curtis73
Probationary Member
- 2
- 0
- Jul 11, 2009
-
Austin,
Texas
Many noob questions
I have a customer's car in the shop getting a junkyard engine replacement. Its a 91 Eclipse 2.0 DOHC. The 'yard sent a replacement from a 91 Talon that ended up being a lemon. It hemorrhaged oil, and the compression measured anywhere from 90 psi down to 30... and that was with ATF in the cylinders. So, they sent another engine; this time a 2.4 from a 94 Galant. The engine is basically physically identical. I've found that things like motor mounts, vacuum lines, sensors, and other things all look compatible or swappable, and even seem to have the same connectors with a couple easily surmountable exceptions.
I have three concerns:
1- The "new" 2.4L has VVT on the intake cam which obviously won't be functional. I also know that some VVTs time the cam fully advanced and retard as needed, others time it fully retarded and advance as needed, while others time it in the middle and advance or retard as needed. What would make me blissfully happy is if its that latest one because there is a chance I can just take the fixed sprocket off the old engine and put it on the new. Maybe swap the old cams and followers into the new engine?
2- Are there any major functional differences between the two that would confuse the 91's computer? Injector flow rates? sensor value ranges? I'd swap over the old sensors but some of them are in places that the harness won't reach or they're different sizes/mounting.
3- Money. Several things are in play here: We have a very valuable/loyal customer who is itching for his car, he's very excited about the prospect of 2.4L, and I want to make him happy, but I also have to look at the bottom line: am I going to be wasting several hours of my time to get an engine that may or may not function properly? I have already installed and removed an engine twice on this car and I need this to be a slam dunk. The 'yard doesn't have any more of these engines, and this one is a particularly low-mileage pristine example with good compression. Since the longblock is basically the same, I'm sure I can make it work without any issues, but we're not a performance or custom shop. I can't be paying for crazy custom work to "upgrade" to a 2.4L. If its easy and straight forward I'll do it. If not, I'll look for another engine.
If it were mine, I'd just take the time and strip it down to a longblock and put all the 2.0 stuff on the 2.4, but since we are a volume-based general repair shop, this needs to be a walk in the park. I can't take the time to do an engine swap/upgrade when I'm only really authorized to bill out for an engine R&R.
Basically, I'm hoping someone can boil it down for me - is this a logical thing I can do with a couple extra hours of shop time, or is this a bigger thing than I can do while billing for an R&R? I guess if someone could break it down into what I need to do, I can decide if its something I can accomplish or if its something I need to skip.
I have a customer's car in the shop getting a junkyard engine replacement. Its a 91 Eclipse 2.0 DOHC. The 'yard sent a replacement from a 91 Talon that ended up being a lemon. It hemorrhaged oil, and the compression measured anywhere from 90 psi down to 30... and that was with ATF in the cylinders. So, they sent another engine; this time a 2.4 from a 94 Galant. The engine is basically physically identical. I've found that things like motor mounts, vacuum lines, sensors, and other things all look compatible or swappable, and even seem to have the same connectors with a couple easily surmountable exceptions.
I have three concerns:
1- The "new" 2.4L has VVT on the intake cam which obviously won't be functional. I also know that some VVTs time the cam fully advanced and retard as needed, others time it fully retarded and advance as needed, while others time it in the middle and advance or retard as needed. What would make me blissfully happy is if its that latest one because there is a chance I can just take the fixed sprocket off the old engine and put it on the new. Maybe swap the old cams and followers into the new engine?
2- Are there any major functional differences between the two that would confuse the 91's computer? Injector flow rates? sensor value ranges? I'd swap over the old sensors but some of them are in places that the harness won't reach or they're different sizes/mounting.
3- Money. Several things are in play here: We have a very valuable/loyal customer who is itching for his car, he's very excited about the prospect of 2.4L, and I want to make him happy, but I also have to look at the bottom line: am I going to be wasting several hours of my time to get an engine that may or may not function properly? I have already installed and removed an engine twice on this car and I need this to be a slam dunk. The 'yard doesn't have any more of these engines, and this one is a particularly low-mileage pristine example with good compression. Since the longblock is basically the same, I'm sure I can make it work without any issues, but we're not a performance or custom shop. I can't be paying for crazy custom work to "upgrade" to a 2.4L. If its easy and straight forward I'll do it. If not, I'll look for another engine.
If it were mine, I'd just take the time and strip it down to a longblock and put all the 2.0 stuff on the 2.4, but since we are a volume-based general repair shop, this needs to be a walk in the park. I can't take the time to do an engine swap/upgrade when I'm only really authorized to bill out for an engine R&R.
Basically, I'm hoping someone can boil it down for me - is this a logical thing I can do with a couple extra hours of shop time, or is this a bigger thing than I can do while billing for an R&R? I guess if someone could break it down into what I need to do, I can decide if its something I can accomplish or if its something I need to skip.
