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[longassname]

Ok, I took some pictures today of the driveline swap. I know how everyone likes pictures and I know how everyone likes big time mechanics projects.

I had put the car up on jackstands for the removal of the exhaust, heat sheild, driveshaft, disconnecting the axles from the transmission, the bottom bolts holding the engine and transmission together, and the motor mount bolts. I also like having the car raised to work in the engine compartment. It makes it easier on the back. After disconnecting everything from the engine and removing the radiator I dropped the front of the car back down to the ground and tied the hood up to make it easy to pull the engine. With everything disconnected the engine actually pulls out very easily.






Here's a picture of the transmission that will be going into the car. It's a 91 turbo legacy 4eat with 3.9 gears. It looked terrible on the outside when I got it but I have taken off the rear transfer case and it actually looks really good inside. It looks to have few miles since it was rebuilt. Cleaning up the outside took 25 lbs of glass beads but it's clean enough now. I swapped the external tubing and hardware from cleaner transmission I had sitting in the shop that still needs to be rebuilt.



With the transmission now being held in only by the torque mount and the rear strap and only the bar between the strut towers in the way of removing it taking the transmisison out was just a matter of 9 bolts. I lifted the front back up to the highest my jack stands will go, put a regular floor jack under the pan, hit the bolts with an impact wrench, and 5 minutes later the transmission was out and sitting on the jack. I slid it off the jack onto a piece of sturdy cardboard and slid it right out the side of the car.

[Chiketkd]

Nice progress Mike. Have you given any thought to whether you'll use the Legacy t/c or the SVX t/c?

[longassname]

I don't know what the stall is on the turbo legacy torque converter if anyone does please share. I'm thinking I'll use it none the less since it's matched with the transmission and already splined in.

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Nice progress Mike. Have you given any thought to whether you'll use the Legacy t/c or the SVX t/c?

[svxfiles]

Originally Posted by longassname

I don't know what the stall is on the turbo legacy torque converter if anyone does please share. I'm thinking I'll use it none the less since it's matched with the transmission and already splined in.

I would use the SVX torque converter.
The SVX one was designed for 230 HP, and the 92 Legacy turbo had only 160 HP.
When installing a 4.44, we always use the SVX TQ if the trans was not toasted, and use the 4.44 LegacyTQ only with 4.44 gears, and only if the SVX TQ is bad.

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by longassname

I don't know what the stall is on the turbo legacy torque converter if anyone does please share. I'm thinking I'll use it none the less since it's matched with the transmission and already splined in.

Typically, the stall speed of the SVX t/c is 2,500rpms at stock power levels. The Legacy t/c that svxfiles' installed into his son's car had a 2,800rpm stall at stock power levels.

[TomsSVX]

If the TC was rebuilt along with the trans I would use it but most of the time, they are not. Using the SVX TC will gaurentee that the stall speed will remain the same and you know that yours in in good shape

Tom

[mikecg]

Any word on shipment yet? I'm going though dragstip withdraw.

[longassname]

I'm going to send you the one that was on my car. It's already powder coated and ready to go. I was holding off till I am done with the driveline swap on my car so I could fit up pulleys that I 100% know will line up without your having to shim anything. If you'd rather I go ahead and send just let me know. I'm sure you are competent to get the pulleys you have lined up if they don't already.

Originally Posted by mikecg

Any word on shipment yet? I'm going though dragstip withdraw.

[longassname]

I've been told a check is on the way for the 1st of the 2 systems that will be the 2nd batch. I'll go ahead and order 3 lysholm 1600ax compressors as soon as I get the check. That will cover all of the 1st batch (mike already has one obviously, I have one obviously, and anthony has one which shipped to him earlier because he had a container going to down under at the time). I'm working on determining if we have clearance to use the whipple w140ax which is longer without hitting the torque mount or ignition module. If we do I will probably be using the w140ax which I'll order as soon as the order for the 2nd system from batch 2 comes in. I'm sure anyone who's on the fence will get off it as soon as they see the results from the batch 1 systems.

[longassname]

I prepped the short block today and got the heads back from the machine shop. I'm going to assemble the long block tonight and I'll try to document the build pretty thoroughly for the benefit of those who aren't experienced in engine building and are considering it.

[longassname]

Actually, I'm tired and I don't want to go back to the shop tonight. I'll assemble the engine tomorrow.

[mikecg]

Originally Posted by longassname

I'm going to send you the one that was on my car. It's already powder coated and ready to go. I was holding off till I am done with the driveline swap on my car so I could fit up pulleys that I 100% know will line up without your having to shim anything. If you'd rather I go ahead and send just let me know. I'm sure you are competent to get the pulleys you have lined up if they don't already.

Wow, much posting going on. I can wait. I'm not going to be messing with the car to much for the next couple weeks anyway. I dont plan on driving it until I find someone to make me a set of headers to elimanate the exhaust leak caused by the difference in flang size.

[longassname]

I'd just change the exhaust flanges. The stock exhaust manifolds should be good.

Originally Posted by mikecg

Wow, much posting going on. I can wait. I'm not going to be messing with the car to much for the next couple weeks anyway. I dont plan on driving it until I find someone to make me a set of headers to elimanate the exhaust leak caused by the difference in flang size.

[longassname]

The heads were hot tanked, pressure tested, given a light surface grind, and given a valve job so they were ready to drop on.




I used a surfacing pad on a die grinder to prep the mating surfaces of the block for the heads then I washed the whole block including inside of the cyllinders (not inside the crank case) with water and degreaser. Then I blew the short block dry with compressed air so that the water didn't sit on the degreased metal long enough to form any rust or corrosion. Then I dropped the oil pain and washed it with water and degreaser and cleaned it's mating surface with a surfacing pad on a die grinder and a wire brush to get the remaining sealant out of the troughs. Then I put a little mobil 1 in each cyllinder and wiped it around, turned the engine over a few times, and wiped each cyllinder clean so that only a thin film of clean oil was left in the cyllinders. The block was ready for the heads at this point.


I put a head gasket down and dropped the passenger head onto the passenger cyllinder bank ready to bolt down. The heads are held on by 8 bolts each which go on wet, meaning both the heads and threads are supposed to be oiled. It's a good idea to put the head bolts back into their original holes so during dissassembly you want to # the bolts and instead of having the machine shop wash them you clean each one as you are putting them back in the right holes during assembly. All you have to do is spray each one down with brake cleaner, dry it with a clean rag, and oil the threads and washer with engine oil, and drop it in the right hole. Once all the bolts are in the right holes you run them down finger tight so they are ready to be torqued down. The torque sequence for this engine is somewhat complicated but easy enough to do if you have the factory service manual and follow the directions. The bolts are tightened in a pattern that consists of 1st tightening the 4 bolts around the center cyllinder going from top front to bottom back to bottom front to top rear, then you go to the bolts outside of the outer cyllinders and tighten font bottom to front top to rear bottom to rear top. You use this pattern first to tighten all the bolts to 1 torque spec. Then you tighten all the bolts to a 2nd torque spec. Then you back all the bolts off 180 degrees. Then you back all the bolts off another 180 degrees. Then you torque all the bolts down to a 3rd torque spec which is low torque. From there you tighten the center bolts by a 90 degree turn. Then you torque the outer bolts to a torque spec. Then you tighten all the bolts by a 90 degree turn. This leaves you with the center bolts much tighter than the outer bolts but presumably even pressure accross the mating surface. They actually measure the strain on the metal when they come up with these things; that's where these weird tightening sequences come from.


I took the oportunity to do something a little lighter before torqueing the 2nd head and I removed the water pump and oil pump so that I could put them back on with new gasket and sealant material. I cleaned the mating surfaces with a surfacing pad on a die grinder (surfacing pads are like scotch brite pads you use to clean pots and pans). The oil pump is sealed with sealant and an o ring. I replaced the front seal and the block o ring, put a small bead of super black on the flange of the oil pump in the pattern pictured in the factory service manual, and wiped the sealing surface of the crank and the front seal with mobil 1. I then put the oil pump on so that it was begining to mate with the aligning dowels, slid the little seals between the pumps side and the block, and slid the pump the rest of the way on. The 3 passenger side bolts get sealant on their threads so I did that and put them on first followed by the rest of the bolts. You torque these bolts in a circular pattern starting at the upper right. Since it's a sealant seal the torque value is low. You have to go around a few times to get it settled into the torque setting. The waterpump uses a gasket. I don't remember what the torque pattern was but you follow the pattern in the factory service manual and torque it twice 1st at 10nm then 14nm.


After I torqued down the drivers head I replaced the o ring for the oil pick up and installed the oil pan. The oil pan goes on with sealant. I put a small bead of superblack which goes down the troughs between the bolt holes then around the bolt holes on the inside edge. The pan torques down to 5.5nm in no particular pattern. There are a lot of bolts so I went around in a circular pattern so that I didn't loose my place.

[SVXRide]

Michael,
did you have the valve seals replaced? what "letter type" engine do you have (all one letter, or a mix?).
-Bill