A conversion, a rebuild, and a swap.

Febo · 09-27-2008

Well, lets go ahead and start this off with saying that this took me a lot longer than I wanted it too. Even with the limited prep work I was able to perform. With that said. Lets get going onto the work performed. The cars worked on were both 92 DSMs. One being my DD Eclipse GSX Manual, and the shell being a Eagle Talon TSi AWD Automatic. Which is where the conversion came in.

(All photos are thumbnailed for ease of viewing)

The Conversion:

I did all the pedal and master cylinder work before I started on the actual project. The only components swapped during my week of hell was the clutch line and slave cylinder. Now lets kick it with some photos and captions.

Here we are with the auto shift lever exposed. Im sure everyone has been to this point on their car at one point so no explination is needed.

The next two photo's show the immense cluster f*ck of wiring headache that came with this shell that I had to clean up. Keep in mind, all this wiring is purely for a turbo timer, EGT, and electronic boost guage

Now here we are with the whole shifter assembly removed. This involved pulling the shift cable, the brake to shifter cable that locks you out of being an idiot and going into reverse when your going forward, the cable that runs to the ignition, and some electrical crap which I just simply cut and threw away.

Now what came next doesn't have a lot of photo documentation but I'll describe the horror. First the steering column has to come out. that involves about 13 bolts, some sort of marking paint or ink, and about 5 electrical connections. Then the brake pedal came out which involved removing the brake booster from the firewall (later found out this can be done without opening a single line) and about another 9 bolts and nuts.

This whole process was then repeated on the donor car, with the addition of removing the master cylinder and the shifter cables. Later found out the pedal assembly was bad on the donor car, so this process was then performed yet again at the end of my project.

MASTER CYLINDER REMOVAL IS MURDER!!!!

Then using what ever you wish to use you have to cut out the blanks where the master cylinder and the shift cables will run. I used a dremel with a carbide bit. I highly recommend it.

After that was the whole installation process of running cables, installing the pedals, and putting the shifter in. No real tricks or issues with any of this. Oh yeah, be sure to get rid of that pesky TCM. Its worthless to you now. Also search the vfaq and remember to connect the two black wires on your inhibitor switch so that you can start it. Its located by the battery box and is a 12 pin plug.

Then as stated earlier, I removed the clutch line from my GSX and added it to the Talon during the actual project while I had the engine on a stand. It made life a lot easier. Its a pesky item to remove and involves pulling the cruise control from the firewall, disconnecting a brake line at the ABS control module, a couple of clips, and lots of careful fenagaling to get that sucker out without crimping it. Installation is the reverse of removal.

Now its time to put some pizza rolls in the oven. And begin working on chapter two, Engine Removal and Rebuild: With Extra Swapage!!!

Febo · 09-27-2008

Chapter Two: Engine Removal and Rebuild: With Extra Swapage

This is where the actual week starts. Sat Sept. 13, 2008, the car was rolled into the garage and the work started. First things first, gotta get rid of that pesky bumper, headlights, bumper support, and hood.

Of course I had to break a bolt

You like that fmic placement?

After removing everything possible from in front of or around the engine, it was time to focus on removing the transmission, transfer case, half shafts, and of course the rear end, since I was on the business of drive line removal, and I needed to swap rear ends anyways I decided to do it all in one pump instead of bouncing back and forth from drive line to engine and back. The exhaust system was also removed during this.

Can we say rear output seal leak?

After all that was good and removed I then finished removing all electrical, vacuum, and fuel related connections from the intake manifold, head, and engine block, then it was time to hook up and hoist it out.

Then it was rebuild time, but first the tear down and pre-inspection. From the tear down and pre-inspection I learned that I will forever run mobil 1 full synthetic. I had zero sludge or build-up in my head, bottom end, and oil pan. Well on to the pictures.

Then I did forget to take any pictures of the actual rebuild process. But I honed it, used new pistons and rings, new clevite bearings, ARP Main studs, ARP head studs, all new seals, balance shaft elimination, and installed a rebuilt head. Other things that I did was painted the intake manifold, TB, elbow, valve cover, fuel rail, and BOV flat black. Did a FIAV elimination and vacuum reduction. I also removed the intake manifold support bracket, and the AC compressor bracket since the engine was out. I only have a picture of the assembled product.

From here on out it was all just the opposite of removal. But with a few snags here and there. But in the end it all ran, got the idle and timing adjusted, got 100 miles under the belt and blew the head gasket. So now I'm just awaiting to fix that. Then this project will be golden. Now solely for some entertainment.

Clutch alignment without a clutch alignment tool courtesy of JgGravy:

I think this fuel rail is of oriental origins:

Like I said, zero sludge:

My secondary mechanic. She provided at least a good 10 hours of assistance:

So to recap the work performed:
Auto to Manual conversion
Engine rebuild and swap
Drive line swap
Exhaust swap
Upgraded to s16g with tubular manifold
Blacked out engine bay
Vacuum line reduction
Wire tuck to include cruise control placement and throttle cable tuck
Hood pin install
Pedal swap x2
Fuel pump swap
Brake caliper swap all around
Front hubs swapped
Front right control arm swapped
Ecu, radio, gauge cluster, wire clean up, and after market gauge install
I think that's it.

Also, thanks goes to Schiedes for loaning me the engine stand, JgGravy for the assistance, and MAP for the parts in a quick and cost effective manner, they are highly recommended by myself.

Now for the next project. Fixing my head gasket, then installing my new misimoto G line intercooler.

Febo · 10-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by RLFebo

Upgraded to s16g with tubular manifold

**Goat Blower** · 09-27-2008

Wow, looks good. That's a lot of work.

311evo · 09-28-2008

Good job man!

sleepydsm · 09-28-2008

lol @ the pic of wendy

Febo · 09-28-2008

Yeah, not her best pic evar, but hey, a chick in coveralls and greasy is still hot in my book.

twack · 09-28-2008

Im thinking about doing this swap lately, looks good

Febo · 09-28-2008

if you need any info about it I can surely help out, but the VFAQ is pretty dead on with the whole thing.

GnArKiLl · 09-28-2008

i just got done doing a 5spd swap.. took about 4 hours start to finish.

**scheides** · 09-28-2008

Nice work RLFebo! Can't wait to see the new ride in action! Thx for the tons of pics!

sleepydsm · 09-29-2008

Looks like this was a pain in the ass. Got pics of the outside of the car?

Febo · 09-29-2008

Ill get those soon, after the HG is replaced.

Kevin 1G Drummer · 10-01-2008

That's alot of work! Looks like you madew good progress though! One question though. When you took the turbo and mani off; rather than take the o2 housing off the turbine housing, why didn't you just unbolt it from the downpipe? It's way easier to do it that way and just unplug the o2 sensor.

Febo · 10-02-2008

Yep, That seems to be the problem.

Febo · 10-19-2008

Yeah so I got the car running now, again. And she finally has over 500 under her belt so it should be broken in.

But now Im having problems with idle. I did the FIAV block off, which I know can screw with it, but I cant let it idle at anything less than 1500, and I have to do that by manually adjusting the throttle cable, the BISS does nothing anymore, and once it warms up it stays at a constant 2000, If I try to let it drop to 800 it will sit and chug, and misfire and all sorts of nasty crap. I think I might still have a vac leak but I cant find it. I havent done a compression test yet either. But just off hand anyone got any ideas.

Also, I did the BS elim, and she's pretty vibey at 3k, is that normalish?

dsm9sec · 10-19-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by RLFebo

Yeah so I got the car running now, again. And she finally has over 500 under her belt so it should be broken in.

But now Im having problems with idle. I did the FIAV block off, which I know can screw with it, but I cant let it idle at anything less than 1500, and I have to do that by manually adjusting the throttle cable, the BISS does nothing anymore, and once it warms up it stays at a constant 2000, If I try to let it drop to 800 it will sit and chug, and misfire and all sorts of nasty crap. I think I might still have a vac leak but I cant find it. I havent done a compression test yet either. But just off hand anyone got any ideas.

Also, I did the BS elim, and she's pretty vibey at 3k, is that normalish?

Yes it's normal.