Jim's NA DSM revival w/ a little extra

[JamesH]

After about 6 combined years of owning 2 of the same car (Ford Escort) I felt it was time to get a car with a better aftermarket and reputation. Plus I was sick of knowing exactly what and where every parts of a escort was without looking at the car. Figured it was time for a new direction. Hence came the DSM.

It was a friends of mines Dad's car. Yousta belong to his daughter. I been in it a couple times when she owned it when she would pick us up from the bar at 4 am. But that's besides the point. She no longer drove it and it sat around rotting away for awhile so I figured I'd snatch it off his hands. He wanted $400 for it. Was a 1990 Plymouth Laser Non-Turbo with 76,000 miles on it. Unfortunately an automatic but I wasn't planning on that for long.

Here it is rotting away just before I bought it.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/Laser005.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/Laser003.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/Laser004.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/Laser001.jpg

At the time of purchasing it had frozen brakes, a bad CV shaft, tires with belt seperation, and idle issue from sitting. So the basics to make it move on its own properly had to be done. Fresh Pads and rotors all the way around, new axle, some new tires (Dunlop Direzza 101) and a couple minor odds and end such as a fresh tank of gas, fuel filter, new plugs.

At this point she was running a bit better and I couls sit at a light and not stall out. Next came the preventative maintenance that every DSMer must go through at least once. All new timing components and waterpump. Then while I was at it I ordered up a cheap ebay strut bar and bought a lot engine degreaser.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/IMG_0514.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/IMG_0519.jpg

Also cleaned the interior a bit since I'm pretty anal about how the inside looks and keeping it clean.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/IMG_0522.jpg

Not long after this (2 weeks maybe) I decided it was time to replace my crack up exhaust manifold and replace it with a little bling. So out came ebay again with a 4-2-1 header. Think I may have paid $80 for this thing. Also bought a new OE cat since the original was pretty clogged up.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/IMG_0814.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/001jpg-1.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/003jpg-1.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/IMG_0886.jpg

After that the car sounded pretty dumb with a full length header and a stock clogged muffler so that was hacked off and replaced by a ,once again, ebay muffler. Was going for a stealth look so got this block dual tip. Sounded pretty good. No rasp or anything. Just growl.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/IMG_1007.jpg

After a while I chilled out since the wife wanted to start saving and whatnot. So I did some cheap/free stuff. Got a new valve cover gasket, got rid of the cruise control, painted the valve cover. Oh also forgot to mention that at this time I purchased a 92 eclipse with a blown headgasket for $50. It was a manual with a black interior and that's all I wanted it for.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/7-8-08/IMG_1634.jpg

Donor:
http://a363.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/83/l_e4cbb4a34875444dc688ac380ad006b2.jpg
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/1/l_b6d51bde9fa37e7aa42171f97db7305f.jpg

So the swap began and the hunt for some other odds and end to make the MTX swap complete. clutch, flywheel.

3 pedal Auto???
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/7-8-08/IMG_1636.jpg

I think a clutch master cyl. goes there...
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/7-8-08/IMG_1635.jpg

So the swap was completed within the course of 2 4 hour days. Did the pedal swap one day in 4 hours. Then the trans swap a couple days leater in 4 hours. Pretty simple and straight forward. So in the process I figured I liked the eclipses rear bumper more since it sat lower much like a lip kit would. So I swapped that over as well. Little hole drilling but that was about it. Also while doing the swap I decided to be a man and try no power steering. I figured the hell with it. I like a clean bay and that'd be one less thing to worry about. Same thought process went toward the AC. So off they went.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/CHEEEYAA3.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/CHEEEYAA4.jpg

Now that pretty much bring us as to about an hour ago I just took some fresh pics. Since the last set I have powdercoated a couple things and tried cleaning the engine bay up some more. Pay no mind to the salt. I would wash it but my hose is frozen.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6434.jpg?t=1232577132
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6435.jpg?t=1232577146
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6436.jpg?t=1232577160
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6437.jpg?t=1232577172

OH HAI!!!
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6438.jpg?t=1232577185


Future plans. This spring I plan on a paintjob and I wanna do a bit of boost. So Im gradually hunting down stock DSM parts to do about 10 psi on her then I'll leave her alone for awhile.

[JamesH]

Here's an update. Lost my license for 60 days so instead of being bored with no license I am using it as an oppurtunity to do some long needed repairs and upgrades.

As far as issues I had a leaking head gasket, spun balance shaft bearing, leaking valve seals, bad ball joints and control arm bushings. and an annoying knock in the steering rack. Plus it needs paint. So today started as a day to start the tear down. not a whole lot accomplished but it took my morning up.

So the day started with pulling the motor. Fairly easy since it really had no accessories.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6554.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6556.jpg

Never again will I be doing this with the trans in. So I'll be pulling that and putting it all in as one.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6557.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6558.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6559.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6561.jpg

Also at work there is a 01 maxima we're junking so I decided to steal the wheels off it and put them on. I will be powdercoating them black and getting black centercaps.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6570.jpg

Done:
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6563.jpg

[JamesH]

Disassembly has commenced during the week and found a few things I was and wasn't expecting. Originally I thought I had spun a bearing somewhere. After tearing it down I found no bearing problems but I did find that a previous owner did a oil pump and never timed the balance shaft to the oil pump when installing. So that was my horrendous vibration. Anyway onto the pics.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6574.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6577.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6578.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6579.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6584.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6585.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6587.jpg

Waiting to goto the machine shop to be checked over and possible raised compression. We'll see what happens since this is a budget build.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6589.jpg

Everything that it took to take the engine out and that came off the engine is sitting in these crates.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6588.jpg

And how she sits a little lighter in the front.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6590.jpg

[Sean485]

Wheels look nice on there, why not see about some OEM turbo internals since you mentioned going turbo in the future?

[lazylaser]

Remove the b/s while your in there, there is no need for them! With them removed the vibration is nowhere near as bad as it is with them out of time.

[JamesH]

I forgot to mention that since this is a very low budget build that I'm still staying NA but trying to go around 11:1 compression. We'll see what my machinist says.

And the balance shafts are staying out and the rear shaft I have cut a lathed the stub down for balance. Then I welded the hole on the end shut.

[Sean485]

You could probobly get turbo internals for next to nothing depending on if/how much you overbore (I know I have more sets of stock turbo pistons laying around than I know what to do with) and a full stock turbo setup probobly runs less than one-off high compression pistons...

Either way it looks like a nice build. Props!

[JamesH]

Well I was originally looking for a stock turbo setup but all I got was crickets so this was my only option. Unless of course you wanna sell me a full setup for around $200 since that'll be around what it will cost me to jam something else in there.

[xuberantz]

I have a 90 turbo wiring harness for sell in the classifieds if you decide to go turbo ;). Good luck with your build!

[Sean485]

Well I was originally looking for a stock turbo setup but all I got was crickets so this was my only option. Unless of course you wanna sell me a full setup for around $200 since that'll be around what it will cost me to jam something else in there.

I've seen 14b's sell for $80, 450's $40, stock 2g manni's $30, non-eprom ecu's $50 and pistons it depends on in you need overbore or not. I personally dont have any OEM overbore pistons but if you retain stock bore I might be able to help you in that area.

[JamesH]

Well small update. Unfortunately no pics since I forgot to take some. But I will take some tomorrow.

Got the motor back from the machine shop. Everything is good I I can go standard on everything (rings,bearing). So since money is very tight I decided to just make this a stock rebuild for now. No turbo or raised compression. Just stock. :( I'll basically just be using this as a learning experience since I've never fully built a motor myself on my own.

So far the short block is together and the head and cams are in. I cracked the oil pump pounding a freeze plug in it so I'm having it welded shut by a friend. Hopefully he'll be done with it tomorrow and I can get the rest of this thing together. I'll take more pics tomorrow, but unfortunately none of them will be any internals since it's already together.

Now I just need to find a new water pump pulley since I bent the stock one pulling the motor, and find a fuel line going from filter to rail since I broke it in half when pulling the motor. That explains why I had some trouble pulling the motor without it tilting pretty bad.

[JamesH]

Been awhile since I updated since I figured it wasn't anything but a stock rebuild but I'm proud of myself for finishing it and it actually runs. So onto the pics.

Repainted bay
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/dfs003.jpg

Waiting on WP pulley here
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/dfs002.jpg

Motor in
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/dfs010.jpg

Everything in and running
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6766.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/jhovan/100_6763.jpg

I guess that's the end. Sucks the synchros are bad in the trans so high rev shifting doesn't exist. But it pulls a lot better, doesn, smoke, and doesn't vibrate like it used to.

Thanks for reading.

[Prozach]

I've seen your car around the CMCH area a few times. That's a picturesque engine bay there. :)

[JamesH]

I live in CMCH. Whatcha driving?

[Prozach]

Well the first time I saw you, I was in a red 1gb laser. Now you can catch me in a purple chrysler cirrus until my talon is on the road.