Honda Swaps - reliability
 

I know it's nothing new, but I'm seeing a lot of older Hondas with swapped engine for sale (E.g. H22 Civics, B18C CRXs, Turbo'd D16 CRX etc.)

How is the reliability? I mean, it's one thing to swap the motor, and even the tranny, but what about driveshafts, suspension tuning, etc?

Can they be daily drivable?

I love the idea of a light (eg CRX) car with a relatively big motor for not much money, but it sometimes sounds too good to be true.

Any experience/recommendations?

dunno. i see a lot of "only 60k kms low mileage!!!!" jdm junkyard motors being dropped into 10-15 year old high mileage cars in someone's backyard with minimal refurbishing or rebuilding... spaghetti wiring hack jobs, etc... you get the idea.

might have aircare issues for some swaps as well, depending on what was done.

bring it to a repuatable shop and get the work checked/tested before dropping a wad of $$$ for it.

it really comes down to "who did the swap".

^
that.

It all comes down to who did the swap. I've seen some reputable local shops with a bad swaps. It all runs to drives with no problem, but when it comes to troubleshooting the car when it dies, it'll be a pain in the ass.

An NA swap (H22 etc.) will be the most reliable as a daily driver. A turbo/NOS/Supercharged swap would need a built motor and you would want to know the complete build history for reliability. If the work is done right with quality parts your good to go. If the work is done on the cheap without attention to detail then expect to do work to keep it running. Like the others have suggested get an inspection on anything you are looking at to purchase (money well spent). I drive an Accord with an H22 swap as a daily driver with zero problems. Did the swap myself and if you didn't know the engine didn't come with the car you would not be able to tell it was a swap (again attention to detail). I know another accord with a built H22 trubo that is daily driven without problems. The owner spent time and installed quality parts to make it so. Don't shy away from a swapped Honda. Do you homework before purchase not after.

LOL? Are you talking from experience?

Any shops to recommend to examine a swap? A lot of people have a long parts list, but that doesn't seem to mean much to me.

since the most common are on civics...i recommend EvoGarage...

^yes, or Garage 5

^
hmm if you look carefully into Garage5 swaps they're not exactly perfect and clean. Evogarage does all wiring/connections in oem specs. If you're trying to get a swap done and running, I would go to Garage5. I would recommend Evogarage to people who love their cars and wants to saves headache in the long one. It's more money but you get what you paid for.

^ david at evo garage is such a mastermind at honda's haha

Kevin in Evolution. A friend of mine have his prelude turbo'ed and built engine done by him. Good guy with reasonable price.