Cheap B series in CA?
 

I have been looking around about replacing the motor in my 96 civic dx with a b series swap (b16 or b18, b20 isn't smog legal here.) and I have been having a bit of trouble finding one. Everywhere I look, people are pricing their motors way above the price that people seem to cite on threads here. Is it because they are starting to get old and less common? Motors on craigslist run about 600 to 750 for a block with a spun rod, or well above 1500 for a longblock b series. D series isn't much better, running around 1200 for a full swap. The only place that I can think of getting it from is the junkyard near me, but adding up all of the nickel and dime stuff (150 dollar ecu, etc) without even the knowledge of it working correctly, just seems irresponsible. Adjusting for the cost of rebuilding, its probably even more expensive, even with myself doing all of the work

So does anyone here have a source in CA to get somewhat cheap motors? Even if it was a y8, I would love to know where to source them without paying an arm and a leg.

Re: Cheap B series in CA?
 

B20s are perfectly legal as long as you get it ref'd. I have a BAR'd jdm b20 in my 97 dx. They are cheap from importers and just as easy to swap as a B18.

Re: Cheap B series in CA?
 

How? I heard that they won't bar jdm motors here anymore. Also, I was just thinking it would be so much less painless to swap a motor from California that already has the emissions equipment on it and doesn't have to jump through a million hoops. I would like a b18 most, because usable torque is something that I don't have enough of right now, but a b16 would probably have enough too. I just can't find a motor for what seems to be a reasonable price, from what I have found here on ht. Tons of people have done the swap for a grand, but I can't find any motors that are even that cheap without mounts or anything.

Re: Cheap B series in CA?
 

When it comes to the referee and confusion about what is and isn't legal it's best to just call and speak to them directly as the rules change quite often. I heard the same stories about b20s not being approved, jdm engines wont pass, etc but when I called and spoke to them they told me the b20 was an acceptable replacement and how to do it. It was very painless.

Idk how people do any swap for the kind of money they claim too but I just don't see it unless its some cobbled together swap and they already have all the parts laying around. The B20 is one of the cheapest swaps and cost me well over that 1K mark. I'm also the type of person that replaced any and all maintenance parts while it was out of the car though. Timing belt, water pump, tensioner, gaskets, etc which quickly add up and put you over a budget that small. Then there's all the "swap" parts to consider. Mounts, axles, shift linkage, etc.

Re: Cheap B series in CA?
 

Ok. I had no idea. I'll look into that, because having a b20 sounds pretty nice. Thank you.

And yeah, a lot of people that say they do it for under a grand are probably reusing parts or have a stash of mounts, gaskets, timing belts, etc that they use for the swaps. I would like to do it properly, for between 1750 and 2000, and maybe an ecu for tuning (I don't think that any cop would check that the ecu is obd2.)

Re: Cheap B series in CA?
 

A regular street cop will never know you have a tuned ecu. You'll just have to swap back to the correct ecu for BAR and smog inspection. I'm currently running a stepdown harness and chipped obd1 ecu on my engine but I have the correct obd2a p75 stashed away for when smog rolls around.

Re: Cheap B series in CA?
 

yeah my b16a is jdm, i got it bar'd by the ref but this was like 4 years ago. As previously mentioned just call them directly. At the time I did it, it just needed to have all the usdm emissions stuff from the equivalent car you're getting it bar'd as.

Re: Cheap B series in CA?
 

I plan to eventually run a similar setup for daily. Other than the OBD2a P75 ECU, what else did you need to install to legally BAR your engine?

Thanks!