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Here we go 6 bolt swap in 97 Spyder GST

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TurboSpider

Proven Member
223
16
Nov 2, 2015
York, Pennsylvania
The purpose of this thread is to help others and possibly myself with doing a 6 bolt swap. As some of you may remember, my engine in my car spun a bearing around 160,000 miles. I decided to the 6 bolt swap after doing some research. I found an engine 2 hours away from me for $1,100. It was built by Brandon Cockran. It has 0 miles since the rebuild has Weisco pistons, new rings, honed cylinders, BC springs and retainers on the 7 bolt head, new crank bearings, new water pump and timing belt, new gaskets, ARP head studs (with 7 bolt head oil passage way holes enlarged). 9:1 compression
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Puddles under the engine seen in the above picture are from my cleaning job I did once I got it home. I did notice there was a few differences, the main one is the thermostat housing and most of the coolant plumbing appears to be different. I am not sure if I can swap my Tstat housing and plumbing on this engine or not, I have to do more research to find out.

I am not sure what turbo, I am going to use yet ( i may end up putting the stock T25 on depending on how funds go for doing the swap.) At the moment I just want the swap done so I can drive the car again, but if I have the extra cash, I will look into what turbo and injectors fuel pump to upgrade to. The engine in it's built state should handle 450 HP pretty easy in the future. Not sure I would go much more than that with it only being front wheel drive.

My plans are using the 6bolt engine with the attached 2g 7 bolt head and 2 g intake manifold to minimize the work needed. I probably will end up getting a 1G CAS sensor and the wiring harness that I need to adapt it. I also would like to get DSM link with a socketed 94-95 ECU so I can change the CAS signal and hide any check engine lights. We have emissions here in PA and the check engine light cannot be on for it to pass emissions. Plus all readiness monitors will have to be set for it to test it for emissions. I plan on putting in a new clutch. I found a 6 bolt FWD light way flywheel and Act clutch barley used for $400 shipped. I plan on getting them to put in.

So in the meantime, until I get those parts, I figured I would start pulling the old 7 bolt. I have done two engine swaps before in my lifetime ( a 3.1 in a lumina and a 5.7 in a suburban) with much sucess but they were basically just remove old engine and drop new one in. I did read the different ways of doing the swap and some of the mods I have to do. I understand the CAS sensor has to be swapped to 1G and the 2 G engine mount needs ground down. Also the plug wires need changed.

Since I never worked on a DSM before and never removed a 4G63, I decided to use my tried and true method of labeling each connection before I removed it or unplugged it. Wires get labeled with a red marker while hoses and vacuum lines get labeled with black. Yes this adds much more time to the swap, but I am in no hurry and it may even save time during reassembly or after as it gives me a visual of what goes where and gives me a checklist to make sure nothing was missed during reassembly.

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So after a few hours, this is where I am. All wires are removed and labeled. Radiator is removed. All vacuum lines, coolant lines, heat core lines are removed. I have the drivers side front axle removed. The exhaust down pipe is unbolted from the manifold and dangling. Again, I am sure most of you can remove a complete engine in 2 hours or less, but I was taking my time making sure I labeled everything. I didn't miss the starter power wires or speedo sensor on the back of the transmission. Also on the top of the transmission there was a black ground wire (that possibly went to the starter) which I didn't miss. And that's basically where I called it a day. Now I have to try and decide whether to pull the engine and transmission together or to separate the two. I have read that since its FWD I can just pull the engine, but I am leaning more towards both together as I can bolt everything back together outside the car and reinstall to avoid having to line up the trans and engine inside the car.

Anyway, here is two pictures showing the current state of disassembly.
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The large nest of wires is under the blanket in that picture. Everything is unplugged.

If I remembered, I swear there was a youtube video or V Faq or something that shows what bolts to remove the engine and the trans but I am not finding it at the moment. I will have to keep looking. Stay tuned for more and thanks for checking out my swap!
 
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Good looking so far, I do the same ... labeling evrything. Even though I have done a few swaps befor on DSM's. Its just a piece of mind thing for me, if I am gone a few days I have no worries about where and what goes there and here .......
 
DSM link and Eprom Eprom ECU are ordered and on the way. I found a PTE 50 trim with 1000CC injectors for $600 that I am considering getting. Of course if I get it, I won't put the 50 trim in until the engine is broken in and I need to get other supporting mods for it.

I am going to look at a guys DSM parts pile today to try and find a 1g CAS and whatever else I can use that he has.

I reread the swap instructions and I am a little confused. It says something about getting a 1g oil cooler for the 6 bolt engine. I don't even remember seeing an oil cooler on my 2g. Is this something I have to do?
 
Also not if my 2 g timing belt cover with bolt up to 6 bolt bottom end 2g head. I am seeing different things. The one how to shows you need a 2 g timing cover modified but never says what the modification is. The other web site says you need a 1g
 
Oil cooler is not necessary depending on what your goals are. Also what oil filter housing do you have? My guess 6 bolt OFH and not the 1990 OFH with oil cooler lines.
As for the cover you will need to trim the either 1g or 2g covers just because of the 6bolt does not mount the same way as the 2g motor mounts.
 
Pull the compressor cover off of your 50 trim and see if its o-ringed. If not then seal it with some rtv or it will eventually leak. I did a boost leak test on mine last weekend and found it leaking at 8psi. It now holds 30+ psi.
 
This is the oil filter housing that is on the 6 bolt.
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After looking at the 6 bolt futher, it appears that the balance shaft was deleted. That is good news.
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Picked up a 1g CAS yesterday.
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Also worked on it for 40 minutes yesterday. Removed the battery and tray. Unbolted the throttle linkage. Removed the cruise control. Today I ordered some more parts. Got a lightweight 6 bolt FWD flywheel coming, a 1g cas to 2g adaptor harness, oil cooler with two lines, DSM link was delivered to my house today with Eprom. Just have to go home to get it from the mailbox. I plan on working on it more today when I get home. I am leaning more towards pulling just the engine and leaving the transmission in but am not completely sure yet.
 
Made some good progress yesterday. Removed A/C lines from compressor (left compressor and alt bolted to engine) Removed a couple more vacuum lines (not sure if they can go anywhere or if they have to go back where they were so I labeled them)

Unbolted the bell housing from the engine and realized that there was not enough room to separate the trans from the engine while leaving the ac and alt pulleys on. I opted to just pull the transmission at this point as it was only a couple more steps. Unbolted all the transmounts and removed the lower cross member. Disassembled the passenger side control arm and tie rod to remove the axle. Stuck a jack under the trans to support it and removed the last top trans mount. It took some fidgeting by out came the trans.

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At this point, the engine was only being supported by the engine hoist and the last engine bolt. I removed the bolt and started removing the engine.
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I made sure no vacuum lines or electrical connections were missed and was pleasantly surprised that they weren't so the engine came out all the way.

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At this point, I decided to clean up my tools and somewhat organize the mess of stuff laying around. I sprayed the engine bay and transmission with degreaser to try and cut the old oil and grease from the old engine leaking oil and antifreeze for the longest time. I actually found a bolt laying inside the intake (not internally, laying on the inside which act like a tray sort of) This bolt wasn't dropped by me, so not sure where it goes to. At this point, I worked on it from 4:00-10:00 PM and was dead beat tired and sore and went in to take a shower and eat dinner.

I forgot to mention that my ECM link and Eprom came today which I was pleased with. I didn't do anything with it yet but figured I would mention I have it. I also bought a lightwheel FWD flywheel, clutch, oil cooler and lines, 2g to 1g cas harness for the swap from a person on facebook who is supposed to ship them today.
 
road race engineering has a nice turorial for a 1g in 2g.. I think that's the title..
Yes the cas harness is required and remember to switch the coils. Its detailed in that turorial.
I cant think of anything else that may help at the moment.. Good luck man. You got it..
 
Sorry for the delay guys, I have been working on it but was spending so much time getting things done, that I didn't have time to post. I ground the 2g engine mount down to clear the 1 g water pump. Here you can see how much I took off. It just clears like this.
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Phot of the engine mount installed. Sits flush.
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I installed all new timing components, Gates belt, idler pulley, tensioner pulley and tensioner. Here is a photo with everything installed and timed.
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I swapped over my new oil filter housing with oil cooler lines installed.
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I installed the engine lift mount and found that it was now hitting agains the 1g CAS. A little bend in the bracket and the engine lift bracket clears the 1g cas.

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Pic of it installed.
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Timing marks lined up.

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I ended up doing the Jafro method for the timing bolt cover in which I took a 6 bolt cover, and cut it down to basically make it a three piece like the 7 bolt engine normally has. This will make it easier to work on in the future. Sorry I don't have a picture of it installed all together but it came out pretty nice.
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Finally the engine was ready to be attached to the transmission.
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The engine is actually in and car is running and driving, just have to have time to upload the pictures, stay tuned
 
stay tuned within the next few days, I will try and get everything posted. I have 185 miles on the rebuilt engine so far with no major issues. There is a little idle issue here and there but I think that is because the VE table might need smoothing. It is now running SD
 
Sorry guys for the delay, have been very busy. I ended up swapping out the stock 97 ecu for a 95-96 eprom ecu with ecmlink chip installed.
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Old ecu removed
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I filled all the fluids back up. Ran conventional oil as the engine isn't even broken in yet. I put royal purple in the transmission. Flushed and added new coolant. Hooked the battery back up and now it's the moment of truth.....
 
I might as well embarrass myself here a little for the sake of saving someone else the same trouble possibly. So, I hook the positive terminal up and the terminal practically starts to weld itself to the battery. I yanked it off but not before I heard an ominouse click sound from the relay fuse nerve center under the hood. See anything wrong??
20160425_204832_zpstaibduv8.jpg

In case you are wondering, that blue fuse is the fuse labled choke, alternator. Remember in the beginning of this thread where I showed how I labeled every wire and vacuum connection? Well I didn't label exactly everything. Basic things that you think you will remember where they went were only labeled at the wire connection. In example, I labeled the alternator power wire, but didn't label the post it screws onto on the alternator because I figured, it would be obvious where it goes. Well turns out I had a blonde moment, I will just blame it on fatigue from hours of working on the car coupled with the excitement of getting it back together. That is what I am blaming for my accidentally wiring the alternator power wire to the alternator case on the bottom instead of wiring it to the post where it is supposed to go on top of the alternator. Duhh!! after slapping myself for being an idiot, I put the wire where it's supposed to go, (yeah thats why the top post has rubber around it and the bottom doesn't) I replaced the blown fuse and reconnected the battery. No more snap crackle pop. For those wondering, the bottom post on the alternator is where the alternator wire loom bolts to, to help support it and keep if from hanging down. Don't bolt your power wire here unless you want to replace your chock alternator fuse like I did. I must say I was pretty impressed that Mitsubishi gives you some spare fuses in the fuse block, (the fuses in the yellow cage) pretty good idea
 
So now. we have power!! The moment of truth. I will spare you the video where I start the car for the first time and it idles like crap because I either had the plug wires wrong, or wasn't inverting the CAS signal. The following video was shot after I got the misfire issue fixed (still not sure what I did but I am pretty sure one of the plug wires was wrong) Note some of the aftermarket gauges are not yet hooked up which is why they are pegged all the way.
 
So I of course took the car on it's maiden voyage with the new 6 bolt engine. I must say I was grinning ear to ear!! I left the car out of the garage so I could do a much needed garage floor cleaning. You see the eclipse looking pretty dirty in the background. Even though I used fender covers and blankets, grease and dirt somehow finds a way to get all over the car. Plus couple it with dust from sitting for a few weeks while I worked on it.
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Note I installed my oil cooler in the drivers side fog light hole basically the same way the stock intercooler is installed.
 
After having a clean floor, I was able to determine that it was leaking transmission fluid out the driverside axle which is new. By the way I forgot to mention the drivers side axle had to be replaced because it was seized in the hub and I ended up mushrooming the axle and axle nut trying to get it out. Than when trying to remove the lower control arm to get the axle out, the bolt seized in the control arm bushing so not only did I have to replace the axle, but the lower control arm and bolt as well as I had to cut the bolt to get the control arm off. I also replaced both outter tie rods as they were shot and should not have passed inspection. After seeing the constant drip from the axle seal my face made a :( knowing I had to pull the drivers side suspension apart to get the axle out. Since everything was new though everything came off and out just fine. The axle seal easily popped out with a screwdriver. Here you can see the old and the new side by side. This seal was called the transmission output seal on autozones website.
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You can see how chewed up the old seal was, no wonder it was leaking. The new seal fixed the leak issue and I moved on to fixing an oil leak I had. Oil was coming out the oil cap and filling the top of the valve cover and coming out the weep hole. This wasn't notice until a few weeks after the engine swap. I just installed a new oil cap and valve cover gasket to be on the safe side as I reused my valve cover gasket from my old 7 bolt which was newer.
 
Finally I installed my freshly painted hood my uncle helped me paint. The hood that was on the car was bent and had many stone chips. I found a red hood at the junkyard and my uncle helped me paint it to match the Kapalana black. It came out pretty good and matches very nicely.
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In the future I want him to help me repaint the bumper so it matches the car better as it doesn't at the moment.

My 16g came in the mail. Unfortunately it will sit for a little while till I get my other supporting mods done.

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Another shot of the freshly painted hood.
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I ordered the Speed density kit from Extreme PSI. I had a buddy take my old intake elbow to his work and one of the guys there welded up the IAT bung. Its good to have friends in high places for sure.
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I pulled the throttle body off and replaced the gaskets and installed the elbow with the iat bung. I ran a vacuum line from a t at the FPS to the MAP sensor. I used the extreme psi wiring harness to connect everything together. Very simple. I enabled speed density in ecmlink. I also installed an LC2 wideband which is wired into the bank one spot of the ecu. Narrowband is simulated in ecm link. You can see the wide band gauge in this video. Don't worry its location is temporary, I want to get an ortiz pod to mount the wideband and boost gauges up at the vents. Nothing like top down boost with the bov vented to the atmosphere. I must be a ricer cause I just love that sound. Of course because the engine is in its break in cycle, I don't take the rpms up too high.
 
So guys, that is pretty much where I am at right now. The car is running and driving good. I have almost 400 miles on the 6 bolt now. Getting ready to do the 500 mile oil change. I did just install a Greddy knock off BOV because the 1g BOV whistles around 2,000 rpm. Much to my dismay however the Greddy knock off BOV does the same thing if not ever worse than the 1g. It is very noticeable since I am not recirculating. It sounds like brake pad wear indicators squeeling when coming to a stop. Its pretty annoying so I will be in the market for a BOV that doesn't squeel like that. Also for some reason, after installing the new BOV I noticed the boost is now going up to 15 PSI. When I had the 1g BOV on it was only going to around 10. I actually have a boost by gear solenoid set up and have the table set at 0's all the way which should just give wastegate pressure. I didn't want to run crazy boost while the engine is breaking in. I am not sure if the 1g BOV was leaking or what.

My main issues I have yet to iron out is, when I first start the car, the idle drops almost to the point of stalling and then goes right up to it's normal cold idle. That started happening after I installed SD. My second issue is an idle issue. Most of the times the car idles around where I have it set at around 850 in ecm link. Sometimes however (it seems like when I am doing more sitting at traffic lights than driving) the idle will go up to 1500 rpm and idle around there. I have yet to figure that problem out. All in all, I am very pleased how everything went. It went much smoother then I ever expected. There was no major issues, just a couple of small issues here and there. Hopefully in the future, I can get the idle issue figured out and sometime install that small 16g once I get bigger injectors, bigger fuel pump, FMIC ect ect. But yeah, I guess thats all I have for the 6 bolt swap. I like the magnus method best and that is basically what I stuck to with some variations here and there. I did use the newer thermostat housing instead of the 6 bolt one. That was mainly so I could reuse my radiator hoses. On a completely different topic, I did tighten my convertible top latches and that appears to have stopped the water leak issue I had when it rains. Or so it would seem, I only had it out in the rain once since then and it was only sitting in the driveway when it was raining, but when I checked the interior it was dry, so that was a nice improvement over the leaking top it had before. Thanks for reading. Hope this helps others do the 6 bolt swap in the future.
 
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