Our 1991 rt4wd build - billboards old car gets a new heart.

Thought since Ive atually made some progress in the last little while, Id start a build thread.

a little history. bought this car from Billboard in 2007 (still regret it Bill?) with 299,xxx miles on it. Bought the car to replace the awd gsr wagon I built back in 2005 with hopes of finally having my own turboed car. I raced the shit out of it for 10k miles and it died on me at the Targhee Hillclimb a few years back. its been sitting ever since as I havent been able to locate a tranny that was afordable. Well this last November, I sourced 3 trannies in a month (thanks Stampern, Jaker, and turboteg!!) and now Im finally getting somewhere. Been missing the car immencely and really happy to be getting somewhere with it.

to some before pix.

as I got it (after I added the rack).
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with my awd gsr wagon.
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with some new wheels and suspension from my old db1 integra.
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how its looked for a few years...very sad.
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big thanks to dietz (fast2camciv) for coming over a few times and helping me sort tranny issues. I am now a lot more comfortable with transmission internals and the swapping of said parts. Thanks again mang! I had previously only swapped complete trees and diffs. we swapped all pieces from a 88 imput shaft to a 91 imput shaft using the better of the gearsets and synchros.

the table of rt4wd mess. in short, replacing main shaft and picking best of the tranny parts as far as best synchros/gearsets.
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before shafts and diff.
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after internals, minus superlow gearing (small pile lower right in pic)
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we had a lot of issues racing this car (mainly the wife, lol) with accidentally going itno SL when trying to go into first on a downshift during an autox. not really a big deal, till you wanna grab second and its not where it you think it is, bang around for a sec (totally botching your run), and almost everytime ending up in 4th... usually followed by a lot of swearwords.

heres the solution with a quick easy mod with the help from a buddy that has access to lots of metal stock and a nice shop. the shifterbox before.
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shifterbox with spacer not allowing it to go into SL gate.
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untested, but hoping it works.

the motor is the stocker d16a6, but with a full FJ dist build kit including thier custom rods. I didnt take pix as weve all seen a motor build a billion times. I did snap one pic swapping out the stocker cam for a turbo cam.
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heres the motor assembled for the most part.
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have been waiting for motor mounts from innovative. had to be custom made so its taking longer than anticipated, mostly due to me wanting the 60a inserts, which is the softest they make to help keep motor vibrations to a minimum. Once I get those the motor is getting stuft and the pile of things Ive accumulated will hopefully go on pretty quickly.

then motor mounts showed 2-24...but went to west king street, not east. So now thier on thier way back to innovate so they can be sent back :facepalm:

in the meantime, had a friend stop by and help me (lifting heavy shit my grandpa back cant do alone) button up the last few things before the stab .

Fidanza 7lb flywheel, thanks doitdub (Justin).
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ACT SSDD clutch.
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tranny bolted on to motor. just waiting for mounts to show up again
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also got the walbro 255 pump installed along with EX sedan master, prop, and spindals this past weekend too, but didnt take any pix as the stuff looks just like stock crap anyway.

will try and keep updated best as possible.

Comments

  • turbo_tegturbo_teg Council Member
    nice i like how u painted the 4wd shifter yellow to see it through the mess of hoses and wiring.
  • driftin90driftin90 Senior Wagonist
    Trans looks intimdating to work on. Bet it feels exciting to be able to drive it again. Let alone with boost. I like boost...
  • CharbCharb Administrator
    I thought you were lying about still owning this... lol
  • Nice, I like to break down my tranny one day. Does anyone have a write up?
  • shenrieshenrie Council Member
    Most definatly will be using the little yellow lever. in a weekend at a hillclimb, I hope to blast some records in SM and SMF ;)

    and YES BOOST. Been way to long since Ive owned a boosted car. Let alone a nice wagon, lol. rallywagon is fun, but its not really a "nice" car.

    yep, still own car. just hard to get anywhere with a build with no tranny. Now I have back up trannies for this car and rallywagon.

    I havent seen any really good elaborate writeups. and ya, it is kinda intimdating at first, but you realize their just carparts. You just have to pay really close attention to how all the gears/synchros/etc come apart. Lots of them only go together one way.
  • Wow sweet build is the act clutch ment for the 4wd or does any cable d series clutch fit?
  • FakeJDMEF8FakeJDMEF8 Senior Wagonist
    Glad to see you making success! If I could ever fine a gdamn 89 under dash harness, I'd have gsr finally done..
  • FakeJDMEF8FakeJDMEF8 Senior Wagonist
    It's year specific with d series, but essentially the rt4wd trans utilizes the same flywheel and clutch as the civic/crx Si...
  • shenrieshenrie Council Member
    FakeJDMEF8 wrote:
    It's year specific with d series, but essentially the rt4wd trans utilizes the same flywheel and clutch as the civic/crx Si...

    ^^^yep.

    in a nutshell:

    88 clutch will only work on a 88 tranny, but 88 flywheel will work with 89 clutch.
    89 clutch will work on 89+ trannies, but will need 88-89 flywheel. You can also use a 90-91 clutch on a 89 tranny, but need a 90+ flywheel.
    90-01 are all interchangable.

    good to hear the awd gsr is in the works ;)
  • i just thought with the 4wd it needed a specific clutch but thats good to know because i will be getting a exedy stage 1 when i throw my super charger on
  • shenrieshenrie Council Member
    got a key ingredient last friday.
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    motors in, suspension is bolted up, brakes are bled, wheels are on. Its being set on the ground for the first time in a few years tomorrow. Will be taken to TMS (a local speed shop) for aem piggyback, modded dp to clear rear output shaft and rerouted exhaust, turbo plumbed. will snap a few pix tomorrow when its light out.

    its nice to make progress once and a while.
  • bam-bambam-bam Council Member
    Sweet. Can't wait to hear it run. Hillclimb videos, yes?
  • shenrieshenrie Council Member
    ^^^ without a doubt. and records will be set my friend. mark these words (even though they usually get beat by other friends eventually :( friends with more money).

    Wife commented last ngiht that it was good to sit in it again (she was doing the pedal pumping while I bled the brakes, lol)
  • AaronAaron Wagonist
    This is looking good!
  • shenrieshenrie Council Member
    Thanks guys!!

    so a few pix before it heads to shop for dp, exhaust etc.

    attempted my first wire tuck. hard to tell with all the other crap in bay, but as it sits, only thing missing is the battery, piping/turbo and rad. car will get ac (hopefully) if manifold allows it like they claim.
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    first time car has sat on the ground for a loooooong time. Felt really good to remove jackstands. the ole cow is no longer a shelf :D
    811.jpg
  • stampernstampern Senior Wagonist
    Awesome news - I'm curious to see if that manifold works with a/c - I might be needing one for my sedan soon. Also, how well did the Skunk2 intake manifold clear the firewall. I've heard of clearance issues with those.
  • 503Wagon503Wagon moderator
    i have that manifold! glad to see progress.
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