So this has gotten very lame. My mechanic is really upset that i sold the original engine, he does not really explain why but says that the job is much much harder now without the other engine and he regrets taking this job also that it is going to take much longer now and cost a bit more money. This leaves me in awe, not to say this wouldnt make it harder but i cannot fathom not having the old engine could make the swap this much more difficult. I already took off and kept all the parts that are interchangeable.

So to avoid getting ripped off I am heavily considering just taking the engine back the way it is, b16b in the car on mounts with nothing else connected. So I would have to do the timing belt/water pump, swap on the left hand drive wire harness, wire vtec, set up shift linkage and axles. Seems like a bit of work but I am convinced i can do this all myself, my main original worry was physically getting the engine out and the new one in so since that is already done i think i could do the rest. I definitely do not want to end up paying $1000 or something to the mechanic because he is upset that i did not keep my old engine.

Looking for some opinions on the difficulty of what I have left to do if I take the car back or if I should put up with the mechanic trying to make this into a massive problem...


ps. not to mention he already got the valve cover covered in oil some how and it does not look nice and clean like the pics, also he threw all the old parts in the seats of my car which has ruined the del sol seats i spent so much time cleaning...

 

Shops suck. /story Once you have your car back, ask him to explain why having the old motor would have helped. He took the old motor out, right? I would imagine not having a labeled harness is stressful, it was for me at least.

Why wasn't the timing belt and water pump done when the motor was out of the car?!? Being in the car makes it 10x harder.

As for wiring, I will tell you right now that if you do not know what you are doing 100%, just pony up and go to rywire. It will be a REALLY quick install and is labeled and will work perfectly. I didn't know what I was doing with the H22 and screwed up, took it to a performance shop that "fixed" it, but kinda just made everything worse. Ripped everything out, bought a rywire, and it's all good now.

Shift linkage should be a few bolts here and there, no big deal. Axles are extremely easy. Just google how to install these and you will find videos of people replacing them on cars.

Your mechanic sucks for putting dirty parts onto your seats. At least the shop I dealt with knew my seats were from a del sol and didn't put anything on them. Everything else they touched was fawked though.

If you want it done right, do it yourself!

 

The harness is the only real issue i think. The problem with the timing belt is the engine is out of the car right now and that is what i going to be done but two problems come to mind, if i really want him to do the belt before putting the engine in the car or if i just want him to put it in so i can do things myself also that when they did the timing belt on my d16 it was making insane clicking noises which took another day for them to fix (same shop) dont want that happening to my new engine.

Damn a labeled harness would be really nice but at $600 -_- idk. The engine has the left hand drive harness on it now, maybe i can color match or at least look up the color codes and just take time to kind of label myself may take time but thats not an issue right now. If it comes to that though I guess I will just buy something like that.

Ya so outside of the wiring i dont think i have much to worry about and hopefully i could save a few bucks this way, my uncle has done these swaps to other cars an his own so maybe he would be willing to help me out too which would make things a lot easier, but idk my family is weird....

ya i was REALLY dissappointed to see oil on the valve cover that i could not wipe off and i just walked away and tried not to think about the seats but seriously.... i just dont wanna think about how much oil was on them but at least i took all the crap off them...


I am mostly just let down that the mechanic is acting this way now when he knew i would be taking the old engine. Now its like he is butthurt and just making it more difficult for me because i had to do that for money reasons. Has not worked on the car at all today and says itll be a few days before he even does the timing belt, and that he is gonna charge me a lot more, then assures me he does these swaps in one day all the time and they are so easy but mine is gonna take weeks now and might not even work...

Gonna go tomorrow and ask him to possibly do the timing belt and water pump and toss the engine in the car so i can get it towed to my house. Other option is to just have them drop it in and ill do have to do timing belt myself. Just hope he isnt gonna try to still charge me full price for not really doing anything... Def wanna do this myself now.



edit 6-12:
So i ended up buying an ex wire harness so the knock sensor and vtec is there, this seems to have lightened up the mechanic a lot (or so it would appear). So they got most of the wiring plugged up and will do the timing belt and water pump after. He agreed to stay at the original quote price if i buy all my own parts when they need them but if anything gets out of hand we agreed i would just take the car and pay for whatever labor has been done to that point. Anyway that wire harness was not cheap ($150) but could have been worse. I took everything off my seats and laid plastic over them and i guess i will just get down on my knees and scrub again for hours once i get the car back. and the valve cover i will degrease and maybe even paint once i paint the car somehow.

 

this mechanic sounds like a real douche bag. I'd just do it yourself. You can figure it out, man, its not that crazy. I helped a friend pull his s2k engine and put in a fresh one, it wasn't too difficult.

Another friend of mine has a Subaru Forester and is planning an Sti swap in the future...now THATS gonna be a PITA...

 

Got my car back today. Here are some pictures:





The seats are not as bad as I had anticipated... But still need cleaning...



The car runs great even though several things are not hooked up (o2 ect). Ditched engine bay battery, ditched power steering and AC (will remove soon for dual radiator). Just need to do the exhaust soon, no money for it right now. Ended up letting the mechanic do the swap, we worked out all the problems. Here is a little video of me starting it and driving around for a minute. vtak yo.

Sequence01_1.mp4 video by neurogrip - Photobucket

 

ah, sounds great man. the rev on a DOHC sounds so much better than on a SOHC...

 

Nice man. It is always more expensive than you think, right?? Get that CEL off and everything else should be easy work.

 

it did come out to a little more than expected but honestly not much and I am left with a bunch of parts i did not need and have to try to sell now to do the exhaust (wiring harness/radiator) but this thing is a beast right now even though there is no exhaust. you can obviously tell there is not much torque but none the less it takes off and screams. shifts amazing and just feels amazing overall... could not be happier. But it is insanely loud right now, even in mid day it is way too loud to be driving around.

Now i need mandrel bent exhaust system but maybe Ill get a header too at that time. Will get a better intake at that time too. Right now I need to get any sort of exhaust on there, then an aluminum radiator (probably dual core) and then all disc brake conversion. after all that I will maybe fix stereo but either way I think ill throw this car up for sale for some ridiculous price and see what happens... only with the intention of doing the same swap or the ITR swap. but im thinking too far ahead on that. I just want to actually go driving!

As for the CELs I will wait until the exhaust is on and the o2 sensor is setup then I will start checking CELs, I will have to do it the old school flashing light way since i cant find a scanner that will read JDM ODB2a. Will update as progress progresses.

 

ecu was giving me codes for 6, 14, 41. which were o2 sensor, IACV, ECT... unplugger ecu, rewired o2, repinned ecu plug for IACV and plugged back in and all codes are gone, not running lean anymore and idles liek a baws.

no CEL anymore

need to get some money for an exhaust. Looks like ill be going with a pressure bent system with the high flow cat and apexi WS2. It will take too long to save for the mandrel bent even though it is only 150$ more. (100 for the pressure bent). Ill go with 2.5" instead of the stock 2.25" because pressure bends suck. Then later ill invest and get header/intake/mandrel exhaust...

will get pics up of the exhaust and a real video of the car once thats done.

 

Got the exhaust done!

The collector:



No Exhaust:



Setting Up:



All Done:



This Bend Was a Little Tricky...



Looks Big and Shiny...



So it sounds a lot better, still a bit louder than I wanted but not bad. Ill get a video of a little drive and idling ect maybe today or this weekend. I think I will high temp paint the muffler flat black to make it less noticeable. Outside of those issues it is great! Car is very fun to drive but I want to take it to a track or something where i can really push it...


EDIT LOL:
exhaust fell off.... well not completely but the hooks holding the muffler fell off in the canyons which left my muffler scrapping on the ground and the mid piping somehow hitting the floor too... wow was i pissed off. Shop rewelded the muffler mounts down the entire side of the exhaust instead of just a single point weld. All good now and i guess this is what i get for cheaping out and not going to the shop i know i should have. Car is a bit louder than i wanted but oh well, again, for now anyway... When i get a header and new exhaust i will probably throw a resonator in there too... Car wouldnt start after that but it turned out to just be the battery/starter cable crimp getting loose. Redid that and will re do it again with solder sometime soon, need resin. Outside of that everything is great, hitting 8k PRM on a regular basis and driving around usually around 5k RPM... so much fun... and to boot, although i do not have exact numbers right now, i am getting over 25MPG! at least these first 2 tanks have been.

Since i cannot sell this wire harness or radiator i think i am going to just throw the b16 radiator i have in the car so i have the bigger coolant ports, even though i have had no over heating problems i think the slimmer radiator looks way nicer is a little lighter (lol) and costs less than buying an aluminum one since i already have it.

Now i need to: Rewire speakers they are getting alternator whine, get a new fuel pump, i want a new steering wheel now, proper throttle cable bracket, and most important to me right now is getting GSR brakes or after market possibly but i would rather keep honda parts as thats what i personally prefer.

Will update when something actually happens or if i get that video done...