Dave Hardy said:
Of course it looks lie a FWD Acura V6 - it is. A highly refined one no doubt, but it is a legend motor at it's roots.
As for swap possibilites, I sure like the Northstar. A transverse V8 that is a damn good engine and capable of an easy 500 N/A HP. I'd also like to see if the Lexus V8 has been used in any transverse applications.
Ah, a fellow Atlanta member!!
I was under the impression that the Legend had the engine mounted longitudally with an unusual trans??
Anyway, the Caddy engine could work but not what I had in mind. Please note, this is not confirmed and is only under investigation as I may just stay with the C-Series. The idea of a swap is simply due to availability of parts and cost. Not to mention familiarity with the possible replacement. However, I want to keep it as simple as possible and stay in the Acura/Honda V6 family.
I recently sold my CL-S 6MT and had done quite a bit of work on it. I sold it for several reason mainly to do with the need for a 4-door. That car was fantastic to drive with the modifications I made excluding the complete inability to go WOT in the first two gears as there was no traction. With the Comptech SC and a custom intake manifold with an integrated liquid/air IC, it made 369 WHP and 310 WTQ. That was at 7.5 PSI and as I understand it, that would be pretty decent in the NSX world. I used the GReddy E-Manage for tuning and ended up selling six additional kits IC/E-Manage kits (included a PnP harness). The same piggy back system was used on two other custom turbo CL-S6’s; one of those made 419 WHP at just 6.5 PSI. He will soon be going back for some more pulls at 8.0 PSI and has incorporated an additional injector controlled by the E-Manage. 450+ WHP should easily be realized.
This is all on the factory 10.5:1 CR. After 1.5 years with the blower on my CL-S6 I did a compression test; all cylinders were between 235 – 250 PSI which is perfect. So it looks like the J-Series engine can handle quite a bit. Keep in mind; the cars were making this power and being used as daily drivers. They also weigh in at about 3500 lbs adding additional stress to the drivetrain.
At this point it is pretty obvious where I am going but I should note a bit more. The CL-S6 transaxle is shared with the current TL 6MT and the AV6 6MT, so it and/or parts should be readily available. In addition, the J-Series can share some parts which include the MDX. So moving up to 3.5L is an option but one I am not interested in.
What is being given up is the fine tuned and wonderful DOHC NSX engine. The J-Series is SOHC. The J-Series is also a 60 degree V6 versus the NSX’s 90 degree vee. Combining the smaller angle and smaller heads, the J-Series will take up noticeably less room in the engine bay making more room available for a pair of Garrett GT28R’s; hopefully right on the manifolds.
1000 RPM will be given up but that is still somewhat debatable. The J32A2 will easily turn 7200 RPM and with forced induction the torque doesn’t drop off much. With a stand alone ECU I could push it higher with some valvetrain fortification. But that starts defeating the purpose of keeping it simple. I would probably leave the redline at 7k revs as it has proven to be happy there and the gearing makes good use of the band. I would also probably use the J32A2 factory ECU and employ the E-Manage once again as it has been proven to work well in this application.
The thoughts are to drop the compression down to about 9.0:1 – 9.5:1 and run upwards of 12 - 14 PSI boost. That should net 500 WHP and do so reliably. If failures occur, parts should be somewhat available and at a decent price considering many can be sourced at Honda dealers. Also, there may be about a 100 lb reduction in weight with the swap. That could make a very quick NSX that should be very streetable.
I do feel it is somewhat blasphemous to pull that wonderful DOHC engine and replace it with a SOHC cousin. That is why I am looking for a car with a blown engine to purchase so I won’t feel as guilty.
In looking at the pictures it does appear the transaxle case is nearly identical between the NSX and the J-Series 6MT. I suspect Honda leveraged some of the knowledge gained with the NSX in developing the 6MT for the J-Series. Even some of the mounting points appear to be close. If so, this swap may not be too bad but we’ll have to see.
Sorry to ramble on. I’ll continue to investigate and be on the lookout for the car. I may be picking up the engine soon to start the build as I suspect it will take me many months to accomplish knowing my current time constraints.
