Not much of a mechanic, SR20 swap possible?

[khilgers]

I've got a '97 240 that I plan to work on for the next couple years. Hopefully, in the spring I will have the funds available to get it painted and swap out the old motor and transmission. I've already looked over the swap on the srswap.com site and that is pretty in depth, but is this possible for a beginner to do himself. Most of the work I've done on cars is easy bolt ons like I/H/E/VAFC and suspension work. Help me out if you can.

[Hijacker]

do some searching and you'll find much more in depth information on this site.

but to answer the question, the engine literally bolts right in. mounts and all. the main trouble with the swap is the wiring. if you feel confident to take a stock SR wiring harness and lengthen and shorten wires, then go ahead. heavy throttle and enjuku do wire service as well. my car actually has the stock KA harness with added wiring to connect the coil packs to the ECU and swapped pin locations to account for different plugs (battery and fuse box come to mind...).

like i said, this swap is very easy and straight forward, except for the wiring issue, but most swaps run into wiring issues.

[khilgers]

can you buy a new lengthened wiring harness from heavy throttle or enjuku, or do you just send them yours and they send it back?

[SpeedRacer1]

Well im sure that if you told them that you wanted them to do it, they would simply have you send your KA harness to them. Then they would do the whole thing. Not like its set in stone.

[180fan]

enjuku does it for 200, ht does not do it anymore from what I was told because of too many cry babies that went "wah wah wah! where's my harness" after a couple days instead of giving them the time they needed to get the job done.

[Hijacker]

most of the wiring services request the SR harness i think. they just lengthen the appropriate wires to place the ECU back on the passenger side. the guy who did my wiring prefers to use the ka harness just because he doesn't have to do as much cutting

[SpeedRacer1]

Heavy Throttle stopped doing it for awhile but they are doing all harness's again. And now they do S15 SR20DET harness's too.

[starfireS14]

i would recommend a professional install i had a driveway install done and im still working out the kinks im going to FL and while Im there XAT Racing is going to go over my install and double check everything.

[ride4lame]

I did it in my garage. Had few problems besies waiting or parts. I had heavy Throttle do my wiring. Everything pretty much bolt right in. Overall, i would say its real easy. I had done NO work on cars before i did this swap besides like changing spark plugs one time.

[quiksilvia]

the wiring is the only thing to be worried about, and its not that bad. like ive told other guys who were asking this same ?, the amount of knowledge you will gain from doing it urself is a great reason. if u ask around, most places charge about 1500$ for the labor, and thats a lot of money u could save by doing it urself, and with the forums here we can help with any problems. since u have done some work on the luda and what not, i would say go for it and have fun, just make sure u have all the possible parts needed BEFORE you start the swap. and i think most places ask for both the ka and the sr harnesses and u get one back that bolts right in, but thats not neccessary, u just have to lengthen 3 wires, and like the ht site said-the 2 pklugs by the batt. ahve fun

[runyun]

lol khilgers -

good to see you, i've seen you on PO.comI still have my 00 prelude (pretty much back to stock)

but also have a 92 hatch, silvia face, sr, and its in the paint shop as we speak

nehow, good luck!

[Altiman94]

If you have a car to drive beisdes the 240, I would go ahead and attempt it yourself.

[180fan]

yeah it's pretty straight forward. The harness though, I wouldn't want to wrangle with, especially since HT is doing it again (thank goodness) for 100 bucks with the ac operational and that satisfaction you know that someone who's had experience with that did it. Electrical aside, yeah the swap is doable. A buddy of mine who didn't know jack (didn't even know how to change a fuel filter) did the swap himself. Took a while, but still did it. Hence anyone can do it...if he could...