Rebuild 2nd Gen or st205 swap?

Boosted185

New member
I have my 2nd gen out of the car and am looking for other peoples opinions if i should rebuild the motor or id it would be easier/cheaper to just swap it. I am a student in college so money is a factor, i dont have huge plans for the car but would still like to get somewhere around 300-350whp
 

SoCal3sgte

New member
I would say just rebuild the Gen2, Rebuilding a Gen2 with some mods can put you on par with a Gen3 very easily. iirc, getting head work on Gen2 could flow as much or more then a Gen3. Stock gen3 with exhaust/downpipes and about 17psi could net you almost 300awhp, would say you are about 275-280awhp

I understand this is a super late response, but he wanted input and he only had 1, so lets add more :)
 

underscore

Well-known member
If you rebuild it you know exactly what's in there, buying a swap there's always a chance of getting a damaged engine like someone on here did recently.
 

lalojamesliz1

New member
underscore":n9b7bblm said:
If you rebuild it you know exactly what's in there, buying a swap there's always a chance of getting a damaged engine like someone on here did recently.

ME :D
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=53265

This is a old thread but I would also just rebuild. Your just taking a lot of chances that can lead to a engine rebuild. If someone does buy a swap, I would test everything. I lucked out and did my own compression test and I got $$$ back
 

Snake19888

New member
I would also think if you let ecu and injectors lriginal you can goal arround 275hp what ist maximun what the gen2 original injectors can savely arrange.
If that is enough for you that is what you should do.

A gen3 swap can arrange savely arround 320hp (engine hp not wheel hp booth) without modifications on the engine.

But what you habe to do for booth in my opinion is to put an extra oil cooler in, also a wideband afr gauge. On gen2 its also a good thing to relocate the oil filter.
Then you need a 3" exhaust also as a 3" downpipe and decat or a 200cell kat in the frontpipe (also 3").
If its a normal st185 then you also need a fmic or wta tmic (from sainz or st205) because the original tmic is verry bad for more then stock boost.

These are the most important things what i think is a must have for more then stock boost on booth cars. The gen2 with stock injectors and stock ct26 turbo can savely boot arround 1bar (with metal head gasket with normal gen2 head gasket only save arround 0,8-0,9Bar) with gen3 engine and ct20b you can savely rund arround 1,2Bar.

Gen2 over 1 bar the injectores dosent suply enough, and on gen3 (also gen2 with bigger injectors and other ecu) over 1,2bar the stock pistons can break by the piston rings (dont know how to tell in english).

A stock ceramic ct20b turbo can supply savely arround 1,3bar over that the ceramic turbin can break, but thats ok because over 1,3bar also with metal turbin the turbo will blow as much hot air that you cant cool so its ineffective..
A stock ct26 turbocharger can effective supply around 1-1,1bar before it gets to much hot air.

For a gen3 swap i would recomend to open the gen3 and look inside to know how it is and change the gaskets, water pump and oil pump because you never know if they are good or not before its to late :)

Its nearly the same thing if you rebuild your gen2, i dont know why you would rebuild (if its broken or only because high mileage) but its the same work. So look for your money and your goals and then decide what you whant :)
 

Boosted185

New member
Damn wasn’t expecting this thread to get feedback this late , still appreciated however. And I bought a gtfour for 1200$ so I knew it was gonna be an adventure but to cut the story short some of the head bolts I could undo with my fingers
 
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