Hi all,
I'm writing because the girlfriend had a rod bearing go in her engine a few months ago and I am finally getting around to replacing it. I have looked around this forum a bit, and I'm curious if anybody has any tips to make the motor swap go quickly and uneventfully. Is there sufficient room to remove the engine without moving the manual transaxle around? Is it easier to take out as a combo of transaxle and engine? Any body panels that should come off? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Any DIY writeups that I should reference?
Thanks in advance,
Nick
Also, I should note that I have a hoist, so I intend to take it up top.
If you disconnect the trans, the motor will lift out almost effortlessly. I usually like to jack up the trans a bit, as close to the motor on the bellhousing as possible, to help angle a bit while the motor is lifting. Also helps to do the same when lowering the new motor back in and getting the input shaft to pop in place.
Not much needs to be removed other than intake and exhaust headers. Both upper and lower coolant hoses can just be popped off the motor and held out of the way (bungy cords work great), disconnect the fuel rail and swing it out of the way, disconnect power steering pump and tie out of the way, take the PCM bracket off the strut tower and you can lay off to the side, etc. Also completely remove the upper motor mount, that way you can watch your clearances at the frame rail. Overall, eco's are an easy swap.
This sounds pretty easy. Yeah, I have never done a 4 cylinder engine R&R. Only v-6's and v-8's. Did you actually remove both intake and exhaust manifolds? If so, which gaskets did you replace? Thanks
Definitely remove the exhaust mani for clearance, you may be able to leave the intake mani on, but it may be tight. Both have reusable gaskets...exhaust gasket is metal, and the intake mani has separate gaskets around each port...as long as they look in good condition, no need to replace.
The R & R went pretty well. I actually left both the intake and exhaust on when doing the R & R. The biggest problem I had was the transmission was rather stubborn in wanting to stay in place, even with its mount detached. I almost disconnected the linkages to get more room, but didn't need to. I got just enough room to do it by removing the harmonic balancer and putting it on once it was down below the inner fender. It's kind of nice to install a 4 cylinder versus all of those v-6 and v-8's I've done.
