TeamSwift

The time has come once again, to make another trip down the proverbial Rabbit Hole.

First, a little background on the events leading up to the creation of this thread: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=53279

Pictures will be coming, although due to time constraints, they may have to wait until after the motor swap is finished... we'll see. It's the end of day one & I'm to exhausted to format and post the pictures that will be part of the narrative.

I have done a lot of those, against what other members opinions, I remove the engine only. This is a lot faster. The 3cyl auto models have a really awkward rear mount that discourages people when only removing the engine. The 4cyl is very easy to remove engine only. The way I see it, you need to unbolt starter, bel housing bolts, torque converter bolts regardless whether its in the car or the whole thing is on the floor. Doing just the engine saves pulling axles,cooler hoses,shift linkage, etc etc. trust me, I've likely done 30+. Do confirm the engine you are putting in is a 96+ model, there's nothing worse than getting a 95 eng in and realizing you need to switch eveything over to get a crank sensor in it and such! Good luck. A straight used engine swap can be done in 3-4hrs pulling eng only from the top.

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1995 Swift w/16V 4.39s, 3tech cam, Esteem t-body, Header, needs more.
1995 Gt Mustang "Boss Shinoda" package.
1999 F150 4x4 Supercharged
1967 Mustang 428 auto, never ending expensive project
1993 Civic si h22a, fell in my lap, couldn't resist!

Here's Kermit, although in retrospect, it's more of a Shrek:

Mrs. G's white 2000 Corolla is sitting behind it. The motor started burning oil last year. In the last two weeks the oil usage, unbeknownst to us, suddenly got a whole lot worse & I noticed it making a slight knocking sound when she started it to go to work last Thursday. Sure enough, there was no oil on the dipstick when I pulled it.
Uh oh... now I have to get her out of the Corolla and into Kermit ASAP!!!

Below is the '96 motor that I'll be swapping in. As you can see, it was pulled with both wiring harnesses still attached - and intact. My first thought was that with all the wires and hoses still on it, the thing reminded me of Medusa's head.

And yes, if you look closely, you can make out the crank sensor under the main pulley as well as the wire running to it (just below the alternator in this shot).
If (and that's a big IF) there are no differences between the '96 & '97 model years in terms of the electrical & emission plumbing, this looks like it could be the next best thing to "plug and play".
If anybody knows for sure, now would be the time to tell me!!
I'm thinking of pulling the glove box out tomorrow morning to see how difficult it would be to swap the existing harness with what's already on that motor.

While the kid & I had started to prep for removing the transmission, we're now going to put a jack stand under it and attempt just pulling the motor. The A/C compressor is now hanging by a pair of bungee cords and to give ourselves as much wiggle room as possible on the passenger end of the engine compartment, we removed the crank pulley, the water pump pulley, and for good measure, the alternator. Tomorrow, as we unbolt the motor from it's mounts, we'll remove the A/C compressor mounting bracket from the side of the block since it's belt tensioner wheel sticks out past the end of the motor. Finally, Michael installed the Harbor Freight 8 ton hydraulic ram so the engine hoist is now back in commission.

On a side note, when Michael disconnected the fuel line from the motor earlier today, gasoline started flowing out of the line from the tank in a fairly sizeable stream.
Simple fix...
Being warm outside today, as I unscrewed the gas cap, the gas tank farted, and with the pressure relieved, Kermit stopped peeing on the concrete.

Harness should be identical. If I were doing it I would pull the harness off of the new engine and just unhook your old harness then pull the engine. There really is no amount of connectors to unhook, ten or less total. Should go quickly.

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1995 Swift w/16V 4.39s, 3tech cam, Esteem t-body, Header, needs more.
1995 Gt Mustang "Boss Shinoda" package.
1999 F150 4x4 Supercharged
1967 Mustang 428 auto, never ending expensive project
1993 Civic si h22a, fell in my lap, couldn't resist!

codyb76, thank you. Your advise was dead-on and worked like a charm!
The engine pull, while slightly different in a couple respects, went smooth as silk, and when it came time to lift the 4 banger out it was basically no more difficult than pulling a 3 cylinder (albeit, one with A/C of course ).
So far, I've identified only two obvious differences in the motors between the "new" '96 Swift (hatchback) with it's manual transmission and my '97 Metro (sedan) with it's automatic:
- The coolant pipe that runs across the firewall side of the block and plugs into the back of the water pump housing has the connector for the in-dash heater core oriented differently.
- there's a 90 degree right-angle hose that has to be disconnected from a metal pipe that runs down and across, underneath the transmission.
- The flywheels used for the manual vs. automatic transmissions are different.


Being that it's been a while since I did an engine pull and this was my first crack at a 4 cylinder, there was at least one thing that I will do differently the next time: I realized it wasn't necessary to completely pull the metal cooling pipe (for the lower radiator hose) that runs under the transmission. it would have been sufficient to remove the two mounting bolts for it temporarily, long enough to un-clamp and disconnect it from the right-angle hose that attaches it to the water pump pipe that runs across the back (firewall) side of the block:




I'll add the gory details later, but for now, enjoy the pics from the pull...
Once I had the tranny resting on a jack stand, Michael connected the engine hoist to the motor and unbolted the motor from the transmission. After he left, I then started wiggling & pulling the motor towards the right side of the engine compartment until it popped free of the one stud next to the starter. With the alternator, water pump pulley, crank pulley, and the A/C compressor mounting pieces already removed, there was room to spare. Not much, mind you, but enough to do the trick...

At this point I started lifting the motor out of the engine compartment. This is when I realized I made a rookie mistake, forgetting to remove the oil filter and the exhaust pipe hanger (at the bottom of the firewall) so the exhaust manifold could drop down, out of the way. As a result, I had to rotate the motor clockwise as I was lifting it up, scraping the oil filter and the back of the block against the manifold as I was raising it up. Good thing I had removed the alternator first. It gave me the "wiggle room" I needed to rotate the motor...

I had to keep an eye on the back side of the throttle body as the motor was making its way past the manifold. Once I was clear of the manifold, I then had to shift the motor towards the radiator a little so the plastic thingy (that's a technical term for, "I don't know what it is") on the back of the throttle body didn't get damaged where it was about to catch on the underside of the metal lip running along the back of the engine compartment...

Once the throttle body cleared the lip, it was straight up...

and out...

from there, leaving Shrek, a gutless wonder. Here you can see the exhaust pipe hanger I forgot to remove:

And here, you can see how I suspended the A/C compressor using the bungee cords:

To be continued - tomorrow...

The day didn't go as well as hoped for. Needed the kid over to help swap the A/T flex plate over to the new motor. Then I realized something. My Haynes manuals only go up through 1993!
I've spent the evening searching the internet for the A/T torque specifications needed to slap the motor onto the transmission - without success.

Can someone look up the 1997 4cyl A/T torque specifications for:
- the bolts that attach the flex plate to the rear of the crank
- the bolts that connect the plate to the torque converter

Thank you!

I did get one major thing resolved though.
I suspected there was a transmission in there somewhere...

... and after a long archeological dig, my suspicions were confirmed!

Specs will be the same as 89-93 models covered in your manual. Make sure to remove the spacer off of the old engine that goes between crank and flex plate. It can get missed as it looks like part of the crank at first glance

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1995 Swift w/16V 4.39s, 3tech cam, Esteem t-body, Header, needs more.
1995 Gt Mustang "Boss Shinoda" package.
1999 F150 4x4 Supercharged
1967 Mustang 428 auto, never ending expensive project
1993 Civic si h22a, fell in my lap, couldn't resist!

Hmm... when I pulled it the plate off, there was only one spacer... on the other (torque converter) side of the flex plate. Clearly, this link,
http://suzukat.prokee.hu/swift4/70.htm
shows the second spacer that you mentioned!
Grrr...

The crank spacer is probably sill on the old crank. Very easy to overlook. But its really important that both spacers are installed. If not the bolts will bottom out in the crank shaft (instead of flexplate) and eventually back out or sheer off whichever comes first.

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GEO MAFIA!
00 swift 2dr turbo 1.3 5spd 4.10. Sold to friend.
93 geo metro with 96 1.3 5spd swap turboed at 5psi. roommates.
14 ford Mustang v6.

Woo-hoo!!!
I was kinda expecting another thin spacer, but all I saw was this. And yes I ASSumed it was the end of the crankshaft:

Popped it off, and saw this:

So now all three parts are accounted for:

Thank you guys for the head's up. I really appreciate it!
TeamSwift members = One helluva knowledge base!

Medusa's Head is now out of the truck and hanging by the hoist. The water pump pipe has been swapped out because the connection for the in-dash heater core is on the opposite side. Circled are the two disconnection points: the 10mm bolt to the block, and the cooling system hose that runs up to the intake manifold:

With those out of the way, there's a tab on the pipe you can use to help with wiggling and pulling it out of the back of the water pump housing. In this pic, I twisted the flat blade screwdriver clockwise so it was pushing against the base of the tab:

I was looking for a good excuse to pop the oil pan off Medusa to take a look at a couple of the rod/main bearings, and here it is... a small leak at the crank sensor:

Replace the front crank seal. Do can while you are in there. Oil pan is most likely not leaking. Factory silicone seal was excellent. Always misdiagnosed because all oil leaks on the engine land up at the oil pan rail so it looks like oil pan leak.

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1995 Swift w/16V 4.39s, 3tech cam, Esteem t-body, Header, needs more.
1995 Gt Mustang "Boss Shinoda" package.
1999 F150 4x4 Supercharged
1967 Mustang 428 auto, never ending expensive project
1993 Civic si h22a, fell in my lap, couldn't resist!

nice thanks for the pictures good job almost there
are you doing the "T belt" before or after install.?...........jv&s
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Doh!!!
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Mumble, mumble, can't get away with nuttin' on this mumble, mumble, forum...
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(fade to black followed by the sound of the door closing and Copper Top being fired up...)
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DUDE!!!
Tighten up your belt cause I can hear you laughing your ass off all the way down here on the south end of Puget Sound. You know how well sounds carry across the water, don't you??!?
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(Later... the sound of Copper Top pulling in to the cabin)
Mumble, mumble, mumble know he's just keeping me honest. Mumble, mumble...
Happy now???

Let's see how the main & rod bearings look first. I believe I found the source of the oil leak...
Loose bolt.

I've seen this before (two bolts up and to the left in the following picture) which is why I checked all the circled bolts before pulling the oil pan.

OK Swift/Metro noobs... gather 'round, because there's a problem here - and a solution to it. Let's see how quickly the grizzled vets can identify it.

For all you grizzled vets, you're on the honor system here...!!!

First vet to identify the problem in 5 seconds gets 5 brownie points. Provide the best solution, and that's another 5 bonus points, payable with smiles and admiration from yours truly.

Ok dude let me say this...Sorry for calling you out on the T-belt my bad I should have P,M, ya
and do we need to talk about using that secondhand TPS.?
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Now about your oil leak.?
...................................Who you calling grizzly.?
I'm going to say change that front seal.! ..............How.?
your drop'n the pan anyway
do it Phil-N-Ed style !
get a chuck of wood wedge it between the crank and block inside.
get yourself a breaker bar & long piece-O-pipe with a stought
17mm socket and bust that big nut off the front of the crank (good luck)

...........Grizzly....I got your grizzly....RIGHT HERE.!
(reaches down between his legs and just before he grabs his crotch relizes his balls are usualy kept in his wife's purse)...................................DOAH.!
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looks like a freshly broken bolt on the dip stick tube? and a new belt in front of a bad front main, should i go on?

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If you ain't First your last - Ricky Bobby

1990 swift GL Twincam swap
Hyundai trans swap- in progress

Woo-hoo!!
We have a winner!!
It required a little judicious drilling out of the center of the bolt and the use of an easy out to back the bolt shaft out of the hole:

Old Suzuki bolts never die...
We just snap their heads off!

As for the crank seal and all the oil on the end of the oil pan, I believe the bottom right bolt I pointed to in the previous picture, being loose when I checked it, was the source of the oil. (The liquid seen on the crank sprocket was actually some residual engine degreaser that I had sprayed down the area with a couple minutes prior to taking the picture.)


With the bolt replaced I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and start attacking the passenger side of the badly faded dash and console (common problem with the Mk4s as I understand):



I finally pulled the #1 main bearing cap tonight. (I think I make that T-shirt look good! )

and here's what I found:


Although I think the seal is probably good for many years to come, codyb76 & JV&S, you have reminded me of something I've said for years:
If you're gonna do something, do it right!
So, even though this is indeed a whopping 27K on the rebuild, I guess I'm gonna have to call you on the front main seal and raise you a rear main seal while I'm at it.


Finally, JV&S,
Mrs. G-Whiz & I haven't laughed that hard together in months. That post was a gift from you and words can't express how much it is appreciated!
Thank you so much.

Do NOT feel bad about the timing belt... I needed that banter. Even this grizzled vet can't see the forest for the trees sometimes, and that's what makes this team(Swift) an invaluable part of my road back to recovery after failing to protect the little 4 year old from her mother in court.

Front and rear main seals have been swapped out.
Since this was a recent rebuild, I didn't have to fight the Loctite problem. I just had to balance myself by holding onto the intake manifold while stepping on the end of the breaker bar.
Note the location of the 2 by 4 under the counter balance (is that the correct term?). In this location there's no danger of twisting the crank. It's sitting on one side of the #1 main bearing and the main bolt is on the other side:

I actually punched tiny starter holes in the outer face of the seals and gently used my impact wrench to get the tip of the wood screw imbedded in it.



Under the category of what NOT to do:
For grins and giggles, since the flex plate has holes in it, I slipped my tire iron through, added a small chunk of wood in the hole for padding, and used that to hold the crank still while torquing the main bolt to 91 foot pounds. Didn't think of it until afterwards, but I could have potentially dented the bottom surface of the block! Fortunately, I didn't find anything when I cleaned the surface back there(whew!).

I need some insperation If you got any update it would be much O-preiciated.....jv&s
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Please do! I haven't handed my motor over to the guy I bought the donor motor from yet, so my original (albeit, probably second hand) TPS is still available if I need it. I'm trying to keep the parts swap to a minimum although I did swap distributors, the flywheel for my flex plate and am about to swap the EFE heater because of a broken connector clip...

Which requires removing the 4 long bolts on the top of the TB...

so you can "lift and separate" the TB from the heater (and it's upper and lower gaskets which will also be replaced...

I was going to have to wait for the gaskets until Sunday, but that didn't have to slow me down since swapping the TB heater could wait until after the motor was back in the car.
It took three attempts to get the motor into Shrek. The first attempt was with the alternator on:

Because Shrek has A/C lines, even with wiggling and twisting, there just wasn't enough room to get the alternator past the high pressure line:

Taking the alternator off and mounting the passenger side engine mount & A/C compressor bracket resulted in failure for the same basic reason: Not enough room.
So, when pulling a 4-banger that has A/C out the top, you first have to remove the crank pulley, the alternator, the passenger-side motor mount, and the A/C compressor engine mounting bracket. Then, and only then will the 4 cylinder motor come out and go back in as "easily" as a 3-banger.

On a side note, the replacement motor never had A/C with it, so the extra bolt holes for it had to be cleaned out with some PB blaster spray, a can of compressed air, and a brass "pipe cleaner" that I think I picked up at Harbor Freight a couple years ago:

See the bolt hole I circled on the front of the block? That's one of the mounting points for the A/C compressor engine mounting bracket... and when you're installing the bracket, that bolt has to be tight before you start tightening the rest of the bolts!
Edit on 9/29/2012:
I think Michael removed the compressor bracket originally, but still, I didn't catch my mistake until after I posted the previous sentence. When I finally got around to mounting the the bracket, I discovered it doesn't have a front face mounting point like Copper Top's '94 factory A/C bracket!!

I found aligning and mating the motor to the automatic transmission bell housing at least as difficult as with a manual transmission. Once the motor had been lowered into place, I think it took somewhere over three hours to bolt up (working by myself because the kid didn't come over to help).
Not only did I have to figure out how to rotate the motor clockwise and counterclockwise in front of the bell housing (to line up the motor/bell housing mounting holes), I also had to figure out how to tip front end of the motor up and down to match the same angle on the transmission.
To rotate, I put a floor jack under the oil drain plug (located on the right (firewall) side of the oil pan):

Jack it up, and it would rotate the motor clockwise - and visa-versa. However...
because the drain plug is towards the front of the motor, this also affected the front-to-back tilt.
To change the tilt, I had to use screwdrivers through the chain links & leverage them against the bottom of the hoist's hook to pull one link at a time through the hook, and then jam a second screwdriver through the new link in order to hold it in place so the chain couldn't slide back to the center of balance:

And of course, as the front of the motor tilted up or down, the floor jack would cause the engine to rotate in one direction or another. Raising & lowering the hoist was simultaneously affecting both the tilt and the rotational position of the motor.
Needless to say, changing the hoist and jack heights has to be done in the smallest of increments! Changing the position of the hoist hook on the chain... one link at a time... that really messed with the rotation & tilt!

My first task was to line up the motor's lower rear right (firewall side) through-hole with the stud sticking out of the front of the bell housing:

What can't bee seen here is the alignment dowel pin right above it. (There's another metal dowel pin on the bottom front (radiator) side of the bell housing that will have to be lined up) Maybe it would be OK to do it, but once I was able to slide the motor backwards over the stud I decided to NOT put the nut on since I didn't want to risk snapping or bending anything down there if things got screwed up. Sure enough, they did...
At one point the motor slid off the floor jack, lurched forward off the stud, and then dropped slightly downward until all the weight of the motor was completely on the hoist, forcing me to start all over again.
Very gradually things came into alignment until I was finally able to attach both of the upper bell housing mounting bolts:

I then had to put a second floor jack under the transmission to lift it up slightly so the larger gap between the motor and the bell housing to the bottom was pretty much the same as across the top. Then I was able to put the rest of the bolts in the bell housing and attach the motor to the frame. I did NOT cinch up the bell housing to the motor. there's still a gap there - at least until I confirm the torque converter is still able to spin freely and am ready to attach the flex plate to the converter.

Still a long ways to go. This seems like a swap that could normally be done in a weekend, but in my current condition, it's left me doing this off and on for over a week.
I don't think I was able to build up the steam to get started on the motor install until early Saturday afternoon, and it was around 10:30 or 11PM that night before the motor was finally mounted to the frame. The ordeal left me staring out the window at Shrek throughout the day Sunday, wanting to work on it, but mentally unable to take that first step to get started. Finally started to see some relief Monday and was actually able to get out of the cabin and tackle some chores. Temporary setback. I'll get'er done. No need to worry about that.

hope you feel better stud ......
thanks for the imput it helps realy.!

can i throw alittle salt at ya
I'm calling it advice ya thats the ticket advice
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The A/C bolt mount I believe are the same for all the "G" class engines I've ever seen
you right has to be tight before the pump can go on a bitch to do in the car
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as i remember that Alt on our cars 95-01 was a bitch to get in one that had A/C I remember stuffing in from below
hated that fuqin J,O,B,
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you struggles re-affirm why I allways pull engine and trans on these cars

shure you can pull & replace just the motor but ...... thats not how they were put together
and if it was less time consuming you would think they would do it that way in the factory
but it isn't & they don't and it took me about ten yrs to figure that out (no joke)

So when some one say "Oh ya just pull the engine out and replace it ....I become quiet
and listen cause maybe I'm missing something and have been doing it wrong for so long
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But again you build thread re-affirms it can be done but for me pulling the eng/tran
method my take longer but it's way EZR
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so thank you again for you exlent thread ... this "Grizzely old dog learned a thing or two
I beleive you sir have earnd a sticker but don't wait for it for it's going to be awhile ( you on my list).....jv&s
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The wire harnesses, alternator and the A/C compressor have all been remounted to the new motor.

If I had it to do over again, I'd still leave the transmission in the engine bay. The fewer the number of parts I touch, the fewer the number of things I can break... the dipstick tube bolt head that I snapped off, for example.
Kind of a variation of the old saying, which in my case would be,"if it ain't broke, don't touch it!".
Where I'm relatively proficient at breaking things, I can't hold a candle to the kid... he has breaking things down to a fine art, so it's always a bit dicey when I have him come over to help.

Transmissions are one of the few mystery components on cars that I haven't had to touch up until now, and as a result, the less I have to do with them, the better. I get the part that different gears engage each other to create the different input/output ratios. I also understand what synchros are, but have yet to wrap my pea-brain around the way they synchronize the sprocket teeth with each other. That's pretty much the limit to my understanding of manual transmissions. I understand the concept of how a torque converter is supposed to work, but that's the only additional thing I understand about automatic transmissions. And before anyone responds about the complete factory A/C I installed in Copper Top, all I can say is that I had a fairly good grasp of the operating principles behind it and if it hadn't been a combination of sheer desperation to add A/C to my ride and being in the right place (Craig's List as I recall) at the right time (looking for other parts) I wouldn't have jumped all over that project the way I did.

Getting back to the project, today I encountered a "hose to nowhere" and was wondering if someone could verify where the far end goes. It's connected to some kind of valve or sensor just about top center on the firewall. From a couple pictures I took before the motor was pulled, it appears the hose drops down and travels to the left (driver's side) shock tower. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of where the hose terminated, but I'm guessing it passes through a small, otherwise unnoticeable hole in the sheet metal that's the same diameter as the outside of the hose. Looking at the end of the hose, I see no indication that it was either plugged into a connector or otherwise anchored to anything with a clamp:


Edit on 9/29/12:
Confirmed my suspicion. Looking through the pictures taken before pulling the motor I found the following shot and while the wiring harness above it blocked the view of where it went into the hole I mentioned...

Attachment:

FoundWhereTheHoseWent1.jpg

...this picture taken tonight proves that there wasn't anywhere else for it to go other than into the body (wheel well?) cavity on the other side of the sheet metal:


The other thing that slowed me down today was a note I read in an online Suzuki service manual where it said something to the effect that the flex plate and torque converter should be marked when separating them so they can be bolted back together in the same orientation relative to each other.
Guess what...? Michael & I weren't aware of that at the time.
Fortunately, I lucked out because my OCD saved the day. As it turned out, I had taken a picture of them right after Michael had removed the bolts. It wasn't the best shot, but there was enough detail in the picture for me to orient the two based on the surface rust and stains (whew! ):

Attached the exhaust manifold installed the starter, tightened all the bolts (and the one nut) to secure the engine to the bell housing, re-attached the cables on the top of the transmission, installed the battery, added fresh oil and a new filter, unplugged the coil wire from the distributor, cranked the motor over for about 15 seconds to fill the oil filter the rest of the way up and pressurize the oil passages.
Plugged the coil wire back in and the donor motor fired up instantly, purring like a kitten for the three or four seconds that I let it run.
Tomorrow, I'll put coolant in the system and turn my attention to the brakes.

Edit on 9/29/2012:
Concerning the exhaust manifold... when I'm in the wrecking yards, I like to grab the occasional nut/bolt that is in good shape. In particular, I like to collect a few 12mm Honda flanged exhaust manifold nuts (right) to replace the stock - and usually well weathered - Suzuki nuts (left).

Attachment:

GivingHondaThierDue.jpg

Concerning the installation of the starter... I could be wrong about being able to access it from above before the starter goes in, but if I'm not, make sure you have the nut TIGHT on the stud coming out of the bell housing (down by the axle shaft). I forgot to do that before I installed the starter and had to use a u-joint on my ratchet from underneath to get to it. Even then, I doubt it's torqued to spec because of the bad angle!

One thing I like to do when adding coolant after major projects like this is, I will disconnect the top cooling system hose on the back side of the throttle body and shove paper towels underneath it (to catch the overflow) before pouring fresh antifreeze into the radiator:

Why? Because of this after bringing the motor up to operating temperature for the first time and then letting it cool back down:

It may not be much, but air pockets form in the head and throttle body when filling the cooling system and by doing this, it allows at least some of those air pockets to escape at the highest point in the motor's cooling system.

With this project I can now confirm it works just as well on the 4cyl G13 as it does on the 3cyl G10 motors that have the standard throttle body.