Road Race Build ESi + 4G63 + AWD + Evo 8 + HE351VE = Project Warface

[kmetiuk]

The title says it all.

Fcuk ya!

Why? Because I like to try new things, but moreover, I got both cars for 3600. The Tsi has only 82,000 miles on it, but regrettably is rusted bad enough to fail an inspection. The ESi has a near perfect frame but has a 420a and FWD so 2 will now become 1.

I initially did this swap out of pure necessity.

When life gives you lemons, you alter their DNA and make super lemons! Next time life won’t fcuk with you cause you have super lemons and super lemons are bad ass scary little mother fcukers.

: )

Now before the negativity and pessimism sets in I will give a little background. I am a welder by trade (5 Years) and now a mechanical engineer by education. I have been building cars for 10 years now so I have a reasonable amount of experience. My accomplishments are as follows but not limited too:

3 total engine rebuilds
6 engine swaps (record was 5 hours from jacked up to start up)
9 transmission swaps
7M Supra converted to a 1JZGTE including a FULL rewire finished in 5 days
2 Honda Frankenstein motors
Converted a carbed motor to Fuel Injected
Turbocharged a 500cc Kawi motor
More body work than I care to admit to
And a member of my uni’s FSAE team for 4 years. Woot! Woot!

Here we fcuking go….

Phase 1:

The Esi to TSi to AWD swap. This went very smoothly with no issues at all….well there was one small issue but see if you can find it! : )

Some initial pics of both cars…. OOOOOHHHHH……..AAAAAAAAHHHHH.

First up, the one armed gutless little green machine!!!

Why hello there Mr. 420a…. what the fcuk are you doing in there? You have been asked to leave this party. Please vacate the premise at your earliest convenience…..or right now would actually be better.

Hello there Mr. 4G63…your table is almost ready, we are just waiting on some gutless mother fcuker to leave. Your stay will be taken care of as well as a Holset HE351VE is being comp’d for your troubles.

 

[kmetiuk]

Looking back I wish I had taken more pictures of the rust. It was pretty bad tho. I took the donor TSi to get an inspection and the mechanic actually wanted to take picture to send to the DOT to have the VIN blacklisted. The rust was so bad you could push on the inner wheel arch on the back near the quarter panel and my fisted pushed through it. Underneath was worse as the frame rails were nonexistent.

So I decided to start with the engine bay first since that was the most risky part of the whole swap. Flipping frame rails from one side to the other is quite the undertaking. To be honest it really went fast and easy. Upon further consideration of the frame swap I realized that I had to start with the interior since half the shiit in the engine bay needed to be removed from the interior first. Most notably being the wiring harness, brake pedals, clutch pedal, and the shifter cables.

ESi interior stripping….starting with the rear.

Gross….why do peeps let their trunks get this way? Some kinda weird sludge in the bottom….possibly oil and water….or decomposed zombie genitals….either way I wore a single fingerless glove on my left hand to limit my exposure.

Don’t know why I took a picture of this bolt. But here it is anyways….check out that hexagonal action. Ya, got all six sides showing…what a fcuking slutty little bolt.

Moving right along, the back seats and interior quarters, lots of hidden little clips here make for many tiny little cuts. They felt good later when I washed my hands with orange clean. Mmmmm ya!

 

[kmetiuk]

Alrighty, now lets remove the back exterior panels….nothing complicated here. Bumper bolts are always a bi*** but that was expected.

AAAAHHH!!!! The green machine barfed out some wires!!!

Rear interior 99% Stripped. Just the a few pull cables from the trunk/fuel door levers left to remove.

Time to remove the front interior, pulling the doors is better with two people…unless you like to strain your back and then get lots of back rubs later from the old lady. Ya….rub that shiit. : )

Lets remove some panels…

Ba-bye Mr. Gauge Cluster with your kajillion miles on it.

 

[kmetiuk]

Last picture of the dash for now.

Ba-bye Mr. Dash!

Instead of doing the dishes or cleaning the kitchen or his fcuking bathroom, my tenant decided to help remove 2 miniature bolts from underneath the dash due to his smaller stature. Thanks Alex! This totally gets you off the hook for the next 6 months of cleaning. Oh and please get weirder too and don’t come out of your room for an entire year. That would also be sweet and not awkward at all.

See you later passenger seat…

NOT AGAIN!!!! The green machine barfed out some more wires. : )

 

[kmetiuk]

See you later drivers seat…..

Get the fcuk outta here old gross carpet!

I left the sunroof in for the painting as I figured it would be least masking off. In hindsight I wish I would have removed it and not been so lazy.

MMMMMMmmmmm!!!! BEER! *drool*

Cleaned up (ish) and ready for masking!!!

 

[kmetiuk]

That concludes the interior stripping. Now for some fresh paint….first up, the prep.

 

[kmetiuk]

Prepped….now for some new paint!! These are after it was cured since it was soooo fcuking fumey inside. This was a very painful process to paint this. Did not feel like snapping pics while it was going on. I would hop in and try and get through half a gun before the oxygen got low and my light headed ness required me to find some fresh air. All in all about 6 hours. Sooooo glad its done.

 

[kmetiuk]

On to the fun stuff!!!! The removal of the 420a…what a heavy lump of shiit. Didn’t even bother removing it nicely at all. Cut all the wires and hammered and pryed to get it out.

First up, front lights, bumpers, panels and hood.

See you later radiator.

IT BIT ME!!! It didn’t like being hammered and cut after all.

My “tool bench”. Fcuk do I love my rolly chair. The only thing I would change would be to add a seat belt. ; )

Calling Dr. Super El Snipe-o to the operating room, Dr Super El Snipe-o to operating room please. Man were these fcukers on there. The Westward tools loosened that nut like a boss.

Axle removal….

Finally pulling the motor….

And its out! Woot Woot!

 

[kmetiuk]

Barfed out some more wires.

420a Engine gone.

FWD subframe is outie.

Final few pics of the cleared out engine bay.

 

[kmetiuk]

 

[kmetiuk]

On to more fun parts….the 4G63 removal! Woooooooo!!!! As we go through these you can start to see all the rust on this sad little frame. First up some general disconnecting of parts and components.

Axles out and ready to pull!!!

Woooo!!!! Its out! I didn’t even pull the rear drive shaft either….just slid the engine forward till it popped out of the transfer case.

 

[kmetiuk]

 

[kmetiuk]

Alright….now we are at a fairly meaty part of the project. The frame rail swap. The main issue here is that the 420a is rotated 180 degrees compared to the 4G63. The little “bump” or upward curve is there for the transmission to tuck under it. The frame rails need to be swapped in order for the 4G63 to fit right inside the engine bay. At this point I stared at the car for a good solid morning after a solid nights sleep and big breakie. Careful planning and consideration must be taken to avoid fcuk ups and “oh shiit” moments.

Plan the work and work the plan fcukers.

First up some pics of the PS and DS frame rails.

Marking out some cut lines. More is better here. The old adage of measure twice cut once does not apply yet. Trim to fit once I eyeball later.

Cut cut cut….

AAAAAHHHH!!! What a big hole….mos def no turning back now.

 

[kmetiuk]

New frame rail sitting just below its new home. You can see how the upper one is curved the the lower is straight. There in lies my problem and the reason for the swap.

Time to remove the old mount….drill those fcuking spot welds.

POOF!!!! Gone.

Old mount new home.

Some careful trimming.

Spot welds drilled and the rail split apart…..ever wonder what your frame rails look like on the inside? Now you know.

After some eyeballing I cut the old mount off and started trimming the frame rail to accept the new rail into the fam.

 

[kmetiuk]

Had some scary thoughts at this point. Not much support left in the rail, that will change but still the thought of my engine ripping out crossed my mind once or twice. : )

Some eyeballin…

Tackin it in…

Comparo of old to new….

Start the welding….

Completely welded out on the inside…..now for the outside.

Started marking out the PS frame rail….

 

[kmetiuk]

Cleaned up the DS mount…still need to work on the backside.

What you cannot see in this pic is all the back welding that I did inside the frame rail. All the forged pieces that I cut out were on the white piece I installed. I then back welded these in.

Eye ballin the new piece….

Tack, pinch, and hammer that bi***!!!!

Pinch pinch pinch that fcuking pinch seam!

Completely welded in.

Cleaned up and ready to go.

Time for the mount seat….

A little trim to fitting action….

Fits like a fcuking glove. Must be on the right path….

 

[kmetiuk]

Some more eyeballin….

All tacked in….

All welded out….

All cleaned up….fcuk ya. Looking nice Mr. Mount Seat.

Mount sitting in its new mount seat.

Little compare pic. Pretty damn close to stock. Fcuk ya.

Hahahaha! Just fcuking haggard lookin.

Front gone….

 

[kmetiuk]

Frame rail removed….

Did a lot of measuring and cutting on this bastard. Really wanted to be able to put the old battery mount in when it was done. When I finally do, all 4 bolts actually worked.

Plan the work and work the plan fcukers.

Yet more eyeballing…

Drill drill drill….

Split that shiit like a two dollar hooker. Fcuk ya!

This is what the inside of your other frame looks like. Considerably more reinforcing here due to the bend. Why are uni-bodies cheaper to build than spaceframes? I truthfully do not understand this.

Starting of the cutting….

Time to pull that old mount off….

 

[kmetiuk]

Fcuk did I waste a lot of time here. This thing was such a bi*** to remove.

Moment of silience please. Smashy the Hammer gave up the ghost. I have had this hammer for an entire decade. Truly a sad day for me. I will miss you little buddy. : (

The show must go on…..clamping that shiit down for a quick test fit….

Its all looking pretty tight.

All my marks look bang on….now lets see it I can read a tape measure…

Test fit time…. Hello engine. : )

 

[kmetiuk]

Looking very very parallel.

The mount is looking tight and nice.

All removed and ready for the final center frame support.

Removing the old cross member support.

New holes as compared to old ones.

 

[kmetiuk]

Marked and pilot holes drilled.

What I did here was put the center mount in its new home, threaded in the bolts to ensure alignment and then welded out the new support.

The last frame rail that I tacked up when the engine was in for the test fit. Ready for a final weld.

 

[kmetiuk]

Got some excellent penetration on this one….fcukya. Balls deep.

Front support with its “cover” sheet metal replaced for a stock look.

And these are all the left overs. Not sure if this was a weight savings bucket or not. Hahaha.

New tap and die set. I love new tools. : )

Time for a front sub frame fitment check.

 

[kmetiuk]

Fcuk ya! Like a friggin glove….now lets see if the motor and the subframe get along…..

Cigars and Coronas? Yes please.

More new tools….ratcheting box and wrench set. LOVE LOVE LOVE these things. Wish I had bought a set sooner.

Managed to snap a few of me installing some shiit….

 

[kmetiuk]

WOOOOOOOO!!!! Shes in! Nice and square. Fcuk ya!

 

[kmetiuk]

Ya….. so this little guy has a larger hole than bolt. The through hole on the engine side of this mount also had smaller holes. I do not understand why….so I drilled out the mount and put in a properly fitted bolt.

Not to far off….maybe ½” a most. Pretty friggin. Happy with that.

3 out of 4 mounts all bolted in and welded out….now for the last one….

BLAM!!! Welded bi***! AAAAAALLLLLLL DOOOOONE!!! Fitted mounted and welded out.