Yes, You Can Swap Your S2000 Engine Out At Home

With help from friends, and some time lapse magic, it’s as easy as 1-2-3.

Whether you have been neglecting a slipping clutch for too long, your high-mile engine is getting tired and needs a freshening, or you simply want something fun to do on a long winter weekend, pulling the engine out of your Honda S2000 and then popping it back into the car is not as hard as you’ve been led to believe. Considering the S2000 is among the simplest cars Honda has made in quite a while, this job is actually pretty simple to do if you’ve got a modicum of mechanical skills and a decent set of tools. Just check out this video from ZentRose to see some tips to make the whole process simpler.

The engine itself only has a dozen or so connection points to the hard-mounted bits of the car, so once you disconnect those and remove the subframe bolts, the whole engine, transmission, and subframe drop out the bottom of the car. As ZentRose does here, it’s smart to leave some pieces attached to the engine intact on the car. Removing the power steering pump and the air conditioning compressor from the engine means you don’t have to re-fill and re-pressurize those systems. Leave them in the engine compartment.

Rather than writing a huge check to have your clutch replaced, or whatever job it is you need done, you can spend a fraction of that on tools and do the job yourself in your own garage. Not only will you save a ton of money, you might learn a thing or two, and enjoy yourself in the process.