4.3 Chevy in '87 LX-I???

[LJ1987LX-I]

Hey guys,
First off, let's get the experience part knocked out of the way. Me and a buddy have been building up an '01 GT Mustang. He also owns a drag car with his family and races for his family's team. This is a project me and a buddy are going to take on.

Now, I've been trying to figure out what I wanna do with my Accord for the longest time. From everywhere I can tell, it's had an A20A3 swap, and runs fine, minus a plugged/stuck open injector.

Thing I want to do, and through me and my buddy, the know-how is there; is putting a 4.3 V6 Chevy into the Honda. My intention is to do something different and making it a little weekend racer.

I'd twin-turbo the 4.3 and follow some things people have done to their GNX's. You can't tell me it wouldn't be fast! Lol.

Thoughts?

[RAZR]

Welcome to the Forum.

Are you planning on making a it RWD? or doing the 4.3 in the front wheel drive config?
This will be extermely hard just to let you kno. I dont even kno if it will fit it our engine bays. But this will be a cool project if it ends up getting done.

Post pics ASAP

[LJ1987LX-I]

Yeah, the rear end will be tub'd out to fit the RWD configuration, with a 4 point suspension, probably a ford rear end, not sure yet on that. 3-4 or maybe 5 speed if I can find a 5 speed that's strong enough. Shaving the ddoor handles on the rear doors and sealing the rear doors when I put a fuel cell in there. Or maybe just leave em unsealed but harder to get into.

Pics will come when I start the process.

[LJ1987LX-I]

Welcome to the Forum.

Are you planning on making a it RWD? or doing the 4.3 in the front wheel drive config?
This will be extermely hard just to let you kno. I dont even kno if it will fit it our engine bays. But this will be a cool project if it ends up getting done.

Post pics ASAP

And a 4.3 isn't much bigger than the motors we have in now, as far as size

[RAZR]

When i said i dont think it will fit i was thinking you were gunna do fwd.
If you have the fab abilities it can be done. This will be interesting and cool project.

[LJ1987LX-I]

Oh lol no. I think it'll be neat, and quite fast. Definitely excited to start on it.

[2oodoor]

And a 4.3 isn't much bigger than the motors we have in now, as far as size

Boy do you need a tape measure lol
I would like to see a 3.4 swap it would scram and kinda sounds like a four banger ya they make serious race parts for those stroker 60 deg v6 IMO 4.3 is limited unless u spend way too much u may as well use LS or Lt1 or 3. Those 3.4 are better for lite chasis my opinion

[LJ1987LX-I]

No lol I know what I mean, just sometimes through text it doesn't come out right. I've owned three vehicles with a 4.3 and I know I could fit one in there. That's all I meant. A 4.3 isn't as tall as the motor/transaxle, but it will need to sit higher in the car for the obvious reasons. The 3.4's and the newer 3.5's are nice but I can do a lot with a 4.3, seeing as in my area the minor parts (OEM bolt ons, etc.) are a lot more common.

[LJ1987LX-I]

I've decided to go with just one turbo, which will lower the total cost of the project, and will build me up boost faster. I've also decided on a Ford 8.8 inch rear with 3.27 ratio, which will also increase boost, and give me some acceleration in the process.

I'll either be ordering a 4.3 crate in, or looking for an 86-87 Buick Regal that has a 4.3, as for this type of 4.3 (different head designs) has more after-market options. I will probably be mating the engine to a tremec 6 speed, but will need to take some measurements for whee in the car the shifter will be situated. If it ends up too far back, I'll probably just go with a TH400 with either a trans-brake or. High-stall converter.

Once we get the driveline in the car and custom-fabbed mounts made up (yada yada yada), I will probably go with a MegaSquirt tuner, but I I can find a blow-through carb and manifold that would fit, I'll go the carbureted route.

Once the fuel delivery is figured, I'll put the car on the dyno to figure out the power curve levels to determine which turbo would perform the best in the car. My buddy thinks a 70 trim (his terminology, not sure it's correct) would suit it well, but we'll see what the dyno says when we get there.

I'll probably mount some MT Drag radials on the ass end, on a 15" rim set and try for 275/50 or the like.

Sound good so far?

[hammer3rd]

Just one aquestion? Why on earth would you want mess up a honda with that junk. If you want go with a newer b swap. I have been looking into this option and 200. 225 at the wheels is pretty easy to get and it is almost a bolt in. Just asking.

[2oodoor]

Just one aquestion? Why on earth would you want mess up a honda with that junk. If you want go with a newer b swap. I have been looking into this option and 200. 225 at the wheels is pretty easy to get and it is almost a bolt in. Just asking.

very good point

Other than making a drifter I really dont see the value of doing the chevy rwd swap, but a project like this in intreguing and interesting to me all the same.
I would see doing this swap in something like a GM fwd car that would be the mind blower, like a HHR or cobalt coupe, maybe a G6 lol

[LJ1987LX-I]

Lol I've been thinking about it for a while and everyone around here has already done a B swap and I'm just not interested in a B swap. I apologize for liking Chevy, it's what I drove before Honda, and I wanna combine the best of both worlds. The car is going to be set up like a pro-street, Drag car, but street legal and I'd use it to cruise around on weekends.

[A18A]

A honda with a B-series swap?

[LJ1987LX-I]

Exactly, and I'm going to be the wolf chasing them sheep.

[Dr_Snooz]

Just one aquestion? Why on earth would you want mess up a honda with that junk. If you want go with a newer b swap. I have been looking into this option and 200. 225 at the wheels is pretty easy to get and it is almost a bolt in. Just asking.

I wasn't going to say anything, but since first blood has been drawn...

I'm thinking about what this is going to cost in both dollar and effort terms. You're going to easily put $20k into this project. At the end of it all, you're going to have a car worth all of $1,000, with additional deductions for it being a one-off that you can't take to a shop. It doesn't make sense to me. It would be less effort to build a full tube chassis and put the Honda body over it and have a real race machine when you're done. You obviously like the car well enough to work on it and I'm assuming you like it for the same reasons everyone does. It's spunky and highly refined. You want to improve it, but turning it into a Chevy is going to destroy what makes it unique. Making it RWD is going to eliminate the F1 suspension. There goes its spunk. Using a Chevy drivetrain will destroy its refinement. It's like turning your Mercedes into a donk. You have something unusual, but it's not better. I'd say understand first what makes the car special, then work from there.

Sorry to bag on your project. I could be wrong, but it doesn't sound to me like you've really thought this through. All I can see is an eventual Craiglist ad for a big pile of parts. Good luck with whatever you do.

[LJ1987LX-I]

I wasn't going to say anything, but since first blood has been drawn...

I'm thinking about what this is going to cost in both dollar and effort terms. You're going to easily put $20k into this project. At the end of it all, you're going to have a car worth all of $1,000, with additional deductions for it being a one-off that you can't take to a shop. It doesn't make sense to me. It would be less effort to build a full tube chassis and put the Honda body over it and have a real race machine when you're done. You obviously like the car well enough to work on it and I'm assuming you like it for the same reasons everyone does. It's spunky and highly refined. You want to improve it, but turning it into a Chevy is going to destroy what makes it unique. Making it RWD is going to eliminate the F1 suspension. There goes its spunk. Using a Chevy drivetrain will destroy its refinement. It's like turning your Mercedes into a donk. You have something unusual, but it's not better. I'd say understand first what makes the car special, then work from there.

Sorry to bag on your project. I could be wrong, but it doesn't sound to me like you've really thought this through. All I can see is an eventual Craiglist ad for a big pile of parts. Good luck with whatever you do.

I'm sorry, I'm well aware of how much it's going to cost. I've been pricing out parts for the last three months and am well aware that this is going to be expensive; I don't care. It's something that I want to do, it's something different, and I want to do something that Honda has never thought of before (S2K notwithstanding).

I can't take it anywhere to get it worked on? Like I would anyway. I don't believe in paying people to do something that I can do myself-- a lot cheaper, mind you.
Sorry that you feel that I'm taking away the car's "spunk." I've driven it the way it is now, and I bought it to be a project car.

I am at my buddies about every weekend, putting motors in and out of cars just for the hell of it. I can do any repair I need to. I am not worried. I am not afraid to take on this project. First blood be damned, I'm not hurt, it's the nay-Sayers that have the problem; they're the ones bleeding.

[89T]

I cant wait for pics and vids to start flowing.

[2drSE-i]

Come on guys, quit busting his balls. Let him do what he wants. I for one am ready to see this beast come to life!

[Bassmastry101]

Come on guys, quit busting his balls. Let him do what he wants. I for one am ready to see this beast come to life!

x2!

[LJ1987LX-I]

Thanks guys.

[Dr_Snooz]

Good grief. I'm not busting his balls. I'm giving him counsel. Is it right for me to sit quietly by while someone throws a bundle of money that he could use on other things down what appears to be a hole? Should I shine him on and say "go go go!" when I feel otherwise in my heart? I was planning to just mouth pleasantries and wait for this thread to die naturally, but it didn't seem right to me. So I spoke. If that's wrong, then I am wrong. And I apologize.

LJ1987LX-I, I'm not saying you don't have the talent and that you aren't the man. I'm saying that you are describing a "weekend racer" project of gargantuan proportions. You have already indicated elsewhere that money is an impediment and I feel that you are going to spend a lot more money than you realize before all is said and done. At the end of it all, you're going to have a car with zero resale value, so it doesn't strike me as a wise use of funds. It will take forever to finish and in that time, things are going to change. You're going to get into it and realize that it's an awful lot of work and really you'd rather be building a T-bucket hot rod anyway, so the project will get set aside. You're going to get a new job and have to move or a new baby will arrive or your wife is going to blow a gasket about the pile of parts in the garage that you haven't done anything with for months. Then you'll be dumping all your stuff on Craigslist, hoping to get a fraction of what you spent to get it all. Obviously, I don't know your situation and maybe you do know what you're getting into. All I have to go by is what you've written. Based on that, I'm saying that I'm not convinced you've really thought it through. That's all.

Again, I wish you well with the project and hope you produce a real eye-popper. Definitely show me up. I won't have any problem saying I was wrong. Just please think about what you're doing before spending a lot of money.

[A18A]

^ I see where you're coming from. I don't know about anyone else, but with a project car, I find the fun is in the journey rather than the destination. My daily driver for example, I had more fun stripping it back & putting it back together how I like it more so than I enjoy driving it (although I do like driving it). I reckon if you're having fun building it, it's not really a waste of money or time, even if it never gets completed.

I've also found that probably more than less modified cars have a worse resale value than a stock equivalent. Resale value will be the last thing on my mind if I'm gonna have a project car anyway

But that's just me

[89T]

^ I find the fun is in the journey rather than the destination.

may I?

[LJ1987LX-I]

Snooz, I ain't upset. I'm just saying. I don't care how much I spend. I wanna do something different. You're talking to someone who wanted to make a 1978gmc Sierra 4x4 a 1500 hp drag truck. I don't care about money. But I'm not going to go broke over it either. It'll take a while because I'm goin to budget for the parts. That's the longest part.

[LJ1987LX-I]

This project is pretty much set in stone. One way or another it'll be completed. If I have to put in a 3.8, so be it, but I'm trying with a 4.3 first. I might try and get into some pro-street competitions with it if it does well enough on my trial runs. Once I get tune figured and boost set right I'll take it to the track and see how hard she pulls. My buddy is thinking high 7's to low 8's in the eighth and high 9's to low 10's in the quarter. My buddy races for Walker Racing if you've ever heard of them, and races a '96 Dodge Avenger, participates in monster mopar and the like. He has way more mechanical know-how than I do; and I've been learning from him. Couldn't tell you how many motors I've pulled, torn apart, and put back together with him in the last year, and learning about everything along the way. That's how I know that this whole project is very much possible. I wouldn't have dreamed of it of we hadn't have been talking about doing some mods to the car.

One day soon I'll prove you wrong, but I'm not doing so out of spite. I'm doing it because I'm sure you really would like to see the car and the potential power it'd produce. I even plan on doing a step-by-step documentary type deal so anyone who want to try one themselves and see how it's done. It won't be easy, mind you, but I've never turned away from something that was difficult. I'm ready to tackle this project head on and don't plan on stopping until its done. Plus, I am super excited to see what she'll do in the end.