With other things addressed, it was finally time to hoist up the engine and start the installation. This of course required use of the electric winch once again to pull the car forward while the engine swung in the air. With things hooked up, I got the engine in place, staged, and started lowering the thing down into the engine bay. I had to take care to move the different hoses and tubes and the wire harness so none of this stuff gets damaged. The first thing was to try and get the engine mounted to the bellhousing on the transmission. I had to make sure that the torque converter was seated completely, otherwise the engine would never seat itself. As usual, I ran into multiple obstacles during this installation. The first thing was the idea that mounting the transmission via its rear and driver's side mounts was a bad idea. Not being able to move the transmission around in any real way hindered my ability to secure the engine in place. In the end, I ended up disconnecting both mounts and supporting the transmission on a jack. The right side CV axle was still in place, helping to hold the transmission from just falling over. The next thing I had to do was remove the stud holding the belt tensioner, since this stud was protruding out just enough to hit the frame on the right side. The next big thing I ran into was the idea that there was an alignment pin in both the engine and the transmission in the same spot. My not double checking this very little yet very important thing had me have to pull the engine up again to get a set of vice grips on one of the pins to extract it so there would be a spot for the other one to press into. With those things addressed, I was finally able to get the engine in place and move the transmission like I needed to, with the help of jacks, and finally get the thing mounted up to the bellhousing. After getting the engine about 3/4 of the way against the transmission, I had to use the bolts to draw in the two units together to make them completely mate against each other. I had to be careful so as to not risk cracking or breaking any part of the aluminum bodies of either machine. The torque converter had to be in place in order to allow me to mate the two machines together. I also took time to stage the intake manifold behind the engine, so I can get it mounted up before I finish securing the engine and transmission to the frame of the car. I had to bolt up the wire harness in a couple spots on the back end of the engine as well as plug up some of the devices that were able to be plugged up. I also had to swap out the knock sensor since the JDM engine's sensor was different. With that taken care of, I can finalize the intake's mounting along with the wire harness. Another thing I had to address is the bad transmission mount on the front of the engine. Since I need to get everything together before I can run or drive the car, I had to address this bad mount. I did some old school bootlegging with the old mount by making a repair using a couple pieces of thick sheet metal cut to fit on either side of the mount. I drilled a large hole through both pieces to allow the central mounting point to protrude through on both sides. I then hot glued the broken rubber all around on the inside of the mount, just before welding the two plates to the sides of the mount body. With the two plates welded on, I used more hot glue to fill in more cracks and crevices around the central hub. After everything cured, the hub was firmly secured, while still having a little movement, to coincide with the movement of the engine. The holes I drilled in the plates were oversized to allow the hub to have some movement. The way it appears, the repaired mount is about as good, maybe better than the factory mount. In my next session, I'll get the intake secured, along with the wire harness, the biggest concern I had about this whole car. With that done, I can then fully focus on getting the powertrain mounted fully. The three transmission mounts and one motor mount along with a crossmember are all that is needed to get the engine/transmission fully secured. I do have to make sure the torque converter bolts are in place and that everything can freely move before fully securing everything, just in case I have to pull something apart again. Once I get past this point, it's just about putting all the little things back together to finish this job.
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