The "BP" Checklist

[Dark_Rider2k3]

so I am in the works of buying the BP off pauleatstoomuch, and must say.. EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So.. going through a checklist of things to get and I have these:

Spark Plugs
Wires
Timing Belt
Serpentine Belts
Distributor
BP Wiring Harness
BP headers
Water pump
Thermostat
Manual transmission and all parts to do the ATX to MTX swap.
Engine and transmission mounts
Oil pump
PCV valve
All the vacuum lines
Check all sensors
Valve cover gasket (and especially, spark plug tube seals).
Radiator hoses.

Is there anything I'm missing?

edit:

and btw, is the G series transmission off the BP the same as the V6?

[Inodoro Pereyra]

I would, first, check the distributor. Do you really need a new one, or can you just get away with a new cap and rotor?
Same with the engine harness. As far as I know, the BP and the B6 harness are the same. Anyways, make sure. I could be mistaken.

Then, I would add:

Engine and transmission mounts
Oil pump (at least, check it, it"s a PITA to get to once the engine is mounted.)
PCV valve
All the vacuum lines
Check ALL your sensors.
Valve over gasket (and especially, spark plug tube seals).
Radiator hoses.

[Dark_Rider2k3]

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that is the engine, and I did not see a distributor on it.

also added your other stuff to the list.

by the way, i'm not afraid to sink $$'s into the engine. In fact, I am planning to get the engine now, and work on it while my car is running as good as it is... i mean right now i don't even have a tapping noise. So yeah.. I'm planning to get the engine, and build up these parts for it.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

You're right, there's no distributor. Scratch my prior comment...
Also, I see the engine is already a manual transmission one, so you don't need anything to adapt it to the new tranny. I would, however, get a new clutch.
while you're at it, if you don't have any money or time constraints, now it'd be a good time to give the engine a complete overhaul, and even a complete blueprinting, if you know how to do it, or know anybody who can do it for you. It may mean a substantial amount of money, but you'd end up with an engine that's, quite literally, better than new.

P.S.: I see I made a mistake. Where I typed "valve over gasket" should've read "valve COVER gasket". Sorry...

[Dark_Rider2k3]

You're right, there's no distributor. Scratch my prior comment...
Also, I see the engine is already a manual transmission one, so you don't need anything to adapt it to the new tranny. I would, however, get a new clutch.
while you're at it, if you don't have any money or time constraints, now it'd be a good time to give the engine a complete overhaul, and even a complete blueprinting, if you know how to do it, or know anybody who can do it for you. It may mean a substantial amount of money, but you'd end up with an engine that's, quite literally, better than new.

P.S.: I see I made a mistake. Where I typed "valve over gasket" should've read "valve COVER gasket". Sorry...

well first my car is the auto, which i forgot to mention (and is why i want the BP wiring harness). This is also why i'm going to hut for Manual transmissions.

Also, I don't really know how to blueprint what I want... other then I want it to hold up to boost (planning to turbo) and make good times at the track.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Dark rider: sorry it took me so long to reply. I'm having connection problems.

I'm getting a little confused as to what you want to do with the tranny. The engine you bought is, obviously, for a manual tranny. If you want to go automatic, you don't need to do anything to the engine, except, of course, to replace the clutch and flywheel with a flexplate. Now, if your car is originally an auto and you want to go manual, you will need to buy the shifter and linkages. I don't really know if the chassis is prepared for both options or if you will need to modify anything to install the manual shifter.
Now, to the blueprinting bit.
Blueprinting is taking an engine to "better than factory" specs. It means adjusting all the clearances to as close to theoretical specs as possible.
It's not really that complicated to do, if you have knowledge of mechanics, but it does involve a fair bit of labor.
Now, you don't need to blueprint your engine. If you're planning to add a turbo, I'd say it's highly advisable to do it, but if you're not comfortable doing it, or if you don't know anybody that could do it for you, an engine overhaul would be a very good second option.
That means replacing anything that may not be in tip top shape, like bearings, seals, piston rings, (pistons and connecting rods, depending on how much boost you're planning to use, and on the shape of the original ones), overboring (if needed) and honing the cylinders, decking the mating surfaces, doing a complete valve job, etc.

Of course, you could also leave the engine as it is, and if you're lucky you may end up in a few months arguing that all that work is not necessary.

I want to make sure you understand that not doing anything to the engine does NOT mean you will have problems with it. You'd just be taking a lot of chances.

[Dark_Rider2k3]

Dark rider: sorry it took me so long to reply. I'm having connection problems.

I'm getting a little confused as to what you want to do with the tranny. The engine you bought is, obviously, for a manual tranny. If you want to go automatic, you don't need to do anything to the engine, except, of course, to replace the clutch and flywheel with a flexplate. Now, if your car is originally an auto and you want to go manual, you will need to buy the shifter and linkages. I don't really know if the chassis is prepared for both options or if you will need to modify anything to install the manual shifter.
Now, to the blueprinting bit.
Blueprinting is taking an engine to "better than factory" specs. It means adjusting all the clearances to as close to theoretical specs as possible.
It's not really that complicated to do, if you have knowledge of mechanics, but it does involve a fair bit of labor.
Now, you don't need to blueprint your engine. If you're planning to add a turbo, I'd say it's highly advisable to do it, but if you're not comfortable doing it, or if you don't know anybody that could do it for you, an engine overhaul would be a very good second option.
That means replacing anything that may not be in tip top shape, like bearings, seals, piston rings, (pistons and connecting rods, depending on how much boost you're planning to use, and on the shape of the original ones), overboring (if needed) and honing the cylinders, decking the mating surfaces, doing a complete valve job, etc.

Of course, you could also leave the engine as it is, and if you're lucky you may end up in a few months arguing that all that work is not necessary.

I want to make sure you understand that not doing anything to the engine does NOT mean you will have problems with it. You'd just be taking a lot of chances.

Thanks for the help!!!

Well um.. first off.. the engine doesn't have the manual transmission, which is what I meant by getting the mtx and the swap parts. I will want to get the manual transmission and all parts that go with it as I'll be swapping out from my current automatic. So, I don't want to go automatic, I just want to get the correct manual transmission, and all the parts that go with it that will take me from my current automatic setup into a manual setup. If I'm correct, I think I remember hearing that you need to swap out the upper tranny mounts. But please correct me if i'm wrong.

I got the idea of what blueprinting was, but to be honest, I don't know much about the internals of cars. Like.. I know some things, but to divulge into the engine internals is something i know nothing about.

As for boost, this is something I'm also going to read up on. Like.. I know people put a ton of boost into the BP's, but idk.. I know that I'll be getting a boost controller (actually I may already have one thanks to my dad getting a sweet deal on a Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4 that came with one that wasn't installed), and I also know that I want it to put out a good amount of boost.. enough to make some good times on the drag.. but I also want to use it as a daily driver until I save up enough to make it my summer "fun" car..

Though with turbo's I don't know much other then to stay away from Ebay

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Again, sorry it took me so long...

It looks to me like you're on the way to be disappointed.
One fairly popular definition of mechanics is that it's "the science of compromise". That meaning most parameters in a vehicle are opposite to each other, so you have to find the right balance between them for a given application.
That said, adding a turbo can be a great thing, or it can also be a nightmare, depending on what you do. You could add a small turbo. That will get you great response (very little turbo lag (the time the turbo needs to spool up, and really produce power)), high reliability,... and some extra power. From then on, the more you increase the size of the turbo, the more boost you'll get, but that comes at a price. First, the turbo lag will increase accordingly. Second, after a point, you will no longer be able to use pump gas, and will be limited to expensive (and, as far as I know, illegal for street use), racing fuel, or your engine will start detonating, which will eventually damage it.
But most importantly, the bigger the turbo, the more the power band of your engine will move towards the high end of the RPM spectrum, and the engine will become harder to live with on the street.
Same will happen with the clutch, the suspension, etc.
I don't really know much about boost controllers (actually, I don't know anything about them), so I can't help you there.

Bottom line, if you want your car to make really good times at the track, and at the same time you want to be able to drive on the street, I'd recommend you to get a second car.

[Ryan]

^ very well said.

Also, remember you have to baby a turbo vehicle some ammount. Frustrating if you're late, and you need to sit after you've parked for a few secconds for the turbo to spool down. Its not just a bolt on, and forget about it kinda thing. You've got to be very mindful of it, because if you abuse it, it will destroy the motor, or the turbo.

[Dark_Rider2k3]

wow thanks for the major help.

Now Ryan, when you say you have to "baby it" do you mean like.. not beating on it and then stopping suddenly? Or is this something that a turbo timer can work around?

IP:

I get what your saying, and yeah... I mean.. I do want boost, but if it boils down to it, then I am willing to sacrifice speed for street legality... so i mean.. it won't bother me if I have a small amount of boost as compared to a lot of it... so long as I can still drive it around town lol.

but thanks a lot everyone!! This is really helping me out tons.

[Ryan]

I mean things like: you can't miss oil changes, you've got to keep an eye on all of your guages, and always keep an eye out for something strange. Its not HUGE, but there definately is a change in reliability and how you think about your car

[Daveb]

I can imagine an auto to man tran swap not fun. I d swap cars first. You might want to match pistons you buy with future turbo your planning on. Make sure your top & bottom solid before turbo, supercharging or nitrous. BOOM

an old man once told me: Best way to horsepower is cubic inch

[Dark_Rider2k3]

@ Daveeb: The Auto/Manual swap won't be the worst. It's just (from what I remember from reading) a matter of swapping out the tranny (obviously), and all the parts that belong to it (clutch, brake, master cylinder, etc..)... And when I do this, I'll be doing it alongside the BP swap, so I will have both out at the same time to make things easier.

@ Ryan:

Yeah I have been (lately) very cautious about my oil changes. I know I have about 1,000 miles until the next change, and I keep a sticker at the top of my windshield that lets me know when I need to change it. And yeah... I can monitor my gauges (and i'm assuming you mean Oil pressure and boost gauges as well as the standard ones).

Now, in terms of boost, is 10 PSI resonable? Or am I just crazy .

And also, is it important to have an external fuel management system like Megasquirt?

[Dark_Rider2k3]

Woohoo the excitement!

The BP arrives tomorrow!!! I'll take tons of pics and start a worklog of it asap!!!

[boosted_bullet]

megasquirt is important.

and 10 is decent but to be safe i would run lower psi (3-4)
and work your way up (via megasquirt,injectors,fuel pump ect)