Originally Posted by saga
So my engine went last night. Rod broke and went right through the block. I have a 5th gen Civic and wanted ideas on a cheap replacement engine. I want to do a B-series swap but I was just starting to save for that. I have extremely limited funds. I'm thinking Z6 cause it isn't all that expensive and I get a some more power from it as well. Also, the shop that I left my car at (closest one I could find from where I broke down) said he wanted $600 labor to swap out the engine with another D-series. Fair price? I've never shopped for engine swap labor costs before and I can't afford to have my car off the road for an extended period of time if I did the swap myself and had to figure stuff out along the way.
$600 is reasonable. Most mechanics hate swapping an engine with a different engine because lots of things can go wrong. If he'd use something different than what you've got in it now, and you can get him to stand behind the work, then go for it. My cousin's shop won't touch anything like that unless it's an older domestic. Make sure you give the mechanic the right ECU and injectors for the engine you're using, and that it bolts to your tranny, and that the axle splines will work or it might cost you more than $600.