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    Swap Begins: Escort GT -> Escort GTX

    I am officially starting my GTX swap on April 20th, and I will be posting updates and questions for those with more experience in this thread. Lots of pictures will be taken and hopefully this will be a document that people can use as a reference.

    First of all however, for those of you who have done the swap already, are there any special tools required that are not obvious?

    #2
    Another quick question I have as I review the engine removal process: in the serivce manual, mazda suggest using a special tool for separating the knuckle arm and ball joint. Did anyone use this tool, and if not, what did you use instead?

    Thanks in advance.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Lex
      Another quick question I have as I review the engine removal process: in the serivce manual, mazda suggest using a special tool for separating the knuckle arm and ball joint. Did anyone use this tool, and if not, what did you use instead?

      Thanks in advance.
      ball joint seperator. Cheap at most auto supply houses.....

      Good luck with the swap dood.
      The T3 BP MX-3 conversion has begun, and is taking forever & will kill me.

      Comment


        #4
        Thanks for the info man, I will keep you guys posted on the progress.

        Comment


          #5
          oh and becareful when hammering those ball joint apart if your going to re-use them. I would reccomend new ones, but if your careful and your old ones look good, then just go slow and take your time.
          The T3 BP MX-3 conversion has begun, and is taking forever & will kill me.

          Comment


            #6
            Well today was the first day of the swap. Its late and I am tired so I wont write much, but I will have a writeup with pictures after it is all done.

            In short, we started pulling things off the motor. My car has AC so we had to run out and get AC hose fittings removers only to remove the damn fittings with a hammer and a scredriver in the end. That was a bit of a snag, but not as bad as the axles and CJ joints. The drivers side axle bolt (at the wheel - the 32 mm one) would not come off for the life of it. A broken ratchet and imact gun later still wouldn't budge. It took a good 20 minutes of the imact gun to get the SOB off. Then the CV shafts were solidly stuck in the tranny. And I mean solid. Hammering at a prybar from underneath the car was succesful for the passenger side but the drivers side would not budge! So we decided to pull the motor with it in there.

            At this point we started taking the wiring harness off, and swore at how the starter was behind everything and it was a BITCH to get to the wires. So we decided to take the intake manifold off to get to the wires behind it ... but night came an we left it at that.

            So, the bp is not out of the car yet - all that we still have to disconnect are the big starter wires (damn the placement of the starter sucks!) and the motor mounts. Motor should come out tomorrow.

            On the interior side of things - I installed my boost gauge and I am still waiting on my A/F gauge to come in the mail.

            Pictures and complete writeup are to follow, stay tuned for day 2

            Comment


              #7
              congrats dood. Mark or label what you remove just incase
              The T3 BP MX-3 conversion has begun, and is taking forever & will kill me.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Lex
                Well today was the first day of the swap. Its late and I am tired so I wont write much, but I will have a writeup with pictures after it is all done.

                In short, we started pulling things off the motor. My car has AC so we had to run out and get AC hose fittings removers only to remove the damn fittings with a hammer and a scredriver in the end. That was a bit of a snag, but not as bad as the axles and CJ joints. The drivers side axle bolt (at the wheel - the 32 mm one) would not come off for the life of it. A broken ratchet and imact gun later still wouldn't budge. It took a good 20 minutes of the imact gun to get the SOB off. Then the CV shafts were solidly stuck in the tranny. And I mean solid. Hammering at a prybar from underneath the car was succesful for the passenger side but the drivers side would not budge! So we decided to pull the motor with it in there.

                At this point we started taking the wiring harness off, and swore at how the starter was behind everything and it was a BITCH to get to the wires. So we decided to take the intake manifold off to get to the wires behind it ... but night came an we left it at that.

                So, the bp is not out of the car yet - all that we still have to disconnect are the big starter wires (damn the placement of the starter sucks!) and the motor mounts. Motor should come out tomorrow.

                On the interior side of things - I installed my boost gauge and I am still waiting on my A/F gauge to come in the mail.

                Pictures and complete writeup are to follow, stay tuned for day 2
                holy **** this is def your first motor pull huh? The starter wires are cake for me now. As far as removing the axle goes. this is what I do to get it off. I take out the 17mm nuts and bolts that hold the strut in, then I remove the tie rod and take off the little clip holding the brake line to the strut. Of course after I loosened the axle nut. And before I do ANYTHING I spray the **** outta the axle nuts with wd40. And to remove the tie rod, I just bang away at the casting that it tapers into, never hit the tie rod or the threads. Sometimes if it's being a real bitch I use a suspension fork (autozone sells em) or I just put any nut on the threads of the tie rod, get it on a couple spins and bang that.. but not too hard. And sometimes the axles do get frozen into the transmission, I've had to pulle 2 motors with the axles attatched.. it's not as fun :/

                BEst thing to get the starter wire off is a 13mm open wrench, you need to take the i/m bracket off, not the i/m thats just way too much work. You break it loose (has a lock washer) and then you can get your hand in there and spin it off. the other wire is just a ground clip you squeeze.

                The alternator is an 11mm nut, and it also has a connector thats usually a little difficult to get off, you need to squeeze it real hard to release it. Then theres the speedo gear connector, the oil pressure switch connector (has 2 places you can disconnect it). The reverse lights connector as well. Those are all the behind the motor connectors. There's also a ground on the tranny its like a 10 or a 12, then theres another ground on a bracket on the head, thats 10mm as well. All the head connectors are simple, o2, coolant sensor, fan switch, sensor for the gauge, fuel rail harness connector. There will be 2 seperate harnesses you end up pulling out, I usually hang em over the fender. I know all the connectors by heart by now.

                Are you using a hoist? I havent been lol. I remove the linkage 14mm and a 12mm.. best bet is to take off the linkage and put the nut/bolts back on so you dont lose em. Take off the dp to the cat converter. (thats gonna be a bitch if you have the stock exh still :D) Then I remove the 2 17mm nuts holding the rear part of the crossmember on and then the 2 17mm bolts holding the front of the crossmember on (pray the welds on the nuts don't snap!) Do not give any of these bolts/nuts constant pressure! they will snap.. if they are hard.. get a ratchet and beat the handle with a hammer, unless you have an impact gun. I think one of the ac lines will be held by the crossmember as well with plastic clip.. i broke that a long time ago when i got rid of a/c. I leave the front/rear mounts attatched.

                Then the rad has to come out as well(this is usually my 3rd-4th step actually lol) 2 10mm bolts on each side holding the bracket in, these love to snap. take off the coolant return hose throw it where the air box goes, drain the coolant from the plug down at the bottom, take off the rad cap so it pours out faster.. the coolant drain plug can come completley out, it will dran faster that way. Take off the top rad hose.. i usually tie strap it to the bracket to pull the motor from on the head, that way it stays facing up. then the bottom one I remove at the waterpump arm, but thats beacuse I dun have a/c It may be easier for you to remove it at the radiator. Then theres the fan.. I dun remember **** about the stock fan lol. I have a fal and it has it's own connectors. when the rads out you'll have a **** load more room.

                Then theres the 2 coolant hoses behind the motor, take em off and jam some big bolts in em so they don't leak. throttle cable needs to come off as well, while you're there.. there's the vac line for the powerbooster, and the vac line for the charcoal canister. Fuel line on the ford is gay I dun have the tool so I just remove the fpr (2 10mm bolts) and pull it back.. as for the other side i remove it at the fuel filter.. when I converted to the gtx i just got some fuel line from a parts store and clamped one side to the gtx rail and one the fuel filter eliminating the gay ford connector. oh and dont get fuel in your eyes.

                I didn't include any of the ps/ac/cruise removal because I dun have that **** and I dun remember to well whats involved. there also the battery/intake tubing.. usually the first to go anyways

                So by this time it's pretty much ready to drop (remember I dun have a hoist) so I get a jack under the motor with a large block of wood and I jack it up so that it's holding the motor.. then I remove the 17mm bolt/nuts near the timming gears for the mount, then I remove the 3 17mm nuts on the tranny mount.. I lower the jack a bit, letting the motor release.. lifting the head mount and flipping it over.. then pull the motor foward a but to let the alt clear.. and drop it down the rest.. we raise the car and slie the motor from under the car.. after the jack is removed of course..

                Takes me about 45mins to 1.5 hours to remove it by myself (by myself excluding the actual removal) I didn't mean for this to be a write up, i just thought it'd give you a couple hints.. i've pulled SEVERAL BPs and installed like 5-6 lol. good luck! Pm me if you're having any problems.
                00 dakota 4x4
                90 crx si - ls/vtec

                Comment


                  #9
                  Thanks for the great info Pat, that was really helpful for today. In 2 hours with time to spare the engine was sitting on the garage floor. Next stage is engine bay cleanup, GTX prep and dropping her in.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by ne3ek
                    holy **** this is def your first motor pull huh? The starter wires are cake for me now. As far as removing the axle goes. this is what I do to get it off. I take out the 17mm nuts and bolts that hold the strut in, then I remove the tie rod and take off the little clip holding the brake line to the strut. Of course after I loosened the axle nut. And before I do ANYTHING I spray the **** outta the axle nuts with wd40. And to remove the tie rod, I just bang away at the casting that it tapers into, never hit the tie rod or the threads. Sometimes if it's being a real bitch I use a suspension fork (autozone sells em) or I just put any nut on the threads of the tie rod, get it on a couple spins and bang that.. but not too hard. And sometimes the axles do get frozen into the transmission, I've had to pulle 2 motors with the axles attatched.. it's not as fun :/

                    BEst thing to get the starter wire off is a 13mm open wrench, you need to take the i/m bracket off, not the i/m thats just way too much work. You break it loose (has a lock washer) and then you can get your hand in there and spin it off. the other wire is just a ground clip you squeeze.

                    The alternator is an 11mm nut, and it also has a connector thats usually a little difficult to get off, you need to squeeze it real hard to release it. Then theres the speedo gear connector, the oil pressure switch connector (has 2 places you can disconnect it). The reverse lights connector as well. Those are all the behind the motor connectors. There's also a ground on the tranny its like a 10 or a 12, then theres another ground on a bracket on the head, thats 10mm as well. All the head connectors are simple, o2, coolant sensor, fan switch, sensor for the gauge, fuel rail harness connector. There will be 2 seperate harnesses you end up pulling out, I usually hang em over the fender. I know all the connectors by heart by now.

                    Are you using a hoist? I havent been lol. I remove the linkage 14mm and a 12mm.. best bet is to take off the linkage and put the nut/bolts back on so you dont lose em. Take off the dp to the cat converter. (thats gonna be a bitch if you have the stock exh still :D) Then I remove the 2 17mm nuts holding the rear part of the crossmember on and then the 2 17mm bolts holding the front of the crossmember on (pray the welds on the nuts don't snap!) Do not give any of these bolts/nuts constant pressure! they will snap.. if they are hard.. get a ratchet and beat the handle with a hammer, unless you have an impact gun. I think one of the ac lines will be held by the crossmember as well with plastic clip.. i broke that a long time ago when i got rid of a/c. I leave the front/rear mounts attatched.

                    Then the rad has to come out as well(this is usually my 3rd-4th step actually lol) 2 10mm bolts on each side holding the bracket in, these love to snap. take off the coolant return hose throw it where the air box goes, drain the coolant from the plug down at the bottom, take off the rad cap so it pours out faster.. the coolant drain plug can come completley out, it will dran faster that way. Take off the top rad hose.. i usually tie strap it to the bracket to pull the motor from on the head, that way it stays facing up. then the bottom one I remove at the waterpump arm, but thats beacuse I dun have a/c It may be easier for you to remove it at the radiator. Then theres the fan.. I dun remember **** about the stock fan lol. I have a fal and it has it's own connectors. when the rads out you'll have a **** load more room.

                    Then theres the 2 coolant hoses behind the motor, take em off and jam some big bolts in em so they don't leak. throttle cable needs to come off as well, while you're there.. there's the vac line for the powerbooster, and the vac line for the charcoal canister. Fuel line on the ford is gay I dun have the tool so I just remove the fpr (2 10mm bolts) and pull it back.. as for the other side i remove it at the fuel filter.. when I converted to the gtx i just got some fuel line from a parts store and clamped one side to the gtx rail and one the fuel filter eliminating the gay ford connector. oh and dont get fuel in your eyes.

                    I didn't include any of the ps/ac/cruise removal because I dun have that **** and I dun remember to well whats involved. there also the battery/intake tubing.. usually the first to go anyways

                    So by this time it's pretty much ready to drop (remember I dun have a hoist) so I get a jack under the motor with a large block of wood and I jack it up so that it's holding the motor.. then I remove the 17mm bolt/nuts near the timming gears for the mount, then I remove the 3 17mm nuts on the tranny mount.. I lower the jack a bit, letting the motor release.. lifting the head mount and flipping it over.. then pull the motor foward a but to let the alt clear.. and drop it down the rest.. we raise the car and slie the motor from under the car.. after the jack is removed of course..

                    Takes me about 45mins to 1.5 hours to remove it by myself (by myself excluding the actual removal) I didn't mean for this to be a write up, i just thought it'd give you a couple hints.. i've pulled SEVERAL BPs and installed like 5-6 lol. good luck! Pm me if you're having any problems.


                    this needs to be stickied somewhere
                    Adam- 1994 Escort GT-X

                    BP-T @ 14psi

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I'm not sure how accurate that all is and I'm sure tons of stuff was left out I just did that off the top of my head. I know the escort engine bay like the back of my hand lol.
                      00 dakota 4x4
                      90 crx si - ls/vtec

                      Comment


                        #12
                        remember dude...if you need/want help im just a ferry ride away id be happy to help you out so long as i get to drive it once its put together
                        91 323 GTX @ 16psi, 5 speed || December 07 R.O.T.M.
                        Powered by MegaSquirt I PCB3, Tuned by Lex

                        More Information

                        Comment


                          #13
                          ack, pat- don't use wd40, use PB blaster instead. when wd40 dries it leaves moisture which can cause rust in places you don't want it.
                          sigpic

                          03 Accord DX: K24/5MT, peasant-spec old man's car
                          92 240SX: KA/T25, nerd mobile

                          Comment


                            #14
                            pb blaster blows my nuts.
                            .....HELLO MY NAME IS BEN...



                            186.08whp
                            225.94wtq
                            torque monster!!!!
                            dyno graph 8-10-and 12psi
                            http://www.msprotege.com/members/THE...no%20graph.jpg
                            http://videos.streetfire.net/player....0-C19CA06AF01E dyno vid

                            blahblahblahblahblahblah

                            Comment


                              #15
                              cool.
                              sigpic

                              03 Accord DX: K24/5MT, peasant-spec old man's car
                              92 240SX: KA/T25, nerd mobile

                              Comment

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