WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Since this car has began to change directions, I decided that it deserves a thread dedicated to such changes. Without further ado:

Back story

I was in the search of a Colt/Mirage for quite some time. Said car would serve it's purpose as a winter car...and a possible 4g63t swap candidate. More of the latter, hence the thread!

My best friend Keith (not on here; YET), knew what I was looking for and decided to help me search. Hell, I wasn't going to turn down a helping hand! So a few days after he told me he too was on the look for one I received a text with the link to a Craigslist ad. I opened it and this is what I found.

"1993 Dodge Colt - $200"

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4005938861.jpg


The ad went onto say it was a decent car that had the distributor replaced recently. It also mentioned the car had an engine problem and wouldn't start. This was on a Saturday. This same day my friend and I went down to look at it. A week later we went and picked it up.

8/4/2012

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262975325.jpg


That night we unloaded the car and started work on it. By Sunday the 5th we had the old 4g15 out. I was highly motivated to work on this car. Which surprised me for what it was.

8/4/2012

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262309282.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262331907.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...09346819_n.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262350473.jpg


8/5/2012

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4400187730.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262361857.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262419787.jpg


Oh, did I forget to mention what was wrong with it?!? It threw a rod. From seeing other threads online, it seems the 4g15s do it quite often. Why you ask? I have no clue. Maybe there is a lack of a rev limit on them and they just eat themselves alive; I don't know.

Immediately I started cleaning the engine bay from what you've seen above to this:

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4400276154.jpg


That wasn't good enough for me though so I took it to there extreme. I'll just let the pictures do all of the talking.


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4834750348.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4834767926.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4917535081.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps1b716f56.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps438af31b.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...24641266_o.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...90570412_o.jpg


After all this I was really wanting to either do a 4g37 swap or a 4g63 swap. I thought a 4g63t would make this completely useless in the winter. That and I did not have the funds to support buying everything for the swap. As a matter of a fact, I barely do now! :lol:

Any who, I ended up finding a 4g15 and just threw it in there calling it good.


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...32748410_o.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...0806297815.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...0806296930.jpg


I did what I wound consider a "mini wire-tuck". I pretty much just rerouted everything and moved the vacuum sensor...stuff.


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...54061209_n.jpg

She was "done"!


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...7509856760.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...7509855908.jpg

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Back story, continued

Right away I noticed a problem; the car was running "odd". It barely made it to the gas station. I blamed the 4-6+ year old gas. If I remember correctly, my dad said the last time it was registered was 2006! That is some old, nasty ass gas! I filled it and it still went through a lot of gas. Then it threw an CEL.

After a long search it turned out to be this little bastard.


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...8309941677.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...8227477587.png


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...8227502338.png

The "gas filter" as it is called by Mitsubishi and Toyota was broke. This connected inline from the intake manifold to the MAP sensor. I bought a new one from Toyota for around $36 shipped.


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psd7bc1eb2.jpg

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Now

After nearly doing only God knows what to the engine by POURING gas into the little 4g15, I decided to start collecting some 4g63t swap parts....5-6 months later I started buying parts! In the mean time I have just kept on driving the Colt! She's slow as all hell but it is a car!


6/15/2013

I picked up this Spyder for the swap. It had a 2g transmission, axles, a full engine, ECU, engine wiring harness (not to mention all the left-overs could be used on my GS-T!): it was perfect!


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...pscdd36e1e.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psd155c8ca.jpg


From just the looks the engine seemed to be clean. I don't even know how many miles are on it. I never even bothered to check the cluster. From the looks of it though, this engine may not be original to this car. That's not a problem with me though. It's still the revised 7 bolt.

I tore the head off to changed the valve springs and grind the valves while I was at it. I was not pleased with the amount of high temp orange RTV I found throughout the head..


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps69833a26.jpg


After a few runs through the cleaning/baking machine fixed that though, thankfully!

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

While down in the Cities picking up some brake calipers I also found a good deal on an Evo. 3 throttle body. I wanted a 1g N/T TB, but this was better yet. So away I went with porting the 2g intake manifold!


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psa1e0df5c.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps1655bbda.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps1a4924ef.jpg


Now if you did not notice in two of the pictures above, there is some sort of acess metal on the casting lines on the intake manifold. I guess I get to go in there and clean it up. It is a bit scary to think that that would otherwise just be hanging out in there.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps9aac3158.jpg


Since I needed to send the head in to get resurfaced I decided to attempt to do the oil port mod. I think it turned out alright.


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psdde5105f.jpg


After getting the head back I noticed it had a few little black spots/pits in it. It is more on the exhaust side of the head. I've got no clue if they'll effect the engine or not.


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps37aeca2a.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps56758e0f.jpg

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

How deap did you go on the oil port job, also from the base to the tip did you just taper it.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

I vote RWD conversion on this one...it'll already be a mess in the snow, might as well have some real fun? :)

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Buy Mai Camber plates!

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

I do not know exactly how deep I went. :Banane55: lol
If I had a caliper to measure I would. I have to wait until I get to school before I can buy one though. I know I started with a carbide bit which was a HUGE mistake. Never do that. Grinding stones for a dremel did the trick. I also polished it a bit.

Check out Jafromobile's video on it. He gets far more precise than I could at the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T97R...e_gdata_player

:lol: As fun as that sounds, I'm going to cover this problem by buying a truck. I've already test drove a '00 24 Valve Cummins. From what I've learned though, I am going with a '94-'98.5 12 Valve. Just a little something to help get around and maybe move some of the cars around too. :D

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Those black pits are mostly likely casting material flaws, shouldn't be any big deal. A little copper spray on a MLS gasket or a regular composite gasket will easily absorb that. Don't be tempted to smooth it with a belt sander. :D

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Thanks for the link awsome build fyi

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Yea, that Jafromobile video is what I was going to recommend in the other thread. Guy makes some awesome how-to videos.

Good choice on the 12 valve also. :D

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Say whaaaaat?!

That's what I was figuring. I was just a tad concerned as I do not remember seeing them before. That's probably because of the resurface though. A FELPRO composite HG w/copper spray will suffice for this build.

Not a problem! Thank you as well.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Oh yeah, "Jafro." (IMO) has the best DSM/CSM/4g63 videos..at least on YouTube. I always love seeing new videos from him.

Yeah, after test driving a 2000 24 valve and having it die on the way back to the dealership kind of got a...bad taste left from them. That and the whole block casting issues. Oh, the mechanic working on it thinks it's a lift pump too, surprise surprise. :lol:

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

holy jack pot on how-to's lol thanks again, opend my eyes to a few things i will address on my current build

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Whoa, no need for copper spray on a composite gasket.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

I suppose.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

I painted the block about a week or so ago and I thought it turned out alright. The paint definitely could have been a lighter shade of purple but that's okay.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps40dbff61.jpg


Yesterday I was at our shop and noticed it was sunny out. I pulled the short-block out of the corner and rolled it into the light. Again, not exactly what I was wanting but it'll do.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psf3fec2b4.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps7652d868.jpg


There isn't enough metallic flake for my tastes, but the paint it also to blame for being so damn dark. I'm thinking it'll look fine though. I would post a current picture of the car's engine bay but after a winter of not cleaning it and a trip down a few minimum maintenance roads has got it looking...well, it has seen it's fair share of better days.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Guys..I think I have a problem...

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psa3a4a03e.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps8a0e8366.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps5d3466bb.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psd7c9f3b2.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps943ed0ed.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps3ab3ee90.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...pse4b38ea3.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps055bb838.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps72a7b37e.jpg

YES I realize that the valve cover is terrible and will probably need to be completely redone. Well, none of it really came out spectacular. I do have to say everything looks a helluva' lot better than before.

I did take a few breaks from cleaning up the comp. cover to spray my water pump with Alumablast. Good shit!

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps4d66969b.jpg


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps9965f668.jpg

I also yanked the engine wiring harness out of the Spyder earlier this week. It has seen it's better days.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps2dcd1e9f.jpg

...and yes, most of these pictures were taken with a potato.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

UPDATE

Welp, my dumb ass hauled this bitch (the engine) to school. So now; the crank is coming out and getting polished, I'm replacing all of the bearings, getting new piston rings...pretty much an entire rebuild.

I (of course), forgot to take pictures. As of right now the pistons/rods are out and the front case/oil pump is off. Since I started working, I am hoping to start buying parts maybe next month..? Little by little of course.

I've still got no idea when I'll be attempting the swap. I've made friends with a Honduh kid here at school and he's offered to let me use his own shop (yes, he's got his own shop), to do the swap. I may have to take him up on that.

Anyway, I'll stop spewing off. Stay tuned for pictures and/or updates!

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

AWD swap, opinions?

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

do it!

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Today between classes and dealing with some other...stuff, I decided to preoccupy myself. Here are the pictures I said I'd take and post up.

My not so clean, clean pistons and rods. lol

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps8811787b.jpg


Something had to have gone haywire with either taking this part or something. Two or the rods have some damage.


Rod marked as "#1".

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps125838e9.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps671d350f.jpg


I believe this is rod "#3".

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps815968d2.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps87a162f9.jpg


Since I brought up some damage; this is why you do not allow people whom know nothing about what you are talking about try to help you.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psae4ee990.jpg

Yeah, the machine screw (or whatever others' referred to as), had its Phillips head completely stripped out. I asked someone if they had and impact driver. Their solution was an impact gun with a screw driver bit. Yeah....no. So I had to drill it out. I'm not sure when I'll try to remove it.. I'm almost a little bit afraid to.

It'll get done though, no worries there. On the positive note though, the oil pump gear/housing isn't too scratched/tore up like you see on a lot of engines!


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psb1b6e66e.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps87e64c0f.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps7699758d.jpg


Here is the main reason I took this baby down to this point; my friends all looked at the crank and said since I'm already this far I should just polish the bitch. Yeah, "just" polish it.


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps4eb0209c.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps91259e51.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps5a7aa8ce.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps5add8f09.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psbb609379.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps969d910d.jpg


I apologize for the somewhat crack head shaking I did while taking some of the pictures. Today wasn't exactly my day, so I blame some of the "occurrences" right before this for the shakiness.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDD the block.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps8bdf8486.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps130ff0c3.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps39cceabf.jpg

What a joy it'll be repainting this after it gets out of the over, caustic cleaner and the tumbler. Yayyyy!!!

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

I was wondering wtf that screw was all about until I looked it up. Pretty lame that the 7 bolt uses a screw. 6 bolts have a bolt just like the rest of the holes.

Here's a helpful link I found:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/cyli...need-info.html


Why not spray some paint stripper on the block beforehand? The aircraft stripper I used worked great.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Thank you, I'm sure that'll help when I decide to attack that thing. I really don't know why they'd use a screw either. Just a tad retarded if you were to ask me.

I could use that but it'd just be more work/time. I've already been pushing my luck with having this engine sit around for as long as it has. We usually only have one day to completely strip it. I've had it laying around the shop for nearly three weeks now. lol

My main focus is to just get it rebuilt ASAP. Then finish a head when we start our heads class and have a kick ass setup for this coming Summer or the following.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Someone said something about a clearance issue in that thread being the reason for a screw vs. a bolt.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Literally as you must've been typing this I read that part. lol I'll be buying a good amount of hex head screws to use in place of those little bastards. A few people seem to like them and I could see why! Some of my current and future builds will be needing 'em.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Looking at those rods, I don't think I would run them. Used sets of stockers are cheap enough I don't think I'd chance it.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

That's what I said. I'm thinking of grabbing some 1g rods. Maybe the ones turbotalon1g has up. Then some NPR pistons and calling it a day. We'll see I guess.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Pretty sure 1g rods don't work with 7 bolts.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

If I recall all you need to do is get the rods modified to fit the pistons. Then you're golden.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

No, The rod journals are wider on a 6 bolt.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

You can make it happen. It's just the time you're willing to spend. Hell, maybe I'll buy some Evo. rods and save myself the work. Who knows.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Honestly I think DSM Graveyard does it. Come to think of it I think punxnotdead185 has a set with Evo 9 pistons on it.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Are Evo rods any stronger than 7 bolt rods?

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Ahhh, ole Northwest Tech, I went to school there too for Machining. I have a built Evo 8 block if you're looking for some manley I beams, manley crank, and Wiseco 10.5:1 pistons ;)

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Lol I love it and Paul..good God. Favorite teacher I've ever had, anywhere. Lol

That might be a little extreme for this thing. For now anyway.

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

Pshh, might as well do it now while you have the facility! Did they keep the kickball tradition going at all? The machinists used to always go play drunken kickball haha

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

I'm only a first year. Paul keeps asking why I have an entire engine at the school when we're just into line boring and honing. The next class we have is heads.

I do plan on building at least one crazy motor. Something for my 1g. Maybe something along the lines of an aluminum rod motor. Nothing serious. (;

I haven't heard anything about kickball, lol. Then again, I really don't go out and party...at all. Some of these guys though; damn. lol

Re: WHITE POW'R! - Winter beater turned....?
 

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...psa6bd2b99.jpg

...and here I was all happy about how the paint turned out. Gay. This was before I put it into the oven too. I have yet to see it.