drfink's clean 89 turbo 4wd wagon build

About 6 weeks ago I purchased this 88 wagon that had a blown motor. 285k on the clock. someone had swapped in a single cam nonvtec zc in it.


244.jpg


as you can see it's been mainly used as a parts shelf as i've been collecting things to begin my build.

i pulled the old motor, took the head off and found this:

245.jpg

ouch. it looks like someone dropped a valve and then drove on it for like 30k miles lol.

bought a d16z6 for $150. the guy told me it was ok. surprise it has a spun rod bearing. i was going to just drop it in but now that its pretty much junk i decide to rebuild it. luckily the crank out of the single cam zc was in good shape so i used that. and whats the point of rebuilding it stock?

dropped the block off at the machine shop to get bored out for 75.5mm vitaras, honed, decked, notched the block for custom length rods, and surfaced the head.

75.5mm vitaras
p2p0 rods
stock head
edelbrock performer x
act 4 puck clutch
arp everything

anyways i got the block back the other day so i decided to start a build thread. started putting the bottom end together today, and ran into a snag because I didn't read the directions on the ring compressor i bought, so i bent one of my oil control rings on piston #1. nuts. anyways here's the block as it sits right now:

30.jpg


i had a dyslexic moment and for some reason was thinking backwards so i put the arrows pointing the timing belt instead of the flywheel. so tomorrow i have to flip those 2 pistons around lol. or i may just decide not to and say fuck it and run them toward the timing belt. ill probably flip them though.

i also felt like bragging that my holes for the int shaft were already tapped! HA!


anyways if anyone has a driver side fender in good condition hmu.
«1345678

Comments

  • bam-bambam-bam Council Member
    I was just about to tell you that the arrow on a piston should ALWAYS point to the front of the engine, but...

    Then I went and educated myself about Vitara pistons. I wasn't aware that the Suzuki engine rotates the other way. You should definitely turn them around.
  • drfinkdrfink Wagonist
    bam-bam wrote: »
    I was just about to tell you that the arrow on a piston should ALWAYS point to the front of the engine, but...

    Then I went and educated myself about Vitara pistons. I wasn't aware that the Suzuki engine rotates the other way. You should definitely turn them around.

    yeah i did last night already. the wrist pin is slightly offset towards the major thrust angle of the engine. people have successfully run them both ways, in fact a lot of domestic guys have been messing with reversing pin offset and things like that for years, but i went ahead and flipped them around.
  • drfinkdrfink Wagonist
    been diligently working on this the last week, here's the progress:

    248.jpg

    249.jpg

    250.jpg

    got the engine in today just gotta finish hooking up the coolant lines, wiring vtec, vacuum lines find a new purge control valve solenoid since mine is apparently broken, and go get a new throttle body from the junkyard since when i was dropping in the motor i accidentally tore the plug off my tps sensor. i guess i could just use the purge control valve off the z6 manifold. i wanted to get an ls throttle body anyways so no worries.

    also still waiting for my 4 wire o2 sensor to come in the mail. and i gotta find a p28. but, she'll be firing up soon, then she'll be off to get emissions and plates, and then the turbo setup will begin!


    note: the edelbrock performer x BARELY BARELY fits in the engine bay.
  • Nice. I would love to build another engine for mine. And a turbo that would be great.
  • drfinkdrfink Wagonist
    jcchappy wrote: »
    Nice. I would love to build another engine for mine. And a turbo that would be great.

    i hope it will be! plan is to run a 16g and shoot for ~300hp.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t96xafVtrPs&feature=youtu.be

    first start up was today. started up on the first crank! finally. ended the day with new axles in, and the car finally on the ground too. i was happy about it finally being off jackstands. the guy i bought it from had let it sit for a couple months before selling it, so itll move under its own power for the first time in quite a while tomorrow. just gotta fill up the tranny with fluid, and she'll be ready to go!
  • drfinkdrfink Wagonist
    Drove the wagon around the block today. 20 ft down the road it started throwing a code. I drove back to check out the codes and it was throwing code 4 and code 17. The code 17 was easy to figure out because I broke my VSS cable getting the motor out, (anyone know if they are compatible with other EFs?) I traced the code 4 back to an unnecessary splice between pins b15 on the obd1 side (cyp sensor) and pin b1 on the obd0 side (1 wire o2) on my cheapo ebay obd0-1 jumper harness. Why they felt it was necessary to splice them into each other, I have no idea. Otherwise the harness was pretty well made, so I guess I can't complain for $40.00.


    Also had kind of a nerveracking moment before all this happened when I first tried to take it out for a spin, popped it in 1st, let the clutch out, and it didn't go anywhere. My friend suggested I might have put my clutch disk in backwards, which I proceeded to freak out about until I realized my passenger side axle wasn't fully seated in the transmission. A couple hammer blows and she was good to go.
  • drfinkdrfink Wagonist
    replaced my speedo cable today. also tightened my FITV all the way in to get rid of a surging idle. changing the oil for the first time tomorrow morning.
  • This should be good :)
  • drfinkdrfink Wagonist
    got the kinks worked out of the wagon! after she started, i battled high idle problems, surging idle problems, distributor check engine light codes, and my coolant temp gauge not working. the coolant temp gauge was the most frusturating one. there was an open somewhere in the wiring from the sender to the gauge so i ended up just choppin it, bypassing the harness, and soldering a wire straight from the cluster to the sender. works great now.

    here's a quick video of a test drive i made:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZWJDT8ATWQ&feature=youtu.be

    oh yeah, i relocated my battery to the back. dont worry its a sealed battery before everybody jumps on me about toxic gases in the cabin.

    to do still:
    exhaust (obviously lol)
    fix my slow heating up problem (suspect stuck open thermo)
    rear u joints
    upper & lower ball joints (have parts)
    inner & outer tie rod ends (have parts)
    emissions test (gonna try and get it to pass, hanging that i'm gonna drive down and register it at my buddy's house in pueblo, no emissions down there)
    get a god damn driver side fender
    rust repair (anybody got a shell i can chop up for panels? lol)
    turbo
    zex 59300 cam
    paint (thinking about SI blue, opinions?)


    so still a long way to go. but the project has come along immensely since i first started.
  • Nice build so far! Very good details.
  • drfinkdrfink Wagonist
    thanks man! and yeah this is part build thread part planner to organize my thoughts lol.

    update: scored some minty gsr cloth seats and a gsr cluster at the junkyard yesterday. got the seats sitting in there right now, working on bracketing them up to sit nicely. cluster swap coming soon! and pics lol.
  • drfinkdrfink Wagonist
    625.jpg

    got the seat brackets mocked up, my buddy's coming over with the welder tomorrow to weld em up
  • small update: passed emissions and got plated today. i had some doubts about the vitara z6 passing from alot of stuff i read online about people having trouble. but she passed with no problems. here are my emissions results if anyone is interested
    READINGS LIMIT RESULT
    HC GPM 1.5461 2.0000 PASS
    CO GPM 9.7367 20.0000 PASS
    CO2 GPM 313.7254
    NOx GPM 3.5521 4.0000 PASS
  • Just ordered my turbo kit & a wideband. Been outta town, & really busy getting mywifes car fixed.
  • Just ordered my turbo kit & a wideband. Been outta town, & really busy getting mywifes car fixed.
  • Right on man! What kit and wideband did you decide on? What are you gonna be using for engine management?
  • Ebay special for turbo kit. Buying a garrett turbo to replace the chingy one. And im running a chipped p28 on chrome.
  • Not a bad plan, those cast manifolds aren't half bad, look into the innovate MTX-L wideband, best band for the buck IMO.
  • AbideAbide Council Member
    I'm a mtx-l, mtx-d and hondata fan myself!
  • I'd take Neptune RTP over S300 any day
  • oops i forgot to specify which wideband, i did indeed order the mtx-l i ran one on my turbo z6 del sol and it was fantastic. never had any problems with ebay turbo kits, as long as you have a good turbo backing it up i think they do the job quite well. made 268whp on 6psi precision 5332 on a b16 and 210whp on a z6 same turbo same boost level
  • small entry in build journal: installed my golden eagle sandwich plate today. i know there's been alot of pictureless updates but dont worry there will be more pics soon.
  • badump

    1.jpg

    2.jpg

    3.jpg

    4.jpg

    5.jpg

    ordered a traction bar so i can make some brackets and unghettolean the radiator, may have to do a little clearancing. gotta get the exhaust sorted and gonna start tuning

    as far as a filter on my turbo is concerned, i have barely any room in front of the turbo so i'm going to use one of these

    http://intakehoses.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=CHEW

    and then run a filter on that.

    excuse the zip tie bumper & radiator mounting job, its temporary until i can find a better mounting solution and you know its effective lol ;)
    im probably gonna reloom the wiring today just been lazy
  • I am getting my traction bar in today as well as my intake setup, but it is 0 degrees Fahrenheit here so it is doubtful I will put them on.
  • 203.jpgThe204.jpg
    205.jpg
    206.jpg
    207.jpg

    traction bar is in. Replaced front strut and spring with some ones that had lower mileage that I took off my buddy's wagon when I installed some coiloversurn for him. Front clip on, DSM 450ccs in, and I started tuning. Intake setup is on. U joint came in, replaced it and put in my driveshaft. Ordered a zex 59300 cam. Waiting for my check to come in so I can go get my exhaust done. I want to keep a nice quiet tone so I am contemplating either doing 2.5" downpipe with 2 resonators or a 2.5" downpipe to a 3" exhaust with two resonators. I'm really not sure if it will make that much of a difference at the power levels I'm shooting for anyways.


    The filter is just a ghetto one I had laying around, I have ordered an aem dryflow. I plan on shortening the 4" piece of pipe I have between the cobra elbow and filter a little and then making some kind of airbox around the filter, then making a duct from the front to direct in air. I know it's a little sketchy right now pointing down, but it's better than no filter and I'm just careful not to drive through any puddles lol.
  • Oh ya and its been 0° the whole time I did all this. Brr!
  • 371.jpg

    just a quick shot of when I swapped out the cam for the zex 59300.

    Got my exhaust done today. 2.5" downpipe to 3" exhaust.
  • Awesome build so far. Can always appreciate turbo'd wagons. PROPS!
    In for mooore
  • Thanks brotha. Threw some 185-65-14s on it. Looks huge compared to the skinny ass 13s that were on it before. On civic ex hubcaps lol.

    421.jpg
  • klumklum Senior Wagonist
    i like your garage it looks like mine :encouragement:
Sign In or Register to comment.