2G AWD Conversion/Swap Guys Enter Here - Advanced. [Merged 2-07]

[johnovision27]

Marks a 97, so all the emissions on his setup were the same as his doner (IIRC 95-97 are the same). In 98, Mitsu had the bright idea of making the fwd vs awd completely different.

I used a 96 doner & being 98 all my emissions related stuff was mostly in/behind the fuel tank, where as the awd's still had it in the engine bay. So I had to basically ditch the evap setup.

Yea, I noticed that when I dropped the tank from the 95. I was expecting to see a whole lot of emissions nonsense. I planed on deleting it anyway, so no harm no foul.
Seeing as ca.dsm is down, looks like I'll be getting all of my help from here.

 

[nicknorth11]

I know the fuel gauge thing has been beaten to death, but I'm still having trouble with mine. I have a known working sender and it is wired up as per the diagram provided in this thread. I have it pulled out and the float arm raised all the way and it won't go above half way full, even after waiting 15 minutes. The pump has been rewired using heavier gauge power and ground wires. Does anyone have any ideas I can try to get this thing working properly?

 

[v8s_are_slow]

How full was the tank? Also, I wonder if you have to make sure both senders are raised. Can't imagine one sender being up all the way, the other all the way down, and it's gonna show a full tank. Ya know?

 

[gofer]

I know the fuel gauge thing has been beaten to death, but I'm still having trouble with mine. I have a known working sender and it is wired up as per the diagram provided in this thread. I have it pulled out and the float arm raised all the way and it won't go above half way full, even after waiting 15 minutes. The pump has been rewired using heavier gauge power and ground wires. Does anyone have any ideas I can try to get this thing working properly?

Someone PM'd me, can't remember who (sorry), about this re-wire and my fuel gauge works perfectly fine. Since it seems the diagrams we have posted in this thread aren't the "big picture" so to speak, I created this. This includes the fuel pump rewire...

This is EXACTLY how I've got mine. It was a '99 GSX I did the swap from and my body harness is a '97's, if that makes a difference for wire colors I'm not sure. If you're seeing different wire colors let me know so I can make another wiring diagram.

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[nicknorth11]

Thanks Corey, but I don't think my rewiring it is affecting anything, as the only wires that have changed are the power and ground to the pump, and the pump is getting power and pumping fine.

 

[v8s_are_slow]

How full did you fill the tank? And when lifting the sender, are you doing one or both?

 

[nicknorth11]

I'm not sure about the tank. It appears pretty darn full when viewed from the sender hole. I was only lifting the passenger side float. I'll fill it tomorrow and try again.


Update:
There are a couple of posts in this thread that say you only need to lift the passenger side float arm to verify a properly working fuel sender. This is incorrect. Both sides need to be lifted, either by filling the tank completely or by manually lifting each of them outside of the tank.

 

[Fox1486]

Hi all. I'm in the middle of this swap right now. My new awd transmission is mounted up, and the front of the car is basically all put together except for two things.

1) I somehow got ahold of a 22 splined tcase instead of a 23. So I'm in the process of getting another one.

2) The front driveshafts aren't in yet because I need to figure out the AC bracket dilemma with the driver side shaft. My car is a 99 and I have front axles from a 96 I believe.

So here's my question for right now. I know the ac bracket must match the year of the driver side shaft for the mount to line up. BUT I have not read about if the FWD ac bracket will work, as long as the years match. Anyone know this? Figured it would be cheaper/less headache to find a 99 awd front driver shaft vs replacing my ac bracket with a 96 ac bracket. Thanks.

 

[miguelmcv]

Only 97/99 shaft requires the 97/99 ac bracket, but the 95/96 shaft works on all of them (95/99), if you have a 95/96 shaft, then you are good to go, no matter what ac bracket you have.

 

[Fox1486]

Only 97/99 shaft requires the 97/99 ac bracket, but the 95/96 shaft works on all of them (95/99), if you have a 95/96 shaft, then you are good to go, no matter what ac bracket you have.

Well holding it up to the bracket on the car, it doesn't look like it mates up at all. The space between the bracket holes don't line up with the intermediate shaft holes.

And I'm still not sure if the FWD ac bracket will work at all, or if I need to replace it with any year AWD ac bracket.

Also, photos would be great if anyone has any comparing the ac brackets and/or intermediate shafts.

 

[jjw205]

Someone PM'd me, can't remember who (sorry), about this re-wire and my fuel gauge works perfectly fine. Since it seems the diagrams we have posted in this thread aren't the "big picture" so to speak, I created this. This includes the fuel pump rewire...

This is EXACTLY how I've got mine. It was a '99 GSX I did the swap from and my body harness is a '97's, if that makes a difference for wire colors I'm not sure. If you're seeing different wire colors let me know so I can make another wiring diagram.

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I was the one that PM'd you back in the spring when I was doing my swap. Worked perfect for me the first time. Thanks again

 

[Fox1486]

Well I got back underneath the car last night.
Finally got the transmission in the car and decided to give the driver side shaft another look. I then could see that the carrier mount lines up with just one hole on the ac bracket, and the other one on the block. I was originally looking to see how it mated up to both lower ac bracket holes, which it didn't at all. But with the aid of the transmission being installed, I realized I was lining up the axle mount in the wrong place. Installed the axle mount and axle with no problems, perfect fit.

So just for others, I can confirm that the awd front axle carrier mount fits perfectly on the FWD ac bracket / block. In my case, I was using a 96 awd intermediate axle/axle mount, on a 99 fwd car.

 

[jdxnc]

So just for others, I can confirm that the awd front axle carrier mount fits perfectly on the FWD ac bracket / block. In my case, I was using a 96 awd intermediate axle/axle mount, on a 99 fwd car.

You can replace the AC bracket with a spacer as well if you have deleted AC, saves like 10lbs

 

[Fox1486]

Can someone explain why noone has used the AWD subframe bolts for the front of the AWD subframe? I'm not understanding why we should reuse the FWD bolts for that. Also, the rear bolts have that metal tube/sleeve to actually support those bolts, but we just weld the front bolts to the frame/chassis? It seems to me that there would be no support for the bolts.

I got all the swap pieces from a friend of mine, and 4 matching AWD subframe bolts, and 3 of those bolt support tubes/sleeves. Why wouldn't I use two of those bolts to mount the front of the awd rear subframe, and weld in those tubes?

 

[2slow4now]

Can someone explain why noone has used the AWD subframe bolts for the front of the AWD subframe? I'm not understanding why we should reuse the FWD bolts for that. Also, the rear bolts have that metal tube/sleeve to actually support those bolts, but we just weld the front bolts to the frame/chassis? It seems to me that there would be no support for the bolts.

I got all the swap pieces from a friend of mine, and 4 matching AWD subframe bolts, and 3 of those bolt support tubes/sleeves. Why wouldn't I use two of those bolts to mount the front of the awd rear subframe, and weld in those tubes?

You could use the awd bolts in the front location but you have to come up with a bracket similar to the stock one that holds the tube. Strength wise when you dig into it you will see the stock bracket is only spot welded in to reinforce the tube. I made a bracket that is solid and is welded much more sturdy than the spot welded and thin stock bolt bracket. I have more weld just on one side of my bracket than what the whole stock bracket had.
Look down to post 3 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/dsm-build-journals/428065-95-eagle-talon-tsi-awd-swap-started.html

You could build something similar but make it tall enough to hold the awd bolt. Welding down low in the frame channel would be alot harder to access though with something sticking up tall enough to use the awd bolt. You may even have to open up a larger hole just to be able to weld it correctly. I considered the same thing when doing mine and did remove the bolt sleeves from the donor but after just light prying on the bracket realized how flimsy it really was.

 

[Fox1486]

You could use the awd bolts in the front location but you have to come up with a bracket similar to the stock one that holds the tube. Strength wise when you dig into it you will see the stock bracket is only spot welded in to reinforce the tube. I made a bracket that is solid and is welded much more sturdy than the spot welded and thin stock bolt bracket. I have more weld just on one side of my bracket than what the whole stock bracket had.
Look down to post 3 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/dsm-build-journals/428065-95-eagle-talon-tsi-awd-swap-started.html

You could build something similar but make it tall enough to hold the awd bolt. Welding down low in the frame channel would be alot harder to access though with something sticking up tall enough to use the awd bolt. You may even have to open up a larger hole just to be able to weld it correctly. I considered the same thing when doing mine and did remove the bolt sleeves from the donor but after just light prying on the bracket realized how flimsy it really was.

Thanks for the input. It was really bothering me that there was no real support for the front subframe bolts. It seems as though those people that just welded on a nut to the FWD bolts haven't had any issues. So maybe I shouldn't be worried.

Now I'm onto the filler neck issue. I sourced a 95-96 filler neck, and removed all my evap stuff, and that disaster they call a 99 filler neck. Has anyone thrown CELs constantly that had removed all this? The 95-96 neck looks a hell of a lot simpler. Just don't see the need to have that rat's nest of evap stuff above the tank, if it's not necessary.

 

[Fox1486]

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Someone PM'd me, can't remember who (sorry), about this re-wire and my fuel gauge works perfectly fine. Since it seems the diagrams we have posted in this thread aren't the "big picture" so to speak, I created this. This includes the fuel pump rewire...

This is EXACTLY how I've got mine. It was a '99 GSX I did the swap from and my body harness is a '97's, if that makes a difference for wire colors I'm not sure. If you're seeing different wire colors let me know so I can make another wiring diagram.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

I'm trying to figure this out. Both of these diagrams look different, and from what I've read people are having issues with the first diagram. However, I am NOT running a fuel pump rewire kit like in the second diagram. So therefore I am not understanding how I should be wiring this together.

Any input or clarification would be helpful. Thank you.

 

[silversgst]

half way done with mine. Got the whole rear end done. I used the 1st wiring diagram and have no problems. Fuel pump works and so dose both sender units.

 

[Fox1486]

half way done with mine. Got the whole rear end done. I used the 1st wiring diagram and have no problems. Fuel pump works and so dose both sender units.

I think I figured out why this doesn't make sense to me. If I understand this now I need the AWD harness clip that is still attached to the chassis, and splice in the wires from the FWD harness clip on the chassis. Then I can plug this into the AWD fuel pump clip.

I guess I don't have this piece. I only have the black harness connectors onthe AWD tank, that connect the sending unit to something else.

 

[silversgst]

I think I figured out why this doesn't make sense to me. If I understand this now I need the AWD harness clip that is still attached to the chassis, and splice in the wires from the FWD harness clip on the chassis. Then I can plug this into the AWD fuel pump clip.

I guess I don't have this piece. I only have the black harness connectors onthe AWD tank, that connect the sending unit to something else.

Yes you are right. you do need the awd fuel sending unit harness/connector to splice into the fwd harnnes. I snaged mine out of my donor before i hauld it off to the junkyard

 

[mattsGSTeclipse]

I did a search in this thread but couldn't find a specific answer. When my AWD swap was done they used the GST driveshaft bracket and added the studs needed. This means I'm missing the mounts for my exhaust. What have you guys done to fix this? I really don't want to weld something onto the car since I don't have a welder.

 

[IHeartMyHonda]

Matt, that's really going to be your best option. If you do not have the means to do it, maybe an exhaust shop would be a viable option. Shouldn't cost very much to do so. Otherwise, you could try to source the factory awd brackets, which still need to be welded on, ideally.

 

[jdxnc]

You could make a bracket and rivet it to the floor, wouldn't be very difficult.

 

[Fox1486]

Swap complete! I want to thank everyone that contributed to this thread before me. Alot of good information here.

Some photos and some of the issues I ran into, coming in the next few days...

 

[boost97gst]

Read through almost every single post over the weekend. Looks very do able.
I have a question:

Car is a 97 gst which was ORIGINALLY auto, PO swapped to manual. I still have the auto harness(thank god)
Donor is a 95 gsx AUTO. Any problems with the vss or auto 97 harness on a auto 95 tranny i should be aware of? I know im in the minority: swapping out a manual for an auto but theres big horsepower and cheap tranny work unlike manuals. I can fully build this auto myself for under a grand inlcuding a restalled TC. Thats besides the point. I will surely have a couple more questions but hopefully not many as this thread covers just about everything except what i just asked.

Thank you

edit: one more question: If i opt for the dss aluminum drive shaft does that delete the need for the front carrier bearing? Also im dumping exhaust right at the first carrier bearing(angled down) so im not concerned with hangers, just the one right there. the exhaust wont be more than maybe 5 ft total length. Ill just mig a pice on as a hanger right there