ok guys how long did it take for you too do your first swap including pulling your stock motor out? and how much experience do you have with cars. what steps did you do it in and what tips can you give. we plan on labeling each plug on it so we know where it goes so we dont get lost. we are doing a h22 into a 94 eg hatch. thx guys for your time

 

My first swap was a 1999 B18C1 swap into my 92 VX. That was almost 4 years ago and up until that point the deepest I had been into a car was having the tranny off to change the clutch on the stock motor. I completed the swap by myself within 3 days, well I did have my grandfather help me with lowering the motor into the engine bay with the hoist.
Honestly I was scared seeing my stock motor sitting on the floor and the engine bay empty at first. I knew that there wasn't anyone in or around my area that I could turn to so I went ahead and finished it. I had both an Integra and Helms electrical manuals and a Chilton Civic manual on hand. I never ran into any real problems, just a few stubborn bolts, the shift linkage bitch pin and just usual annoyances.
Surprisingly the car fired over with the first turn of the key. The header was about 3" short of meeting the exhaust so it was crazy loud but I took it out for a spin anyway. I drove it around for a few minutes then I got the first CEL - O2 sensor. I put the swap in without doing any additional wiring, so I ended up getting the CEL's for the O2 and Knock and the IAB also needed wired up. So after a few days I had it up and running CEL free after figuring out the changes. The motor is still in the same car today and has given me no problems at all.

 

I have been a DIY backyard mechanic for about 10yrs. but had never done a motor swap before I put a b18 in my 93 cx. The best advise I can give out is to take your time,label everything or take notes with sketches if necessary. Make sure you complete each task before moving on to the next ie:disconnecting plugs,hoses,belts,and removing any nuts bolts.Keep nuts and bolts organized by grouping or getting large ziplock bags and label with a permanent marker what it is and where it goes.Also a large tool tray or tool box close to the car helps keep tools close and organized.If you have access to an engine puller(cherry picker) they help too.Try to make sure all the hoses,belts,seals,gaskets,plugs,sensors are in good condition before you install the motor and if the new motor in not clean take a few minutes and clean around the head,coolant passages and tranny this will help to spot any oil or coolant leaks.Last but certainly not least be careful you will be working around oil,gas,coolant,they can all be dangerous in there own respect.

Have fun learn from your mistakes and watch those knuckles cause when you are dealing with rusty bolts they can sometimes be difficult!

It took 1 day for removal and prep and another day to install and test fire new motor,third day was making minor adjustments and double checking all connections were tight and secure.

 

i'm living the nightmare right now.... took me one day to pull the old motor and one week to find a new motor.... i've spent the last week changing the water pump, timing belt, flywheel, clutch, and doing the wiring. now all i have to do is get the damn tranny back on and drop it in my civic..... make sure you leave yourself plenty of time. i have to head back to college at the end of the week, and i am very worried that i won't get my car debugged in time.

 

My first time, it took me 10 or 11 hours to do it. It was a gsr motor into a 97 ex coupe. Before that, i only knew how to put on springs and struts, and maybe the usually bolt on stuff. (i.e. headers, exhaust, intake) I had to get it done quick b/c it was the only car i had and it couldn't be down long. I did have a friend with me so i was not alone on this. The best advice i can give is to read everything possible about the swap.. Find out what all parts you need and what tools are needed. Believe it or not, i did my swap without any manuels, expect a sheet i printed out from the net for the wiring. My first swapped car was not done by me, i took it to FL and had somone do it for me. When i did my first swap, i got mad, b/c it was so easy i could have done my first swapped car myself. good luck in your swap

 

i picked up fast, i usually just jumped into things head first, before my swap, i did my friends suspension.

my swap was in the beginning of november, and it was freaking cold. allmost allways working ont he car at night, i gave myself two days to build the motor up and check and double check for any bugs, all in all it took about 3 days of work. all of which i spent probably a good 3-4 hours a day to do it. so it took prolly about 12 hours or so, i've picked up so much knowledge alone from that, i expect the next one to go half the time.

 

My first swap went down about a month ago, right when class got out for winter break. The whole swap, including taking engine out to firing it up (and a whole day dedicated to cleaning the engine bay) took about a week. It was my B18C-R into my EK. The best advice I can give you is to take your time! When you get excited and want to get it done real fast, stuff breaks and that's when your probs start. Your labeling wires idea is a good one I did that and it really helped.
The most experience I have had with my car prior to the engine swap was probably changing the springs...SERIOUSLY...That's it!!! An engine swap is not that hard. Although I have not ever messed with an H22. Good Luck, Take your time, and make sure everything is how you want it...don't settle, and be very patient...it's worth it.

 

Ive helped a little with some swaps that my friends had been doing. Nothing big though, one was a built H22 back into a 97 lude...and one was a B18 into an EK civic. But my first swap that i did from start to finish took about 2 months. There was a couple reasons why though.
1) It was a very new/rare motor swap. K20A2 into a 7th gen civic. Only about 7 or so had been done before mine, so there wasnt really anyone to turn to for advice. My friend and I read as much as we could on the HASport site about the swap to get ready...but some of the things that we encountered werent on the instructions. Missing parts, missings steps, and what not.
2) Since it was so new, and hadnt really been talked about, we only had the list of parts off of the HASport website to go off of. This list is incomplete. So, we were missing a lot of parts, and when i ordered my 2002 Civic Si radiator, the company sent my a 2000 Civic Si radiator...so we had the wrong radiator to boot.
My advice: Learn from other peoples mistakes. Talk to people that have done the swap and soak up as much information as possible. Plan ahead, try and think of as many things that could go wrong, and have solutions for them BEFORE you start. And finally, get a complete parts list of everything that you need. If i had all the parts for my swap...my swap probably would of only taken 2 weeks max. But some of the parts we backordered, and so on.
Hope that helps a little
Oh, and by the way...it was very much worth it!

 

When i swapped my b16a into my DA it took a little over 10 hours total work time from pulling up to backing away. The longest part was getting my damn rear motor mount off. There are ALWAYS going to be snags. EVERY engine i've ever swapped we've run into a snag or two.

Then for a week or two you find yourself doing little fix-its of stuff that fell off, leaks, or is just bein ghey after your swap.

A tip: Give yourself like 2/3 extra days and about $200-400 more than you expect that you're gonna need. Because especially if its your first swap, you're gonna have a few problems.

Another tip: Labeling works, but when we did mine we just took hella pictures before we pulled it out, so then we know where its supposed to go. Honestly, we didn't end up looking at any of them, but it definately would have been nice had we not known where something was supposed to go. But after disconnecting everything, you kinda remember where things are supposed to be.

 

i did my first swap a little while ago, i really can't say how long the whole thing took because it didn't happen all at once, it was drung out over about six to eight months, i yanked my own motor in about three hours by myself, later when me and my friend were doing both our swaps we yanked his sohc in just under an hour and a half, we only had the hoist for a short time so when it came time to drop the motors in we got both his and mine into the cars in under an hour.
my advice is this:
-don't worry toomuch about labeling parts, just look everything over very (very) carefully until you know exactly where everything goes and WHY it goes there.
- put ALL of your tools in one tool box and always put them back the second they leave your hand (keep in mind the more people that help the faster it goes , but you loose more tools)
- if you have not swapped this car b4 don't plan on driving it for at least a week (don't plan a road trip or job interview the day after the swap)
-have another car and a fist full of cash (you WILL need to get parts)
-keep tools in the car for a couple of weeks after the swap (10 12 and 14 wrenches electrical tape etc.

 

Gosh ...i cant even remember how long my first swap took ...i can remember i took alot of time putting it together. I do remember i had the engine ground on the thermostat wasnt connected and it didnt start ....after that i had the firing order wacked out ...it was a coo swap though
b16 into EF hatch
integ xsi front end i did all myself
ill scan in pics and post em later

 

when i did mine, i only had exp with v8 swaps..

the 94 B18b went into my 92 4-door in about 15 hrs total.. in one weekend.. all plug-n-play. (had to use the D15 lower motor mounts and the Teg upper, and rear.. plus on the front left lower i had to take the mount apart and use the big arm from the teg and put the DX mount on the arm) would have been WAY faster with air tools for the rusty's

next weekends project: control arm bushings.. (there so bad, my front tires only lasted a month!) probably going with the ES ploly's..

 

b16 2nd gen in 93 civic. 1 day to replace everything, clutch, water pump, timing belt, dist, etc.), 1 day to change over auto to man, 1 day to put it in, 1 day to hook everything up, 2 weeks to realize that i had leaded gas in my tank screwing my o2 sensor and causing crazy backfires

 

mine WILL be a zc motor into a 1980 civic. that means converting to fuel injection, beating things with a hammer, and welding custom mounts. i predict the swap will take about 4 days to complete(probly more like a week) and i have been planning and working out things in my head and on paper for months

 

I think it depends on the kind of person you are.

If you like to treat your baby right and polish the bolts, wet down the hoses, clean properly, make things pretty, and torque everything to spec, then you're probably looking at a month. Things might come up that you might have to order or exchange so throw in a week for possible down time. Make friends with your local acura dealer because cost will not mean crap when you need something NOW.

Yeah people will say they're all bad *** and yeah they did it in 2 hours but remember, this is a hobby, not a job. You are here hopefully because you enjoy doing this.

Also, do not forget the bible: HELMS manual. Without it, you will get lost.

Keep the bolts close to whatever you remove. Helps a lot later.

Oh and think back to shop class....buy some goggles or shop glasses...a disposable mask too...not cool to be under the car, pulling a hose, and coolant all up in your eyes

 

Well, it took me about 12 hours to get the motor out the first time. I didn't really have ANY of the right tools I needed, so it took more time trying to get by using the ones I had. I had no hoist, no jackstands, it sucked.

Putting the motor back in took about 6 months before I actually started it. I basically had the R longblock. That was it.

Then after the 6 month wait, and getting screwed out of money and many deals, I finally got the car running, only to find out that the tranny I bought for the car was grinding each gear, and leaking tranny fluid all over due to the case being cracked.

I was about as pissed as could be.

Second swap I did from start to finish took about 2 weeks due to wrong parts being delivered, and lack of time to actually work on the car,.

SOon, I will be starting another swap, shouldn't take more than 3 days!

 

These pics are old schooolll

my first swap
89 civic dx
B16a
Home grown head work
milled 50 thousandths
lots of other goodies
Jdm integra Xsi front end

watchout fischer price welds




Modified by K20EG at 11:54 PM 1/14/2004

 

when i did my first swap ... not too long ago, the most work i had ever done on my car was coilovers and brake / oil changes. i completed the swap in about 4 days with the help of a couple friends. i didn't work non-stop on the project, but the car was down for 4 days. great experience and since i've changed my tranny and a bunch of fixing broken stuff, i'm a master mechanic now

 

well not including, how much time the parts took to get to me, about 9 days.

waiting for parts sucks!!!!

having the wrongs parts sent to you SUCKS!!!

make sure you have all the parts you need first. then start to work

pulling the old motor= 4 hours (d16z6)
putting new motor in=3 hours(h22)
wiring everything up=2 good days
getting the axle combo right=5 days
all the little things=1.5 days (shifter, exhaust, filling the fluids...)


this is all relative. if you have the right tools, that helps A LOT

someone there to help when you get stuck,

three people i found is the best. knowledge is the key

BTW: i have two year degree, and my 2 friends both work at dealerships.

 

the best advice you can possibly get:
TAKE YOUR TIME. my god i cant count how many times ive seen it happen and done it myself, you screw something up just because you rush to finish. and use a good shop manual.

my first swap..hmm..
it was about 3 years ago, b16 into my 94 coupe. took about 15 hours of total working time. the most work i had done to that point on a car was an oil change. i fell in love with working on cars and that feeling when a swap starts for the first time. I did 7 subsiquent more swaps on friends cars and my own since then. everything from a b16 to a SR20 in a 240, now my biggest endevaur has been the RB25 (skyline engine) into my 97 240.

i blame honda tech for my addiction to this, if it wasnt for HT i would be a ricer and have thousands of dollars more in my pocket.



the 240 is in a much more finished state, just dont have recent pictures. that was taken while i was being screwed around by STM for my wiring. here is the story if anyone cares
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=723586

 

Like Kamin said, take your time. Don't rush it. We did my swap in 8 hours total. About 1 1/2 hours to pull the old motor, 6 1/2 for the transplant. I also had 3 other guys helping me that had done numerous swaps. If they hadn't been there, I'd still be trying to work the bugs out.

 

If anyone needs a Helms manuel for and Honda or Acura 88-02 4cyl let me know i have them on Pdf.
Courtesy Hybrid racing


Eric

 

u get ur turbo kit in yet dawg?

 

Im still working on my first swap. But here it is..........

 

my fisrt hybrid swap took 6 weeks,

but that was because i was putting a B16A into a 1983 Prelude...

http://www.geocities.com/b16aprelude

had to do LOTS of planing before i could start work... it is the KEY!