Street Build 1g build - The Real Life Trials and Tribulations of building a DSM

[DreamChaser7]

I work 7-3:30 everyday I give up a lot of my time for other stuff to be able to work on these turds.

Little bit of progress again last night.
- Swapped out the Brake Booster and Brake Master between cars
- Removed Pedal assembly out of red car - This is SOO much easier with the brake booster removed.
- Got the Fuel Pressure regulator and filter mounted
- Shifter Cables mounted to transmission
- Front Crossmember/Engine mount installed
- Turbine Housing on turbo swapped
- Turbo lines connected and Turbo mounted
- Downpipe connected
- Alternator main wire routed and connected
- Clutch Line connected, slave moved over.
View attachment 731743View attachment 731744View attachment 731745View attachment 731747View attachment 731748View attachment 731746

Next up hopefully is going to move over my clutch pedal assembly, swap out the Power steering pump and high pressure line and then time to tackle the dash.
I still need to remove the crash bar and swap over the bumper support, and cut out the radiator support for intercooler piping routing.

We're inching closer!

All I know is what you describe as an evening of work after working all day seems like a months worth to me, when I get to that point of course. Lol. Nice work, keep it up love following along!

 

[Anfurnyy]

All I know is what you describe as an evening of work after working all day seems like a months worth to me, when I get to that point of course. Lol. Nice work, keep it up love following along!

I appreciate it man! It's definitely hard some days but just keep my head down and trucking on

 

[Anfurnyy]

Yesterday busted my butt for another 5 hours and felt like I got nowhere really.
I got both Dashes out and swapped. I forgot that the dash harness needed swapped after i had gotten the blue dash into the red car since the red car has popups and has a button for it. So i had to remove the dash AGAIN from the red car from almost completely installed again. In order to swap the harnesses, the HVAC tubes all pretty much have to come out.


Got the wiring harness connector swapped out on the passenger side kick panel. That was fun, laying down looking up at the underside of the dash, de-pinning 16 pins and then re-pinning them. Took pictures of the wiring orientation to make sure i had it right.

Swapped out the steering wheels on the steering columns as well since mine was in better condition. I learned about the clock spring on the back of the wheel that activates/deactivates the blinker. There's 3 little pins on it and it fits into the steering wheel only ONE correct way.



Pedal assembly, steering column, Clutch master, brake master, dash all fully installed last night.
Im pretty pooped and might take tonight off from working on the car but next time i work on it, tonight or not ill be finishing up the underside and getting the car pushed out into the driveway.
For that to happen it needs:
Pass side ebrake cable replaced (current one is seized), exhaust connected front to back, brakes bled, wheels put on.. i THINK.

 

[DreamChaser7]

Again, a month’s worth.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Alrighty boys another day with some more good progress.

Today I mainly focused on the the front end and getting the FMIC and front bumper situated. That took most of the day and it's still not fully completed but together enough to test drive when the time comes.
Had to cut the radiator support area where the piping runs through. I really hate doing this but what else you gonna do for piping routing.

Got the front bumper fully mounted up. I had to extract one of the side tabs that had a broken bolt. The other side has one tab that's completely broken off the bumper and there's basically a hole where the bolt goes up into the fender from the bumper. I'll have to get this fixed one day. Also after getting the bumper installed I saw that it apparently needs trimmed. It's currently causing the bottom portion of the bumper to mushroom upwards.
On the blue car I was able to move the intercooler back a little further because I swapped out the hood latch support for a part of aluminum bar. I can't do this on this one since it's got the little clip mount for the center grill piece. I think I'll probably pull everything off again sometime and at least trim the support and inch or so and see if that fits.

Had to remove the fog lights since they don't fit with the ETS core I'll keep em handy in case I feel froggy to try and get them to fit.

Other small stuff
Got ebrake cable replaced
Tcase mounted with driveshaft
Axles in
Brakes bled
Got the hood installed again
Moved battery box over with fuel pump relays

We're getting pretty close!
Really what's left is:
Install exhaust
Torque strut bolts
Run wiring harness in the engine bay
Run battery wires and 2nd fuel pump control wire from hatch to bay
ECU wiring
Annnddd lastly interior swap stuff.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Alrighty boys another day with some more good progress.

Today I mainly focused on the the front end and getting the FMIC and front bumper situated. That took most of the day and it's still not fully completed but together enough to test drive when the time comes.
Had to cut the radiator support area where the piping runs through. I really hate doing this but what else you gonna do for piping routing.

Got the front bumper fully mounted up. I had to extract one of the side tabs that had a broken bolt. The other side has one tab that's completely broken off the bumper and there's basically a hole where the bolt goes up into the fender from the bumper. I'll have to get this fixed one day. Also after getting the bumper installed I saw that it apparently needs trimmed. It's currently causing the bottom portion of the bumper to mushroom upwards.
On the blue car I was able to move the intercooler back a little further because I swapped out the hood latch support for a part of aluminum bar. I can't do this on this one since it's got the little clip mount for the center grill piece. I think I'll probably pull everything off again sometime and at least trim the support and inch or so and see if that fits.

Had to remove the fog lights since they don't fit with the ETS core I'll keep em handy in case I feel froggy to try and get them to fit.

Other small stuff
Got ebrake cable replaced
Tcase mounted with driveshaft
Axles in
Brakes bled
Got the hood installed again
Moved battery box over with fuel pump relays

We're getting pretty close!
Really what's left is:
Install exhaust
Torque strut bolts
Run wiring harness in the engine bay
Run battery wires and 2nd fuel pump control wire from hatch to bay
ECU wiring
Annnddd lastly interior swap stuff.
View attachment 732095
View attachment 732094

Hey heads up, the centre grille piece still holds super firm if you delete that centre holder. My car has it deleted and the grill is in there nice and solid still.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Hey heads up, the centre grille piece still holds super firm if you delete that centre holder. My car has it deleted and the grill is in there nice and solid still.

That's good to know! I might consider that

 

[Anfurnyy]

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED
Finished up getting everything under the car installed. Exhaust, N/S Cross Member bars, TCase bolts, Wheels, Coilover bolts. I did lower just a little under a half an inch but it didnt really seem to make a visual difference.


Time to move to the interior!
Started at the back and started taking off the rear panels and what not. Getting the rear seatbelts out is a bit time consuming. My goal for last night was to get the carpet, Center console with Seat belts, and driver seat mounted up and thats exactly what i did.
Got the car back on the ground on its own wheels and its looking like a car again. First time i actually got to sit in the car since ive gotten it.



Tonight i continue on with the interior except ive gotta move the battery cables and the 2nd fuel pump wire and then everything can go in permanently and i can start on the actual wiring portion of the car. More annoying that anything but obviously needs done.

 

[DreamChaser7]

You’re a machine, it’s ridiculous.

 

[CrackedDSM]

God I love 1GAs.


I second how much of a machine you are. People said I moved fast in my thread(until I took a break), but you blow me out of the water. Great job, son.


Also I heard a nigerian prince reached out to you. Lucky. /napoleandynamite

 

[Anfurnyy]

You’re a machine, it’s ridiculous.

God I love 1GAs.


I second how much of a machine you are. People said I moved fast in my thread(until I took a break), but you blow me out of the water. Great job, son.


Also I heard a nigerian prince reached out to you. Lucky. /napoleandynamite

Thank you guys for the kind words

 

[Anfurnyy]

More busywork last night.
Drilled holes in the firewall again to run battery cables. Id run some electrical bulkheads but i don't know if i trust having 2 open studs on either side of the firewall. Maybe there's a better way to do it so its more protected. i should do some research.
1 on the passenger footwell for the battery cables, one next to the shifter cables for Hydro brake, and CAN wires and what not.

Got the headliner, most of the rear trim pieces, rear seatbelts, rear seat backs, door panels installed as well as the wiring for the 2nd fuel pump and battery cables ran.


Almost had 2 casualties but knocked it down to one.
While switching over the little trim under the seat belt tracks above the doors, the passenger side top one broke in half the clips keep it secured well enough but still sad. I was so careful too.

The 2nd one was a much bigger potential issue but i was able to kind of resolve it. On the driver side while re-installing the seat belt track i was an idiot and impacted one of the little 10mm bolts in too far and snapped the bolt off IN the A pillar.
Oopsie. My impact was even on its lowest impact setting too.
Well this was an issue because this was the end bolt closest to the windshield and without that bolt the track was sticking away from the pillar by about an inch.
I dont have any easy outs (now im going to buy some though) so all i could do was drill it out. So i tried and it was drilling and then it just started threading in more and then fell inside the A pillar area.. Problem solved but hopefully i dont have a wicke rattle later on. Is there an access to this area where maybe i could fish it out with a magnet?


When i got the car, the ignition key didn't unlock the doors so i was pulling the door handle to take it to the key shop to have them make keys for it when i decided to try the key again but this time i sprayed a hair of silicon lubricant inside the lock and then tried it and booooom it works. Same story for the passenger side! Saved myself $50!

So i've kept track of the amount of time i've spent working on this swap just because i was curious and since the 9th (i didn't start working on the car until the Thursday after i got it) and As of last night i am at 42ish hours in just under 2 weeks.

Really edging closer to getting this ol girl done, and its really starting to look like a car again!

i realized the other day too that the VIN tags are on the dash... which i swapped. So ill have to pull the one back out of the red car and drill out the rivets and re-rivet it to the respective dashes. The original Dash out of the red car is still out of the car.

oh yeah and while pulling the headliner in the blue car, i saw the roof of the car. I know the car has a salvage title but i never knew from what. Well, by the damage i think maybe a tree fell on the roof because there is a super shotty roof replacement deal going on here. It looks like urethane between the "new" roof panel and the original a pillar. The passenger side is truly awful. The 2 panels arent even touching in most areas...

 

[1cleangsx]

Those old plastic interior panels are a PITA , my old driver side A pillar was broke in half the way you described your passenger side, I also snapped a B pillar panel in half trying to replace the broken one I finally have a full interior free of broken trim pieces but man are they a pain , so old and britle

 

[Anfurnyy]

Those old plastic interior panels are a PITA , my old driver side A pillar was broke in half the way you described your passenger side, I also snapped a B pillar panel in half trying to replace the broken one I finally have a full interior free of broken trim pieces but man are they a pain , so old and britle

Maybe you knew already But you're supposed to PUSH the little inner pin inward when they're installed and then they become loose again and you can pull them right out.

 

[DreamChaser7]

Yes I learned that the hard way the first one I pulled (the plastic peeton) many years ago too, .
I rarely ever use an impact unless the added torque is really needed. I tell all my employees and subs the same thing. You just can’t tell how much torque is being applied, that’s kinda the point. A standard drill/driver is best in most situations with the chuck gradually increased as needed. Door hardware they are a big no-no. AC guys are horrible about this. They all love their damn impacts on tiny sheet metal screws. Why do you think most of the screws on your air handlers and condensers are missing or barely hanging on?
As far as the screw in the pillar, maybe some compressed air to blow it to the front or rear and pick up with magnetic tool?

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well i havent done much in the last couple days. Wednesday night i got around to getting the pushed out into the driveway so the future Mrs could have her spot back.


Last night was all about wiring. Started putting the ECU back in and what a giant piece of crap this harness is honestly. Im heavily considering re-making the harness myself sometime in the near future.
There are too many things that are cut out of the connector and wired directly to the ECU (because the ecu doesnt utilize that specific pin or something) like the EGR pin for instance.


I shortened and re-pinned both of my DBW harnesses to Deutsch connectors so that they were permanently attached directly to the harness but theres another flying lead off the ECU that would still need to be connected. I didnt document very well what was connected to what in the ECU before i cut it so i had to like double cross reference things between the ECU pinout, and pin assignments inside the Link ECU software. Took a lot of time last night. There are quite a few stray wires ran outside the wiring harness because of adding things or having to change things after i finished looming the harness with the Tessa Tape.




I went to plug in the connectors for the MPI relay and the other body harness under the stereo and realized that theres a difference between the 2 harnesses so i had to look up the connectors and depin and repin them to the other connector off the other harness. Now the 93 harness i moved into the 90 has 3 extra wires not used in that harness that i just put some shrink tube over so they wont contact anything.


Routed everything in the engine bay to where it needs to go but still need to re-connect the intercooler piping, wastegate setup, and intake manifold and then connect some of the 12v constant and ground wires in the engine bay before i can even try to start.

 

[92Turbski]

Hell yeah, man. Coming along, 1 step at a time!

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well guys its been a long road. Much longer than i was expecting. Im currently just under 60 hours of work into the swap but we are almost done.

I finished up wiring the engine harness and getting all my little odds and ends connected back up to the ECU. I did what set out to do which was make sure that everything was removeable from the ECU in the event that i needed to remove it. I put everything into connectors and grouped them into accessory things like 2nd fuel pump activation, Rolling antilag, Speed sensor, etc.



This week was was finally able to get the car started! It fought me for quite some time and as it turned out i managed to somehow swap coil activation wires for cyl 3 and 4. for testing i just straight swapped the coil connectors and the car fired right up!


i was also able to verify that all the accessory stuff seems to be working. Interior lights, windows, headlights, tail lights etc. The front blinkers arent working so i assume its probably a bulb issue but ill look into that later. The main thing here is that the flip ups work!



Monday i worked on trying to get the FMIC to fit with the bumper better. I removed the hood latch support and trimmed it down quite a bit but it didnt make much of a difference as now the intercooler is hitting the a\c line on the passenger line that loops out of the condenser. Id really love to make it fit better but im not sure theres much can do. It basically looks the same despite being pushed back about a half inch.


With the bumper off i also fitting the coolant overflow again in the same spot it was on the blue car. it seems like such a good fit there. Tucked under the radiator support beam but still can get the cap off. Only issue witht his location on a 1ga is that you have to remove the headlight to get the overflow off. Not a huge deal since its only about 5 small bolts.


Yesterday i finished up getting my relay for all my 12v switched stuff mounted to the inside of the radiator / hvac support in the center dash. Just used some Rivnuts and it works like a charm. This relay powers all my 12 stuff, gauges, CAN, speed sensor, etc through a busbar and it works really well IMO.
Yesterday i also finished getting all the intercooler piping situated and installed fully, and clamped on. I really hope i never have to deal with that lower pipe out of the compressor often because its a bi*** in there. Got the wastegate installed, fluids in, replaced the Tcase fluid and trans fluid with some Redline 75-140. I never realized i got the wrong stuff.. i got the slippery stuff and not the non slip stuff. I dont plan on driving the car much since its still not registered either.. Unfortunately im still waiting on the title to get here from the guy i got the car from. My registration for the blue car expires on the 1st soooo i need to renew that. Gonna try and keep my "1g" plate and move it to the red car.


Drilled out the rivets holding in the VIN tag on the red cars original dash and just need to remove the current dash out of the Red car and drill that one out to have it swapped.


Got the Driver side interior put back together for the most part, with the exception of the Center cover carpet. I plan on installing the hydraulic brake again sometime soon.
The rear plastic trim around the back seats is installed also. i replaced all the trim clips in those (the inner clips). Seem to snap in well and hold pretty well also.


I was going to give the car a heat cycle last night to burp the coolant but the battery was too dead for it to start so i just kinda gave up for the night and picked up and went inside. I think maybe tomorrow ill be able to take the car for a test drive! probably just a few blocks

 

[DreamChaser7]

I put everything into connectors and grouped them into accessory things like 2nd fuel pump activation, Rolling antilag, Speed sensor, etc

I would love a tutorial on how to go about this .

Yesterday i finished up getting my relay for all my 12v switched stuff mounted to the inside of the radiator / hvac support in the center dash. Just used some Rivnuts and it works like a charm. This relay powers all my 12 stuff, gauges, CAN, speed sensor, etc through a busbar

Again some tutorial and photos would be awesome, could PM me if you didn’t want it here.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Do work, son. That's awesome all your stuff just worked right out of the box. SOME OF US weren't so lucky god DA--ahem. Anyway.


Looking forward to the test drive!

 

[Anfurnyy]

Do work, son. That's awesome all your stuff just worked right out of the box. SOME OF US weren't so lucky god DA--ahem. Anyway.


Looking forward to the test drive!

it wasnt all that easy. I did run into some stupid issues like i forgot to give power to the main relay that gives power to my coil relay so there was no spark for the first few tries. After that the car was trying to start but Cyl 3 and 4 wires were swapped so i just swapped the coils and then it did actually fire up.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well guys, we got a first drive in.
It was just an alright drive, reason being 2 fold.
1) i didnt install the lower clutch switch. With this unplugged, the car kept thinking that the Launch control was "Armed" so anytime i went over 5500rpm it went into launch control
2) Wheel alignment is off again no surprise there since the entire rack and steering wheel were off of both cars.


Got the clutch switch installed a couple days later and fixed a few other issues.
one issue i noticed was that the Alt fuse (the OEM one in the fuse box) kept blowing for some reason or another. Swapped it out twice with new fuses and both times they blew. Investigated it and OHMED the Fuse box side of the fuse against the chassis and sure enough there was a short.
Found out it was the original wires for the alternator shorting out on the frame of the car. I tested it 3 times, grounding the wires and verifying that there is a short. Pulling the wires back of the frame and testing it again and no short.

Soldered the alternator wiring harness connecter back on the harness and plugged back in to the alt.

swapped out the rear wing clips with the DSM3d creations ones i had that i bought a long time ago thinking 1ga and gb were the same.
Also picked up the Antenna and rear wiper delete kits also and got those installed.


Took the car for another drive the other day after getting the clutch switch re-installed and the car absolute still rips. New turbine housing as well and she was ripping. Saw 43 psi in 2nd gear. Tried to so a little 2-3 and it didnt go into 3rd. All of a sudden the shift was all floppy forward and backward. I thought i lost 3rd but as it turns out i forgot to install the cotter pins on the shifter cables to the shifter base so the cable just slid right off the post on the shifter. I had to pull over because the car was stuck in 3rd? i think.


Yesterday i received my replacement Canadian belt upper B pillar trim panels. These are replacements for the ones that straight exploded in the mail last year. These are dirty but in near perfect condition! Excited for Canadian belts whenever those go in.
Last little thing i did yesterday was grabbed some new R-Shape cotter pin/ clips and washers to replace the cotter pins for the shifter cable onto the base.



The reason behind the washers was to take up the space between the eyelets in the shifter cable posts and the plastic washer on the inside of the cable end so the cable isnt flopping up and down on the post and keeps its sturdy. It's probably not necessary but oh well.

 

[92Turbski]

Way to set goals and absolutely CRUSH IT! That's awesome, man. We're stoked for ya. Now you have a bad ass 1GA!

 

[1cleangsx]

Congrats again on the swap! I believe those are B pillars in the photo tho

 

[Anfurnyy]

Congrats again the swap! I believe those are B pillars in the photo tho

Oh yeah you right I always mix them up