Preparing For Motor Swap '88 5kCSQA

[Louis-Alain Richard]

Answers inserted in our email. From my WX rebuilt of summer 2008. No expert,
but I did it all myself, except cleaning the piston's ring grooves, and
re-installing the crank with new bearings.. "Mostly alone", as my friend
Geraint was around each other day to check how I was doing...



-----Message d'origine-----

It looks like the engine was weeping a bit around the oil pump . Is it a
real big deal to pull the oil pump after the crank pulley is off?  I am
redoing the TB/Water pump.  I will do the cam seal and RMS before
reassembly.  Any other seals?

*****IIRW, the oil pump can be removed easily when the oil pan is off. There
is many other seals on the bottom end, but if you buy a "lower gasket set",
you'll get them all. That includes the oil pipe gaskets for the turbo, the
oil filter boss mounting, etc. But on the other hand, if they don't leak,
why mess with them ? I'm of the other group : replace all bits you have
access to when the opportunity is there.


Should I mount the EM and turbo to the motor prior to assembly or wait until
the block is bolted up in the engine compartment?  If the latter, should I
do the manifolds before or after reattaching the transaxle?

******I did, well "we did" would be more accurate, we did install the
downpipe and the turbo before dropping the engine-transaxle unit in the car.
But it was an urQ... space is at premium down there. And bolting the EM is a
real PITA when in place. We did the transaxle before the EM + turbo, even if
there is a support bracket for the wastegate that use 2 transaxle bolts.


Should I bolt the transaxle to the motor prior to installation?  Right now
I'm planning to mount the engine and then attach the transaxle . I've got
BTDT on doing a quattro clutch.

*******We did the combo (engine and transaxle) from the bottom up, and it
was quite easy. Geraint, who has a better memory, would probably say the
opposite. He was the guy under the car when I was operating the engine
hoist...  


The goal will be to get the car back into reliably running condition . It
would be a complete PITA if I ended up with nagging problems after going
through all this.  Any other suggestions about what I should plan to do will
be appreciated . 

***** The only big mistake I did was to cut the clutch slave-to-master hose.
It's NLA for the urQ, so I had to have it rebuilt with the old brass ends
and a new rubber hose.


Good luck, and have some friends around when you start it the first time :
you WANT to share that moment. I was alone, and I was jumping like a child
when it did fire... 


Louis-Alain