awrysobriquet's '92 SS "Kali"

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Mon May 18, 2009 6:19 am

I picked the donor motor up this morning. I've since removed the AC compressor, alternator, power steering pump, coolant reservoir and various lines/hoses that I won't need. I spent a good part of the afternoon with a shop vac, blade screwdriver, pick and putty knife scraping 16 years of accumulated gunk off the front and top of the engine. I'm going to have to pull the intake manifold off and do some more serious cleaning before it goes in the car.
Also: valve cover gaskets, swap injectors, swap turbo and up-pipe, swap plug wires, new spark plugs, etc... and into the car.

Complete, stock and filthy 92k motor:

555BCTurbo · Post by **555BCTurbo** » Tue May 19, 2009 5:41 am

Be nice to this one! Watch your wideband!!!

I'll have to come get a ride in my old car sometime!

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:18 am

IT LIVES.

The engine swap was successful. It's even better to drive now with the the WRX seats and front fender braces (even without the front strut brace on). On to suspension work!

Dirty and dark, but here she is:

My favorite lesson learned over the past couple of weeks is that the fuel hoses between the filter and the hard lines on the intake manifold are 5/16", not 1/4", which explains why they were such a bitch to get on before.

dropdfocus · Post by **dropdfocus** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:42 am

Wow, the parts in the last picture will make a world of a difference on the car!

Congrats on getting her up & running!!! I bet you are a very happy person right now.

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:55 pm

awrysobriquet wrote:

Did you remember to remove the throw out bearing and put it on the transmission snout before installing the engine or after??

smh0101 · Post by **smh0101** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:27 pm

Legacy777 wrote: Did you remember to remove the throw out bearing and put it on the transmission snout before installing the engine or after??

I've never bothered. I just leave it on the clutch and align the tranny up, push it together, then push the clutch fork down into it and lock the clutch fork in place.

Always worked for me.

dropdfocus · Post by **dropdfocus** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:30 pm

Now just wait a cotton pickin' minute... Is the car auto or manual??? One picture shows a flex plate & the next shows a clutch! I'm damn confused.

awrysobriquet wrote:

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:11 am

I suppose I should've captioned better. The donor motor was out of an auto car. I just swapped the clutch and flywheel over. I left the throw out bearing on the clutch and didn't have any problems (I knew from reading the boards that I'd better damn well put that fork in before I bolted the engine and tranny up!). The motor that is pictured with the flywheel/clutch is the dead motor just out of the car.

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:20 am

dropdfocus wrote:Wow, the parts in the last picture will make a world of a difference on the car!

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting these parts on.
Whiteline ALK also, but not pictured. It was actually cheaper to buy from an Australian seller and have it shipped that far than to buy in the U.S.
Those coilovers are in limbo: The eBay seller backed out after the auction closed because he was out of town indefinately and couldn't get them shipped. He refunded me in full, but I still want to get my hands on those suckers.

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:05 pm

smh0101 wrote:
Legacy777 wrote: Did you remember to remove the throw out bearing and put it on the transmission snout before installing the engine or after??
I've never bothered. I just leave it on the clutch and align the tranny up, push it together, then push the clutch fork down into it and lock the clutch fork in place.

Always worked for me.

I tried that when I did my motor....didn't work. It may work with yours due to the different pressure plate / clutch setup.

smh0101 · Post by **smh0101** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:20 pm

Legacy777 wrote:
smh0101 wrote:
Legacy777 wrote: Did you remember to remove the throw out bearing and put it on the transmission snout before installing the engine or after??
I've never bothered. I just leave it on the clutch and align the tranny up, push it together, then push the clutch fork down into it and lock the clutch fork in place.

Always worked for me.
I tried that when I did my motor....didn't work. It may work with yours due to the different pressure plate / clutch setup.

Whats your clutch setup?

I'm running a stock WRX Clutch and flywheel right now...

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:28 pm

Same....02 WRX clutch & pp with WRX exedy LW flywheel.

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 2:19 am

My car is also running a WRX trans with stock WRX clutch and flywheel.

555BCTurbo · Post by **555BCTurbo** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 2:43 am

You took out the 4.11 tranny?!?!

smh0101 · Post by **smh0101** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:02 am

Nick... he may not have realised it was a 4.11

Was it out of a JDM Rex or RS?

555BCTurbo · Post by **555BCTurbo** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 5:56 am

94 Leggo GTB (I think it was a 94...a twin turbo Leggo nonetheless)

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 9:10 am

Yes, of course I know it's a 4.11, and it's the same as before (complete with iffy 3rd gear synchro). I was under the impression that it was a JDM WRX tranny, but I stand corrected. It has a new OEM clutch and flywheel nonetheless, which were done at the same time that the previous, short-lived motor was installed. I'm curious to see what effect those shifter bushings have on the 3rd gear issue...

Front Kartboy endlinks, H-brace and rear subframe locking bolts are in. Also reinstalled the front strut tower brace. It occurred to me that rotating the bar (about the y-axis) allowed the hood to clear properly (bar now further forward and closer to the underside of the scoop).

Probably doing the rear lateral links, rear endlinks and shifter bushings tomorrow. I need to hit up the hardware store for bolts for the rear endlinks since they aren't already there with the older style links.

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:28 am

Still need to buy some bolts before doing the rear lateral links and endlinks. I did get the front and rear shifter bushings in though, which make an absolutely huge difference in shift feel and accuracy. The old rubber rear bushing was toast after 224k miles. The front ones were poly bushings already, but felt relatively soft compared to the Kartboy ones I put in. From all this I conclude that the rear bushing is rather important and I highly recommend it.

It was idling well (after spraying a ton of carb cleaner into the IAC) and okay cruising, but was hesitating, bogging and going way lean under boost (yes, I got out of the boost reeeal quick and stayed out after confirming that it was doing that consistently). Three part solution:
1) Remember to use the same plugs that it was tuned on, which are NGK BKR7E gapped at .030, which are one range colder than the BKR6E-11 I initially put in after the swap (gapped the same).
2) Sea Foam in the gas for a bit of fuel system cleaning. I forgot to mention earlier that, post swap, I had to also swap the two sets of hard fuel lines on the manifold for the ones from the blown motor since it wasn't even trying to start after the initial crank. Lots of cranking, but clearly no fuel. Fired right up with the known-good lines. Odd, because I saw the donor motor run in the car it was pulled from. My suspicion, and reasoning behind swapping the hard lines, is that the donor lines are clogged somewhere with a chunk of gelled fuel. I pulled a small chunk of what must have been gelled fuel out of one of the donor rails at some point during the swap, but didn't think much of it at the time ("Hmm that's odd... meh. Onward!"). I digress.
3) Remember to hook up the small vacuum line between the fuel pressure regulator and manifold! This cured the lean condition and it's now back at 100% (or more, considering the car now idles better than it ever has, even though I had cleaned the other IAC thoroughly off the car a while back).
Running strong at 14 psi for the time being, but I'll probably push that back up to 17 or 18 eventually. Onward with suspension work, some gauges (boost, oil pressure, oil temp), seatbelts, etc!

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:56 am

Whiteline ALK is installed. First impressions are that the caster increase is fairly noticeable; the car feels less twitchy over bumps and the steering feels more solid/assured. I liked it instantly. I'll have to get more seat time with it in the curves to get a better grasp on the handling changes, but this is another bit that I'll likely highly recommend. The cheapo eBay H-brace doesn't clear the A-arms anymore, of course. C'est la vie. I'm sure it helped somewhat, but if the choice is between that and the ALK, it's no contest.

The rear sway bar has foiled me again: I hadn't realized that the ends are different between the earlier and later lateral link/end link styles. My older style bar has rubber bushings pressed into the ends of the swaybar. I think this is a good excuse to just get a larger Whiteline rear bar and be done with it. I need to get the rear done so I can get the car aligned. If I do the suspension work in too piecemeal a fashion, I'm likely to spend way too much at the alignment shop this year.

The front-right lower ball joint that I replaced shortly after getting the car appears to have failed already, so I'll be replacing that again.

With the car up on the lift today, I noticed that the inside of the right rear tire had been rubbing significantly against something smooth (I suspect against the strut housing). I don't know when that was happening, but I'm guessing while I was on the track. The left-rear tire, on the other hand, is the one that was getting seriously gouged by the fender on the track, because It appears that that cheap-ass camber bolt shifted and sent the camber positive. I attempted to fix it today with little success. It's a pretty hokey set-up, in my opinion. (On my, L, I used a set of beefy front camber bolts and had the holes on the strut ears drilled out to accept them, which has worked out really well.) That wheel still has very visibly more camber than the other three corners. So, I say screw it and am actively pursuing a set of high quality used GC8 coilovers with rear camber plates.

The best of my local auto parts stores has the full line of Auto-Meter gauges available, so I got a set of boost/vac, oil pressure and oil temp plus some single pods. Figuring out mounting and install for those should be interesting. I was tired of not being able to see the boost gauge at night (not to mention that it has no housing and is zip-tied to the steering column). It was a pretty neat set-up when I got the car, where it was mounted in the gauge cluster where the door indicators usually are, but that caused the number of undesirable electrical glitches (mentioned earlier) that were cured when I undid the mod.

My uncle is pretty handy with a welder and does a lot of fabrication, so we may do a roll bar/harness bar/partial cage at some point. Besides being annoying, the current seat belts are a bit iffy from a safety perspective, so getting that sorted is becoming a priority.

Finally making some serious progress, I'm loving driving the car more and more every day.

555BCTurbo · Post by **555BCTurbo** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:35 am

Yeah...I was never impressed with those Whiteline rear camber bolts...

did you ever replace the (I think left) rear lateral links and whatnot that I gave Derek with the car?

It had a bit of a positive camber on one of the rear wheels when I got rid of it...probably from when it kissed a curb in the snow a few years ago

kimokalihi · Post by **kimokalihi** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:59 pm

awrysobriquet wrote:
dropdfocus wrote:Wow, the parts in the last picture will make a world of a difference on the car!
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting these parts on.
Whiteline ALK also, but not pictured. It was actually cheaper to buy from an Australian seller and have it shipped that far than to buy in the U.S.
Those coilovers are in limbo: The eBay seller backed out after the auction closed because he was out of town indefinately and couldn't get them shipped. He refunded me in full, but I still want to get my hands on those suckers.

Really? I just bought a Whiteline rear adjustable swaybar from notenoughauto.com for $221 with free shipping. They emailed me afterwards and told me they don't actually stock the whiteline parts, they just order them after someone buys them and they have them drop shipped to your house to save money on shipping.

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 5:34 am

kimokalihi, In the case of the ALK, the eBay auction was actually by an Aussie seller in Austrailian Dollars. I think the exchange rate helped a bit. The swaybars I bought from Never Enough Auto like you did. I got the bit about drop shipping too. The price was good, so as long as they actually show up, I'm happy. Do you have your bar yet?

Nick, I have those arms/links for the left rear that you sent along with the car (plus NOS STi lateral links). They're definitely on the agenda. Things don't appear all that tweaked, but judging by the camber issues on that corner, I'd better swap those bits out. I'm itching for some camber plates all around though, 'cause those bolts don't cut it.

555BCTurbo · Post by **555BCTurbo** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:55 am

No...those bolts are crap...

I only ran them to compensate for the problem on the left corner

I will advise that running too much camber in the back made the car awfully skittish in the corners (like the rear wanted to come 'round a lot)

awrysobriquet · Post by **awrysobriquet** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:52 am

Okay, so if anyone is interested in some almost new KYB AGX struts w/ H&R springs, I'll have them available within the next couple of weeks. I'd really prefer local pick-up in PDX, but I'll ship if necessary. PM me if interested. I'll post these up in the Parts Shed later if no one expresses interest. Note that these are currently assembled without bump stops, but I have new bump stops for them, which are included, and I'll install them for you if you like. Asking $575. This set-up is about $700 new from Tire Rack.

Also available is an eBay H-brace that was installed for all of 10 days before I learned that it doesn't clear the ALK. $50.

I somehow managed to get both of the part numbers wrong when I ordered swaybars, so they're going back to get the correct ones. Should have been BSF20XZ for 24mm adjustable front and BSR19XXZ for 22mm adjustable rear. Note to self: don't order parts too late at night. So, available in a few weeks will be front and rear stock 18mm sway bars (plus rear brackets if you need them). Make me an offer.

Coilovers should be arriving next week. Zzyzx GC8 coilovers with front MRT/Noltech camber/caster plates, rear Cusco camber plates, 500lb/in front Eibach springs, 425lb/in rear Hypercoil springs (I had a choice of spring rates between 600, 500, 425 and 400). These have Koni inserts with independently adjustable compression and rebound. I'm really geeking out about these. I got a great deal and the seller has been very helpful.

Once I get this all put together and dialed in, it's time to go LSD hunting...

555BCTurbo · Post by **555BCTurbo** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:06 am

I think Tigard LKQ has a 2.5 RS = 4.111 LSD

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awrysobriquet's '92 SS "Kali"