Swaps are considered THE ultimate solution if your neighbour tells that i swapped my engine and now my car goes like ZoooOom. .With the accessibility of used motors from their domestic markets, dropping a more powerful motor into your car is becoming increasingly cheaper. This in no way means a motor swap is easy, economical, or even a good idea. Modifying a car to the point of doing a motor swap requires two things: a huge amount of time, and an even larger amount of money. This is the basis of everything.
Here is my Short Story of Long Problematic Swapped Engine.
I bought a CB7 Accord which was released in 92-93 by Honda Company. This car seems very promising when it comes to various cars like hondas and civics. Its drive and comfort is even good than CF4 civic. Well all these factors led me to buy one.
The Transmission:
On the day of inspection i saw a swapped F18B VTEC motor and I was like YAY this is the real deal. During the period when i used to clean the car i noticed few wire connectors laying around in engine bay. First thought OOO may be someone forgot to connect something. let me find them may be car would be more of fun. Here is link to Post on Pakwheels Asking what are they for. ____ the conclusion was Aw crap my transmission is hydraulic and the transmission that came with this engine was electronic. But OK ill live with that as long as gear is working
Why Engine wont REV over 5k RPM:
Noticed car cant rev over 5k RPM....... why Why and then after research and spending months I knew my ECU was for Automatic Transmission and my Transmission is hydraulic and no signal is seen by ECU so it thinks car is static and it cant set various parameters. I was like i am doomed.
The ECU:
Next Thing was why is my car so keen to end my fuel tank........... alot of research endless sleepless night thinking of the reasons, getting help by pakwheel members, international forums I came to know Awww Crap my ECU is you got to be kidding me....... My Engine is F18B and it is connected to F23A ECU.............. this was the secret of getting 4 km/l milage. Some how i had managed to buy and put in there F18B genuine ECU.
Why my car cant work on Scanner as it should.
Well this is most crucial part most people dont bother. Car tells everything its going through via Cable link to Computer. All cars after 96(not suzuki of course) came with ODB2 Diagnosis port. I could not find one so could not knew what is going on. Some how i wanted to put a check engine light in my cluster. Googled and got ECU wiring schematic and shazam was ready to do that. Pulled one wire from Connector A of ECU and whole wire grip came to me. I Screamed I have killed the car............... and next i noticed well may be the electrician who did swap was a stupid guy who forgot to wire it. Never thought that its left intentionally as they dont know what and how to wire it. I took the pain and wired them in 3 months time. Boy that was some serious pain.
Why I am getting Check Engine Light:
Well check engine light stayed ON for all time and when i pulled the codes first one was O2. Connected the o2 and next thing light again lits at 90km/h now this was knock sensor. Now what The F18B didnt had knock sensor........ now it was ECU problem.
Why Car runs like FX on Higher RPMS:
Well mystery was that my fuel pump was bad and all mechanics tested by blocking the fuel pipe and if mechanic was a thin dude with less power said pump is fine and if he was strong says see i can stop the fuel coming out this means your fuel pump is bad. Iqbal Pyara also never wanted to work on my ride because it was not quick way to earn money. So i had t do it my self. Found Magic Motors and they finaly had Fuel Pressure Gauge.
Why there is Slugish Throttle Response?
You press throttle and wait for few seconds for power to come to you.......... why Why Why and a guru on pakwheels told me why dont you check Valve clearence. Now i was lucky to get my hands laid on AutoData Manual and came to know that Value for Intake is 0.24-0.28 and for Exhaust 0.28-0.30. Guess what my car had both set to 0.1 which means no enough intake air and less exhaust air exit time............ Crap.
Why my spark plugs seems melted and Brown:
Shared picture why my spark plugs are very odd in shape and color which is not comparable to any example over the internet. Why is that.Again the Guru pointed out these plugs are not for your car they belong to V6 hilux or Vitz something but they are too long which makes them to be in center of spark and get super duper hot....... I was like Phew if they have touched piston by any chance ill be in ruins.
Why new plugs are way black than ever?
Car was literally a fuel guzzler and i cant handle it like this way. After few sleepless weeks and tiring work, absence from office opened the injectors and came to know what the hell they are D15 Civic Injectors what are they doing there, That is why i am getting 40% fuel trim. Changed the injectors today and still think car is throwing black smoke.
So list goes on and on and on and on. I didnt mentioned here few problems minor that i had, mentioned ones are the one which made me wake up all night. By the way thanks to Allah this car has never made me stop on road side. And May Allah keep his blessing and prevent that from happening .
Who should go for SWAP?
1.If you dont have habit of thinking WHY this and WHY that, then you are the luckiest person in world whose key to Happiness is Sanu Key.
If you dont fear getting your hands dirty and brave enough to spend more than 4 hours daily on you ride
You can google and get all data you need
You are good in electronics
You have determination to nail down any challenge
Or you think your mechanic and Electrician will do a proper complete swap for you and wont rip you off.
You can go for swap. Otherwise dont bother it. Normal people dont do swap they just sell off the car to someone else until car finds themselves guy like me or end up in junkyards
There are many people here who ended up with swap but were brave enough to make the odds in their favour. like @SER_GTR, @star2, @IsbCap, and Me of Course etc
The name of the Guy who helped me get out of this nose dive is Zulfiqar aka @Xulfiqar. May Allah be with him.
NOTE: This is my personal experience and based on other posts made by people here and on other forums. You may or may not agree with me on above points
So what is your SWAP Story?