I don't see a flywheel.

Your keyway looks fine. I'd run it. A little widened at the end, but with a fresh woodruff key and proper torque it shouldn't move.

 

Trust me, the keyway is bad. The whole thing is about 1/16th too large, and there is quite a bit of play.

I already have a 1.8 flywheel, so I didn't feel it was necessary to buy a new one. I won't be seeing many track days, but I roasted a relatively new clutch over the summer. Figured it's a good upgrade since I have the engine out already.

 

It's been a long winter, and I haven't updated in a while nor have I taken as many pictures as I should have. Clutch is ready to go in, Keyway has the loc-tite repair complete, the only thing left is a new set of motor mounts before I drop the motor in and they should be here Monday.

I replaced pretty much every gasket in the engine while I had it out, and did as much cleaning as the sub-zero temps would allow.



Rear main seals suck when it's -20° out. I rebuilt the CHRA and polished up the compressor housing a bit. It's looking much better now.



Got new RX-8 injectors and re-did the fuel rail in silver to give it a more OEM look. I'm bored with the rice-red.



A sand-blaster, cabin fever, and a powdercoating gun help to make the winter a bit better. I found an awesome new powder color called Black Magic. It's the best satin black I've ever seen, so naturally I used it on ALLTHEPARTS.










The whole thing is looking nice, but as spring approaches I realize I did more cleaning/cosmetic fixes than performance upgrades. Mostly maintenance items. Gaskets, seals, belts, pumps, pulleys. A little disappointing to be honest, but she's looking nice. At least I'll have confidence in the engine now that I've ripped her open and seen her guts.

 

Got the engine back in! Twas no easy task though. I'm a skinny weakling, and my only helper was my wife. Let it be known, that Japanese women were not built for swapping motors.





Not liking the alternator. It's dirty and stands out.



Ripped apart and sandblasted.


Powder applied.


Much better!


I get the new bearings for it tomorrow for final assembly. Cant decide if the pulley should be chrome or black though.

 

Black to match the other pulleys.

 

Keepin' up with the jeffs.

Nice work.

 

noice man, hope it runs well for you from here on out.

 

 

Damn you straight up blinged the core of the alternator. Mad props. I think I like it in a matte black rather than my shiny gloss black.

 

Thanks, compliments coming from you are an honor. What I've seen in your thread makes my project look like it's amateur hour.

 

Strip your car down to its bare shell and you can do the same!

Are you going to powder coat the V.C.? Or just leave it raw aluminum?

 

I like the brushed aluminum, but as I add more of the black I find myself wanting to see how it would look. I think if I do anything it will be a trial run with paint, then powder if I like it.

 

Yeah that happened to me. As I painted and restored stuff it stuck out like a sore thumb. I wish I had a Powdercoating booth like you. I would go nuts with that thing!

 

liking the progress!! that alternator looks good!!!

 

Thanks, startup is going down this weekend.

 

All back together, and running great. I lost quite a bit of motivation over the winter months, so my work is not on the level of Jeff's, but hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. I'll be in Japan for a while in June, but then I get to spend an entire month as a bachelor while the wife and kids stay there for the rest of the summer. That should give me plenty of time to work. I think the COP conversion is next.

Yes, I do realize my headlight brackets are white.




I did put on some spacers for that madtyteswagstance and did a days worth of polishing/waxing.



Oh yeah, one more thing:

I'm getting my old Mustang back. Long story short, 15 years ago when I left for Japan, I thought my dad sold my old Mustang. 83 GT with a fully worked engine. Bladed, balanced, blueprinted, the works. Turns out he never sold it. It's been sitting on the side of the house since I left. He asked me what I wanted to do with it, and after I got over the shock of it being still in the family, decided to bring it up here for a new project. I'm hoping to fly down for the 4th of July weekend and drive it back.

Pics as it was 15 years ago. Sorry, don't have anything current.

 

great work, car looks great, and awesome news about the rustang.

one thing kinda jumped out at me: is that intake just....hanging like that?

 

No, although it does look that way. There's a small stainless bracket I made thats connecting it to the section of intercooler piping running directly underneath it. When I get a bit more motivation I'll fabricate something better up. Wife's been bitching about me spending too much time cleaning the damn thing lately, and not enough functional work. She's even started calling me Mr. Clean.

I'm a bit excited about the Rustang as well. I always liked that car (you never forget your first) and do miss the rumble of a V8. I tried to do a bit of searching on various Mustang forums in preparation.

So far all I've learned is that Mustang forums consist of mostly douche canoes.

 

haha just make a build thread for it here