$650 for engine swap!

Well I got most of the hoses/plugs off my mini me. Now I have gotten to the part that I am lost on. The actual removal of engine and tranny. So I talk to a local shop guy. He quotes me a price of $650 to do the swap. Thats taking the old min me out, putting the Y8 head on my new built Y8 block, taking off flywheel and installing it on new motor, installing clutch kit, and hooking everything back up. So basically $650 for labor....I need to learn to do this stuff to make some money.

They said it would take about 2-3 days.....me doing it probably take 2-3 weeks or longer....what would you do?

Oh and if it matter I got a beater to drive since civic is down.

650 seems kinda steep to me, but i wouldn't know

i sure as heck would pay someone else to do it though, cuz i'm too lazy and don't have enough time to do a swap

dang bud thats the easiest thing to do what you listed right there...hard par on doing rods and pistons is getting them all torque right to specs...

Yeah I let the machine shop install my rods, pistons, and rings. I didn't even want to mess with that.

yeah doing a head swap is really easy, even easier with the motor out. since you said you have everything unhooked, all you have to do is pop out the axles and then hook your chain to the motor and get some tenstion. now losen up your motor mouts first and then get a bit more tention and now pull the bolts fromthe mouts. be sure the tranny is tilted DOWN for clearance reasons, if you have ac, it will be it way easier to remove the compressor. Also watch out for your alternator hitting your brake booster while you are pulling out the motor. and make sure you unbold the linkage and exhaust too. if you need any other help feel free to pm me.

How do you undo the axles? Also I have to put a new pass side axle in cause my cv joint is busted.

Well I got this much done today....so now what LOL. I am so lost. Is it just me or is my head kinda clean on the inside?

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNzMzNTExNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

Two words. CAR and WASH.

Four words... No Hood, Dust storm

Dang I never knew I need to clean up my engine bay so bad...well got a new project to do when motor gets done

OK I know this is going to sound stupid. When I got the mini me swap done (by a mech) the v-tec wasn't hooked up. It was like this for 2 weeks before the engine gave out. These two were never hooked up. What are they? I know one is to engage v-tec

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNzMzNTYyNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNzMzNTYzNnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

Thats years of dirt build up. Not one dust storm.

Anyways, thats your vtec solenoid on the top, and vtec oil pressure on the bottom.

What hooks up to the bottom one?

engine swaps arent hard, i did my first one in 3 days, day one was pretty much unbolting everything and getting hoses off, draining all fluids etc, second day was spent pulling the motor, painting the engine bay and putting the new motor in. 3rd day was spent wiring up for mpfi and trouble shooting, got everything going to find out the axels i got were shit so i spent the next day putting my dx tranny back in. and this was all done without having a second car

So how exactly does the axles come out?

use a large flat head screw drvier and pry them out of the tranny (doesnt require too much effort)
unbolt it from the hub, undo the lower ball joint and separate the hub from the lower control arm. pull axel out of the way

What hooks into that second plug I posted up?

The top picture is the vtec selinoid wired directly to the ecu!! The bottom is a vtec pressure selinoid black wire is a ground and the other wired directly to the ecu!