A little bigger project

[Masteryota]

Looks I might be taking a break on the yerf build to build something just a little bigger, an LS1 Miata swap. A buddy of mine has a couple miatas and bought a z-28 for donor parts. The car has been sitting at a friend of his' shop for over a year without being touched, besides snatching the stock drivetrain out. All the while, he has been gathering parts and pieces for the new power train, needless to say, he is getting anxious, so I will likely be doing the swap in my garage. Luckily, he has money, and knows he needs to buy the remaining swap parts pretty much as soon as it arrives here at the house, which is drive shaft and CV axles.

Besides locating a few tools I was already looking to buy, and making some space, I am hunting for any and all road blocks and snags I might run into with this sort of swap. I included the company link for the swap parts, and the instructions included with them for your consideration. FYI, he already planned to drop the A/C and power steering, so that makes it a bit simpler, plumbing and space wise.

http://www.bossfrog.biz/Miata_V8_Swap.html

http://www.mstewart.net/miata/ref/BF...tions.1108.pdf

[zman007007]

and just when we thought you were in our grasp for sure. lol don't forget us

[Masteryota]

Means to an end, zman. I might be in posession of some buggy-esque parts by the time its over. I am hoping this will be over and done with in less than 60 days.

[zman007007]

I heard that

[Masteryota]

Only drawback right now is I have to stash the buggy at a friends place till I get the engine and trans installed. The car should arrive this weekend with most af the needed parts. First question is, which end do I start on, lol.

[x-bird]

I'd go with the back end, gets a good chunk out of the way in a pretty straight-forward manner. then the front susp, engine/trans and your' left with all the little fun making it all work.

[Masteryota]

The only thing is he hasn't ordered the axles yet. What I need to do is get them both in soon, so we can measure and order the driveshaft. Since that is custom built, I worry that will take the most time. The axle kits are sitting on the shelves, waiting to be shipped. I agree, the rear would be simpler to start with, just don't have all the parts.

[x-bird]

I'd hold the driveshaft off til after engine trans and diff are fully in. you'd hate to have it come in a hair too short or long. I've got a shop up here in Reading pa that can do a PDQ turnaround on a custom driveshaft. http://hartmandriveshaft.com/ They do a lot of race work (the dad, Gerry H. is a long time drag and hillclimb racer, pretty sure Tim his son is running the day to day now) Just in case you're needing another source.

[Masteryota]

Got the car and all the goodies to the hacienda this morning, I would have started on it if it hadn't been raining all day. Just tossed all the stuff in the garage and surveyed all the parts we have, including some 2ng gen parts he would like to see installed and working.

[Masteryota]

rear diff installed, subframe braces bolted in, rear subframe ties installed. Most of the fuel lines ran, waiting on a few unions and that will be completed. Installed front K-member this afternoon. Next on the agenda is de-powering a power steering rack. Yippee!

[Masteryota]

Been a while since I updated, mainly due to some house issues and lots of small things being nailed down to move forward in the swap. De-powered the rack and installed, only to find the rack mounts were not parallel-FIXED. Stripped the old ECM wiring out of the car, along with the remaining SRS wiring and impact sensors. Stripped all unnecessary engine wiring and depinned the wires from the ECM connectors, both harnesses tagged for mating up. Made some mods tot he engine while it was out, rerouted the 'steam vent' port to the top of the water pump(sorry, no pic) and tapped and plugged the heater ports on the side thermostat housing(again, sorry, no pics) to delete the heat ports and clean up the engine bay a bit.

[2SlickNick]

Sheesh. Not a lot of room to work with.

[rich1]

Originally Posted by 2SlickNick

Sheesh. Not a lot of room to work with.

That's a lot more room than I had to put headers w wideband sensor for the nitrous !

[Masteryota]

Originally Posted by 2SlickNick

Sheesh. Not a lot of room to work with.

Thats why its such a fun swap. Big engine + little car = Extreme fun. I can not wait till this thing is done and gone, and I can get back to buggy work.

[TheFauxFox]

I can't wait to check it out! I know those Miatas are light, but strip out all the excess crap and put a V8 in there and you'll definitely be in check

[Masteryota]

[2SlickNick]

Is that 2nd picture showing straight pipe with cuts and then bent and re-welded?

[Masteryota]

Yes. Needed a little tweaking to make the pipes line up. Not pretty, but without a bender, it's better than heat and kink.

[2SlickNick]

Smart..

[toomanytoys2]

So I take it that you do not have the smog rules like we have out here in Lefty CA. That thing would never get a shot at passing.

[Masteryota]

Um. Well. You are supposed to have cats, but they are pretty lax about checking for them. This car may be the exception, depending on the noise level, but I really doubt he will drive it long enough to get pulled for the sound. It will likely get him pulled for doing 130+ though. Next year the car qualifies for antique registration, and it's my understanding that the regulations are different, too.

That said, Duval county was the last in Florida to do emissions testing, and that ended about 10 years ago. Sometimes I wish they would reinstate it, and get some of these junkers off the road, but I digress.

The exhaust is a flowmaster dual fit 2.5" mandrel bent universal kit. With the magnaflow muffler, it puts the exhaust kit right ate $350. The closest complete exhaust runs over $800, and will not fit these headers or subframe. The best part is still to come, the over-axle pipe, which should add a few more greys to the beard. Also, much of the time spent on the exhaust was making it serviceable, meaning you can unbolt the clamps and drop sections out without cutting of dropping the engine out. Very handy if you need to replace starters or clutches. Seeing as I will likely be the only one willing to work on this bastard child of a car, a little time now, will save lots of time later.

The wiring is 90% done underhood, and around 60% under dash. I am keeping all the swp connections under dash to keep things clean. Reusing the Miata relay block and fuses to run everything had its frustrations, but the owner agrees it looks as factory as it could be, which is what I wanted.

The intake is a little too close for comfort to the pulleys and alternator, but thats how he wanted, it that's how he will receive it. Should be ok as long we don't start tossing belts.

[bear]

I saw Stacey David do a similar swap to this on an old episode of "Gears" on the old SPEED CHANNEL. The end result was a true bad-ss "micro" monster!!!

[rich1]

One pic shows the air filter in the fender well? I know a lot of guys do that even on Mustangs. However several have had motors to hydrolock because of a heavy downpour. Twin turbo Mustangs don't even venture out in the rain.Just sayin.

[Masteryota]

Originally Posted by rich1

One pic shows the air filter in the fender well? I know a lot of guys do that even on Mustangs. However several have had motors to hydrolock because of a heavy downpour. Twin turbo Mustangs don't even venture out in the rain.Just sayin.

I am going to make a rock shield for the filter, and the owner knows about the cold water intakes, as we see at least 1 per storm here at the dealer. The alternative is to run the filter behind the headlight, but many guys report IAT's in the mid to high 100's, which is bad all around. One guy had his IAT's the same as the ECT I did my best to tuck it as high as possible, and he has been warned, extensively.

Honestly, I don't see this guy driving this car much after it's done. He has never driven anything close to this powerful, and although he talks a big game, I think it will scare the brown stuff out of him, and he will sell it. He talked about NOS, but I managed to convince him to drive it for about 6 months first, then decide if you need/want it.

[Masteryota]

Here are the final exhaust pics, freshly finished at 10pm last night. The axle pipe gave me a run for its money, but nothing a torch and hammer couldn't make room for. Center section is removable without cutting, was planning to put another clamp joint before the muffler, but the angle wasn't right. Not the prettiest, but about the best you can get for a garage built system without a bender.






Next is to finish the wiring, add fluids and fuel, and pray it never comes back

[Masteryota]

Hmm, just realized I haven't updated in a month.

Welp, a lot happened since then, so here is the short and sweet of it. Got the wiring all figured out with also adding a gen 2 cluster to the gen 1 harness. That wasn't too bad, just time consuming. The benefit is a digital odometer, and just overall update in appearances.

Was able to fire it up a few weeks ago, but soon found the clutch slave cylinder was pissing fluid as fast I could pour it in, and it is inside the bellhousing.

FFW a bit, got it to the shop, and spent some time figuring out what wiring I had right, and what I had neglected. Found out it was only running on 4 cylinders Corrected that mess(my fault) by running power where it was needed.

Was finally able to devote a couple hours to pulling the trans back out to inspect the clutch slave, and found a loose fitting in the custom line set up. Another bone head move on my end, but if that's all I forgot, then I'm still pretty happy. Yayy! Now we have a clutch.

Ironed out a few other issues, and had the tune shop up the road go in and delete all the emissions junk we removed, and tune out the rest of the garbage we aren't using. Alas, no more check engine lights!!

Did a couple test drives, and found the first hicupp. Popped an inline fuse for the main power feed wire to the ECM, luckily it was an easy fix, and I had low balled the draw anyway. Moved that from a 10A to a 20A as per the miata guys. So far so good. BTW, the owner is scared of his own car. I am not.

I have logged about 15 miles in it so far, and except for the Sparco seat being really uncomfortable, it is a blast to drive. Easily the fastest four wheels I have driven. Needless to say, almost all my co-workers want to ride in it. Didn't take any pics since last time, but here is a short vid.First start

[Masteryota]

It's been a while, and I figured the timing could not be more appropriate. This miata has been totaled already. I found out last night that the owner lost control and basically smashed 3 of 4 corners of the car on a highway guard rail. He is ok, a little banged up on the roll bar, and of course wallet and pride are nowhere to be found. I am sad to say the least, guess that is the curse of building something like this.

The engine just about everything important is ok, radiator is destroyed though. The initial plan is to buy another shell and transplant everything over to it. Can't say I blame him, there is a alot of money wrapped up in this thing.

[2SlickNick]

Ahhh that sucks. Maybe a buick real or monte carlo from that era would suffice.

[Masteryota]

Originally Posted by 2SlickNick

Ahhh that sucks. Maybe a buick real or monte carlo from that era would suffice.

I LOVE the G-bodies, but they are getting extremely hard to find. All of them are rusting to the ground or have 32" wheels on them already. I had an '86 cutlass with a 455ci to go in it, but it rusted out before I could get the engine built. He likes the Miata platform, but I might try to talk him into going one generation newer, as it has more room under the hood and in the seat.

[zman007007]

if you dont have time to work on the buggies, you dont have time to work on this. LOL

[Masteryota]

Originally Posted by zman007007

if you dont have time to work on the buggies, you dont have time to work on this. LOL

Truer words could not have been said. The difference is that I will be spending someone elses money while being paid to do so. Trust me, I don't want to do it, and frankly, I don't have the time or space to dismantle 2 cars and perform the needed mods for the swap again. I do, however, feel the need to influence some of it since I did build it, and it has a lot of small things done to it that some may not have felt the need to do. It is a struggle, and I think in the end, I will decline to do the work.

[x-bird]

if you end up doing the swap for him again, get him to sign off a document stating that he'll attend a FULL series of high performance driving schools before getting too right foot happy on public roads.