Whats a COMPLETE Turbo Honda setup worth?

[KLC]

And now a different way to look at this situation...

When we had the J35A4 in our car we loved it, it was fast and nimble and was trouble free, my wife drove the car also and had fun. Then I got the V8 itch and made the swap, new trans too, it was a $25,000 itch and that was building the engine myself (Im a professional mechanic so no big deal) and having my metal shop buddy do the metal work to make it fit. Now we have a car that is much heavier and harder to drive, so much so that my wife will no longer get behind the wheel. Sure it is fast and all but so what, the V8 isn't as fun to drive as the Honda was. I would go back to a Honda if it was possible.

If you need to do something to the car over the summer, add bypasses to the front with bigger spindles and boxed arms. 

When you start doing engine swaps it never stops there, there is always more that needs to be done. Your suspension will be inadequate with a few hundred more pounds on the ass end. And you LS guys, I don't care what the weight differences are, it's a few hundred pounds at least. 

 

[HTElectrical]

My 2 seat Chenowth with a Subi weighed 2240 lbs.  After the ls swap with new 934 CV's, axles, beefed up frame, new midboards, bigger radiator, and 12" to 14" fans, new filters, bigger fuel pump, and bigger front tires weighed in at: (see Pic Below)

OH yeah, and I can not thank Jason Alper ENOUGH for all of the fantastic fabrication from, building me an awesome LS3, tabbing the frame for the new Trans (2d weighs basically the same as an Ebox) helping me to install and re-wire the Holley ECM, converting my rear A-arms for the new Midboards, redoing the back of my frame, and tabbing the frame for the new LS with custom motor mounts, basically giving me his new radiator (Thank you very much), and oh yeah totally re-doing the mounting location and putting up with my incessant questions and just being a total pain in the ass, because my background is an Electrician, not fabrication at all!!!!!  I know enough to be a hindrance, and that is putting it nicely LOL.  I almost forgot, replumbing the cooling system with AN lines and fittings instead of the crap looking water pipes, and the new steering box etc...  I know I am forgetting  several things but Thanks Jason!!!!!!

As far as how the car drives, it is fantastic!!!!  I did my first wheelies (addictive and a blast), the simplist single word I could use to describe it is EFFORTLESS!!!!  Before the LS it was a workout to even try and keep up with the fast guys, impossible to keep up Jason, he had to convert to driving miss daisy so as not to leave in the dust.  Now, I can pick 3rd gear even fourth if I want and just lug the motor down to 1200 RPM, and just stand on whenever I want and it just performs.  The other great part is before I had to run 110 race fuel and now I just mix in 1 gal of 110 to 5 gal. of 91, just for piece of mind and the car actually gets better mileage with the LS than the Turbo Subi.

 

[FOG]

Cool thread.  Enjoying all of the info.

 

[Chingon619]

My 2 seat Chenowth with a Subi weighed 2240 lbs.  After the ls swap with new 934 CV's, axles, beefed up frame, new midboards, bigger radiator, and 12" to 14" fans, new filters, bigger fuel pump, and bigger front tires weighed in at: (see Pic Below)

OH yeah, and I can not thank Jason Alper ENOUGH for all of the fantastic fabrication from, building me an awesome LS3, tabbing the frame for the new Trans (2d weighs basically the same as an Ebox) helping me to install and re-wire the Holley ECM, converting my rear A-arms for the new Midboards, redoing the back of my frame, and tabbing the frame for the new LS with custom motor mounts, basically giving me his new radiator (Thank you very much), and oh yeah totally re-doing the mounting location and putting up with my incessant questions and just being a total pain in the ass, because my background is an Electrician, not fabrication at all!!!!!  I know enough to be a hindrance, and that is putting it nicely LOL.  I almost forgot, replumbing the cooling system with AN lines and fittings instead of the crap looking water pipes, and the new steering box etc...  I know I am forgetting  several things but Thanks Jason!!!!!!

As far as how the car drives, it is fantastic!!!!  I did my first wheelies (addictive and a blast), the simplist single word I could use to describe it is EFFORTLESS!!!!  Before the LS it was a workout to even try and keep up with the fast guys, impossible to keep up Jason, he had to convert to driving miss daisy so as not to leave in the dust.  Now, I can pick 3rd gear even fourth if I want and just lug the motor down to 1200 RPM, and just stand on whenever I want and it just performs.  The other great part is before I had to run 110 race fuel and now I just mix in 1 gal of 110 to 5 gal. of 91, just for piece of mind and the car actually gets better mileage with the LS than the Turbo Subi.

View attachment 101432

Who does this guy think he is coming in here speaking factually, and with proof none the less!! Very impressive dude, congrats! 

I, for one, since the very inception of the thought of actually owning a car let alone building it from scratch, I opted to only go LS1 2D and nothing less. I think I'm pushing around 410hp all stock. The pleasure and thrill of jamming the go pedal is up there next to sex! I can't imagine stroker motor or LS3 results etc. Dang! Need to go for more! 

 

[Funco4JM]

A little late to the post but I did the Turbo Honda to LS Swap a couple of summers ago.  I sold the full engine package ready to drop into another frame for $6K. 

Doing the LS swap took up more $$ than I expected, but you basically rework everything from fuel system to cooling system. I have a cammed LS1, tuned by Tim at Xact Dyno and I would take it over my turbo Honda any day. No more E85, no more waiting on boost, no more "oh chit" downshifting and praying. The LS torque makes it so much easier to drive and have fun. The weight difference isn't all that much, especially if you have a large intercooler and such. 

I say do it!  Go LS.

 

[mc22]

update..
The Honda was sold, LS built and installed over the summer.
money wise, kinda stopped keeping track but was less than 10k I know that... more than expected but did get good money out of parting out the Honda. and got a good deal on a Turnkey built LS6. so overall cost was within the expected range.

I made the mistake of driving a buddies car with the same LS engine. its power was different but definitely not as fast as the Honda.

With that I was setting myself up for disappointment so decided to build the LS a bit: flat top pistons and a set of slightly worked 243 heads. these were shaved quite a bit and final compression numbers were going to be 12.5-1, had to get a bigger cam to shave some of that dynamic compression and keep it on pump gas. went with the summit 8710R. knowing I was going to have too much torque for my trans I went with the crappy sheet metal intake (looks good!) also focused on weight savings, elec power steering/ elec water pump. after removing all the Honda turbo stuff, and adding this aluminum LS I don't think I gained any weight, in fact this may be slightly lighter. my ride height went up 1/4". I didn't even have to change my engine cage. adding the E water pump gained a bunch of room.

I'm used to driving in the higher RPM range so that's what this was built for 3500-6500rpm range.

Took car to the dyno and Tim spent quite a bit of time getting all non WOT RPM ranges dialed in, first safe WOT pull with very little (20) timing put 445hp 407tq to the hubs! a little more power than my Honda and torque is limited. told him to stop there, he gave me a funny look and said there is another 30-50hp there easy. told him we will get to that once I have a bigger trans!

now how do I like it? so far so good, sounds wicked! on flat ground I don't think its any faster than the Honda. up the hills it definitely is. if you have ever rode dirt bikes I would say its like going from a built 250 2 stroke to a stock 450. one thing for sure is the torque is noticeable and makes the car different to drive. I can basically put it in 3rd gear and dune, I'm not shifting much like I did with the Honda. it does not wheelie unless I try, but the torque does take some steering away so bowls require a different driving style.

Would I do it all over again? maybe not.. I could have closed the deck on the Honda and turned it up for less $$ but on the flip side I now have room to grow into a bigger trans and can easily get over 500HP with a laptop and even more with a better intake manifold, nor am I on the raged edge of reliability. So all that said, I'm pretty happy with it. just need to get used to the new tires and power delivery.

 

[Cookie]

Great real world experience, thanks

 

[KLC]

Your results are pretty much what I experienced. I liked how the Honda drove but I also like that with the LS I can just dune in 3rd most of the time. I rarely ever go balls out fast, that just doesn't thrill me, what I do like is being in 3rd and coming upon a hill and I can just goose it and get the paddles spinning and climb it while still in 3rd. With the Honda I would have had to downshift back into 2nd and hopefully had a few seconds to get the rpms up and the vtec functional, it most certainly wasn't instant. And there were times when I had waited a little too long to downshift into 2nd while on an incline and I would lose momentum and never be able to recover without stopping completely, and in some instances that would mean we were stuck. The LS just about eliminates that. I say that I liked the Honda better but I'm not so sure I could actually go back to it, it was just different.

I kept the 930 gear I was using with the Honda, and upgraded the stars and cages to 300m. I still have cv star wear but I've never broke one. I estimate my bored 6.0 with LS3 heads and cam running Holley self tuning FI to make 450ish. I've never tuned it, I just let the Holley do it's thing. I feel I could gain an additional 30-50hp just like your tuner said was possible but I opted to keep it modest and save the drivetrain and my wallet.

One thing I am excited about with our new chassis is the 20 gallon fuel cell we shoehorned in there. Theoretically I should be able to gas up in the morning and not have to worry about fuel all day, the 11 gallon cylindrical tank I had previously would start sucking air when it got low, that made for an ass puckering dune ride back to camp at times.

 

[ChasingSand]

Do your cars handle any differently with the LS now instead of the Honda?

 

[KLC]

Mine is heavier and had a lot of body roll when I needed to turn in a hurry, something a sway bar would've corrected I suppose. It is definitely heavier.

 

[mc22]

Mine is heavier and had a lot of body roll when I needed to turn in a hurry, something a sway bar would've corrected I suppose. It is definitely heavier.

My car feels about the same, exact off power, on power it has more push than I like.
I do have a sway bar and that was a game changer, definitely the best modification I made. Was able to soften the bypasses to make the chop more tolerable and not get body roll.