Swapped sr20...whole car shakes when shifting/taking off.

[hksdrag1254]

Let me go ahead and say.No I'm not THAT big of an idiot.Its not my bad driving that is causing the problem.I've drove a MT toyota for almost 6 months, and I figured it would take a little time to get used to my 240, therefore I dismissed the shaking at first.Now its been about two weeks, and I've got the sr running great except for a small oil leak.

I'm still noticing some shaking when shifting from 1-2 and 2-3, also when taking off from a dead stop.The shaking seems almost like the shake that comes from almost letting your car die...but this is impossible because I've watched my tach and it reads like 3,000 when the car is shaking.I haven't yet experienced this problem when shifting from 3-4 or 4-5 gear.

My first thought was something with the drivetrain, because, it seems to be coming from the rear of the car. Also this would make sense considering the car had 270k miles on it...in my opinion its probably just worn out. The KA was blown when I bought the car (for $450, lol) so I never got a chance to drive it beforehand.

Considering I had never even changed oil before I did this swap...I'm still not great at diagnosing problems...so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[sunnys14]

Are your motor mounts loose? Is your driveshaft loose?

[hksdrag1254]

All my mounts are fine, the engine sits perfectly still when idling and moves slightly when you rev it.

Another thing though...I noticed when im sitting still and rev it just a little...it doesnt catch at like 800 rpms...it will drop to almost 500...it comes close to dying then comes back up to idle.I'm not sure why? And I thought this might be connected?

[hksdrag1254]

I'm not sure about the driveshaft? How would I tell, lol?

[James@CI]

What MAF are you using,how much boost are you running,are you running a AFC

[hksdrag1254]

stock, stock(8 or 9), and no.

[Robi1]

Hi There 2 things to look for Has the car been in a prang? ie. is the chasis in propper alignment? if its not then there's a liklihood of diff. being out of alignment. Or at some point that the diff has been replaced and not aligned propperly. This will cause carto shake like a SOB because driveshaft is out of line. Check all linkages to suspension/diff to see if they're tight. the second area to look at is the tailshaft where it goes into the diffhead, if bearing is worn it willcause the diveshaft to vibrate. the rear universals is the other one to be looking at. I'm assuming here that when new motor was put in that driveshaft was measured for clearance onto the gearbox splines mostcars need at least 1" minimum clearance on the back of the box.

Here is the old school method for checking alignment. Take off rear wheels (make sure properly supported) tie string to foremost studs. Measureout enough to front of center of car. both sides must be equal length exactly. If there is more on one side then there is an offset. repeat with string but diagonally ie. RL ->FR & RR ->FL. Have fun.

[nismotuner1]

Have you changed your rear sub frame bushings? 270K is a long time for those weak rubber bushings.

[hksdrag1254]

Thanks...I'm going to check all this the next day I'm off work =]

[3dson]

All my mounts are fine, the engine sits perfectly still when idling and moves slightly when you rev it.

Another thing though...I noticed when im sitting still and rev it just a little...it doesnt catch at like 800 rpms...it will drop to almost 500...it comes close to dying then comes back up to idle.I'm not sure why? And I thought this might be connected?

Yeah i also have that problem but on my stock KA24de at time when idle it wants to die and when shifting 1 to 2 and 3 i get the same problem. Guess ill check it out and see if all my bushings are fine and c if the bolts of my diff and driveshaft are well tight. Good luck and hopefuly i fix my problem 2

[hksdrag1254]

I checked all the universal joints/alignment. It seems to be okay...I'm going to do some more research on the vlsd i have in garage and swap it in.....hopefully that will fix my problem.

And to the guy thats having a problem with the idling. I adjusted mine to idle between 900-1k and it still drops...but not low enough to even sputter or anything. You might try that. There is a notch on the throttle body that you can adjust.

[Unit-121]

For the idle problem that drops and comes back up and its not ur ur maf check 2 see and make sure that ur (IACV) Iddle Air Contro Valve is working properly cuz if not that can be the problem towards ur situation on droping idle

[mullesch311]

Wow a lot of useless feed back this is very simple had the problem with 2 of my cars. Bleed the clutch line. Thats it. Not a 200 dollar repair, something you and your girlfriend or anybody can do. Its because the air bubble hits the master cylinder and breifly drops the clutch it sounds like the car is about to die but it;s fine that also explains why it only happens from 1st through 3rd