can i use garbage??

[willus72]

i have been thinking about an ls swap but i suck at saving money. everytime i get a few hundred dollars together i end up spending it on something else. so i have been trying to find a way to swap for cheap. it is a lot easier for me to spend $300 5 times than it is for me to spend $1000 all at once. so i decided to just build the engine peice buy peice. im pretty sure i want the Ls because of the torque, low comp, and ease of install but i am open to some other suggestions. but my question is can i just go to the junkyard and buy the parts peice at a time? is there anything i should look out for? basically anything that can or should be upgraded i will buy the right stuff, just need whatever can be got for cheap. OR what about trying to find a messed up engine? is there anything i should not get? how hard would it be to get one working since most everything would get replaced before it goes in the car anyway? Basically what im saying is that im a noob and im cheap can somebody give me a hand?

 

[sportlinecrx]

just keep saving for the full swap. trying to buy pieces and hoping they will all work together sometime down the road is not in any way shape or form, a good idea.

 

[ek9r]

dude, buy a piggy bank or somthing, and throw all you cash in there. buy the swap all at the same time. Piecing it together leaves too much room for error.
errors = that much more $ you will be spending to fix problems. be patient and save, you will eventually get there.
good luck

 

[cointelpro]

true that, trust me because i am just like you, i bought a LS block head and ecu for 300 bucks, so now im stuck looking for exhaust mani, tranny, and axels, and sometimes its a bitch to find good quality parts individually. since i bought the engine i have seen at least 10 posts for full swaps for under 1000. i know its hard to save your money, i do the same thing. so put it in a savings account and tell the bank to freeze it for 6 months, then deposit like 1/2 or 1/3 of each paycheck in that. this way you still got a little spending cash but you are forced into saving your money. after a couple months you will be suprised at what you have saved up, then you can buy a sick ass swap with low miles and get mounts and have it all swaped in. i wish i woulda saved up and bought all at once.

but at the same time, my friend just finished his LS swap, he got the whole thing done for ~800 bucks. piee by piece, and it runs decent (needs new piston rings). but i suggest saving up. even if you plan on upgrading later.

 

[posol]

finding an exhaust and tranny is easy.

finding a random distrubotr bolt... a bracket for the pwr sterring pump, and so forth is what becomes impossible

open a CD at the bank.... one you can't take money out of for a year.

52 weeks, dump 70 a week in there, and you can afford a c5 swap in a year

 

[willus72]

okay so buying it bit by bit wont be easy cool ill save. and i dony have a problem saving money for the car at all just problems getting all the way to the price of a swap before i "need" sometrhing else for the car. i been "saving" for an ls swap for like a year now and in that year i have put like $5000 into the rest of the car and not bought the engine. it just seems like everytime i get $6-700 i start working on a different part of the car. damn so much to do so little time. well i just got a second job that i plan to use all the income toward the car so well see. thanks for the advise!

 

[E_SolSi]

dont worry about that
its better to set up the car for the added performance any way

there are items you really should have upgraded before you add more power
brakes!!!
suspension
exhaust

best of luck though

 

[MokujinX5]

You basically just had my question answered for me... I'm JUST like you willus... I can't save for shit, and I'll ALWAYS find something that I "need" to spend my money on. I want a B20B/Z VTEC swap instead...

Thanks for the advice though peeps, I'll see what I can do...

P.S. My car is a 98 LX... What year B20 would I need to make the swap as easy as possible... I've heard the 99-00 B-series (well, B16s in particular) don't fit right (they can with mods), plus the ECU harness crap (OBD2b [99-00] as opposed to the 2a [96-98] that's in my car now) makes it a nightmare...

I plan to go turbo...
What's the best VTEC head to go with (B16 or B18)?
Tranny?
How do I build it reliably so that it'll spin up to 8000rpms? (if I even need it to go that high for turbo)
My suspension is done for now (H&R and Tokico Blues)... will I need a stiffer suspension setup to handle the extra weight from the 2.0L?
I plan to switch to Integra brakes sooner or later also...
Thanks,
--aL--

Edit:
I just read the B20 Tech article which answered some of my questions (Tranny and ECU). If anyone has more insight please share. Also... what's up with the B20 sleeves? I read somewhere here that not a lot of companies make aftermarket sleeves for them making it risky for turbo (if I'm not mistaken). Would it be better to swap a GSR and turbo it (or LS/VTEC)?
I originally wanted a GSR swap, but it's too expensive (from what I've seen)...

 

[JDMilan]

B and E sumed it up for me...