legacycentral bbs

How do you get this damn thing in? It's in the motor mount slots in the x-member and the lower studs are in the transmission with the nuts threaded a little on the ends. The clutch is on the spline - it slid on when I turned the crank slightly. Everything is lined up including the guide pins yet the damn thing still has about a 1/2" gap between the engine and transmission. Could the transmission have moved back? How the hell do I get it forward then? The transmission jack and engine hoist are both relaxed, but I wish I was.

I knew this job would suck but I didn't realize to this extent and having the old engine spill oil and antifreeze all over my friggin' kitchen just tops it all. I've gone through about a 1/2 gallon of simple orange or whatever that soap's called. Unless you have a garage and spare car I don't recommend this.

I see the future ... its ... a 'for sale' sign.

Steve

evolutionmovement wrote:How do you get this damn thing in? It's in the motor mount slots in the x-member and the lower studs are in the transmission with the nuts threaded a little on the ends. The clutch is on the spline - it slid on when I turned the crank slightly. Everything is lined up including the guide pins yet the damn thing still has about a 1/2" gap between the engine and transmission. Could the transmission have moved back? How the hell do I get it forward then? The transmission jack and engine hoist are both relaxed, but I wish I was.

I knew this job would suck but I didn't realize to this extent and having the old engine spill oil and antifreeze all over my friggin' kitchen just tops it all. I've gone through about a 1/2 gallon of simple orange or whatever that soap's called. Unless you have a garage and spare car I don't recommend this.

I see the future ... its ... a 'for sale' sign.

Steve

1/2" gap is huge! Are you sure everything is out of the way. Wires and other junk. I mounted my auto while the engine was out of the car. It still was kinda tough to get the trans over the guide pins. I had to start the lower nuts and use them to close the gap. The MT could be a different situation.

I haven't ever installed an EJ motor, but because of my experience with other cars I wonder if maybe the clutch isn't fully on... I know when we were installing a 5-speed in my brother's car it took us forever to push the transmission and motor together because we kept thinking we had it lined up but in the end it turned out we didn't have it lined up closely enough to slide all the way on.

Hang in there, man... so close to having it running again...

You need to just keep trying. My tranny was doing the same thing, eventually it will just go on there.

MK

Got it. I pulled it off and started over and when I changed the angle a little and pushed it just popped on.

What a nightmare. Now I need to get a coolant adaptor as the pipe that comes from the heater on the turbo is 1/2" instead of 5/8" (or whatever the metric of that is).

And if I finally get it running its goin to be even slower, still going to need wheels, CV joint, and I don't know what caused the piston to blow so I have no idea if it'll happen again.

Steve

That's awesome that you got the motor in.

Why do you need to replace the wheels?

Wait a sec -- the heater nipple on the water pump is the same size on turbos and non-turbos. You shouldn't have to use an adapter to connect your heater core up.

The water pump can have up to three nipples on it:

The nipple for the turbo is 12mm (~1/2"). This is the upper one on the driver side.
The nipple for the oil cooler is 12mm (~1/2"). This is the one on the passenger side.
The nipple for the heater core is 15mm (~5/8"). This is the lower one on the driver side.

Did you cap off the heater nipple? And you're now trying to connect the heater to the turbo nipple?

Yaeh, you can use either nipple from the turbo with the N/A. I'm talking about on the back driver's side of the engine next to the gooseneck. On the N/A it's a 5/8 that comes out to the right of the gooseneck. On the turbo it comes out to the left and is 1/2". I can't imagine why they did that. Oh, yeah, they did it to piss me off, that's right.

I need to replace the wheels because they're bent (although they still hold air better than any set I've ever seen - go figure). I can't rotate the worn front tires unless I have them remounted (and pray they get it right) because the ones on the front are the less bent ones and only cause a little vibration while the rears are unbearable on the front.

Just had two Bill & Bob's roast beefs (first meal today as I can't reach my stove) and I feel much better now. These sandwiches must be in my top ten favorite things in the world and I usually don't even care much for food. I still don't know about this car though, I'm starting to like the tossability of my brother-in-law's OBS even on ass tires. If the seats weren't so damn uncomfortable and the interior so cheap I'd maybe get a cheap Impreza [gasp].

Steve

Impreza's feel worlds more "tossable" than our Legacy's. My wife's '00 RS is a damn fun car, and it's great having both cars in the family because it's easy to see how they got the Impreza out of the original Legacy chassis.

Glad to hear you got the engine in alright. I can only imagine the frustration.

-Brian

Remember, boys and girls, even if all the bolts are lined up, even if the splines on the input shaft on the tranny are mesh with the clutch disc, the angle at which the engine and tranny are relative to each other is crucial. Steve, it's possible that everything was lined up, but that perhaps the engine was facing downward relative to the tranny. This would put extra weight on the bottom bolts and make it nearly impossible to put them completely together.

When I reinstalled my tranny, we got everything lined up, input shaft in clutch disc, bolts lined up. Then it was a matter of adjusting the jack that I had under the oilpan to move it up or down, and adjusting the floor jack I had holding the tranny. Once I found the right combination, one good push and the tranny was almost completely mated to the engine, enough that I could finish it by tightening the bolts.

The first time I tried adjusting engine angle, height, transmission height, and I'd move it physically to little effect beyond my frustration. When I pulled back out to check for some unseen obstruction and put it back in it just popped into place with a small push.

My back is killing me from hauling these friggin' engines in and out of my kitchen door as I can't get the crane around the stairs. I figure if ancient Egyptians could build the pyramids, then I can transplant a motor by myself in the driveway. I was wrong - that guy who built Coral Castle must have been right and they used some sort of levitation. This is the dumbest thing I've ever done - even dumber than when I tried to do a cartwheel on my friend's deck while drunk. We'll see if it gets worse if the car doesn't run tomorrow.

Steve

evolutionmovement wrote:My back is killing me from hauling these friggin' engines in and out of my kitchen door as I can't get the crane around the stairs. I figure if ancient Egyptians could build the pyramids, then I can transplant a motor by myself in the driveway. I was wrong - that guy who built Coral Castle must have been right and they used some sort of levitation. This is the dumbest thing I've ever done - even dumber than when I tried to do a cartwheel on my friend's deck while drunk. We'll see if it gets worse if the car doesn't run tomorrow.

Steve

Your kidding..right? I have trouble muscling the little 4eats around my garage. You must be one brick-sh$thouse of a dood.

yeah realigning the tranny and engine is a pain in the ass. took me a couple hours first time I tried it. just gotta keep going at it unfortunately.

There are two steps from my kitchen. The good engine mounted to the stand had to come down them with careful maneuvering around a deck support post a couple feet from the middle of the steps and the old engine had to be pushed forward by hand on the support chains and guided to a board I stuck out from the kitchen floor and supported over the second step by an old A/C compressor since the crane can't get close to the door at all. I then had to slide it in. It didn't slide too well until the antifreeze and oil spilled all over, then it slid very well but the sumbitch was already inside. An old towel and 5 passes with a mop and it still looks like shit, but at least it doeasn't look like oil. The heavy ass crane also had to be brought in and out though the engine stand was much nicer going in. I may be mostly muscle, but I'm nowhere near a house.

Steve

i to have stood for an hour under a subie shaking the gearbox trying to get it to slide that little bit more ....