New to me 79 1500

[ricar]

Cut out the engine mounts and found hopefully the worst rust on the car. I knew the one repair had been done, it was way obvious but I did not realize how shadily it was done until I took off a pound of bondo.

 

[ricar]

Mine measures 13" on the passenger side and 12.5" on the driers side.

Brian

So I FINALLY have an engine in the bay, my wheel to center is now 14" but I have no fuel in the tank and no exhaust. The engine is also missing many peripherals, being an Alu block I suspect it will be lighter but no idea how much.

 

[Longitudinal]

So I FINALLY have an engine in the bay, my wheel to center is now 14" but I have no fuel in the tank and no exhaust. The engine is also missing many peripherals, being an Alu block I suspect it will be lighter but no idea how much.

Aluminum block--did you decide to go K20? I did not follow this thread from the beginning. The K20 complete package is actually heavier than the complete Lampredi SOHC package by about 70-80lb.

 

[ricar]

Nope, I went with the little 1.5 out of the Fit. So far I have about $100 invested. Sold my X engine and trans, bought a Fit that went into a ditch. Swapping the whole engine and trans, now I have to figure out how much of the Honda harness I need to/ Want to use.

I didn't want to cut the chassis, just the engine mounts and do it cheap.

 

[ricar]

Anyone here have experience with Mega squirt or Haltech or other ECU?

 

[kmead]

There is a Megasquirt thread from a long while ago which is still pertinent.

Another member just had his car done up with a Haltech system from his local shop and he seems very happy with it.

Which Fit engine is this?

Anyone here have experience with Mega squirt or Haltech or other ECU?

 

[ricar]

I believe this is the L15A. 2008 Honda Fit, not much you can do with this engine as far as gains. There are parts available, headers etc but not much for bolt on HP. Maybe the bolt on parts AND a mapable computer but that's not really what I'm going for... Would be nice don't get me wrong.

 

[rx1900]

Nope, I went with the little 1.5 out of the Fit. So far I have about $100 invested. Sold my X engine and trans, bought a Fit that went into a ditch. Swapping the whole engine and trans, now I have to figure out how much of the Honda harness I need to/ Want to use.

I didn't want to cut the chassis, just the engine mounts and do it cheap.

Hey Ricar. Great choice of engine !!! I checked it out a bit...and seems like a very compact and light engine....

My only questions were.......and you seemed concerned about too....was the water pump clearing the angled chassis rail......and the height of the engine...as the Fit engine is very tall with the intake sweeping over the top of it. Although that could likely be resolved fairly easily....

And.....have you trial fitted the whole engine/tranny combo yet ? How is the clearance for the end of the tranny at the left chassis rail. That seems to be a major issue with most swaps....but I think the Fit combo is perhaps short enough to clear ??

 

[Longitudinal]

Nope, I went with the little 1.5 out of the Fit. So far I have about $100 invested.

I know nothing about that engine, but it's Honda, so it can't be all bad. There are so many engines that offer better performance/durability/economy than the Lampredi single cam engine with possible weight savings to boot. I remember a discussion a while ago about non-K20 swap ideas. The Suzuki Swift I4 came up as an option. It would do all four of the things I mentioned. The Fit engine probably does as well.

 

[ricar]

Hey Ricar. Great choice of engine !!! I checked it out a bit...and seems like a very compact and light engine....

My only questions were.......and you seemed concerned about too....was the water pump clearing the angled chassis rail......and the height of the engine...as the Fit engine is very tall with the intake sweeping over the top of it. Although that could likely be resolved fairly easily....

And.....have you trial fitted the whole engine/tranny combo yet ? How is the clearance for the end of the tranny at the left chassis rail. That seems to be a major issue with most swaps....but I think the Fit combo is perhaps short enough to clear ??

The engine is in. I actually cut the water pump off completely and welded a plate on the cover. I have some pics somewhere... I honestly can't remember now how in the way it was but it was a concern. I have a Davies Craig pump that I will use instead, I thought that was back in this thread but it may have been in a different thread. The engine is pretty tall and the sump pretty low. I'll have to post a pic and see if anyone freaks out about the oil pan being low. For what it is, I figure I'll take the risk. The engine cover will not fit without modification either... Guess I have lots of pics coming.

 

[ricar]

I know nothing about that engine, but it's Honda, so it can't be all bad. There are so many engines that offer better performance/durability/economy than the Lampredi single cam engine with possible weight savings to boot. I remember a discussion a while ago about non-K20 swap ideas. The Suzuki Swift I4 came up as an option. It would do all four of the things I mentioned. The Fit engine probably does as well.

I was looking at a Suzuki Swift GTI engine, a guy had both DOHC and SOHC sitting in his garage but I took too long and they sold. Still they were all parts where this was a whole running donor car. I think the SOHC Suzuki may have fit and was really enticing but in the end it didn't work out. If I ever found a complete car though it would be real tempting.

 

[ricar]

So a bunch of pics... Hopefully they show what I want. Don't mind the messy garage.

 

[ricar]

So the first is the tranny to the lower cross member, it's tight. I could have moved the engine forwards but then access would be an issue. Maybe I should have, but there is not a lot of room there.

Second it obviously under the car, the oil pan does not look too low IMO.

Third, too close up of the alternator and where the water pump would have been. There is a good amount of room there without the pump.

Fourth, a bit better pic of the passenger side.

Fifth, driver side, trans under the frame rail, looks like a good bit of room. Not a lot, but comfortable I think. My mounts are pretty stiff, I don't think the engine will have much movement.

Sixth... well looks like I could delete that one after the fifth.

 

[ricar]

I'm sure I have said before, the cost of getting a reliable 100hp out of the X is apparently pretty settled on at $10,000. Still, you have trans issues to deal with after that and the X trans is getting to be pretty rare. I figured selling mine, hopefully it will go to someone who will appreciate it for what it is and treat it accordingly. But I was not really looking to spend that kind of money on something that can't easily and fairly cheaply be fixed or replaced.

With the Fit, I'm looking at about 110, maybe less, but it does have some limited ability to be improved. They have been turbo'd, but I think an engine management system would offer the most gains. What I really want is to be able to drive 4 hours straight. Also I remember a pic and a comment of an X on a track and the comment was about the guy behind him not being able to pass a 100hp X. I can't remember what the other car was or even the race. LeMons maybe? I think (but honestly I'm not sure) I think that a little over 100hp would be fun. I think the X is extremely fun stock, lacking but fun. Add a good 20hp and maybe some sus tweaking and it would be even better. Would it be as fun as a K20? I seriously doubt it, but I don't think I HAVE to go that far. Maybe I'll be thoroughly underwhelmed and go that route in the end anyhow.

 

[ricar]

This is with the water pump. I painted the pump pully green, you can see it did hit. I'm not sure it could have been squeezed in there.

 

[ricar]

So I figure I need fuel and smashed the Fit fuel pump unit to bits. Then found a little catch that needed to be lifted then the little part that holds the resistor would just slide down and off. I cut the long X arm off and soldered it to the stubby Fit arm. Looks like it will work.

 

[ricar]

I removed the X unit from the ridged tube which has a plate on it. I cut a slot in the plate and mounted the Fit holder on the plate. Guess I don't have a pic of that. I'm still not sure if I will use the Honda gauges but I need the Fit fuel pump and the X resistor was no longer functioning so it didn't really matter.

 

[ricar]

Found my water pump housing mod.

 

[kmead]

Found my water pump housing mod.

Going electric?

 

[ricar]

Going electric?

Yes, the water pump was in the way so I picked up a DC pump.