Its 13B time for my '84. After much tedium with the stock 12A, I've decided to stop chasing gremlins and swap in a new engine. I tracked down an 86 13B N/A 6 port with 56k original miles on it. The engine was originally thought to have a blown coolant seal, but upon further inspection it appears to be alright. When pulling the motor (which was swapped with a TII motor), we found coolant in the piping coming off the air to water inter-cooler, heading towards the intake. We also pressurized the motor and cranked it over and checked for leaks that way. So far it seems to be fine but I have a feeling there is only one way to know for sure, putting it in.

I'll try to update this thread with my daily progress. I would take pictures as I go but I tend to over-focus when I'm working and just keep going. Yesterday I spent some time getting the engine out. Took me about 2 hours to pull everything out and drain it all before hand. I'm getting too good at doing it honestly. I'd rather NOT have so much experience in pulling out my engine lol.



This was the 12A I had in the car. Original motor, rebuilt about 6k miles ago, turns out it has some shaft play or some sort, so rather than tearing it down and looking at what could possibly be wrong, I decided to pull it. It had horrible vibration up top in the rpms, and the front main pulley wobbles. The fan clutch was also shot causing even the double pulley set up on the S5 alt to slip over the water pump pulley. Not good.



This is the 13b. All stock, no fun port jobs for me or anything... yet more than likely lol. Just planning on cleaning her up a bit and putting her in, nothing fancy here.



All the parts I don't need. The clutch, flywheel, oil pan, crank position sensor, and pulley system off the 13b, and also the AC condenser I finally got around to pulling out. If anyone needs any of these things feel free to hit me up =)



Some of the fun parts. 13b header, 12a's header, RB front mount bracket, lower intake manifold and all the gaskets for it, GSLSE oil pain, FC Charcoal canister, Gilmer pulley set up, FC oil cooler instead of the retarded beehive, and the new jets for the Dellorto DHLA48.

On top of all the bolt on fun stuff, I plan on making the under the hood aspects of the car somewhat show quality. The engine bay is being fully cleaned and painted. I won't tell you what color its going to be just yet, so you'll just have to wait for that one =)



The passenger side of the bay cleaned up REALLY well. No real issues in the pain what so ever. Should be really easy to re-coat.





The drivers side on the other hand was a little worse. It looks like lots of moisture probably got trapped under the battery tray over the years, and underneath it the paint has gotten eaten up. However it doesn't look like its beyond rescue just yet. I should be able to just sand it down, seal it, and paint over it. The metal hasn't been eaten up just yet. The battery tray itself is due for the same treatment as well.



Wiring harness just hanging out. Getting ready to possibly be tucked or at the very least a little more organized and hidden.


Stay tuned...

 

battery acid does alot of that. nice project. what's the wheels on it?

 

Awesome!

What intake is that on your 12A?

I can't wait to see it!

 

Nice build! Good luck with it!

 

awesome, that'll be a hell of a sleeper fb.

 

Not sure what the wheels are. I've been trying to figure that one out for a long time. They're 15x7 +13, thats all I know haha. Bought them from $100 on craigslist, refinished the purple with gold and put some sticky rubber on them.

The intake is a Racingbeat upper and lower DCOE style. I traded it to a friend locally for the upper half needed to use the stock 6 port intake. So it will essentially be the same thing on the 13b. Same thing with the header, traded the 12a racingbeat for a 13b racingbeat.

I'm hoping to have it on the road this coming weekend, but we'll see how that all pans out. It will for sure be at the monthly cars n cafe meet we've got up here on the first saturday of the month. I'm debating going down there hood-less... lol

 

What about the gilmer under drive pulley set up (3 part= main pulley off the eccentric shaft, water-pump and alternator with pulley belt)

How much you want for it? shipped to 57104

 

So despite helping friends move to a new apartment and it being fathers day and having to spend time with the family, I did get a decent amount done today. I managed to strip everything off the firewall (except the clutch master, I don't want the hassle of putting that thing back in again. It was hard enough putting it in the first time when I swapped to a manual transmission) I then went on to tape everything off to prepare for the primer.

I spent some time sanding down the rust spot under the battery tray and got it back to bare metal. Looks like new now that I've sprayed the whole bay down with its first coat of rust-proof enamel primer.











More to come...

 

That pile is the fun stuff going on the new motor, sorry bud =)

 

Got some more stuff done today. Got some of the paint on the engine bay, which I'll need a lot more of, so that might be a little while before its finished. Also started on the engine, getting it prepped for the bay. I yanked the oil pick up tube and front cover off the 12a and put them on the 13b, also put the lower intake, oil filter pedestal, and lightweight flywheel on. Mocked up the gilmer pulley too =)

I took some time to start painting some of the other trim as well.

 

Looking good! I wish I would have documented my 6port swap more but I defiantly took a lot more pics while restoring the body on my car. I'd like to see how your car with the 48 on it pulls against mine with the 45 dcoe.

 

Youll have to wait till im 2.5" all the way back =P

 

Haven't had much time to work lately but heres the update anyways. I've gotten the alternator pulley swapped (S5 alternator) for the Gilmer belt drive, put the header on for the hell of it, oil pick up tube from the 12a transfered to the 13b, GSLSE oil pan RTVed up and on, breather filter on, got the DHLA48 re-jetted for the 13b per RacingBeat's suggested jets, and the front engine mount is loosely bolted on. I'll have to take it back off to put the front oil cooler line on anyways.

Tomorrow I'll be picking up more paint and starting to finish up the engine bay. Hopefully I'll get all the coats of gold done and ill let it sit till the weekend and load it up with clear coat. My upper intake manifold will be here Friday as well. I need to remember to run to the hardware store one of these days to get the nuts and washers to install the water pump and clutch fan as well. The e-fan will be on the way very shortly as well, once I order it that is. Gotta track down a clutch centering tool as well since I appear to have misplaced mine. I also need to figure out dipsticks. Should I be using a GSLSE one? The 12a is too short and the 13b one hits the bottom of the oil pan.

After all of that I should have the motor and trans back together and after the engine bay has sat for a few days to dry, She'll be getting fired up =)

 

i love the gold bay. you going to tuck and hide wires?

 

More than likely yes. I have a bunch of wire and quick connects laying around. We'll see. Minnesota weather is kicking my *** today. Its actually too cold to paint, in June of all months...

But I did get some stuff done today. I ran out to get my hardware and paint. I also tracked down a clutch alignment tool. Figured out that Autozone is the only place that sells them outside of kits. The hardware I got was a waste too of course. The stupid gilmer water pump pulley does NOT clear the water pumps mounting spot, so I'll be working on that here soon as well.

However, I got the clutch and pressure plate on the flywheel, the trans is now mounted to the motor, the starter is bolted and wired up along with the trans wiring harness. I also mounted up the clutch slave cylinder and plugged a few vacuum nipples.

I'm going to the NHL draft tomorrow night but I'm hoping to get a full coat of gold on before I take off. Stay tuned!

 

Clean up that engine bro! Looking good!

 

It is pretty clean. Theres a few spot I gotta hit with the wire wheel yet though. And the oil pan has a nice coating of crap on it from the car it came from lol

 

Just a few updated pics. Engine bay is all painted. Just gotta wait a couple days here to I can tape off the crossmember to repaint that.








The camera didn't really like how dark it was and had some issues focusing =P

 

not a fan of gold...but it is very original

 

White and gold perfect choice!

 

Looking good. Do you mind if I ask how much you have invested in the engine swap so far?

 

Parts cost: ~$300 (I had a lot of the essential parts already like the carb and gilmer etc)
Engine cost: $300
Paint cost: ~$100

With all the misc stuff I've had to get, hardware and what not I'd estimate about $800 with the cost of the engine.

I'll have a big update tomorrow too, I've been really busy lately =)

 

Here we go, 2 weeks to the day after I starting tearing out the 12A, the build is done. Check it out =)

 

Dude you are the man! How does it drive?

 

Gets bove 3k and RIPS. Still pretty rich though. Working on dialing it in yet. Starts easy, idles smooth, rips, shoots 14" flames on downshifts. Im pleased haha. It'll be at C&C tomorrow for its debut =)