Swap downtime, how do you get around. Options

[jayi12-15psi]

Fairly simple question, I wasn't sure whether to post it here or in general discussion. I was wondering how you guys get around to go to work and such when you're swapping an engine into your car? Do most of you buy a cheap pos and drive it around while the celica's in the garage? I know this is simple question, but I was wondering if there's any other ways you guys get around?

[celicarus]

i questioned myself that too when the time comes for me -- since she is my only daily driver - i had thought about buying a 1) used car for under 3K or a 2) used motorcycle, 3) rental, 4) walk (nah) - because i work odd hours - don't have friends or family to depend on -- so for the 2-3 wk that my car will be down - i think i won't be going anywhere and will probably end up walking to work since it'll only be about a 15 minute walk -- there's always a way around

[jayi12-15psi]

I could ride my bike to work in the summer, it's about a half hour ride.

[lagos]

i took a 2 week vacation from work... but then the swap ended up taking 2 months. so i got rides from my family or borrowed moms car when i needed it. it sucked, but you got to do what you got to do.

a 2nd car isint a bad thing to have tho . you can also look into public transportation if you live in the city.

This post has been edited by lagos: Jan 25, 2006 - 5:32 PM

[Rjb23]

I rented a car big mistake, I ended up taking the rental car back and buying a beater from my dad for $500. I also use the beater for my winter car. I would suggest buying a beater, if I would have gotten a 2nd car instead of a rental car I would have saved about $1000.

[Dr_Tweak]

When people ask me about this, I ALWAYS recommend getting a second car. You can EASILY get a mid-90s Toyota Tercel for under $800 that's a little rough but runs good, I see them on Boston craigslist all the time. A second car, cheap, reliable, and easy on insurance, is the BEST thing you can do if you're going to modify your car.

-Doc

[x_itchy_b_x]

im rocking this beast right now while the celica is out.

$10 a day in gas. $70 a week. i cant wait for the celica!!

[jgreening]

When people ask me about this, I ALWAYS recommend getting a second car. You can EASILY get a mid-90s Toyota Tercel for under $800 that's a little rough but runs good, I see them on Boston craigslist all the time. A second car, cheap, reliable, and easy on insurance, is the BEST thing you can do if you're going to modify your car.

-Doc

Agreed. For me it was our old 91 Integra with 170,000 miles and ran like a champ. Sold it for $1750 after the swap was complete.

[CLYCK]

well i havent done my swap yet but i already have my daily driver and i didnt buy it so i'll be alright when the summer comes and the work begins on the celica.

[BBoYRuGGeD]

hmm...walked..got rides from friends..walked some more..and SOMETIMES borrowed my sisters car..but i mostly walked.. my work is a few blocks from me tho so it didnt matter and it was in the summer...had no classes!

bboy

[playr158]

bought an 02 turbo jetta!

[jayi12-15psi]

lol, playr, lemme go see what I got in the bank...


... ehhh

not quite enough for a turbo jetta.

[H8DC3lica94]

Got a good deal on a 86 celica gts. free!
Gets me around. but it doesnt pick up girl like the 94 does.

[presure2]

yea, i would definetly say your best bet is to look for a cheapo beater.
unless you can borrow a car from your 'rents or whatever.

[WannabeGT4]

Cliff notes: Thorough planning and preparation along with a monetary supplement is required to reduce downtime.

The only ways I see downtime being drastically reduced would be if you had an extra engine wiring harness for your car so that it can be combined with the 3S/4A harness prior to beginning the swap. All prep work for the engine (i.e. timing belt, oil pump, water pump, main seals, gasket set, hose(s) from hell, etc.) would need to be done before you pull your engine. If you've got everything ready, and a little bit of extra cash set aside to replace unexpectedly broken or malfunctioning parts, I'd say you could easily have the engines swapped in less than a week, provided you've got the necessary knowledge and equipment.

[presure2]

Cliff notes: Thorough planning and preparation along with a monetary supplement is required to reduce downtime.

The only ways I see downtime being drastically reduced would be if you had an extra engine wiring harness for your car so that it can be combined with the 3S/4A harness prior to beginning the swap. All prep work for the engine (i.e. timing belt, oil pump, water pump, main seals, gasket set, hose(s) from hell, etc.) would need to be done before you pull your engine. If you've got everything ready, and a little bit of extra cash set aside to replace unexpectedly broken or malfunctioning parts, I'd say you could easily have the engines swapped in less than a week, provided you've got the necessary knowledge and equipment.

perfect reply man, great post.
what you just explained is exatcly how i am working on mine.
the 3s is in the garage, awaiting all the refresh parts, i got my spare 5s harness (thanks dustin!!! )
luckily, i was able to go down and help art and jeff both with theyre swaps, and learned basicly everything i know about the swap in the process.
if everything goes as planned, ill do the swap in a weekend.
pull the 5s friday night, install 3s saturday, running sunday.

This post has been edited by presure2: Jan 26, 2006 - 11:22 AM

[jgreening]

Cliff notes: Thorough planning and preparation along with a monetary supplement is required to reduce downtime.

The only ways I see downtime being drastically reduced would be if you had an extra engine wiring harness for your car so that it can be combined with the 3S/4A harness prior to beginning the swap. All prep work for the engine (i.e. timing belt, oil pump, water pump, main seals, gasket set, hose(s) from hell, etc.) would need to be done before you pull your engine. If you've got everything ready, and a little bit of extra cash set aside to replace unexpectedly broken or malfunctioning parts, I'd say you could easily have the engines swapped in less than a week, provided you've got the necessary knowledge and equipment.

perfect reply man, great post.
what you just explained is exatcly how i am working on mine.
the 3s is in the garage, awaiting all the refresh parts, i got my spare 5s harness (thanks dustin!!! )
luckily, i was able to go down and help art and jeff both with theyre swaps, and learned basicly everything i know about the swap in the process.
if everything goes as planned, ill do the swap in a weekend.
pull the 5s friday night, install 3s saturday, running sunday.

I hope it works that way for you. What tranny are you going to run Manny?

[Consynx]

you know that GTS corolla is worth at least $1500, right? lol
if it's in good condition i saw a MINT on ebay go for i think ~6k

[presure2]

Cliff notes: Thorough planning and preparation along with a monetary supplement is required to reduce downtime.

The only ways I see downtime being drastically reduced would be if you had an extra engine wiring harness for your car so that it can be combined with the 3S/4A harness prior to beginning the swap. All prep work for the engine (i.e. timing belt, oil pump, water pump, main seals, gasket set, hose(s) from hell, etc.) would need to be done before you pull your engine. If you've got everything ready, and a little bit of extra cash set aside to replace unexpectedly broken or malfunctioning parts, I'd say you could easily have the engines swapped in less than a week, provided you've got the necessary knowledge and equipment.

perfect reply man, great post.
what you just explained is exatcly how i am working on mine.
the 3s is in the garage, awaiting all the refresh parts, i got my spare 5s harness (thanks dustin!!! )
luckily, i was able to go down and help art and jeff both with theyre swaps, and learned basicly everything i know about the swap in the process.
if everything goes as planned, ill do the swap in a weekend.
pull the 5s friday night, install 3s saturday, running sunday.

I hope it works that way for you. What tranny are you going to run Manny?

jay, i will be running the stock GT tranny, with prolly a stage 2 spec clutch.
im already pushing on it now, we'll see how she fares with +50-60whp lol
if it fails, gt trannys are a dime a dozen..or depending on $$ i can always go to the mr2T or whatever..

[lagos]

i was lucky to have you at my swap, manny !

your swap should be pretty easy, you know what your are doing and have pulled out more then one celica motor. so youll be up and running in not time, as long as no unexpected problems pop up.

[Coomer]

It is always nice to have a second car, and I wish I would've had one during my swap. I had to borrow my parents' cars and get rides while my car was down.

I wish I would've bought a cheap beater sooner. I bought a '88 Celica GT with 130k miles for $400 that just needed some TLC and is now my brother's car.

Another good daily driver/beater purchase was my '91 Sentra SE-R for $1,200. It's an enjoyable and reliable car, so I can take my sweet time with the Celica and not rush anything.

This post has been edited by Coomer: Jan 26, 2006 - 7:10 PM

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

A friend of mine has a '92 Honda Accord that he's going to loan me for however long I need it when I do a swap. He's got a WRX and wants to see me boosted almost as badly as myself, so he's been great about supporting my interests and lending a hand.

[dans_st]

just bought an 04 jetta , my car had been parked since July and I have been bumming rides and car-pooling with my brother because we work in the same town(about 20miles away)

[playr158]

WOOT!

1 more swapper who bought a jetta!

mwahhahaahaha i'm not the only one!

[creis]

my car's downtime leaves me driving my parants mini van, it sux but its what i got. I will probably be getting an awd cr-v for a daily driver and turning my celica into my total project car. but I'm having a hard time finding the cr-v i want, AWD (must) Manual (must) low miles (must) little to no body damage (must) the sooner i get it the sooner i can think about really doing the 3s swap, and other projects I cant do because of work.

[LewFX]

WOOT!

1 more swapper who bought a jetta!

mwahhahaahaha i'm not the only one!

cough cough chick car

[Kwanza26]

cough cough chick car

*looks at 6g celica... shrugs*

[playr158]

its all good just means my chances of meeting a really hot jetta chick are higher then yours of meeting a hot celica chick

plus it just makes euro meets a bit better

[ToysRfast]

My car is in my garage now. I use the family car most of the time only because I feel like a pimp in the GMC Envoy even if it stinks like baby car seat Or I take my brothers VW GTi that car is slow.

[StreetRacing10PS...]

i just started my 3sgte swap the other day. and iam driving around my dads 2002 jeep wrangler now because hes on a business trip for a month, so i lucked out.

[phattyduck]

My '03 WRX.

(I have an ST205 motor w/ FWD converted AWD tranny w/ KAAZ LSD going in my '90 Camry)

Heh, I'm doing a swap on a car that would be a good beater to drive while doing a swap!

-Charlie

[zipstrips]

coomer you read my mind! my red one (ser) just hit 180k the other day!

[95ST]

I drive my 1990 jeep wrangler. But as stated above a well planned swap should be no more than a weekend of downtime. We did a 7afe swap wednesday took about 6 hours with 2 of us. nothing really hard about what we did but that would leave you easily a day and a half for wiring and loose ends