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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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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