Tonight, or shall I say all day today, with the help of Wael El-Dasher, I fianally got around to installing the Pineapple-built engine in my FD. It was more difficult than taking the engine out.

Wael showed up at my house at around 11:00 AM but I was tied up with a legal matter until 12:00PM. We ordered some take-out Chinese food for lunch and then started on the engine install at around 1:30PM.

Having never done a clutch job, it took us about an hour or more to install the clutch and the transmission on the engine. We, actually Wael did call Rob at Pineapple Racing, Derrick at Corksport and Dave at KD Rotary to clarify some questions about alignment of the clutch.(BTW, if you are a tuner, take note: these are all nice guys who are more than willing to give advice over the phone for free. Wael commented that they should have 1-900 phone numbers for advice). Some of the time was spent looking for the sixth bolt for the clutch cover which was a real pain. We scoured the garage floor for that bolt for about 30 minutes. I made a mental note to myself to always store bolts in little containers instead of leaving them on the floor.

Once the trasmission was mated to the engine, we spent some time transferring all the little parts off the old engine to the new as I had neglected to do this before Wael showed up. I must thank him for being patient with me. But these activities are more fun and go better when doing it with a friend.

The actual install of the engine started at 6PM.
Everything was going smoothly until the rear end of the UIM started hitting the firewall. However, we needed to push the engine back further in the engine bay to line up the engine mounts with their right ful places in the subframe. We tried to lower the engine, tilting it up or down and pushing it backwards but the clearance was not there.

We ended up removing the UIM and the LIM and attaching the chain of the load leveler directly to the engine block using a bolt for the LIM. This gave us enough room in the back of the engine to clear the firewall. And poof, the enigine mounts popped right into the indents in the subframe.

Wael suggested that we not try to mate the drive shaft to the trans so I let the drive shaft hang in the breeze. I will have to unbolt the drive shaft from the differential tomorrow to insert the drive shaft into the trans.

We got finished at around 9:30PM. We were both pooped but Wael drove home to CT.

Here are some pics I took of the engine.

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/apexseven...c=ph%26.view=t

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/apexseven...c=ph%26.view=t

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/apexseven...c=ph%26.view=t

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/apexseven...c=ph%26.view=t

Do not mind the Turbo as it was just temporarily bolted to the manifold for a photo op.

Ed

 

pictures aren't working for me

 

Sorry about that. I guess I have to pay Yahoo if I want other people to look at the pics.
see if this works.

 

what turbo is that?

 

Hey this works! At least for me

 

One more.

 

Last one.

 

That is a GT3540. Never mind how the turbine housing and the bearing section are, if you can make it out. I need to rotate them.

 

Hey, I am still up - just in a stealth mode

My car is far from being done. i am hoping to get it finished soon but who knows when it's going to be done.

Besides, I need the throttle cable

 

 

looks good !!!!! can't wait to see it run

 

Looks awesome! Call me if you need more help.

 

Good to see that your car is almost done. Good luck

 

Amateur The trick when dropping it back in I found was to have one person underneath guiding the tailshaft. We didn't use a load leveler and just dropped her in, then pushed the tailshaft up to level the motor while I shoved from the front to line up the motor mounts. Popped right in and the rest they say, was history.

Gorgeous car and motor as always; hope she's strong.

My motor install

 

I guess I am an amateur since nobody has offered to pay me to install a motor

I was underneath the car guiding the transmission. However, in retrospect the fact that we couldn't lift the cherry picker boom any higher because of lack of ceiling room and the fact that I had to mount the load leveler so close to the engine gave the clearance problems.

Thanks for the complement.
I do have a question, DamonB. Were you able to pop the driveshaft into the tranny at the same time?

Ed

 

 

Those pics bring back so many memories...both painful and pleasureable.

 

It was fun installing the motor. I have to admit its such an easy job. Thanks Ed. I had a good time.

cheers

W

 

I completely removed the driveshaft as well as the ppf. I figure it's easier to remove the four bolts at the diff than try and align the shaft while trying to also align the motor. With never having the motor out of my car, we pulled it in about 4 hours. I have had the tranny out before though, so everything underneath was understood. Dropped it back in downpipe and all in about 3 and a half but then spent another hour just making sure everything was ready to go and doublechecking all fluid connections. Damned thing wouldn't start. Armed and disarmed the alarm again and it fired right up. Whew.

 

Wael,

This is your FIRST post on the forum!
With broadband internet connection you don't have any more excuses to not participate in the forum...except well, I won't mention any names

Once again, thank you and I owe you big time.

Ed

 

Yeah, this is what Wael suggested and in the end, he convinced me that I can't align the driveshaft into the tranny while I am dropping in the motor.

I still think that it can be done

Ed

 

Yes, I told Wael I never want to do another enigne install. But then again, it was fun. I just hope that I never HAVE to do it again.

 

Mr. Stock,

Is it as easy as compared to doing a heart transplant?

Seriously though, you installed the tranny to the engine and then installed the whole deal? Most shops leave the tranny in and install the motor.

Which way is easier? Come to think of it, i'll start a thread on this.

 

Ed had to take the tranny out anyway because he wanted to fix the 5th gear syncro. We took a day off from work, Ed, Tony D. Maria (my wife) Isabella (my baby) and myself took a ride to KD Rotary, fixed the tranny, had lunch with Kim (the K in KD) and head back to home...coming to think about it, that was a pretty nice day

cheers

W

 

I don't do heart transplants!
But the engine install was easier than some of the operations that I do. It took longer than most of the operations though. And I'll have to blame that on the assistant(Always blame the assistant or the instruments)

Yes, I installed the tranny onto the engine and then we popped the whole thing into the engine bay. I have read that this is the easiest way.

As Wael pointed out, I did have a fifth gear synchro problem which I had KD Rotary take care of so I had to pull the tranny anyway.