Eggy (1997 Red Aspire)

[pwgus]

Well, I've been messing with the spoiler, here's what it looks like. I've only got two of the four screws installed here, and I've got three of the four screws holes drilled, lol, but only two of them align with the holes in the spoiler so I need to do some more hit and miss drilling lol. But that will all be after my 8 hour work day today so who knows what will be going on.\









I'm told rock auto brand was a mistake for gaskets, but I really only need it to last a year or two, since I want to do either a G25M-R/B6-T, GT5M-R/BP-T, or B8/F25M-R swap next summer or the summer after.

As far as prep work goes, what do I need to prep for the head replacement? I'll need to drain the oil, right? What will need to be removed from the engine? These and more answered at the news and noon, lol.

[pwgus]

I replaced the stearing wheel with my good ol' Mazda one this morning. Too bad it doesnt have an air bag in it, oh well.

Edit: I just know I'm gonna get alot of crap for putting in a new wheel with no SRS, so don't bother. I don't care, I've already thought it out and decided what I like best, this wheel instead of an airbag wheel.

[gestiva]

"Edit: I just know I'm gonna get alot of crap for putting in a new wheel with no SRS, so don't bother. I don't care, I've already thought it out and decided what I like best, this wheel instead of an airbag wheel."

i see no problem in this.
im glad i swapped my steering wheel out of my miata. it would have done more damage than
good when i flipped it.

[jcbgrady]

Spoiler looks great! Keep it up Phillip and don't kill this one. LOL.

[pwgus]

I know right, this one will be a keeper. And also I agree with u gestiva on srs, there's been times when I've seen cars where srs did way more damage to the car than the actual collision, plus it didn't really even help the people in the accident, what would be a small tap becomes expensive when the airbags smash the windshields

[pwgus]

The b3 head I bought is not from a 96/97 aspire, I was told by one person the head was the same but someone else told me that they switched to roller cams, is that going to be problem?

[aspireguy95]

i like the spoiler wish i could find one for my egg. i got a brand new timing belt you can have man pm me

[pwgus]

Wow, after 8 hours of work I got the head changed. Ran into several things, and long story short, its an ongoing project. It was indeed a burnt valve, most definately. Check out cylinder one, especially in comparison to the others, in these pics:




Anyways, now that its got the new head, it feels SOOOO fast, lol. I think I might have the timing off by just a few degrees though. I have a new problem though, and a pretty major one. It's overheating, FAST!!!

Heres what I've come up with:
-no hot air is coming out of the HVAC so coolant is not moving through the heater core
-coolant is not moving to the radiator, the radiator is cold and so are all the radiator hoses
-the thermostat valve is installed correctly and functions allright
-the engine is getting hot FAST

So I think I may have overtightened the alternator/water pump belt because even though it seems to be spinning ok, I'm getting no coolant flow at all, which leads me to suspect the water pump. Anybody else agree/disagree? Oh yea, I also think that because the reservoir is full, but all the coolant hoses seem to be empty.

[pwgus]

i like the spoiler wish i could find one for my egg. i got a brand new timing belt you can have man pm me

Yea my timing belt is in good shape, but thanks man.

[pwgus]

Oh yea, and I'm pretty sure the reason the valve cover was leaking is because the bolts where loose, lol, some idiot didn't tighten them. On the other hand, I was an idiot and overtightened one of them, now that bolt is headless

[pwgus]

Ok, this morning I woke up with an idea. Since the reservoir is full, and the radiator hoses are empty, what if I put coolant straight in the radiator. So I put half a bottle of fluid in there. It worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For a while lol. For about 5-8 miles I was able to run as normal. Then it all drained out or something. But for that 5-8 miles, I was able to drive on the interstate and my heater worked. I would say my problem is not the water pump. I would say my problem is a leak somewhere, I can see it underneath my car, its a steady sip of it coming from the crossbar. So now I have to find the source of the leak....great, this will not be easy as I've noticed that it's not readily accessible. But at least I'm pretty sure there is nothing broken, just a big frikin leak. What I need is a diagram of the coolant flow, I don't think theres one in the service manual, but if there was, that would be amazing!

[pwgus]

Nevermind, its the fricken water hose connection gasket, which I wrote off its brokenness when I reassemble the engine. I'm a fricken idiot!!! Grrr!! Cars.

[pwgus]

yup, that was it, 20 mile drive says the the car is roadworthy! needs to be aligned, and probably new tires at some point, but its roadworthy. Oh, and I fixed the timing too.

[pwgus]

Ok, its been a long while since I've posted any updates. For some reason, it started getting rod knock and literally shattered the #1 piston. Oh well, thats been a while. Anyways, I bought this kinda junked 94' Aspire with 108k on it and a bad manual transmission. THE ENGINE IN IT RUNS BEAUTIFULLY. I checked it out and everything to, not a drop of oil in the engine compartment. And when I started it up, it runs sooo sooo smoothly. So anyways. A week or so I pulled the 97' engine. Last night/today I put the 94' wire harness and electrical system in the '97 (a HUGE PAIN.) And this afternoon/tonight/tommorow/tommorow morning (I'm running a little low on sleep lol) I'm going to pull the 94 engine and drop it in the 97. Also I'm going to use the wheel hub and brakes calipers etc. from the 94' on the 97' cuz there in way better condition. Hopefully by tommorow night it will be done!!!

[pwgus]

Ya so that didnt quite happen. Pulling the engine with my jerry rigged contraption was barely doable so Im using the right one to drop it in. got an engine winch coming on sunday. Will finish it sunday night/monday morning I hope. basically all i have to do is drop, plug and play and were good. although I do think I'm gonna swap the brakes, calipers, and wheel hub from the parts car cuz there in much nicer shape.