Andrew's engine swap (pics)

Probe GT's have a small turbo that isn't very desireable, but I'm sure if you could get em for cheap, you could clean em up and make a quick buck. I think Blaast performance will send you a free rebuilt turbo if you send him enough cores.

Junkyard turbo list:
https://hondaswap.com/forced-induction/junkyard-turbo-list-48045/

Another
Junkyard Turbo List

Hey, finally checking out this massive thread. Whew!

I'm dying to know about this shaking problem you're having. It sounds very similar to what I'm dealing w/. I recently had to change my d-side axle and lower ball joint. Since then, the alignments been a little off, but what really irks me is this: If I load the suspension and the axles at the same time, she shakes like an epileptic. The only thing that calms her down is to back off the gas, or straighten the wheel.

I don't want to thread-jack, but I've already got two threads about other problems that no one is reading, so why post a third?

Oh man..... Sweet....

Call me dude... Gimme the details!

humblegumbo said:

Hey, finally checking out this massive thread. Whew!

I'm dying to know about this shaking problem you're having. It sounds very similar to what I'm dealing w/. I recently had to change my d-side axle and lower ball joint. Since then, the alignments been a little off, but what really irks me is this: If I load the suspension and the axles at the same time, she shakes like an epileptic. The only thing that calms her down is to back off the gas, or straighten the wheel.

I don't want to thread-jack, but I've already got two threads about other problems that no one is reading, so why post a third?

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Well, that sounds exactly like what mine is doing. (no load = no shaking) As I'm driving down the road, I can 'jerk' the car left and it's fine; turn it right and it vibrates all the hell. Can't figure it out!?

eg6sir said:

i've seen several turbos at junk yards.. are the ones on Probe GTs any good.. if so i'll go and yank them to resell..

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my buddy ran with one when he first boosted his z6 swapped 90 hatch, and yeah its tiny, but he was at full boost at around 1k, so there's always that too. It wasn't too bad, definately ate my stock a6, so theres a little food for thought.

Andrew said:

Can't figure it out!?

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Hell no. I'm still going through the front suspension over and over...both in my head & in the garage and I can't figure it out to save my life. I thought the control arm was damaged, but after replacement nothing changed.

My big fear is that something inside the tranny is fucked...in which case I'll just have to learn to live w/ it for a while.

humblegumbo said:

Hell no. I'm still going through the front suspension over and over...both in my head & in the garage and I can't figure it out to save my life. I thought the control arm was damaged, but after replacement nothing changed.

My big fear is that something inside the tranny is fucked...in which case I'll just have to learn to live w/ it for a while.

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Thats what I'm leaning towards. I wish he hadn't put the traction bar in.. That would eliminate that being a possible problem.. But I don't think thats it.


Andrew, you said you had trouble putting one of the CV axles is.. I suppose it's possible you damaged something :S
I mean, you said you checked yoru alignment and it seemed fine.. You've went over the suspension again and again and everything is checking out.. You're running out of things that it could be.

what could he have damaged though on a brand new axle beside the spline, and even if he did, he said when he tried putting it in again it popped right in? if the spline were damaged, it wouldn't be in, and even if it were, then I don't think a damaged spline would give him the problem he's having. I mean I'm pretty sure those cv joints can take a lot of abuse as long as your not pulling them apart you know? It's almost kinda ironic that this is happening, when I had my fattys my car did the same thing, as soon as I put any gas on it, she started shaking like an overfucked crackwhore. It was outrageous, and then I'd let off the gas and everything was fine. Over 30mph, she really got bad, but didn't happen till I got those wheels on. I ended but buying these 17's off this kid and the whole problem was fixed, it ended up being something with the wheels themselves, maybe they weren't balanced right or something. Highly doubt thats your problem, you had those before the swap didn't you?

Yeah, these were on there before the swap, but don't think that hasn't crossed my mind. I'd LOVE for that to be the problem!!!

Terrance, I'm agreeing with Dave, because I mean... have you looked at the differentials? What the heck can you do to make this problem? Theres nothing in there but splines.

When it was a pain in the butt to get the drivers side axle in there, I know why... the safety ring/clip on the axle was pretty large, making it just a pain in the rear getting it to slip in, but after I messed with it, and when I went out there a few days later to check it out, it went in with only a little bit of "love".

I've GOT to figure this out!

daveholiday said:

but didn't happen till I got those wheels on. I ended but buying these 17's off this kid and the whole problem was fixed, it ended up being something with the wheels themselves

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I believe that was one of the first things I asked him... If he tightened the lugs properly.. I even went behind him and checked... Everything was fine.


I have no clue how something in the tranny could be messed up.. but when your running out of ideas you've got to look at everything.

------------------------------------
Andrew, why don't you either:
#1: Swap the rear wheels to the front.
#2: Throw those 14's on it (the front at least).
#3: Drive the car off a cliff.

I assume since there aren't any cliffs in Tally and you like your car, #3 is not an option so eliminate the wheels being the problem so you can focus your attention elsewhere. Maybe you lost some weights?

HEY, maybe a broken belt in the tire? and it's just a freak thing that it happened at a bad time.

Very plausible.
I've been meaning to swap the front/rear anyway... I'll do that today after work.
I SURE hope it's a weight or something.

The thing is, everything was fine w/ the car. The only changes made were d-side axle & lower ball joint. I'm pretty positive it's not the wheels or tires in any way.

You say you tightened the lugs down right, but what about the spline nut? Chilton lists a specific torque value, and I'm not sure what would happen if you under or over tighten that nut. I used the 'gorilla torque' from an impact gun, so it shouldn't be loose...but if it's too tight... Could that cause the installed length of the axle to change, throwing off the suspension geometry?

I'm about to pull everything apart again because I'm leaving tonight on a five to eight hour road trip and I want to prevent 'bad luck' on the drive.

Using all the powers of the interweb to figure this one out. So far the best answer I've found (symptoms most similar to ours) is this from: Car Shakes While Driving Questions

Since there is a camber kit installed on the vehicle, I'm going to check the d-side versus the p-side (which should not have changed) and match them up. I'll let you know.

edit

So, having carefully measured the location of the top bolt on the camber kit, which looks and operates like this one:


I have found a difference of about 2mm. I think I have corrected this issue. We'll see when I go for a test drive. I'll have to wait while some JBWeld dries on the steering column before I go anywhere, though. Why, you ask? Here is answer: https://hondaswap.com/civic-crx-ef/1stgen-into-2ndgen-rex-93545/

Let me know how your test drive goes.
As far as over/undertightening the axle nuts... I've never had any problems with it, and I always impact mine on.

My lower ball joints and tie rod ends are busted, but I've never experienced this problem.
They were busted on my Dseries and have always been fine.
IDK whats up.

I just went out and rotated my tires and it's the same deal, but I found out what was making my right rear tire slowly leak....




The little piece on the bottom was just a piece of a nail... and didn't actually puncture the tire.

Andrew said:

As far as over/undertightening the axle nuts... I've never had any problems with it, and I always impact mine on.

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Okay, check that off, then.

Andrew said:

My lower ball joints and tie rod ends are busted, but I've never experienced this problem.

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Hmmm, check & check...

Andrew said:

I just went out and rotated my tires and it's the same deal.

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That's what I thought, so another check.

Which leaves me w/ hope that it is in fact a camber issue. Any idea if 2mm would make this kind of difference? The only other possibility left, if it is the camber, is that something else bent or shifted causing the change. I highly doubt that the knuckle bent, and I already replaced the upper arm....so what's left? The lower arm? That's cast steel like the knuckle, can't imagine that's bent either....
GRRRR!!!

Maybe there's a nail in my tire too and that's the source of all this!

mac_24_seven said:

I believe that was one of the first things I asked him... If he tightened the lugs properly.. I even went behind him and checked... Everything was fine.

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I never doubted that he had his lugs loose, mine were on with an impact but they were just off balance or something I guess, I don't know. I don't even know if I was throwing that as a possibility becasue he had them before the swap, just my similar story lol.

ok, we know that when you let off the gas, it doesn't go as crazy, what about when you brake? does it do it more? you probably checked this already, but in case you didn't, is rotor warpage a possibility? my aunts civic drove fine and then one day it started shaking and shaking when she'd brake too, and I was reading through her haynes manual and it said warped rotors is a possibility, and sure enough, her driverside rotor was warped, donno how, but we got a new one and everything was peachy.

and as far as the 2mm, I could see it going both ways, I don't have much experience with camber kits so I don't know, but I could see it throwing it off bad, or not doing anything,,

daveholiday said:

ok, we know that when you let off the gas, it doesn't go as crazy, what about when you brake?

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Makes absolutely no difference. For me, anyway. The only time I feel this is specifically when the front suspension is compressed (cornering, or bump in road) & I'm putting power to the front wheels (wheel, since it's not LS) at the same time.

Say you're taking off from a left turn light and you gas it. Shudders like Michael J Fox on a coin operated bed w/ a jackhammer up his ass. Or, say, I'm doing a buck ten on the freeway and hit a pothole. Kinda' spooky to say the least.

daveholiday said:

I don't have much experience with camber kits so I don't know

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Me neither. This no name deal was on the car when I got it. And, honestly, I didn't know the difference between a joint and a tie rod until a few weeks ago when I started rebuilding my front end on a daily basis.

humblegumbo said:

Makes absolutely no difference. For me, anyway. The only time I feel this is specifically when the front suspension is compressed (cornering, or bump in road) & I'm putting power to the front wheels (wheel, since it's not LS) at the same time.

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Your's is a problem then, that i've never heard of, and I guess I really don't understand why it only does it on turns. Did that 2mm help at all?

humblegumbo said:

Or, say, I'm doing a buck ten on the freeway and hit a pothole. Kinda' spooky to say the least.

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My car freaks out when I hit potholes, but so do I because it just sounds like the pothole just destroyed everything.

humblegumbo said:

Me neither. This no name deal was on the car when I got it. And, honestly, I didn't know the difference between a joint and a tie rod until a few weeks ago when I started rebuilding my front end on a daily basis.

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And see, there's the other thing, the whole no-name deal vs name brand stuff, like would maybe it help if you bought a name brand camber kit? I actually didn't know the difference between either of them untill I got my alignment done and they said one of my tie rods was bad, and when I looked after it was done, it was all fresh and new so now I know. But I honestly don't know much about suspension, and it sounds like you're running out of possibilities all too fast, and in the process not finding any answers.

By jove, I think I've done it!

I took her out for a quick spin around the block. Well, not that quick...and no real spinning...but she does seem to behave much better now. I have absolutely no idea what the working concept is here behind the "tire isolation" business. But I know results.
I'm sure that if I had it no-shit properly aligned, it'd be perfect.

Apparently 2mm does make all the difference. Huh. Learned something new today.

So, Andrew, I hope you check this thread before you spend money on something else that won't help. It's probably your camber too.

There's nothing more satisfying than a mechanical problem solved, and nothing more bothersome than an unsolved problem. Well, at least for me. Now, where the heck did those gas ninjas go?