SR20DET Swap DVD

[mkent]

Wow, you sure knocked that off cheap!!! Great job with the paint. It looks awesome.

Yeah, I found that my SR boosted well with the smaller piping as well. As soon as you boost a bit high, though, diameter sure makes a difference.

Just out of curiosity, would you have attempted the swap without the DVD?

[GotNismo?]

hey mike, im matt and ive been an acura technician for 2 years now and i have to be honest in saying that the dvd did help, especially on a confidence in your work type way, thanks alot man for doin something for the community instead of being greedy like all those haters out there.

[HoosierDrifter]

Just out of curiosity, would you have attempted the swap without the DVD?

yup, but it would have been much more difficult. the only problem i had with the swap was wiring, which was the only area you didnt cover

[INFO]

Question that was sent to Drifting.com via email;

“Hey, I was wondering if the swap video had the S14 swap info? I have a 95 240sx with the SR20DET Blacktop. I didn’t know how the wiring was different. If you have any info, let me know. Thanks.”

Response by Michael Kent

Unfortunately, the video does not cover S14 wiring, however unless you are an electrician, you should leave the wiring to the professionals like Heavy Throttle. They do wiring services for under $200 shipped, and usually the harness will arrive within 1 - 2 weeks; perfect timing for you to have completed all of the mechanical aspects of your installation. This way, you can plug and play your harness, and start your motor right away, without troubleshooting electrical issues (which can take weeks to figure out).

If, however you wish to take on the wiring yourself, I suggest you click on the following link: http://www.jimwolftechnology.com/tech_details.asp where you will find S14 wiring diagrams and information.

Regardless, flawless wiring is only as good as the mechanical elements that support it. The DVD outlines many mechanical steps (clutch install, transmission, CAS timing, etc) that will be identical to an S14, so I still recommend it for your swap. Many S14 owners have purchased the DVD in the past and found it to be useful, even without the wiring.

[HoosierDrifter]

if you are semi-experienced with wiring... you shouldnt have any trouble. You just have to follow the instructions on heavy throttle's website. Since my 240 was an automatic, i had a couple extra connectors. One of those connectors was the same as the connector that powers up the ecu. Unfortunately i used one of the auto tranny's connectors (doh!), in return it routed the power to the wrong place and fried my $400 blitz tuned ecu

the wiring is all about rearranging and extending. again, if you're semi-experienced, you do not need to spend $200 to have someone else do it. Just be VERY careful you dont burn up anything and triple check everything!

[mkent]

Hoosier's completely right. That is one of the reasons I didn't include wiring information with my DVD. The first 50 copies had a small (10 min.) section on wiring, but in editing, it had me connecting the harness to the battery first, and then doing some lengthening. Of course in reality I didn't do it in that order, but that's how it went to tape. Out of my first 25 DVD's sold, I had 2 people fry their ECU's and one of them threatened to sue me. I obviously gave him a refund and I split the cost of a new ECU with him to balance everything out.

The wiring is fairly simple, and you can save yourself the dough by doing it on your own if you have done wiring before. Heavy Throttle does a great job of outlining it all.

The biggest errors I've seen relate to MAF wiring (hot wire not sheilded, sloppy soldering) and this leads to tons of driveability problems, even if the motor is not in fail safe at idle. Also, I've seen people be really rough with their Ignitor Chips, but even dropping them from waist height can destroy them internally.

Patience is the key!!!

[HoosierDrifter]

The biggest errors I've seen relate to MAF wiring

yup... i had that wrong too. my maf smoked like crazy when i first connected the battery. got the wiring right and luckily still works fine.

the problem you had with the maf signal wire grounding out turned to be very good information. i took extra caution while extending those wires... i could have very easily left a couple of those wires exposed to make contact with the shielded wire.

anyway... i understand now why you didnt include any wiring information. everyone who used the dvd should praise you for not only attempting a dvd like this, but for doing such an in-depth video that included errors, troubleshooting and etc

[mkent]

Thanks again for the kind words (from Matt too, love to see pics of your SR). I'm really glad it helped you out.

I really regret not reshooting the wiring section though. Alot of people really wanted to have it covered, and I think it would have made the disc more complete.

I do cover wiring on the Sequel to Shift 180 (May '06). Everything from Z32 MAF's to Apex'i SAFC's, etc. I think when that comes out, people will have alot more confidence to tackle wiring issues on their own.

[crazypaisa]

Do you mean you're coming out with a revised version were you'll be covering wiring as well? Or just a sequel not including the swap? when will it be out?
I know you can edit the DVD and include a menu covering the wiring precess. That will be a reviced version. Any way, I'll buy both DVD's if I have too.
I'm buying a 240 next week, an "89" for $200, the SR20DET will be about $2000, but they're charging me like $1,500 for the install, and I really don't want to pay that money, I will watch your DVD before starting my own swap, but I know that one of the hardest parts will be the wiring, and I think it's better to pay Heavy Throttle $200 for that and have a smother istall.

Thanks!