Amazing swap

[Jarlaxle]

Entering Auto Zone (buying wipers for my Jeep), I saw an odd sight: an older 4-door Kia Sportage SUV that appeared to be lowered a bit, riding on 17" alloy wheels. A guy went out as I went in, carrying a large air filter box & a bottle of washer fluid. I was out in a couple minutes, and saw he had the hood up on the Sportage & was replacing the air filter. But wait...that isn't a Kia motor...?

Under the hood of the Kia was an LS motor, looked like from a truck (hi-mount alternator), more than likely a 5.3 litre. The driver finished his air filter swap, closed the hood, & started the engine...yep, it's muffled pretty well, but that sounds like an LS! Other than the lowered suspension & wheels (and it being a rare-for-this-area 2WD), it looked stock...I'd bet the faded dark-green paint was original, stock sheetmetal, stock interior (even stock shifter), quiet exhaust...great sleeper. I think I need one of these now.

 

[oggb]

Huh. Neat.

 

[wirelessF]

Any Chevy engine swap can turn any vehicle into a sleeper due to its small package, vs massive DOHC engines.

I'm amazed when I saw a Corvette engine swap into a Miata. When he opened it up on an open street, you can tell that ain't no 4 cylinder.

 

[JimPghPA]

Sometimes when those kind of vehicles are ran at full throttle they become uncontrollable. They can make for some great wrecks if the people in it are lucky enough not to get hurt.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: wirelessF
Any Chevy engine swap can turn any vehicle into a sleeper due to its small package, vs massive DOHC engines.

I'm amazed when I saw a Corvette engine swap into a Miata. When he opened it up on an open street, you can tell that ain't no 4 cylinder.


My friend has one...LS1 from a 2000 Camaro in a 1991 Miata. His has the Flyin' Miata front subframe--still handles like a slot car...but now runs 11's instead of 16's.

Flyin' Miatas (in Colorado) will actually build a turnkey LS Miata conversion with a warranty.

 

[nleksan]

I love the fact that those Chevy V8s are so compact, lightweight, and powerful! I have come across a few BMW E30 325is's with LS engines and 6spd manuals. One frequents trackdays and it is amazing; apparently the engine is able to sit way farther back in the engine bay than the BMW I6, weighs a lot less, sits lower, and as a result has the car's weight distribution almost perfect, and a noticeably lower CoG. There is a good 8-12" of extra space between the engine and radiator compared to the original engine.
The plethora of aftermarket parts also means easy, cheap power, and reliable power. I know he pulled his from a wrecked (I believe 03-05?) Z06, and he fabricated a custom intake that is big enough to swallow a 3yr old child! Yet, from the outside, the only hint that it is not a.regular car (aside from OE euro bumpers and projector headlights, and M3 Evo3 CF splitter) is the lowered stance from the stiff coilovers, the 18x9f 18x11r BBS wheels, the extra 3" of fender each side rear and 2" front per side, and the massive 8piston calipers behind the front wheels and 6piston in rear.
Oh, and the burble from the dual-pipe exhaust.

I want one. Bad.

 

[cchase]

In before the "_insert Ford engine here_ would make a better swap" comments come!

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: nleksan
I love the fact that those Chevy V8s are so compact, lightweight, and powerful! I have come across a few BMW E30 325is's with LS engines and 6spd manuals. One frequents trackdays and it is amazing; apparently the engine is able to sit way farther back in the engine bay than the BMW I6, weighs a lot less, sits lower, and as a result has the car's weight distribution almost perfect, and a noticeably lower CoG. There is a good 8-12" of extra space between the engine and radiator compared to the original engine.
The plethora of aftermarket parts also means easy, cheap power, and reliable power. I know he pulled his from a wrecked (I believe 03-05?) Z06, and he fabricated a custom intake that is big enough to swallow a 3yr old child! Yet, from the outside, the only hint that it is not a.regular car (aside from OE euro bumpers and projector headlights, and M3 Evo3 CF splitter) is the lowered stance from the stiff coilovers, the 18x9f 18x11r BBS wheels, the extra 3" of fender each side rear and 2" front per side, and the massive 8piston calipers behind the front wheels and 6piston in rear.
Oh, and the burble from the dual-pipe exhaust.

I want one. Bad.


Must have a fair bit of top-end work done to warrant the bigger intake. Stock, the LS6 (which is what it would be if he pulled it from that gen of Z06) made 405HP, so it was no slouch to begin with. Any idea what mods are done to it to warrant the intake swap?

The best LSx engine made is the LS7. Nothing else comes close. With its huge bore and exotic components, hand assembled, it is by far my favourite GM product and IMHO, the best mass produced engine GM has ever made.

I'm waiting for somebody to do a Termi-swap (or Coyote swap, though the Termi can make 1000HP, so that's a lot more fun!) in an M5 when their S62 lets go. I know somebody already put a Supra engine in one, but it was a turd when it wasn't on the boost from what I recall.

The 302 was also a common swap into a Miata. There is one in our local club and a number of them in the GTA. Like the LS1, it is compact, cheap and can make big power for little money. The compact nature of a pushrod motor means they can be put pretty much anywhere as well.

 

[Jarlaxle]

The problem with the 302 Miatas is that the 302 is heavier than the (aluminum) LS. Also, the install kits (Monster Motorsports & Boss Frog) do not set the engine back like the LS conversions, making it a bit nose-heavy.

And, of course...it's much easier to make sick power from an LS than a 302.

 

[jim302]

Well that's something you don't see every day.

There are a couple of videos on YouTube showing LS motor swaps on Volvo wagons... but this is the first time I have heard of it on a Kia, especially a Sportage.

I would love to see the looks on the faces of anyone who sees him tale off aggressively from a stoplight...

 

[FXjohn]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Sometimes when those kind of vehicles are ran at full throttle they become uncontrollable. They can make for some great wrecks if the people in it are lucky enough not to get hurt.


killjoy. sheesh

 

[eljefino]

Genius. The Sportage is the last thing I'd ever expect to see hot rodded. At least RWD Volvo wagons you know, by now, the drivers chose them. Sportages, people just sort of wind up in by default, and have no enthusiasm for the make, or driving in general.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
The problem with the 302 Miatas is that the 302 is heavier than the (aluminum) LS. Also, the install kits (Monster Motorsports & Boss Frog) do not set the engine back like the LS conversions, making it a bit nose-heavy.

And, of course...it's much easier to make sick power from an LS than a 302.


Aluminum LSx? Absolutely lighter. However, the engines a lot of guys use for the swaps aren't aluminum. The iron block (truck) engines are usually less expensive.

And I don't agree with your last point. Some TFS top end items and a good cam and a 302 makes plenty of jam. The LS1 has more cubes however so it will make power lower in the RPM range all things being equal.

And of course it completely depends on which LSx engine we are comparing too. They vary in price, power output and displacement.

 

[Jarlaxle]

The most common LS engine (the 5.3 truck motor) can easily top 400HP with just an intake swap (needed to fit the Miata anyway), a cam, and a computer tune. No head swaps, not porting, not even new lifters! Getting 400HP from a 302 is considerably more complicated.

Also, there's the fact that a produstion 302 block will come apart a bit past 500HP. There is certainly an upper limit to what a production LS block can handle...not sure what it is, but it is over 1000HP!

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
The most common LS engine (the 5.3 truck motor) can easily top 400HP with just an intake swap (needed to fit the Miata anyway), a cam, and a computer tune. No head swaps, not porting, not even new lifters! Getting 400HP from a 302 is considerably more complicated.

Also, there's the fact that a produstion 302 block will come apart a bit past 500HP. There is certainly an upper limit to what a production LS block can handle...not sure what it is, but it is over 1000HP!


Technically the blocks fail north of 600HP (525RWHP is the "safe limit") but that only applies to the thin wall cast roller blocks and not the early blocks. And this is usually coupled with a Supercharger. Guys with turbo's have been north of 600RWHP reliably (which would be 700+ crank).

And if you are doing a cam and intake, putting on a set of heads isn't any more complicated. More expensive maybe? But that's the only part you are going to doing on the 302 differently from the 5.3L truck engine. I'm running stock lifters in a 302 with over 300,000 on them with a custom cam.

BOTH are going to need boost to reach their limits anyways, so that point is moot. If I was going to the trouble of making 1000HP, I'd start with a Termi engine, which can do it stock with a pair of hair dryers. Forged pistons, steel crank, H-beam rods....etc. All stock.

The LSx has definitely displaced the venerable SBC as the transplant engine of choice for the masses, I'm not arguing otherwise. But having had my hands in the mix with a number of 302's operating at or around the power level we are discussing, telling me how "complicated" it is or isn't doesn't fly with me. The last engine swap we did was cutting 115Mph traps (N/A) for the PO and was a simple H/C/I stocker in an '85 hatch. That engine is now EFI and in an '87 GT. It is definitely north of 400HP (dyno numbers when the snow is gone) and there isn't much to it.

The problem is the "old school" thinking that goes along with a lot of the SBF builds, using alphabet cams and not letting them breathe.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Why would I need to pull the heads on a 5.3? No need to do it for a cam & intake swap...unless it's getting turbo'd (in which case, it needs the top ring gaps opened up), no reason to pull the heads.

Were I going for a turbo engine...I'll drop $500 for a 5.3 truck motor from a wreck. The factory bottom end is good to 1000+HP with stock crank, stock rods, stock pistons, ported stock heads, and even the stock ignition system.

It is not possible to make big power chgeaper than with an LS motor!

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Why would I need to pull the heads on a 5.3? No need to do it for a cam & intake swap...unless it's getting turbo'd (in which case, it needs the top ring gaps opened up), no reason to pull the heads.

Were I going for a turbo engine...I'll drop $500 for a 5.3 truck motor from a wreck. The factory bottom end is good to 1000+HP with stock crank, stock rods, stock pistons, ported stock heads, and even the stock ignition system.

It is not possible to make big power chgeaper than with an LS motor!


No no, I'm not saying you needed to pull the heads on the 5.3L, simply saying that if you were in far enough to change the cam and intake, changing the heads (which you'd have to do on the 302) isn't any more difficult

And yes, I'm not getting a termi engine for $500.00. But then I don't need to port the heads to make 1,000HP either. Both are VASTLY superior platforms to their predecessors (SBC and SBF respectively) and yes, the LSx is certainly the cheaper platform to mod.

I'm just saying it isn't difficult to make that 400HP mark, nor expensive with a 302 if you use the right parts

 

[nleksan]

The stock intake did not reach and it was blocked as well. So he had one made that is flush against the front and actually completely surrounds the kidney grills.

 

[CharBaby]

My buddy was telling me of a car or truck magazine article that he was reading some time last year.

These guys in the article were looking for a newish GM Truck engine in the bone yard, CHEAP! ... Found one from a recent model crashed Silverado and they built/modified it up pretty good and dyno'd the engine after the build. It produced close to 1000 hp.

To make a long story short, and I can't do the story any justice, these guys building the engine noticed some #'s on the crankshaft and had somehow detremined that the engine wasn't the 5.3L they thought it was. It was a 4.8L. This made the story more exciting!!!

I don't remember what vehicle these guys put the engine in nor do I remember much of the whole story but, It'd sure be an interesting read!

 

[cchase]

Did I call it or what? I knew you'd be here, overkill!