Joy to the engine swap.

[scuzzy]

Which happens to be occurring tomorrow at 7AM. Doing it myself, since my two helpers backed out on me on Thursday.

One because of a medical condition, the other due to ball-shrinkage in the face of an angry wife.

But anyway, I'm down a clutch alignment tool, and hoping I can improvise at that time.

Photos of the job to come tomorrow evening.

I'm going from the EJ22 to the EJ22T, but dropping the turbo untill I can get a custom exhaust built and test-fitted, then purchase the autronic ECU PnP unit (about 2 thousand down the road)

So essentially, a low compression EJ22T engine which will produce less horsepower without the turbo.

The advantage? my front crankshaft keyway won't be wrecked and my oil pump won't be leaking.

[206er]

for your clutch alignment tool, cut a input shaft off of a junk trans, or get a M12 bolt and wrap with duc tape to mimic a input shaft. or just get a real alignment tool
good luck with the swap!

[vrg3]

Good luck. Steve's naturally aspirated EJ22T seems to do just fine for him.

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah, but the new Mazda3 does better. Subaru even with the N/A EJ22T has a better torque band still, though and feels like it has more even though the rating is much higher on the Mazda. Subarus rule. That is all.

Oh, and I lost a couple mpg. For clutch alignment I use a 1/2 to 3/8 socket adaptor as it fits well enough to eyeball it in. No problem yet with this method.

Steve

[HomeSlice]

where are the pics?

[scuzzy]

I've been far too busy actually getting the engine in to take photos. I've been having problems with the new engine and getting the old one out.

[scuzzy]

Done.

At 11:15PM, the engine fired up; and after throwing a fuss with idling (ECU has to relearn I suppose) some horrible metal contact noise (I tried to avoid it with lithium grease, alas, it was not to be)
and a few moments of idiling, everything cleared up except for some clacking HLA's

those cleared up with a little driving, little idling, and a little more driving.


You know, I must have had a dozen people tell me over the course of the last four months that I couldn't do this engine swap by myself. That I'd never worked on one to that extent before and didn't know how. Hell, even my uncle said I couldn't do it in two days.

And on the second day, when I ran into a problem which put me back a day, he came by, banged on the problem for a few moments, thought about it, gave me really shitty ideas, then told me I couldn't even get it done in three days.

Fuck em all. The engine runs great, I'm really enjoying my success.

It's still burning off all of the old oil residue that the old engine left behind (my god, what a messy engine bay)
so there's a slight smell of smoke in the air when you stop.

that and the fact that I absent mindedly filled the coolant overflow tank to FULL (HOT) mark with the radiator full of coolant, while the engine was cold.

so the engine warms up and pushes the extra fluid out, plenty of smoke from that.


You get used to telling which smell is due to what, though, so you know what's going on without even taking a look.


I still say I could have done it in two days if I had a little help. Hopefully this is the last time I'll have to pull an engine for at least another few months.

What's down the road? well in the works next is finding a shop which will take my old exhaust manifold and bend/fit me 3" steel exhaust pipe from the manifold to the turbo, then to some to-be-chosen spot.

Following the bend and fit, I'll remove it and put on the NA, because the turbocharger won't come into play untill I get my hands on the Autronic ECU.

I predict Feburary.

[scuzzy]

Everything that went wrong:

Big thing was the plug in the back of the crankshaft. I didn't get the opportunity to take a photo; but it's exactly like someone hammered a solid metal (it was softer than the crank itself) plug into the hole, preventing the input shaft from meeting the engine block properly.

I discovered you need to pull the starter to get to the lower right engine-transmission bolt. Tried to do this from underneath the car though; and it doesn't work so well when you've got oil, coolant, and fuel from the warming fuel filter dripping onto you (that was nice and unexpected)

Oh, and when putting everything back, it's best you put the bottom starter bolt on BEFORE you hook up all of the coolant feed lines.

Remember where the main engine ground line hooks to, because when you forget, the best next obvious place is that goddamn bottom starter bolt. Don't wake the neighbors at 9PM when you're cussing trying to get at that fucker again.


Oops, reminds me, don't forget to put the bolt back in the pitching stop mount. It's probably not serious to not have it, but it's there for a reason *makes mental note to put that one back*


the mounts for the EJ22T air conditioner compressor are different from the EJ22 mounts. You'll waste time trying to hook up the damn compressor with the new mounts, just swap in your old ones. Oh yeah, and the two bottom bolts to those mounts, the ones under the compressor. Do those first. They're hidden and REALLY FUN to get to.


The engine will not come loose from the transmission if you don't jack the transmission up too. You can try for a good hour, and figure out what the hell is going wrong, but trust me - it won't without lots of fighting. Do it the easy way and jack it up. It should damn near slide free when you've got them both at the same height. So if you're fighting it, slow down and just jack the transmission up.

Disconnect the pitching stop mount before you do so.


Oh, something is wrong when you use the cherry picker to pull the engine out and the entire front end of the car comes off the ground.

there's a little flap (if you havn't done this before) on the bottom of the engine at the flywheel side, it's a guard for the flywheel. It will cause you hell when putting things back together. I expected this and left it off, considering that part of the engine is directly over the engine crossmember, a solid section with no holes.

wasn't deliberate to leave it off, but I sure as hell am not going back now.


That's all I've got for now. Hopefully this mess will come in use to someone else. Alot of the other stuff I've read here did (like swinging the PS pump out of the way) oh and the AC compressor swings out of the way, too... well sorta, you've got to fight it and be careful about it. It's also easier with the oil fill tube off.

[scuzzy]

coolant feed to or from the TB/IAC popped off this evening.

ran it into the red twice before making it home. didn't start getting hot (CE light) till three miles out, and I was able to coast about 1 mile of it.

[Legacy777]

Sounds like you ran into a lot more issues then I did.....I didn't really have too many issues with getting the engine in and out, except for the last time when I had to pull it again....the thing didn't want to go back in. However the things you mentioned are definitely key things that need to be done.

[scuzzy]

Sounds like you ran into a lot more issues then I did.....I didn't really have too many issues with getting the engine in and out, except for the last time when I had to pull it again....the thing didn't want to go back in. However the things you mentioned are definitely key things that need to be done.

The issues I ran into were mostly a learning experience. the next time I pull the engine, it should go much quicker.

One reason behind why it took three days (instead of one) is because I was working by myself, this is the first time I've taken on this job. I knew the basics, but the book doesn't tell you some tricks.

I spent a little time fighting and figuring out how to work around the ac compressor without venting the lines (illegal, and expensive to have recharged)

my best solution is to rotate it 45 degrees to the right (so the bottom of the compressor is facing the driver side fender. do so with the mounting hardware off. remove the oil fill tube. lift, push, twist, yank, scream, push a little more, discover you need to disconnect the support bracket for the compressor outlet (near bay firewall) , push some more, then plant it in the area where the battery goes. you can pull the engine in and out with it there, you just have to go slow with it.

those hoses are pretty flexible, it was the attached hardware I was worried about. it all gives a little, more than what I expected, no leaks though.


the biggest showstopper was that goddamn plug. I spent the better part of five hours fucking with it. I could have had the job done in two days instead of three.


I didn't have shop lights, so once I got the engine in at around 5:15PM on the third day, it took another six hours working in the dark to get everything hooked back up again. I had the company of a dinky ass 100 watt lightbulb (livingroom style)

so I just sat it ontop of the intake manifold and worked with that light and a small flashlight.

better than nothing. allowed me to sleep late the next day.


All in all, two days later, I'm VERY happy. I'm glad I did it, surprised even. I've been defeated by front CV axles in a Toyota Camry, gave up and took it to a mechanic - but this was a much larger more frustrating job and I stuck through it.

[dzx]

Congratulations. It's 2am here and I just finished pulling the intake manifold off my car and I'm debating going to sleep or staying up all night trouble shooting. I think my problem might have been one of the plugs on an injector wasn't plugged on all the way.

So where's the pictures?

[Legacy777]

Yeah if you did it by yourself, you did pretty good.

I always grabbed a buddy to give me a hand when I was pulling and putting the engine in. I could've done it by myself, but having two people makes it a hell of a lot easier. Once you get the trans raised up slightly, the second person can guide the engine in.

[evolutionmovement]

My pitch stop always loses its damn bolt so I leave it loose. No problems. I did mine alone in two days and I actually prefer it, though getting the thing in and out of my kitchen and down the steps would've been much better with someone else (and cleaner as the old engine minus the valve covers tipped off the board I used to slide it in and spilled copious oil and antifreeze all over the friggin place. It's amazing how much damn antifreeze these blocks hold.) I also had the advantage of doing it in the summer.

I noticed I had to burp and touch up my coolant for several days after my swap. I think some of it was due to air trapped in the short lines I used to cap off the extra oil and coolant nipples.

Steve

[Legacy777]

Steve,

I noticed that too. I didn't get to run too long the two times I've driven it so far, but both times I had to top off the coolant. Glad to hear mine's not an odity in those regards.

I have the radiator out again to work on the AWIC radiators & put the AC condensor in, so I'll have fill everything up again and keep an eye on the level.

[LaureltheQueen]

The photos don't seem to be showing up? I keep reloading, but nothing.


























seriously, gotta post photos in the pics forum

[scuzzy]

it's daylight tomorrow, give me a little while and I'll post some.