Said It Here

How hard and how much does an engine swap cost?

Estimating an engine swap requires factoring in both the price of a second-hand replacement motor and the technical complexity of making it fit your specific vehicle. Without knowing compatibility and labor requirements, it is impossible to gauge the minimum budget or figure out if you have the right tools to finish the job.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    swapping the PI heads over onto a non-PI block
  2. 2
    doing bolt-ons to your current engine
  3. 3
    Searching for secondhand or JDM engines locally
  4. 4
    Attempting a DIY engine swap with mechanical inclination and guides

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/AskMechanics1 person · September 2026

“What engine could I reasonably buy second hand in the Oklahoma (city/general) area and then put in my Honda pilot automatic 4x4 2010 when it inevitably dies. (It’s at 386k miles )”source ↗

“Asking because I don’t have a lot of auto-knowledge but I am mechanically inclined so I’ll be able to figure it out with the right tools and good information.”source ↗

Ashamed_Airline_3796 · r/AskMechanics · 1 upvotes
r/MechanicAdvice1 person · September 2026

“I have a 1996 mustang gt 4.6, how hard and how much money would it cost me minimum to engine swap it with a pi engine”source ↗

Significant_Yam_6950 · r/MechanicAdvice · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised