in my dreams....
"Can I put a GT engine in my RS/GS" or "Can I put a 2G turbo engine into my RS/GS." etc...
- the 1G or 2G motor will NOT fit within the 3G. No No No. The EVO motor WILL because it's rotated 180 degrees from the 2G motor's orientation. But they're essentially the same motor..
Here's how it works for people who dont know:
1G Motor - 4G63 Engine Code (opposite orientation from our cars)
2G Motor - 4G63 Engine Code (opposite orientation from our cars)
NON-turbo DSM Motor - 420A Engine Code (SAME orientation as our cars but nothing else is similar - it's a Neon motor)
2G NT Spyder - 4G64 Engine Code (opposite orientation from our cars)
EVO 1-3 Motor - 4G63 Engine Code (opposite orientation from our cars)
EVO 4-7 Motor - 4G63 Engine Code (SAME orientation as our cars)
RS/GS Motor - 4G64 Engine Code
GT Motor - 6G72 Engine Code (will NOT fit any of the above engines)
Wait.. so whats this orientation thing? *WHY* were things switched? Well.. its more about the transmission than the motor actually. See, nearly every FWD car out there has their motor located on the right-side (like ours) - but during the 90s Honda and Mitsu had their's on the LEFT. Now, this causes a few issues - follow me here: if a motor spins clockwise it'll then spin the input shaft of the tranny clockwise, which then makes the output shaft spin counter-clockwise, which then makes the differential spin clockwise (spinning the wheels clockwise as well). Got it? read that again and connect the dots if you're confused.
Ok, so whats that mean? Well.. when the motor is on the right side (like ours), that gives you the regular 5-speeds forward and 1-reverse gear. Cool. But when the motor is on the LEFT side (like the 1G/2Gs & early-EVOs), this gives you 5-speeds reverse and 1-speed forward.... not very pratical.
So Honda solved this "slight" problem by spinning the motor counter-clockwise from the start. DONE, problem solved. But Mitsubishi instead added an extra shaft to flip the rotation one more time to keep things going the right way. Ahh... extra shaft... more friction, power robbing efficiency, takes up space - great idea.
So this all changed when Mitsu wanted to upgrade the EVO 4's tranny with big ol' gears there just wasnt enough room. So Mitsu moved the engine to the right-side, and decided to do the same for future cars like ours. Ta-da!
Great.. so now we know why the switched orientation - what about the swap? Well, since the 4G64 motor (RS/GS) and the 4G63 blocks are nearly identical, that means that the motor mounts are the same. Hence why an EVO 4-7 engine will drop-in a RS/GS. The RS/GS Starter gets in the way for the EVO Exhaust manifold tho. GT's are a no-go.. they're entirely different and will have more luck swapping in a rotated 6G7? motor.
the 4G63 and 4G64 are nearly indentical. The 4G64 is taller - with a 6mm higher deck height - and the cylinder bores are wider - with an 86.5mm bore. Other than that, THEY ARE THE SAME. What's missing? THE HEAD. But guess what? I'm almost 99% sure that the EVO 4-7 head will bolt directly to the 4G64 block - plug a few holes, add the camgears and timing belt, and BOOM you've not only got yourself essentially an EVO motor - you've got yourself a STROKED EVO MOTOR. Strap-on a turbo setup and you're packing essentially the same setup as you would with the EVO swap but for half the price (note: before any engineer-types kill me, the EVO motor would allow for higher revving but has less displacement - a loooong discussion for another thread).
How am I nearly 99% sure that the head-swap will work? Because DSMs are doing this right now as we speak, but since they're rotated 180degrees, they're using a pre-95 Galant 4G64 block and bolting their 4G63 DOHC on. They've already got the head and need the block+internals. We've already got the block+internals but need the head.. got it?
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