Engine Rebuild or Swap?

[BoyRacerBlu]

OK!!! probing Q to all you NA gurus out there, any small tricks of the trade to pluck the engine out of the engine bay? can it be done leaving the transmission IN the car? any misc bracketry thats notoriously a pain?

I've got a chiltons and the internet, and I've been making my references, but just curious if anyone's developed any lil "fast and easy" tricks from working on the NA cars....

 

[bullettdsm]

If you are pulling it by just the engine, the easiest thing to do is to leave the intake mani on, pop the exhaust mani off, pull the crank pulley AND the alternator (you can leave the alternator on. Pulling it just makes it that much easier and I find it simple to do). I pop the exhaust mani because it also makes room to get at stuff. I do not disconnect the wires for the starter, I just pull the 2 bolts holding it on.

I guess I should put the disclaimer of,"The easiest way for me" since there are many different ways and certain things are more annoying to others than to me (if that makes sense, )

MB

 

[Shake_Zulla]

2.4 swap at 40mpg? Meh, pretty unlikely. Don"t get me wrong I got 40mpg (425 highway and 75 city miles) on my 2.0 NA when she was doing 13.9's BUT that was kinda extensive in the build and I was also using an safc with an AFX ECU.

MB

Extensive? You? Nah doesn't sound like something you would do Mark.

OK!!! probing Q to all you NA gurus out there, any small tricks of the trade to pluck the engine out of the engine bay? can it be done leaving the transmission IN the car? any misc bracketry thats notoriously a pain?

I've got a chiltons and the internet, and I've been making my references, but just curious if anyone's developed any lil "fast and easy" tricks from working on the NA cars....

Answer to this question is yes, however it is easier in my opinion to pull the trans with the motor and wayyyy easier putting it in with the trans on the motor. Especially since it sounds like you have all the tools to pop out the axles plus you said in a previous post you needed to replace them anyways due to bad cv's. Just you know, imo.

 

[BoyRacerBlu]

hahaha, yeaaaahhhhh, sadly I just put all the new axles and suspension back in to transport it, in the end I probably just should have manned up and did it anyway

As of a few knuckle busting hours and a coupler curse words later...


I've got the motor 90% out, I'm going to pop off the flexplate and push it back into the bellhousing to give me the removal clearance I need to lift it out.

the next Q arises however, since the motor will be plucked out and the engine bay free to roam, any recommended engine bay deletes to help clean it up?

I'd like to preserve the AC/PS/cruise, but I know of the little stuff, such as the washer bottle, wire tuck, ect ect. Anything else you guys recommend deleting outside of the select bracketry/items listed but still preserving the engine ammenities? I'm eyeing my engine bay with a fever, and thinking the engine needs less brackets and more cowbell......

Thanks so much for your replies, and insight, I TRULY appreciate it.


btw- that intake looks like a pita to awkwardly get your arm into with the engine in the car, and the support bracket underneath....seriously....so many brackets

 

[bullettdsm]

I've got the motor 90% out, I'm going to pop off the flexplate and push it back into the bellhousing to give me the removal clearance I need to lift it out.

:

That's funny, I would have thought the Chilton's/internet would have mentioned this to you. Typically you take out the 4 bolts before you pull (and as you see, that gives you the much easier clearance).

But speaking about that, there is another "Helpful Hint from Heloise" (< google it for you youngsters ). When you go to unbolt from the flexplate; mark the bolt hole and flexplate as a match when you pull out the first bolt. For balancing reasons, you can only bolt the flexplate and the clutch pack/torque converter on one way. If you mark the bolt hole versus the flexplate hole, it will be easier to know which holes to line up when you re-install.

MB

 

[Shake_Zulla]

the next Q arises however, since the motor will be plucked out and the engine bay free to roam, any recommended engine bay deletes to help clean it up?

There isn't much that I've done on these cars. You could relocate the bat to the back. Also if you don't have an aftermarket intake that can take care of that stock filter box. Getting an aftermarket header opens up some space where that huge exhaust mani and heat shield are. You could delete the egr if you don't mind a check engine light.

btw- that intake looks like a pita to awkwardly get your arm into with the engine in the car, and the support bracket underneath....seriously....so many brackets

You get use to it. I remove my hood anymore, putting marks on the hood bracket before unbolting it makes it easy to line it back up.

 

[BoyRacerBlu]

That's funny, I would have thought the Chilton's/internet would have mentioned this to you. Typically you take out the 4 bolts before you pull (and as you see, that gives you the much easier clearance).

But speaking about that, there is another "Helpful Hint from Heloise" (< google it for you youngsters ). When you go to unbolt from the flexplate; mark the bolt hole and flexplate as a match when you pull out the first bolt. For balancing reasons, you can only bolt the flexplate and the clutch pack/torque converter on one way. If you mark the bolt hole versus the flexplate hole, it will be easier to know which holes to line up when you re-install.

MB

haha, yeaahhh, I missplaced my chilton and was stuck just stumbling through it, I'm used to the 4g63 side of things, but this is the first na I've had a chance to work on.



as far as the deletes, yeah, I've got a header, the EGR has been deleted, and its got an AEM intake that came with the car. I've rerouted the washer lines to the rear bottle and deleted the one in the engine bay. The only thing I can think of is to polish it up somehow........or delete the AC........

problem is that an AC delete will hurt resale, and this thing is an nice OZ edition so I'm not sure of how much more butchering I want to put it through, with the 2.4 swap and what have you for resale down the road.

 

[BoyRacerBlu]

Alrighty, so update again

looks like things may be going south as engine turnaround is getting a bit long, I may pickup the engine from the builder and do it myself now that semester is closing and winter break is here and the engine still hasnt been touched.

that aside- next Q- engine manadgement

So, as your all well aware, engine manadgement choices are far and few for the 420A eclipse short of AFX ECU's, MS, and varied degree's of success with the SAFC and mapclamps.


My Q is, to avoid rich idle with the ford 24# injectors I've got, any tried and true tuning solutions that are minimally invasive? HAS anyone seen mileage gains on an AFX ecu, or does that just ramp up the timing? I'm trying to avoid MS as it will add to the downtime by splicing into the harness and tuning from scratch......

anyways, thoughts, opinions, suggestions on a viable solution to assist or even replace the stock ecu option?

shooting for 23-25 mpg city driving it nice with some efficiency gains.

 

[BoyRacerBlu]

No nput for what people prefer for engine manadgement solutions?

I understand the stock ecu can handle 24 lb injectors with the exception of being rich at idle. Just looking for some good input on the options available on how to address the issue

 

[glowryder]

I run MS full standalone. Never looked back.

This is why many of us that have done this.. told you you wont get those gains...its a balance. I dont think your going to get much help as most swap for power.. not for un reasonable reasons like what ## looking for. Jut my. 02. Not sure why u need a mapclamp if your not boosting..safc may work but ull be in uncharted waters, and for a good reason.

 

[BoyRacerBlu]

indeed, I'm not discounting that fact, and part of this swap is get the groundwork laid if I do decide to take it the next step above

(srt internals and 38mm external sitting in the garage)

but just curious what people's experience with the NA portion of ecu tunning was, what people feel works, doesn't work, ect ect

majority help or not, any input is input all the same, I can look up options all day, but its different when people chime in with their personal experience.

 

[bullettdsm]

Sorry been away due to Newtown events.

The AFX does lean out the mixture as well as give you timing. As far as leaning out your injectors? Dunno. I do know that when I ran the AFX I was using the stock injectors. When I put the safc on top of that, I did lean the lower rpm's out. Now on that set-up I did get almost 40mpg (39.something. 425 highway and 75 city) on a trip.

MB