AquaMutt build thread...

[wybnrml]

Congrats! I'm sure that was a big relief.

[Safety Guy]

Yep! Glad, happy and relieved!

And get this: I had to cover Twin's gas tank hole with something, so that's where I put Aqua's original fuel pump.

Then I figured...why not? Aqua's pump worked fine with her B3. Why not Twin's?

Started right up. Yes, Aqua's pump worked fine on Twinstiva. Runs a B3 but not a B6!! The two fuel pressure gauges ARE different parts, BTW.

Now on Luxstiva's swap, her fuel pump never had an issue with either her original B3 or the B6 I put in.

I'm guessing Aqua's pump is either a downrated pump or it has become lazy in old age.

Who would have known?

Karl

[batstiva]

Woot!! Congrats Karl!!

I've been following your build, but as I did not have anything useful to say, I kept my comments to myself.

[Safety Guy]

Thank you!

Here she is finally all four wheels on the ground:



If her stance up front looks high, it's probably due to being lowered off jackstands: the front control arms bind a bit underneath. Some rolling will settle that front end a bit lower, I hope.

Here I am piecing and planning my intake system:



Got that K&N pipe at the 'yard for cheap. I've had the AEM filter (a duplicate of what I put on Luxstiva) and the black 180 degree turn is ABS plumbing pipe. That is one of my two extra B6 VAFs (haven't tested them yet) and I can't mount the filter yet because I only have one 3" adapter. The adapter you see there is 2.75" and I chose not to spend the thirty dollars at Jegs to get one. Why? Because, one, I want all 3" filters, and two, I spent way too much on Jegs' silicone connectors! The one connecting the black pipe to the TB horn was a 2.75" to 2.5" reducer that cost $25! So I used some old rubber connectors that came with the K&N pipe and got two more 3" connectors from Jegs that were only ten bucks each. So I spent about $48 on connectors alone!

(Note: the old rubber connectors are underneath the silicone connectors to fill in the diameter difference. You can't see them.)

Here is the result of my cutting and piecing:



The filter is just hung on the adapter. It really doesn't fit.

Anther view:



And another:



Without filter:



I still have to redo the brake booster line, finish up the smaller TB vac hose connection, fit the throttle cable by redrilling the B6 bracket, and a few more things.

I think my Dad will be over to help me do the timing tomorrow. Then if all goes well, Monday will see me drive to the Mad Hatter muffler shop where I'll get my exhaust system put on. Then on the another shop for a four wheel alignment.

From there, she'll get me around, but I'll be finishing up her interior and improving and tweaking. Work in progress!!

I've had a long, but GREAT day! I think I'll sleep well tonight.

Thanks for everyone's help and encouragement!

One last pic:



Good night all!

Karl

[batstiva]

^^ Nice!! I like that intake system much better than stock. Nice work!!

[Safety Guy]

Thanks Bat. I gotta make a bracket for the VAF to stabilize it, too. Again, I'll give the credit to Skimsucka for the basic design! Saw it at FM4 and loved it for keeping my battery in the stock spot and not having to move it to the back of the car.

It may also make a good candidate for a NACA duct in the right side mid-hood area for a fresh air intake, with the proper ducting and design. As long as it wouldn't interfere with the mermaid I'll be painting on the hood in the spring. Gotta keep my priorities straight, ya know!

Karl

[Safety Guy]

Getting Aqua ready to roll to get her exhaust put on and then to the alignment shop tomorrow morning. Started her up and moved her around for her maiden voyage.

Over the sound of the unmuffled engine I hear some tapping at first, which then disappears. I suppose that's a lifter maybe, making noise till it gets more oil? Is that going to be a problem before spring or summer?

In the yard, her brakes seemed to work well, but my, is she TALL!:



I thought setting her straight down from jackstands made the suspension a bit high, but she is staying that high. They are the same cut Aspire springs that were on Muttstiva, but she is taller than Mutt was. Here are two comparison pics with Luxstiva, who also has cut Aspire springs. Both cars are running 175/70-13s:




I just hope she aligns okay. I don't mind the height so much, especially in winter and for carrying loads, though I'll probably cut the springs or find others come springtime. I'll let her rear end stay tall, though.

I'll have some more on the engine swap later on. I'll get pictures of the exhaust system install to put on here, including what I feel is an essential part of a good exhaust system redo: a glasspack muffler as a midpipe resonator. Driving Luxstiva, which has the same system as Twin does, minus the midpipe glasspack has shown me how much noise that middle muffler can get rid of. Yes, part of it is Lux's auto transaxle running higher rpms, but not all of it. Lux has a back seat, which also cuts the noise, but it won't cut out the low din from underneath your seats! No wonder stock Festivas had that resonator installed from the factory.

Time to rest now. One more pic for now:



Karl

[JPT]

...Over the sound of the unmuffled engine I hear some tapping at first, which then disappears. I suppose that's a lifter maybe, making noise till it gets more oil? Is that going to be a problem before spring or summer?

The lifter noise is normal. unless it starts tapping again, I wouldn't worry about it. I just finished an engine swap on my Eagle Summit. When I first started it up, the lifter noise was incredible. 30 seconds later, they quieted down quite a bit. After about 15 minutes, when the engine was warm, they made no noise at all and haven't since.

[hotfordcat]

Way to go Karl... Gotta love them B6s.

[Safety Guy]

Thanks JPT for the info. I hope as I run the engine it appreciates my efforts at proper lubrication and tender loving care.

Hotfordcat, I do love my B6s. I'm going to run this one on my B3 ECU for a couple tanks full of gas to see how the performance and fuel economy change when I put in the B6 unit. (Or is that because I'm lazy?) My next swap should be a B8, but who knows? Maybe I'll buy another B6 to do some work on in the meantime, though I have two B3s I can overhaul and experiment on.

I just hope the alignment goes okay so I don't have to redo the front struts.

Karl

[SuperDaveGulvak]

How goes the Mutt Karl? Any more progress w/ this spell of nice weather?

[Safety Guy]

Thanks for asking!

I prepped her for undoing the right side engine mount to check and do the seal this past Friday, but then I got sick and may begin tomorrow. Had a bad cold I think. Took two days off work, but I have a four day weekend starting tomorrow!

I'm still betting the leak is from my crank seal, which I had problems seating during the refresh. Once off, I'll take that bulky 323 crank pulley to a machine shop to have the wide belt run turned off so I can better access the crank bolt in the future, too.

On the plus side, most of the snow has melted around here, and I got to watch some old TV shows while recuperating.

Lux is still getting me to work. She's lost her power brakes, though. No problem. Just another part to replace when she gets her due diligence.

Karl

[SuperDaveGulvak]

Glad to here things are moving along & that you are feeling better Karl The temp change has triggered my seasonal sinus crap but eh whats a little funky colored snot for some nice weather aye :tongue3: Been using nice weather to do some detailing on my box & hope to finish my new swoopies tomorrow! Here's to the nice weather & being able to tinker more comfortably

[Safety Guy]

Dave, funky colored snot equals some nice day exchange parity! At least in my book too. I hope you can come to the next meet so we can...meet!

Today I put Aqua's front end back up (high!), took off the front wheels, removed the front struts and found the new Festiva (Monroe) front struts and mounts. I also borrowed some spring compressors from AZone. (These struts will eventually end up on Lux after I get the Rio strut situation figured out.)

I'm still weak from my @#$%^& cold so that's about all for today. My back yard is drying out a bit. So far no rain. Maybe a little tonight, but tomorrow should be nice too.

Tomorrow I undo the engine mount and lower it to take the timing stuff apart and see about the seals. I got a PVC pipe section to serve as my seal setter. I'll have my Big Air and an impact wrench to get the crank bolt off.

After removing the B6 crank pulley I'll take it to a machine shop to have the unneeded A/C area turned off (lightening it as well as providing more room to work in the future).

Cut Aspire springs will go on the new struts and mounts and be reinstalled.

Assuming the shop I go to is open Monday it could all come together with an alignment resulting in a sweet running, firm handling B6 5 speed Mutt.

Or, as usual lately, not.

I have a four day weekend to do this!

Thinkin' positive,

Karl

[Safety Guy]

AQUA'S EXTREME RIDE HEIGHT MYSTERY SOLVED!!

Today is nice and I took apart one of Aqua's front Rio struts with the "cut Aspire springs from Muttstiva."

Ahem.

After taking it apart, I noted that the spring did not look cut at all.

I then looked in Mutt's carcass and found the REAL Muttstiva suspension swap Aspire front struts. And yep, I could tell, even without taking them apart, that they were the cut springs from my very first suspension swap on Muttstiva from 2002.

I had used the UNCUT springs from some junkyard Aspire struts on Aqua! Thus, the pictures you see were of UNCUT ASPIRE SPRINGS ON RIO FRONT STRUTS. How I made this mistake, I don't know. It just happened, I suppose.

So the mystery of why my Rio front struts turned out so darn high is solved. Nothing to do with the Rio strut design. Just the lame design of my lazy brain!!

Now I shall proceed to do what I was up to, only instead of cutting them "one more coil," I'll cut these springs "one coil" the first time. Oh well. Live and learn.

Tomorrow my Dad comes over and we'll attend to replacing that wrong crank seal. I should have her together and ready for a trip to the alignment shop by this weekend.

Now I need to find my camera battery charger for more pics when needed...

Sigh,

Karl