piazza engine

td gem now tg gem · tinkerer Joined: 21 Nov 2002 Posts: 82

gday
im still stuck on what motor to get for my gemini.i was thinking along the lines of a piazza turbo ? do they fit in with out much hassle ? would it be worth the time and effort ? if any one has done this conversion please get back to me.
cheers....dave

MRS_GEMI · backyard mechanic Joined: 16 Dec 2002 Posts: 729

piazzas are crap, personally i think they are hard to work on and unreliable and dont even go that hard for a turbo, if you want to go turbo do the nissan conversions (i know they are getting common but nissans are fairly well built)

if you dont really want to go turbo then try a isuzu 1.8 / 2l conversion, not much to install it at all apart from the parts getting a bit rare.

my favourite would be just to turbo and work the hell outa a sohc 1.8 isuzu.

My ideas anyway...your decision!

Dave

Gene FJ20DET · Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2003 7:36 pm Post subject: Re: piazza engine

im gonna keep my mouth shut this time Wink

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TurboGem · tinkerer Joined: 31 May 2002 Posts: 87

Dave I have owned many different cars including at the moment an escort with a ca18det and a gemini with a piazza engine. IMHO I don't think that there is anything wrong with a piazza engine. The biggest limitation that they have are the following:
1. They run a fuel only computer standard and as such they are not optimised with the ignition curve. This greatly effects the driveability of the car and the power delivery.

2. These engines were released in Japan in the late 70's and as such the turbo design is very antiquated. If you upgrade the turbo to something like a T25g or T28 for either a S13 or S14 SR20 respectively with an appropriate intercooler you will find that they run quite well at least mine does.

It all depends on what you want from the conversion. For me it was a cost effective way of getting an engine that was EFI and ran on unleaded with a matching 5 speed box. The fact that it was turboed was a bonus. As for fitting it is very simple. There is a problem with the dizzy hitting the firewall there are several solution:
1. Hit said firewall with a hammer
2. Use a diesel crossmember and mount
3. Slot the std engine mount which will move the engine forward (this is what I did)
3. Use the dizzy from a holden shuttle

I hope that this has been of some help if you do go ahead with it then let me know and I will try and provide some more assistance.

As a side note I have been a member of this site as well as other web based forums for quite some time. It never ceases to amaze me at the childish behavouir that goes on in this forum by some people.

Cheers
Paul

P.S. Sorry about the long post

td gem now tg gem · tinkerer Joined: 21 Nov 2002 Posts: 82

i cant thank u enough for that info........would u have an estimated cost for the conversion ? as i crashed my car into a ditch last night and its goin to be off the road for a little while i was thinking i might start saving and try and do the conversion before i get it back on the road. also, will i have to consult an engineer for this conversion ? thanks alot
cheers,
dave

TurboGem · tinkerer Joined: 31 May 2002 Posts: 87

Dave,
When I did the conversion I got a complete piazza for $200 so I guess the cost to me so far is around $600 and I am driving the car around. I don't know what sort of money you are looking at total but it should look like this

$1500 for engine and gearbox
$50 new engine mounts
$500 for a 2nd hand fuel injection computer as the std on is not very good and a pain to try and wire up.
$200 for a supra intercooler
$250 for the intercooler piping
$500 for the exhaust
$150 for the fuel pump
I just used the std fuel lines and they seem to be working ok
That is probably a good start. Like i said I got out ot it very cheaply because I got the whole car for $200 and I just used stuff off that. Things that you will have to do to get it engineered are:
Minimum of Piazza brakes on the front
Cat convertor
Unleaded fuel nozzle restrictor

Cheers
Paul