My S13 Build Progress - 56K Warning
 

:rawk:Build Index:rawk:

• Current Total Project Cost
• Work Day 1, 2, 3, and 4 - 3/13/2007
• Work Day 5 - 3/14/2007
• Work Day 6 - 3/15/2007
• Work Day 7 - 3/16/2007
• Work Day 8 - 3/17/2007
• Work Day 9 - 3/18/2007
• Work Day 10 - 3/19/2007
• Work Day 10 Continued - 3/19/2007
• Work Day 11 - 3/20/2007
• Work Day 12 - 3/21/2007
• Work Day 13 - 3/26/2007
• Work Day 13 Continued - 3/27/2007
• Work Day 14 - 3/31/2007
• Work Day 15 - 4/2/2007
• Work Day 16 - 4/5/2007
• Work Day 17 - 4/6/2007
• Work Day 18 - 4/7/2007
• Work Day 19 - 4/8/2007
• Work Day 20 - 4/11/2007
• Work Day 21 - 4/14/2007
• Work Day 22 - 4/16/2007
• Work Day 23 - 4/19/2007
• Work Day 24 - 4/20/2007
• Work Day 25 - 4/21/2007
• Work Day 26 - 4/23/2007
• Work Day 27 - 4/25/2007
• Work Day 28 - 4/27/2007
• Work Day 29 - 4/29/2007
• In Conclusion - 5/11/2007

So I finally broke down after much debating with myself and just got a storage unit to do the swap instead of paying a shop to do it for me. I'd like to keep updating this as I do more to it each day. I have more pictures located here and I will be keeping them up to date on there as well.

I started this past Saturday so here's the progress up until today...

Day 1 [Back to index]
Got all of my tools moved into the storage unit, laid down some painters plastic to try to keep the liquids off of the floor, and moved the car in there. Also bought an engine hoist since I didn't know how long I'd need it. Brought the laptop with the FSM on it. Yeah, I know, she needs paint.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0158.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0166.jpg

I also talked to the guys at Enjuku about the parts I'll need and got them "preordered" I guess you could say. I'll be picking up all of the parts and engine (SR Blacktop) on the 16th. Needless to say I'm in debt now :bigok:

I started by removing the bumper, fender wells, hood, and draining the fluids.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0188.jpg
Then I started removing some of the larger parts: radiator, battery, condensor, intake, airbox, etc etc.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0168.jpg

After that it was dark and the storage unit doesn't have any electricity so I had to stop. :fawk2:

Day 2 [Back to index]

Today I started by removing the wiring harness which turned out to be a bitch. So many of the plugs were greased over and just plain old that they didn't want to disconnect. I didn't want to clip them because I wasn't sure what I would need so I just had to use a pair of pliers and some elbow grease on some of them.

Once that was done I removed some of the components that were attached to the motor to make way for the engine hoist. Removed the alternator, compressor, distributor, and some other stuff I can't remember right now.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0184.jpg

Day 3 [Back to index]

I got out there late from work on day 3 so there's not much worth noting except I removed the entire exhaust system from the downpipe back. I also removed the shifter from the tranny.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0186.jpg

Day 4 (Today) [Back to index]
Today I was able to get the driveshaft disconnected, tranny mount disconnected, and assemble my new engine hoist :bigok: After that I bolted her up and yanked the KA out. It was surprisingly easier that I thought it would be, came right out.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0189.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0190.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0194.jpg

Victory!
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0197.jpg

Tomorrow I'll be cleaning her up and primering her for paint!
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0198.jpg

THAT"S MY CAR.. a year and a 1/2 ago! only mine's an auto... :'( Pix of my work on my car domain. Good luck, definately a fun car to work on... i think any way, i LOVE My S13, i'll never get rid of it.... long as i have a choice that is. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2519819 <there's my baby

haha "victory"...glad to see your takin your time on it...not rushing, learning...most importantly doing it yourself...+1 for you....pretty good quality pics.

good luck on your car dude....make sure to keep us updated!

Thanks everyone, I'm glad I went this route instead of relying on someone else to install it.

Once you get out of debt you should consider going premie.

Good job taking MY advice on the storage unit DIY...maybe you should give me that motor.

All jokes aside, congrats on getting yourself in a big mess, and good luck remembering what to do.

nice setup with everything: taking your time is a plus.
props for a DIY

Cant wait for updates, Props for DIYer

Haha, I most certainly would give it to you if I had the time to ship it. During the hours they pick up, I am either at school or at work so it's kind of a time crunch.

I can wait ^.^ I'm just messing with you.

damn...how much was that storage unit cuz all the ones around me wouldn't let me store a car unless it was ablle to be started...i was gonna part out an s14

They didn't say anything to me about it, all they needed was proof of insurance and a copy of my registration. They've seen me working on it and haven't said anything. I should be done in a couple of weeks though so it really shouldn't be that big of a deal...

Watch them say something tomorrow now that the motor is out.:keke:

Oh, and it's $100 a month for the unit. It's the 2nd largest one they have.

Dang that KA looks so untouched. Everytime I see a write-up it makes me wanna do a swap myself.

Day 5 [Back to index]

So today I got bogged down installing the hitch on my daily driver so I can rent a trailer to pick up the motorset and parts. Behold, the blue bomber...

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0159.jpg
Conan O'Brien doesn't have anything on this.

Bought that car for $1000 from my last job when they shut down, hell of a deal even though I hate Fords.

Anyways, back on topic. I really only have like 2 and a half hours of daylight after I get off of work at 5pm during the week so there wasn't much else I could do. I did start cleaning the engine bay as well as the storage unit itself though. After pulling the motor, a lot of fluids drained out on the floor beneath the car so I got all of that up and placed some new plastic under the car.

Then I started going at it with degreaser. I got some of the bay cleaned, but there are still some things attached to the firewall that I need to remove before I can thoroughly clean it.

I also bought paint for the engine bay. Initially I was just going to paint it red like the rest of the car. Then today I saw someone on here with a red 240 and a black engine bay and it looked really nice so I bought some black paint today instead. I'll just use the red I already bought to accent some of the other engine components.

I forgot to take my camera today but I'll get pictures tomorrow. There wasn't really much progress to take pictures of honestly unless you like pictures of dirt :naughty: To satiate my picture quota for the day, here's a Dr. Claw-esque picture of me in research mode, enjoy! :loco:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...s/DSCN0201.jpg

nice build up.....btw i like college humor 2

wow, 3 monitors!

It's rediculous, really.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0158.jpg


aww thats such a cute pic ! i love how its all neat and laid out

seriously you are Hcore doing a swap in a storage unit with no electricity.

haha, yes I know. When I really want to work on it, I have an inverter I plug up to the blue bomber and a drop light I hook up to that, works out well just wish I didn't have to move the light around under the car and shit.

Plus I have to leave the car running so I don't kill the battery which sucks.:fawk2:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0166.jpg

^^ that's the cleanest SOHC i've ever seen.

you're a fuckin trooper for doing that shit in a storage container. i don't have that kind
of motivation. keep it up man.

haha, thanks. I'm surprised you guys think it's clean, I thought it was horribly dirty. Maybe because I was fixated on the bottom end which was completely covered in oil that had leaked over the years, but the top end looks great! haha :bigok:

BTW, anyone going to the Gator Nationals around here this weekend? I don't think anyone is really from this area so probably not. I won't be there, but I'm doing the swap like... a mile or so from the strip.

:rofl: i was thinking the exact same thing, it looks like a movie set, not something in the real world :D

some people take their post whoring to extremes.....

^ rofl.

hipocracy at its best

Day 6 [Back to index]

Today I got quite a bit done and I remembered my camera :bigok: I started by finally taking out the rest of the power steering lines. I was having a hard time before because so much stuff was in the way but I was finally able to get in there... literally in there sitting. After that I removed some of the other stuff in the bay like the resevoir and wiper motor. I also disattached the passenger side fuse box and hung it over the side of the fender to get it out of the way.

I then used a pair of pliers to pull all of the plastic ziptie straps that hold the cables to the body. I bought new ones so I wanted to replace all of them. I plan on bundling all of the wires extremely nice also so that I can minimize their visibility in the bay as much as possible. I have to find somewhere that sells nice long runs of the thermal wrap, anyone know where? I bought some from auto zone and some other places, but none of them are more than a few inches long. I'd like to have a spool of it if possible, that'd be really nice. Anyways...

After that it was on with the degreaser, a paint scraper, and three rolls of shop towels.

BEFORE

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0202.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0203.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0208.jpg

AFTER

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0210.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0212.jpg

The dark area near the driver side firewall is actually where the paint has come off, not dirt. But that doesn't mean I'm finished cleaning it. I plan on getting a few cheap toothbrushes tomorrow and trying to get in some of the small spots. Also, I wasn't able to clean the area where the battery was very well. The battery tray area is partially corroded and hard to clean. Anyone know how to get rid of that thing? It seems to be welded down but it would be awesome to just get it out of there. Here's what it looks like currently:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0214.jpg

I also have a question for everyone, is the canister needed after the swap? I'm 99.9% sure it's not but I don't know what to do with this metal line here that was running to it:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...0/DSCN0205.jpg

It looks like it runs to the back of the car, I guess to the fuel pump maybe? It was connected to the canister, I took it off today so I could clean that area. What should I do with that tube?




Other than that, tomorrow is the big day. I got the trailer today and I'll be leaving early tomorrow for Orlando to pick up the motor and parts. I'll have pictures of everything around noon tomorrow so check back. I'll be prepping the motor for installation tomorrow night as well as finishing cleaning the bay and primering it for paint on Saturday (hopefully I'll get that much done tomorrow evening :x: )

On top of all of this, I also became a premie today :bigok: Figured I would be doing a lot more contributing to Zilvia from now on out so that was a good place to start contributing.



EDIT: I meant to ask this, how did everyone get their motor mounts off? I assume with just a wrench but mine do NOT want to come off. I'm worried I'm going to screw the nuts up. Do you get new nuts with new motor mounts typically?

clean ass engine bay

very nice progress so far man.
Keep us updated till the end.

Thanks a lot, I most definately will.



And to the person who just neg. repped me without posting, being a premie has already paid off on the first day. I know who you are. :fawk2:

yo, the long tube to the back of the car is the fuel tank ventilation im almost positive.

as far as the battery tray, drill out the spot welds with either a regular drill bit or buy a spot weld drill bit to make it a little easier.

you may need an impact for those mounts.

Hmmm, so I'm going to want to keep the canister then to facilitate that? I'll have to hide it somewhere then, hah. Trying to get as much out of the bay as possible.

Drilling the welds out might not be a bad idea, I will already have to in order to cut a hole for the intercooler piping. I'll check tomorrow to see exactly where the welds are.

I tried a breaker bar on the mounts but you can't get it in there quite straight so it doesn't work. The bolts area kind of inset within that brace.

EDIT: Just found my answer pertaining to that vacuum line thanks to Russ. The answer is here for reference later if anyone needs it:

#/f/showthread.p...light=canister