L400 3.8L Mivec 5spd Sportronic w/Paddle shift

[Big-Bird]

wdhgtwt.jpg (57.76 KiB) Viewed 7334 times

[VR Trooper]

Pics of the ECU tuning, mounting bracket, harness & Propane ECU:




Tactrix OpenPort 2.0 cable and my bench re-flash harness




Latest Engine harness - ready for loom




Eclipse harness before weeding:




Eclipse ECU bracket - Modified




Extra ECU lower bracket




ECU mounted




Propane system installed - Left Injectors - Right ECU & Regulator behind coolant bottle

[VR Trooper]

Front end assembly:









DC Sports CAI from a 4g Eclipse GS.
Had to order a few silicone hose couplers and cut it into two sections, but it fit better than I had planned.
Was a total shot in the dark when I ordered it.
The air filter being so low isn't quite what I really want, but it'll do for now.













Relocated the Evap purge canister (charcoal canister) from the firewall - to behind the front bumper.

[VR Trooper]

First few things on the block I had to modify or adjust.


The Deli AC compressor mounting bracket required clearance, as did the Eclipse oil filter housing.







To retain the Eclipse aluminum oil pan, I had to clearance and route the dipstick through the left engine mount bracket. I later lowered the engine brackets by 25mm.
I had to re-adjust the dipstick position, as the pull handle was pointed directly at the battery. Needed a little reworking.
Fortunately my work has a set of really nice, really expensive tubing benders... Perfect for dipsticks and fuel lines:O)
Now I have a Pajero 3.8L Dip stick tube, so I'll see how that fits.







The upper mounting tab on the dipstick is located on the timing belt face of the cylinder head now, and not on the side as shown here.




265HP vs 18,000 ft lbs of thrust!!




Right engine mount bracket didn't have the threaded bosses so I modified the bracket to fit existing threads on the block.










I then dropped the engine mounts 25mm to allow the Mivec Oil Valve Housing on the back of Cylinder Head 1, to clear the firewall.
Since then, I acquired Pajero engine mounts and brackets. Not sure yet if they'll be useable, but I'll measure them up.

[VR Trooper]

Here's a few pics of clearancing the Left cylinder head, to clear the firewall. (Front cylinder head on Eclipse)

Because the block is approx 18mm taller than the original 3.0L 6G72, the small amount of clearance the original 3.0L had to the Delica firewall, means the 6G75M 3.8L cylinder head casting totally interferes with the firewall on the left side.

The cardboard pattern is a mock up of the firewall shape, so I could figure out where the clearance issues would be. I was trying to avoid taking a ball peen to the firewall...

Because I reversed the valve covers and intake manifold 180 deg, you can see part of the timing cover mounts on the left valve cover. The one to the left of the Cam Sensor had to be ground off, as did one of the 8mm threaded ears.




The purple line in this pic indicates the shape of the original 3.0L head. I shifted the line down 18mm to mimic the shape of the original 3.0L head.
Theoretically, this should create the same amount of clearance to the firewall as the original engine had. Which worked out well.




After clearancing:

[VR Trooper]

Cooling system mods:


Coolant return line, bent, adjusted, twisted... whatever you wanna call it.
This piece didn't bend and twist so easily, had to make a few attempts.
So it turned out a bit ugly...

The branch to the right is the return line from the rear passenger compartment heater. Something Eclipse's don't need. :)

I now have a new Pajero 3.8L coolant pipe and hope it will fit better.







In this shot, you can see the Mivec Oil Valve Housing protruding out the backside of the right cylinder head. It has a solenoid and oil pressure switch.
This unit would protrude through the firewall by about 35mm, so a solution was needed in order to fit in the engine bay. I'll post on that later.







Coolant cross over pipe extended by 19mm. Very different than the Eclipse unit with integral Thermostat housing.
Not the prettiest alum weld job... lol...




Upper thermostat flange housing spacer plate, lifts the upper flange and coolant recirculating pipe by 13mm. This pipe runs directly over the ignition coils/wiring connectors. The spacer gives the pipe a few millimeters of clearance.

[VR Trooper]

I blended bits of the Eclipse 3.8L to the Pajero/Montero 3.5/3.8L timing covers in order to seal up the timing cover area.
Because of the shape of the cylinder head, and the Longitudinally mounted engine, the only covers that could have worked are from an '09-on Pajero 3.8L Mivec, which is a pretty rare beast and non-existent in North America. And even those covers wouldn't quite fit exactly, as the USDM 3.8L has a Mivec oil valve body behind the left bank timing sprocket that the AUDM/JDM's don't have.
So I had to mend timing cover sections that fit the Eclipse areas of the heads, with sections that fit with the Delica water pump, thermostat housing and accessory belt drive parts.

The Left bank Pajero/Montero cover needed the mounting hole and a slightly different shape to the mating face, that I could only get by sectioning out bits off the Eclipse cover.
And the right bank needed notching and repositioning of the rubber seal channel

Since modifying these timing covers, I now have plans to upgrade/simplify the Mivec operation, but the changes may require a re-do of the Bank 2 timing belt cover.






Dusted off my old plastic welding gun and did some test welding. None of my plastic weld rod would work with the Mitsu covers, so I had to mend them without filler.








With the valve covers reversed, the upper mounting holes for the timing cover were missing on Bank 1 (right bank). They were facing against the firewall on bank 2 now.
So I drilled the upper backing plate off the original 3.0L valve covers and added mounting tabs to each end for the 3.8L head. I was also able to retain the factory timing mark this way.





Then I made a few other small brackets






The front crank seal housing has a different shape and left a substantial gap at the top of the oil filter housing, requiring a quick fix.






I used parts of Eclipse and Delica backing plates on Bank 2 (left bank), mounted the Crank Position sensor and routed the wire using some Eclipse cable mounts and Delica rubber grommet to seal against the rear timing cover.






And it all came together

[sturmy]

Huge respect for the commitment here. The pictures of the wiring harnesses have made me feel quite poorly!
That would give me nightmares for days.
Great skills at work.

[doodah]

Fascinating process!

[Big-Bird]

I think we're about due for some video footage of thing running.....that is if its all done!

Most of the true gear heads, like me, are drooling.......

[VR Trooper]

Thanks guys,
The wiring harness took me a while to wrap my head around it. I'd originally ordered the Eclipse engine harness from a wrecker in California, just to find out that I needed the engine bay harness as well. So I asked them to also pull the dash harness, as I really didn't know at that time just how much of what harness I would need. Now with a complete Montero chassis harness added to my collection, I have plenty of extra wires with factory pins for future who knows what.

I did have it running briefly last year, but its in pieces currently. Waiting for time to get back on the project.
At least I have a heated workspace now. Hoping to make some good progress this spring.

Here's a vid of it running last year.
I must have had a bad morning or something, cause I sure was excited the previous day when she first fired up!
Still had jumper wires assisting with some power supplies.
https://vimeo.com/63505887