Update: engine swap 03 Hyundai Elantra
Asked by Chelsae Feb 06, 2020 at 12:08 AM about the 2003 Hyundai Elantra GLS Sedan FWD
Question type: Car Customization
I've asked before what upgrades can be made to
my car and gotten the obvious response of "buy a
domestic car" "lol" "hyundais suck" blah blah. So I
decided to do my own research.
I found an engine that is compatible for swap. Just
needed some input on what I'll need to be able to
fit everything in nicely.
Engine is 2JZ GE. It's been swapped into multiple
cars, one being the 05 lexus IS 250, which has the
same size engine bay as my car. I need a
compatible trans and I need to know what else I
might need to complete the swap effectively. Any
info will help immensely and I thank you for your
time.
8 Answers
You are persistent! Good luck to you and hope you succeed but I think you will need a complete donor car with all the parts you need. Basically you will be swapping the entire drive train of a Toyota into your car AND converting it to RWD (your car has no transmission tunnel). I suggest you simply buy a Supra and be done with it. However much you spend on your Hyundai it won't be 1/10 the car that a Supra is.
Just so you know the Lexus is a Toyota and it is RWD which makes the conversion 1% as difficult as shoehorning that engine into a Hyundai.
I'm not necessarily worried about the amount of time, money, or difficulty involved with getting this figured out. I'm doing this FOR the wow factor, because no one else has ever done it before. "If everyone is telling you you can't do it, then do it anyway." I've seen a few engine swaps, but they're normally from the Hyundai Tiburon, and don't make much of a difference. The transmission thing though, you're actually probably right about, and that's going to be the fun part, figuring all that out. But I will. You'll see me in the races one day
Find a custom shop that will take it on and then plunk down 50 grand and then work on coming up with a lot more when they burn through that. You could buy a couple of nice Supra's for that price.
This is my suggestion. Learn how to weld. To do this project you need to strip the car down to bare metal. Remove EVERYTHING down to a bare shell. Then you will need to design and build a transmission tunnel and a rear axle tunnel. You will also have to fabricate new suspension mounting points at all four corners. The shell is weak for the power you want so you will need to reinforce the body and seam weld the whole thing. Then you can install the engine, transmission and axles, suspension etc. EVERYTHING will be custom!
Dont get me wrong, I definitely worry about money. This is a long term goal of mine though, and I will succeed. I'm going to take you up on that advice though, I'm already going into college for automotive tech, so I'll add welding courses as electives on the side, since they weren't included in the original class package. I appreciate the help.
Top welders make a lot of money. Probably about the best paying trade there is.
Hey Chelsae i have an 03 hyundai elantra and wish to start upgrading how far have you come now?
