High end Honda / Nissan engines

[EternalRage]

I'm wondering if there is a big interest, or market for the higer end Honda and Nissan engines, such as the Integra Type R , The S2000, and skyline,

Is it worth it for me to import them and market them locally? or should i stick to the basics?

[szw]

if you bring'em, someone will buy'em

[EternalRage]

I think so too, but i wanted to get a feel for the local market,

[SpoonEK9@STRD]

do you want to display them or make money... :thumbsdow to that idea

[Lo)2enz0]

Alot of the companies that import engines ussually have a guy in japan who goes around and tests engines. A guy on a different forum group has been looking for a ca18det for a while now and the company that he is going with still hasn't found one that works well. its a big risk because if you import engines you might buy engines that work when they test it out over seas but when it gets here and installed and after a week of the guy driving it something goes wrong and its critical and most companies replace the engine. I don't know what they do with the engines afterwards but I believe the importer losses alot of money because of problems like this.

But if you are up for it and willing to take the risk I know people will buy the engines. But you should also consider importing used parts because I know there is alot of interest with the s13 and s15 conversions in canada, same goes for the the ITR conversion. There are also other parts that would be awsome to see that you don't have to buy new and that cost someone a arm and a leg.

Laurier

[chrisgushue]

there's always someone that will buy em

[Phats]

I know that the ITR engine is really popular, heck, I might be looking to do it myself, the others, i am not to sure about though

[KoukiS14]

Everyone talks like they want the stuff. Calgary doesn't have the market. Besides there are so many people doing the same thing as you. What makes you stand out amongst the rest?

[Hollywood]

Originally posted by EternalRage
I'm wondering if there is a big interest, or market for the higer end Honda and Nissan engines, such as the Integra Type R , The S2000, and skyline,

Is it worth it for me to import them and market them locally? or should i stick to the basics?


Originally posted by NismoS14
Everyone talks like they want the stuff. Calgary doesn't have the market. Besides there are so many people doing the same thing as you. What makes you stand out amongst the rest?

Nismo and Spoon are right. Most people in the honda community specifically here in calgary would not spend the big bucks for JDM typeR's, type R's, K20's...etc Why because they are cheap! How many honda people do you know that are building turbo kits as cheap as they can make them? Lots! And how many would spend the money for a big $$$ engine swap, hardly any...why? Because these engines are all ready available just no one wants to spend the money to do it. I'm not saying every honda person is cheap, but the majority are. For starters how many people in the honda community even have real coilovers? The real ones not the stupid kits ie: skunk, ground control....etc. I don't even know 1 honda with real coilovers (cusco, jic, tein, B&G...etc.) in calgary. But yet I have friends with VW's and nissans with real coilovers that are a lesser ratio of owners to honda.
And then people with 240's all ways say they want to do the SR20 swap but most don't understand how expensive it is after everything. Then when it comes to quote time the dream crumbles. I have seen it time and time again.

Basically save your money buddy, becuse the people above that say that they will sell are not realistic.

[syeve]

I know way more people with hondas and real coil overs than any other make...but you are right, our market is cheap...not only that but our market is too small. I am sure we have a good ratio of people doing quality work, we just have such a small market.

[2000impreza]

imo there isn't a market for real performance parts. not in calgary anyways. i'm sure everyone wants a engine swap or nice turbo setup but when it comes time to pay up, they don't have the money.

[Ekliptix]

Hollywood, how would it be for a red top engine and install w/ out mods in Calgary?

[Lo)2enz0]

well said hollywood. Karl at speedvilla was telling me that he has people comming in and asking about engine swaps and that he probably has only done 5 out of 20 people who said they would swap out there engine. personally I am saving my money and taking this summer easy and during the winter next year I am going to get a few LARGE things than. Well no rush for me.

Laurier

[dj_honda]

well there isn't much of a market in calgary....but thats for most import parts.....if you want a good shop, you should be marketing to outside calgary as well. I am sure that there isn't a lot of shops in canada that are importing such engines so you may have exclusivity......

[EternalRage]

Right now my market is mainly in the U.S, i have noticed that a lot of people from calgary ( and canada ) like to talk about the engine swaps more than they like to actually do it, i can sell to the us without droping my prices, people in canada always want to dicker on the price,

I think the thing that makes me stick out from the crowd is my warranty, and the quality that i import, my engines carry by far the best warranty in the field, and all of our engines are of top quality,

[bksze]

Originally posted by Hollywood




Nismo and Spoon are right. Most people in the honda community specifically here in calgary would not spend the big bucks for JDM typeR's, type R's, K20's...etc Why because they are cheap! How many honda people do you know that are building turbo kits as cheap as they can make them? Lots! And how many would spend the money for a big $$$ engine swap, hardly any...why? Because these engines are all ready available just no one wants to spend the money to do it. I'm not saying every honda person is cheap, but the majority are. For starters how many people in the honda community even have real coilovers? The real ones not the stupid kits ie: skunk, ground control....etc. I don't even know 1 honda with real coilovers (cusco, jic, tein, B&G...etc.) in calgary. But yet I have friends with VW's and nissans with real coilovers that are a lesser ratio of owners to honda.
And then people with 240's all ways say they want to do the SR20 swap but most don't understand how expensive it is after everything. Then when it comes to quote time the dream crumbles. I have seen it time and time again.

Basically save your money buddy, becuse the people above that say that they will sell are not realistic.

you must know a lot of ricers because i'd have to differ with you, i know way more people in calgary driving hondas running Tein, Apex-i, buddy club coils than nissan . . . .

heck we probably have at least 10 on this forum running real coils that drive hondas, there are 3 ludes on here that run Teins, besides if you run a proper setup, the price is not that far off, maybe 4 or 5 hundred dollar difference between my quote for GCs and Konis vs. what i spent on my HAs

there are people who are willing to throw gobs of money into their cars, the question is are these people the type to need engine swaps? or are they the ones who already drive the ITRs and the S2000s, chances are the people who can afford to pay 6gs for an engine swap will already have a pimp enough car to not want to swap in another engine.

[EternalRage]

i think the import scene is starting to shift towards the JDM style, ( JDM engines, body kits, ect,)

The JDM scene is already huge in vancouver, and i think it is just a matter of time before we see it come here in full effect.

[Hollywood]

Originally posted by bksze


you must know a lot of ricers because i'd have to differ with you, i know way more people in calgary driving hondas running Tein, Apex-i, buddy club coils than nissan . . . .

heck we probably have at least 10 on this forum running real coils that drive hondas,

10 is nothing! And that's my point. And coil over kit is no where near a real coilover, even if the price is close. Some tracks in the US deny cars with coil over kits due to being unsafe. A rubber washer holds the base of the spring perch...how safe is that!? My whole point about the coilovers is that there are not many people locally with honda's that spend the big bucks to even buy these upperclass JDM engines when they can buy a H or B series and just turbo it instead, cheaper.


Originally posted by EternalRage
I think the thing that makes me stick out from the crowd is my warranty, and the quality that i import, my engines carry by far the best warranty in the field, and all of our engines are of top quality,

That is the line of every engine importer.

[Weapon_R]

I've heard that a set of GC and Koni Yellows will rival the best true coilovers, so why pay the extra money if its possible to get better results that way?

[Fuji]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
I've heard that a set of GC and Koni Yellows will rival the best true coilovers, so why pay the extra money if its possible to get better results that way?

I disagree with that. That is what you have READ. I have ridden in cars with that setup and cars with H&R full coliovers and Tiens and and strut/spring/ coilover kit will not even coeclose to the ride quality of a true coiloever, unlees the coilover is a cheap POS kind.


I wish I would have went with coilovers now b/c I thought I wouldn't want the tunability. Mistake on my part... :(

[jdmakkord]

thank god I ordered my tanabe sustec pro so's this week!!!

[syeve]

go to any other city in north america with ~800k people and you will get the same shit (ohh ya...Im gonna buy this and buy that...) actually you would get that just about everywhere you go...in fact calgary is a VERY rich city...I'll bet we have some of the nicest cars in canada....Hollywood...who are you comparing us to??? California (about 22 million people there) Anywhere you go, you are gonna get wannabes, I would bet that calgary could hold its own against ANY other city of the same size. (except vancouver)

[Lo)2enz0]

agreed. like talk to anyone who like import cars. I bet you only 20% of them accually know the exact engine thats in there car. crap the guy who I used to look up to didn't even know what a b16a was unless you said the SIR engine. like what I am saying is that there are alot of people out there who like imports and who want to get into them and say they will get this or that but they don't. See I waited 4 years to get the car I wanted and it took me 4 years to figure out what I want to do. but there is always something else that I want to do. Like I know I am going to do a front conversion on my 240sx but I haven't decided. I really would like a late s14 conversion (thats what is on top of the list right now) but than I am like umm maybe I want my car to look like a kouki 180sx, no a sileighty , so s15 (to expensive) than sometimes I just want to keep it stock. well eveyone can admit at some time you said you were going to do something by a certain date and than something came up than you decided not to do it. so why complain about other people doing something that you probably have done yourself?

Laurier

[buh_buh]

Originally posted by Fuji
I wish I would have went with coilovers now b/c I thought I wouldn't want the tunability. Mistake on my part... :( me too. Now I'll probably have to spend MORE money to get the right setup. Do it right the first time and you'll end up spending less in the end.

[boi-alien]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
I've heard that a set of GC and Koni Yellows will rival the best true coilovers, so why pay the extra money if its possible to get better results that way? nope, for the price of skunks and koni yellows it's about the same price as getting a true coilover system. and the results will always be better with a true coilover system

[buh_buh]

Originally posted by boi-alien
nope, for the price of skunks and koni yellows it's about the same price as getting a true coilover system. and the results will always be better with a true coilover system no, the price if skunks + konis will not even come close to a set of true coilovers. Nice try tho.

[bksze]

well i think 10 known on a board such as this is quite impressive beign that a lot of this board is comprised of underage or bench racers

taht besides the fact, i do believe that hollywood and i share the same point, that there simply isn't a market for those engines in calgary, or anywhere for that matter, i think it's quite evident throughout the world taht these engines don't fetch the same response as say a b16 would due to the fact that people who modify cars do so usually because they don't have the money in the first place to buy a nicer one . . . if i had a lump sum of 20gs to throw into a civic, i would sell the civic and get a nicer car, say an ITR to mod . . . now if i had the same lump sum with my ITR, i would sell the ITR and buy an s2k . . . shit continues, people who mod usually save up enough to buy their car, then next couple paychecks for rims, kit, turbo etc. now why would they all of a sudden drop 6gs for an ITR engine when their car is probably worth the same amount?

with regards to coilovers, maybe i'm biased but i say if you're going to do suspension, definitely go full out the first time as you will not regret it and the difference in price is approx. 4 - 5 bills depending on your application, definitly worth it and the resale on a true coilover system is usually pretty damn good . . . i lost 30% on mine

[Hollywood]

To put things into perspective (for my car specifically), you can get the low end Teins coil overs for about 1700 CAD here locally. And a set of eibachs springs for 350, and a set of AGX's for 660 ,1010.00 (all no tax). The 700 dollars difference can allmost buy the agx combo twice over.

So it's all in what you want I guess, for the money.

Was'nt this post about engines?

[James]

Originally posted by syeve
go to any other city in north america with ~800k people and you will get the same shit (ohh ya...Im gonna buy this and buy that...) actually you would get that just about everywhere you go...in fact calgary is a VERY rich city...I'll bet we have some of the nicest cars in canada....Hollywood...who are you comparing us to??? California (about 22 million people there) Anywhere you go, you are gonna get wannabes, I would bet that calgary could hold its own against ANY other city of the same size. (except vancouver)


My thoughts exactly, for the Size of our City, there are a Fair bit of Done-up Rides....patience, Calgary is growing.

[shadowz]

There are quite a few good quality cars in calgary which have excellent suspension setups and crazy swaps with FI, but you have to remeber a lot of people dont feel like dishing out so much money on a car especially when theres other things to spend money on. But Calgary is getting there, from my knowledge there are 7 civics in town with B18c5 swaps, a couple H22 civics, and last time I was at Autodream he had 5 blacktop SR20s sitting around ready to go in. IMO thats really good for Calgary where half the time is snowy and for a city in Canada.

[Hollywood]

Basically you guys can't compare calgary with any other city, it's not like you guys inventory other cities....I not saying there is no market for SR's, just not for those high end honda engines.

[EternalRage]

I think that all the calgary markt needs is a little boost in the right direction, the money is here for sure, and the people willing to do the swaps are here, all we need to do is lower the price of those higher end engines and make them affordable, or doable for people who normally wouldent consider it due to the super high $$ value,

Im not saying im going to give these engines away, but a lot of the pricing on the current market is based solely on demand, a supplier will see that people want the engine, and the engine is new to the market, and they will price it way out of the average persons league,

If i could offer the higer end engines for a reasonable price , ( dont call and be like ill give you 1$ for one,) and offer the sources for the parts to install them into cars, how many people do you think would be up to the challenge?

Let me know,

[jdmakkord]

For motors, I agree it would be nice to see more vendors. There's only a couple of shops in town that have the maket cornered. Competition could be good for the consumers here.

[EternalRage]

to be competitive, do i have to offfer the install?

[jdmakkord]

You dont have to, but it would help business if you could.

[EternalRage]

i have the space, but i am in need of another mechanic, we are soo booked as is, but i will see what i can do, you have been verry helpfull

[jdmakkord]

no problem......now hook up a cheap ass h22types!!! j/k

[EternalRage]

you looking for clip or engine/tranny combo?

[jdmakkord]

haha I'm looking for a welfare cheque right now!!! lol

[Hollywood]

Originally posted by jdmakkord
haha I'm looking for a welfare cheque right now!!! lol

SEE!

hehehe.

[AutodreamMarvin]

how much is a B18A?
or even a B18B?(motor only)