Hotwired05

Me and a couple of my engineering buddies (one of them owns a full blown shop, custom fabricates parts and installs them) had this crazy Idea as a project:

Basically take the whole drivetrain off the new TL SH-AWD 6 speed, and pop it into the 08 TL-S.. I mean everything, engine (maybe, or leave the stock one and pop in a supercharge).. the transmission and front and rear axles and everything in between and try to custom fit it into the 08 TL-S.. of course the 08 tl-s would have to be heavily modified..with custom scratch made parts, modified frame and mounts but it's theoretically possible???

Their plan is get a TL SH-AWD from a junk yard (they found one in Boston I think which flipped and was totaled but most of the under body is okay) and my buddy is gonna sacrifice his 08 TL-S 6 speed (86,000 miles) for this project...

I think they're fu**ing crazy lol... It's a big project but they think they can do it (3 engineers, one Electrical engineer, a computer engineer, an architect and 2 professional mechanics) It would be awesome to see this done though, a really one of a kind TL type S..

Just wanna get some thoughts on this.. what do you 3G TL owners think??

Tehvine

I would buy one...

libert69

iTrader: (7)

Well I remember a few years back when almost EVERYONE on this site said you cant put a turbo on these cars and look where we are today. Goodluck

TheChamp531

iTrader: (3)

Good luck, but if I was going to do this (had planned too but was halted due to funds) I wouldn't go AWD go straight RWD. No one cares about SH-AWD only RWD my friend

DynamicJ32

Wow, good luck with the project. Keep us updated!

SpiderX1016

Damn, you guys are crazy and it sounds expensive. Good Luck.

nivekov

sounds awesome !

n3o

iTrader: (2)

As its been said countless times in life, you can do anything with enough money. There is an awd turbo 350Z running a G35x drivetrain but still retained the 6spd manual.

The issues that ill be at hand is wiring since the chassis wiring goes to more things than just the engine like dash controls and whatnot. Fabricating a rear subframe, modifying the transmission tunnel. Mounting the gas tank, removing spare tire well, etc. If he does it, get him to sell it to me.

07tl-s6spd

iTrader: (1)

i think it would be pretty cool.....but it def would cost a shitload of money ...i can do without a shawd tl-s

Ramrodthrusterpuppy

Forget AWD, just make it RWD and I'm sold!

Hotwired05

We were thinking about the RWD too, but wouldn't it be more work and more modifying? We figured since you can already get a full AWD drive train from the 4G TL. Plus they kinda like the idea of having a boosted TL-S being able to launch full throttle.. I can imagine the look on peoples faces when they think they're about to race a FWD and the car shoots off the line with all 4 pullin lol

BTW I have seen a couple of 350z's AWD swaps heard they're pretty easy to do, just take the drive train off the g35x..

Also there was one dude I heard about who put in the G37x drivetrain into a 6th gen Maxima making AWD..and on top of that swapping the CVT in the Max to a 6-speed.. he won a whole bunch of awards for it...That's how they should have made the Max in the first place..

HQTL6SPD

Either route will require a lot of custom modification and a lot of $$. If I had both those resources, I'd go for RWD using 2JZ-GTE + drivetrain, with a TL it will absolutely make it the sexiest and ultimate sleeper. You'd probably have to strip most of the interior, but for what this project would achieve -who cares.

If you really get this project going I would definitely wanna check it out in person, maybe even help a bit however I can

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

as others have said it be awesome if done, but going to be $$$ to get done (and personally you be better off swapping the drivetrain to an 8th gen accord coupe , you can see the rear crossmember is begging for the rear diff, with the openings and holes already there for it)

Aman

ANYTHING can be done to a car if you've got some money, brains and metal. You guys have certainly got the last two, if you're willing to spend the first, you're set.

If you could make this into a kit available for 3G'ers for around $5-$8G, I bet you could make a ton of money on it

CubanLynx84

iTrader: (2)

You should tell your buddies to join here and make a thread with constant updates and pics to document this. Back when I was on team integra there was a guy who did a h22 swap into the rear of his teg making it rwd at that. he did the whole project in his garage. Made a thread on it and since then has been in many mags. He did all welding, fabing and body work on his own.

I hate cars

You're on the right path now but I don't think that engine will physically fit in the engine bay without a ton of modification. Just too long.

If you're going to all the trouble of fabrication, why not go with a more serious setup for the same or less money. I would do an LSx setup. Why go to all the trouble for just a few more hp. IMO it's not worth it. But a 500hp LSx swap and RWD would be very worth it and no more trouble than an SHAWD swap.

There are tons of popular IRS setups. You can do the Vette setup, the '03-'04 Cobra setup, etc. No reason to limit yourself to the weak Acura stuff.

Another option would be to turbocharge the existing engine and implement the trans and diff of the AWD model to put the power down. It should be a lot less work.

I would go with good rods and pistons, drop compression down a couple points and have a reliable 500hp turbo J32 with no fabrication required and all accessories working and just add the AWD. Making the power is much easier than fitting an engine that never came in this model.

Yonkers914

iTrader: (1)

wasnt this tried before???? didnt try to take the RL AWD system and put it in the TL but didnt work?

TLdream

iTrader: (4)

I agree with most. One thing you will have on your side, The j37 and j35a8 motor have the same transmission bolt locations. So technically you should be able to bolt the sh awd trans straight to your current motor, and fabbing the rest wouldnt be to hard. The difficult part is going to be the wiring.

Hotwired05

Yeah we talked about it today and scratched the idea of fitting the 4G engine in the 3G tl-s.. if we go through with it we all agreed that's the best way to do it, just boost the J32, swap rods and custom forged pistons to drop the compression..We're not sure how to tune the ECU yet..

The 4G engine doesn't give much of an advantage at all, it's bigger and costs a lot of money probably will be a hassle to make it fit.

Right now they're doing some research to see how difficult it will be to install the AWD transmission and differential to the J32.. After that, they're gonna sum up the total cost and time and see if we can find all the parts we need and all the schematics for the electrical systems of the TL.. and we'll go from there.. I'll keep you guys posted..

@HQTL6SPD - thanks for the offer, I'll let you know if we get it going, I'm sure we could use the extra help.
And the 2JZ-GTE is a inline 6 I don't think we'll be able to stuff it into the TL..Plus they don't want to strip the interior and keep it clean once it's done... but we are still keeping our options open..

Aman

Can't wait to see how this turns out

AtlM5

This is my eventual plan for my car...many many years down the line. It would be much easier if someone else did it first. I'm thinking AWD would be easier but RWD>AWD. I'm unsure there but I was also thinking of a J36 build with forged rods+pistons and lower compression and a turbo. I could easily see 600 to the wheels if I set it up right. The tough part is def. gonna be the electronics with the AWD.

tenzingsherpa

just to put this out there i have asked for a approximat of how much this(Sh-awd 6mt tranny swap) could cost to a couple reputable mechanics a couple months back and each one said about 15k in parts alone, going up to above 40k when all said and done with, and that ripping out the interior would be necessary. i know the awd is supposedly really good, but not too much is really known in terms of high hp reliablity. we know our manual trannies can handle 400+ hp easily, however awd is a completely different beast with lots more things that can go wrong. im not sure how much hp ur going for but be careful cause u will have to test the hp reliablity of the new drivetrain(+engine, if u swap it)

p.s. wiring is gonna be a b***h, especially tuning if u swap engines. imho instead of ripping out ur interior of ur nice tl-s to swap a drivetrain, just buy Evo 8,9, or 10 and keep ur nice tl-s the way it is.

HOWEVER...... if u do get this done i wanna see it sooooooo bad!! and i will be the first to applaud u my friend.

Sensual_Sushi

This is awesome. Waiting for updates!

TLdream

iTrader: (4)

The transmission will not bolt to a j32. The car is a Type S correct? It should have the j35a8. If i could find a 6mt awd sh transmission, drive shaft, and complete rear end, i would definitely consider doing this to my J35 swapped prelude.

If they are going to be doing most of the fab/ work on there own, then i can see it being relatively cheap, but if your going to have to pay for it, it will break the bank fast. Just something for though. I have about $4000 in my whole TLS swap, but i also have over 100 hours of fabrication and man hours into it (ie: building mounts, adjusting the engine bay to fit the motor, change radiator inlet/ outlet locations, wiring) Most shops in my area charge any where from$65 to $85 an hour. It wont be easy or cheap, but it will be worth the cost in the end!

HQTL6SPD

interesting.. do you have any pictures of one, I'm really interested in seeing this

Hotwired05

Correction: We're keeping the J35 (not 32 sorry made a mistake) its a type S,and we'll boost that.. and it won't be my car they're working on, one of the engineers is going to sacrifice his.. if it works out maybe I'll do mine..

I did find out something interesting from one of the Acura guys though, that the 07-08 Type S was actually originally planned to have SH-AWD, but they decided to save it for the 09 4G tl.. :\ He also told me that it is theoretically possible (and shouldn't be too hard) to mount the entire 4G drivetrain (AWD) to the J35 in the Type-S.. since the engine came from an RL- and the 4G TL-SHAWD apparently uses the same mounts and bolt patterns as the previous gen RL with SH-AWD...We're doing research to see if that's true.

Aman

Hey Acura, for not putting the SH-AWD drivetrain into the 3G Type-S. That would truly be the perfect car.

Comptechtl2367

This would be bad ass! But i am with everyone else, why not make it just RWD. I have a friend that took a full s2000 setup and put it in a Del Sol. Like everyone said, if you have the money and the know how anything is possiable!!!

Getting Hosed

I'm not sure I agree with you here. The weight and complexity of adding SH-AWD to the TL-S may not be justified in gains. This is a heavy car to begin with and the additional weight would make it even more of a dog out of the hole, even if you are pushing with all four wheels. Moreover, if the TL-S came with the RL motor (it does), and RL drivetrain, and was faster than the RL, who would buy the RL??

Back on topic...

Has anyone considered that some adjustments to the suspension would be necessary if someone were to convert a TL to RWD or AWD? I would be afraid that if left alone the car would squat too much on a hard launch and maybe have some other possibly unpredictable handling quirks that would surface when the car switched to pushing instead of pulling.

If it were me, and I had the time and resources to pull something like this off, I would consider waiting for the next-gen RL which is rumored (last I checked) to get a V8 and RWD. That would probably be much more difficult, but that much more rewarding in the end.

AMUA6

iTrader: (7)

samjcg

nice

I hate cars

Once again, worst troll ever. Get a new job.

alltrac

Here is a Celica converted into a GT-Four.
http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=68701

VQPower37

this sounds really cool, i had always thought about how hard this would be, and figured it would cost way more then its worth, but im excited to see someone else do it

Aman

I always thought the TL was light compared to its rivals. Adding SH-AWD would add some weight, but I doubt it would be any more than a G35x or RL. I can see your point about the TL stealing many RL's sales, so I'll amend my statement: Either the RL with 6MT or 3G TL-S 6MT with SH-AWD would be the perfect car, IMO.

Hotwired05

Seriously man.. What kind of a miserable excuse of a life do you have to have to get kicks out of trolling forums?

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

i think he just said nice to an idea and u guys started trolling !!!

OP....sounds like a good idea....but hope u have a lot of $$$ sitting around....coz u will need it...

as tenzingsherpa said.....i would just keep the TL as is with full bolt-ons....or even a turbo and get upto ~400whp....and then buy an M3 or evo or gto's with that cash....but if you complete this man you will have a ride that no one will.....and thats the SHIZNITZ.....

I hate cars

Nah. Look up all of his posts. This is the only word he's ever written.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

I vote for IHC to be made A MODERATOR....man u wud use the ban hammer more than RON A

lets get back to the thread....08 TLS MT SH-AWD

TLdream

iTrader: (4)

I will do this. I just have to come up with all the parts now. I will be searching. If anyone finds one in a yard let me know. i will buy the whole thing.