[timj86]

Hi All,

I have read all of the debates on engine swaps and was curious to know if anyone has paid for someone to do the swap & a rough cost. It’s somthing I would love to do although I have played with cars & bikes in the past which never got finished due to lack of mechanical knowledge.

The info I’m after is for the following engines;

- G13b
- G16b

It’s somthing I have been considering for a while just to get the extra power on the freeways when going on a long drive. Although I didn’t buy a Sierra to go for fast on freeways, it would be great when I go away for those longer drives.

If there is any simple options to gain more power with the stock engines other than carby & exhaust please let me know.

[Gwagensteve]

If you have to pay for a drive-in drive out conversion you're going to be in for a shock. I think circa $8-9K is the kind of figure reputable workshops use for a complete coil pack 16B swap.

A G13B or G16B Vitara will be less but they all require slightly different jobs.

[30ONA]

There is a guy in Brisbane who would probably do it. PM me if you would bring it up and I can give you his name.

[Eddy]

Having done a dozen or more assorted engine swaps myself, I gotta say that there is nothing surprising about some of the large quotes given on this work. Even with the best conversion kits if available, there is always something to cause a stumble, and a full conversion with everything having to be scratch built can be very very time consuming and frustrating.

[greavesyzook]

Steve is right my mate payed the local 4wd shop to do a g16b conversion cost him nearly 10 grand!

[MrRocky]

New parts make it easy but they obviously add to conversion costs. Say $2500 in parts (sump+wiring inc) plus finding a good motor. Then $1000 - $1500 in labour (least thats what i work off) If you spend less on new parts initially then the labour costs go up.
Ive done 6-7 baleno swaps for people not including my own vehicles. Ive alot seen swaps by non zook workshops that wind up having many little issues down the track.
If you have all the parts prepared on the motor and assuming its a 1.3ltr car then the swap only takes a day.
I mainly stick to wiring these days as zook owners always want to cheap out on the new parts/dodgy engines and ends up making the swap a nightmare trying to diagnose issues after a swap on a cheap motor that didnt run to start with.

[Kfal]

In my conversion I think I spent about 1.5-2k and that was doing all the work myself. It took three weeks of afternoons and weekends but it's worth it.

g16b- $650
Conversion kit- $200
Clutch- $150
Various gaskets and seals- $100
Radiator- $150
Viscous fan- $60
Engine bits, plugs leads etc- $150
And probably $200-$300 on other bits that I can't recall off the top of my head.

It's a good experience and once it's running you'll be very pleased with yourself. A lot of the technical bits can be handled by workshops, you can buy ready made wiring looms and the sump modification can be sorted from a good fabrication shop.

[sideways]

Where are you? Perhaps PM Losfer on here. He is very experienced and does this for a living.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=53437

[MrRocky]

Keep in mind have a go yourself and royally stuff it up then a shop is gunna charge you big $$$ if they have to fix it up.

[bumstein]

Kfal wrote:

Viscous fan- $60

Slightly off topic but not worth its own thread and I don’t recall
It being mentioned anywhere else (perhaps I’ve missed it) but I’m planning to use the electric fan out The Baleno rather than a viscous fan. This should work well for the application right?

[MrRocky]

Personally id say a terrible idea. The sierra crank fan works fine and wont ever stop working. As does the vit viscous fan.
The only way you can tell if the fan stops is once your engine temp is up and sometimes your motor is never the same, not to mention water crossings. By all means connect a thermo to the front of the rad and use the signal wire from the baleno loom. The ecu will trigger it once temp rises but keep a mech fan 100%

[pete_79]

bumstein wrote:

Kfal wrote:

Viscous fan- $60

Slightly off topic but not worth its own thread and I don’t recall
It being mentioned anywhere else (perhaps I’ve missed it) but I’m planning to use the electric fan out The Baleno rather than a viscous fan. This should work well for the application right?

Hmmm..... Not sure if Trolling??

http://www.auszookers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=789231&sid=e93b53d3c2afeee566c31b828037a389#p789231
http://auszookers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=488015#p488015
http://www.auszookers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=51369

And then I got bored....

[bumstein]

Fair call!! It’s water crossings that I thought might lend to the idea. Ie being able to switch it off rather than flogging your fan through water, but I def see your point. Will see how it pans out when I’m closer to that stage but might look into the dual option, having said that the air con fan will likely be in the way. Anyhoo! Thanks Mr Rocky

[Kfal]

Yeah I'd definitely stick to some form of mechanical fan. I did the fan upgrade and got a new rad because I figured what could be better than more airflow and a fresh radiator.

What I don't like about electric fans is they wait until the engine gets to temperature before they engage.

[timj86]

Thanks for all the good help.

What I have taken from this is to try myself as it’s just not affordable for me to pay someone. I’ll call on my mechanic brother & do some study but I think I will take the advice and rebuild one on a stand first, then fit it to the car.

[MrRocky]

Finding a low km baleno motor is advisable and cheaper than a rebuild

[ZUZUKI]

Unfortunately, most people underestimate the time it takes to do a decent job of a conversion.
Most 'general' mechanical workshops are in the region of $100p/hour, with some specialists or 'luxury' marques over $150p/h.
Kfal has something like 80hours into his conversion (3h per arvo x 15arvos = 45 + 6h x 6days of 3 weekends = 36, total = 81hours)
80 hours @ $100p/hour = $8,000.
That is effectively 1 person working on nothing else for 2 x 40hour weeks. A workshop that has done similar work before should get is done a bit quicker than that, but even 60hours = $6,000 in labour alone + motor + consumables & whatever else needed to be fixed along the way.
$8k+ is not unreasonable if you take your car to a shop & drive it out 2 weeks later with a decent G16b conversion.
Rgs, Michael

[Kfal]

ZUZUKI wrote:

Kfal has something like 80hours into his conversion (3h per arvo x 15arvos = 45 + 6h x 6days of 3 weekends = 36, total = 81hours)
80 hours @ $100p/hour = $8,000.

Shit, I never looked at it that way but you're probably about right when it's averaged out. I know some nights after work I didn't do anything but some I was in the workshop from 4pm until midnight.

That's 8k I'm glad I saved. For reference our workshop charges $115 an hour.

[ZUZUKI]

Ours is $110p/hour & the last conversion we did was $7k with us supplying the motor & gearbox (used the matched Vitara 5speed that the G16B was already mated to, with the t/case removed) & it should have been more.
Rgs, Michael