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GSTwithPSI's Galant VR4 #1546/2000

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GST with PSI

DSM Wiseman
2,728
1,503
Jul 27, 2005
San Diego, California
I saw 1546 for sale on Craigslist, and immediately knew I wanted it. It's a 2 owner car, and COMPLETELY stock. The second owner, Robert, said he picked up the car in 1998 when it was brought in as a trade at the dealership he worked at. From that time on, I'm told it was used as a daily driver. Working with Robert on the sale was awesome, and I couldn't have asked for a smoother transaction. I could tell as I was loading it onto the trailer, it wasn't easy for him to let the car go. I assured him the car was in good hands, and I'd do my best to have it back on the road in no time. Here are some pictures of the car from the sale ad:
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The goal for this build is a completely stock restoration. It's hard to find completely unmolested examples like this, and I'm going to take advantage of that fact. The car does have some issues, though.

Overall, the body is pretty clean. There doesn't appear to be any real rust issues, but I won't really be able to confirm until I pull the fenders and such. The roof, front bumper, and cladding all need paint. The rest of the paint looks pretty good for its age. The wheels will also need to be refinished as well.

The interior is rough. The carpet is some kind of aftermarket stuff, and looks horrible. I'll get a stock carpet to restore and replace the current stuff with. The rear seats are trashed, so those will need replaced too. The steering wheel is junk, and the dash is lifting and peeling in places. I'd rate the interior in its current state a 3 out of 10.
 
Mechanically, the car will need some work. Robert said he believed the car needs a motor. I pulled the plugs, and found a set of Autolite platinums :notgood:
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After seeing the plugs, I wasn't terribly surprised with the next discovery...
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Luckily, the car was still perfectly in time. I spun the motor over by hand, and it felt smooth.
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So, I hit the key and nothing. Turns out, the grounds were terribly corroded, so I removed them, cleaned them, put everything back and tried again. I hit the key and the motor cranked right over.
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Once the car was turning over again, I proceed to check for spark. Nothing. So, I pulled the ECU and found it blown the f*** up:
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The IC107 driver was blown; ISC coil pair A. So, pulled the old ISC and swapped in a good revised unit.
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While I was screwing with the ISC, I found a sweet rat nest...
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Then, I swapped in a spare ECU and tried to crank the car over again. Still no spark. I pulled the CAS and found it 180* out. So, turned the car over to #1 TDC, lined up the CAS and tried to crank the car yet again...No spark.

I proceeded to swap in:
-Known good CAS
-Known good coil pack
-Known good wires
-Known good transistor box

Since I had spares on hand, I did some quick swaps to try and find the issue. It's clear now, that I needed to dig into the harness and start doing some real electrical testing and diagnosis.

So, given the few troubles I've already had with grounds, I decided to remove and clean all the grounds I could readily find. I also depinned the coil pack connector and replaced it. I put everything back together, and suddenly the car has spark. I'm not sure exactly what I fixed, but it's working none the less.

Once the car was sparking again, I ran a compression test just to see where I was at. The results weren't what I was hoping for. Starting with cylinder 4, I saw 150-50-90-120. Not exactly inspiring results. In addition, there's a nasty knocking sound that's developed now that the crankshaft has compression to work against. Considering I had nothing to lose at this point, I threw in a set of NGK plugs and tried to start the car. It cranks and doesn't even attempt to fire. I'd think even with the low compression on cylinders 2 and 3, the car would start, but It doesn't even try.

I moved onto verifying the fuel side of things is good to go. I can smell gas when the car cranks, but that's not a very definitive test. I verified the fuel pump is operational by jumping the test connector to +12V. The pump runs, but sounds pretty weak. I also pulled the CAS and spun it by hand, which also kicked on the pump. So, at least it seems like the circuitry is working as it should. I'll pull the fuel rail and verify the injectors are all spraying this weekend. I figure I should probably pull the pump too and see what the situation is in there as well.

I suppose something stupid like a screwed up CTS could also be causing a no start issue as well. I may swap in ECMlink from 820 to make troubleshooting a bit easier.

Basically, 1546 is definitely going to need some love before it's even close to being roadworthy again. Yanno, just business as usual fixing up another 20 year old shitbox
 
Well, good news and bad news. The good news is I got the car to run. The bad news is the motor is still junk.

The reason the car wasn't starting was due to a bad fuel pump. I ended up pulling the supply line off the fuel rail and activated the pump. It would run, but wouldn't move any fuel. I thought it sounded weak, and turns out it was. With that discovery, I tore down the whole system.

I pulled the pump and inspected the tank and pump hanger. The tank was clean, and the hanger had the typical surface rust. I swapped out the pump with a spare I had on the shelf, and replaced the strainer sock. What little sediment was in the tank I sucked out with my vacuum bleeder, and reinstalled the pump hanger.
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Then, I went up front and pulled the fuel rail, injectors, fuel filter, and lines. I swapped out the old injectors with some known good spares to ensure they weren't causing any problems. I replaced the seals as well. Next, I blew out all the fuel lines with compressed air. After everything was clean, I replaced the fuel filter and reinstalled the injectors and rail.

With the fuel system back together, I activated the pump once again by jumping the test connector. I checked for leaks and made sure everything was good to go. Satisfied, I jumped in the car and hit the key. It rolled over and fired right up.

Once the car started, I was running great right off the bat. The motor felt fairly smooth at idle, and I could only hear a bit of ticking. I reached under the hood to rev the motor, and heard what sounds like one or more of the pistons slapping. Whenever you transition on and off the throttle, you can hear an audible slapping noise. It's definitely not a rod knock. As the car warmed up, the slap got a tiny bit worse. I was still able to drive the car down the street and back, and move it in and out of the garage. The motor seems to run pretty well aside from the piston slap. Here's a short video of the slapping sound: click

In light of my latest discovery, I'll be on the lookout for a short block for 1546. Until then, I'll do some more inspecting and evaluation to see where else the car needs attention.
 
I gave 1546 a good wash over the weekend. The car looks like it's going to clean up really well. I'll need to respray the roof, front bumper and probably the cladding. Hopefully I can get started on the motor as soon as time and money allow.
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Well, I finally pulled 1546 in the garage tonight to start the restoration work. It just didn't feel quite right without a Galant on jack stands taking up space in the garage :roll:

Step 1, evaluation. East coast Galants = rust.

When I bought this car, I was well aware of what to look for regarding rust. When I gave it a once over in person, I knew I'd be cleaning up rust to some extent. The pinch welds had the typical surface rust, and you could see crap pinned inside the fender when you opened the door. But, the car looked pretty good overall, so I bought it anyways hoping for the best.

Today I pulled the front clip apart to evaluate the extent of the rust. I got really lucky, as there was hardly any damage save a bit of surface rust. No rot, and cleanup on this car should be a breeze.

For the love of god, people, pull your fenders. Your Galant could quite literally be rotting away right under your nose.
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Overall, the car is pretty clean. It definitely needs some love, but that's just business as usual. The front clip will get cleaned, rust proofed, and painted. The the motor will come out and a new long block will go in. The interior is a disaster, so it will also come out and be replaced with nicer stuff. Yanno, just replacing everything on the entire car, per the usual.

I've decided on a complete factory restoration for this car. Showroom ready is the goal for this one.
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Shaping up to to look like a real motor.
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Once again, the Military has plans to move me, so this project got cut short of where I hoped to take it. I simply won't have the time to dedicate to finishing the car, so I sold it to Dan (@ob1murry), a good friend in the local area. He's currently having a 2.3 stroker motor built, which I believe will end up in the Galant. His plans for this car are much more ambitious than the stock restoration I had planned. Most importantly, this car went to a good home, so I'm looking forward to seeing where Dan takes the build.

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Once again, the Military has plans to move me, so this project got cut short of where I hoped to take it. I simply won't have the time to dedicate to finishing the car, so I sold it to Dan (@ob1murry), a good friend in the local area. He's currently having a 2.3 stroker motor built, which I believe will end up in the Galant. His plans for this car are much more ambitious than the stock restoration I had planned. Most importantly, this car went to a good home, so I'm looking forward to seeing where Dan takes the build.

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I absolutely feel your pain, the military always find a way to throw a monkey wrench in the plan. I was looking forward to this build, but Im pretty sure you will find another example soon.
 
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