MKO's AWD/Turbo/DOHC/5 Speed Project

[mko]

For the first time today the G left me on the side of the road. I was neglecting the alternator belt for some time, although it was screeching. I was doing 70mph and the battery and brake lights came one. I was like 4 miles away from pepboys and I decided to just drive it there, but I was forgetting that the alternator belt drove the water pump. I caught the temp gauge right before going into the red. After an hour a friend of mine showed up with the new belt.

[Shadow19]

Mine did that same thing to me last week. Started the car and heard a sound like a rod about to come out of the block. Turned out it was the harmonic balancer, it either split or the bolts backed out. IDK. Havent had time to mess with it so it has sat in my yard until i get some other things done.

[Space]

sexy looking beast

[mko]

I might as well post it here too

A few last shots of the red G

[carl3g]

What are you doing with the red G? Just selling it?

[mko]

if someone is interested, the rear subframe bolts come out right under the little brackets where the upper rear seat bolts up to.

[eclipsh]

Doing the AWD swap right now, huh? I'll be curious to see how you do the drive shaft and exhaust.

[mko]

Its a mess!







Pass side rust spot



Driver's side rust spot



I refuse to half-ass it! Do it once and do it right!





All the shit that came out from under the car





Test fitted the AWD tank to see which holes to use for the AWD tank straps





Driver side rear hole


Dr. side front hole



Pass side rear hole



Pass side front hole



Dropped the bolts in






Rear subframe

[eclipsh]

You scraped a lot of crap off that fender well. Are you planning to stitch weld it?

[mko]

IDK yet. Im afraid of the bolts, holding the upper control arm brackets to the body, might wanna snap. I gave them a little beating with the hammer and i'll do it again next time i go there. I had that happen to 1 of the bolts on the red G and it was a big pain

[DOHCstunr]

Ugh... i had to deal with seized fasteners on the White GS. it was an incredible pain in the ass. I ended up replacing just about every single one with new oem fasteners by the time my prothane install was over. Luckily for me thats the only place there was rust. I didn't have to deal with any in the chassis. Of course like many of the dsm's that are this age one of the rear brake hardlines rusted through from where they were sealed with undercoating but not on all sides. Apparently this phenomenon is beginning to occur a lot to dsm guys as of late. I had to replace both of my rear lines from the prop valve all the way to the flex line in the fender wells. PITA.

This is why I garage my Galant all winter and only buy max performance summer tires for it. Because I never want to have to deal with rust and corrosion on my hobby car again. I'll dog the Outback through the salt and snow all winter and if it needs work, I'll just write a check.

[mko]

Did you flare your own lines or you bought pre-made lines with m10x1.0 fittings on them. I just snapped the rear passenger hard line.

[eclipsh]

Hit it with some PB Blaster for a few days and then heat it with a torch before you pull it. I've almost never had that combo fail on me. Just don't be stingy with the heat.

[mko]

Yeah bro that is the plan! I hope I get them out w/o a problem.

Im also debating on removing the ABS just to have a cleaner engine bay. What do you guys think?

[mysticj]

Yeah bro that is the plan! I hope I get them out w/o a problem.

Im also debating on removing the ABS just to have a cleaner engine bay. What do you guys think?

If daily driven, then keep the ABS system

[eclipsh]

ABS is also great for saving race rubber from flat spots. Keep it.

[mko]

Im still to get ABS rear knuckles, because the donor was non-ABS

[mko]

The advantage of having your own powder coating system. Thats my new short shifter (home made type of deal) and some of the rear subframe bolts

[DOHCstunr]

Yes keep the ABS. With all the work you put into this car, you are going to want to have every provision available to protect it.
On the Black GS I actually sprayed my abs unit and everything on the firewall flat black. It literally made it disappear from photos. Turned out great and took all of 5 minutes to do.
Another option would be to take sheet metal and fold then weld a box that would over it. Then you could paint the box whatever color you liked, end result would be that the mess of brake lines and harness would be shrouded behind something more appealing(i don't think a polished box would look all that great though.


As far as new brake lines.... I ended up trying to flare the lines and make the repair.. but the metal was old and brittle and kept splitting in the flaring tool.
Once I came to the realization of if the lines have already rusted through once, and they are in fact that brittle... its only a matter of time before they fail again.

Literally.... when they failed I was driving. it took some crazed pumping of the brake pedal and hand brake modulation to get the car off the road and home(luckily I was a couple of blocks from my house).
With that said... I decided I didn't want to drive the car without confident and reliable brakes. So I went ahead and replaced BOTH rear lines from the prop valve to the flex in the fenders. It was a pain in the ass and I had to use segments because you can't just perfectly bend a single line without dropping the sub frame. That and I don't think anyone sells a line long enough.
Just make sure you don't cross the lines when you do the repair because you'll confuse the ever loving shit out of your ABS.

[mko]

Just got the rear subframe test fitted and the also the rear driveshaft hanger spot welded in place. Here comes the difference from Eclipsh's way - the rear hanger does fit the Galant tunnel. It needs a little trimming on one side, but it actually worked out pretty damn good.

I have a question for you Nick. I've seen the Eclipses have the front driveshaft hanger in place, but w/o the bolts, so I really thought the galant would be the same way. I was looking for that for some time and I finally realized that this Galant doesnt have it. I remember seeing you installing the front hanger from a GSX. Where does it go?

Since i didnt have to shorten the rear section of the drive shaft, I'll just weld the front hanger where the middle section of the drive shaft starts and then I'll have the front section extended.

or

Should i let the front section be the way it is and cut and extend the middle section?


Sorry guys, but no pics today. It was an unplanned trip to the garage. I'll have some tomorrow.