Well the rear rotor let go on this past saturday. Did a compression test, got 0, pulled off the appropriate plug wires, and tried to run the car on the front rotor, then the rear. The car ran when the rear rotor wasn't getting spark, but when the front rotor was unlplugged, it wouldn't start. Soo.. on sunday, I picked up a parts car with a supposed running engine in it. The thing was burried in snow, in a field. I pulled the engine and tranny out tonight, out of the car that was in the field.


There are some minor differences in the two engines.
Both are 12a's tho. On the car from the field, there an extra connector in the rats nest, one of the colored connectors, guessing thats for cruise, which my car didnt' have. What do I do about that?

Also, which is better, the front mounted oil cooler or the one thats ontop of the engine? Can you use both? Is it hard to switch them if need be. My car has a front mounted oil cooler, the doner car has the other kind.


How difficult would swapping carbs be? And... is there a way to test the doner engine to see if it will run? I tried to do a compression test, and just turned it over by hand, using a ratched, but there was no compression when I did that, but I think it takes a couple of cycles to build any pressure, right?


Well thats it for now. thanks in advance for any help.

 

Thanks for all the help guys

 

Strip the donor engine and yours down to the core. Then use your rats nest and stuff on the "new" engine. That'll simplify things.

The front mount cooler you have is much superior to the pedsetal cooler.

I'd say if your carb was good, swap it. Just unbolts, not difficult at all. What year is your car and the donor car?

Yes, you need good cranking rpm to test for compression. If the engine and tranny are still mated, you could hook up a starter to a battery and crank it that way before you install it in the car.

 

Thank you carl. The donor cars are both 82's. The blown engine car is a basic, no power anything no cruise no leather seats, or rear wiper. the new one has power doors locks, leather seats, an EQ, rear wiper, little bug juice sprayers for the headlights, never saw that b4, so I am led to beileve that its a gsl, or gsl se.

I will try and pull off the pedistal oil cooler today, and strip that thing to the core.... makes me kinda nervous. First engine swap done by myself... and this is my only means of transport....

I guess 1st thing is 1st, I will try and hook up my starter on the doner engine, and see what kinda compression.

Later.

 

well, everything seems ok with the "new" engine, except its not in the car yet....... got decent compression numbers, considering it has been sitting for awhile... 95 on both rotors....I imagine once its broken in again abit after sitting, and it has some fresh oil in it, the compresion should go up a little then.... maybe??

So far what I have left to do is put the tranny on, not sure if I should do that before putting in the engine, or after, gonna try before I think. Then install the engine and tranny, and connect everything. Oh and one setback... a broken studd on the exhaust manifold that hooks up to the exhaust pipe..... is there anything that I need to do, like bleed the fuel system or something that I may be missing....I'm hoping to drop it in and fire it up.... really hoping.

 

Cool! yes, the numbers should go up a bit.

Some like to put it in as a unit, some seperate. Try as a unit. The trans only weighs like 75lbs. Nah, dont have to bleed the fuel system. The pump will fill the carb as soon as you start cranking. Maybe pour a little gas down the carb to get it started quicker and take some load of the starter.

 

Hey Carl, the car is running, pretty strong too. Compression is up to around 115 in the front, 120 in the rear. Again thnx for your help. there is no oil or coolant leaks, as of yet. Wants to stall tho during idle.....all and all, so far so good. Not bad for a car that sat in a field for "x" amount of time.... Oh yes, there is no oil pressure showing on the dash gauge... this concerns me. So I guess there is 2 problems....yet...

 

Jesus that sounds like a brand new motor, 120 compression is absolutely amazing, good find!

About the idle, ou could have a vac leak, check for that. I'm sure you have oil pressur, your sending unit could be bad, or a bad connection. You work quickly, it takes me a few days to swap a motor in, but i'm lazy.

-Marques

 

Well, it does seem to have more jam. Buuttt, it will not idle.... How do I begin to find a vacume leak. I didn't replace the carb gasket also... could that be it? I guess there is alot of possiblities. Timing? I looked at where the distributor on both engines are sitting, and they seem to be in the same spot.....but I guess that really doesn't say much without a timing light.... Any Ideas?

 

Fix the oil pressure gauge. Check that the connection is good. Check the sender with an ohm meter, FIX IT!

Crank the idle speed up till itll stay running, then spray either carb cleaner, starting fluid all around the intake/carb etc to locate the leak(s). I like to use one of those little red straws from a WD-40 can to get a pinpoint spray. Makes finding them easier.

You really need a timing light to set the timing accurateyl.

 

I drove into work this morning, and the car would not idle at all, it would just stall. So I got to work and spent the morning quite concerned.... Someone where I work claims to know about carbs abit, so I asked him to check it out. Well turns out I just forgot a vacume line. Runs quite nice now! Great, except that oil sending unit, its pretty minty...