Hello from upstate NY

[racsys]

Hi all! If you're in the facebook group, you may have seen my intro over there. I'm the proud new owner of this project. I'm in Rochester, NY.

It's a 68 SPL311 1600, though it doesn't have the original motor. It does have a 2000 motor, but it's all apart. I'm still working out a plan, but am leaning towards selling the 2000 motor parts and doing the SR20DE swap. I'm not a racer, and I'm just looking for an interesting car that's fun to drive and relatively reliable.

So keep an eye out. Expect lots of newb questions from me, and possibly some parts for sale.

[jrusso07]

Welcome! I saw your car on Craigs...was tempted... the price was right. Best of luck with the car!

[spriso]

Welcome to 311s.org-- if you need any assistance on SR20DE conversion info, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Michael

[bmccarthy67]

Welcome! Great group of folks here that will assist regardless of your drivetrain selection. Have fun with your resto and Enjoy the Ride!

v/r
Buddy

[Gregs672000]

Welcome to the family from the great Pacific Northwest!

[dynaguy]

Welcome to 311s.org-- if you need any assistance on SR20DE conversion info, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Michael

Michael is the go to guy for sr20 conversion parts and expert advice. Love my sr20 car!

[TobyMan]

Welcome to the family. I'm in Wilson NY and have a 68 1600 that I've just got running this year. Great little car. As roadsters go we're practically neighbors.

[notoptoy]

Welcome, there are a bunch of parts up for grabs in your area, you can never have enough spares!
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35645

[racsys]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. The car has made it to the garage, and the plan is still coming together. I'm still weighing putting the 2000 motor in it. Does anyone have a writeup of putting a U20 into a 1600 car? Would I need to change the mounts? The gauges?

jrusso07 and TobyMan we should hang out! Is there any kind of local get-together already?

And thanks notoptoy, but it looks like someone beat me to it, and I'm close enough to sleeping on the couch as it is without going to buy more car parts.

[notoptoy]

The U 20 is a drop in to the 1600 engine bay. Especially if you use the four speed transmission. They use the same engine mounts. If you use a five speed you will need a new transmission crossmember. As well as the other goodies that go with the five speed including a thicker spacer plate between the transmission and engine.

[Gregs672000]

Having never done a swap I can't say how hard it is, but building and installing a U20 will be miles ahead of a swap in terms of ease. Michael has the SR conversion down to a science and is always a helpful guy so that makes things easier in that you don't have to reinvent the wheel. But, you're likely to have to change a number of additional things like gauges, weld in engine mounts, etc.

Other things to consider as the world changes would be emissions... a U20 will be dirty vs an SR with a cat. I don't mean to be a downer, but with what I'm hearing about the goal of reducing carbon emissions 45% by 2030 (only 8.5 years away!) I don't know what legal impact this may have on cars like ours in general, let alone swapped vs stock (but very likely a U20 without emissions on it). It may be that a car that is "stock" or can be made to look stock will have a better chance of being allowed vs a cleaner swapped car that is obviously not stock (ya I know, doesn't make sense but neither does government sometimes). This is ALL speculation, but I think the time may be approaching where this could become an issue and you may want to factor that into your decision. I've converted my U20 to EFI and a better ignition/timing system, but while I'm sure it's "cleaner" there's no way I could get anywhere near clean as what an SR would do. I might be able to add a cat but that won't change the cam or 40 years of engine technology.

Regardless, we're here to help! (Oh YEAH Greg, that's A LOT of help !)

[unklpat]

Why can't we add a Cat to our exhaust, and a wideband AFR guage? That would help with tuning, and clean up some of the air. My 81 chevy C10 had a CAT, but no way to change anything, fuel wise. I'm assuming they put it in there because it brought the emissions down, regardless of how much. Just saying.... Pat

[Gregs672000]

Why can't we add a Cat to our exhaust, and a wideband AFR guage? That would help with tuning, and clean up some of the air. My 81 chevy C10 had a CAT, but no way to change anything, fuel wise. I'm assuming they put it in there because it brought the emissions down, regardless of how much. Just saying.... Pat

Well... your '81 had a lot of emission controls on it to control air/fuel ratios, to inject air into the cat, etc. It was a system. With EFI I might be able to control ratios well enough to keep a cat alive for some time, but from a true emissions control point of view it's a band aid. Plugging them up was an issue, as was heat. Much worse with carburetors. I spoke to Michael about adding a cat, and I may still try one. Nevertheless, while it may help, government regulation entities are not know for flexibility in how they apply the rules... see the "2 rivets" posting on the vin plate and how flexible the agencies are!

[unklpat]

There was no air pump, no computer, just a wonky distributor that retarded the timing when the knock sensor kicked in. GM discontinued it after one year, and yes, the CAT plugged up constantly. I'm just thinking out loud, but you have the best shot at making a CAT work, having what you have. Pat

[racsys]

Gregs672000 that's a good point about emissions, but it's hard to plan based on what they might do. Usually old things are grandfathered in, but you never know. I wasn't even thinking about that until you mentioned it.

notoptoy do you know if the 1600 gauges work work with the U20, or do would I need to change those, too? The U20 would look pretty appealing if it really was that easy.