[vincent818]

Hi All,

I am looking to swap my 1.3 to M18a. I got a quote from a local shop at 4K(including fitting and M18a but take my old engine)
is it reasonable price?

Thanks
Vincent

[masterA]

IMO......$4K is a reasonable price....you'll struggle to beat that

Is there anything wrong with the 1.3?

If you want a good/decent job then go see Brian at SuziStore
Tel: 9250 4650

[vincent818]

Nothing wong with the 1.3 engine, only done 10,000KM
Any idea what is the market price for M16a or M18a?

[tim80z]

vincent818 wrote:

Nothing wong with the 1.3 engine, only done 10,000KM
Any idea what is the market price for M16a or M18a?

New Model Wreckers in Sydney has quoted me $700 for an M18A with about 80000kms and $1400 for an M18A with about 20000kms. My local wreckers has an M18A with about 18500kms on it for $1400 also.

- Tim.

[vincent818]

Okay, the quote I got from SuziStore is 2,750 for M18A at 40,000KM (recycling my 1.3)
Sounds like NSW have some good deals.

[squibby]

vincent818 wrote:

Hi All,

I am looking to swap my 1.3 to M18a. I got a quote from a local shop at 4K(including fitting and M18a but take my old engine)
is it reasonable price?

Thanks
Vincent

$4k sounds comparable to most other garages, but you got to ask yourself the following to determine if you are getting a premium job, or just a bodge job that you could have done yourself for less then quarter the price.

- What is the state of the donor engine - as already said a low mileage M18 10-20K is worth about $1400, a high mileage 80K is worth $700
- Are they replacing/modifying the loom and/or ECU? - An M18 ECU, keys, Immobiliser is worth $500, and will take a lot more labour and know how to mod/replace the loom. Or an aftermarket custom ECU installed is worth about $2000 including labour and tuning.
- Engineering and complience - are they including the Compliance/Engineers certificate?

So basically theres a lot that could be used to judge if this is good value or not. If they are simply planting an M18 Block in and nothing else, then you could do this yourself for about $1400 and I'd say they are miles overpriced. If they are doing a proper job, then $4000 is on the money, maybe even a bit cheap.

Your old engine is worth peanuts, don't sweat it them taking it off your hands.

[vincent818]

Thanks squibby for the detail reply,

In other post I saw people can wire up M13a ECU to M18a with out any mod. Is the M18a ECU needed?
I think I need to shop around to deterement what I will do.

BTW, how many L of fuel you doing on your M18a?

[squibby]

When I had the emmisions test it estimated 10.6L/100km. I've done a bit of maths since then and 10.6 is about right. Thats with 215's and about 200kgs of extra weight bolted on (winches iron work, roof box)

What year jimny have you got? There's various options for the ECU Engine COMBO. all of them complicated. That's why I say, if an aftermarket ECU, or an M18 ECU is included you have been quoted a damn good price.

So what year jimny is yours?

[vincent818]

Mine is 2008 with VVT

[squibby]

vincent818 wrote:

Mine is 2008 with VVT

Check the compliance plate, if it was ADR'd after June 30th then you will struggle to get the vehicle engineered with an M18, probably should fit an M15 from a July 2008 or newer Suzuki Swift.

If your Jimny was ADR'd June 30th or earlier on the compliance plate, then it's a lot easier to get the older M18 Liana engine engineered.

Regarding ECU's - no you don't need to replace the stock ECU, but it's better if you can. Most run ok on the M13 ECU, but you might get an engine light code for Running rich/Running lean, dirty Lambda probes and occasional bunny hops if you don't slip the clutch enough when pulling away in 1st gear.

The M13VVT Jimny is the hardest one to fit the M18 ECU to. Basicallythe problem is you would be fitting the previous generation of 3-plug ECU's to the newer 4 Plug style Loom, so you got to swap all the plugs where the wiring loom plugs into the ECU AND you got to swap all the pins around, so basically you have to know what you are doing.

I'd ditch the M18 ECU idea and get a fixed price quote from an aftermarket ECU specialist and dump the problem on then. About $2000 later it's all sorted and you can map it and play with it afterwards which is cool.

Or do what everyone normally does and just leave it with the M13 ECU - which brings me full circule to my original point that if a garage is charging $4K just to swap and engine and not bother with the ECU's that's too expensive IMO.

You will read on here about a couple of people fitting the M18 ECU, but they sometimes suffer heaps of problems with bad wiring, dicky immobilisers etc, or they fitted the M18VVT ECU to an older non-VVT jimny - both of which are the older 3-plug style looms, so I can see how that is a whole lot easier - but still requires a lot of know how to wire in the VVT and to swap a few of the pins around.

[vincent818]

It just seems a lot of the work on it.
The problem is finding a good workshop to do this + the cost.

[squibby]

Yeah it's about $4K worth of work and parts for an M18. Fit the engine yourself with a mate it's easy $0. $1400 for the low km engine, $800 for engineering and compliance (if you live in sydney and have access to free emmisions testing at the RTA). And another $2000 for an aftermarket ECU tuned and fitted.

DO it in that order, because you'll never get the aftermarket ECU engineered, but it's an invisible mod anyway.

Did you look at your compliance plate yet? what date is on it? You might have to fit a newer M15 anyway, and then you don't even after to bother researching ECU's. The M13ECU can probably handle the M15 better then it does the M18.