Well gotta start somewhere, here is the 700.00 dollar base. Actually only 600.00 since I found a 100.00 behind the tombstone lol.

The car had a bad timing belt, and the nose was in a disagreement with some unknown to me object when I picked it up. I knew when I bought it it would be converted to a Baja, rally,pre-runner type build. The v-8 thought soon followed and here I am today.

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I picked up a 5.0 kart and plans are to transplant the drivetrain into this one

A bit out of order here, I also added Baja front and rear tube bumpers. Only mod was to add the extensions to wrap around to the wheel arches.

I also added stinger exhaust since stock did not sound the part.

I won't bother or bore you with the others small mods that I have done out of bordom, need or just because. Most will stay in place once the 5.0 swap happens.

This little mod was from all three reasons above...

I had a spare hood and figured why not. Also, I believe it will help me decipher if and or where I will need to cut the stock hood. As a bonus it should help keep iat's and coolent temps in check until everything is finalized.

Ok, I lied... I added these new Paco Motorsports rally shocks to replace the 3" lift which is essentially a shock relocation kit.

Started the removal of the major organs for the transplant. Took about 5 hrs to remove the front subframe, engine and trans. I decided to pull them as a unit while also leaving all the wiring harness attached to the motor and what not.

The rear assembly took 20 minutes lol

https://www.v8miata.net/attachment.p...1&d=1520665341

Tommorrow will be a day of sub-assembly tear down and some much needed clean up and sorting. Wiring is a total mess, I understand there are many ways to accomplish this task but I am not convinced it was accomplished as well as it could have been in this case. At this point I believe I will sourcing a new, cleaned and sorted harness. Hopefully this will also lead me down the right path as to what wires can stay and which can go on the Miata harness. Understanding wire harnesses and diagrams is not one of my strong points. I am still struggling with the basic terms used in a modern-ish fuel injected computer controlled system. Up until this point all my adventures into the customization of cars, bikes, quads and sand rails.... have all have carbs lol

It's been a few Evenings of cleaning and painting. Slow going but progress none the less.

The diff that came in the kart had a few surprises, some better and than others. Found it had a Detroit locker, unfortunately it was missing the pin that keeps the axles from walking out-ward. There was a retaining clip on one axle. The other clip was in the bottom of the diff.... grrr Also, both outboard axle seals on the diff are shot, easy replacement. Pinion seal is also shot.

I am not sure if the retaining clip is standard replacement for the factory C-clip in these conversions using what I believe are Martins axles. I have reached out to him to confirm.

So so with these discoveries I headed to the wrecking yard and found a donor diff. Plan is to swap the locker into it so I don't have to mess with the pinion seal once I confirm the retainer clip situation.

But alas another challenge presented itself. When removing the little retaining bolt for the pin that holds the spider gears in place it revealed to me the that it was sheared off about a quarter inch in.

So so it's time to decide what is the next step. I could just buck up and have the original diff rebuilt or find a long enough drill bit so I can get a straight shot at drilling the busted bolt out and extract it. Need to test and see if that is a hardened bolt, I suspect it is.

I have been plugging away at this project. Retainer pin was an easy removal with a left hand drill bit, that was a relief. I took the old diff and junk yard diff to my transmission buddy and he resealed,swapped ring gear and locker and set the mesh and backlash.

Front and rear K members along with all the sub assemblies are in place. I also took the time to heat sheild the trans tunnel.

Thank you, I know it's not the first but I hope to enjoy it to the fullest.

Problem,lol.

No problem haha.

I new about the damage at time of purchase. Now I need to decide if I am going to patch in the new front clip I acquired at the wrecking yard or tube the front end.

Leaning towards tube as it will allow me to place the radiator exactly where I want it, aid in mounting the tubular bumper to match the rear bumper, help locate and mount the skid plate. I am also thinking I can improve my approach angles for off road reasons.

I have continued to progress a little at a time. Front end has been tubed out, bumper,rad mount,headlight mounts and skid are all on corporates into the front ont tube clip now. This allows me to remove all of the above simply by taking 8 bolts out. No need for a cherry picker or lift now as the entire front K member will roll out the front of the car.

I also made some changes to the efi lol. I could not stand the look of the comb over intake and all the associated wires and harnesses that went with it. FiTech 400 seemed like a good choice to clean things up and get more of a old school feel to the build.

Off to get the exhaust done this evening. I am going with shortened corvette side pipes that were a screaming deal. Trying to keep the ground clearance and this was the best option I could come up with.

Turns out out I had a bad fan from the donor car so I ordered 2 new ones. Keeping the 1 oldie that still works as a back up. Mocked the fans into position.

I need to fab up some bosses that will then be welded to the side tanks, the steel cross bracing is just temporary as I am makeing this modular so I can add a shroud later if needed. There will be a horizontal aluminum brace to capture both fans and mount to the tanks.

At least that's the plan today, my imagineering fu may change that lol

Final radiator mock mock up and install. Knocking off some little things this week like heater hoses;throttle cable, cruise delete.... then I will begging wiring in the fi-tech and other misc items. Getting closer !

Slowly making progress, I decided to reroute the brake lines. This also means I needed new ones. Killed to birds with one stone, new stainless lines and no heat near them. They are routed outside the fender well now. BONUS

She has been on the road for a few minutes weeks now, Nieghbor's already hate me. Lol

Fired right up the first time, I had to adjust the fitech a little to get the idle correct, it is still hunting for idle. Thinks my it might be the o2 sensor or a leak at the bung.

I have a s a little over 100 miles on her now. A few issues to address still. It was evident real quick that the Eaton Detroit locker was way more aggressive than what I wanted. A new Yukon Tru Trac has been ordered. Other than a few other to do's like roll bar and manual gauges I think she is ready to rock.

I even did a truck thing, that's a whopping 2 cu ft of dirt on the rack lol
I couldnt be happier,it's been a fun project !!!

I forgot to add I still need to weld in some braces for the stops on the headlights and mounting points for the new hood latches. Ignore the bunched up wires for the lighting harness ha haon