Hello all.
I own a 1993 Del Sol and I visit this website about once a week. My Del Sol is very original and I am very happy with it. I noticed that many of the posts on this site are related to engine swaps. I am not criticizing the people that do these swaps, I really just want to know why you would put an engine in a car that it was not designed for. There seem to be an endless list of problems stemming from these swaps and I am sure they are expensive to do. I never see a post where the engine swap went perfect, there are no issues at all, and the owner is very happy.

Im sure all of you have different reasons, please post and enlighten me.

 

I have a 93 del sol and i would kill for a swap i have a d15 non vtec slow as hell, i get beat by camrys.. Ppl love more hp and love working on there whips

 

Speed and the pure enjoyment of Honda engines.

 

A lot of people swap in engines when they don't know how to do the engine swap, or there is a problem with the new engine, or they overlook something on the engine swap.

Plenty of swaps out there happen without a flaw, but those people wouldn't usually make a thread to say (in tech, much less), "So, I just finished my engine swap. Everything went absolutely perfectly. Just thought I'd let all you strangers know."

del Sols came available with D15, D16 and B16 engines stock. Other engines usually swapped into these cars (other D and B series engines) are so incredibly similar that it's not really any sort of stretch to put one into a del Sol.

Btw, '94-'01 Integras overseas came with D16s stock. Overseas (and the EM1) '92-'00 Civics came with available B16s. In South Africa 6th gen Civic sedans had available B18s (yes, one point eight liter engines) stock. Some of the cars that are "sisters" to Civics (Orthia) come with B20s stock.

A lot of Honda engine bays are very similar and use similar engines. Integras, Civics, CR-Vs, Partners and all the other Civic variants.

So when you look at them as a whole... they were all designed to go in all the cars. That's how Honda works. Parts compatibility and interchangeability. It makes things cheaper for Honda to produce if lots of cars use the same part instead of several slightly different parts.

Some engine swaps are expensive to do (Several grand - K-series, Type R), but a lot are very cheap (Several hundred - SOHC VTEC).

An engine swap could be done for many different reasons, including:
- Stock engine blew, replacing with whatever was available and would work
- Stock engine blew, replacing with upgrade
- More horsepower wanted
- More torque wanted
- Higher displacement wanted
- A better overall base wanted
- Owner plans to turbo and this gives a better start than stock engine
- Bragging rights
- Buying a car with that engine costs far more than keeping stock car and swapping engine
- Chassis is lighter than chassis said engine comes in

The list goes on...

Eran has an engine swap in his '97 CX. It went off without a hitch. Okay, the ECU he has looks for a fuel tank pressure sensor, which his car doesn't come with stock. That was easy to solve for good though. We put a '98 EX gas tank on his car. He has a tank pressure sensor now.

 

lol. I've had plenty of flawless swaps. Most people come on here in time of need. One of the swaps I did was because i drove 100 miles a day, Mon-Fri, and it consisted of steep hills. (10fwy for you SoCalians) I swapped a LS b18b into my 93 cx. Let's Go 5th gear cruise!

 

have you ever sat in a dohc vtec car in 3rd gear at 8k?

try it and your next post will be im looking for a swap im on a budget

 

I've had three sols all of them i have swapped a dohc vtec in myself and had no problems. long as you know what ur doing and not dumb about it its pretty much common sense.

 

I own same car as you do stock everything but not for long planning to do swap like my other car 93 civic si with b18c on it since I installed it I haven't had major problem with it by far the hardest swapped I did is the H22a on my friend 95 civic ex but we pulled it out came out good...I like swap motor just the fun doing it just 'cause is my hobby.. as long as u know wat u doing like da other guys said is pretty common sense...u gotta like da vtec yo!!!!

 

No FX says it all.. shes KNOW EVERYTHING! anyways for your del sol, the highest model you can get has a B16a3 motor in it.. which is DOHC and 160hp with Vtec so it would make sense for someone with a del sol like you who has a lower model del sol with a SOHC D series motor, to swap in a more powerful B16a3 without any problems.. the reason why you think alot of people have problems with their motors is because they post their problems here.. of course ur gonna find alot of problems on a site that ask people for help.

 

My friend swapped a GSR into his Del sol because he wanted to go a little faster..
If you do it right, there wont be any problems.

 

NOFX listed the vast majority of what I would consider common reasons people do engine swaps, the only other thing i'd like to add is that for under $10,000 you can buy a '92 - '95 civic and swap in something like a B16A or B18C1 engine and be faster than cars costing much more, all while paying stock civic prices for insurance and still getting decent mileage. As a side note none of the numerous engines swaps i've done have ever had any long term problems, occassionally something that took a few days to sort out after the initial swap, but never anything major. My swapped JDM D15B vtec has actually probably caused me far fewer problems than the 2 stock D15B7s that preceeded it.

 

Lesser mileage on the motor and speed. Ive owned 3 Del sols. 1st sol had a head swap, 2nd sol was turbo'd and last but not the least my 3rd one had a jdm B16a. My current DD now has a GSR which runs better than my bogging single cam and get better gas mileage.

 

haha, x2!

 

My swap was relatively cheap, I had no problems installing it, and I'm happy with it. Did the whole thing start to finish in about 16 hours and it was my first swap. Started right up on the first try.

The reason people do them is because swapped cars are faster and more fun. If you're used to a single cam Honda and drive a dual cam vtec honda, you'll notice a huge difference in grin factor right away. I also did mine because my car was getting to be high mileage and I wanted to drive it another 6 years or so.

 

I'm all for B series because i love the larger displacement, but if you already have a healthy D series, consider boosting it. You'll make more power for the same price as a swap. If i still had my EJ8 rather than my GSR, i would have gone that route. I had been considering it until i stumbled upon a deal on a low mileage 99 GSR that i couldn't turn down.

 

it gives you more pride in your car if you do a motor swap or atleast it did me. and the thing of my car's faster than yours

 

Is that so?

Just to play Devils Advocate to all the swap-happy people, i'll restate my last post. Boost is cheaper, just as reliable and will make more power than any swap. The end...

 

turbo reliable? you sure it can last for at least 15 years like a stock 95 gsr or a b16? we still use these 15 year old motors today.

 

I turboed my stock block GSR and made 315whp on 91 octane. I ran it like that for 2 years (approx 18k miles) and had no issues. I have since torn the engine out and replaced it with a built LS/VTEC. I would have no qualms about turboing a stock D, making 220-240whp and running it daily for as long as i want. Generally your goals change before problems arise...

 

Because they build a car for themselves. Not for you. Everyone has their own taste and wants from a vehicle. You say you're satisfied with your current motor and wouldn't be with a swap. All the same some people are not happy with their current setup and do a swap to be satisfied. To each his own.

 

We swap engines cause were f&$@ing G's

 

hahahaha

Even without pot this would have been funny.

 

lol so true... so true... You're funny!