After years of wanting a Galant VR4 I finally found a decent one for the right price. Of course it doesn't have and engine or trans. Simply minor details of course. It just so happened a Tech I used to work with needed to get rid of his 1991 Talon that was in storage. The engine was already pulled because it ran low on oil and rod knocked. The car also has a nice condition stage 1 Shep trans, lucky me. So the right Galant happened to showed up at the same time the right parts car showed up, fate I guess. The goal for this car is to get it back to nearly stock condition first. I need to make sure it runs right before any mods. I'm not building a crazy HP drag car. I just want to restore it back to it's former glory. So I can drive and enjoy it.

The paint is in really nice shape. The body is rot free with some small surface rust spots here and there. Nothing scary.


I've already located some needed parts thanks to members on the board. I picked up a Stock fuel tank, Engine harness and front body harness. Those where three of the most needed things.




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Next question, why does the Driver's side strut tower have 3 bolts like a E/L/T but the pass side has 4 bolts?

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Parts car

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Engine was already pulled !

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So we (my Dad and I) tore down the engine last night. The last time we were inside one of these engines was back in 2004 when we rebuilt my Talon. The head looks to be in nice shape. This engine wasn't together long before it ran out of oil. I guess the Tech damaged the front crank seal when installing it. Then at one point his "friend" borrowed the car and it ran low on oil. He did tell me he had put Crower valve springs and retainers in with stock cams. Those where there. He also put Arias low compression pistons. They look wicked sloppy in the cylinders. I don't think I can save those. This block doesn't appear to have been bore out before, but I'm really doubting the round ness of the cylinder walls. Inspecting the lower end it appears most of the damage was done to the 1 rod bearing. It completely spun out of the rod and damaged it. So I need a new rod. I think I have a set in my attic from the donor block I used in my Talon. The crank needs to be polished but it's not too bad. Just have to get both over to the machine shop and have it inspected. It does have ARP head studs which if I remember correctly can be reused ?


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Looks real good man. Hope to see it out and about some day!
And again Welcome to the board

That is the same car.

Finally got some stuff done, a small amount of work but progress none the less. The motor was at the machinist for a month. Mostly because I told him I wasn't in a hurry. Had the engine bored .20 and the crank polished. Today we installed the main bearings and and crank. I also wire wheeled the crusty stuff off the block and gave it a coat of flat black. On my Talon I painted the engine block a nice cast gray color. Only to never be able to see the block while its in the car. So basic black did the trick for this car.


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Because a good used crank is hard to come by and expensive vs using the one I have. This crank came with the block and we checked the oil clearance with plastiguage yesterday during the install. The main bearings are all at .02 which is within factory spec. I don't plan on making huge power so I see no issues with it. Put it this way, I could spend money on a "used" crank only to find out it's not straight or in worse condition than mine. Pictures from a For sale add can't give me specs. I mean it could damaged in shipping too many variables for me that are out of my control. I would rather risk a quality job from my machine shop. At least if I have an issue, these is some accountability.

^^^^^^^^ What he said...

6 bolt cranks are nitride coated from the factory. people have mixed feelings about running a cut crank, I personally would never run them again as the only motors that have ever had bearing failure for me, had cut cranks.

I finally made some major progress on the wiring. I started by unwrapping it and cleaning it.


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Ughh, what a mess


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Found some interesting stuff as I unwrapped the wires. Butt connectors are cheap, was twisting them together by hand really the only way?


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At least this one was twisted and soldered. We used uninsulated butt connectors. Then soldered and heat shrinked the wires. JDM pink yo !


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All wrapped up, we couldn't stagger the splices because the wires where already cut. but much better.


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Ignitor connector also FUBAR


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Spliced in the Coil pack and ignitor harness, also added new injector plugs


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Knock sensor wiring, this also had to be cleaned up.


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Coolant temp senor wires and o2 sensor wires.


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MAF sensor plug, just a couple of cut wires way too close to the connector.


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Spliced in one from the donor harness and rewrapped it.


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Added the the plastic housing from the parts car that froms the harness around the factory intake manifold. This was missing from the car. Now it looks like the correct factory harness.


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Getting closer to putting the engine in.

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I've got a few more wiring repairs to make inside the car but I made some major progress over the weekend.

Wiring isn't that difficult to master. Once you get that fear out of your head when looking at a pile of wiring, and once you know where it all goes, if you can solder and have decent attention to detail, repairs can be made pretty easily. This is why it boggles my mind that people can mess up factory wiring so horribly. It's good to see this thing getting the wiring straightened out the correct way.

Cleaned up the positive battery cable

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After sand blasting

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I repaired all the wire to the positive battery terminal

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This is the ECU wiring I was working with

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This is how I repaired all of them

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The cut white will be connected to my Wideband 02 sensor for the narrow band input.

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All wrapped up good as new

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Before I sealed the oil pan up


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Fan resistor bracket

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After sand blasting

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Cleaned up the radiator fan wiring

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Ran the wiring for my Wide band 02, Stock ECU installed

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Ready to go in the car

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Trans mount before sand blasting

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Engine bay ready for an engine

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Transmission all cleaned up, clutch fork and TB bearing installed.

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Engine installed, I've got a DSM front engine bracket. It's making crooked, I didn't realize this till after we put it in. I'll have to find the correct one and swap it out.

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Wiring harness at set up on the engine.

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Factory clutch and stock flywheel installed

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Trans and transfer case waiting to be put in. Finished and painted the trans mount.

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Un-insulated 16-14 gauge butt connector, They can be crimped only or in my case I crimped them and then soldered the ends, I didn't want them ever working loose. I got them from NAPA. I don't have the part # handy.

Man, someone spent alot of time and energy "customizing" that harness.

you gotta sexy Tsi in that back there buddy =)