Nerd Racing's 94 Ford Aspire Work Log

[nerd racing]

Well the Engine is in my garage and its ready to begin placing into the bay!

Stripped old 626:



Engine in the back of the truck!



And now home, taking a dinner break then I'm gonna get it ready to start placement!



I dunno what happened to this picture when I uploaded it, but I think it looks neat

[nerd racing]

I managed to remove the Exhaust Y-pipe, (such an odd looking setup!) the AC compressor (won't need that for now, maybe in the far future), the alternator (need the clearance to drop the motor in), and gutted the Power Steering pump. I also removed all the un-necessary brackets and such.

The only thing keeping me from being able to set it on down in there is the stupid shift linkage, the bolt is frozen in the trans bushings. I may have to heat it up a bit so the bushings melt a little, or maybe I'll just insert my stock shift linkage in there after I cut the end off, and then weld it up.

Also I discovered either my dad or I pitched the protege rear lower transmission bracket that bolted up to the trans and my stock aspire mounting location.

Anyone have one they want to donate for the cost of shipping, or like $5 plus shipping?

[Damkid]

This is coming along fairly quickly!!

[Turpro]

Nobodys going to see that car coming or flying by them lol. Definetly you will earn sleeper points

[nerd racing]

This is coming along fairly quickly!!

That is the idea, it has to happen quick because my landlords (parents... atm) don't really want me doing engine swaps because they are trying to sell the house I am renting and well swaps get greasy and dirty.

Thanks turpro, I really want to take this thing to the track when I'm done.

[nerd racing]

How my day started (After work that is)!



As you can see, she was a little wide...

These pics show it from either side at that point:





I had to do what Damkid did and cut my radiator support so that it would settle in there.

And here it is settled, I already have a good idea of what I'm doing for mounts, just have to pick up some supplies tomorrow.

[Damkid]

Wow i would have thought the aspire engine bay opening would have been bigger then the festiva's, i only cut my rad support to make it easier to take the engine in and out, but either way its in there!

[nerd racing]

Yeah because of the curve of the windshield and such, the cowl actually sticks into the engine bay. it tucks back in there nice once its below it. I probably could have gotten to to go in if the intake manifold was off, but I did not want to mess with that.

I'm going to use the driver's side transmission tail mount too on my build so I am probably going to have to go with a hydro clutch setup.

[Mazda_Powered]

nice and tight haha. lookin good man!

[nerd racing]

Tight... like a Tiger!

Well I picked up some supplies to finish off some mounts, so here I go back out the the garage for another 3 hours or so.

[93LXDOHC]

I have two words to say AWE and YEAH

[nerd racing]

Ok got some progress today, made my passenger side mounting spacers, just waiting on the proper length bolts and I will also be welding the spacer to the car itself too:



I am going to take a piece of Angle Steel and make a bracket to attach this mount to, It will be gusseted too, for strength. You can see what I'm getting at here:



And in this photo you can see that I will be doing a similar setup for a top trans mount, my car never had this mount but the bracket for the 626 is lining up really well to make one easily workable. I will be spacing it up much like the passenger side and then bolting and welding the spacer in. Then I just have to re-drill a hole through the bracket to properly locate the level of the transmission.



I had to tear down everything so that my swap will go undetected as my Dad will be in town tomorrow for a dental appointment. I would rather he found out about the swap after its complete.

Engine resting in bay (sorry for the dark shots, we really need more lighting in the garage):



And the hood placed on:



The fender is partially off so that I can run my wiring harness along inside it like I did with my BP harness.

[Mazda_Powered]

haha gotta love it.

does the 626 have good trailing arms on it? if so, want to sell them?

[Ten_Bucks]

Subscribed. This is a very interesting thread.

Scott

[nerd racing]

the car has been scrapped already man. sorry. I think it was really rusty back there.