Petrol Engine Swap for Nissan SB-14

[Azula9713]

Hi, I'm thinking of doing a petrol swap for my Nissan SB-14 1996 with a CD20 Engine. Engine is at 285K on the clock and is under compression. Since there is no benefit of saving money on Fuel these days as both petrol and diesel cost the same, is it a good idea to swap for a petrol engine instead of rebuilding the CD20? If so what are good alternative engines for the car? Would GA15 (Engine of FB14) fit without much of a hassle? or any other good alternatives?

[iRage]

Yes..the GA engine will fit with no issues. So will a SR (came in the Sunny Lucino) engine but those are going to be expensive because of the fanboy status of the engine series.

A proper engine swap is going to be pricey. The new engine you purchase must be refurbished including looking in to things like the status of the alternator, etc...Then you wlll have to go through the whole permission from the RMV process and then get a new registration number. Once you get the converted number that is going to raise questions and subsequently the market value will drop. 

So you better do a proper cost-benefit analysis, which should also consider you just selling your SB14 and going for a petrol version.

[matroska]

From the 90's where Petrol's were converted en-masse to diesel we have come full circle! 

1 hour ago, iRage said:

Once you get the converted number that is going to raise questions and subsequently the market value will drop. 

I'm curious as to what the converted numbers are now - back then it used to be 325- . I wonder if even these conversions are allowed. Technically a GA engine on this should work...has to be the engine and ECU combo. 

[matroska]

1 hour ago, iRage said:

So will a SR (came in the Sunny Lucino) engine but those are going to be expensive because of the fanboy status of the engine series.

SR's and the JZ's prices are way off the charts - you could probably buy a car itself for a fraction above the cost of the engine  

[Azula9713]

3 hours ago, matroska said:

From the 90's where Petrol's were converted en-masse to diesel we have come full circle! 

I'm curious as to what the converted numbers are now - back then it used to be 325- . I wonder if even these conversions are allowed. Technically a GA engine on this should work...has to be the engine and ECU combo. 

Aren't those gonna be E numbers? Mine doesn't have an ECU since its diesel as well as 96 model. I think ECU came with 97 and later

[Azula9713]

4 hours ago, iRage said:

Yes..the GA engine will fit with no issues. So will a SR (came in the Sunny Lucino) engine but those are going to be expensive because of the fanboy status of the engine series.

A proper engine swap is going to be pricey. The new engine you purchase must be refurbished including looking in to things like the status of the alternator, etc...Then you wlll have to go through the whole permission from the RMV process and then get a new registration number. Once you get the converted number that is going to raise questions and subsequently the market value will drop. 

So you better do a proper cost-benefit analysis, which should also consider you just selling your SB14 and going for a petrol version.

Thank you for the reply. Do I have to get the permission and converted number before I do the swap or after it? Also I don't think I will be selling the vehicle anytime soon as I absolutely love the ride. I'm also considering just fully rebuilding the CD20 as well. Also another thing that crossed my mind was CD20T. Is it possible to convert a regular CD20 to CD20T during the rebuild? In my estimations full rebuild gonna cost me around 300K, and I think petrol swap would be cheaper. Since I'm new to this whole car scene I highly appreciate your opinion.

[iRage]

14 minutes ago, Azula9713 said:

Mine doesn't have an ECU since its diesel as well as 96 model. I think ECU came with 97 and later

Even if your diesel had an ECU that would not work with the petrol engine. I do not think the B14 ever came with a CD20E. It was always the CD20 (i.e. without electronic injection). When EFI was introduced the Sunny diesel went to the YD22 engine.

16 minutes ago, Azula9713 said:

Do I have to get the permission and converted number before I do the swap or after it?

You have to get permission BEFORE the conversion. You have to fill out a form and then with your new engine invoice, engine number, etc...you have to file it. When you get permission you can go ahead with the swap. After completing the work you have to go get it reinspected and go through the whole paper work process of getting the book and number updated.

18 minutes ago, Azula9713 said:

In my estimations full rebuild gonna cost me around 300K, and I think petrol swap would be cheaper.

I think you think wrong. Considering the current exchange rates, etc..I reckon just the ending alone I would cost you about 100,000LKR. then there is the gearbox (not sure what the diesel gearbox is but I doubt it will work for a petrol engine due to the differences in torque and power), plus there is the ECU and the harness. Let's assume that would be about another 100K. that is 200K right there just in parts. Plus you will have to refurbish the engine, that would be another 50K if you find a decent engine. Now you need to account for labor...you will need an electrician to get all the wiring fixed up properly, plus the mechanic for the conversion...even if the mechanic can do all of it you still need to account for his/her time. So your conversion is going to be as much as fixing up your engine. Plus you will need an exhaust system...at least from the exhaust manifold onwards. Then there is the air intake <even though the engine comes with some components you still might have to get the air filter box and piping separately>

26 minutes ago, Azula9713 said:

Is it possible to convert a regular CD20 to CD20T during the rebuild?

Should be. Don't know much about Nissan diesel engines. You should go talk to people like Wicked EP to see what your options are. They would know best as they build turbo and exhaust setups for a living for cars pretty much around the world. Typically if you do a turbo conversion you will have to upgrade some of the internal components (being a diesel I don't think you have to worry about replacing the crank, rods, etc..though>

[Azula9713]

1 hour ago, iRage said:

You have to get permission BEFORE the conversion. You have to fill out a form and then with your new engine invoice, engine number, etc...you have to file it. When you get permission you can go ahead with the swap. After completing the work you have to go get it reinspected and go through the whole paper work process of getting the book and number updated.

I think you think wrong. Considering the current exchange rates, etc..I reckon just the ending alone I would cost you about 100,000LKR. then there is the gearbox (not sure what the diesel gearbox is but I doubt it will work for a petrol engine due to the differences in torque and power), plus there is the ECU and the harness. Let's assume that would be about another 100K. that is 200K right there just in parts. Plus you will have to refurbish the engine, that would be another 50K if you find a decent engine. Now you need to account for labor...you will need an electrician to get all the wiring fixed up properly, plus the mechanic for the conversion...even if the mechanic can do all of it you still need to account for his/her time. So your conversion is going to be as much as fixing up your engine. Plus you will need an exhaust system...at least from the exhaust manifold onwards. Then there is the air intake <even though the engine comes with some components you still might have to get the air filter box and piping separately>

Should be. Don't know much about Nissan diesel engines. You should go talk to people like Wicked EP to see what your options are. They would know best as they build turbo and exhaust setups for a living for cars pretty much around the world. Typically if you do a turbo conversion you will have to upgrade some of the internal components (being a diesel I don't think you have to worry about replacing the crank, rods, etc..though>

Right. In that case, I think fixing up my current diesel engine would be much more easy. D*MO is a good place? Or should I stick to my known garage (They also do rebuilds and stuff and they gave me the cost estimation around 300K (parts included)? 

[iRage]

On 11/25/2023 at 8:26 PM, Azula9713 said:

In that case, I think fixing up my current diesel engine would be much more easy.

Depends on how bad your current engine is. If its too worn out, then getting a new CD enging and building that up might be the better way to go. Since this technically is a new engine you still have to go through the approval and vehicle inspection processes. However, since it is a diesel to diesel swap with the same engine it is easier to explain the swap and get all the other paperwork sorted out.

On 11/25/2023 at 8:26 PM, Azula9713 said:

D*MO is a good place?

They used to be good. Pricey too. But good. No idea how they are now (I am not in SL so I don't know what has become of them. Nor do I know of any diesel specialists or Nissan diesel specialists. Maybe one of the other embers can help with that.

 

On 11/25/2023 at 8:26 PM, Azula9713 said:

should I stick to my known garage (They also do rebuilds and stuff and they gave me the cost estimation around 300K (parts included)

I don't know who your garage is. Snoop around and find out if previous builds have been successful. Always keep a 10-20% margin on what is being quoted (due to current prices and things changing in the market/economy you might need to keep a larger %). More often than not you never know what you are going to find once the engine is opened up. Then there is also the cost of parts, you are always going ot find parts at various price points. You might not need the most expensive, definitely not the cheapest, so you would want the best part you can get to maximize the longevity of the build (so whilst the garage quoted the 10K part you might decide you want the 15K one). Thirdly, when you have the engine bay empty you might want to replace some of the other parts anyway just for ease and piece of mind (e.g. engine/transmission mounts, etc...)