What is the “easiest” engine swap thats most reliable to most HP?

[Ras12]

Anyone considered swapping in a Subaru Boxster engine? Tons of conversions done on rear engine VW's that have similar constraints as the Delorean such as cooling, stock transmission HP capabilities, etc. The engines would definitely fit into the existing bays with the challenging part being adapting the transmissions to the engine. I also see a lot of supercharged 3800 V6 Pontiac GXP engine swaps into Fieros. Again similar issues. A Pontiac swap would (in a round about way) pay homage to JZD's former Pontiac - Muscle car days. Just a thought.

[opethmike]

A Subaru Boxer engine wouldn't fit because of the tight shape of the DMC engine cradle.

[powerline84]

My car was a bae turbo car when I got it . And at 38 000 miles the motor was toast . I was shocked at how much oil I poured out of the exhaust manifolds lol. Those turbo kits were primitive at best . Why someone would buy an origional set up is beyond me. Archaic boost control. Garbage turbo. Blah blah blah. I ditched the@#×% immediately. I will say that after seing Luke's car I am a believer. But he is also an efi homade turbo pioneer of sorts and has years of r & d in that car. It's a bad ass car.

[Josh]

Anyone considered swapping in a Subaru Boxster engine? Tons of conversions done on rear engine VW's that have similar constraints as the Delorean such as cooling, stock transmission HP capabilities, etc. The engines would definitely fit into the existing bays with the challenging part being adapting the transmissions to the engine. I also see a lot of supercharged 3800 V6 Pontiac GXP engine swaps into Fieros. Again similar issues. A Pontiac swap would (in a round about way) pay homage to JZD's former Pontiac - Muscle car days. Just a thought.

I had an EJ in my garage and an empty frame. I took one measurement and sent the motor off to the scrap yard. It is WAYYYY too wide to fit in the delorean engine cradle. If you cut off the rear section of the frame, rebuilt it (also re designing the rear suspension) you could make it fit.

But that is a lot of work for a garbage Subaru engine.

[Riley88]

My favorite is this from Hervey "Looks great. Who knows how much HP or fraction of HP we could be getting with this Modification."

Omg everytime i go view his website for lolz i read that and laugh. ' WHO KNOWS!?!??!?!"

[Ras12]

I had an EJ in my garage and an empty frame. I took one measurement and sent the motor off to the scrap yard. It is WAYYYY too wide to fit in the delorean engine cradle. If you cut off the rear section of the frame, rebuilt it (also re designing the rear suspension) you could make it fit.

But that is a lot of work for a garbage Subaru engine.

That's great to know as the VW scene has a lot of these conversations and it seemed like a possible option...that's why I threw it out there. Totally agree that Hacking up the frame isn't worth all the reengineering needed. Thank you for the input. Anyone know if the Pontiac Supercharged Series III would fit?

[Josh]

That's great to know as the VW scene has a lot of these conversations and it seemed like a possible option...that's why I threw it out there. Totally agree that Hacking up the frame isn't worth all the reengineering needed. Thank you for the input. Anyone know if the Pontiac Supercharged Series III would fit?

Well the engine hangs out the back end of the car, the frame stops around the bellhousing area. I do find it funny that a subaru engine is more reliable than a VW engine, yikes.
There have been a few Buick V6 swaps. It is a 60deg v6 so it fits in the frame nicer than the PRV as far as I am concerned. The most notable example is the "The World's Fastest Delorean" as claimed by Donald Steger. They had a custom bellhousing made that interfaced it with the stock delorean transmission but it was a few decades ago and they are near impossible to find now. This bell housing was for the conventional gm v8 bolt pattern but would work on the Buick RWD bolt pattern (or visa versa). This car has been sold and disassembled i think it is being returned to stock (don't quote me on that)

My LS4 adapter would interface a FWD Buick V6 with the stock delorean transmission though as they are the same GM metric bolt pattern.

[opethmike]

Well the engine hangs out the back end of the car, the frame stops around the bellhousing area. I do find it funny that a subaru engine is more reliable than a VW engine, yikes.
There have been a few Buick V6 swaps. It is a 60deg v6 so it fits in the frame nicer than the PRV as far as I am concerned. The most notable example is the "The World's Fastest Delorean" as claimed by Donald Steger. They had a custom bellhousing made that interfaced it with the stock delorean transmission but it was a few decades ago and they are near impossible to find now. This bell housing was for the conventional gm v8 bolt pattern but would work on the Buick RWD bolt pattern (or visa versa). This car has been sold and disassembled i think it is being returned to stock (don't quote me on that)

My LS4 adapter would interface a FWD Buick V6 with the stock delorean transmission though as they are the same GM metric bolt pattern.

You know what you must do...

[leroylem]

I could not resist joining this discussion-----everyone entitled to his opinion/preference---right. I chose a sbc (327) because I had one available at no cost---of course I spent quite a few $$$ building it to 400 plus HP---luckily found one of the Don Steger bellhousings new in the box---had to build engine mounts, flywheel mods, clutch mods, etc, but at really very moderate expense, the car is now a great high performance, dependable driver---several thousand miles since the conversion---so far very satisfied with the swap. I love originality in any/all classic/collector cars, but lots of horsepower adds to the fun.

Leroy 2126

[Farrar]

#2613 has a 3.0L engine. Yes, it is probably the "easiest swap," but it was still a lot of work, even without electronic fuel and spark management.

That said, I wasn't looking for speed. I was looking for replacement of a dead stock engine with another one that was cheap and readily available.