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Engine SwapStep zero was finding someone more experienced than me to help. I knew I couldn't do this job on my own, as it was beyond my skill set. I reached out to as many people as I could, and luckily someone from my school's Car Club said he'd be willing to help!
Step one was getting a replacement motor. While replacing the failed rod-bearings is an option, my motor was in poor health due to the previous owner's lack of maintenance. Thus, replacing the motor made more sense (and takes a lot less technical know-how). I scoured the internet for replacement motors before finding one in Long Island (About a 4 hour drive from my house) I called ahead to reserve it and ensure it was in good condition. This motor came out of a low-mileage crashed Mazda 6.
My parents graciously loaned my their SUV to pick up my motor. Upon arriving I paid for the motor and they loaded it into my car after I confirmed it turned over. I spun the flywheel with my foot to ensure the engine wasn't locked up and I got a feel for the engine's compression.
Since my friend was located in Maryland, I had to get my car there somehow. My engine was in no shape to make the journey so I rented a U-Haul trailer and my father helped me pull it with his truck. Even driving up the ramps onto the trailer was a struggle for my hurt engine, but she was a fighter and got on (After a few stalls).
Once at my friends place, we got to work. It was raining but we didn't let that stop us. The first thing we did was remove the hood to get better access. We then began removing things from the engine. We started from the top, removing the wiring harness, airbox, and anything in the way.
Next, we jacked the car up and removed the wheels. You can see the rust on my brake rotors from sitting for a couple days in the rain. With the car jacked up, we could get underneath to drain the coolant which allowed us to disconnect the radiator. We then pulled the CV axles out of the transmission, pulled off the fuel lines from the engine, and disconnected the exhaust.
Here I am fighting the A/C Compressor which did not want to come off the engine block.
Using an engine hoist I borrowed from another friend, we started pulling up on the motor. This took the load off the engine mounts which allowed us to unbolt them, leaving the engine freely hanging off the hoist. We hit a snag here as the exhaust manifold did not want to come off. We had little room to work with, so we slowly inched it out while raising and lowering the engine slowly to allow more wiggle room.
Hours later, we had the engine out! You can see the transmission on the right side of the engine. We have to take it off the old engine and swap it onto the new engine.
Above you can see the exhaust manifold that was giving us so much trouble, as well as what an empty engine bay looks like. Once we had the motor out, we called it for the day. We had been working on it for over 8 hours straight.
I don't have any images of us putting the motor, as the process was mostly the same but in reverse. The A/C Compressor that caused us problems taking off caused even more problems putting back on. We spent about 6 hours of day two trying to get the stuck bolt out of the compressor. This wouldn't be a problem if we were in a shop, but we couldn't disconnect the A/C lines since the system was still charged with Freon. We eventually were able to get it out, but by that time we were running out of daylight and motivation. We dropped the motor into the car, but left most things disconnected.
The third day went a lot smoother. We were able to reconnect everything and fire her up for the first time. It was breath-holding moment the first time I cranked it.I cycled the ignition a few times to build fuel pressure. Now it was time for the moment of truth. I put the clutch in and turned the key. Grr-grr-grr-grr... Nothing. I tried again. Grr-grr-grr-grr-POP! Well, it didn't start but now we knew it was starting to get fuel. I cycled the key a few more times. Grr-grr-grr-grr-grrrrr-vrooooooooooom-pop. It ran!!!! Not well, though. Each time I started it, it would run for a few seconds then stall out, a symptom typically caused by a vacuum leak.Sure enough, after some looking around the engine bay we found our problem. Part of the plastic intake manifold had snapped and was causing a vacuum leak, causing the engine to run lean and stall out. We weren't sure if the engine came that way, or if it had been damaged in moving it, or if we damaged it lowering it down, but it didn't matter. We needed a new intake manifold, and to replace it we'd have to take the motor back out.After some thinking, we decided the best course of action was to use some JB Weld to put it back together. The manifold wasn't under a huge amount of vacuum, so we figured it would be strong enough to plug the leak. After running to the store, we applied the JB Weld to the cracked manifold and let it cure for a few hours. With patience running thin, we checked on the JB weld. It was mostly cured. Good enough to run the engine for a few minutes.I got into my car again and patted the dash for good luck. "Come on girl," I said to her. Grr-grr-grr-vrooooooom! She was alive!
After ensuring everything was running right, we buttoned the engine bay up and let the JB Weld dry. The next day, I took my car for a test drive. It felt so good to be driving my car again. Unfortunately, I didn't get too far before I noticed the temperature gauge slowly rising. Uh-oh. I pulled over and checked my coolant level. To my relief, it had lowered, meaning there was just some air in the cooling system. I topped off the coolant and turned on my heat to ensure the system was circulating correctly. Slowly, my coolant temperature gauge climbed back down to normal.
Victory drive!! After ensuring everything else was working as intended, I took my car out for a night cruise and enjoyed every second of it. We had brought my car back from the dead.
Engine SwapStep zero was finding someone more experienced than me to help. I knew I couldn't do this job on my own, as it was beyond my skill set. I reached out to as many people as I could, and luckily someone from my school's Car Club said he'd be willing to help!
Step one was getting a replacement motor. While replacing the failed rod-bearings is an option, my motor was in poor health due to the previous owner's lack of maintenance. Thus, replacing the motor made more sense (and takes a lot less technical know-how). I scoured the internet for replacement motors before finding one in Long Island (About a 4 hour drive from my house) I called ahead to reserve it and ensure it was in good condition. This motor came out of a low-mileage crashed Mazda 6.My parents graciously loaned my their SUV to pick up my motor. Upon arriving I paid for the motor and they loaded it into my car after I confirmed it turned over. I spun the flywheel with my foot to ensure the engine wasn't locked up and I got a feel for the engine's compression.Since my friend was located in Maryland, I had to get my car there somehow. My engine was in no shape to make the journey so I rented a U-Haul trailer and my father helped me pull it with his truck. Even driving up the ramps onto the trailer was a struggle for my hurt engine, but she was a fighter and got on (After a few stalls).Once at my friends place, we got to work. It was raining but we didn't let that stop us. The first thing we did was remove the hood to get better access. We then began removing things from the engine. We started from the top, removing the wiring harness, airbox, and anything in the way.Next, we jacked the car up and removed the wheels. You can see the rust on my brake rotors from sitting for a couple days in the rain. With the car jacked up, we could get underneath to drain the coolant which allowed us to disconnect the radiator. We then pulled the CV axles out of the transmission, pulled off the fuel lines from the engine, and disconnected the exhaust.Here I am fighting the A/C Compressor which did not want to come off the engine block.Using an engine hoist I borrowed from another friend, we started pulling up on the motor. This took the load off the engine mounts which allowed us to unbolt them, leaving the engine freely hanging off the hoist. We hit a snag here as the exhaust manifold did not want to come off. We had little room to work with, so we slowly inched it out while raising and lowering the engine slowly to allow more wiggle room.Hours later, we had the engine out! You can see the transmission on the right side of the engine. We have to take it off the old engine and swap it onto the new engine.Above you can see the exhaust manifold that was giving us so much trouble, as well as what an empty engine bay looks like. Once we had the motor out, we called it for the day. We had been working on it for over 8 hours straight.I don't have any images of us putting the motor, as the process was mostly the same but in reverse. The A/C Compressor that caused us problems taking off caused even more problems putting back on. We spent about 6 hours of day two trying to get the stuck bolt out of the compressor. This wouldn't be a problem if we were in a shop, but we couldn't disconnect the A/C lines since the system was still charged with Freon. We eventually were able to get it out, but by that time we were running out of daylight and motivation. We dropped the motor into the car, but left most things disconnected.The third day went a lot smoother. We were able to reconnect everything and fire her up for the first time. It was breath-holding moment the first time I cranked it.I cycled the ignition a few times to build fuel pressure. Now it was time for the moment of truth. I put the clutch in and turned the key. Grr-grr-grr-grr... Nothing. I tried again. Grr-grr-grr-grr-POP! Well, it didn't start but now we knew it was starting to get fuel. I cycled the key a few more times. Grr-grr-grr-grr-grrrrr-vrooooooooooom-pop. It ran!!!! Not well, though. Each time I started it, it would run for a few seconds then stall out, a symptom typically caused by a vacuum leak.Sure enough, after some looking around the engine bay we found our problem. Part of the plastic intake manifold had snapped and was causing a vacuum leak, causing the engine to run lean and stall out. We weren't sure if the engine came that way, or if it had been damaged in moving it, or if we damaged it lowering it down, but it didn't matter. We needed a new intake manifold, and to replace it we'd have to take the motor back out.After some thinking, we decided the best course of action was to use some JB Weld to put it back together. The manifold wasn't under a huge amount of vacuum, so we figured it would be strong enough to plug the leak. After running to the store, we applied the JB Weld to the cracked manifold and let it cure for a few hours. With patience running thin, we checked on the JB weld. It was mostly cured. Good enough to run the engine for a few minutes.I got into my car again and patted the dash for good luck. "Come on girl," I said to her. Grr-grr-grr-vrooooooom! She was alive!After ensuring everything was running right, we buttoned the engine bay up and let the JB Weld dry. The next day, I took my car for a test drive. It felt so good to be driving my car again. Unfortunately, I didn't get too far before I noticed the temperature gauge slowly rising. Uh-oh. I pulled over and checked my coolant level. To my relief, it had lowered, meaning there was just some air in the cooling system. I topped off the coolant and turned on my heat to ensure the system was circulating correctly. Slowly, my coolant temperature gauge climbed back down to normal.Victory drive!! After ensuring everything else was working as intended, I took my car out for a night cruise and enjoyed every second of it. We had brought my car back from the dead.