is the bp swap worth it?

Mastro15 · Post by **Mastro15** » March 20th, 2005, 6:50 am

just seems to me like all these posts ive been reading on the bp and bpt swaps have been nothin but problems. i would like to get it done to my 95 1.6L dohc but dont wanna get in over my head. my question to you swappers would be basically which parts would need to be modified or added to get the car to run smoothly and does it require the protege tranny as well. thanx

Joey's mx · Post by **Joey's mx** » March 20th, 2005, 9:58 am

I agree, it sounds like alot of people are having headachs with their BP's!!

atlantamx3 · Post by **atlantamx3** » March 20th, 2005, 11:05 am

More people have had the swap go smoothly than not. As far as being worth it- it gave me a 40 hp bump over my SOHC for $1500. It could be done for far less if you already have a manual tranny. No you dont need to use the protege tranny.

All of the people having problems- most of them didnt plan very well or do the research before they pulled their engine.

As far as parts needed- that has been answered hundreds of times on the board here and you need to use the handy little button named "Search"

osargeant · Post by **osargeant** » March 20th, 2005, 12:45 pm

I would agree that the BP swap is more worth it to SOHC owners since they go from 88hp to 130hp but for DOHC owners I believe it becomes a harder choice when you consider you can go the turbo route at a decent price or even a NA build up using Miata parts such as cams, pistons etc.

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » March 20th, 2005, 3:51 pm

oh don't be that way Perry, you had your problems too.

Worth it? Yes.

The source of my problems and just about everyone elses as well is human error. If you do things correctly you won't have a problem, especially if you get a known working engine. It really is plug and play, so long as you have the right parts for it, and the tools necessary to do the swap.

natural born honda killer · March 20th, 2005, 4:27 pm

all im going to say is get a haltech or some form of engine management as i have a 95 dohc mx-3 that i swapped into so its not as easy as plugging the protege ecu in and tuning with a s-afc. get a engine management system and get it tuned right and youll be happy and it will run right.

johnboi85 · Post by **johnboi85** » March 20th, 2005, 7:16 pm

worth it? hell yeah! i did not have any problems at all. everything was plug n play except for the extra wires (two wires for vics). i love my car to death. i never had any problems with my bp. i never broke down (knock on wood

) when got everything in and fluids put in, it started like a champ. great engine with a lot of aftermarket goodies. best thing about it is price. 500 bucks for my budget and i got it in with that much or less.

atlantamx3 · Post by **atlantamx3** » March 20th, 2005, 7:24 pm

matt_fulghum wrote:oh don't be that way Perry, you had your problems too.

WTF? I was not aiming that comment at you-- you arent the only one who had problems. I did plenty of research- but its hard to plan around an engine that had broken parts on it (Parts that you thought were okay)or stores that dont carry the right parts for you. Considering we did my whole swap in a weekend (tranny swap too) I think it went fairly smoothly considering everything we went through.

If you find a solution to your Idle/Throttle problem- let me know. MIne Idles fine- but the throttle is still screwy.

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » March 20th, 2005, 8:40 pm

I wasn't insinuating that you were taking a shot at me in particular, sorry.

Yeah, the swap's quick, and really simple... it's just getting everything working 100% correctly can be a little tricky. I've been hunting down a vacuum leak for a couple weeks now. My buddy works at a garage, and after talking with his boss Saul, he allowed me to borrow his smoke machine, and my friend and I tracked it down to a place that I never would have thought: the injector ports.

Now I've gotta get a new slave cylinder... the damn thing is leaking I guess, so I can't flush the air out of the line.

Personally, I attribute my engine swap difficulties to lack of tools, time, and the fact that my area got 36 inches of snow, 4 inches of rain, and 3 or so inches of slush in the period it took to get it in there

Knowing what I do now, and having all the tools necessary for it, the BP swap would be a sinch.

Bad luck came my way, but for most people it goes pretty smoothly (especially if the weather's nice

)

Don't worry about it. Get a few buddies, do your reasearch, and everything should go fine. Just DON'T SKIMP ON PARTS. If something looks sketchy, or the shop manual says to replace it, REPLACE IT. Do that and you should be fine.

Franko · Post by **Franko** » March 21st, 2005, 8:56 am

My bpt swap went off basically perfect. The same day I started it for the first time was the same day I drove it home... I was driving the car almost the whole summer with the wrong ecu, estimated safc settings, wrong throttle body, crappy clutch, shitty intercooler piping and a bad engine mount bracket.. It was still absoutely fantastic to drive and now that I have all these problems sorted out I cant wait to get her on the road again. She will be running like a dream!
I dont think it can be more worth it.. First of all its not a civic.... and when you tell people you have a jspec engine swap they are intrigued. When I started to drive the car last summer and a few people heard the bov several posts started on a local fourm..
"Who owns the mx3?" Check out like the 5th post down.. "turbo maxda percidia" Dude totally cant spell. I still LOVE reading those posts. MX-3's RULE! People dont even care if you turbo a civic but a mx-3 and youre hardcore!

Jteezy · Post by **Jteezy** » March 22nd, 2005, 2:17 am

yes. It may give difficulty or it may not, but it is totally worth it. Car will be much quicker and have much more potential. I mean if you run a 17 sec quarter mile, you will now run a 15 sec quarter mile. That is really respectable and 2 seconds off your quarter mile time is no joke. If you wanna do it, go for it, just make sure you prep EVERYTHING and you'll make it out alright. Peace

Domnknpimp · Post by **Domnknpimp** » March 24th, 2005, 12:54 pm

atlantamx3 wrote:More people have had the swap go smoothly than not. As far as being worth it- it gave me a 40 hp bump over my SOHC for $1500. It could be done for far less if you already have a manual tranny. No you dont need to use the protege tranny.

All of the people having problems- most of them didnt plan very well or do the research before they pulled their engine.

As far as parts needed- that has been answered hundreds of times on the board here and you need to use the handy little button named "Search"

wow 1500 bucks??? must be a new engine, unless you had some one else install it. i got mine all done for about 400 (300 for the engine, about 100 bucks worth of crap like belts, wp, new oil and coolant) i also did it myself though so saved a lot there

and yes the swap is worth it. i had the 93 (sohc) so it was easier for me than it would be for you, everything went right in, except for : i changed the crank, and idler pulleys (using my old alternator). if you use the alternator for the bp you wont have to do this... also the A/C compressor wouldn't just bolt up, you have to change the whole piece that holds the compressor in (4 screws, about 5 minutes w/ the engine out)
the engine does run a lot better, you can feel it has a lot more smooth power, even when ur not flooring it, you can cruise at nicer speeds w/ out pushing the enigine as hard.

bigrich12 · Post by **bigrich12** » March 30th, 2005, 3:53 am

Franko, how much did your bpt cost for the whole swap?? and did you do it yourself and friedns???

atlantamx3 · Post by **atlantamx3** » March 30th, 2005, 8:59 pm

Domnknpimp wrote: wow 1500 bucks??? must be a new engine, unless you had some one else install it. i got mine all done for about 400 (300 for the engine, about 100 bucks worth of crap like belts, wp, new oil and coolant) i also did it myself though so saved a lot there

Uhh...It was a lot more than just a BP swap. it was an Auto-> Manual conversion as well. Yes we did everything ourselves. Also- we went ahead an changed a bunch of stuff since the engine was out (all the seals & stuff).

Anyway-- the point is, its worth it.

Typhoonk · Post by **Typhoonk** » March 30th, 2005, 10:34 pm

Most people can get it in, in less than a day. Unless there are seized bolts, or missing tools.

I'm hopefully the last person to do the BP swap and keep the SOHC tranny still in the engine bay. Definetly not recommended. Take out the tranny and engine as one. You'll thank youself later, when you are putting it back in..........

But price wise, I think mine was one of the cheapest - about $420 for the engine (including shipping up from the states), $30 for a new alternator, $180 for belts, fluids and filters, and $65 for the ECU.....I know there was more.
I know I didn't spend more than a $1000 on the whole install. And that's in canadian monies