TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:54 pm

:?: I have a 2.5 motor out of a 1988 omni with 42000 miles on it. has anybody ever put one of these on a sand rail . i have a irs trans with a 200mm flywheel. i have seen the different engines on the back of sand rails.

Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:41 pm

If your serious, check out esslinger engineering and Kennedy engineering, they make/sell adapter plates for engine swaps.

http://www.esslingeracing.com/index.htm
http://www.kennedyeng.com/

Thu Mar 24, 2005 8:04 am

Unfortunately, that particular motor doesn't have the power to get out of its' own way, and probably isn't worth the trouble of swapping into a vw.All the work to run the cooling and the ecu, not to mention the mounting brackets, just to get the performance of a mild 1914. i'd stick with VW. just my $.02

Thu Mar 24, 2005 9:40 am

Not if its out of an Omni GLHS !!!!!

Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:06 pm

BajaBuggin wrote: Not if its out of an Omni GLHS !!!!!
What is a GLHS?

Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:52 pm

GLHS is the intercooled and turbocharged model, even then they dont have a ton of power for the work involved and the turbo lag is horrible. Seems like they don't have any power until 4000 rpm. and off road some low end torque is favorable.

Fri Mar 25, 2005 7:17 pm

Original 'warmed-over" Omni engine was the GLH - letters stood for "Goes Like Hell" - later GLHS was "Goes Like Hell Somemore" -

FWIW - :shock:

Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:36 pm

I have a 2.0 Pinto in my baja and it runs pretty good. I would be willing to bet that the Omni engine would have a taller power band than I do and in a sandrail it would probably move pretty good. I live pretty close to the sand dune and see a lot of different buggy/engine combinations. A lot of the water cooled 4 cylinders really make some good horsepower. That being said, its going to cost some bucks. Besides the adapter plate and flywheel, you're going to need a radiator, electric fan, plumbing, and a way to mount it. You will need to have the wiring harness and computer from the omni and probably more stuff that I can't remember at the moment.

A lot of pro's and con's to it. I like mine but I've had a couple of VW motors that would stomp the shit out of most of the water pumpers that I've seen.

Sat Mar 26, 2005 12:59 am

Has anyone looked into using a Honda B20B from a CRV? You can get a complete engine with the ECU from Nippon for $400. I know that they make 150hp N/A and you can easily drop in forced induction for added oomph. But is it worth it? Since they turn the wrong way is that going to be a problem with the transmission or can you just flip the spider gear without seriously weakening the trans?