AWD 380 Motor Swap!

[KWAWD]

Exciting news; I've decided to upgrade the KL with a 380 motor. Well, exciting for me anyway, .

The new 380 motor has only 41k's on it, but thats not the reason for the swap.
If you've read my past posts you will know that I've found the 6G74, 3.5 engine struggles a bit with shifting the extra 200+ kilos of the AWD and so feels a bit less powerful compared to my FWD KH.
While not exactly slow, the difference is certainly noticeable, especially when needing to overtake rapidly at speed and is often a bit frustrating. The new headers and exhaust helped, but didn't solve this issue.

Well, the 380 motor came along and so after a bit of consideration I've decided to go for it.
The hardest part about the decision is that my KL is running perfectly. Its only at nearly 100k's now, with a lovely rock solid idle thats very quiet when sitting at the lights.
The engine wont go to waste however as I plan to put it into my KH, which is up at the 250k mark. This will give the KH a bit more longevity. Nothing wrong with the KH's motor either, but this will "wipe off" 150,000 k's from the KH, .

Our own Mal will prep and fit the 380 for me, which is fantastic as his experience and expertise in doing the 380 swap into the 3rd gens will assure a good result. Pulling the engine out and putting the 380 in does not come without some risk but given the low k's, performance benefits and Mals knowledge I believe its worth it.
Its really his knowledge and experience that I'm paying for, and I probably wouldn't have considered it otherwise.

It will happen in the next 2 or 3 weeks and i'll post updates here and my thoughts about whether I achieve my goal.
I think the 6G75 3.8 will be a great match for the AWD solving my performance issue.

[gertsystj]

Thats mad. The KL should should be a beast!. Awd 3.8, I hope you enjoy it. It's definitely worth it. The 6G75 is such a much more refined engine. That combined with awd, will definitely be an Improvement. You guys in vic are so lucky being so close to mal's shop. Good luck with the swap!

[Skapper]

Exciting news; I've decided to upgrade the KL with a 380 motor. Well, exciting for me anyway, .

The new 380 motor has only 41k's on it, but thats not the reason for the swap.
If you've read my past posts you will know that I've found the 6G74, 3.5 engine struggles a bit with shifting the extra 200+ kilos of the AWD and so feels a bit less powerful compared to my FWD KH.
While not exactly slow, the difference is certainly noticeable, especially when needing to overtake rapidly at speed and is often a bit frustrating. The new headers and exhaust helped, but didn't solve this issue.

Well, the 380 motor came along and so after a bit of consideration I've decided to go for it.
The hardest part about the decision is that my KL is running perfectly. Its only at nearly 100k's now, with a lovely rock solid idle thats very quiet when sitting at the lights.
The engine wont go to waste however as I plan to put it into my KH, which is up at the 250k mark. This will give the KH a bit more longevity. Nothing wrong with the KH's motor either, but this will "wipe off" 150,000 k's from the KH, .

Our own Mal will prep and fit the 380 for me, which is fantastic as his experience and expertise in doing the 380 swap into the 3rd gens will assure a good result. Pulling the engine out and putting the 380 in does not come without some risk but given the low k's, performance benefits and Mals knowledge I believe its worth it.
Its really his knowledge and experience that I'm paying for, and I probably wouldn't have considered it otherwise.

It will happen in the next 2 or 3 weeks and i'll post updates here and my thoughts about whether I achieve my goal.
I think the 6G75 3.8 will be a great match for the AWD solving my performance issue.

Nice one. I have the same arrangement - AWD + 6G75 and it's worth the effort. Get a tune though as soon as you can. I'm not an expert on which tune to get, though I do know a proper dyno-tune is best. I'm running a Ralliart tune on mine, which I'm very happy with... though, there are those that suggest this might not be the best tune for the 6G75 swap. Ask around, again, I'm no expert. You will notice that the 6G75 with run out of puff at 4500rpm on a stock tune thats all.

[TreeAdeyMan]

Nice one. I have the same arrangement - AWD + 6G75 and it's worth the effort. Get a tune though as soon as you can. I'm not an expert on which tune to get, though I do know a proper dyno-tune is best. I'm running a Ralliart tune on mine, which I'm very happy with... though, there are those that suggest this might not be the best tune for the 6G75 swap. Ask around, again, I'm no expert. You will notice that the 6G75 with run out of puff at 4500rpm on a stock tune thats all.

My old 380 with the ChipTorque Xede tuned to 98 RON pulled hard right through to 6,200 rpm.

[Skapper]

I want one.

[KWAWD]

Thanks guys, I cant wait now the decisions made. Its like christmas is coming, .
Tune will be next on the to do list!

[KWAWD]

The transplant is now underway should be done in the next couple of days!
This is a stressful time for me while my KL's in 'intensive care' like this and I cant wait for the result.

Attaching the "before" pic. Yes you've all seen a 6G74 engine bay before, but I thought it would be good to take a pic before it changes forever. I'll also post the "after" pic once done.

[KWAWD]

[KWAWD]

The transplant is complete and the 6G75 is in!

First impressions, (and apologies for the non technical description):

Theres a lot more power available and the car quickly and smoothly gets up to speed with minimum fuss. With the 6G74 planting the foot from stand still would result in a rapid take-off but after that the RPM would quickly climb and peak loudly without much improvement in the speed. With the 6G75 speed increases beyond that point with a feeling of spare capacity available if I kept the foot down.
I can also now break traction in the wet, but only just! If I put the foot down hard one or two wheels front and back will sometimes chirp once and then traction is immediately regained with no loss of control or poise. This is with the Yokos which I've always found to be very grippy in the wet on both the KL AWD and KH FWD.

At speed theres also good capacity available for overtaking, whereas the 6G74 would overtake more slowly with a feeling of being held back causing me not to try in many cases.

Noise and vibration is very good, with maybe a very slight increase to vibration as felt through the steering wheel, however the mounts were replaced, so its not an apples to apples comparison. I'd like to give the new mounts a little time to "settle in" before a final say.
The motor is a little noisier at idle, (with hood up and head down listening) which I think is due to the different cams noises.

Once again big thanks to Mal and his team at Mits Fix, its a fantastic job and I'm very happy with the work. Engine bay is very neat and clean with no issues. (See pic previous post)

[KWAWD]

I'm interested in getting a proper tune done, if anyones got any recommendations please tell.
I'm also wondering about the air inlet; is the 380 design much different and is this something to consider changing in the Verada?