R1PPU's EJ9 Build Up


Quick update...

Got back to Edinburgh from Coventry on the 12th, was my 22nd birthday on the 13th. I went round to @Steve M's place on my birthday as he had said his daily had failed its MOT and he asked if I could give him a hand.

Went round and noticed @Frodo's M3 and @Ally138's EK9 outside Steve's, then my mate Joe's Golf too... I thought they had all surprised me again as a welcome back (they had a surprise dinner for me before I went down to Coventry), then @Bushell turned up alongside a few other friends.

Long story short, I have the best friends EVER (a lot of them haven't been mentioned as they aren't on the forum) who surprised me with the best birthday present possible.

Watch this space ;)

 
I think this is gay how noone is sharing information

But i will wait with a close eye on this thread mr rippu
 
Ah cool they got u a vtec obviously guessin a b16a or a2? :) happy birthday too
 
Suppose I best update this...


So who guessed what my present was?







AWWWWW YEAH





My friends are amazing :))So so so lucky to have friend's like that!!


I'll give you a quick version of what happened, literally got hundreds of pictures but here's the main points.


So, gave it a clean up, paint and inspected everything. Turns out the loom that came with it had been made by Stevie Wonder. After talking to Steve, we agreed that we'd try to convert a D series loom to B series to save me some money, as the internet said this was straight forward... The internet was wrong.


This is what a Steve that's been at work all day and then spent 5 hours stripping a loom back to do what Hondatech said was a "simple" job looks like...





Eventually we gave up on that loom. We were both knackered, the loom was a mess and it was nearing midnight and we were just getting angry. Luckily Steve had just bought a car to break so we decided to rob the loom from that and start again.


As well as this, I sorted out the engine a bit and let my OCD take over...




Engine Swap-65 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


After speaking to Rob and Dave, they were complete legends and gave me free reign of their unit. We decided that it would all need to be done in a weekend as I use the car every day for uni. No pressure then! So on Friday the 30th of October:





Headed up to the unit with Steve, Greg and Joe, quickly got the car onto the ramp and the exhaust and front end off:




Engine Swap-1 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-3 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-4 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


The 3 of them looking forward to the task ahead and getting the driveshafts out:




Engine Swap-8 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-9 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-12 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


Then Martin arrived and after not very long...




Engine Swap-14 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-15 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-21 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


The lads after the engine removal:


]

Engine Swap-16 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


And some other muppet (me)




Engine Swap-19 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


So as you can see the engine bay had a bit of surface rust, but we already knew about this and had made plans to paint it :) Martin started the bay prep, we built the engine back up and Rob and Dave turned up to "supervise" :lol:




Engine Swap-36 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-23 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-42 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr
 
When we were replacing the timing belt and waterpump, the belt turned out to be too long... I'd been sold a B18 one :angry2: Called it a night there about 1 am to let people sleep and I spent the next morning trying to source a B16 timing belt...Got a bit stressed out when everywhere I phoned couldn't get me one...





But finally I remember about the legend that is Andrew Baird at Automek, a quick phonecall later and being told to give him half an hour, I got a text with a picture of him holding one in his hand...hero! Phoned Frodo and he did the 2 hour round trip to go and pick it up for me whilst Greg, Steve and I headed back to the unit. Joe's car blew up an ECU on the Saturday morning and he still came down to help me after getting a lift off Frodo, and Greg had travelled through from Glasgow to help... Remember when I said my friends are awesome?


Steve met us up there as he'd been working that morning, got cracking again:




Engine Swap-89 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


Covered 115,000 miles with only one clutch and one alternator failure. Not going to lie, I feel bad for tearing it out after 5 years of awesome motoring!




Engine Swap-66 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


But it was getting replaced by something a bit more interesting :p




Engine Swap-65 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


Chris came up to help too, he cut out the bottom rad supports (which frodo welded back on) for the full length rad, finished the bay prep and polished up my exhaust, a Fujitsubo RM01A!




Engine Swap-74 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-106 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-103 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-105 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


DIY Spray booth




Engine Swap-99 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


Whilst all this had been happening, Steve had started wiring up the new loom... I think he officially hates me for it. He spent about 2 days straight on the wiring not to mention countless hours researching, without complaining all to save me a few hundred pounds. Frodo joined in on the Saturday night to help and the result is phenomenal, looks OEM and works exactly as it should. The guys are legends, stayed til silly late on the Saturday night and were the first ones back on Sunday morning




Engine Swap-114 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-116 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


I'm a retard when it comes to wiring (and other things). So whilst they were doing that, I painted the bay.




Engine Swap-115 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


Called it a day at about 1am on Sunday monrning and we were back there for about 11am. Walked into the unit to be greeted with this...




Engine Swap-122 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-123 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


****.


Now there's a bit of a lack in pictures, we were running out of time and it was in the back of our heads that everyone was working tomorrow and Joe and I were back to uni. We got the bay cleaned up and ready for the engine whilst Steve and Frodo got the final wiring bits done




Engine Swap-125 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


At 4pm...




Engine Swap-126 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


At 5pm




Engine Swap-128 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr




Engine Swap-127 by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


Realised that the cat I had was too long, a quick call to Martin and he came down and shortened it and welded it back up!


And at 9pm...


IT FIRED UP FIRST TIME:clap::dance::clap::dance:


As you may have seen in my other thread, there was an issue with the idle which turned out to be a faulty ECU. I've bought another P30 and it run's, drives and VTEC's :drive:. I have another issue which I think is dizzy related, so I've borrowed one off a mate to try. Tbh, I just think its incredible that we managed to do an engine swap in the space of 2 and a half days, paint the engine bay, wired the engine completely and I drove home on that Sunday night! This is the final picture I'll leave you with




End by Rippu Duggal, on Flickr


One final little thing I have to say... I honestly can't thank my friends enough for the amazing birthday present and the help that they've all given me, from spannering on the car all weekend, going to pick up bits for me, letting me use their facilities and just everything. I've only named a few but there were loads of them. I'm a very lucky person. A special thanks goes to Steve, the man really is a legend. He's given up the past few months to help me with this and the amount of hours and effort he's put into this build are crazy. He has the first start video and first VTEC video, I think my reaction in them mirrors both of our reactions when they happened!


My friends really are awesome :nice:


@Steve M @Bushell @Frodo @eddw_88 @Ally138 @robthedoc @marv_ek4 (Also can't remember a few usernames so I've not tagged Jordan, Sam and Dave but they were all involved too!)
 
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Wooo, I still need a shot in this, I miss vtec ha
 
Great story and read man! It would not be worth it without all the hassle haha We all remember our first taste of vtec in our car , looks so fresh in there good job on cleaning up the bay aswell
 
That was a hell of a weekend, a lot of work but it was good to have friends there and have a laugh along the way!
More than happy to have spent the time sorting things out for the swap, it was partly my idea in the first place after all!

Glad the issues are almost all ironed out now and that vtec etc is working as it should! I definitely want a shot

I'll get the videos uploaded later on today hopefully!
 
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