[unfinished]

I am a bit tired of the pace of the G16A powered beast
i do a bit of freeway driving and the Vit just doesn't like it plus my other car is a GT falcon so i miss the power when i'm in this car
I have found a few cheap H20A & H25A's and been looking a the engine bays and I think I can make it fit pretty easy
It will cost me the same to fit a G16B and cost me twice as much to fit a J20 due to the lack of them around

I will be buying a complete running car for the doner and will keep it manual

If anyone knows of anybody who has done this or knows of some threads please let me know

[Gwagensteve]

The chassis is completely different between the early G16A vitara and the later models. The J20/H20 powered cars have wider chassis rail spacing and all mounts etc are in a different spot.

So, yes, it will physically fit. So will an LS1 if you try hard enough.
Yes, with a donor, it is possible to sort of swap everything over. There is substantially more fabrication than you'd imagine though due to the chassis differences. I'd also want to do some measuring around the radiator support panel and radiator mounts. I'm suspicious the H20 radiator is differently positioned/larger so you might need to graft the later front clip into place to make everything factory/line up. You'll also need A G16B SWB vitara fuel tank, SWB G16B tailshaft might work, but I think you'll need the yoke from the H20 car.

Manual H20/H25's run a hydraulic clutch, so you'll need to swap that gear into the SWB. Ideally, you'll need to swap the complete loom from the LWB car to prevent cutting and splicing of a fairly complex loom.

Any H20 donor should have the timing chain and tensioner replaced. Timing chain rattle/failure is a huge problem for these motors. I believe the H25 is better in this regard.

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I'd remove whatever accessories you have on your G16A car, buy a J20 SWB and swap the accessories over. In my opinion, look at it like this - is the time/cost involved in the engine swap less than the time involved in swapping your parts onto a J20 Vitara? if so, then the way might be viable. if it's not (and I doubt it is - this is a complex conversion) then just buy a J20 SWB. the gap between the price of a J20 car and G16A car isn't big enough to warrant the conversion.

PS, there were factory H20 SWB vitaras in Japan.

[unfinished]

i bought a 1995 LWB with a G16b for the conversion
i'll sell some parts off the LWB to recover some costs before i start the swap
its a shame to part it out as its a neat little truck