99gst_racer said:

Upon removal of the subframe, what did you guys do to keep the square head of the bolt from spinning?

Also, does anyone have a detailed picture of where to cut to access the subframe bolts? I have a 2.25" hole saw that I'll be using - I just want to make sure I drill in the right spot the first time.

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The bolt hole will not spin when you take stuff apart. The only possibility it has of spinning is when you install the two bolts in the front holes. You can easily fix this like I did by welding a large square plate in first, and then putting a large weld on the plate right next to the head. As far as how to find the holes, you will already know where the rear holes are because you should have gotten the rear bolts out of the AWD donor car. You can use the donor car to figure out where the front holes are by just drilling up through the hole and into the car. If you don't have the donor car, like me, you will see how I just drilled up into the car anyway, thats why the flap in the first two pics you can see a mangled hole there. Once I was done, I closed all the flaps, stitch welded them up, grinded them, and then im just going to prime and paint them, and put some q-pad over it.

OK, I got the subframe and fuel tank removed from the donor car last night. I have a couple questions about the next steps though.

1.) I accidentily made a pretty deep cut into one of the rear subframe bolts while trying to remove it. (stupid mistake - i know) Should I take the chance and re-use it? Or should I find a replacement? These aren't available from the dealership, right?

2.) How did you guys remove the driveshafts support brackets? What did you use to cut/remove the welds? I'm sure I could figure it out myself, but I'm more or less looking for tips from those of you that have already done it.

3.) Does ayone know the part number for the belly pan for the fuel tank? I'd like to replace the one I have because it's pretty corroded.


Thanks in advance.

They make a drill bit made to drill out the spot welds, but I just found a drill bit the right size (cant remember what size, its been over a year ago).

The gas tank shhield is MB888678.

Spool'n Spyder said:

They make a drill bit made to drill out the spot welds, but I just found a drill bit the right size (cant remember what size, its been over a year ago).

The gas tank shhield is MB888678.

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So, a regular drill bit worked OK for you? I'm having a hard time finding one of those spot weld removal bits around here, and I'd rather not order one if I dont have to...

Thanks for the part number.

It makes a little bigger hole, but it worked fine for me. I cant remeber the exact price of the shield but it was around 160 bucks w/ my employee discount.

Spool'n Spyder said:

It makes a little bigger hole, but it worked fine for me. I cant remeber the exact price of the shield but it was around 160 bucks w/ my employee discount.

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I had my local Ridge & Kramer order a set of three weld removal bits for me. I'm going to go pick them up in 30 minutes. It was only $25 for the arbor and 3 dual sided cutters. Part # 13214

And I check my local stealership on the shield. They want $220. Ouch. I think I'll just clean up my existing one and spray it with some rubberized undercoating.

Any info on my #1 question in post #17?

99gst_racer:

I entirely missed one bolt when I tried to find it so I know how you feel. Ill, take a few pics to show you. If I remember correctly it's right next to one of those plastic plugs for the panel srews.

The second set that aren't there are really easy to find.. if you have a long drill bit. Simply go under the car an run the bit from the hole up into the car. When you go back up top, you already have the pilot hole for the hole saw

Thanks for the reply. I got them all out of the donor car already, and I'll be dropping them into my GST this coming week. My only concern is whether to use this one or not. I cut through it pretty deep, but I figured I'd run a bead of weld through it and it should be fine. What are your thoughts?

Mine had a similar problem.. the pilot bit ate through the side. The bolts don't take too much abuse under tension, it's mostly shear. If you weld them up like you said they will be fine.

I finally sorted out my fuel gauge problem. Somehow the float arm was stuck past it's max full postion. This caused it to give a bad reading a made me bang my head against the wall for the last month trying to figure out what was going on.

Just a heads up. If you don't have to take the pump or sending units out of the tank, DON'T! I have found the seal expands and gives you a whore of a time putting it back in. Especially if you have a full tank of fuel. The fuel level is right at the lip, making you spill fuel all over the place... AND it keeps filling from the other side! Can you tell I have been having fun?

I found the shield online, new, for $145 + shipping. Mitsu graveyard has a tank on ebay at the moment, although I don't know if it includes the shield. He wants $90 + $50 shipping... just thought you might like to know.

i removed the driveshaft support brackets by using drill bit on spot welds then taking air chisel and cut the rest of the brackets out. once they were off the car i removed all excess material. just waiting on one axle to start the swap- cant wait

What did you guys do about the front FWD subframe bolts? It doesn't look like they would be easy to cut out and remove from the top because of their location. Can I just cut the bolt off flush with the underside of the frame?

That's exactly what I did... but pumped some silicone in there to stop them from rattling around.

Omega said:

That's exactly what I did... but pumped some silicone in there to stop them from rattling around.

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Thanks again! I ended up cutting them flush and then tack welding the ends in place.




I have a question regarding the fuel tank wiring. I just did it last night, and I made this diagram of how I did mine. Can someone verify that this is correct before I soder the connections? Please let me know if I did it correct or incorrect. Thanks in advance.

Nice schematic there 99_GST_Racer.

First of all, congratulations to all who have successfully completed this swap to date. I just started ripping parts off the donor car myself. I was wondering if anyone who's done the AWD Spyder conversion could speak up about the specific differences between it and the hatchback. Basically I'm hoping to dispell (or confirm) the rumors that there's some kind of trunk pan modification that needs to be done to provide clearance for the rear end. Also I understand accessing the bolt holes for the AWD subframe is complicated by the bracing in the convertible somehow. Anyone have details or pictures pertaining to this? I'd really just like a better idea of what to expect before I officially put the car under the knife.

Oh, and Paul, are you sure you're not willing to ship that AWD tranny? Donor car's needs rebuilt and I'm liking the price of yours.

donmagicjuan said:

Oh, and Paul, are you sure you're not willing to ship that AWD tranny? Donor car's needs rebuilt and I'm liking the price of yours.

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HAHA, for a fellow Wiseman, I'd probably make an exception. But, I have a sale pending on it. A local DSMer is supposed to come pick it up next weekend. I'll let you know if he falls through.

Good luck with the swap.

Do you guys remember how long the bolts that you used for the gas tank were? Also, I have tokico illumina shocks on the back of my GS-T, can I use these on the awd subframe? Thank You

ypnas777 said:

Do you guys remember how long the bolts that you used for the gas tank were? Also, I have tokico illumina shocks on the back of my GS-T, can I use these on the awd subframe? Thank You

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Mine were about an inch long under the head. For the front bolts, I cut little "windows" in the frame rail and dropped them in through there. For the rears, I cut holes through the interior and dropped them in with a telescoping magnet.
Pics:
Fronts (circled in blue)
Rears


I'm unsure about the suspension. I never thought to compare my old shocks with the new ones to see the differences (if any).

99gst_racer said:

Mine were about an inch long under the head. For the front bolts, I cut little "windows" in the frame rail and dropped them in through there. For the rears, I cut holes through the interior and dropped them in with a telescoping magnet.
Pics:
Fronts (circled in blue)
Rears


I'm unsure about the suspension. I never thought to compare my old shocks with the new ones to see the differences (if any).

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Thanks a lot, that helps a lot. Is the portion you have circled in green in the first picture the stock GS-T gas tank mounts that need to be cut out?

ypnas777 said:

Thanks a lot, that helps a lot. Is the portion you have circled in green in the first picture the stock GS-T gas tank mounts that need to be cut out?

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The green circled part is the rear carrier bear bracket for the driveshaft. You have to cut it off of the AWD car and weld it on the FWD car. I only had it tack-welded in place in that picture.

The FWD fuel tank mounts that you have to remove look like THIS.
And THIS is where they are located on the car.

Great pics, Paul. How's the progress going on your car so far? I hope you were able to confirm the fuel tank wiring by now.

ypnas777, you should be able to use your FWD shocks in the rear if this post is any indication. I plan on using my coilovers when I switch everything over, so I'll (kind of) be in the same boat.

donmagicjuan said:

Great pics, Paul. How's the progress going on your car so far? I hope you were able to confirm the fuel tank wiring by now.

ypnas777, you should be able to use your FWD shocks in the rear if this post is any indication. I plan on using my coilovers when I switch everything over, so I'll (kind of) be in the same boat.

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I decided to be on the safe side and buy some awd rear adjustable shocks. I will be selling my fwd rear adjustable shocks if anyone is interested . They have less than 1k miles on them, basically brand new.

It's all the same back there. The spring rate is slightly different at the factory, but nothing any of us will notice.

At the moment, I have an AWD subframe attached to my FWD shocks, and ALL linkages

donmagicjuan said:

Great pics, Paul. How's the progress going on your car so far? I hope you were able to confirm the fuel tank wiring by now.

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Two other guys confirmed that they are "pretty sure" that that's how it goes. I'll be firing up my engine within the next few days, so hopefully I have it right. I'll post back and let you guys know though.


As far as progress; I'm waiting to get my tranny back from TRE. I'll be driving over there to pick it up this Friday. I have my engine ready to go, aside from setting tension on the t-belt. PIC Hopefully I can drop the engine and tranny back in on saturday and be driving in by Sunday.

Next step: Somehow scrape up another $700 cash to cover what I dont have for my TRE bill... I'm exhausted.

Wow, I am in awe of this thread. I am really considering taking up this conversion... this thread has really encouraged me. (If I don't do the swap, we're chopping my FWD front end and swapping it to the AWD ) So basically, what you really have to do here is a little cutting/welding on the FWD and swap the tank/rear/axles/ rewire pump?

I have a complete parts car, I'm really thinking about doing this.

Edit: both of mine are 1G's

Also, what kind of welders are you guys using? Arc?(seems like they wouldn't be best suited for this) MIG?(seems ideal to me, just wanna be sure)