This is a craigslist special I’ll be removing the engine from, a 1999 Suzuki Swift! This car has several things that make it an ideal donor car: 1. The 4 cylinder 1.3L G13 engine. These are widely known for being very light and smooth. 2. No power steering and 3. No A/C. These last two make the engine bay and wiring harness simpler. There is a single belt off the crank pulley that drives the water pump and alternator. The extensive cosmetic damage, damaged muffler, flat tire, and headlight falling off, and lack of A/C in Houston, Texas made the car a pretty cheap find.
	Almost 113,000 miles. I would have preferred under 100k, but it should still last a long time if properly maintained.
	The engine bay. Lots of grease and grime everywhere.
	The shop os getting pretty cramped at this point, but the car should be a temporary visitor.
	Hood removed, ratchet set out, ready for action.
	The first step is to drain fluids and remove the radiator. This frees up a little room to work, but not too much as the engine is transverse mounted.
	I’m careful to label all electrical connectors and vacuum hoses during the removal process. The Geo/Suzuki is a remarkably simple engine, especially by modern standards, but the wires and hoses can still get mixed up in a hurry. Keeping the wiring harness organized is important later when it comes time to trace connections through the loom and remove unnecessary wires.
	The alternator is out, and looking a little rough around the edges.
	After a lot of time and frustration, the engine is finally free from the transmission and partially lifted from the car. Since there’s very little room between the wheel wells to separate the engine and transmission, it’s difficult to pull the splined shaft in the transmission out of the pilot bearing in the flywheel. The transmission has to be supported just right, and the engine must be supported without torquing it. Lots of prying with screwdrivers and some tapping with a dead blow hammer eventually freed the engine.
	Almost free of the engine bay. During the entire lifting process, it’s important to make the engine doesn’t snag on anything in the engine bay or damage a wire of vacuum hose. (although most vacuum hoses will be replaced).
	The transmission is still in the car here, along with the wiring harness.
	The flywheel side of the freshly removed engine.
	The flywheel has been removed here to clean it and begin machining it to accept the shaft adapter.
	I transferred the engine from the crane to a small engine stand. It will take a couple weeks to thoroughly clean, inspect, and repaint the engine, and this is a better way to support it for extended periods of time.
	I also removed the throttle pedal just in case I decide to use it for the thrust throttle later. In some ways this would be convenient, as the throttle pedal already has the proper throw to fully actuate the throttle valve.
	The ECU is located behind the glove box. The disconnected yellow cable is the passenger side, which is very important to disconnect to avoid a very rude surprise while working inside the car. Check your manual for instructions on disabling the airbags, but normally you have to remove a fuse from a box beneath the hood, and then simply unplug the airbags.
	I’ve removed the timing belt cover here. The engine will get a new timing belt and water pump.
	This is the part of the wiring harness which mostly resides in the engine bay. There are other harnesses inside the car, but most of these go to accessories I won’t need on the hovercraft. More on the wiring harness later…
	A very empty engine bay. I removed the transmission and took it apart just for fun. You can’t see it here, but I cut through both of the front drive axles outside of the CV boots to make it easier to move the transmission around during the extraction. All that remains are the master cylinder with some brake lines, the drive components, and the battery tray…