5.0 T5 97 miata build
 

Hey guys,


I guess my build officially started on 5/10/15 when I pulled the Miata engine and sold it. I have the 5.0 and t5 already and currently have the engine torn apart for inspection/refresh. I have been in contact with Martin and am waiting for an invoice for the axles/hubs so I can get them ordered. I am having some issues sourcing a differential but plan on going to the junkyard this weekend. This week I took the rack apart to depower it properly. The car will have full interior and a/c and will be a autox/rallyx/track day car as well as a daily driver.


I will get some pictures up tonight when I get home from work! this site has been great and I look forward to sharing my build with yall. I am located in San Antonio, Tx btw.

Congrats and welcome to the club!

awesome! cant wait to follow another build

Hoping to get some pics up tonight. I am terribly lazy when it comes to getting pictures from my phone to the computer and uploaded.


Updates:


I finished depowering the rack (took out internal seals and welded pinion)


Yesterday I went to the junkyard and got a 8.8 3.27 lsd out of a cougar that only had 114k miles. So hopefully it will be good. It was a little more expensive than I expected at $145 +$17 core. But I now have a complete driveline and am still haven't spent any actual money on this swap since I sold my Miata engine and diff.


this week:


I am hoping to get the engine bay wiring cleaned up and the oil pan complete this week. I will also start mocking up the diff in the rear subframe. There is an scca rallycross event this weekend that I will be racing in so I am trying to get everything done at night after work.


BTW: I was in contact with Martin trying to order axles but haven't heard back from him in about 10 days now despite resending emails to make sure he received them. Anyone know if he is on vacation or something?

On a side note, this is the buggy my dad built when I was in high school. Recently we started modifying it for autocross and rally cross. It is a blast!

Sweet buggy! Sounds like you have a great start on the build too I'm looking forward to photos and following it. Welcome to the forum!

PS could you update your signature to show what your car and build is so we know what you are referring to when you post? Edit your signature here (click)

Signature updated! Here are a few random photos that I've taken so far. I will get better organized with my photos as the build progresses.


Some racing from this past weekend. My friend let me codrive his car. It is a Nissan 240 with a 5.0 t5 swap. It was a blast to drive. Def motivation to finish my Miata.

well I have the entire rear back in the car and the front subframe modified. Next will be engine and trans mounts as soon as I put the engine back together. I am looking ahead and trying to find a wiring harness. I got the engine and tranny from a 95 gt mustang but did not get a harness. Ebay searches have been weak. Im going to go to the junkyard and hope that I can find something. If anything I need all the plugs from the harness because I plan to put MS2 ecu. Anyone have leads on a harness?

Worst case you can get a new harness. Finding a good used 5.0 harness is getting harder to find these days. May try McCully Racing and see if he's got a harness. He posts on the board.

If they don't have one here: MPS Auto Salvage - your best resource for Ford Mustang Parts New and Used Ford Mustang parts, good luck finding one.

Great! thanks for the info

Well I ended up finding a harness locally from a guy that happened to build a v8 Miata also. unfortunately it was raining when I picked it up so I didn't get to go for a ride along.


I have the engine mounted in the engine bay and am currently working on the transmission mount. I was hoping some of you could tell your methods for insuring the transmission output and the differential were parallel. For lateral measurements I projected a couple of from frame points on the ground with a plumb bob. I then dropped the plumb on the crank pulley and the transmission output to get a projection of the transmission. I used similar methods for the differential to make sure they were parallel laterally. I haven't thought of a solid way for vertical. Any ideas?


I also got my MS2 recently and just built the stimulator last night. Next week I will build the ms2. I will post some pictures tonight.

here are the assortment of pictures.

and some more

For vertical, use an angle finder on the crank pulley, then the diff flange. Should be the same, should be a slight angle, does not have to be 2 degrees. Car does not have to be level. There's a neat app for that, for android its "Clinometer".

I'm currently running MS2Extra, does a great job, could have knocked me over with a feather when it started on the first crank and settled down at 400 rpm!!! I put a 2004 dash in my 91 and used the pass airbag area for the MS and the 4R70 trans controller.

Mike

Ahh that sounds simple enough. Haha I hope I am lucky enough to have it fire first try. I am new to MS world and new to the tuning world so I am looking forward to the experience.

Back with more updates and questions.


I noticed tonight that the threads on my axle are not long enough to go all the way through the axle nut. They are about .200" short of making it through the nut when the spacer is installed. I bought the axles
(CVs used) from advance auto so they aren't the typical ones that everyone uses but I can't imagine why the length of the splines and threads would be different if they are for the same car.


Does anyone have axles out of their car they can measure?


My splines measure 2.25" and the threaded portion measures 1.5".
With the spacer from Martin installed, the face to face measurement from the spacer to the outside of the hub is 3.25". Picture attached for reference.

Look in the drivetrain section of the forum, there is a thread titled ford axle nuts. This is a problem that is starting to appear. I have it on my build as well.

Wow thanks! I check this forum everyday and haven't come across that thread. I think I'm just going to run it. I really don't want to buy different axles.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I have roughly a 1/2" of thread in the nut and I torqued it to 250. Spoke with Martin, not really worried about problems as the nut is not loaded.

Yes it is. It sets the preload on the rear hub bearings.

It does set the preload but it wouldn't be catastrophic if the bolt were to come loose. I'll try it and see what happens.

Correct, I meant that cornering/acceleration loads are not on the nut. I did get mine torqued to spec. May just throw some thread locker on it as insurance. Not sure yet.

Been a long time without updates. I have all the drivetrain complete and back in the car. my next steps are brake lines(car had abs from factory so have to make new lines to delete abs), cooling hoses, fuel line interface, build harness for ms2.


Does anyone have simple suggestions to integrate stock hard fuel lines to the ford fuel rail? I would like to keep it as simple and replaceable as possible.

well I had my first start two weeks ago and first drive last night! videos to be uploaded this afternoon