As a few of you already know, I am currently helping out turbo1307 with the awd and 6 bolt conversion on his wife's 97 gst spyder. As of this weekend, the awd swap is complete. If all the parts show up(6 bolt, awd tranny, dsmlink, etc) we will be doing the engine and tranny swap next weekend. I figured I would post a couple of pics of the progress so far.

Best of all worlds. Vert, 6bolt, AWD... sex on wheels.

thats awesome Keith!!

I had a great time this weekend helping out with the conversion. I can't wait to see the car back on the road. And once agains thanks for the help with my new turbo install.

really was an interesting weekend. ha. alot got done with the spyder thats for sure. so much closer to completion!

think we measured it at 24.75 and 25.25 inches off the ground(back and front)

my stock height gsx is sitting 27.25 off the ground

Thanks again for all your help Keith. Its amazing to see how far the car has come and the work that is still left to do on it. Which shouldnt take to long to knock out. We wont be down this weekend cause I think Jerry is going to try and run before he takes his setup off to pass down. I'm going to make some more calls and get my hands on the rest of the stuff that we need.

Looking good guys, I just went through with an awd swap and let me tell you I don' t ever want to do that again

98eclipseRS said:

Looking good guys, I just went through with an awd swap and let me tell you I don' t ever want to do that again

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What are you talking about? I had a blast. I made sure the seats stayed nice and warm while outside the car. HAH!


Actually my contributaion was removal of the front end and lights, as well as the A/C components. WHO NEEDS IT!!!!!!

Sounds like you guys had quite the crew. (IMO) The convertable AWD spyder w/6 bolt is the ultimate DSM. You guys should be proud. Nice work so far.

turbo1307- I would have a hard time giving the keys back to my wife. I would want that machine to myself.

98eclipseRS said:

Looking good guys, I just went through with an awd swap and let me tell you I don' t ever want to do that again

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Don't tell me that!

I'll be starting mine in about a week or two. I plan to do an extensive write-up too.


Keith & Zach - Got any tips to give on the AWD swap? Anything specific to look out for? What part sucks the most?

99gst_racer said:

Don't tell me that!

I'll be starting mine in about a week or two. I plan to do an extensive write-up too.


Keith & Zach - Got any tips to give on the AWD swap? Anything specific to look out for? What part sucks the most?

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haha its really not that bad, its just very time consuming. Very time consuming. REally the only tip I have is take your time and make sure everything is done right, I mean its going to take alot of time regardless if you rush through it or do everything correctly so you might as well take your time. The part I would say sucked the most was drilling out the spot welds for the drvieshaft braces. If you had a lift to do it on it wouldn't be so bad but sitting on a garage floor under a car drilling out those things blows royally.

Other than that its a pretty straight forward procedure. Oh one thing that will make your life a million times easier is to try and source an awd fuel pump harness. Not just the plug but the whole thing that plugs into the fuel pump comes out of the sheetmetal covering the fuel pump assembly and about 8 inches of wire after that. I will take pictures of what I am talking about later today when I get back from getting my car tuned.

Well got to run tow truck is here as we speak. Oh and I used this write up to help.

http://www.automotivearticles.com/123/AWD_Conversion.shtml

The spyder takes a little bit longer with all the extra bracing; there is more to cut out. I think doing the coupe would be a bit easier. I also agree with Zach, take your time, it’s a big project and there is no need to rush it. For a project like this the extra time you spend working on it the better the finished product will be. Also make sure you have an extra tank of gas for the welder if you run out.

Auto RS T - I'm not worried about handing her the keys, I'll keep the boost turned down.

99gst_racer – good luck with your conversion

99gst_racer said:

Keith & Zach - Got any tips to give on the AWD swap? Anything specific to look out for? What part sucks the most?

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There is nothing to it. Just use your common sense and have an awd donor car at your disposal and then everything is straight forward.

I have read up on a few of the write ups for the swap and none of them pleased me. One thing in particular is the front mounting points for the awd subframe. I have seen some that talk about cutting into the frame rail from the outside to install the bolt. I did not and will not do it that way. I prefer to cut into the floorpan from inside the car and install the mounting points.

Another thing I dont agree with is just using grade 8 bolts with washers. It migh work but eventually, I think they will pull through. Instead, I cut the bolt support jacks from the frame rail of the donor car and reinstalled them into the spyder just as the awd is from the factory. This is a much better way and it distributes the load inside the frame rail properly. Of course it is more work but I would rather do more work now than to have to redo it later.

And tip of the day, keep a sawzall handy if you are snagging parts from an awd donor chassis. It makes life easier and quicker.

If you want any more info, pm me or call me.

^^^Agreed I know its a royal pain in the ####ing ass but cut out the bolt support from the awd car and weld it into the fwd car. And the last thing, I always here people saying you need an awd suspension this is totally incorrect the fwd suspension will work just fine.

Awesome. Thanks for the advice, gentlemen.

Paul I pray to god you haven't started this swap yet, there is one thing that NEEDS to be done. In between the motor and the tranny there is a thin metal plate, its almost a brass like looking color. The fwd and awd ones are different. If you don't put the awd one in the awd starter will not sit far enough down and you will strip the gear(ask me how I know ). This in turn will require you to drop your newly installed awd tranny and replace the plates.

Just thought I would throw that out there since none of the write ups include this in the procedure. I really wish I would have taken pics so I could do a write up. I have yet to find one that includes all the info you need in order to do the swap.

Thanks Zach. No, I haven't started yet. I've been working on my new house alot lately, so that's been robbing me of all my spare time. I should be starting in a couple weeks (i think I've been saying that for a couple weeks though....)

I'll probably start an "Official AWD Swap" thread when I start, in case I have any questions along the way.

All this talk of AWD swaps is making me a bit jealous. Some day...
Just a quick question for you guys that have done it..how are you getting your donor cars?
Junk yards? classifieds? I can't imagine tearing up a good awd just for a conversion, but then trying to get all the pieces separately would be almost impossible.

I must say that turbo1307 must really love his wife a lot......if that's really who all this work is for (come on, you can tell the truth).

TrystanGST said:

All this talk of AWD swaps is making me a bit jealous. Some day...
Just a quick question for you guys that have done it..how are you getting your donor cars?
Junk yards? classifieds? I can't imagine tearing up a good awd just for a conversion, but then trying to get all the pieces separately would be almost impossible.

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I picked mine up on the other side of my state. I found my 95 GSX in the classifieds section of a MI car club forum. (the guy is actually a member of this site too) But we negotiated a price, and set a date for me to come pick it up. I ended up paying $1300 for mine. It's a victim of a t-belt failure. Everything was intact (leather interior, stereo, drivetrain, and engine), so I feel it was worth every penny.

I searched for about 4 months for a donor car. Complete and cheap 2G AWD's are not easy to come by, and it seems like everytime I found a good deal, it was at least 6 states away.

Just search for one with a failed engine, extreme body damage, or victim of a fire.

I'll be pulling the head tonight to see how bad those valves are really bent. I'm going to start tearing into the drivetrain, and I'll continue selling off all the stuff I don't need so I can recooperate some of the costs. I should be dropping off the tranny at TRE sometime soon (hopefully). Anyway, here's a pic of my AWD donor beast:

The donor car we used was given to me as scrap. It was originally a pensylvania car that had been eaten up with rust. The engine and tranny were gone but most of the interior and all of the drivetrain was still intact. It would have cost more to repair than to purchase a better 2g so it was cut up and parted out. As a matter of fact, the only usable body panels off of the car were the hood(already gave that to one friend) the passenger door so I am giving that to another friend. Here is the only pic I have of it.

Sounds good Paul if you have any questions feel free to pm me(that goes for anybody doing this swap by the way).

FORMONTOYA said:

I must say that turbo1307 must really love his wife a lot......if that's really who all this work is for (come on, you can tell the truth).

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It is her car and in her name. I'm sure I'll drive it but I like my Laser more. Ya I love her a lot, there is nothing like a hot chick driving with the top down. Also being able to get my hands on a free donor car is another reason I decide to go through with the swap.

It has been a while since we have updated this so I figured now is the time. Everything is all done and she runs.

Here are pics from the brake upgrades.

Here are all the fresh powder coated parts.


New rotor and bracket are on.


Caliber and pads are added along with SS brake line.


Another shot.


Wheel back on and rolled outside for a better pic.


New rear swaybar

Here are pictures of the 6 bolt and the motor and trand in the car.

All ready to go.




The best engine lift ever...


Fully built auto trans to go with the 6 bolt.


All mounted in the car and looking purdy.


One pic looking down from the fork lift.