Preamble to Project SR20
In the 90’s a few FJ20 transplants had been done and initially I was thinking of taking this route. About this time the SR20 hit the modified car scene and were being put into lots of cars.
I also knew it had been done in Japan before. This picture is from the magazine ‘Fast Fours and Rotaries’. The photo is from a Japanese car show, the car is fitted with an SR20, that’s normally aspirated and has quad throttle bodies. (GTiR) It looks to me like it was a 1500 as it has externa
l boot hinges though it has 2000 front guards and what looks like a 1600 grill. Add to this it’s a left-hand drive and a low screen, also the holes in the front skirt have been filled in as it has no front bumper.
When starting this project I thought it best to have plenty of space and a good hoist as the engine will be in and out of the car as many times for placement and engine mount design. As far as I knew no one had done this locally so I had nothing to go on. It was always going to be a tight fit I had done some measurements with a tape measure and based on that thought it was close enough to give it a go. 12 months of late nights in the garage later the car was engineered and registered again.
This is the hoist the I made with some help of course. It has a 1 ton chain block and a 1 ton girder trolley. It is really only rated to 1/2 ton due to the size of the I beam and is calculated that the beam will flex 8mm in the middle under a 1/2 ton load this is a 4 or 10 times safety factor I can’t remember which. Anyway it doesn’t move at all. I used a sling to lift the Sr20 as it has no lifting eyes and I didn’t make any to suit, I used chains and a bar to lift the R16 out form the factory lift points.
This is how the half cut looked when I slid off the back of a tilt tray. One of my mates is helping to remove the left over glass from the wind shield which was everywhere. Picture quallity is poor as they are scans done in the 90’s of 6 x 4 prints.
This is another shot of the half cut. There was only one guard and no lights or radiator behind the a/c one it was removed with a large knife by the look of it. Here is a shot of the odometer there is still plenty of miles left in this engine and gearbox. I put dolly carts under the palate and pushed it about 30′ down the drive into the garage then jacked it up onto axle stands, bought an electric fuel pump plumbed in some fuel line into a Gerry can of petrol connected a battery and turned the key and it all came to life straight away. All accessories worked indicators a/c vents fan wipers etc.
