Today was my first full day available to mess with the engine and prep the engine pay for accepting it.  The biggest issue I ran into was with the Air Conditioning.  The Japanese AC compressor is completely different from the North American one, and converting the Japanese motor to accept the USDM compressor would have been a challenge.  The Japanese compressor's bolt holes for connecting the hoses are to the right of the ports, where as on the USDM compressor the bolt holes are to the left.  On top of that the USDM compressor is larger than the Japanese compressor, so large in fact that in order to bolt on the USDM compressor I would then have to bolt on the USDM intake manifold.  This would in turn ruin the engine's performance as the Japanese manifold has dual venturies, a primary and a secondary that opens at higher rpms, where as the USDM intake just has the primary.  As a result I took the easy route of cutting the AC compressor belt and pulling the JDM compressor to save weight, AC is just a luxury anyway that robs power from the engine.

Another issue I ran into was emissions control.  The emissions setups between the two engines are completely different so I had to re-route some emissions devices so they will be compatable to an extent.  There's still no way this engine will ever pass NOx emissions if it were ever tested, but at least it'll pass some emissions tests if I ever moved to a state that tests them and decide to keep the car.  This car is a no go in California though, good thing I have no plans on ever moving there. 

Other tweaks today included pulling the damaged top heatshield and wastegate actuator off the car.  I can't pull the top one because the bolts all seem to be rusted in place, I'll probably end up ripping the shield off as I need to get to the O2 sensor and swap it out for the O2 sensor from the old engine.  The Japanese O2 sensor is a two-wire sensor with two prongs for the harness, however since I am reusing the wiring harness and ECU that is already in the car (the wiring harness that came with the engine has some smashed connectors anyway) I need to put on my three-wire four-prong O2 sensor. 

Also today I swapped out the JDM fuel rail with 450cc injectors with the fuel rail and 380cc injectors I pulled from my old USDM motor since my fuel pump wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand of the 450cc injectors and until I have DSMLink set up I won't be able to adjust my fuel map accordingly either.  The stock ECU that I retained in the car still has the map for the 380cc injectors anyway.

That's pretty much it for today, tomorrow if I can find where I put my spark plug sockets I'm going to check the plugs to make sure they aren't fouled. I'll also check the condition of the timing components and work more on sorting out the vacuum system.  Who knew two versions of the same engine would have such completely different vacuum setups?

Tags: DSM Engine Transmission Swap First Gen Turbo All Wheel Drive