as a good amount of you guys know, i ended up swapping out my 5sfe for a jspec 3sge n/a engine, the car has been up and running for a few weeks, there are still a few small issues to work out, but it has been running strong!
there are many differences, weak points and strong points in both engines, so this thread is comparing the two engines, they will both be compared with the modifications done to the engines.
to start, here was my old 5sfe
the 5sfe was semi built with act clutch, fidanza flywheel, ngk plugs and wires, ssac header, weapon R intake, greddy sp exhaust, dyno tunes safc2, poly motor mounts and a few other small things.
here is the 3sge
the mods include, natko exhaust, top speed header, weapon r intake, spec clutch, magnecor wires, ngk plugs, poly motor mounts
now for the comparison,
the 5sfe was a lot of fun when i had it, the mods really made it come alive, the low end torque was great, but the power fell on its ass after 5K rpm, first and second gear were always fun, but in a race 3rd grear killed me... in other words, low end power was great, high end sucked. my 5sfe was also very clean, compared to the nightmare i have to clean now... i miss how clean the engine was... anyway, the 3sge is much differnt from the 5sfe power band, the power seems to come on a few hundred rmp later than the 5sfe, but after about 2500 the 3sge takes off, and pulls strong all the way up to 7K rpm, the power in second and third gear are awesome! i would say the 5sfe is faster to about 15mhp, but after that the 3sge walks over it hard, the 3sge is like a 5sfe that pulls hard to 7K rpm. the power is much more fun than the 5sfe, but finding parts for the 3sge is a pita! most of you know it is not a uspec engine, so parts are few and far between, unlike the cheep and easy to find parts for the 5sfe. smog is also another issue, no cat, no egr= no fun when it comes to emissions. another issue i have with the 3sge is the weight, it is heavy compared to the 5sfe, this is felt when breaking hard, most likly only a few feet more from 60 to 0 breaking, but it is felt. the swap was very easy, i did run into a few problems, but at this point i can get the engine out and in in a short weekend alone, and a long day with friends helping.
overall the swap was very worth it, i think the 3sge should have been the n/a engine for the us cars, the engine performs much better than the 5sfe, but like i said, there are some down sides to having more power.
i would say the 3sge is a little more than a second faster in the 4th mile, but thats really not what either one of these engines were made for.
the plans for the 3sge are to clean it up, and over time build the head, and with even more time boost it. but for now i'm slowly working on polishing it up like the 5sfe
any questions at all feel free to ask!
i would also like to thank all the 3sge and 5sge owners who helped me with the swap! you guys made it much easer! thanks