Agreed, probably the best way to go.. but I already have a KIA FE3 in the garage that I bought for $80 (needs the crank bolt threads welded). So I will just have a bit more hassle (though I already have the right oil pan).

I'll be running a crank trigger with MS when the time comes I imagine, so no concern there. I will have a problem with the stupid KIA 8 bolt flywheel.. probably have to get a custom lightweight one (probably not much more than a standard lightweight one).

Tim

Update!

Any way you can keep the oil pan stock with the after market tube cross member?

I doubt a tubular front cross member will help much if any thats why I decided not to bother with making one. The problem is the dam steering rack, it is what needs to be moved or something to allow better pan fitment. Stock oil pan as in the Kia pan right? B/c the jdm stock pan is fwd and will def not fit.

Anyways, the oil pan after closer inspection was all twisted to hell, surprise surprise after Ray Charles got done welding it lol. So I cut it apart and rewelded it "properly" and it fits perfectly. Good thing I did too as the pick-up tube wasn't going to fit with the current pan depth so I increased it about .125" then rounded out a few spots with the ball peen hammer. Its almost done, ran out of welding wire with about 6" of welds left and had to leave for work (for a week). I'm home tomorrow and will finish the pan and pick-up tube and get started on the motor mounts immediately after.

The motor and tranny are mounted up.

I didn't even need an adapter plate....Ya thats right the 6 speed mounts to the FE with very alittle work. Throw-out bearing fork had to be modified to fit around the clutch as the flywheel and clutch assembly sit slightly further into the bell housing than they do on a BP. Nothing to fancy just notched it and bent it alittle then welded it back together.

CAS mods are done.

ITBS are awaiting couplers that should be here by now. Still need to fill in the extra holes in the throttle bodies and tap a few for fittings. Haven't decided what to use to fill the holes in, probably just JB weld???

4.778 gears arrived, they will go in after the car is running.

I also need to mod my mspnp for vtps, I'll probably get someone alittle more skilled with a soildering iron to do that one.

wait! so a FE3 and a miata 6-speed go hand in hand? pics of modified fork?

In for 6speed-to-FE block details.

seriously. How do you post a tease like that without even a pic...

dude seriously, its been a few days since your update, where are the fuckin picks. dont make me come ---- punt you......

In for the picture I want to see!

Last log-in was nearly a week ago. Darn.

The fact that this bolts right to a 6 speed makes this pretty interesting. Its an advantage over a V8 swap.

How could the 6 speed bolt up, yet with the 5 speed you need a different bell housing to adapt it?

Perhaps im confused. In for results.

Haha sorry guys, I'm in the middle of an air weapons range and can't use my phone, I messaged the pics to another guy in the process of doing a FE3 swap on the east coast so unless he wants to post them you'll have to wait until Tuesday when I get home. I'm usually not on the forum when I'm working on the car, I also only have dial-up at home so pics are coming from the iphone.

The motor is in and the hood closes WITHOUT any shims or hood bracing cut outs (although its only about 1mm clearance so the hood bracing will come out but no shims necessary). Oil pan sits above the steering rack by about .125"-.25" (yes there is an intentional slope in the pan from side to side) but it is very shallow on the front end, and capacity of the sump in approx 3.5L, not ideal, but I'm not about to change it now.

The motor and trans are not easy to swap in bolted together, the poor firewall took some abuse as I was doing it solo (as per usual)..

Motor mounts just need a couple minutes of welding and they will be complete.

The sway bar is plenty far enough away from the crank pulley to not need any mods either.

How ya about the 6 speed bolting up, its not like it just bolts on without any modifications, some tampering is definately involved, although its not really very difficult.

Again sorry to leave you guys hanging in suspense

-Dean

lol the fork I just marked where it was contacting the pressure plate, made some pie cuts on either side just before the mark, bent the fork back, installed it to check clearance, pulled it back out and welded it back up. Real simple stuff there.

Also had to make sure it was in the middle of the hole in the bellhousing to facilitate enough movement to dissengage the clutch. Got lucky the first time and it was dead center.

Entire process maybe took 20min

Still waiting patiently for the 6spd bolt up details/photos. ;)

Sounds like our engines sit about the same. My hood hood would shut w/o the shims if it weren't for the sportage/1.6 intake manifold (hump after the tb flange) - which sits significantly higher that the cam sprockets/tbelt. That said, 1mm won't be enough to keep your tbelt from hitting the hood at high rpm. If you've ever seen a tbelt at high rpm on a dyno, you'd be amazed at the amount of slack (and amazed that a CAS triggered spark works at all).
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...wap/hood6s.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...wap/hood3s.jpg

well im the guy on the east coast dean talked about doing an fe3 swap as well, and ive been given the ok to upload the pics he sent me.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1364081_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6893386_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4580999_n.jpg

heres the one you have been waiting for, a goregous motor mount, light weight flywheel tucked inside a 6spd tranny :) even im jelous haha

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2368047_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4948921_n.jpg


and i personally just got my fe3 to start on july first, a few crappy phone pics. need to get a top mount 1.8 turbo manifold, ms, clutch, exhaust, ic. and much more.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1147446_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6949949_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7733762_n.jpg

hope you enjoyed the pics

Nice work on the mount

Not me! I'm waiting for the one that shows the backside of the FE block and the six speed bolted up to it. :D

lol I know what you want Rob, but your not going to see anything interesting in that pic either.

No secret, the holes from the F block line right up with the 6 speed, punch and drill some holes through the bellhousing and your done. A monkey could get that tranny on that block with a drill and a center punch, no one gave it any effort before thats all.


-Dean

we also wanted pics of the modifications to the clutch fork....