4g61t.org

A few weeks ago my 4 speed tranny in the colt finally let go. This was good and bad. Bad because it was my daily driver and good because I needed some motivation to swap it. Not drivable = Motivation.

In order to do this right and take my time I picked up a new daily driver. The red 97 LS sedan that I posted up a while back.

So far I have the engine and tranny pulled. Next I need to degrease and pressure wash the bay before the 4G63 goes in.









My engine hoist is at my mom's house in the shop but I wanted to swap my car here since all of my tools are here and she lives about 20 miles away. Plus I'm working on dirt and using a hoist on dirt sucks. So a quick trip to Harbor Freight I picked up this for $45.




There is a thick tree limb on our Pecan tree right behind my little shop. I wrapped a 2' piece of 3/8" chain around it and hooked it together with a large grade 8 bolt. Hooked it to the little 4G15 and it lifted it right out like it was nothing. Once it was up high enough I pushed the car back and let it back down.



As for the engine, so far the block has been honed and baked to get rid of the original paint and years of rust and grime. I painted it with some Duplicolor cast engine paint and knocked in some new oem freeze plugs. The balance shaft bearings have been rotated to block the oil passages and the crank has been plasti-gauged and torqued after the machine shop polished it.

Tore it back down to clean off the plastigauge and lubed the crank and torqued it down again. I got some brand new oem Mitsubishi pistons pressed onto the original rods. The guy that I bought my talon from bought them so I decided to use them. The original pistons had tiny knicks in them where the valves made contact so he purchased new ones. He also purchased some oem standard Mitsubishi rings.









I still need to get the head to the machine shop for a valve job and have it resurfaced. In the meantime I will finish the bottom end and hopefully it will be ready to drop in, in a few weeks or so. I will be sure to take plenty of pics and update my progress.

_________________
93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

I really like the color you painted the block. Not to mention I love your engine puller!

_________________
'89 Colt GT - All the rare goodies
'98 TSi AWD - Clean street car

Nicely done! That block is awesome. How much degrasing is needed in that engine bay? It looked really clean to me!

I pressure washed it a few months ago when I was trying to track down an oil leak, plus I wanted to clean it up. Now I need to do it again so that I can get to the hard to reach places that the engine was covering.

_________________
93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

Very nice! I pulled the engine out of it's twin over the weekend. Wanna race to see who's runs first

_________________
49 International KB-2
72 Dodge Colt
73 Dodge Colt (Project)
84 GMC K3500
85 Dodge D50 Diesel Swap
90 Mighty Max V6
89 Mirage Turbo
94 Mighty Max
99 Montero

I'm looking to get mine back on the road within a month I hope. What are the plans for yours?

_________________
93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

my plans are 2.0 na with turbo brakes, seats, and 5 speed conversion.... You will probably be done before me, as I'm working lots of ot at work

_________________
49 International KB-2
72 Dodge Colt
73 Dodge Colt (Project)
84 GMC K3500
85 Dodge D50 Diesel Swap
90 Mighty Max V6
89 Mirage Turbo
94 Mighty Max
99 Montero

OT equals cash so I don't blame you there. Can't wait to see it together although I know it won't be as clean as your other white CSM.

I did get the head dropped off at the machine shop today and my boyfriend Tony is sending me some tensioners and a timing belt for my birthday.

_________________
93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

Nice work so far Chris, and I love the ingenuity of that hoist. If this car is nearly as clean as your old black one, then I'm sure the final product will be awesome. Looking forward to more progress!

_________________
90 Eagle Summit 1.5 - Wrecked
92 Eagle Summit ES 1.6 DOHC n/a - Parts
92 Eagle Summit 1.5 - Sold
94 Talon TSi AWD Auto - Sold
90 Laser RS FWD 4G63T - Hit and totalled

Summer - 2000 Pontiac Fireturkey Trans Am LS1 A4
Winter - 2006 Honda CRV K24 5MT

Haha, wasn't really my idea. This is the way all of the NC "rednecks" get their 350's out of their camaros. This is the first time that I've used this method and I think I'll sell my engine hoist as this way just seems easier.

I'm not sure if this one will be as nice as my 1st one or not. I mean I plan to take my time on it and all but my last colt turned out pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

_________________
93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

Got a little more done to the engine. Head is back from the machine shop, got some 3g lifters, new head bolts and exhaust manifold studs and nuts. The gasket for the front cover, intake manifold and head gasket is on the way from Mitsubishi. I thought about using the ones that came in my ebay gasket kit but then decided against it. It probably would have been OK since its a stock rebuild but I really didn't want to take that chance. I figure the aftermarket gaskets will work fine everywhere else.





I took the front cover completely apart and scraped off all of the old gasket. Cleaned it thoroughly and put it all back together. Tapped in some new seals and the block off seal to eliminate the front balance shaft hole. Torqued all of the bolts in the oil pump assembly and set it aside.




I'm going to do all that I can this week as I start my new job on Monday so things will move a little slower after that.

_________________
93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

I like how you painted the block in cast paint. I used the same on mine and it looks great.

_________________
-'92 TSi AWD - Daily driver
-'93 TSi AWD - 4G64/HX35 build underway
-'89 Colt - 4G63 Swapped, Almost done!
-'86 Starion ESi-R - Someday 4G63 Swapped

Nice work Chris, I wish it were warm enough to paint but being in the 40s for a high is not good for paint. Have you had a chance to clean the engine bay at all?

_________________
91 Talon - was 454 whp/440 ft/lbs, now DD
89 C52A - 4G63T To the crusher
91 C52A - 4G63T Up and Running (AWD swap coming!)

I haven't cleaned the bay yet but I better get on it. Probably not too many warm days left this year. Not warm enough for pressure washing anyway. Its still in the 60's here so I'll tough it out.

_________________
93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

Looking good chris... I cant wait to see the finish product.