4 cylinder + turbo = anyone here tried it?

[Chevy454]

Anyone here have any experience with a turbo on a 4-banger? More specifically, how about an Ecotec 4-cylinder? We have a crusty old Vega that we bought sans engine/trans, and a 4-cylinder with a turbo seems like a natural fit. From what I've read, the Ecotec was over-engineered from GM and can withstand some pretty good power, and I have the GM Tuner book headed my way, but I was wondering if any of y'all here have ever mingled in the realm of hi-po 4-cylinders?

[primate]

my buddy has an 2005 srt-4 acr and it runs like a somanabish! :D

that has the 2.4 with an intercooled turbo pushing about 14 lbs of boost. 230 hp/250 lb ft of torque gets that lil pocket rocket boogeying.

[JJSmitches]

What year Vega...I was just checking out this Cosworth Vega and thinking it would be a really interesting project.

[RPM Dragracing]

I love the oddball stuff, I helped a friend some years back swap a Turbo T-Bird motor and trans into a Pinto, with some basic mods the little car was running high 12's with an automatic. The Vega would be a great candidate for the Ecotec, check out the new supercharged Chevy Cobolt and Saturn Redline motors for a donor. Your right about the Ecotec being overbuilt, they designed a lot of potential into the motor to try to keep up with the japanese cars, VTEC Hondas as an example. The aftermarket has a few kits out there for Turbos and swapping one in should not be all that hard plus GM itself has a ton of stuff also.

[Chevy454]

What year Vega...I was just checking out this Cosworth Vega and thinking it would be a really interesting project.

Well, that's kinda the neat part...it's an original '71 Yenko Vega, but I just couldn't see how the '71-vintage 140ci 4-banger could make decent power levels and still be reliable without throwing gobs of money at it. I looked at the Cosworth, which has some plusses to it, like a forged crank from the factory (destroked to 122ci, though) and the DOHC for revability, and I looked at the Quad-4 as well...but I kept coming back to the Ecotec. I stumbled onto the Chevy Tuner book, and GM pretty much lays it all out for you on exactly *how* to make power...and from what I'm hearing, with a simple rod/piston swap the engine is good to 500hp! And GM makes it easy, as all the trick parts are available via the GMPP catalog...

I haven't put a pencil to it, but a rough guesstimate in my head tells me this thing will be under 3,000 pounds when it's done...so, it shouldn't take too much power to get it to move at a decent clip...

[JMarsa]

What tuner book? I like hot fours as well.

--JMarsa

[Chevy454]

GM Performance Parts sells this book (and CD) that tells you exactly what is needed for different HP levels...0-250, 250-600, and 600 and above. To check it out before buying it, you can download it HERE. It's really amazing how tough that little 2.2L is...in fact, I've got a link around here to a GM page where they outline their build-up of an Ecotec over 1,000hp, and to what HP levels the stock parts lasted...

[Chevy454]

Ok, I found the link to the GM Ecotec power exercise, and I attached the chart found at the bottom of that page that shows at which horsepower levels the stock parts were changed...pretty interesting...

[JMarsa]

Rob,

Thanks for the info, I'm off to read now ;)

--JMarsa

[JL8Jeff]

Rob, check out the new motor in the Cobalt SS. I'm hearing some solid dyno numbers from minor tweaks on the supercharged version and they are planning on a turbo version next year I think. I already thought it would make a cool Vega swap.

[Chevy454]

Was originally thinking of doing a 5 or 6-speed manual tranny for the car, but I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off going with an automatic? Maybe a 700R-4 or a 4L60E? And an auto would sure make it work better at the track...

Oh, and I've got a FAST efi system headed this way, so I've got that outta the way...

[TurboLark]

The ecotec is a great little motor. I have 2 in the garage now. One is stock and going into a fiberglass dunebuggy. The other is getting parts collected to build up for around 500hp with a turbo. If you search well, you can find the Ecotec book free to download online. These things can be built to over 1200hp, but nice and reliable to 500-600hp. Check ebay, there have been a large number of motors for sale lately.

[Chevy454]

Any opinion as to which automatic trans to go with? Built 200R-4? 4L60E?? What configuration you using the 500hp plant in? It's not RWD by any chance is it??

[RPM Dragracing]

The only one of those two transmissions you can do a straight bolt on with is the 4L60E. You'll need to use the 4 cyl / 2WD S-truck unit. That was the only RWD overdrive auto trans that GM used behind 4 cyl motors. Nearly all the GM FWD engines use the same small rear block pattern including the Caddy Northstar and the Olds Arourra V8's. If you go with a later unit with the removable bell you will have some firewall clearance problems. The earlier units with the integral bell are sleeker and fit easier.
For a trans mount you use a TH400 swap unit with either the correct tailhousing extension or an offset mount, I reccomend the tailhousing though. Obviously you'll need a controller with that also. I reccomend the Powertrain Control Solutions unit. The last option is to use a non electronic 700R4, this was the father of the 4L60E and can be built to handle the same power levels and installs the exact same way.

Feel free to call anytime for more detailed info.

www.rpmdragracing.com

[JMarsa]

RPM - So your saying the 4 cyl / 2WD S-truck 4L60E will mate up to the the Caddy Northstar and the Olds Arourra V8's?

--JMarsa

[Chevy454]

Keisler engineering is coming out with an adapter and some bellhousings to mate up a host of GM trannys to the Ecotec...CHECK IT OUT

So I called, and Keisler told me to the production units weren't for sale yet, but *should* be by August...so, I'm going with a 200R4...

[RPM Dragracing]

JMARSA:

Yes, they all share the same bellhousing pattern. In some cases there is a nee to elongate the flywheel bolt holes but it's better to have a qualified machine shop drill new ones and re-balance the unit. Check out some of the street rodding sites and you'll see the Northstar is very popular. I sell a fair amount of these units to those guy's.

[Chevy454]

RPM: will the Ecotec only take front drive trannys without an adapter? Best I can tell, since it's so new, that that was the case...but it would be great if otherwise!

[956G-Malibu]

Im a fan of high-power 4-bangers, I've been hearin alot of good things with the ecotecs, and this topic sure is givin me more insight, gonna learn more about these ecotecs, the power they can produce sounds nice

[BRIAN]

There is a big QUAD 4 following if you do a search. They support some big HP and are pretty cheap cores.