kickerfox

I didn't get to pulling the engine last night but the exhaust, PPF, drive shaft and A/C were removed. Tonight I'll drop the trans from the bottom and pull the engine from the top.

I went back to measure the Isuzu engine again and I was off by 1.75". It's actually 20.25" deep from the trans to crank pulley face, not 22". It may clear the battery support after all but I might have to drop it in without the crank pulley installed. Won't know until I get there.

The pulley won't clear the steering rack or sway bar but as mentioned I'm going with a hydraulic steering rack anyways. It doesn't look like it'll be too hard to relocate it at that time. As for the sway bay, I've seen a lot of sway bars with an offset in the middle of them (shown below). I'll find out which vehicles use bars like that and go take some measurements. If I can make one of those work I won't have to change the sway bay mounts.

This sway bar is from an Evo. Just an example of the offset I'm talking about to clean the crank pulley.

bse50

H1-V8-Busa

go big (small in this case) or go home.

CRO8TIA

Video,or it's fake
Kicker, which hydraulic rack do you intend to use ?

kickerfox

That busa v8 is sweet. I've seen a dyno video of it and yes, it's sounded as good as it looks. I'll try to find the video.

The rack I'll likely use is from the Mazda Miata. I owned a '95 that was boosted and had some ridiculously heavy Drag 17" wheels on it. The Miata rack still provided a good feel, considering the weight of the wheels/tires, so I'll give it a shot.

Before I begin welding in a rack I'll measure the spindles, the lock-to-lock throw of the rack, and the turns ratio. Last thing I'd want is to find out I reduced my turning radius. There IS method to the madness. =)

Here's a vid of the v8.

j9fd3s

actually what about the 2006+ miata rack, it *should* literally drop in

kickerfox

It looks about 56" from tie rod to tie rod. I have a rack from a Suzuki Sidekick laying on the floor that just happened to be 56". The ratio is probably different though.

I'll check into the '06 Miata racks and see what they look like. Thanks for the tip.

In other news...

kickerfox

Top photo and the racks from an 06+ Miata (bottom) and RX-8 (top). '99-'05 Miata similar.

It looks like the 8's rack would bolt from the front of the subframe and the Miata's rack would bolt from the top. Look at the direction of the shaft in relation to the mounting flange. The lines may pose an issue as well.

Bottom photo shows the older style Miata rack. Is had rubber inserts that may allow for easier mounting. Also, the lines aren't in the way of the crank pulley.

j9fd3s

you do know the miata is an Rx8 with a piston engine and short wheel base right? suspension basically interchanges with the Rx8

CRO8TIA

Thank's man, that info is going to help me a lot

kickerfox

Different sub-frames apparently.

What are you working on?

kickerfox

Here's a few more updates on the changes to the engine to keep the intake manifold in the engine bay.

The two small hoses feed two pipes that hook to the heater core hoses at the back of the engine. They will be removed. An alternative would be to use one of the capped coolant ports at the back of the head to feed the heater core an run the return loop back into a coolant reservoir or into the inlet radiator hose with a tee. (first and third pic)

The aluminum pipe, also labeled to be removed. is the coolant outlet from the heads. I'll use two smaller hoses and couple them to the radiator hose. (first and second pic)

The chrome-ish pipe is the radiator hose inlet to the water pump. It will be moved over to make room for the throttle body. (forth and fifth pic)

kickerfox

The valley of the engine will be fairly empty at this point. This will allow for a larger plenum to be placed lower.

My first "doodle" of the intake (first pic) would have a problem with pulses interfering with each other. The runners are also very short and sharply bent. The revised version (second pic) will have longer runners with a much larger radius and they don't interfere with each other. I can't use the MS Paint wavy line tool for **** but you get the idea. I'm not going to spend hours in CAD until I have accurate measurements.

The things I've been mentioning are some of the things I looked for when choosing an engine. This engine has nothing on the back of the heads like coolant tubes, crossover pipes, EGR tubes, cam sensors, VVT actuators, ect ect. I can shove the back of the heads all the way to the firewall. That should help keep weight back a little bit anyways. The front of the engine is also very plain-Jane and doesn't have a lot sticking out the front like a huge water pump housing (like GM) or a large pulley "array" or large harmonic balancer. The pan is fairly shallow in front and is a rear sump. The oil pump outlet/return are also very convenient for a remote oil filter and coolers. Things like these are often overlooked when choosing an engine for a swap. People seem to focus on finding some ultimate-performance engine like an LS and just shoe-horn it in there. I feel this engine will be just fine and easy to swap, all things considered. It has the potential for more power (when the time comes) but that's not the focus right now. I'm half tempted to make turbo manifolds and down pipes and make a "dummy-turbo" pipe just to have things ready but then again, if the turbos never go on, it'll look pretty stupid.

kickerfox

I found a couple of great photos of the front sub-frame for those interested in how the RX-8's steering rack attaches.

I'll be looking into the RX-7 rack as an alternative. (last pic)

kickerfox

Below is a Solstice transmission which is a Aisin AR5 (upgraded R154) and should bolt to the Isuzu bell housing. Take a look at the tail shaft. Is that PPF mounts I see? I'll need to find out exactly what year it's from.

For those considering other engines, You can get bell housings from various other vehicles to bolt this trans to just about anything.

Paco664

so... when are you actually going to start...

and if you have started how about some progress photos...

X7rotor

iTrader: (2)

Really?

kickerfox

I found it!

Here's the elusive bell housing I've been hunting for. Just picked it up this morning. This allows me to bolt a R154 or AR5 trans to the 6VE1. The Isuzu trans used with this housing is the AR5 but it's hard to find the 2wd version plus the shifter they use doesn't suit my needs. It's larger then the 8's bell housing but easily fit the 8's tunnel with plenty of wiggle room to spare. Autozone had the slave cylinder for $20 so I picked that up too.

As I mentioned the Solstice trans is the AR5 and will bolt up with this housing. If I can retain the PPF that saves me a ton of fab time.

ShellDude

iTrader: (12)

I see a Hoarders episode in your future

kickerfox

If everything I'm hording winds up under the hood, it's all good.

I have a feeling I'm going to wind up with a pile of clutch discs and input shafts though.

kickerfox

So this is completely ironic... I finally find the bell housing then I found a trans that's located on the way to where I'm vacationing next week. Not only that, it's new. They may be willing to trade a gaming computer for it. I own a computer store. Go figure. Higher powers at work here?

X7rotor

iTrader: (2)

Wanna help me with a job :p.
Good to see the progress.

Paco664

i was looking at the thread with my *(not so) smart phone... and apparently it didn't load the photos quite as well as the laptop i now type from.... i mistakenly thought those photos were of another vehicle instead of HIS....

please forgive me my transgression...

Paco664

like hell you get a vacation.... back in the garage and turn some wrenches... you can vacation after we see a video of this "izuzda" running....

X7rotor

iTrader: (2)

Ha. Izuzda

kickerfox

We've been calling it the Mazuzu here. It's more Mazda then Isuzu. Or it was a Mazda first?

It's not a vacation anymore! It's a parts run! This F'in trans better be mint. Wait until you see my PPF solution.