Thread: 4 Bangers

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Yes, the Ecotech engines are a more recent development. My '98 Sunfire body would seem to be very similar to the shell of the Pontiac Ecotech cars but how many were built, ten, twelve? It would seem to me that it would be very unlikely to find any sort of bargain used engine from a wreck. It is probably possible to upgrade a street car to an Ecotech level but at about the cost to build any race car rather than the basic idea of street rodding in taking a street car and souping it up for a reasonable cost and still running it on the street. Dave is right about the HP/weight issue, that is very important, but I learn from his expertise on the idea of keeping the rolling resistance to a minimum with skinny tires. Note that the three-wheel high-mpg cars at http://www.rqriley.com/plans.html weigh around 1400 pounds total. So it still seems better to look for one of those two-door hatch back frog-shaped Pintos and then find a turbo-2300 cc Pinto engine from a T-bird; at least that is a possible path using a junk engine w turbo which can be rebuilt rather than put out many thousands on an Ecotech engine. However, while we are rambling on this thread I would be interested in knowing about availability of Pontiac Ecotech engines since I already have the Sunfire shell which is at present a nice aerodynamic shape with a sewing machine for an engine, hah! Any information on build up of the little Sunfire engine? Again all the reviews are for the Sunfire with the bigger engine but probably 99% of the Sunfires on the road have the smaller engine as does mine, so the trick is how to address souping up the small engine. There was a turbocharged V6 Sunfire but apparently there were problems with oil leaks and bearing failure so maybe it is useless to soup up an even more fragile engine. Some speed equipment is available for the smaller engine but often you encounter comments warning not to turbocharge that block so maybe the whole idea is to just get a better block/engine, but where can one find an Ecotech block for the price of a rebuild? Keep in mind that you can probably build a nice SBC 350 for under $2000 and a Buick V6 rebuild should be similar, how much for an Ecotech engine? Maybe I am not up to date regarding the Ecotech engine, there must be available parts since they raced them but what is the approximate cost? Just some rambling comments.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder