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Little Red (1996 Geo Tracker)

Any chance one of you gurus here can give me a quick run down on what’s needed under the hood to go from 4 speed auto to a manual 5 speed?

I pulled a trans/t-case today from a 96’. I have all the interior parts. I’m thinking there is something I need to pull from the ECM area for the manual trans. Or I need to cut and splice the harness from the auto?
 
Little update.

I’ve always hated how these engine wiring harnesses lay right under the manifold along the block, and are wrapped in plastic and tape. It was also melted in spots and covered in oil from leaks.

After a couple hours I had it all cleaned up and wrapped up in Painless heat/abrasion resistant tape. Yes, if I ever have to access this it’s going to suck, but whatever. :flipoff2:

Also decided against the manual swap. This is just too clean to not be perfect and I’m a novice with that kind of swap to make it awesome.

Clean:
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Wiring harness before:

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And after:

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JR4X said:
Congrats on a nice clean slate! As these get fewer and harder to find I’d have bought it too!

It’s kinda funny. We used to part out 4 doors to do Samurai 16V swaps because NOBODY wanted a 4 door and they were super cheap. Now you can’t find them anymore and a 4 door is the only thing I’m interested in.
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Hey I like my 4dr’s. I’ve been wheeling a 4dr since 93 and have three of them. Two with TT Toyota axle conversions.
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What’s your thoughts on those Badak x-treme tires? It’s about time for me to get new tires for samurai and was considering those
 
I’m sorry for not being clear on that. Edmond is who I’m asking. The ride on the lift has the tires in question
 
JR4X

I’m using pistons and a crank from a different block. Am I aiming to kill a bus load of nuns? Should I measure and spec everything out before I rebuild this?

How cheap can I go on a measuring tool and have it be accurate?
 
FleshEater said:
JR4X

I’m using pistons and a crank from a different block. Am I aiming to kill a bus load of nuns? Should I measure and spec everything out before I rebuild this?

How cheap can I go on a measuring tool and have it be accurate?
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It’s just a trail rig, if you’re looking to save the most amount of money here’s what I’d suggest.

De-ring the pistons you want to use (don’t consider re-using used rings please) the cheapest most effective way to check for close enough piston to cylinder fitment. Stick the pistons you want to use inside the cylinders and use feeler gauges to check the clearance. If you can fit a .010 feeler gauge between the piston and cylinder wall it’s pretty sloppy but would probably run. .006~.007 feeler gauge is ideal. Anything more than .010 I wouldn’t put it together. It’ll probably smoke and use oil and have bad blow by.

For the rods and mains I’d check each one with plasti-gauge. It’s cheap and reliable enough for a 96 hp trail motor.
 
FleshEater said:
JR4X

I’m using pistons and a crank from a different block. Am I aiming to kill a bus load of nuns? Should I measure and spec everything out before I rebuild this?

How cheap can I go on a measuring tool and have it be accurate?
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As in as you are why not go new pistons? I'm not an engine guy by any stretch, but that seems pretty normal to me.

Also, the block on the floorboard makes it look hilariously small :lmao:
 
YotaAtieToo said:
As in as you are why not go new pistons? I'm not an engine guy by any stretch, but that seems pretty normal to me.

Also, the block on the floorboard makes it look hilariously small :lmao:
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Then I have to check the cylinders to insure standard size would fit tight. :laughing:

It is tiny.

Thanks, JR4X I’ll do the piston check and see where I’m at.

My kid wants this as his first car. I have one more minty engine with 115k miles on it sitting around. I just blew the back window out of it moving with the tractor, so I might just pull the engine this summer.
 
Snap gauges and a mic set. You can buy used mics pretty cheap on eBay. They don't need to be dead nuts on since you only care about relative sizes, not an exact size.

x2 on new rings.
 
I found micrometers for about $100 on eBay, snap gauges are about the same.

My crank was still at the machine shop getting polished, so I gave them a call. Owner said bring the block back and a piston and he’d measure them.

Went today with everything and he pulled some quick measurements. Everything is good to run. $20 to polish the crank and the measurements were free. :smokin:

He told me he’a been giving out bids for $40,000-$60,000 engine builds non-stop lately, so my Zuk engine work is peanuts. :laughing:

Going to order rings and bearings soon. Still chasing threads and cleaning pistons, though.
 
Hopefully he’s helping with the build. That’s huge for respecting of things when you have some idea of what it takes to do something.
 
Byro said:
Hopefully he’s helping with the build. That’s huge for respecting of things when you have some idea of what it takes to do something.
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He helps here and there. Once the engine is ready to go back together I might make him do most of it. Chasing threads is way to risky to let him in control. A boogered up main bearing thread would be a nightmare.
 
FleshEater said:
Engine is all cleaned (wiped down with WD-40 and blown off with the air hose), every thread chased, and it’s ready to be rebuilt.

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I am really tempted to save up and spend the coin on this: Sidekick / Tracker Straight Axle Coil Spring Conversion Kit, 4 DR - Trail Tough

Not sure I could trust the kid driving this at 16 with 35’s. :laughing:
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Unless you are putting a sami tcase in there, i dont think yota diffs will go deep enough for 35s to be comfortable on the street. 33s might even be pushing it. My kick with 5.13s and 34s was almost undrivable in high range.
 
ParadisePWoffrd said:
Unless you are putting a sami tcase in there, i dont think yota diffs will go deep enough for 35s to be comfortable on the street. 33s might even be pushing it. My kick with 5.13s and 34s was almost undrivable in high range.
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Manual or auto?

I've driven a manual with 33s and 5.12s and it wasn't terrible. I'd think an auto and 35s would be OKish with 5.38s.

Also, tire wieght has a lot to do with it. I'm assuming you mean 34 tsl? :laughing:
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Manual or auto?

I've driven a manual with 33s and 5.12s and it wasn't terrible. I'd think an auto and 35s would be OKish with 5.38s.

Also, tire wieght has a lot to do with it. I'm assuming you mean 34 tsl? :laughing:
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Yeah, it was 8v, manual, 5.12s and 34 tsl. dropped to 32s and it was ok, but still a dog. On 30s, even TSLs, it was much happier.
 
ParadisePWoffrd said:
Yeah, it was 8v, manual, 5.12s and 34 tsl. dropped to 32s and it was ok, but still a dog. On 30s, even TSLs, it was much happier.
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My other Tracker on 32’s is fine. 8V, 5speed, 5.12’s.

I think 35’s would require cutting. I’d probably run 33’s under it. Grimm Jeeper numbers weren’t terrible. Obviously these are slow cars. It’s to be expected. :laughing:
 
ParadisePWoffrd said:
Yeah, it was 8v, manual, 5.12s and 34 tsl. dropped to 32s and it was ok, but still a dog. On 30s, even TSLs, it was much happier.
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The one I drove had aluminum wheels and whatever 33 radials. It blew my mind compared to my 1.3 samurai power wise. :laughing:

Like I said, I think zuks are drastically effected by tire and wheel wieght.

I ran 33x16 boggers, on 15x12 fake bead locks, then later got some free dead bald 39.5 iroks, like inner tube bald, on 15x8 steel wheels. The iroks were much lighter and besides a little extra clutch slipping from a dead stop, it felt similar or maybe even quicker despite the drastic size difference.

At least with the auto, he can drop in 5.12s for free, or buy 5.38s aftermarket and gain some back.

Too bad that 1.5:1 track kick box never took off.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
The one I drove had aluminum wheels and whatever 33 radials. It blew my mind compared to my 1.3 samurai power wise. :laughing:

Like I said, I think zuks are drastically effected by tire and wheel wieght.

I ran 33x16 boggers, on 15x12 fake bead locks, then later got some free dead bald 39.5 iroks, like inner tube bald, on 15x8 steel wheels. The iroks were much lighter and besides a little extra clutch slipping from a dead stop, it felt similar or maybe even quicker despite the drastic size difference.

At least with the auto, he can drop in 5.12s for free, or buy 5.38s aftermarket and gain some back.

Too bad that 1.5:1 track kick box never took off.
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I dont disagree with any of this. I tend to like it geared alot deeper, esp if I am going to need to avoid stupid drivers on the street.


x2 on the range box. Although I believe JR4X put enough miles, in low, in his kick that, I think, it might have a shot as a range box.
 
ParadisePWoffrd said:
I dont disagree with any of this. I tend to like it geared alot deeper, esp if I am going to need to avoid stupid drivers on the street.


x2 on the range box. Although I believe JR4X put enough miles, in low, in his kick that, I think, it might have a shot as a range box.
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Same here, but with limited options, what can you do? The Sami tcase swap is a pretty big undertaking for a mild rig.

Running around in low is fine. Except then you don't have a real low range unless you double them.

We need to push the land rover tcase more. A kick box to lt230 doubler would be awesome, with double low and also 1.1-1.7:1 high range.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Same here, but with limited options, what can you do? The Sami tcase swap is a pretty big undertaking for a mild rig.

Running around in low is fine. Except then you don't have a real low range unless you double them.

We need to push the land rover tcase more. A kick box to lt230 doubler would be awesome, with double low and also 1.1-1.7:1 high range.
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Remember the old LT230 thread? Tech has been there forever, and junkyards are plentiful, and everyone still sleeps on them.
 
I got the pistons in, new rod bearings, oil pump, rear main, and water pump all back together. I really regret not tracking my nuts and bolts as I pulled them out. After a year it’s anyones’ guess where these go. :homer:

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Any chance anyone here knows what kind of valve compression tool I need to remove the valve springs from these 16V heads? The one I bought for the 8V was barely deep enough, and nowhere deep enough for these 16V heads.

Once I get the valve seals replaced and maybe even new valves (need to fully inspect them), I can get this all back together.

I’m also going to try and tackle tearing down and cleaning my Aisin starter and alternator instead of buying refurbished junk. This engine leaked a lot, and both items are full of gunk.
 
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