madtownhonda

Well, I've read horror stories about swaps and felt obliged to tell my horror story. So here it goes.

May 2002:
I decide that I will be purchasing a b16a2. I look around for the best price and fine one on eBay. Now I know what your thinking, I was stupid for even considering eBay in the first place. Well let me say this, the LKQ Corporation which I bought my swap from is a nationwide chain of wrecking yards. I was weary at first because the seller was a new guy with 0 feedback. Sean, the guy I was working with seemed like a very very nice fellow. I put my bid on the engine at $2325. Not bad considering it was pulled from a 99 Si with very low milage. He insisted that I pay via paypal, I refused (paypal is the devil, learned the hard way). I sent him a Cashier's check in the amount of $2600 which covered the freight. I waited eagerly for my new engine.

June 2002:
I took off work and skipped a Chem lab so I would be there when the engine came. It was delivered via Conway CCX freight to my father's house, which is quite a haul from where I go to school. I waited and then the truck came, he backed his big rig into my driveway (and backed up traffic a few miles ). I signed the papers and he opened the rear door. I noticed a relatively small crate which was apparently mine. So I removed this 300+lb crate w/ the help of a very weak driver. It was wrapped and packaged pretty nice but it seemed to be something missing. I asked him if this was the only crate, he said sure is and took off. I wheeled it into my garage on a cart and opened her up. Well, something was definetly missing. In fact, all I got was a long block w/ an intake & exhaust manifolds (no A-pipe either), and the harness.

Here's a small list of what was missing: Transmission, axles, ecu, distributor, alternator, starter, engine stiffeners, clutch cover, plug wires, front subframe, front brakes, front LCAs, front sway bar, shift linkage, mounts, slave cylinder, A/C compressor, P/S pump, etc, etc.

So I emailed him and told him to make it right. Again, Sean was a very nice guy. He said he would make it right. He sent me another crate; one axle, shift linkage, front suspension parts and subframe, and most importantly, the transmission and slave cylinder w/ the B hardlines. He said he couldn't find the other axle or some of the other stuff which his workers apparently stripped off (and probably sold on ebay themselves). For some reason, there was a GINORMOUS lack of communication here. His men shipped me a long block which at one point was a fully assembled b16a2 changeover.

At this point, I went ahead and bought a Exedy organic clutch and a Clutchmasters 7.5lb aluminum flywheel. The total spent here was $480 + $23 for a pilot bearing.

July 2002:
I got the ecu and distributor. ECU was wrong, it was for a 99-00 DX. Didn't bother to check the dist at this time (you'll see later why this was a mistake). Told him to send the correct ecu. He said he couldn't find it. I sent back the ECU and told him not to worry about it. I wasn't going to use the Si ecu anyways, so fug it. I just lost $80 which I could have made selling the P2T on ebay. I sold the Si harness and made $125 (this is another story in itself that is quite funny, but ended up to be OK ). I bought a OBD2 SOL VTEC P30 for $180 (rare find too). It didn't come for a while, but I did eventually get it and it was correct. I sold the LCAs for $70 shipped.

I installed the clutch and flywheel. Looked great, but needed 3 extra PP bolts ($3 a piece, ouch). Took me 3 days to find a clutch alignment tool, that was quite an adventure in itself. Took 15 minutes to do the install, very easy w/ it out of car.

Sean said he would give me a check to purchase the remainder of the parts which he could not produce. Here is a short list: engine stiffeners, clutch cover, mounts, distributor, starter, alternator, and BOLTS. The bolts, let's talk about the bolts for a little bit. Do you know how much bolts cost from Honda? A lot. I spent damn near $150 on bolts alone, and I used some old bolts off my d16 to assemble the b16a2 trans and engine together. Sean was going to give me $325 for the bolts, mounts, starter, alternator, and a bunch of small things that added up to XXX$ which I purchased from Hondaautomotiveparts.com (which I very highly recommend). I got the $325 check, I bought a starter for $70 shipped and bought all the bolts and misc for $190 shipped. Good, I was on my way to getting this sucker in. I tried to test fit the distributor at this time, it didn't fit. It was for a D series motor. He offered to give me $325 for the distributor and some more parts that were missing. He sent me an driver's side axle from LKQ in Florida. I got the axle, it looked good (little did I know). I still needed a Intermediate shaft. He said he would give me $400 for the dist, small parts and intermediate shaft. I said fine, send the check. I wait for the check, nothing comes? I email him, says it's coming. It doesn't come. I email him again for 2 more weeks before I get a response. He was on vacation, understandable. He says that he's sorry and he will get it out soon. I wait and wait, and wait some more. Now it's not a big deal to me, I have a LOT of patience. But being the rather poor college student that I am, I can can't afford just to up and buy $400 worth of car parts. I buy a 00 Si distributor for $150 shipped, I buy an 00 Si alternator for $55 shipped. The distributor came and it was correct, the alternator came and it was new, or very close to new. I made a few bucks here, or so I thought. The starter had been here but I tested it and it was fine. At this point, it seems as though I'm in business. I have almost everything except for the IM shaft, the plug wires, and a few other small things.

August 2002:
I rip out the d16 w/ no problems. I made the mistake of taking off the harness first and then pulling motor rather that pulling motor w/ harness attatched. This took a good few hours to get off. I removed the engine myself and set that hunk o junk on the ground. I hoisted up my b16a2 and got ready to put the tranny on. It took about 5 minutes to get it lined up right w/ the help of my dad. We got on and bolted up. I put the engine stiffeners on and clutch cover, etc Did all the mounting modifications and got it ready to go in next weekend. Still didn't have the IM shaft, but I bought a set of used plug wires for $21 shipped. I also bought a new b16a2 header for $54 shipped. Everything was falling into place. I bought some urethane shifter bushings for a 99-00 Si shift linkage. They came and they fit perfectly into the shift linkage which I got from LKQ, great...good stuff here, I was a happy man. I waited from some parts and anticipated the start of the fall semester. I didn't get much done. I put the engine in w/ the help of my dad. It took about 45 minutes to get everything bolted in.

Sept 2002:
Not much done here, still waiting for parts. I got all the hoses connected and bought some 99-00 Si Upper and lower radiator hoses, throttle cable bracket, and some bolts, again from hondaautomotiveparts.com. I put the plug wires in, and attmempted to turn over the engine, it did turn over but I didn't start it. The plug wires were in wrong, so I figured that out the hard way, POP!*&#@ bang$#@$ thud, along w/ violent shaking Got them in, put the header in and bolted up my exhaust (still waiting for type one to come in, 4 months for this..but I got a free spoon oil cap out of the deal). Engine was loud, sounded like an exhaust leak. Well, stupid me...I looked and looked and then I looked at my old D16y8 manifold and there was the O2 sensor. The engine had a very high idle of 1500rpm, I found it to be the CKF and the O2 that were causing this. Cut the wires and hammered that SOB out w/ a rubber mallet and a 22mm open end wrench. Since I didn't have the Si wiring harness, I cut the d16y8 CKF plug and put it on the b16a2. Cut and extended the O2 and put that in. I started it up and it purred real nice. Gave it a few quick 2000rpm revs, the flywheel is going to be very nice to have. The idle came down to 500rpm after all the plugs were in and I cleared the error codes. The CEL went away, which is good.

The passenger's side axle went in nice. Sean had somehow forgotten to send me my $400 check, he said that he found an intermediate shaft and that it was on the way. He said he would send me a check for $300 for the rest of the stuff. I said great and waited for the intermediate shaft. The box came, I opened it up to a bunch of goo and nasty grease, ripped boots, and a broken AXLE which is not even for a honda. One hell of an intermediate shaft here. I told him to send me the $100 because they messed up my order once again. He said fine, he said that he had not sent me the check yet anyways which I had basically come to expect at this point. I did however, get the check a few days later. I bought a 95 GSR intermediate shaft for $90 shipped. I was waiting for this for a long long time, it was the last part of the puzzle...or so I thought. The shaft was returned due to an incorrect address. At this point, I tried to bolt up the shift linkage, no go here. It was the exact same as my d16y8 shift linkage. Somehow, LKQ messed this up as well as Massivemotorsports messing up my order for shifter bushings. I emailed Sean over and over and over. He never responded. I said screw Sean and **** LQK. I bought the 99-00 Si shift linkage for $80 from hondaautomotiveparts.com

October 2002:
The intermediate shaft came and it was the right one, big thanks to vntperformance, thanks Val. I put it in with some excess bolts that I had laying around from the P/S pump bracket; it was basically a ghetto rig. I attempted to bolt up the axle, but it would not go in. I pushed and pushed and pushed and finally my mind started to work. Something was not right with this drivers side axle. I came to find that it was only splined half way down the input shaft. Alas, it was wrong again. Again, I knew Sean was done w/ me for now, so I didn't even bother emailing him. It was a passenger side axle. An update on axles here. I have 3 axles, 2 of which are passenger side, and one which is not even for a honda. I got the linkage and put it in minus the bushing.

Today:
I searched for an axle, lowest I found is $120 (79.99 + core) at Autozone. I ordered it, it will be here on Tuesday. I also pushed out my car out into the driveway so I could change the timing belt on the 1.8T.

Future: I kept my reciepts and I am going to send a letter to Sean and to LKQ and ask him for $220 for 1: the $120 axle and 2: the $100 shift linkage. If he refuses to do so, I will take legal action and I will make sure the BBB will have LKQ of Central California on their "shitlist".

NO CLIFF NOTES


[Modified by madtownhonda, 8:23 AM 10/20/2002]


[Modified by madtownhonda, 8:31 AM 10/20/2002]

Nameless RB26

Damn. That's a load of work!

I always felt wierd about bidding on an engine on ebay. Luckily, my engine came with everything I needed except a fuel hose.

I know how you feel though. It gets to be a real bitch communicating with people over the internet and waiting for parts.

I'm still trying to get my reciept from inlinefour.com for my engine I got from them over the summer. Brandon is a little lazy I think. That's not much to compare with your story though. I would be one pissed off ****.

Kamin

see
next time youll order from a big name company wont you?
there big for a reason. there **** works.

that SUCKS tho man, sorry to hear.

nsxmatt

I hate it when bad things happen to good people like yourself. At least your still upbeat about it and hopefully you'll have your car running here soon

madtownhonda

Thanks for reading guys...my car should be ready to go on Tuesday.

sivik2nr

Yeah, I give a to JDM Hondaparts for sending me the right engine i ordered with EVERYTYING necessary and correct in a timely fashion.

sleeprhatch

i would of died if that happened to me. i feel for ya buddy

ScottEK

I didn't have my swap running for 3 months, the whole time I was horribly pissed off. Three days ago I was messing with it and got it running perfectly, it's been a great time ever since. You'll really like it once you get done, I'm even planning on doing another swap now.

madtownhonda

Update

The intermediate shaft sent to me by VNTPERFORMANCE was wrong. I was offered a refund, but never recieved it. OH well, I bought the correct halfshaft and I'm putting it in this weekend. I also have my next swap ready to go in my hatch, should go under the knife on turkey day.

Lysawy

Damn hell of a story my swap took 2 months but only had the chance to work on it saturdays and sundays for most time . My passangers side axel was all wrong too short but in good condition , tranny mount broken , shift linkege bent which i think happened during shipping , various bolts missing. Other than that everything was there where it suppose to be started for the second time but i have no insurance so i can't kinda drive yet dammit. but i feel for your story i just imagine how bad you felt waiting .

tommyboy

Wow, I'm at a lost for words.

92sleepR

Sucks to hear about your problems but you didn't let it stop you and it sounds like you have it all worked out. Congratulations.

Moral of the story, Never buy an engine sight unseen and NEVER off of E-Bay. I don't care if its Jesus himself selling it. I would never buy something like that of E_Bay.

Mike

madtownhonda

I'll get some good pictures up soon....the engine is really really clean...the block still looks bling bling from the factory.

Kp_VtekNiks

damn that sux dood, i had the same amount of problems with my swap from nippon motors.

The OEMobile

**** man, that's definitely a long time waiting. Good thing you didn't bitch out and go buy all new parts but made the guy fix what he screwed up.

raene

Heheh, that's hybrid-ing for ya...

Hope it all turns out OK in the end

93dx--hatch

yeah bad expierence with a nippon motors Sr20det, I thought I had it bad when I did my B16, but My 2.5 week wait does not seem to bad anymore.