also think I can hopefully avoid the electric fan troubles Skidmark had by using a metal shroud and keeping the fan closer to vertical.

So what do you guys think? Am I doomed

Big Dave · Post by **Big Dave** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:41 am

Oh yea, the BTRs showed up.

They are pretty