Engine Swaps

[MattD]

Let's say I swapped a non-USA engine into my car...hypothetically...a sweet, mega-power Swiss engine that makes me run a 0-60 in 2.5 seconds...whatever... Would I be able to run in SP, even tho it was never in a US production car, but WAS available in the car in a foreign country?

...seems to me, only car-specific USDM-available powerplants can be in SP. ...although, I hope my memory is serving me poorly. :p

MattD

[Blue03CivicSi]

I don't think that you can do it. I'm not sure how ps13drifter trophied in DSP with a Japanese motor (at least, to the best of my knowledge he is running an SR20DETT).

14.1 Authorized Modifications
...
C. Equipment and/or specifications may be exchanged between different years and models of a vehicle if

(a) the item is standard on the year/model from which it was taken


12.4 Standard Part

An item of standard or optional equipment that could have been ordered with the car, installed on the factory production line, and delivered through a dealer in the United States. Dealer-installed options or deletions, except as required by factory directives, no matter how common or what their origin, are not included in this definition. This definition does not allow the updating or backdating of parts.


Also to the best of my knowledge, no 240SX delivered through a dealer in the United States came with an SR20DETT. If so, I don't see how he could run and trophy in DSP at MOWOG 5.

[housecat]

I believe he can trophy quite easily with any engine in his class as long as no one disputes it. So, for further reference, you need to mention your concerns to the event master at that event.

(and at MOWOG 6, that'll be me! :D )

-nikki

[pinhead]

Only pretty specific engine swaps are allowed in SP, and for sure the engine being swapped in had to come out of a car that was available in the US.

Nick's car could be legal in SM, except that he has absolutely no interior in it - so it's not legal, and he has to run EM or whatever.

Matt, I'd say about the best place for you Civic would be STS. It's HARD to make a truly competitive SM car. My friend back in MI used to have an absolute MONSTER Civic, but he couldnt' run in SM. He had a B20-vtec with toda spec C's, fully built, headwork, etc. He had a kazz lsd with custom gear ratios in the tranny, Teins with custom rates, huge brakes that just barely fit under 15" wheels - and this was all in a 92 Civic CX. He's a really good driver, and he'd win SM -and often get FTD- locally, but he couldn't run even at the CenDiv's. So he apparently gave up on that car and is running an 88-ish Integra in HS ;)

DSP is also a pretty hard class, but your car might do okay there. I think you'd be better off in STS than in DSP, though. . .

[MNbiker]

An engine swap would put you in SM, assuming the replacement engine engine was manufactured by the same company as the car. Non-U.S. engines are allowed. For instance, swapping an SR20DET into a 240SX would be completely legal. (You could also add a bigger turbo & up the boost!)

Engine swaps are not allowed in SP, unless the replacement engine was available in the U.S. as an option for the car it's going in to. One twist is SP's update/backdate, which allows swapping into all years of a particular car model that are listed on the same line in the SP rules. For example, you could swap a 1.8L engine from a current Miata into a 1990 Miata, since the SP listing is simply "MX-5 Miata". However, if the listing is more specific such as "Civic VTEC, SOHC and DOHC (’96+)", you could only swap in engines available for that particular model/year range.

-Steve

[phile]

If you enter a car in a class for which it is not legal, you run the risk of a protest. If someone ponies up the five bucks to protest your car, and the protest is upheld, the protester gets his five bucks back and you get disqualified. Not re-classed. Disqualified.

I suggest that if you are doing something odd with your car (maybe that doesn't sound right), that you be pretty darn sure you know where to run it.

Folks in your local area in your chosen class may know about some illegality in your car that really does not make you faster, and choose to ignore it. I once saw a car at Nationals which was running in Street Prepared with no bumpers. Nobody protested, so the times (which were predictably slow for a car on street tires) stood. The car was obviously illegal for the class, but nobody cared.

On the other hand, I have seen a Stock car get protested and disqualified because the owner had replaced a plastic fuel tee with a metal fuel tee. The only advantage of this modification was to keep the car from burning to the ground.

Most of us hate cheating.
Most of us hate wienie protests.
Its a quandary with which autocrossers have been wrestling for decades.

Rules sets are not perfect. They cannot account for all situations. I guess my best advice is to be guided by common sense and common decency. Just don't expect that everyone else will be.

[ps13drifter]

i've never ran in DSP, but i trophied in it because that's what i got bumped to since i'm usually the only person in e-mod (i don't know who made the decision to put me in that, and don't really know enough about the classification rules to argu for or against it).

[MNbiker]

Originally posted by ps13drifter
i've never ran in DSP, but i trophied in it because that's what i got bumped to since i'm usually the only person in e-mod (i don't know who made the decision to put me in that, and don't really know enough about the classification rules to argu for or against it).

Nick,

Whoever bumped you to DSP at MOWOG 5 was VERY confused!:sarc

It's not your fault, but EM never, ever gets bumped to any Street Prepared class. I'll work with Dave Kral to correct the Results, as you should be getting Series results for E-Mod, putting you in the lead for the season.

-Steve Garnjobst

[Jon Kotek]

Steve has updated the results for MOWOG 5 and I have updated the website.


Jon

[Dave Kral]

Before I make the changes to the points standings, I have one other question - there was another 1991 Nissan 240SX running in DSP at the same event. It was driven by Andi Riza. Is this Nick's car being co-driven and thus also in EM instead of DSP?

Dave (not sure what all this has to do with engine swaps) Kral

[phile]

Originally posted by MNbiker


Nick,

Whoever bumped you to DSP at MOWOG 5 was VERY confused!:sarc

It's not your fault, but EM never, ever gets bumped to any Street Prepared class. I'll work with Dave Kral to correct the Results, as you should be getting Series results for E-Mod, putting you in the lead for the season.

-Steve Garnjobst

Not only does E-Modified never get bumped to Street-Prepared category, but bumping for event trophies never affects year-end points.

[MNbiker]

Originally posted by Dave Kral
Before I make the changes to the points standings, I have one other question - there was another 1991 Nissan 240SX running in DSP at the same event. It was driven by Andi Riza. Is this Nick's car being co-driven and thus also in EM instead of DSP?

Dave (not sure what all this has to do with engine swaps) Kral

Yep, a bit of topic creep going on here...:p

Since Andi didn't register online, I don't have a copy of the registration to look at. Nick, Andi or someone else in the know will have to tell us.

-Steve

[phile]

Originally posted by Dave Kral


Before I make the changes to the points standings, I have one other question - there was another 1991 Nissan 240SX running in DSP at the same event. It was driven by Andi Riza. Is this Nick's car being co-driven and thus also in EM instead of DSP?

Dave (not sure what all this has to do with engine swaps) Kral

Numbers 240 and 241.

240 is Nick's permanent number. 241 is unassigned.

[MattD]

If my feeble brain serves me correctly, the other 240 was a red fastback. But then again, I shopped for this specific car for over a year, so maybe it is just bad memories creeping back. :oneeye: AGH!

MattD
...still D16Y8.

EDIT: I was fearing that this could have been my fault. ...but as I think about it, I really couldn't be responsible for how the points look when posted to the website. I never make any 'official' adjustments...

[ps13drifter]

i'm the only person who has driven my car at a autox event thus far.

[ps13drifter]

so, uh, am i getting more points added to my car in emod or what? cus i still got points in dsp :oneeye: