wrenchspinner said:

The only righteous repair is to have the block decked. That passageway between the top of the bore and the water jacket has gotta be milled away. I know that's a hard pill to swallow and a buncha work but from the other issues you've mentioned along w/the pics I'd say your rings have problee seen better days so the engine needs to visit the machine shop.

My 92 Laser w/a 4g37 and only 140k on the clock just died last night so I feel your pain man. When I say died, it was an ugly, smoke filled, oily death complete w/ some of the most horrendous mechanical squeeks, shrieks and groans you can imagine ... before it finally locked up. Was tryin to nurse it the 30 miles home and it made it to within a mile and 1/2 of the casa.

Did a buncha research this mornin and found few used 4g37s I'd take a chance on. Gonna just stuff an NA 4g63 in it.

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We’ll thankfully the blocked had nothing wrong where it wore into the head, thank god. I picked up another 4g37 from a local jy that supposedly just had a broken timing belt but turned out to have a seized cam the cam seizing resulted in 2 bent valves, some shitty can journals and a bottom end absolutely full of glitter. I was planning on cleaning that block and head and dropping it in until I realized that the main bearings and rod bearings are toast too. My new plan is to finish rebuilding this head with 2 new valves and seals annd drop it onto the running block. When I pull the head I’ll pour atf in the dead cyl and water in the combustion chamber of the head to see where my compression is going. If the valves leak water into the ports that’ll tell me I only need to install the head. If the head olds water but the atf in the dead cyl drains then I’ll be dropping the oil pan at the same time and taking a piston and rod from the junkyard engine and putting it into the engine in the car(cleaned throughly with a new rod bearing of course).

Was planning on ordering parts for the head this week but my car decided it needed a new battery, so maybe next week or so. I’ll post again once I have either blown it up or fixed it

Redrocketlaser said:

We’ll thankfully the blocked had nothing wrong where it wore into the head, thank god. I picked up another 4g37 from a local jy that supposedly just had a broken timing belt but turned out to have a seized cam the cam seizing resulted in 2 bent valves, some shitty can journals and a bottom end absolutely full of glitter. I was planning on cleaning that block and head and dropping it in until I realized that the main bearings and rod bearings are toast too. My new plan is to finish rebuilding this head with 2 new valves and seals annd drop it onto the running block. When I pull the head I’ll pour atf in the dead cyl and water in the combustion chamber of the head to see where my compression is going. If the valves leak water into the ports that’ll tell me I only need to install the head. If the head olds water but the atf in the dead cyl drains then I’ll be dropping the oil pan at the same time and taking a piston and rod from the junkyard engine and putting it into the engine in the car(cleaned throughly with a new rod bearing of course).

Was planning on ordering parts for the head this week but my car decided it needed a new battery, so maybe next week or so. I’ll post again once I have either blown it up or fixed it

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Can definitely appreciate your tenacity and remember well being married w/kids and having to keep stuff on the road. Still have issues keepin stuff goin!

If the block isn't badly scored in any of the cylinders you can hone it w/a stone or ball hone and a drill to help seal the bores but a fresh set of file fit rings would help too. You can pick up a set of rings pretty cheap from Rock Auto ($32 for a set). Take some green scotchbrite and solvent and clean up the pistons (especially the ring lands) file fit some new rings to the honed bores and slip 'em onto the pistons and you'll have a poor mans rebuild! Doin this simple stuff will add many miles to your Laser!

So I've talked the wife into letting me get a parts car and if I can find one for sale withing a few hours from here in late feburary than ill be ditching the current junkyard block and head I have in favor of the donor vehicle engine. There's one for sale right now that's 3 hrs away 94 talon 2.0 nt for 1k obo, if that's still there when I have the money I'll be going to grab it. Will.i be able to use a 94 ecu/harness in a 91 car? And had anyone ever ran a flat hood with a 4g63? Maybe with the timing cover off?


I'll attach a picture. As of now the car is still running and getting me to work every day on 3 cyl. I still have issues with the mpi kicking off but since I figured turning the ignition switch kicked it back on it's not really been a problem. I'll post again when I have an update.

Oh also, I found a red 1g toy car at walmart so I picked it up, I got so excited when I found it

Redrocketlaser said:

So I've talked the wife into letting me get a parts car and if I can find one for sale withing a few hours from here in late feburary than ill be ditching the current junkyard block and head I have in favor of the donor vehicle engine. There's one for sale right now that's 3 hrs away 94 talon 2.0 nt for 1k obo, if that's still there when I have the money I'll be going to grab it. Will.i be able to use a 94 ecu/harness in a 91 car? And had anyone ever ran a flat hood with a 4g63? Maybe with the timing cover off?


I'll attach a picture. As of now the car is still running and getting me to work every day on 3 cyl. I still have issues with the mpi kicking off but since I figured turning the ignition switch kicked it back on it's not really been a problem. I'll post again when I have an update.

View attachment 783670

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You could swap the engine bay harness and ECU into your Laser but the flat hood on your Laser won't clear the 4g63 cam pullies. Never tried it but I doubt even takin the upper timing cover off will help it clear.

Any idea what kinda shape the Talon is in? Might be better to just build that one.

wrenchspinner said:

You could swap the engine bay harness and ECU into your Laser but the flat hood on your Laser won't clear the 4g63 cam pullies. Never tried it but I doubt even takin the upper timing cover off will help it clear.

Any idea what kinda shape the Talon is in? Might be better to just build that one.

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I thought the flat hood was 1990 only.

wrenchspinner said:

You could swap the engine bay harness and ECU into your Laser but the flat hood on your Laser won't clear the 4g63 cam pullies. Never tried it but I doubt even takin the upper timing cover off will help it clear.

Any idea what kinda shape the Talon is in? Might be better to just build that one.

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sadly the talon has no title otherwise I would. I guess I'll have to be on the lookout for a hood too, or I'll modify this one to fit. I saw where one guy slotted the hood for the cam cover, if I absolutely have to I can do that. Hell maybe I can make my own bump in the hood to clear it, I do work in a body shop now.

pauleyman said:

I thought the flat hood was 1990 only.

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My car is a 91 and has a flat hood

Harness, electronics, etc will all work for a 91. The transmission if it's a manual is the same between the two engines, so don't feel like you gotta swap in the '63 trans.


But, take it from someone who did this (4G37 to 4G63 n/t swap) don't expect any kind of noticeable power increase. I'd really honestly only bother doing this swap again if I planned to turbo it right from the jump. Add the 5 wires to the n/t 4G63 harness before putting it in the car, source a turbo FWD transmission/clutch, throw in a turbo ECU, stock injectors/pump/FPR/turbo setup and enjoy the almost 110HP gain and stock reliability.

CrackedDSM said:

Harness, electronics, etc will all work for a 91. The transmission if it's a manual is the same between the two engines, so don't feel like you gotta swap in the '63 trans.


But, take it from someone who did this (4G37 to 4G63 n/t swap) don't expect any kind of noticeable power increase. I'd really honestly only bother doing this swap again if I planned to turbo it right from the jump. Add the 5 wires to the n/t 4G63 harness before putting it in the car, source a turbo FWD transmission/clutch, throw in a turbo ECU, stock injectors/pump/FPR/turbo setup and enjoy the almost 110HP gain and stock reliability.

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I'm more so chasing part availability and wanting to boost it sometime in the future. The 4g37 can be a bi*** to find parts for sometimes because no one wanted it when these cars came out so there just aren't as many floating around.

It's also nice that there are so many off the shelf/factory parts that I can find and use to turbo an na 4g63 rather than having to fab up my own manifold+downpipe if i wanted to boost the 4g37.

So you've done the exact swap I'm wanting to do? Is there a write up anywhere? Or is it pretty straightforward? Did you have to pull the dash to swap the dash harness or anything?

Update: So I have been driving the car to and from work every single day since the last time I posted and as of now days ago it is JUST NOW running on all 4 cyl again. I never ended up getting a parts car, we simply didn’t have the funding I expected to have. So the new game plan was to just limp the car around on 3 cyl until I can swap my rebuilt cyl head and a donor piston, or it blows up and I’m forced to rebuild my engine I bought from the junkyard that’s full of glitter. Some how the car made it until I had a 3 day weekend to swap the head, and a donor piston and rod from the junkyard engine with new rings and a rod bearing(I assumed cyl 3 cyl wasn’t firing because of blown rings from hydro locking). As it turns out I was wrong and right at the same time the piston had a crack just below the oiling ring and I assume that’s where my compression was going. Any who I got the car back together and accidentally clamped the pcv hose between the head and block when reinstalling and messed up the gasket causing it to blow within 3 starts. Finally a week later and I have another gasket. I swapped it out and I’ve been driving for 3 days now all over the place and other than some smoking(previous blown hg left tons of oil and coolant In intake tube and manifold) I’ve had no issues at all. The car runs great and has as much power as a 4g37 can and for now I’ll be happy with that. I’ll update again if any major changes happen

Certainly appreciate your tenacity and all the effort you've put into keepin your Laser goin dude. Reminds me of how I had to keep my rides on the road many years ago.

When I finally yank my 4g37 to drop the new 2.4 in I'll see what I have that you might find a use for. Have a box of new parts I had bought for spares that I won't be needin for sure. Just off the top of my head I know I have a new set of lifters, rear main seal, distributor cap n rotor, think I even have a fresh head gasket.

Doubt there's much on my engine that's much good judgin from the horrendous noises comin outta the engine bay before it finally seized up. Expect the crank and head are likely shot, so really only the block is of any use to anyone. I do have an almost new distributor w/cap n rotor that's fine, less than 500 miles on it, same for the timing belt tensioner pulley. Also have a 4g63 adjustable cam pulley I won't be using.

wrenchspinner said:

Certainly appreciate your tenacity and all the effort you've put into keepin your Laser goin dude. Reminds me of how I had to keep my rides on the road many years ago.

When I finally yank my 4g37 to drop the new 2.4 in I'll see what I have that you might find a use for. Have a box of new parts I had bought for spares that I won't be needin for sure. Just off the top of my head I know I have a new set of lifters, rear main seal, distributor cap n rotor, think I even have a fresh head gasket.

Doubt there's much on my engine that's much good judgin from the horrendous noises comin outta the engine bay before it finally seized up. Expect the crank and head are likely shot, so really only the block is of any use to anyone. I do have an almost new distributor w/cap n rotor that's fine, less than 500 miles on it, same for the timing belt tensioner pulley. Also have a 4g63 adjustable cam pulley I won't be using.

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I might take you up on that distributor sometime, the car is still randomly losing tach signal occasionally and the only 2 possibilities left are the distributor or the ecu

Good chance it's the distributor or wiring causin your issue but it could be the ECU too. I'll have both available.

The wiring to the distributor was bad so I replaced it w/a longer lead and used bullet connectors on the wire ends since I had broken the flimsy connector at the distributor while changing the timing belt tensioner pulley. Wrench slipped and destroyed the connector!

Update: The car is still running great! Well mostly The issue with it dying randomly became more frequent and finally the distributor officially kicked the bucket last week. I was able to get a new Chinese unit from eBay for a little over $100 and got it installed a few days ago and the car had been running perfect ever since.

Update: the distributor fixed the random dying issue in other news I’ve been burning and leaking oil pretty bad. I love about 10 miles from town and drive it to work every day and it was using 1qt every 2 days. I knew it was leaking because there has been oil everywhere in my engine bay, I realized it had been coming from the valve cover so I pulled it off and replaced the gasket, while I had it off I decided to test and see if I was burning oil from my breather hose by routing the hose into an open bottle and plugging the nipple on the intake tube. I drove it to town like that thinking it would be ok and once I got to town I realized I had lost all of my oil. I pulled into the dollar store, got a jug of the cheapest oil they had and refilled it along with putting the breather hose back where it goes just to get it home. When I got home I checked the dipstick again and once again I had lost all of my oil. I started it and looked under it to see it pouring out where my engine and transmission meet. Being optimistic I changed the oil pan gasket hoping the Extra crank case pressure had just blown the side of the gasket out since I was sure it was leaking anyways. Filled it with oil again after changing it and what do you know??? It’s still dumping oil.. so anyways I borrowed a tool from work to hand the engine from the fenders while I unhooked it and had my neighbor bring his tractor over and lift it the rest of the way out. With it sitting on a tire in the driveway I pulled the clutch and flywheel off to find that the rear main seal was completely out of its hole, spinning with the crank. I put a new one in and reinstalled the flywheel and clutch along with cleaning some of the oil off of everything, and tomorrow me and the neighbor plan on using his tractor to sit it back in the engine bay. I’ll update in a few days

Hopefully that didn't damage the seal race or it might pop out again

@BLACK'98DSM , are those rear seals on the outside I assume not internal? Thanks for your wisdom.

Well, you can see it in his picture, it's a fairly typical main seal. Once you have access to it, easy work. The problem is having to separate the engine and transmission, meaning one of them has to come out! I stated my concern because I had the problem with a 2G where the front main seal kept popping out due to a damaged oil pump (seal race). I tried a repair sleeve on the crankshaft to no avail. The answer was a new oil pump. I've seen where people smear a thick layer of RTV on the outside of the seal, which is actually what I do for Stihl blowers, but I wouldn't do that on a daily driven car. I also thought you'd know since the 4g37 and 4g63 have very similar block/trans setups It's not all "backwards" like a 420A

BLACK'98DSM said:

Hopefully that didn't damage the seal race or it might pop out again

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Only time will tell if imagine hopefully not, if so I can maybe use the one from my donor engine.

My neighbor finally got time to bring his tractor down and help my get it back in the car, and I got it bolted in to the trans and all 4 mounts.all that’s left is to hook everything back up and fill it with fluids, hopefully tomorrow evening after work I’ll be able to button it up.

My 92 4g37 Laser did the same. It was leakin like crazy!

What really concerned me was I popped the new seal in easily w/my thumbs. Was thinkin it could pop back out easily too. Thought about slatherin some silicone on it and lettin it set overnight but I didn.

When the engine finally let go a few months later from a massive oil leak I never even bothered to do a forensic tear down to see what happened but there was oil all over the engine bay.

Poor lil Laser's still sittin out beside the house waitin on a new engine.

So far she’s been running good aside from a few things. Still leaking oil pretty bad, maybe 1qt every 2 days(20-30 miles) and it’s all over the engine bay again. Looks like it’s coming from the valve cover gasket yet again. I’m assuming it probably blew with the rear main seal when it made all that crank case pressure I’ll probably take it off and try to reseal it again this weekend but I’m I’ve probably reused the gasket too many times at this point

My other issue is clutch chatter. If you slip it too fast it chatter’s hard and shakes the car bad. Not sure it it’s from oil getting all over the clutch disk from the rear main or what. It doesn’t affect me too much, I just gotta pay more attention when I let the clutch out but it’s more than likely made it undrivable for my wife.

Other that that it’s running great. Starts quick, makes the power it should, smokes but I think it’s valve seals, they came from rock auto so maybe they were dry rotted/damaged. Regardless I’ve been driving it every day and it’s been doing great so far.

You might be over torquing the valve cover. It should only be torqued to 5ft lbs.

BLACK'98DSM said:

You might be over torquing the valve cover. It should only be torqued to 5ft lbs.

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That’s probably it then. Idk where I’m gonna find a torque wrench that’ll read that low

Redrocketlaser said:

That’s probably it then. Idk where I’m gonna find a torque wrench that’ll read that low

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I use a quarter inch drive motorcycle torque wrench which goes as low as 12 inch pounds (1 ft lb)

I also retorque after one heat cycle. Sometimes the gasket compresses a little