Thread: SR20 swap survey

How long have your swap has lasted or lasting? I would like to know the approximate lifetime of a swap. This pertains to a basic swap not including a full rebuild with pistons and cranks and so on but just with the basic head gasket change and new seals and gaskets.

A week and counting.

depends on your load and driving style. also depends on the quality of the swap. My friend did his swap, lasted 2weeks. I bought the car, did the same swap, lasted ever since (8mo and counting).

Over a year boosted. 1 transmission sh1t itself though.

8th months and counting on my stock VE. That's along with two-three months of weekly track abuse during fall.

I've seen someone with a DET swap that lasted over 3 years, until he parted the car out. I'm sure it could have lasted even longer. What they say around here is that, if you were able to go through the first year without major breakdowns and you take the time to work out the bugs during that year, your motor will most likely last for the lifetime of the car.

Crossing my fingers, but mine is making it through winter (ab)use

From what I've seen on these forms..I think a major key in making a swap last is doing it right the first time and buy quality parts. If the swap is cheap, it probably won't last very long or a lot of problems will pop up. Most of the problems I've seen are people who do not opt for a JWT/Calum ECU and try to do their own mapping. Also, our transmissions suck for high power, so getting a B15/P11 is recommended for reliability.

I also think "a long time" is relative. Someone who drives their turbo car once a week can make it last a pretty long time. On the other hand, someone who drives it every day will put more miles on it. Mileage is probably the best indicator.

Essentially, there's no reason why a swap shouldn't last for several years and be a reliable car. Most of these engines from Japan have not been driven very much and have lower mileage. The reason for that, is because the public transportation system in Japan is very nice and people only drive their cars basically in the city, so the cars do not see very high mileage. Also, from what my friend who lives in Japan says, most Japanese keep their cars well maintained. Someone actually comes to his house and does oil changes/inspections on his car every few months.

I agree with gomba. My det has been swapped twice to my knowledge, and I have had it 4 years 50,000 miles or so daily driven and boosted same stock trans too. It's all about how you care for it and how hard you drive

Rod bearings are a must. My motors don't usually last long but, that's my own doing.

My previous jdm de has been swap 3X and driven by 4 different person with unknown mileage but with my ownership it went for about 7,000 mile in a year. I beat on it daily and I still know the new owner of the motor.

My DET swap lasted me 50,000 miles over a course of almost 4 years. I beat the snot out of it too. I only took it out cuz the rod bearings were a-knockin' and I wished I had changed them out the first time. The only gasket I changed on it was the valve cover gasket.

I'm on a VE now and have 6,000 miles on the swap that I finished just this past December '07. Now I'm beating the snot out of the VE