TurboTim

iTrader: (9)

Damn very nice on the exhaust!

Stein

iTrader: (46)

I know that I had pulled the valve cover when I set it to TDC before I put the motor in so I was confident that I was on the compression stroke. Installed my LC1 and wired the narrowband output into the A9L. Went ahead pulled the dizzy, rolled the crank 360* and reinstalled. No dice. Put it back to the way I had it originally, hit the car with a shot of ether, and it fired right up and settled into a nice idle. Well, nice for a lumpy cam and 1.7 RR's. Pretty sweet to see it run after all this time. Let it idle and burn all of the paint off the headers with the door open. It got a bit lumpier as it warmed up but I didn't screw with anything. Still idled fine. Revved it just a bit. My homebrew exhaust and Magnaflow sound pretty sweet if I do say so myself. Only let it run for about 3-4 minutes. No leaks anywhere. Shut it down and called it a night.

dustinb

That's amazing! It's so awesome to see it finally happen.

Stein

iTrader: (46)

Well, you COULD see it happen if I could take a video but alas I am sans video camera. My wife's phone should be able to do it, though.

Stein

iTrader: (46)

Finally got a couple of pics taken.

Front Suspension



Rear Suspension



Completed engine shot





I spent the evening doing something that I dreaded. I was very concerned about the hood fitting. Everyone that saw the motor and bent down to look across it kept saying the same thing. "It doesn't look like it will clear."

Well, I decided to throw on an old hail damaged hood and see what it would take to hack it to fit. If I had to work it over, I still had my good hood. I was surprised to see what little it took. When the hood is bolted down and fully latched it has at least 1/8" clearance or more when tested with clay on all of the tight areas. There is a boss on the front corner of the intake manifold that I may saw off. Then I will have 3/8" clearance everywhere. The one section over the throttle body had to have the reinforcement trimmed out. Only one glue spot so it was a quick two cuts with the cutoff wheel in the die grinder and the piece fell out.

jacob300zx

Awesome work. Need youtube ripper vids.

Stein

iTrader: (46)

I fabbed up some mounts for the FM sway bar that was carried over from the turbo car. I had to go 5" to clear the radiator hose. I had a set of Racing Beat endlinks that donated their ends and poly bushings. I replaced the stud with a shorty that just filled the threads on the links with one nut between them. I loctited the studs into one end of each link and had the jamb nut seat on the other. That shortened them a couple of inches from stock. With the 5" drop now the bar angles up about as much as it used to angle down. We will see how it works. After test assembly the lowering blocks were pulled off and painted. Will get pics when it's reassembled.

Stein

iTrader: (46)

Car is off jackstands for the first time in 18 months. Moved forward and backward under its own power.

Took off half a day tomorrow to take it to Wahoo for the Sheriff inspection for out of state vehicles then dropping off at the body shop.

lesac

I know this is an old thread but where at in nebraska are you? Im in omaha and planning my V8 swap right now and would LOVE to sit and talk with you about what to do and what to avoid if you wouldnt mind.
looks awesome!

Stein

iTrader: (46)

LOL, it's old but it's still current. Car has been back from the painter for a month now and is again sitting on jackstands awaiting reassembly. It's odd. I'm so close to being done, yet I haven't touched it in a month. It's hot, it's summer and the daylight is long and too many demands on my time. I'm sure I'll be back to it before long, especially after the time change. I do have AC in the shop so that doesn't stop me. Just spent the day working on my wife's car and putting shocks/front hubs into my truck but that is the first shop day since I brought it home. You are welcome to come out to see it and chat anytime. I'm by Ceresco, so less than an hour from you. Text/call 402499 zero110 if you want to stop by.

lesac

its been crazy hot and even if your not in it all the time it still completely drains you. Im off Thursday through Saturday if you have any free time. I hope that this will be more incentive to start on mine plus give me a better idea of what im going to tackle. Im not so concerned about the amount of work but just dont want to get stuck on something or spend too much on anything.

Stein

iTrader: (46)

Thursday night could work. I'm out of town until then, and then we will be at the cabin Friday - Sunday.

lesac

awesome man looking forward to seeing this sweet creation!

Stein

iTrader: (46)

It's been a long time since posting on this. I haven't touched the car lately. Didn't have the motivation. Well, the motivation showed up Friday. A member of a local board lost his place to work on his car. I threw it out there that I had space. I hadn't met him before but it's been working out. He's doing a 355/T350 swap into a FB RX-7. He doesn't have a good grasp on fabrication and that's where he was at when he showed up. We needed to cut off all of the brackets on the stock rear and weld them onto his narrowed 9".

Here's a bad cell phone pic of the two swapped Mazdas sharing space.



So, I rekindled the relationship with my car. Not wanting to deal with cooling issues, I spent some time fitting the plastic part that goes from the bumper to the rad around the new radiator and fitting the undertray. Everything is in. Got the fenders, headlights and bumpers reinstalled. Got the Hard Dog HDHCHT roll bar installed. Started on reinstalling the HVAC and interior. It's nice to be moving again.

I did spend some time on his car but it's more of a mentor role than anything. That, and chief welder but that's tomorrow. He's 23, a fast study and not full of himself and willing to learn. It's been fun and just what I needed to get going again.

lesac

once again, cant wait to see this in person, the rx7 should be awesome too.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

Me too- or at least your subframe build. Stunning fab/engineering there. It definitely illustrates why there's a market for an engine swap subframe- your subframe modification is immense.

Stein

iTrader: (46)

Put it about 30 hours Fri/Sat/Sun. Got a lot accomplished.

Manufactured new shifter rod to relocate shifter centerline aft 3" to place shifter in center of shifter hole in tunnel tonight. Reinstalled dash. Fitted console to fit relocated shifter. Everything seems to fit and clear properly.

Made new brackets to mount a pair of Sparco Sprint V Race seats to factory sliders.

I didn't take a lot of pics. I did shoot a couple of the seat brackets. Seats are still wrapped in plastic and haven't been installed. Easier to work in the car with them out but they were trial fit. I have my harnesses to install after I finish fitting the interior pieces around the roll bar.




Got the interior pretty much put back together. Dash, HVAC, wiring, door handles and panels are in. Still have trimming to do on the carpet/plastics to clear the roll bar.

Finished up most of the exterior. Bumpers and lights installed.

I had such a huge pile in the other room of just stuff that needed to be reinstalled before I started. It's a very small pile now. I'm close.

Unfortunately I leave tomorrow for four days to MO and AR and next week to Houston for four days so not a lot will be accomplished during the week.

It WILL be done in February, trailered to Lincoln for an alignment and then to the shop for tuning.

gospeed81

iTrader: (51)

How's it goin'?

Stein

iTrader: (46)

It's done, still needs alignment and tune. I haven't put a rush on it because of all of the snow. Pointless to drag it around now. Damn you and your "normal" weather.

chpmnsws6

iTrader: (12)

Come on man... I pulled the smurf out of storage this weekend. Winter is over!