Dowel pins can blow me.

[FogOgg]

So in an underfunded effort to keep my poor s13 I attempted a single cam to single cam swap on my car today. The donor engine was from an 89 auto transmission s13 and the recieving vehicle was an 89 manual trans s13. Easy right? I could only wish.

I swapped the flywheel, clutch, the plate between the engine and trans and the 2 mounts that hold it over to the new engine, making sure everything was lined up properly and the plate fit flush on the block. Success! We cranked the new engine into the engine bay in about 20 minutes, lined up the input shaft and dropped it all in happy-like.

Then the problems began. The trans bellhousing wouldnt line up with the engine to save my life. We cranked and lifted and jiggled and hammered and jacked and pried for about 90 minutes unsuccessfully. After growing extremely frustated we thought to ask the shop trans guy, who looked at it for about 5 minutes before repairing the problem.

The. Goddamn. Dowel. Pins.

the donor engine had a dowel pin the old one didn't, and due to sheer luck it just happened to line up with a pin in the trans. Yes, I wasted 90 minutes fighting a pair of dowel pins. Thats why I'm considering crying tonight instead of driving my yummy car around right now. Ridicule me now please.

[DGA]

Your car runs and drives now, so what is the problem? Go out and enjoy yourself. How much did he charge you for the fix?

[FogOgg]

He didn't charge me anything, it was a 5 minutes job and he was already working in the building. I work at a Honda shop and he's the trans guy :-P

Also, no, it doesn't run and drive now, somewhere during the swap my ECU bought the farm.

[DGA]

Sorry to hear that. Nice to see a Honda guy driving a Nissan.