Thread: Swap and Labor

i would definetely do it yourself if you can. it isnt hard at all. the hardest thing to do on vehicles now a days is diagnose wiring and electrical issues but to me none of its hard because ive been doing it for soo long and have done it for a living. now just on the side or my own car. It took me 2 hours to get the old motor out when i first bought my current se-r. i spend about an hour cleaning up the messy oily engine bay and getting everything inline ready for the jdm. the weekend came and prepped the jdm and put the tranny and everything on and and put it in and buttoned everything up. that only took another 3 hours or so with putting fluids in and double checking all the bolts and for leaks. done and out the door. i did have a cherry picker also

ive done motor pulls out the bottom and out the top and personally i think out the top is better. but its still easy to do out the bottom if you dont have a cherry picker. its just a pain sometimes to get the front of the car up high enough to pull the motor out from under.

the turbo setup didnt take me but a day and a half, that was including, the fuel pump install (1 hour) s4 cams install (2 hours and that was because my chain skipped a tooth on the crank so i had to advance both cams 1 tooth) drill and tap the block 2 hours includes allowing silicone to dry. turbo oil line 30 minutes, safcII install 2 hours, injectors 30 minutes, turbo manifold, turbo, downpipe all in at once. 1 hour. fmic and piping install 3 hours or so. 300zx maf install 30min. Fidanza flywheel and ACT clutch kit 2 hours.

its a lot to do none the less. just take your time with it. i started on it saturday morning ad i was done with it mid sunday working on it for 8 hours or so on saturday and 4 on sunday. it was done.

i always pull the engine out the bottom, but usually with a lift. if you have a cherry picker you can hoist the car with that. either way do it yourself, but only if you have help when you mess something up or get stuck, it always happens, trust me. do some research and have everything ready. air tools usually make the job happen with the quickness, but you can do without. i have seen some people take 2 weekends on their first swap, plan on that, at least. take your time and don't guess on things. it isn't that hard if you have worked on cars before. if you have any ?'s pm me or any of the other people who have done a few of these swaps.
drew

Sounds good, Just gotta save the money. Get the downpipe, Clutch, Motorset, and gauges... should be a lot of fun (good learning experience too)

do it thru the top its the easiest.. but if you have a/c its gonna be a PIA due to a/c lines(trust me) other than thats its pretty much easy.. it took me 3 hrs alone to pull out mine and it was my first b13 engine swap.... take your time and take it easy, and everything will work out fine...

For that, next time you swap you can take the compressor off the motor and leave the compressor and lines intact... (just have to watch them when you get the motor in the air). A friend taught me that.

This is coming closer and closer to becoming a reality... my goal date is 03-30-2008

if u want my buddies got a cherry picker i could prolly borrow .... shoot me a pm if u want when it gets close to go time

Sweet man, I am sure that would help out a lot!!!! Thanks!

Motor swaps on these car are SOOOOO easy. You have the passenger side of the wiring harness and the drivers side of the wiring harness. If this is your first time label everything. Theres only like 15 things you need to unplug on the harness anyway.

I take my tranny off first leaving the drivers axle in the tranny. Then I pull the motor out of the top. It normally take me about 3 hours to get a motor out and a new one in by myself with a cherry picker and my impact. These cars are so easy to work on its stupid.


I think my swap came to about $3,000 doing it myself with all the aftermarket goodies I have on the car.

I still need a relatively decent prices downpipe... if you can help out the point me in the right direction. i am looking to get 3". Decently prices couplers and t-clamps would also be a plus!