Front Clips

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sloazcrx

Senior Member
This isn't really pretaining to Honda's but I know many of you are Nissan enthusiasts as well so I'm going to ask your opinions. I just placed a deposit on a motor set from JKmotorsports. It's a local performance shop. Now the question is whether to buy the front clip that they have at the shop now or wait on the motor set. The motor set goes for $2400 and the front clip is going for $3200. When the motor set gets here I will have my pick of about four that are coming in. The front clip is already here and in their warehouse with only 51,000 kilometers or 38,000 miles. The front clip also has a RS Yamamoto chipped ecu. Since the side mount intercooler is small and not very good above 10 lbs. of boost I was thinking I'd save the extra money and get an fmic. By the way, the motor sets that are coming are expected to have anywhere from 60-70,000 miles on them. Is it worth the extra $800 to get a motor that has about half of the mileage as the motor sets? Just looking for some opinions to set my mind at ease. Thanks.

By the way, the motor is an sr20det.
 
Mileage isn't always a dead-on indicator of engine condition, although it's a good reference to go by. How closely are you allowed to inspect the engines when they come in? Maybe you can perform a leakdown test on all the engines before you make your decision. Now, assuming that all the engines are in conditions dictated by their mileage, I would personally buy the front clip. You have fewer miles on the engine (so assume it's better, maybe a false assumption), and you have tons of extra parts that you can sell off too. If it's just a front clip cut, chances are that you'll have more parts intact and functioning on the engine too. You don't always know what's been messed with when an engine comes to you on a pallet..
 
:withstupid:

the better "deal" is definatly the whole front clip .... less chance of missing or broken shit that way
and plenty of shit to sell off on ebay "JDM silvia _______ y0!" = $$$$$$$$$$
 
The way that the clips are shipped are much gentler to the engine than those of the motors all alone. From Japan, more people have their hands on the actual engine itself, and there is more of a chance of sensors/other things getting broken when you only get the motor/tranny shipped over. With the front clip, the most likely thing to get damaged is the body work so you are getting a motor that is less likely to have broken parts. I'd get the front clip probably becuause you get the lower mile engine, chiped ecu, and the jdm body parts (don't know how much will fit on your car because I'm not a Nissan expert), and the dash usually. Anyways, if you get the clip you should post some pictures! Good luck with the swap,

Ian
 
Go with the front clip, not sure what year 240 you have but the SR radiator is nice with the correct placement for the upper radiator hose, also you can sell the front with hood and panels if it's like Dave from slidesquad's ride. Get the clip, it seems worth it. You can also inspect the clip as well since it's in.


Milan
 
About the mileage thing... I was just reading a section in my scc magazine about drifting and there was an interesting caption concerning a civic drift car, "Four-door Civics like this one are the source of many of the B16s that reside in U.S. hybrids." So in that case, either they tore apart the block of a totalled car and sold them in the states for tuners that were making Frankensteins, or they shipped the whole block/front clip overseas for people do engine swaps. Now i now a little about drifting and when you drift a car on circuit courses you tear up the rubber and demand the most of your engine. So even though the engine might have low mileage for a jdm car, it might have been one that was driven hard and aggressively. So i guess no one is safe unless there is some way to inquire what happened to the first car the engine was in. :p
 
Well my previous post was universal for most engines/front clips shipped to the US from japan. I know he has a Nissan, i got the caption of a Civic because there wasn't a caption about Nissan engines.
 
Originally posted by YangpaNemsay@May 28 2003, 02:33 AM
I was just reading a section in my scc magazine about drifting and there was an interesting caption concerning a civic drift car, "Four-door Civics like this one are the source of many of the B16s that reside in U.S. hybrids."
Click to expand...

SCC is a bunch of morons then. the coupes and sedans were never made in japan. they ONLY got the hatch.
 
Originally posted by YangpaNemsay@May 28 2003, 02:39 AM
Well my previous post was universal for most engines/front clips shipped to the US from japan. I know he has a Nissan, i got the caption of a Civic because there wasn't a caption about Nissan engines.
Click to expand...

i was referring to 90 accord's post....
 
The problem with the "front clip" as they call it is that it was wrecked in the front end and the radiator and the shroud has been damaged extensively. It doesn't come with body panels or anything like that. All their motors come with a certification and warranty, compression and leak down tested. Guaranteed to run and they will replace necessary missing parts. The motor sets, the shop claims will come still mounted inside the frame of the other car but will not have a good radiator or intercooler and piping.
 
Call some more reputable places from online that sell S13's-S15's, have you also considered dropping in a RB25DET?? Now that would be nasty, I used to have a shitload of info on SR's but dumped it. I considered once to go try the Nissan camp for a change but just couldn't drop my grass roots.

Milan
 
Originally posted by pissedoffsol+May 28 2003, 01:44 AM-->
pissedoffsol @ May 28 2003 said:
YangpaNemsay
Click to expand...
pissedoffsol @ May 28 2003 said:
@May 28 2003, 02:33 AM
I was just reading a section in my scc magazine about drifting and there was an interesting caption concerning a civic drift car, "Four-door Civics like this one are the source of many of the B16s that reside in U.S. hybrids."
Click to expand...

SCC is a bunch of morons then. the coupes and sedans were never made in japan. they ONLY got the hatch.
Click to expand...

Japan only got the hatch? http://www.batfa.com/offerofweek-ferio94.html That appears to be a JDM 4 dr y0
 
Originally posted by JDMilan@May 28 2003, 06:23 AM
, have you also considered dropping in a RB25DET?? Now that would be nasty,

Milan
Click to expand...

Too costly, and aftermarket parts are harder to find and cost more. The modifications necessary to make this swap work are more than I'm willing to get into. I'm not looking to go crazy with this car. I'm really only interested at the moment in getting the motor installed and then turning up the boost from the stock 7lbs. to about 12lbs. That should get me to about 230hp fairly easily.
 
Originally posted by highperboi@May 28 2003, 07:02 PM
not all front clips come from cars that got in accidents.

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/tech/0205scc_silvia/

they got theirs from www.venus-auto.com and they got body panels as well.
Click to expand...

They are located in California, which makes shipping exponentially cheaper and easier. I'm located on the east coast, North Carolina to be exact. They got it for like $1500 from Venus like 3 years ago. Prices have changed. Most of the companies I've contacted about a front clip don't even sell them with the body panels, and the ones that do won't guarantee that they arrive in useable condition. By the way, I've read over that article from SportCompactCar at least 10 times since I started researching the sr20.
 
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