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This information is for you guys who are swapping SRs into your car. Please do yourself a huge favour and read this post BEFORE you finish the swap, as it will tell you what to look for before the motor is in the car. It's so much easier to fix stuff when the motor is out. Don't be cheap. At most it will cost you a few hundred bucks if you fix everything right the first time. If you're already spending thousands, don't cut corners. Fix it right the first time and save yourself the grief.

This is of course assuming you have a good clean chassis and a good motor that holds decent compression.

Things to look for while doing your swap:

* When the motor is out of your shell, take the time to clean up the engine bay. Fix any rust spots before it starts eating away the rest of the frame. It may take a little time, but your car will thank you.

* Tip from SR Owner's Club: If you have any aftermarket wiring, like an alarm or stereo equipment, make absolutely sure that your car can start with the stock engine, because you don't want to be chasing ghosts when the culprit is something aftermarket that you installed. Better yet, remove all that stuff and make sure your car can start. You can always reinstall them later on if you want.

* When the SR is out of the clip and sitting on an engine stand, take the time to replace every single rubber hose and belt on there. Rubber has a lifespan of about 5 years under perfect conditions. Less if it's out in the elements. Sometimes a hose or a belt may look perfect, but the rubber coating is just cosmetic. The rubber makes it look good, like dressing. The weaves under the rubber is what gives the belt strength and structural integrity. Usually SRs has been sitting in a yard somewhere for some time. So take the time to replace all the rubber parts.

* While you're replacing all the hoses, make sure you replace the hose clamps with high quality screw-on hose clamps. The factory spring clamps and screw-on clamps are notoriously hard to remove, and tend to break over time. It should only cost you a few bucks for the dozen or so clamps you'll need. While you're installing those clamps, think about the position of the screw once the motor is mounted. Make sure you can remove it at the angle you'll have once the motor is in since you can't work around the motor as well as when the motor is out. So orient the clamps accordingly.

* The heater hoses are notoriously prone to leaking. Replace them with new high-quality hoses when the motor is out. Same with the vacuum hoses. Sometimes a leaking vacuum hose will cause your car to run poorly.

* While the motor is out, it is a very good idea to rebuild your turbo. The SR is notorious for blowing the turbo exhaust inlet gasket, and it is very difficult to remove the turbo once the motor is in the car. It should only cost you a couple of runs to Wendy's to replace these gaskets. Make sure you use new mounting hardware, or at least clean up the old one on there. While it's out, check the turbo for shaft play as well.

* It is also a very good idea to do something about the turbo plumbing. People who sell turbos know that the SR has a problem with poor oil flow. That's why they stock T25/T28. If you have an S13 SR, follow the turbo coolant return line and see where it leads you. Now think about where that line is going to end up when the motor is mounted. You won't have too much space to work once the motor is in.

The best way is to reroute the turbo coolant return line to the water outlet going to the upper radiator hose. S14 and newer SRs water outlet has a tap for the return line. Get this waterneck if you can. mynismo.com can special order them for you from Japan. If you can get it, plug up this hard line in the back by either welding or by clamping a plug onto it. Just keep in mind that if anything breaks back there, you will have a hard time getting to it, especially if the motor is hot and you have big hands.

Now is a good time to install new braided lines. Taka Motorsports sells complete bolt-in kits you can use without having to worry about reusing the banjo bolts.

* When the motor is out of the chassis, you can work on the steering rack. You may want to install some steering rack spacers now since they are not accessible with the motor in.

* When you install the new motor, use new motor mounts if you can. They're not too hard to access once the motor is mounted, but chances are the mounts on your stock engine and the stock mounts on the SR are both done. You may have trouble accessing the bolts on the turbo side once the motor is in though.

* Another thing you may want to do is go through your stock wiring harness and figure out where everything is supposed to go. Get an FSM and label each harness. This will help you rewire the SR since you know exactly what's supposed to go where. If you have some extra harnesses you will know where they go so you don't have to worry. If you get a plug-and-play wiring harness, take the time and figure out where everything is supposed to go before you plug them in. This is probably the single hardest thing when it comes to swapping in the SR. Most people will mess up the wiring so badly since it's very confusing and they don't take the time to figure out what needs to go where. Of all the non-running SRs I have seen, probably all of them had wiring problems of some sort.