So I finished up my eaton swap the other night and just wanted to share some info with other who are contemplating the swap.
My overall opinion of the swap is that it was pretty easy. Very little modification, mostly all bolt-on stuff. I say this because when I was thinking about the swap, there were a lot of people saying that it isn't worth it due to the difficulty of the swap and locating the parts. In addition, most people claim the swap costs $3k-$4k. I was able to do it much cheaper, including some aftermarket upgrades. I also did the swap completely by myself (no friends )
The wiring was pretty simple also. Just some easy cut & splices.
I was able to make a deal with a guy going turbo on his 04. This helped immensly. We traded intake manifolds, timing covers & pullies, alternators, power steering pumps & reservoirs, brackets & lines, balancers, crossover tubes & all coolant hoses & thermostat housings, throttle & cruise cables, waterpumps, bolts, alternator pigtails, tensioners, oil coolers, belts, IAC valves, etc.
I gave him an additional $320 and he sent me his lower pulley cage & pulley, alt. brackets, afco heat exchanger & brackets, billet idlers, pulley bridge, idler bracket, tensioner, i/c pump & bracket, all lines, pigtail, & i/c adapter, .
Here is what I ended up spending on the swap:
Supercharger, plenum, TB, bypass $200
03 Tank & Pumps $350
front dress items listed above $320
39lb injectors $70
Stock MAF & air intake tube $90
IAT2 Sensor $40
IAT2 pigtail $32
Boost gauge $77
Cluster gauge bezel $83
Damper bolt $7
Gaskets $40
Spark plugs $16
Wideband $already had from previous vehicle
Total $1325
That doesn't include the shipping for the parts I swapped for free. However, I could have also gotten by cheaper by using the stock h/e that I got for free with the blower. And by using stock idlers.
I have yet to get it tuned. I think I'm going to give Stiegemeier a call. I have a Diablo tuner, so hopefully they can use that.
Here's a quick show of the swap.
Before I started
Dropped the tank to replace with the 03 tank/pumps. Easy, direct swap. I'm so glad I went this way.
While I had the tank down, I figured I would move the battery to the back. A fairly simple procedure, however very time consuming because I wanted it to look very nice.
All the stock stuff pulled off the motor. This took no time at all.
04 Cover installed
Knock sensor bosses cut off. This makes much less of a mess if you use a cutoff wheel and a carbide porting tool instead of grinding them off.
Lower intake, blower & intercooler bolted down.
Power steering pump, balancer, and accessory belt installed.
Lower pulley cage, alt. brackets, and alternator installed.
Pulley bridge, p/s reservior, coolant crossover, i/c adapter, etc.
Blower belt installed.
Afco h/e installed with stock brackets. This required some careful measurements to drill/file the slots in the right place. I've got some good info with pics for this if it would be helpful to anyone.
The front bumper back on. Two notches were cut in the bottom of the bumper for the h/e brackets to clear.
Engine bay all finished!
Boost and wideband installed. I had an LC-1 and XD-16 from a previous car that I used. Autometer cluster pod is kinda cheesy. Doesn't fit very well, especially around the defrost button and headlight switch. Makes the switch hard to turn on and off. Oh well, I don't like the pillar pods, so this works.
After my first test drive. Popped the hood and triple-checked everything. No problems! Pulls a good 20" of vacuum at idle.
I have a TON of pictures of pretty much every step of the process. If anyone needs information & pics on anything, let me know & I'd be glad to help you out.
I haven't set up an appointment yet, but I'm hoping to get it dyno tuned in early April. I will post up results when I do!
Oh, and thanks for all who helped me by answering my questions, especially 99riocobra!
My overall opinion of the swap is that it was pretty easy. Very little modification, mostly all bolt-on stuff. I say this because when I was thinking about the swap, there were a lot of people saying that it isn't worth it due to the difficulty of the swap and locating the parts. In addition, most people claim the swap costs $3k-$4k. I was able to do it much cheaper, including some aftermarket upgrades. I also did the swap completely by myself (no friends )
The wiring was pretty simple also. Just some easy cut & splices.
I was able to make a deal with a guy going turbo on his 04. This helped immensly. We traded intake manifolds, timing covers & pullies, alternators, power steering pumps & reservoirs, brackets & lines, balancers, crossover tubes & all coolant hoses & thermostat housings, throttle & cruise cables, waterpumps, bolts, alternator pigtails, tensioners, oil coolers, belts, IAC valves, etc.
I gave him an additional $320 and he sent me his lower pulley cage & pulley, alt. brackets, afco heat exchanger & brackets, billet idlers, pulley bridge, idler bracket, tensioner, i/c pump & bracket, all lines, pigtail, & i/c adapter, .
Here is what I ended up spending on the swap:
Supercharger, plenum, TB, bypass $200
03 Tank & Pumps $350
front dress items listed above $320
39lb injectors $70
Stock MAF & air intake tube $90
IAT2 Sensor $40
IAT2 pigtail $32
Boost gauge $77
Cluster gauge bezel $83
Damper bolt $7
Gaskets $40
Spark plugs $16
Wideband $already had from previous vehicle
Total $1325
That doesn't include the shipping for the parts I swapped for free. However, I could have also gotten by cheaper by using the stock h/e that I got for free with the blower. And by using stock idlers.
I have yet to get it tuned. I think I'm going to give Stiegemeier a call. I have a Diablo tuner, so hopefully they can use that.
Here's a quick show of the swap.
Before I started
Dropped the tank to replace with the 03 tank/pumps. Easy, direct swap. I'm so glad I went this way.
While I had the tank down, I figured I would move the battery to the back. A fairly simple procedure, however very time consuming because I wanted it to look very nice.
All the stock stuff pulled off the motor. This took no time at all.
04 Cover installed
Knock sensor bosses cut off. This makes much less of a mess if you use a cutoff wheel and a carbide porting tool instead of grinding them off.
Lower intake, blower & intercooler bolted down.
Power steering pump, balancer, and accessory belt installed.
Lower pulley cage, alt. brackets, and alternator installed.
Pulley bridge, p/s reservior, coolant crossover, i/c adapter, etc.
Blower belt installed.
Afco h/e installed with stock brackets. This required some careful measurements to drill/file the slots in the right place. I've got some good info with pics for this if it would be helpful to anyone.
The front bumper back on. Two notches were cut in the bottom of the bumper for the h/e brackets to clear.
Engine bay all finished!
Boost and wideband installed. I had an LC-1 and XD-16 from a previous car that I used. Autometer cluster pod is kinda cheesy. Doesn't fit very well, especially around the defrost button and headlight switch. Makes the switch hard to turn on and off. Oh well, I don't like the pillar pods, so this works.
After my first test drive. Popped the hood and triple-checked everything. No problems! Pulls a good 20" of vacuum at idle.
I have a TON of pictures of pretty much every step of the process. If anyone needs information & pics on anything, let me know & I'd be glad to help you out.
I haven't set up an appointment yet, but I'm hoping to get it dyno tuned in early April. I will post up results when I do!
Oh, and thanks for all who helped me by answering my questions, especially 99riocobra!
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