went to a shop, talked about my swap, this is what happened, blippity blop

[zspturbo]

Context: I am trying to minimize cost on my RB25det swap... in fact I wouldnt even say I want a full swap, I just want to get the damn engine and get it installed. The thing is, I have a moderate level of technical ability, and I have friends that might as well work in tuner shops, but I dont trust myself or any of them to install the actual engine. We can put on bushings kits (I think), do battery relocation, install a water pump or radiator or whatever, so all we need the shop to do is get the engine in. With this thought I went to my local 240 specialst speed shop....

As I drive up the road leading to the shop, feeling all badass in my dads pimp bimmer, a Skyline drives by me. Right hand drive, big stickers, loud exhaust, the whole deal... A Skyline proper.So I park and walk in, a little impressed.Once I get to talk to the lady at the desk, I describe my situation (S13 with busted headgasket and engine halfway to removed), and ask for an estimate if I source the engine myself. She says that along with just putting the engine in, I'll need a new radiator and fans, new bushings, new water pump (or oil pump or something), battery relocation kit, and a downpipe, but noticably does not mention the driveshaft. With all that plus installation, she quoted me 1300-1700 for the swap.

My question is this... what can I, with my modest ability, do to make their job easier and thus lower the cost of the labor? anything? And does this price sound fair in the first place?

Also while shopping around, the impression I'm getting is that it will cost me ~3k to get an R33 RB25det front clip to my door in saint louis... does this sound right?

[gomer23]

Seriously if you can get the old motor out you can put the new one in. This is my first major project. My prior experience with cars was doing a standard tune up on a full size blazer, and lots of car stereo installs. Since I got the 240, I uninstalled the KA, and with the help of one friend (who has never put a motor in either) we put my RB25 in, in about 90mins tops. I did the wiring on the RB myself (never done engine wiring before) and alot of the other misc stuff myself. The one thing I did need help with was welding the exhaust and IC piping and I had a couple of friends do that.

But my point is if you have time research a little bit and get some stuff off here and the web and you could most, if not all the swap yourself and save lots of money. Of course this does all take time. So anyway thats my 2 cents.

[ceno]

Getting the motor in is the easiest part of the swap. If you have a friend helping you, you should be able to do it in at most 5 hours (that is if you are completely mechanically and spatially retarded). The hardest part to the swap is remembering to label everything properly so its easier to connect when you get your new motor in. With the walkthroughs at the top of the forum, and the help of a friend you should be able to do this without too much difficulty. Just remember to take some time before you put the motor in, to check everything on it, and replace anything that is broken, or needs to be upgraded. much easier to do when the engine is out of the car.

[blues14]

yes.....get a new belt and water pump installed when you do your swap.....and that price is about average to low for an rb25 swap at a reputable swap. The best thing about getting a swap done is knowing you can take it back to them if something goes whacko. but be sure to get EVERYTHING in writing. you can supply fuel pump, belts, fluids, spark plugs etc so they dont mark that stuff up on you.

[SeVa-S13]

I knew pretty much jacksh1t when I did my first swap. Senior year of highschool, SOHC headgasket finely bit it after repeated overheatings and generally abuse. Ordered me up an R32 clip and through some miracle, a few months later I had a (poorly-)running RB20 S13.

[zspturbo]

This is really THAT easy? Just attach the bolts that the instructions tell in order? Heres my thoughts why I'm so skeptical: What about shiznit like torquing bolts down to the right psi? I never seen any of that info and I researched very wide and deep, gotta be something a shop would know though...Also, I wont recognize some parts. I had no idea what a fuel filter actually looked like untill like a week ago. On top of that, my labeling and marking stuff when I disconnect it may not be good enough, because I wont know what I'll really need later. On top of all that, I wont notice if something goes bad, because I wont recognize what everything is supposed to look like when its right.

Dont get me wrong, I would MUCH rather do the work myself... I'm just not sure I am skilled enough... but on your guys advice I'll go re-begin removing my engine today.

[gomer23]

Once you get in there and start doing it (at least for me anyway) you can kinda see where stuff is supposed to go. And like I said there is so much info out there to help you. Also if your worried about torquing bolts down right, the whole Skyline service manual is out there available to download or I am sure someone can send it to you.

[zspturbo]

well that was more of a question. The only experience I have with torquing stuff down was in advanced auto shop in highschool, when we disassembled a lawn mower engine. Will I need to do it in the engine swap?

[RBTALLY]

what u can do to make there job easy is pay them when there done

[SeVa-S13]

This is really THAT easy?....

Hell no, it was hard and confusing as a mofo. Now of course this was before there were good swap guides so I got to sit down with some wiring diagrams and pinnouts and struggle for a while, eventually enlisting some help. The biggest thing I had done, automotively, before the swap was change my alternator.Seems so long ago now.... I've learned a bit since.

[ceno]

Well, if you have any doubts about your ability to figure everything out, you should do as much work as you can, THEN try some more, and if that fails, take it to the shop. It will save you money, and if the people at the shop are nice, they'll let you watch or help.

[Bluefire]

First get yourself the fsm for your chassis and get one for the motor. Now Study it!!! Now while taking things apart take digital pictures, Identify them in the fsm and put them in large labeled ziplock bags. Just take your time and you will be fine. The best way to learn your car imo, is by tearing it apart and putting it back together. You WILL make mistakes along the way, but trust me you have to go through it. Every top mechanic and tuner out there has made their share of mistakes, but its just the way it works. Just make sure you understand what happened and learn from it.

-Bluefire

[Darius]

Yeah and to add to Bluefire's comment, make sure you buy a clip with an electrical glitch that you have to troubleshoot. That way you'll learn about every little sensor on the entire motor. <sarcasm> That's the kind of stuff I personally live for. And then once you find your electrical gremlin, you let another one in called a mechanical gremlin. This guy is a little more obvious to find, but can be illusive. For instance, when you install a new head gasket, install the motor, run it and the head gasket leaks...there's your new gremlin. It's so much fun to pull the head off of the motor while it's still in the car that I'm surprised more people don't just buy these things to do it just for fun or on weekends.

Trust me, this is not as easy as everyone says it is. Of course it's easy if you've done this motor before, and in retrospect would take me about three days to do the complete swap if I had all day to do it. Remember that parts take time to deliver (month or months), especially hard to find ones from Japan.

[zspturbo]

well I got started taking the front bumper off, when I was greeted under the car with about 10 really freaky looking spiders. so I guess that's gonna have to get taken care of. Project delayed... again

I have the FSM, a list of steps to remove the engine, and a full set of wrenches and ratchets. I also have enough ziplock bags to sell weed for 6 months, some masking tape, a cell phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera, and alot of free time.

Blaaaaa
Modified by zspturbo at 3:54 PM 6/6/2006