3.2l Swap Log

[lowc]

nice job vortex! now get her running and take her out for a well deserved cruise

 

[vortex2450]

nice job vortex! now get her running and take her out for a well deserved cruise

Thanks ..

If only it was that easy though, I still have to put both knuckles back on the ball joints, attached the steering column, and bleed the brakes. And then put the wheels and hood back on.

I waiting for it to warm up outside and then I'm going to get her to breathe new life. :woo-hoo:

 

[vortex2450]

I come bearing good news and bad news.

Good news is that it fired up on the second crank ( I turned it over with the dis disabled to prevent a dry start)...

Bad news is the front manifold to y-pipe connection is leaking and the engine is literally spewing oil on the acc side, it's coming from above the crank pulley but under the water pump..... Gotta to tear that side down and get a better idea of what I'm dealing with ...

EDIT: I'm an idiot, for some reason I loosened the 3.2l oil pump up but never tightened it down again, two bolts were finger tight, one was out of the hole, and the other was barely hanging in there....

The exhaust leak is going to be a pain as I have little idea on how I'm going to torque down a nut I can hardly reach with a wrench but I'll make it work...

Back outside to button up the acc side (again)... Guess I could only go so long before I did something to kick myself in the ass.. lol

Ground out a custom wrench for the job but still have a slight leak, forget use use the exhaust joint sealer I bought, I'll lower it a bit and put this stuff on.

Don't have the camera on hand right now but I'll wait until the car is street ready and make a video!

-Josh

 

[lowc]

you should be able to get at the exhaust studs with an extention an socket. if you have some heat dont hesitate to use it befor you try to loosen the nuts. what i would do to make sure it is seated properly is hold the pipe up and hand tighten the nuts then switch side with even amounts of turns with the ratchet

 

[vortex2450]

I'm done with the swap, the engine cranks up and runs great, but the SHO is being.. well just that, a SHO.

Let the ranting begin!
I replaced the PS pump because it was leaking and after all that now the fluid is leaking from the connection at the PS pump!!


And When I went to belled the brakes the bleeder valve in the right rear caliper snapped right off! an EZ out didn't cut it and I tried drilling but had no luck........

Those are the only issues keeping the SHO from being road worthy again, I seemed to have lost my camera but I promise I'll have pics and at least a video up in the near future.....


I feel like every time I am one item away from being done another issue springs up. This totally sucks!!! Well anyways, being in the broke state that I am I have to borrow my father's second vehicle for a couple days to work to earn the money to pay for the $70 caliper.....

I also had to move the SHO into a covered area in preparation from the possible threat of hail tomorrow, I had no brakes but I did verify that the car will move under it's own power!

I'm off to bed, I'm so drained, now I get to go bust ass working in the morning...
I will not take defeat for an answer, it's a waiting game now..

-Josh

 

[lowc]

i feel your pain, when i did my swap every time i was right there i found something else. but on the bright side everytime you have to get back in there you cut the time in half

 

[vortex2450]

i feel your pain, when i did my swap every time i was right there i found something else. but on the bright side everytime you have to get back in there you cut the time in half

It sucks, it really does, but I've learned patience is key when doing a project..

I'm feeling confident now, had a great day, my boss spotted me the money to buy a reman caliper so I got that and tomorrow I'm getting caliper one, and bleeding the brakes, then I have to replace the line from the PS fluid res to the steering rack with a line from the parts car..

Tomorrow is it!

I hope....

 

[vortex2450]

Hey, The swap is complete!

I don't have any idea where to camera is but I am planning on posting complete pictures, and a video.

I still have some tweaking to do.

-PS fluid flush
-Sub-frame alignment
-Alignment
-MTX Fluid flush
-Coolant flush (with distilled water and a rust preventative)
-Oil Leak (oil pump seal I believe)
and some cleaning needs to be done.

 

[Bob Gervais]

Excellent job Josh! Congrats on all the hard work paying off. Feels good, yes?

 

[rubydist]

sweet!!

 

[vortex2450]

Excellent job Josh! Congrats on all the hard work paying off. Feels good, yes?

Thanks! I haven't given it **** yet but I went with a 5 minute joy ride with my friend who helped me out some. Just driving it feels so much better, the response at cruising rpms (2000-2500 rpm) is amazing!

It also sounds throatier through the exhaust and has an a amazing rumble when engine braking. I'll have to post a video and you'll understand!

Today I didn't have a lot of time to work with, I had a leaky injector because the o-ring was torn, had to tear the intake off and replace the o-ring, in the process I somehow jammed my finger between the fuel rail and intake gasket at such an angle that the gasket cut the living $*** out of my finger, and I couldn't get the finger free for a couple seconds, now it's time for me to get my shirt!

Also fiddled with the sub frame but want to have a friend over so he can hold the wrench when I re tighten the sub frame bolts, I did loosen the rack and move it over to the right and more in the center of the hole, that helped the wheel a little.

For the oil leak, it seems to be the oil pump gasket is the problem, I tightened the bolts down to about 12 ft lbs, as a band aid I put a bottle of "No Leak: into the crankcase. It's only been 50 miles but I ran the engine all the way through it's power-band and i can't see any more oil drips and the smell of burning oil isn't there. I was replace the gasket soon, but the No L eak seems to be working well for now, as long as I don't run it hard until I get that gasket on I bet I'll be okay!

Last issue bugging me, I copied this from another thread I just started:

"off track, the power steering feels dead at a stop at slow speeds, particularly when backing up. It feels normal (besides needing to be aligned) at all speeds. It has VAPS, the connector on the original steering rack was located on the pressure hose fitting, the switch on the 94' track I put in was on the rack itself, When I replaced the pressure hose I simply put a fitting into the hole on the hose fitting and plugged into the connector on the rack. Does it matter which one I use? I figured it was a pressure sensor and if the newer rack used it then I must be somewhat better placement anyways.

I still have to flush the PS system, I didn't realize how much old fluid was in the rack, it's a mixture of about 80% new and 20% old (black) fluid, I know it needs to be flushed but should it make such a large impact at a stop? I'm full of curiosity here.



Thoughts on this?"

My plan is to continue tweaking Friday after work , bring my friend over.

- Loosen and line the subframe up, tighten it back up.
- Flush the PS system.
- Adjust both inner tie-rods to straighten the steering wheel more.
- Flush the cooling system.
- Flush the MTX tranny using fluid.

The fluid has less than 500 miles of use from the ATX parts car (Mobil 1 Syn Dexron III ATF) I remember it being close to $6 a quart, will this work for the MTX? I know it just sits i the fluid but figured why waste fluid that's practically new.

-Josh

 

[lowc]

Great job Josh! glad to here all the good progress. makes you feel like you just climbed a mnt. dont it? id give it a good couple thousand miles before you do any "real" sho driving in it, just to let everything settle into place and let some of the new parts work them selfs in. Asfar as your issues with the rack i would def. try to get the rest of the old fluid out. althought it may just be an air bubble stuck in the rack itself.

 

[vortex2450]

Great job Josh! glad to here all the good progress. makes you feel like you just climbed a mnt. dont it? id give it a good couple thousand miles before you do any "real" sho driving in it, just to let everything settle into place and let some of the new parts work them selfs in. Asfar as your issues with the rack i would def. try to get the rest of the old fluid out. althought it may just be an air bubble stuck in the rack itself.

Thanks, you guys will truly appreciate the sound once I get a video up.

Good advice, I just had to give a at least one short run, to be sure the secondaries where functioning (; I plan on taking it easy until the next oil change which I plan on doing @ 153k or about in 1500 miles..

At that I also want ed to mention that the valve-train seems noisy, it's mainly after cold starts, it gets better as the engine warms up, but still audible after 30 minutes of driving. Doesn't have any effect audible through exhaust, no unusual clacks, just some chatter.\

I read up on oil grades following a link posted here and learned a lot, I'm running conventional 5w-30 so I don't think that's too bad of a choice, I figured in case I had leaks I would want to use cheap oil, which turned out to be a good idea.. I'm sold on synthetic, next change I'm think mobil one 5w-30 syn, it is possible that'll help with the valve train noise or am I just stuck with a noisy top end?


Not a bad project for a 19 year old buying all his own tools doing it mostly alone..

-Josh

 

[rubydist]

valve train noise could be loose valve adjustment or chain tensioners that are not properly holding the chains tight. you should be able to determine which it is. what to do about it will be different depending on which problem it is.

 

[Bob Gervais]

Also, on the steering feel, I forget the exact VAPS connections. My 92 doesn't have it, and I never fiddled much with it on my 93. IIRC, there's separate pressure sensors and VAPS sensors, VAPS being on the rack, and pressure sensor being in the PS line. Perhaps someone can clear that up...

Keep in mind some of that "dead" steering feel may be due to the car needing an alignment.

*edit*

Forgot to add: I think you did a GREAT job, getting the swap done, buying the tools, and being patient with the project. You actually got it done pretty quickly! Nice work!

 

[pitaSHO]

I just read through the whole job, and dang, very nice. I'm working on one, too, but it's a little different. What timing belt tensioner system did you use; the ATX or MTX? If you used the MTX how did you solve the extra pin that needs to go in the block for the MTX tensioner?

CK

 

[vortex2450]

valve train noise could be loose valve adjustment or chain tensioners that are not properly holding the chains tight. you should be able to determine which it is. what to do about it will be different depending on which problem it is.

The PO of the engine said it had be recently 60k'd I trust in his competence in the job but that could be a possibility.

The timing chain's seemed loose to be honest. How big of a job is it to get at the tensioner with the engine in the car? Would I be removing parts that need gaskets?

Also, on the steering feel, I forget the exact VAPS connections. My 92 doesn't have it, and I never fiddled much with it on my 93. IIRC, there's separate pressure sensors and VAPS sensors, VAPS being on the rack, and pressure sensor being in the PS line. Perhaps someone can clear that up...

Keep in mind some of that "dead" steering feel may be due to the car needing an alignment.

*edit*

Forgot to add: I think you did a GREAT job, getting the swap done, buying the tools, and being patient with the project. You actually got it done pretty quickly! Nice work!

I thought of there being two sensors but there was only one connecotr on the wire harness and it plugged into both connectors (the on the rack and the one on the fitting) so I wrote the connectors off as being the same just in different spots.

If I did mess up connectors I thin the effect would be a little more obvious at higher speeds. Slow steering is feeling better, I makes some squealing at low speeds but I attest that to the bad fluid still in the system.

And thanks !

I had to dedicate two solid weeks to this project but that also including the time spent picking the engine up, pulling all the stuff from the 3.2l and dealing with issues, I also spent two days helping other people with their car stuff.

My problem is now I have no where to store all these parts I have

I just read through the whole job, and dang, very nice. I'm working on one, too, but it's a little different. What timing belt tensioner system did you use; the ATX or MTX? If you used the MTX how did you solve the extra pin that needs to go in the block for the MTX tensioner?

CK

Thanks, Once again, there is no justice until I post a video!.

I used the MTX tensioner, I used the double nut method to pull the retaining pin out of the 3.0l block, if you look closely at the 3.2l block, about an inch or so down and the the right of the 3.2l tensioner pin there is a hole for the 3.0l tensioner... Use the double nut to pull the ATX tensioner pin out, and tightened the MTX pin using the same double nut method. worked like a charm!
(You'll also have to transfer the little alignment stud, (if that's what your referring to) I just used and pair of vise grips and carefully wiggled it out in a twisting motion. Tap it in the proper hole on the 3.2l block with a mallet or a hammer with a small chuck of wood as a buffer.

Always remember patience! I got impatient and didn't tighten my oil pump down, had to tear down the acc side with the engine in the car because of it! lol


-Josh

 

[rubydist]

you can change timing chain tensioners with the engine in the car - you just need to pull the valve covers, and then either take out one cam or take the cam sprockets off the cams to get the chain/tensioner stuff out/in.

 

[vortex2450]

you can change timing chain tensioners with the engine in the car - you just need to pull the valve covers, and then either take out one cam or take the cam sprockets off the cams to get the chain/tensioner stuff out/in.

So the tensioner is accessible above the transmission? that's Ideal. You say change the tensioner, can I not just adjust the tensioner and put it back together or are they a piece that simply wears out and needs to be replaced? AWill I unseat any gaskets besides the VC gaskets?

Turns out the transmission was low on fluid and after sucking out the old and putting in 4 quarts of M1 Syn ATF alot of the noise I mistook for valvetrain noise is gone, still some clacking though, definitely sounds like the chain is slightly loose.


And for everyone following I made a quick teaser video last night after putting in the tranny fluid. See video description as I some have small issues that are audible..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhxdcitBVbs

 

[03cobraSHO]

Can you leave the 3.2 engine harness and use it on the original 3.0 MTX car. It appears to be the same?