(BTW - longish post)

Last night I finished up with the last part of my engine/trans swap ('95 Imp 2.2 into '98 OBW). The engine started right up and sounded good. I shut it off after 3 min. and called it a night. Today I wanted to run it for a while more. I started it up (added a few qts. trans fluid.) and just let it run for a few. After about 10 min I heard the fans kick on - the temp gauge was up at the H. I tried to add some A/F to the radiator and got lots of small bubbles. I thought UGH, HG problem. Then I figured that maybe if I turned on the heat it would bring the temp down. Well by golly- there was no heat.

I turned off the car and let it cool for 30 min. Then I added another QT A/F and started it up. I burped/squeezed the coolant hoses to the heater core - then all of a sudden the heat worked. I had worked out that air bubble. The temp guage went down to the 1/3-1/2 area and all seems good.

 

Well I hope that everything is ok. I still have to get the car down off the jack stands and take it for a drive.

 

Thanks for all of the helpful information. I'll post back to let you know how the rest goes.

 

Thanks again,

Steve H.

it helps if you elevate the front end a foot or so to make the radiator higher than the heater core.

 

 

 

~Josh~

I had it up on jack stands in the front. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take it for a drive tomorrow. I'd prefer no more surprises.

 

Steve

Congratulations on the swap, good stuff. Glad to hear the heating issue was just a bubble in the cooling system. From my understanding the HGs are rarely an issue in the 2.2 engines, one of the main reasons for the swap.

 

Good luck,

 

Chef

Today I started it up and it ran great. It was idling high (1700), but I did a quick TB clean and it dropped to about 700. Purrs like a kitten. I was able to take the car around the block. The trans shifts beautifully, the car drove well except the front rotors are warped. Very happy with this engine and trans swap. It took a little while to prep the engine, but the car should be good to drive for a long time to come. Alltogether I've got about $3k invested in this car and I think that it's worth quite a bit more. Just need to do a little detailing now and it'll be complete.

 

Steve H.