Who services engine-swapped vehicles?

"Devilishprune" (Devilishprune) 05/15/2015 at 07:43 • Filed to: None

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So this might be a dumb question, but who would you take it to?

My query was inspired by this:

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We’ve all coveted some sort of sleeper. Knowing myself like I do, I can confidently say that there is no way I’d be able to perform an engine swap myself so if I did acquire some sort of swapped vehicle it would have to be someone else’s work. Of course if you’re able to do the swap yourself, you should be able to fix whatever goes wrong with it but this question assumes you’re a mechanical caveman like myself.

Any ideas? This Volvo seems a little obvious that you could take it to a Volvo dealer, but what about across-make swaps?

jkm7680 > Devilishprune 05/15/2015 at 07:47

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Yourself.

JGrabowMSt > Devilishprune 05/15/2015 at 07:48

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Depending on how much has changed, if it’s a full drivetrain swap, you could go to whatever dealer would normally have serviced the donor.

If you’ve got some mashup of parts, then you’re talking about something totally different, and you would want to find a confident custom shop to take that on.

Party-vi > Devilishprune 05/15/2015 at 07:50

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Usually an independent mechanic that you know and use frequently. You develop a relationship with them and get them to know the car. The service shop/gas station I used to work at had no issues working on the Willys (mostly because it was as primitive a car as you could get), but they still needed a primer on what I did to it and what parts came from where.

505 - morphine not found > Devilishprune 05/15/2015 at 08:22

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I would say it depends on how special the engine, and how special everything else on the car is. Normally, suspension and brake work could be done by a good mechanic, no matter if he knows much about the car or not. However, engine work should be done by a specialist of the engines’ marquee, or, even better, by the people who have done the swap.

Coty > Party-vi 05/15/2015 at 08:24

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Bingo. Explain to them what parts came on what and make sure they’re confident in working on those components.

Nobi > Devilishprune 05/15/2015 at 08:34

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I’d say whomever did the swap.

GhostZ > Devilishprune 05/15/2015 at 08:40

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Anyone who has done an engine swap has a private mechanic or do their own service. I don’t think there is anyone crazy enough to take an LS volvo to a dealer for service.

Most of the time, if you have a shop doing the swap, they’ll do service for you too.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Devilishprune 05/15/2015 at 08:56

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I’m making an engine-swapped car and I can safely say that future service by the non-mechanically inclined hasn’t even crossed my mind :S

I’m keeping a build-sheet of parts numbers and suchlike which you could use for future servicing, but I’m only really doing that so I’ve got the information to build another one if I want to :)

TBH most service procedures are piss-easy to do yourself once you’ve tried it once or twice. Air filters are probably about as involved as changing a printer cartridge.

Oil change is the next step up, which again is really rather easy.

Then spark plugs (again, easy).

It only starts getting a bit more involved when you get to 60k services and timing belts/chains etc.

Sethersm > 505 - morphine not found 05/15/2015 at 08:58

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‘zactly. If you pull a lambo into ____ engine swap, you’re going to want someone who knows lambo engines to do engine work. If you pull a chevy 350 into ____ swap, pretty much any older mechanic will know the engine well enough.

That said, if you don’t think you’d be able to pull off the swap yourself, I’m not so sure buying a swapped car is a good idea. Mostly because you’d be buying someone else’s project and that rarely is a good idea. About the only time it’s a good idea is if the project is complete and you have a third party who can tell you if it’s good or bad... and they’d be the mechanic you’d take it to for work.

DipodomysDeserti > Devilishprune 05/15/2015 at 08:59

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The answer is if you're not doing stuff yourself then you really shouldn't buy a vehicle with a swapped engine. Since these are usuly diy jobs, taking it to a shop could be risky.

DipodomysDeserti > JGrabowMSt 05/15/2015 at 09:02

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A dealer most likely won't touch a swapped car. Just because the drivetrain is the same doesn't mean working on it will be the same when it's in a different body. Swapping drive trains usually requires some fab work.

Devilishprune > DipodomysDeserti 05/15/2015 at 10:22

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This seems like the most logical answer. “Don’t buy another person’s project” probably applies double when you can’t fix something that goes wrong.

DipodomysDeserti > Devilishprune 05/15/2015 at 14:36

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Exactly. The caveat would be unless its dirt cheap.