Engine swap

[greybeard]

OK folks I`m new to this so I need your collective wisdom,what are the plus & minuses with chain versus belt drive engines ?

I have an auto GD with smokey 4G32 belt drive engine and the option of a fitting a reasonable chain drive replacement.

Will a chain drive go straight in ? I dont want to be stuffing around with different exhaust, different bolt patterns,torque converter, wiring, or whatever

Your thoughts please !!

gb

[astronturbo77]

hey, galants/ lancers all originally came with factory chain drive engines. the saturn belt drive 1600 engine came in base model GE sigma's so its had a engine swap at some stage. yes the motor will bolt straight up, and i assume the wiring and rad hoses will fit.

[oldn64]

OK folks I`m new to this so I need your collective wisdom,what are the plus & minuses with chain versus belt drive engines ?

I have an auto GD with smokey 4G32 belt drive engine and the option of a fitting a reasonable chain drive replacement.

Will a chain drive go straight in ? I dont want to be stuffing around with different exhaust, different bolt patterns,torque converter, wiring, or whatever

Your thoughts please !!

gb

OK there is not a straight forward answer to this one so I will give you the facts.....

The belt drive you have in the car at the moment is not the original one that came with your car. I suspect that the car has had an import motor fitted at some stage or even at a factory service under warrenty (did happen occasionally) The issues you face are,

while the motor will bolt in your exhuast manifold and inlet manifold will not bolt to the chain motor, my memory is a little sketchy but I have a feeling that the alternator is on the other side of the motor too but cannot be sure. The exhuast manifold for the chain will not bolt to the engine pipe of the belt so you will be required to take a trip to the exhuast shop.The carby will bolt to the respected inlet manifold for the motor that it is bolted to, so that is a bonus. The dizzy is different and there are two types of chain block heads, square port and round port exhuast. these do no share the same stud pattern and again you will need to get the right manifold for the correct head.

Having stated that yes the motor will drop in and bolt straight up. However, you will require all the ancillery stuff to be able to do the swap successfully. This swap will not take too long but just make sure you have everything before starting otherwise you might get half way through and find you forgot something. I do like the chain blocks but the belt block are quieter, later belt block came with balance shafts as per the sigmas so dependant on whihc motor you have will depend on what it has on it. Good luck

Cheers

[greybeard]

OK thanks for your info - the chain engine on offer is complete with inlet and exhaust manifold, carb, alternator etc. so if I understand correctly the only issues I may have are exhaust pipe to manifold and possibly carb linkages? What about auto trans connections, would they be the same for belt / chain engines ?

gb

[75wagon]

OK thanks for your info - the chain engine on offer is complete with inlet and exhaust manifold, carb, alternator etc. so if I understand correctly the only issues I may have are exhaust pipe to manifold and possibly carb linkages? What about auto trans connections, would they be the same for belt / chain engines ?

carb connections are the same.
autotrans connections are the same too.

I thought all 1978 onwards car were fitted with chain drive 4G32B's? All LC lancer hatches had them (they are '79 onwards). Some LB lancer hatches have them (they are '77 to '78 In Australia). So if this is correct all late GD's ('78's) would be fitted with belt dive motors standard. Does anyone have anymore info on this, I would like to know?

As far as what motor is better, I prefer chain drives purely because they are pre-pollution and the belt drives aren't. The import belt drives have a higher power output to the ADM (Australian domestic market) to my knowledge.

Dave...

[greybeard]

OK well as I said I am a novice, the build date on this car is 9 / 76 and I was told the engine had been changed before I got it so I`m assuming it started out with a chain drive ?

So what came first - belt or chain ?

Will the current existing ( belt ) tail pipe bolt straight up to a chain exhaust manifold ?

One other thing I noticed - under the hood the tune up sticker states Ignition timing as 10* BTDC up to 3 / 76 build and 1* BTDC on post 3 / 76 build, how can you determine what era a belt motor is ?

So many questions - thanks for your patience

gb

[astronturbo77]

as far as i now ( i have owned every model galant) they all came out with chain drive saturn engines from say 70 ish to 78. the Belt drive staurn engine was first introduced in the ge sigma as the base model engine, and i think 79-80 ish LC lancers had factory belt drive engines. yes all the accessories should bolt straight up. Also the belt drive engines have balance shafts and the chain drives dont.

[shuggy]

i know some GD's came with belt, the very last of the batch

[oldn64]

i know some GD's came with belt, the very last of the batch

I cannot answer that as all Galants I have had have been chain drive until my yellow GD which did have a belt drive but it was an import motor.

OK well as I said I am a novice, the build date on this car is 9 / 76 and I was told the engine had been changed before I got it so I`m assuming it started out with a chain drive ?

So what came first - belt or chain ?

Chain came first. Belt drive was the later motor.

Will the current existing ( belt ) tail pipe bolt straight up to a chain exhaust manifold ?

No that was what I was trying to say... The engine pipe (piece from exhuast manifold flange to rest of exhuast) will not bolt to the belt drive exhuast flange. youe will need to get a new section here, easier to get exhuast shop to weld a donour one on.

One other thing I noticed - under the hood the tune up sticker states Ignition timing as 10* BTDC up to 3 / 76 build and 1* BTDC on post 3 / 76 build, how can you determine what era a belt motor is ?
1* seems a little light on.....??

So many questions - thanks for your patience

gb

That is exactly what the boards are for..... ;)

Cheers

[75wagon]

Also the belt drive engines have balance shafts and the chain drives dont.

Not all belt drives have balance shafts. I have had some with out, I think the one that I have doesn't have them, but I'd have to check.

Dave...

[greybeard]

Yeah 1* does seem a bit retarded - pollution control / electronic dizzy ? Did the Aussie galant run an electronic dizzy ?

Anyway thanks to all for your help so far !!

gb

[75wagon]

Did the Aussie galant run an electronic dizzy ?

No, well certainly not to my knowledge anyway.

Dave...