The head is coming off the new one this week, & will get a look. The old one would have needed lots of machining on the cylinders, bigger pistons, rings, rods, bearings, crankshaft, oil pump, head gasket. It's garbage.
JDM Engine Swap
- Thread starter Vorlauf
- Start date
Can a little D17A handle a 40 grade without creating too much restriction or stress?
Oh. Both engines should've been checked. Takes no effort to pull plugs on inline 4's and shove a cheap snake cam down there to make sure the engine you're about to dump lots of money into is actually worth it. Sloppy mechanic I'd suggest you look elsewhere.
Absolutely. The 2015 Toyota Prius states to use anything from 0w-20 to 20w-50 in the owners manual and that engine is an even cheaper and crappier econobox of an engine. I've ran 20 and 50 grades in the same Ford and GM engines I've had. They run just about the same. Maybe slightly quicker revs when ice cold but no honest discernible difference warmed up.
I personally looked down the spark plug holes into the cylinder heads with a borescope if that's what you mean. Cross hatching was nice, pistons looked clean. That still doesn't guarantee anything though. My old engine burned a qt of oil every 300 miles. It's the reason I have a borescope. It looks horrible. You can't see the rings that way though. My mechanic is far from sloppy. Runs his own business, & will not put effort into anything that isn't worth his time. He's got better things to do, & would prefer I not come back to him with the same problem down the road.
Besides, I'd just send the motor back to swap for another one if something were wrong. The jobs getting done either way.
What are your thoughts on Mobil1 Supercar?
A fine oil just like all the others in the category. If that's what you like use it.
Just on sale at my WM. It isn't euro though, & wasn't sure if it would be too thick.
It's kinda in the euro class and it's not too thick. Go on Honda forums. They use 40 in vtec engines with zero issues.
it's ok to give it synthetic off the bat. if the new gaskets leak with synthetic oil, it's a gasket problem. i installed a jdm engine once. i took the valve cover off, checked for sludge, ignored the light varnish, compression tested it, put a new turbo on it and sent it off to be tuned. that engine was making 325 wheel horsepower once the tuners were done with it, and hasn't had a problem in the last year since it was swapped. i filled that engine with 4 quarts 15-40 diesel oil and a quart supertech synthetic and it was fine.
Long time Honda guy here, back to the 80s carb'd cvvc days. Have been through many jdm replacement engine swaps on civics and about to do one on a rust free 2005 accord with a blown motor that my aunt's owned since new. Here's what I do.
New thermostat, water pump, timing belt if applicable, timing belt tensioner, do the rear main anyway since it's accessible, new pilot bearing if it's stick, fresh set of ngk plugs. Also have the valve lash checked and adjusted if necessary since it's easy to do with motor on a dolly or stand. I only use honda fluids for coolant and hydro power steering.
I then fill it with any decent 5w-30 and a decent filter, run it for 1000 miles or so then dump it and refill with fresh. 1000 mile short run not 100% necessary and a little overkill, but I like doing a post-surgery inspection after a swap.
New thermostat, water pump, timing belt if applicable, timing belt tensioner, do the rear main anyway since it's accessible, new pilot bearing if it's stick, fresh set of ngk plugs. Also have the valve lash checked and adjusted if necessary since it's easy to do with motor on a dolly or stand. I only use honda fluids for coolant and hydro power steering.
I then fill it with any decent 5w-30 and a decent filter, run it for 1000 miles or so then dump it and refill with fresh. 1000 mile short run not 100% necessary and a little overkill, but I like doing a post-surgery inspection after a swap.
Post some pictures of this work you're doing, we all like pictures.
Japan and Europe use different octane ratings for gasoline than the USA.
Japan and Europe use a system called RON or Research Octane Number to determine the octane rating of their gasoline, while stateside we use a system called AKI or Anti-Knock Index to determine gasoline's octane rating... Interestingly, to further complicate things it would seem that our own AKI system is actually derived from the average of the RON system and another more complicated system referred to as MON or Motor Octane Number... So, to recap our methodologies for measuring gasoline's octane rating are different, but share some common elements...
So, with the commonality of RON in mind a good rule of thumb is as follows, multiply the foreign RON Octane rating by 0.95 and you will have the US AKI equivalent.
( RON Octane Rating x 0.95 = AKI Octane Rating )
98 RON Octane x 0.95 = 93.1 AKI Octane
100 RON Octane x 0.95 = 95 AKI Octane
The work is already done, new motor is in & purrs like a kitten. I only took pictures of the JDM engine pre install for warranty purposes. Wasn't anything worth posting, but the inside was beautiful. No vanishing at all. Must have lucked out with a very low mileage motor.
Huh, too bad.
That's some good info. Thanks! With that being said, a Japanese 92 RON is about an 87 AKI, & a Euro 95 RON is about a 90 AKI. Even if the compression is a little higher in the JDM motor, I'm assuming 87 AKI will be ok? 10.5:1 vs 9.9:1 isn't a huge difference. I just want the most efficient burn without causing any problems, or excessive gum build up. Saving any penny I can per gallon is a plus as well. Gas prices in WA state are brutal right now. $4.9+/gal for regular & going up.
Really that much? Gas prices in Colorado dropped slightly to $3.39ish a gallon. Does WA have really high gas taxes?
