ae101 silvertop conversion

[joshua]

hi i have decided to do the 20v conversion on my mk1, could anyone tell me what additional parts i will need to do the conversion? also are there any write ups on the conversion. From the topics on here sounds as though its not 2 dificult appreciate any info

[robd]

There are a couple of people on here that have done the conversion already so if you search the forums for 20v silertop you will probably find the threads.

I was looking into this before, the engine is a straight swap & can be used with the standard Mk1 gearbox, the main issue is the ECU & loom. You can get the 20v engine with ECU & loom but you still need to wire the 20v loom into your standard Mk1 loom. Or you could go down the route of getting a custom ECU like Megasquirt & then make up a completely custom loom to link in with the standard Mk1 loom.

So basically it's just a decision on ECU & what you're gonna do with the loom. I spoke to a company called M-Tech Automotive which is where we're going for a rolling road day next Sunday 7th! They said they could supply, fit, map, tune & make a custom loom for a Megasquirt V3 with all the gizmo's & gadgets for about £1k! Running a 20v with Megasquirt you should apparently get at least an extra 12bhp or so but prob more as they could play with the fuel setup to go with the TB's. So you could end up with a nice 180bhp or more, especially if you kept it de-cat.

Other thing would be if you wanted to upgrade the brakes which would probably be a good idea.

I really wanted to do the 20v conversion but was put off by the cost, for the amount you end up paying you could prob get a V6 or 3SGE/3SGTE conversion & have more power, but I love the idea of keeping the engine 4AGE though
Good luck with it & let us know how you get on.

[paff]

Rob's got it spot on, I once considered the swap but decided it was too easy and didn't have enogh cylinders.

Tis a nice relativly easy diy swap to do tho. does cost tho

[joshua]

'not enough cylinders' :roflmao: thought you might say that paff! thanks for the advice chaps, i see your point that its alot of money for the power compared to the v6 or 3sgte route, however i have seen on ebay.com there is loads of 20v going for 700 upwards which i do not think is to bad, also my dad runs an importing and exporting goods business so will not be any trouble getting it shipped over. So i imagine the total cost would come to around the 1000 pound mark... maybe!!! i would love to do the v6 or 3sgte conversion, however i only have 2 years no claims and i would imagine i stand more of a chance getting insured on the 20v conversion. I have not yet done my homework on what the insurance would cost for each conversion would be so what do i know!, its not set in stone i will do the 20v conversion i just do not think i would get insured on the v6 or 3sgte. Im not to worried about how much work is involved as i am a mechanic so should be able to handle it. I will need to do alot of research before i go for whatever conversion, could any one recommend an insurance company! sory went off on one a bit there just difficult to know which swap to go for. On another note i have heard you can not turbo charge the 20v engine as it will not take it although there are alot of kits to do it and many turbo charged 20v's on you tube.

[paff]

You can turbo anything if you approach itin the right manner.

I use Sky for the insurance, they've sorted it out for the last few years and all mods are insured like for like which a lot of other companies didn't want to do.

[robd]

I think you can turbo the 20v's but you want the silvertop not the black top, I think the silver top has stronger internals! If you're going to get the 20v from the US just make sure it comes with the ECU & loom if you're going to stick with the standard ECU & loom, most that are for sale are just the engines, gearbox & ancillaries without ECU.
If you want the engine with ancillaries but no ECU you can get them for about £600 ish from Fensport which may work out cheaper?

Another option is if you're worried about insurance, how about just the 3SGE swap, if you got a Rev3 3SGE engine onwards it would be 173bhp & 2.0 16v so would prob be as quick as the 20v & maybe a bit more torquey! Plus this would be even cheaper to do as you can pick up engines & all the gubbins on Ebay for next to nothing, obviously you would have to make up the engine mounts etc but Paff's your man for that!
May work out cheaper on insurance too as a lot of insurance companies don't like imports, not sure what they'd think of the 20v engine is its not a UK engine, so ya never know could be cheaper to insure the 3SGE!

[joshua]

good point robd, never realy considered the 3sge but that would work out alot better power for money and also cheaper insurance, i shal have a look in to it cheers for the advice

[robd]

No worries, good luck with it & let us know what you go for.

[paff]

The 3sge was a swap I was considering on one of my mk1's. I think it would be a very nice swap.....

altho I doubt I'd ever drive it given the other options

[joshua]

got some quotes today from sky:
3mz fe= 1500
3sge= 1400
silvertop= 1300

However not 100% sure if i was quoted for a silvertop, may have been a blacktop they were not to sure about the engine, and also they used a g limited for the 3sge quote. Im not to clued up on mk2's but is that an import? I guess the quotes are not to bad. I might see if i can get it cheaper else where, but may be better off getting another years no claims first Although i did get a quote on a mk2 uk spec which was £900, (as in the car not conversion) but i love my mk1 especially because you don't see hardly any about. Never driven one so can not realy say, although i think i would prefer my mk1, plus i have spent alot on it!!!

[paff]

How old are you mate, my V6 is costing me just shy of £500.

Oh and you might mean 3VZFE
with quotes so close together I know which swap I'd choose

[joshua]

My mistake! im 20 with 2ncb so cant complain!

[paff]

ah, that aint bad then