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1998 Grand Prix GT Engine Swap (to the L26)



good lord WTF is a jack stand doing under the pan? get that out of there. the trans mount will hold that side up.

looks like you bent the pan and caused a leak.
 
It's not a jack stand, it's a scissor jack to support the side of the trans Billy's instructions said to support.
I only had it "kiss" the bottom, so I am quite sure it wasn't enough to bend the pan. I took a closer look, and the leak is higher than the pan anyway, I might have wiggled something loose when separating the engine.
I chose the scissor jack so that it stayed at a constant height, since my hydraulic jack doesn't hold so well.
 
i just put the jack under the tail shaft, pass side and let it hang, either way its likely the cause of the leak, it looks like two wet spots on the pan, above the jack and the round part of the pan. the bolts wet and dripping off it.
 


I think I found out what caused the trans oil leak, but I didn't find out until we put in the new engine.

After bolting in the new engine to the transmission, I noticed a gap behind where the engine to diff bracket gets bolted.

I suspect the diff bolts serve two purposes, one to seal the end if the diff, and one to fasten to the bracket? Once the bracket was wrenched back into place, I cleaned up the floor with kitty litter, cleaned off the trans pan, came back a couple of hours later, and it is dry as a bone.

For others swapping engines, I suggest putting back the bracket's diff side bolts sans bracket, unless you want to oil your garage floor with tranny oil.

Anyway, new engine is in. We had to give it two tries because of the passenger side engine mount - it was much easier to remove the three bolts hoding mount to engine block, remove the mount, and place the mount into place on the frame/mount tray, but don't bolt it on - leave it loose. When lowering in the engine, it was much easier to line up and bolt back the 3 bolts.

Oh, and FYI, if you replace your L36 with an L26, make sure to get the engine mount bracket/cradle that comes from the L26 removal, it was a very easy drop-in and I get to keep the aluminum oil pan.
 
For helping to put this thing back together, is there a good diagram out there that shows where the wiring harness is supposed to be secured (various mount points, etc)?
 
honestly, if you lay the harness over the engine all the plugs will be with in 3 inches of their respective home.

one of my injector plugs just fell right in place, all i had to do was make it click.

you cant plug the wrong plug in any where, they all only fit one place.
 


Power Steering pump was a PITA, I had to take off the belt tensioner to see what I was doing - got the top bolt started, then on with the bottom bolt.
 
Well, things seem to be ready to go. Wanted to make sure we do the first start correctly...

We are going to remove the fuel pump relay and crank engine for a minute or so to distribute oil through engine components.

After plugging the fuel pump relay back in, do you recommend purging air from the fuel lines, or should we just go for it?
 
no need to mess with the fp relay, spark plugs out, crank it 10 times for 15 to 20 seconds at a time. the fuel line self primes with the key turned to run, engine spins faster with no plugs, and cant run.

put the plugs in, and fire it up.

you might want to fill the engine with coolant via the t stat hole in the lim to make sure the engine is full of coolant. had a local who did a lim job and the block refused to refill till he filled it at the rad. had to fill it via the t stat hole. then it was fine.
 
Well, she fired right up, but we shut her down about 10 seconds after noticing a light spray of fuel behind the intake manifold.

Culprit : Fuel line quick-connect o-rings. Took my pick, and both rings broke with just a little tug (brown and yellow, there are two per quick-connect).

Does anyone know where to pick up replacements?
 
For those o rings, I don't think there are replacements...

But there is a Dorman connector that you can replace the old quick disconnect with, IIRC.

Scotty should know that part number by heart. Lol
 


why would they? they are fuel rated. its what i got in my quick connect for the last 5 years, has the lines off and on many times since.

napa was the only place with viton seals too.
 
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