The Gen 3.5 swap

l0ch0w

New member
Got lots more done last night, got me a whole two hours of sleep last night :/

Anyways, heres the list, pics up tonight:
-Brake lines installed (Non-ABS)
-Front A-Arms and spindles removed for powdercoating
-Fabricated brackets for A2W heat exchanger, and installed H/E.
-A2W coolant pump installed

The coolant pump location has been flummoxing me for quite some time. The problem is that the Johnson CM90 is massive... Turns out it fits nicely bolted to the corner of the CS front bumper support and it is easily accessible.

That all said, plans are to have the motor dropped in by Friday next week :)
 

BADNEWS

Member
I'm hoping to have my motor in on Saturday the 23rd or Sunday. Looks like you'll beat me for getting your motor in. Do you still have to fab a lot of stuff or from there is it easy and should be running soon?
 

l0ch0w

New member
BADNEW5":2q2a9wsn said:
I'm hoping to have my motor in on Saturday the 23rd or Sunday. Looks like you'll beat me for getting your motor in. Do you still have to fab a lot of stuff or from there is it easy and should be running soon?

The biggies are that I still need to build my whole tucked wiring harness. But that's much easier to do once the motor is in the car. The motor may actually come out a few times in this process...

Some time this week i need to make the bracket that goes onto the back of my intake manifold that will be holding my coils and flex fuel sensor, ive mocked it up using cardboard.
 

l0ch0w

New member
Progress pictures:

Custom P/S reservoir location finished.
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Where I am hiding my coils, (also measuring for my Magnacore wires)
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Secret A2W pump location :)
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Heat exhanger installed (i probably have to move it up a bit, i think it may just hang below the front bumper fascia...
(Also please pardon the tilt, my camera rotated 90 in its mount so up/down became tilt left or right :/ )
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l0ch0w

New member
ok... engine in!

Here are some crane pics:
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You can see some of the additional stuff that's been powdercoated.
 

l0ch0w

New member
Mostly put together. Still lots of work to do, but I'm trailering it to its new home in Colorado Springs :)
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The hood needs some pins, Its CF, which means it wont fit right until I get them installed :/
 

Corey

Active member
Fantastic work!

Looks great. Which brand of CF hood do you have? Looks like it uses the OEM trim piece?
 

l0ch0w

New member
Corey Darling":vmncjo2l said:
Fantastic work!

Looks great. Which brand of CF hood do you have? Looks like it uses the OEM trim piece?

Its a VIS hood, fitment is pretty good, the gaps arent as nice as I would like, but its about as good as it gets for CF since it flexes quite a bit... Also still need to get the hood pins. It does not latch all the way down because the catch hook is not quite long enough... The center section is removable just like the OEM hood as is the rear hood spoiler, but the side vents are non-removable.

CMS-GT4":vmncjo2l said:
Looking good. I'll be referencing this thread if I ever pull my engine out again.

Speaking of dropping in... I found the easiest method by far...

I set the motor/trans on a pair of wheel dollies I had. Put the rear wheels on some ramps and the front end on jack stands. Then, I lifted the whole front end of the car with the engine lift attached at the front bumper support bolts, about 4 feet up. Rolled the engine under the car through the wheel wells (front suspension removed), set the car back down on jack stands over the motor, and then lifted the motor up through the engine bay. It was super painless, cant recommend the method enough after having cherry-picked this motor ~5 times. Even did it with the garage door up and it didn't interfere because I never had to lift the crane that high. I know it sounds like more work, but if you are taking out your engine, remove the front suspension (a-arms and spindles) and drive shaft, the extra bit of work saves hours of headache and busted knuckles. Oh, and air tools are a plus too...
 

l0ch0w

New member
Still in a holding pattern...

School, then heading to Germany. Then buying a house... Best estimate on resuming the build will be Spring of 2017. :(
 

l0ch0w

New member
So much for that schedule...

Sorry for such a long wait everyone. Its still sitting in my wife's grandmother's garage. On a side note, im looking to buy some seats (I sold the gen VI ones) and perhaps sell the turbo kit and go with an EFR. I found some nice bolt-on solutions available for it that I think I am going to try my hand at.

Somewhere along the line I've lost the turbo downpipe... Im pretty sure it is in MR2Josh's garage somewhere in Kansas, and I dont expect I will get it back. Which is why I may be looking to change the turbo situation.

As for my explanation why this is taking so long, well life happened, I got married, I started a career that keeps me really busy, and right now Im on the cusp of having a garage again where I can regularly work on this stuff.

The good news is that both my brother-in-law and my wife's uncle both have vehicle lifts, and cars are sort of a thing in the family. So It will eventually get finished.

I will post updates as things start happening again.

-Andrew
 

FC Zach

Active member
I know it would be a massive undertaking for you to correct but is there any way you can shrink your pics? Most of them are WAY too big and require right-click/view-image to view the whole thing. Otherwise, I can only see the left edge. Very few are viewer friendly :) Or. . . maybe it's just my computer. . :shrug:

Anyways, from what I could see without right-clicking/viewing every image (and some I couldn't resist not doing that to), your build looks awesome! ! Great work!
 
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