When we were replacing the timing belt and waterpump, the belt turned out to be too long... I'd been sold a B18 one
Called it a night there about 1 am to let people sleep and I spent the next morning trying to source a B16 timing belt...Got a bit stressed out when everywhere I phoned couldn't get me one...
But finally I remember about the legend that is Andrew Baird at Automek, a quick phonecall later and being told to give him half an hour, I got a text with a picture of him holding one in his hand...hero! Phoned Frodo and he did the 2 hour round trip to go and pick it up for me whilst Greg, Steve and I headed back to the unit. Joe's car blew up an ECU on the Saturday morning and he still came down to help me after getting a lift off Frodo, and Greg had travelled through from Glasgow to help... Remember when I said my friends are awesome?
Steve met us up there as he'd been working that morning, got cracking again:
Engine Swap-89 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Covered 115,000 miles with only one clutch and one alternator failure. Not going to lie, I feel bad for tearing it out after 5 years of awesome motoring!
Engine Swap-66 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
But it was getting replaced by something a bit more interesting
Engine Swap-65 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Chris came up to help too, he cut out the bottom rad supports (which frodo welded back on) for the full length rad, finished the bay prep and polished up my exhaust, a Fujitsubo RM01A!
Engine Swap-74 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Engine Swap-106 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Engine Swap-103 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Engine Swap-105 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
DIY Spray booth
Engine Swap-99 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Whilst all this had been happening, Steve had started wiring up the new loom... I think he officially hates me for it. He spent about 2 days straight on the wiring not to mention countless hours researching, without complaining all to save me a few hundred pounds. Frodo joined in on the Saturday night to help and the result is phenomenal, looks OEM and works exactly as it should. The guys are legends, stayed til silly late on the Saturday night and were the first ones back on Sunday morning
Engine Swap-114 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Engine Swap-116 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
I'm a retard when it comes to wiring (and other things). So whilst they were doing that, I painted the bay.
Engine Swap-115 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Called it a day at about 1am on Sunday monrning and we were back there for about 11am. Walked into the unit to be greeted with this...
Engine Swap-122 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Engine Swap-123 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
****.
Now there's a bit of a lack in pictures, we were running out of time and it was in the back of our heads that everyone was working tomorrow and Joe and I were back to uni. We got the bay cleaned up and ready for the engine whilst Steve and Frodo got the final wiring bits done
Engine Swap-125 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
At 4pm...
Engine Swap-126 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
At 5pm
Engine Swap-128 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Engine Swap-127 by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
Realised that the cat I had was too long, a quick call to Martin and he came down and shortened it and welded it back up!
And at 9pm...
IT FIRED UP FIRST TIME
As you may have seen in my other thread, there was an issue with the idle which turned out to be a faulty ECU. I've bought another P30 and it run's, drives and VTEC's
. I have another issue which I think is dizzy related, so I've borrowed one off a mate to try. Tbh, I just think its incredible that we managed to do an engine swap in the space of 2 and a half days, paint the engine bay, wired the engine completely and I drove home on that Sunday night! This is the final picture I'll leave you with
End by
Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
One final little thing I have to say... I honestly can't thank my friends enough for the amazing birthday present and the help that they've all given me, from spannering on the car all weekend, going to pick up bits for me, letting me use their facilities and just everything. I've only named a few but there were loads of them. I'm a very lucky person. A special thanks goes to Steve, the man really is a legend. He's given up the past few months to help me with this and the amount of hours and effort he's put into this build are crazy. He has the first start video and first VTEC video, I think my reaction in them mirrors both of our reactions when they happened!
My friends really are awesome
@Steve M @Bushell @Frodo @eddw_88 @Ally138 @robthedoc @marv_ek4 (Also can't remember a few usernames so I've not tagged Jordan, Sam and Dave but they were all involved too!)