Well, I see this in here VERY often, and I am tired of answering it every time.
Differences in the two motors are:
96-98 99+
9.5:1 compression 9.7:1 compression
EGR No EGR
smaller one-wire knock sensor larger 2 wire knock sensor
low impedence injectors high impedence injectors
smaller/different shaped coolant passages in head larger/different shape then 96 coolant passages in head
larger starter smaller starter
Exhaust manifold has EGR cutout No EGR cutout in exhaust manifold
Intake manifold has hole for EGR tube No Hole for EGR tube
96 ONLY: first year of OBDII:devil year
3 plug ECU
low oil sensor
not HP Tuners compatible
What can you do about a 96? Simple. The 96 interior harness (bulkhead plugin at the firewall) is the SAME as 97-98. Beautiful thing about this is, 97-98 is compatible with HP Tuners. So, it can be as easy as, find a 97-98 engine bay harness and ECU, put it in your car, direct replacement, and now you have a 96 that is ready for HP Tuners. Problem: Hard to find the harness as many yards cut them while taking out the motor. But, car-part.com is good for this, just have to get the harness shipped. The ECU can be any 97-98 ECU, but it will need to be reflashed at a dealer for your car. For example: you have a 96 2.4 5-sp, if you dont want to reflash it, your going to need to find a 97-98 2.4 5sp ECU. Problem: Not many yards list the ECU's by year/model, only by part number. Part number for the ECU that you will need is (16228016), that one will let you get a reflash to your car. Also, a bit more information on the engine bay wiring harness, doesnt matter if the harness is from an auto or manual, if you have a manual, you can get either or and just delete the automatic tranny part of the harness, but of course if you have an auto, you will need to have the auto harness.
Now, for the 96-98 to a 99+ 2.4 swap or vise versa:
Whatever car you have, you USE ALL of your parts, as in Intake manifold, exhaust manifold, injectors/fuel rail, EGR or Non EGR, wiring harness, starter(well, either one will work on either motor, but whatever).
Now, for what you will need to change is the knock sensor and the knock sensor hole. If you have a 96-98, as stated above, your knock sensor is smaller, so if your going to a 99+ motor, you will need to heli-coil it to make the smaller sensor fit in that hole. (Helicoil is an "adaptor" to make a certain size thread fit inside the hole of other threads) Im not sure if they make a helicoil for that, I know on my motor, we drilled out the 99 block and helicoilded it back DOWN to the size of the 96-98 sensor. If your going from 99+ to a 96-98 motor, just drill and tap your block to make the larger knock sensor fit.
Big thanks to Ron (Shifted) over the time I have been on JBO, hes always cleared things up for me. Even for this, I forgot what knock sensor was larger/smaller, its been awhile since my motor was done, so, I forgot, but, ofcourse Ron knew! Also, now Ron does bench tuning, so, he is a great option for poor people like me who cant afford HP TUners right now, so he will be doing my base tune to get my car running again with no other bandaids and getting my 550's to idle. Great guy to deal with, and I am sure an even better guy to do business with. Good luck to Shifted Tuning. Also, thanks to Chris (Sweetness), he is a wealth of knowlege as well, we have had some great talks over the Twin Cam, his build will be wild, look out for it here in a couple months, or whever he gets it finished up.
I am SURE that I have left out some stuff, as I forget tons of stuff when I am here at the computer. If I remember some things that I left out, I will chime back in, or any other 2.4 gurus that would like to chime in, feel free. Not sure if this will get stickied or not, but, I hope it will make it easier for people that search to find the answer, not like it already isnt there, but, there is hope.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, August 09, 2006 8:56 PM
knock sensor correction- if you have a 96-98 and u are swapping to a 99-02 2.4l you have to drill and re tap the knock sensor hole as it is SMALLER .
there is a post about what size drill/tap to use.
( i am running a 00 2.4l in my 96 that came from a automatic.)
all the bellhousings are the same in the 2.4l.
you can also use a 2.4 from a grand am or alero.
Good info, but this will not keep it from being asked. Also it can be a little hard to read. It needs to be more like columns. Also 2000+ exhaust manifolds (at least the ones I have seen) do have the cut out for the EGR, but the gasket used does not. One more thing the 2000+ (maybe 99 as well, but not 100% sure)intake manifolds have a lip right under the TB that the 96-98 (maybe 99) do not have. That is easy to remove.
FU Tuning
Quote:
Good info, but this will not keep it from being asked. Also it can be a little hard to read. It needs to be more like columns. Also 2000+ exhaust manifolds (at least the ones I have seen) do have the cut out for the EGR, but the gasket used does not. One more thing the 2000+ (maybe 99 as well, but not 100% sure)intake manifolds have a lip right under the TB that the 96-98 (maybe 99) do not have. That is easy to remove.
Thats interesting to hear, are there any real gains from removing the lip? is it just there to try to make some torque or what?
I've said it all along.... all RSM used to do was dremel out that lip on the 00-02 manifolds, to match the 99's... which had no lip.
There's other differences too... the exhaust manifold has a block-off on the EGR port on 99-02's. The shape of the head is changed for 99+. The downpipe is four bolts on 96-98, three on 99-02. The tensioner changed in 99 as well.
As for starters, there's three designs. The case got smaller for 99, and the internals changed again in 01 (more efficient).
I know there's more, but that's what comes to mind right now.
PhoeniX wrote:Quote:
Good info, but this will not keep it from being asked. Also it can be a little hard to read. It needs to be more like columns. Also 2000+ exhaust manifolds (at least the ones I have seen) do have the cut out for the EGR, but the gasket used does not. One more thing the 2000+ (maybe 99 as well, but not 100% sure)intake manifolds have a lip right under the TB that the 96-98 (maybe 99) do not have. That is easy to remove.
Thats interesting to hear, are there any real gains from removing the lip? is it just there to try to make some torque or what?
I removed mine. Gains well not sure truly. I can say with a 57mm TB on you could open the TB and see the lip, but now you do not.
FU Tuning
I am pretty sure that the hole on the 99+ is larger. I have a 99 in my 96. We drilled and retapped it, then helicoiled, I am pretty sure, dont remember.
And yes, all 2.4 bellhousing are the same. You can use 2.4's from alero and grandams, only thing needs to be changed is the bottom motor mount bracket. 2.4's came in Achivas right? I am pertty sure the last 2.4 I swapped was from an Achieva, bottom motor mount bracket had to be changed as well. The timing chain tensioner changed as well. I am almost positive that the exhuast manifold has it blocked off. I knew the gasket didnt have the cutout, so I just figured that the manifold didnt either. Didnt pay attention to it. See, I told you guys I would forget some stuff. I dont know what happened up there either. I had them in collums, but when I posted, it got screwed up.
'96-'98 Knock sensor is a 12 x 1.25 thread. '99> is a 8 x 1.25 thread.
I just machined an adapter so I could run the newer one on my '96 after swapping to a '99 PCM.
"The FACTS are always subject to CHANGE once the TRUTH is applied"
"In the entire history of man the only stupid questions are the ones that don't get asked"
