My JDM Engine Swap Begins

Where did you get your JDM engine from?

 

You can just Google JDM importers You could put New Jersey That's where a lot of this mess started and you'll see the companies that pop up the one over there right on the water they advertise they've been in business 25 years That's the guys you want and then if you need somebody closer to where you really are you ask them hey where your guys closest to me here in Milwaukee and they'll give you a number to call boom that's it A lot of these fly by night use JDM in their name of their company Matt's JDM engine supply. Anybody can use that three letters but most of these companies that will pop up in your search feeds they opened yesterday or last week or what have you The real JDM importers in New Jersey over there on the shore and there's a couple of them I just can't think of them all have to find my receipt and then I can put up their number but they advertise heavily that they've been in business like 25 years or something like that so those are the guys all the other ones you know you won't be able to tell how long they've been in business all their advertising and stuff online is brand new cars and brand new parts and another way to tell us if you look at their site and if you look under engine swaps or front clips the people that know what's going on will have you'll hear terms like Lexus beams front clip that has a special 3S GE engine and it called the beams best engine advanced management system or something like that that was stood for and they will have front clips from Toyota soers which are equivalents to supras with the two Jz with all the trimmings on them. That's somebody that knows the game knows what they're doing and is probably been here for a long minute.

 

If you mark the guide pin locations on the engine and transmission with a permanent marker or crayon, measure the top of the engine to the center of the clutch plate on the motor and transmission, you can just measure off the top of the motor with the level laser line. The ratchet strap is to spin the motor. You can use two if you’re out of level from the transmission side to the mount side. I tried doing it the mechanic way with my dad and couldn’t get them to line up. Laser level is what a carpenter would use.

 

That's exactly why I asked.

(I think. Someday, we're going to have to tell you how to install paragraphs and how to structure a sentence.)

 

Do you need a direct link and a contact person's name and a telephone number of somebody you can pick up the phone and call right now?

 

The JDM imports up in valley stream New York That's who you probably want to be talking to then you can call around from there if you think you can shave a couple hundred dollars off It may be possible the people in valley stream can put you in touch with somebody closer to you if New York shipping is prohibitively expensive for you like if you're out in the Midwest.

 

I bought a load leveler from HarbFreight for $40. That was nice to be able to adjust. I did have to rotate the engine(top toward the cabin) while have a buddy fine adjust the overall height on the lift.

 

Once you do this a couple of times I guess you just get used to it I use a thing similar to the load leveler on an electric winch and A-frame basically a swing set set up over the car 10 ft tall 4x4s push button winch on the 4x6 cross beam up top offset to the engine side of the car when the car is underneath this contraption and usually I just separated from the transmission kind of by hand or by large screwdriver or pry bar and then with one hand on the button of the electric lift and my other gloved hand on the engine back of the valve cover I'll push it forward and then I'll crank on the load leveler to bring the front end of the engine way up as up as I can get it while pushing the button on the winch device as it's pulling it up and straight up out of the car and then once it's up high enough I literally just pushed the car back out of the way so I can bring the engine down set it on my little table that has wheels on it It's pretty heavy You can put a dead body on it and then I just sit there and break that down and save the pieces that I need to save and on the other side of the table is the pile of crap that's going to scrap I'll usually break the engine and whatnot down while I'm there just goofing off because I'm not under any time constraints I save a lot of the bolts and nuts and all of that in the container and that's about it. Then comes all the cleaning and spraying off and spraying more super clean on mess and get everything under hood nice and clean in the transmission bell housing area that's what you call it on a hybrid clean all that out It's usually not really dirty but like to get it as clean as possible and now I wheel up the new engine or the newer engine and get it all clipped up like I need it and raise it up roll the car forward

 

can I ask where you got the JDM engine you're having problems with? I'd like to make sure I don't use that supplier. Thanks

 

can I ask where you got the JDM engine you're having problems with? I'd like to make sure I don't use that supplier. Thanks

 

I don't think it's the suppliers fault You have to realize how these things are purchased in Asia. They're pulled out of cars in that country because taxes go high for people to keep that old junk seriously because that's pulled salvage it is not taken care of like something being shipped from Toyota directly to America and shipping crates and all of this sort of thing these things are literally dropped on docs drug around on the floor you'd be shocked I worked in the salvage industry for quite a few years before I moved on in my life and generally that industry isn't the real caring type of industry or work I don't care what anybody tells you these engines are thrown into containers maybe not so watertight and water does get on things in the shipping process and on and on and on and on generally that doesn't really hurt a whole lot because when you get one of these your due diligence is to drain it out run some cleaner through it have a general look at it usually you're going to be reusing your American throttle body and other parts that are needed to make it work in the States so there's always that your individual JDM supplier in your area He doesn't get to call the shots and say what he wants or what he doesn't these things come over on containers they're dealt with in New Jersey and New York on the dock and then they're shipped out to wherever their warehouses and what not are It's a numbers game You buy a bad one from the place and you discover it quick enough You can make arrangements to get another one but then you're doing the job over again so there's always that The engines you'll get here in the States it'll be tough to find a low mileage takeout in the USA I mean face it the cars are dealing with now are 10 plus years old in 10 years most people here in the States have 160 to 230,000 plus miles on the vehicle have a wreck blowing engine something blows up now their cars in the junkyard parts are for sale at the mileage we're discussing The mileage we're discussing in Japan that these engines are pulled is between 65 and 80K You're not even close to that in the States but they may not be handled so well getting them here.