jdm motor swap?

Question

are they reliable? i have not heard anything bad about them..... yet, but i would like to know b4 i dump 2 grand on one.

home garage tech, yes, but the one i plan on getting is comimg from a silvia and it is supposed to drop right down into my 1989 nissan 240 sx with almost no modification other than perplacing the powersteering hoses and resivioar with one from a 91 - 93. it is called a red top motor, and i plan on getting one from the guys who have a will crank gaurantee. and they have 2 reveiws saying good things on there. so.. i mean i guess they are reputable. but they do charge about 200$ more. but im guessing it is worth it for the gaurantee. and it comes with everything, uncut wiring harness, ecu, everything. basically drop it in, bolt it up, and plug it in. and then change the **** for the powersteering. im hoping it will at least run better than mine, mine runs good, but it has upwards of 230k miles on itso.... yea, and it is only a single cam, and no turbo.

Answer 1

JDM swaps should be pretty reliable. Japan has legally mandated car inspections every 2 years (3 after buying a new car). This helps ensure that people are driving safe cars. As a nice side effect, it keeps the engines in tip-top shape. For a plethora of reasons, people consider cars to be old, when they are actually still quite new. For example, I was told that a 1997 Prius with 80,000 miles on it was ready for the dump. Yes, as in ready to be scrapped. In all honesty, this WAS HIGH for Japanese standards. Most cars have under 50,000 miles on them when you buy them. Some people trade in cars right around the time that they are finally getting broken in.

The icing on the cake is that most stores promote 3000 km oil changes. This works out to less than 2000 miles. The only people that would change their oil that much in the US would be racers.

Bottom line is, unless the person before you was using the engine for racing, drifting, or some other extreme activity, you should be really safe in getting a JDM motor. Just be sure that you order from a reliable dealer with a proven track record. Shop around, and ask others who have shopped there.

Answer 2

The Japan motors are geting worse as the good ones have been used up. If possable get the front clip and wiring harnesses. Also this is a big job that might be above the level of a home garage mechanic. I am doing a Twin Turbo conversion on a 1990 300ZX 2+2 with ball bearing turbos front mount intercoolers extrude honing and lots of modifications.

Answer 3

The sad thing about SR20det's is that they used to be cheaper with less mileage on the motor. For example my SR cost 2500 for a front clip with 55000 kilometers on it...now you are looking at that much for a motor set with no guarantee's on mileage.

The best thing to do is by the motor from someone reliable. I would steer away from eBay for a good SR, I have come across several gentleman that have purchased motors off there and they tend to miss tons of small parts necessary for a running swap.

Make sure your swap comes with the following
engine harness with dash plug
ignitor chip
CAS in good condition(cam angle sensor)
correct ECU

These are the most common things that are missing from cheaper motors. And if you can find a red top with fins on the front of the head, this will be a late red top, almost black top. I have a smooth front, which is an older motor, but I have had it for a while!

Answer 4

My cousin has a '94 Prelude. He swapped the engine to a JDM H22 V-tec and it's pretty quick.

Answer 5

Good answers so far. Make sure you buy from a reputable importer (here's a few : http://www.nicoclub.com/addirectory.shtml), and get a Factory Service Manual (you can download one at http://www.240sx.org ).