A discussion on the Chevette FB page by a circle track racer has led to me wanting to put a DOHC Saturn LLO into a future Chevette project. Unlike the racer guy I will NOT be using a two barrel carb!
The Googles had led me to belive a RWD swap is either easy as pie or easy as Pi (to twenty places). So has anyone done, heard, of, or dreamt of such a swap? I'm thinking light weight, decent power and potential, and a general lack of love would make this a great cheap Challenge engine. Are the ECUs as easy to hack as all the other GM ECUs? Easy to Megasuirt? Am I wasting my time or just BatE36 M3 crazy?
Easy to megasquirt, yes.
East to hack, no. But possible (OBD1 only).
Bolt up to any RWD transmission? No.
You're wasting your time.
I've seen one RWD LL0. In a land-speed car. Not sure if it was ever completed. If it was, I doubt it was that fast.
I've seen a couple AWD LL0 setups. But they were basically the stock powertrain turned sideways with each trans output going to a diff for another reduction in gearing. Used in rock crawlers.
Huh. I was at a Saturn dealership when those were new, and I don't ever remember seeing that code.
The bellhousing is similar to but not quite the same as the 60 degree bellhousing. I never tried mating one to the other, but if you told me that two or three of the bolts lined up and you had to notch the trans for starter clearance, I'd believe you. If anything, it's an aluminum block, how hard could it be to weld on to it to add the correct threaded bosses? 
I don't know about GM ECU hackery. Saturn did everything different from the rest of GM. Even the speedometer is something like 7,000 pulses per mile instead of GM standard 4000 pulses per mile, for no explainable reason at all.
There is a thread on sixthsphere about ECU hackery. Its cheap, but VERY DIY.
http://sixthsphere.com/showthread.php/75788-OBD1-PCM-Modification
LLO/DOHC dry weight: 220 lbs.
Ecotec dry weight: 306-331 lbs.
Again Wikifacts so who knows how accurate but if true a 100 lb. difference is not insignificant.
The LL0 is a very light engine. I'm betting its not worth all of the other obstacles you'd encounter to put it in a RWD configuration though. Remember the lack of love = lack of aftermarket parts too.
Mounting it could be a huge pain too. There are no provisions on the sides of the block to bolt engine mounts to.
The 1.9 really is that light. It's a low deck, short bore center engine, and it's all aluminum with integral accessory mounts. The downside of that is that you can't really go much larger than 1.9l, which is probably a good chunk of why the engine was abandoned.
The rest of it is probably because they turned Saturn into Geo of Europe and lost all interest in home-designed cars.
True, but considering I'd be going from a MAXIMUM of 70hp in a ALL IRON SOHC engine, the 124hp stock DOHC Aluminum engine would probably feel more like 200hp...in a car with brakes that were inadequate with 53hp.
Also there are many more LLOs at Pull-A-Part than Ecotecs.
ProDarwin wrote:
Mounting it could be a huge pain too. There are no provisions on the sides of the block to bolt engine mounts to.
That's not strictly accurate. The 1991 model used an under-engine horseshoe mount. The '92-up engines used an inner fender style mount (like most of the rest of the transverse world) and used the old horseshoe mounting bosses for a torque strut.
You could, in theory, fab something that cradles off of those mounting bosses, like the early SBCs. Or just use a horseshoe mount to support the nose and put elephant ears on the bellhousing to control rotation. Or add a high crossmember and use the '92-up style hanging mount and also use the low mount torque strut.
I personally like the high crossmember mount idea, myself. It has the benefits of being able to use pre-engineered mounts that you can buy anywhere without having to get fabby. Fabrication should be for permanent parts, not wear and maintenance items.
You just need to do a 13b in a Chevette, then I'll copy it when I find a cheap clean one.
You have to be careful with engine published weights. Is that 220lbs full dress, or 220lbs for a bare longblock?
Then you figure in making a transmission work with it, I don't think it uses the standard GM metric pattern.
I think I'd sooner go with a S10 LN2/L43, that's an engine even I can't blow up and makes more 2HP less and 18 ft/lb more than the LL0, and comes setup to be mounted longitudinally with a manual trans.
Knurled - yes, there is the "horseshoe mount" (never heard it called that). But its not on the sides of the block, its on the front face of the block. I'm sure it would work, especially if the engine was back far enough. Just saying its not going to be like the typical side bosses you'd find say on a Miata.
Yes, thats the dressed weight.
Powar
SuperDork
11/10/14 7:22 a.m.
JD, you should be able to use my spare LL0 for mockup if you want. Hell, I still have most of that '96 SL2 parts car on my trailer.
