'85 13B into an S4
 

Hey guys. Has anyone else ever done this? I have to make some kind of mount to replace the manifold-side mount. I'm just kinda stumped on which way to approach it. I have a couple ideas but I was wondering if someone else found an easier solution.

im sure its been done. have you searched? what do you mean manifold side mount??? are you planning on running the s4 wiring? really i dont see how this would be really hard sensors would probly swap pretty easy.

By manifold side mount, I mean the motor mount that is on the exhaust manifold side of the engine. I've searched, but everything I found is for swapping 13bs into 1st gens, not the other way around. Yes, I'm using the S4 harness. It is a direct swap, you just have the change the oil pan and front cover from the S4 motor. But the motor mount on the S4 bolts to the side of the motor, and through the oil pan. The 85 13b does not have the bolt holes to do that.

The mount on the other side of the motor would work perfectly, it just needs to come straight out from the motor exactly 1 1/2 inches. So I have to make some kind of adapter for that. I'll post pics when I'm done. I guess I'm one of the few people to have done this.

o yeah sry i forgot the FB 13b has different mounts. i was looking into this a long time ago but now i dont remember what my solution was lol.

Basically this is what I gotta do but I don't know how I'm going about doing it yet.

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/4762/motory.jpg

Drill the center iron for the mount. The holes are generally already there, in fact.

But why?

why swap the 13b from the FB into an FC Aaron? i had considered doing it mainly because the 3mm apex seals. i came along a low miles engine out of an 85 SE but didnt know the compression and w/o those the price wasnt what i wanted to pay. i had also found another that i was going to buy tear down, port, rebuild, and do a turbo setup on. but again the person wanted to much for an engine w/o comperssion numers.

o yeah sry to hear about your trans Aaron. when i first read the title i thought o no...he blew the engine.

The motor in my S4 lost compression due to a broken apex seal. I picked up a 13b, which I traded for, so therefore cost me basically nothing.

But this is all I have, so I have to make it work. I made a mount, but I have serious doubts as to it's integrity under normal use, let alone hard launches.

*edit

The engine also has very low miles, so I'm hoping to go for a while without needing another engine.

*re edit

After comparing the aluminum mount and the mount that I made, I've concluded that.... I'm a failure at fabricating anything... It's off a bit and angled the wrong way.

I would drill and tap to re use the mount, but there isn't enough material on the bottom of the center iron to drill into. On the S4 13b that section is flat. On the early 13b, there is a thin ridge there. Also in the middle, where the manifold would be, there is a flat spot with 4 holes, presumably for whatever mount was used on this engine. It didn't come with the engine. I fear that drilling upwards into these holes would create a weak spot in the iron (by leaving too little material) and become prone to cracking.

I've heard of people just drilling new mounting holes in the chasis when dropping in a new motor. Not specifically an FB motor, but it might be an option for you.

Might be... but hopefully I won't have to resort to that.

I'll try to do a mockup and see how badly my homemade mount affects engine alignment. If it's not too bad I'll just use it. Unless someone has another solution.

I just realized that this 13b does not have the thermal pellet and spring behind the front main bolt. Should it?

I don't believe ANY 13B prior to '86 had them. Or any 12A, for that matter.