Hi everybody!
I have a 3.2L base TL that I love and is in great condition but 200k miles on it. I can’t find a 3g type s and even the 3.5L base model is getting hard to find and expensive compared to a swap. I’ve done tons of research and thought about doing an engine swap and what will work. I found a wrecked 07-08 type S and can buy engine, trans, wiring harness and ecu for $2500 shipped.

I want your opinions, thoughts, recommendations from you who have done this. This will probably turn into a build thread.

my car is an automatic and the type s is also an automatic. I figured it’s way too much work to change to a manual. So I’m hoping this swap will go right in.

other than the wiring harness and ecu is their anything else I would need to complete this swap that I might have missed? I have all the bolt ons already that I will put on the new setup and will get hondata eventually.

what work can I have done on the trans? Like a stall converter and where I could get one.

Thank you all for your input, I will post lots of pics when I do this. Let’s have some fun!

I was looking at buying another type s I found I think two when I did a 200 mile search and the cost was a lot more than doing a swap, which is why I decided to go that route, and I don’t mind the work that would go into it. I also thought that the 07-08 tl has a 3.5L non type s option in addition to the 3.2, I know the 04-06 only had the 3.2. Thanks for the info.

I wanted to eventually be able to fully tune the motor and I read that I can’t do that with my 05 automatic tl. which is why I’m swapping the ecu as well as the harness, because I also read that the 07-08 auto tl can use hondata.

^^^ thank you! This is the kind of knowledge I was looking for.

The TL-S uses CAN Bus to communicate with the ECU, where the 04-06' TL's use K-line. So your gonna need to update your OBD2 port and run CAN wiring to the ECU.

^ the motor and tranny swap will be easy for me but I’m still a novice with electrical, can you go into more detail with what I will need to do or share a link where I can learn how to do this. Thank you!

I also have a set of rl cams, since I’m going to have the heads PnP and new springs will it make a difference? I don’t want to go all the way race, and get big cams but I do want to make it fast since I have the motor out (the j35).

Thoughts on stall converters? Any recommendations on a good one and where to get it?

I was looking at electric power steering pump kit out of curiosity. How much hp do you think that would free up since it wouldn’t be running off the engine?

I’m hoping to get some good feedback from you guys with the experience. Among the other things I brought up. I have the new motor all apart now, I’m sending the heads and runners in to be pnp. I was going to leave the rotating assembly as is but now that it’s apart I was thinking of having new piston rings in and the block honed etc. are there any recommendations on changing the pistons, rods, crank? I want to make it faster but still want some reliability and not fully raced out. This will be a n/a engine.

Thank you!

After much research I’ve decided to do a turbo build. I want to know from you experts a few things. I want this to be street fast, no drag racing and I want it reliable still (somewhat).

whats the best size turbo to get and what brand is good?

what compression is needed to be able to run regular gas?

do I need better pistons or are the stock ones good enough?

Thank you for the help as I will continue to research.

Stepping back and looking at your various posts for a moment, it seems pretty clear to me you have the wrong car for your needs/wants/desires. Said another way, it will cost you far less and the results will be far more reliable if you simply sell your car and buy something else which has the performance you want direct from the factory.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the input. I understand all of your points since I hear this all the time. This is my favorite car. I know it’s expensive to do any kind of upgrade, I’m not looking to do a crazy hot rod build. This is my project and it’s fun for me so I’m looking for options. The motor and tranny are from an 08 tls and both are being rebuilt. also I see so many turbo builds on stock compression 11:1 granted it’s on e85 or meth. So I was thinking more like 9:1 or even 10:1 I’ve seen on pump gas.

yes I am mechanically inclined but I will have a shop weld up the exhaust manifold as well as having a shop do the Dino tuning. It sucks that there’s no kit and have to custom make stuff, that’s why I’m asking around for opinions on turbo size and so on.

Sorry, I meant premium gas 91-93 octane.

So where are you in your project? On 4/6/2018 you had the engine taken apart and was discussing forged internals.

I am currently having machine work done on motor and heads and getting rebuilt. Just playing the waiting game and doing a ton of research. At first I was going to do a N/A build but decided to do a turbo build instead.

What size charge pipes, turbo? What brand of BOV will you be running? Hondata?

To what size internals are you getting worked? What brand are the internals?

EG? What is this 2001? Fast and Furious?

Keep the J in the UA7 and build a powerhouse.

Wow. Part of my “research “ was coming here to find out what others have done and what others know from experience. I can put the shit together but I’ve never messed with a turbo set up before. To those that think I haven’t done anything yet, you’re right. I don’t think I’ve put the cart before horse, All I’ve done is bought the j35 motor and tranny that I will Install into the car anyway. I haven’t bought anything else yet because again, I wanted to know some things I can or can’t do from people that may know or have done this before. There’s no pictures unless you want one of a box of crap, that’s all I have. I’m also taking my sweet time because there’s no rush for me, my car runs great and this is something I want to do right. This is just a part time hobby for me. I may throw out some ideas/thoughts and spitballing on some posts, it’s not meant to show my lack of direction I’m going with this car. Instead Advice/thoughts is what I’m looking for.

Anyways. My end goal is around 400 hp custom turbo (no pics because nothing is done yet). mid to high rpm power band with a slightly raised rev limit. So far the j35 is sitting, waiting to go to the machine shop. the heads are at the machine shop. I’ll continue to read many of the threads from this forum and v6 performance forum. Please leave this constructive if you’re going to comment. I’m still keeping my car, I’m not going to sell it for something better or cheaper.

^ no worries.
Today I sent the cams in for the regrinds, stage 2. I did decided to send them to bisimoto. I was hoping to find new cams but all I can find are companies that only regrind. I read all the good AND bad about bisimoto from this forum but figured it’s still a good upgrade over stock cams. I’ll post pictures when something is done, sorry I wish I had more time to do this fun project, it may be a while before real work is being done.

I’ve seen a lot of stock j series motors with turbos on them, how many miles can you get out of something like that?

Just Bicurious, how long have J32/J35s lasted with 10psi boost?

I have been looking everywhere for some forged 9:1 pistons for this J35. I can’t find any pistons for the J35 at all, do you all know of any company that sells them? I’ve reached out to a company called CP-Carrillo that said they can custom make them but need a sample piston from said motor. I don’t have any yet, y’all have any recommendations on this?