Taken from Rob over on 4gtuner
OK, I rebuilt and installed the VR4 engine into my mates GSR last week. Pretty easy conversion and here's some quick notes to consider when doing it yourself. This guide can also be used if you want to upgrade to a 4G63T VR4/EVO engine into your already GSR 4G93T powered coupe, Proton M21 or GTi too
1. You need the 4G63 Alternator and belt if the engine didnt come with it attached
2. Separate the alternator/starter motor wiring from the stock GSR wiring loom and extend the alternator wiring to behind the drivers side headlight, along the bottom of the radiator and up to the 4G63 alternator. The power supply cable to the back of the alternator will require the loop to be cut off and another one used which has a larger diameter hole to fit on the 4G63 alternator.
3. You will need the 4G63 power steering pump and cradle... turbo models use a non ribbed wheel on the power steering pump and waterpump, although you can also use the ribbed 4G63 version as long as you have the ribbed wheels on both the power steering pump and water pump and the right belt to suit. You can retain the stock GSR power steering lines.
4. You will need to ditch the stock GSR fuel return line and use about 90cm worth of 8mm fuel return hose from the firewall to the fuel rail/regulator. Protect it with conduit.
5. You can retain the GSR's coil packs and ignitor, and would be best if you had the VR4 backing plate for them. If not, you can get away with using the GSR plate but you can only get one bolt in position on the side of the VR4 intake manifold to hold it on... this will do in the short term until you find a better location to mount the coil packs.
6. Most of the water temp plugs/sensors are OK except one I found where I had to pinch the sensor from the GSR. i.e. the sensor on the bottom of the VR4 thermostat housing was different to the plug on the GSR loom so I grabbed the sensor from the GSR engine and it bolts in and plugs up fine in the VR4 unit.
7. Heater hoses - surprisingly, you can still use the GSR water lines to and from the firewall to the engine... its not perfect, but the hoses arent kinked and will work fine. As for radiator hoses we stuck with the stock 4G93T lower radiator hose and had to make something up for the top hose from hose I had laying around off another car.
8. You will need to undo and remove the GSR black plastic sheath that holds all the injector wiring (yup, the plastic elbow that bolted to your 4G93T intake manifold). Put the wiring in conduit and tidy up - there is no need for extending or cutting/changing anything here.
9. If you have a VR4 evo engine as in our case, the original GSR crank angle sensor plug will bolt straight into the VR4 evo 4-wire CAS. If you dont have VR4 evo engine and have the earlier style VR4 CAS, you will need to rewire the CAS to suit (I didnt do this so cant comment on it) and here is something I grabbed from somewhere else that will help:
If its a VR4 engine the Cam/Crank angle sensor will need to be rewired, totally different plugs. These are the colours that go together, red to red, white to white, black to large black, yellow to small black. Only Evo 0 VR4 engines have the same style cam/crank angle sensor as the Evo and GSR, so no rewire required.
10. You can retain the stock GSR starter motor but I found we had to elongate the holes in the plate that sits between the block and the gearbox that the starter motor bolts go through. The holes are slightly off line so get out a drill and elongate them so the starter motor bolts can get through once you bolt the GSR box onto the VR4 engine.
11. You will definitely need 4g63 spark plug leads and spark plugs. You can get away with starting the engine up using the GSR plugs and leads but it will missfire. Get the right goods here, stock NGK 6 's are fine for a basic stock to mild setup.
12. Aircon - throw away your GSR aircon unit as it wont suit the 4G63. You will also not be able to use the aircon hose from the unit to the condensor to the firewall. You CAN however retain the other half of the aircon lines from the condensor to the dryer unit to the firewall. Get the 4G63 aircon unit and mounting bracket - both brackets!! The plate that bolts to the back of the block which acts as a 8mm spacer for the LHS driveshaft, and the actual aircon tensioner bracket itself.
13. You will need the VR4 LHS driveshaft and mount it to the back of the block. If you dont have the aircon plate bolted out the back that acts as the 8mm spacer (on the bolt hole closest to the timing belt), you will need to use 8mm worth of high tensile spacer instead (thick washer, head stud washers perhaps etc?). We used the VR4 aircon plate bolted to the block first, then bolted the LHS driveshaft onto it.
14. We used a brand new complete 2 piece EVO 3 front engine mount in this case. We found that we had to cut out the hole in the VR4 timing cover to clear the mount, and grind back a section of the E3 mount to clear VR4 waterpump. No VR4 engine mounts are required. All the mounts on the GSR box are fine.
15. Grab the 4G63T oil cooler if you can as it will be good to have it all hooked up. If you didnt get it you may find it hard to find something to block the holes up. Warning: Dont concoct something up with a rubber hose as the high pressure from the oil pump will be sure to blow it off and you will lose all your oil!! . The best option here is to go factory oil cooler or aftermarket system.
16. You dont need to hook up the throttle closed position switch on the VR4 throttle body. The stepper plug and water hoses hook up no problem to the VR4 evo engine. However if you have an earlier VR4 engine you will need to do the following:
If using the non VR4 evo engine the throttle body wires need rewiring. The colours are Green/Black to Black, Green/Red to Green/Red, Green/White to Green/White and the Yellow/Red wire is left unconnected (unconfirmed). If using EVO engine it doesnt need rewiring.
17. The GSR throttle cable mounts on the tappet cover of the 4G93T, however on the 4G63T the cable mounts onto the fuel rail bolts. This means you will have to drill out the holes in brackets that hold throttle cable in place to a larger diameter to bolt up to the fuel rail bolts.
18. Obviously the intercooler piping and dump pipe will need to be altered to suit the 4G63T. Sometimes you may be lucky if you already have aftermarket plumbing , but in our case it was close, but not close enough for the dump pipe and had to change the angle to get it to bolt up right.
19. You need a longer vacuum hose for the brake booster to the intake manifold of the 4G63. We joined 2 hoses together with a barbed metal joiner to suit - not the safest of options but will be changed to a one-piece hose ASAP.
20. Its best to use the TD05 water and oil lines that come with the VR4 engine. If you didnt get the turbo or oil/water lines with the motor dont forget to get them when buying your turbo.
21. You can keep the GSR AFM
22. Go out and buy yourself a brand new 4G63 clutch kit :lol:
As for the ECU, the GSR ECU will kick over the VR4/EVO motor and run it but it wont run the best. We had a Haltech E6X and plug in loom installed with a stock VR4 tune in it until the engine runs in.
