I bought my wife a mini cooper which she loved but an oil pump failure killed it so I sold it and bought her an NA, when she got pregnant it became mine since my truck got awful gas milage and we were breaking $4 a gallon. I started changing things until i flipped it in the summer. By that time my friend gave me a full mustang drivetrain, harness and ecu. The day after i crashed i picked up a clean NA with some minor mods. Luckily it was the same color as my hardtop. I have been driving it for a few months now and all i really did was port and polish the head and some minor stuff. Im almost ready to tear it apart, I get the rear tomorrow and headers by the end of the week.

 

 

Not using a kit. I have plenty of time and I would rather have the experience



Coil bracket where the ps pump would go





Subframe i picked up when i had the white car
Modded both sides

Manual rack rebuilt, urethane bushings

 

Nice...but don't say "flip" and post a pic of the carnage without some how, why, and hopefully came out unsaved.... (?)

 

Lookin' good. Now hurry up & finish so you can bring it to The Mitty. Glad to see that you apparently weren't injured in the flip.

Not knowing the circumstances, but, based on the recent driving incident; "You sure you wanna add big power to it?"

 

I was only doing 20-30 mph. Pick up hit me head on by my d-side front fender, put me off the road on the right, hit a rock, did a slow roll. Scraped my elbow trying to protect my head but the roll bar was good enough. The windshield frame folded like nothing.

 

What axles is everyone using on the 7.5"? Im starting the subframe today and want to get them ordered. I read a few threads but no real info in them

 

Martin from Monster Miata provided mine. Give him a call, prices are reasonable and he knows exactly what you would need- you'll likely need the modified hubs.
Good guy to deal with.

 

 

I just made 2 capture nuts inside the ends of 2x2 to act as stanchions for the front. Used delrin for bushings.

 

 

Bought the axles and broched hubs from martin, $734. That puts me over $1000 for this project now. Not including the car of course. $1120 total, motor, trans, ecu, frame, gaskets etc, new alt, water pump, starter.

 

Started the swap, had the drive train and suspension out in about 3 hours, got both new subframes in with suspension in roughly 2 hours. Tackled the engine bay mods after that. Going to reattach the brakes and bleed the system so the rear end is complete when i get home. Also have to pull the passenger side seat for the ecu and start getting the harness in place. The motor and trans should be in by monday so I can order a drive shaft, havent found a shop by me yet. (Manhattan, bronx, westchester, putnam or dutchess county) if any one has any suggestions, danbury ct isnt far either. Ill post some pics when i upload them

 

3 days in. Rear subframe is all squared away. Still need to bleed the brakes because the rear passenger side needs to be disconnected to drop the old subframe, the new subframe I made the brake tab bolt on so if I ever need to drop it I dont have to re-bleed the brakes.

Last fun ride with the 1.8L

 

Nice progress!

 

What is this plug? Its on the passenger side fender under the headlight




The ecu will live under the airbag panel. The megasquirt will replace it once the swap is done, for simplicity im just using the stock eeciv sd ecu (speed density)

 

Headers seem to clear fine, good firewall clearance. Tomorrow I'll bolt it in for good and wire the starter, alt and plug in the harness. Still need to bleed the brakes and put cotter pins in all the castle nuts on the front end

 

Oh that connector i asked about is for the a/c relays

 

Sorry I missed this great build thread! Yes there are a couple plugs right there both having to do with AC. One for the clutch and the other for the AC fan.

Love the DIY work and super cheap build. Would like to see the cost build sheet when you are done. You give us all much hope! Really well done thank you for posting it.

 

I'll be around 2 grand by the end. The rear end set up was the most (axles, diff, hubs, bushings) and Im still searching for an lsd so that will add another $100. This is what we can call phase 1. Next will be megasquirt with an ethanol sensor so I can run e85.

 

Also if anyone has any specific questions or needs measurements feel free to ask.

Here are the specs
96 ecu, 1.8 with a 1.8 torsen and brakes on a 90

88 fox mustangs speed density
89-90 t5 from a 2.3 turbo using timkin ss202 pilot bearing and a useless 1st gear
Cougar 7.5 open for now
Martins axles and hubs
Crown vic water pump (std rotation)
Pm starter
Protane bushings
Dodge pickup motor mounts that martin uses $5. Each
Mismatched hedman headers. 88400Left and 89500 right. Like other members here. Its tight and did require more subframe modification. I also cut the cable guide for the clutch to have extra room. A lokar flexible dipstick was needed and so was a few light whacks where it passes the header.

 

No pics today. Got the trans mount all set up and finished so I can order a driveshaft. Alternator and starter wiring is done so it cranks. Fuel pump jumper is in and it quickly told me one of the o-rings is bad by pissing fuel. Had a little issue when i put a keyed hot to it and melted a wire so i have to find that short. I did what martins book said so it leads me to believe that its in the 5.0 harness, i bench tested the main harness and it doesn't short so I'm thinking it could be the fuel injection harness. I'll have to pull it tomorrow night.

Haven't worked on the brake booster, clutch line, cooling or exhaust yet.

 

Turns out an a/c plug fits in an evap plug and i was shorting it out. Then i realized i had the dizzy 180 out, then i found out the tfi is shot. But it starts now, only for a minute though because its currently air cooled. Tomorrow I'll drop some coin on a radiator and driveshaft. Havent decided on a fan setup yet, but i did pickup a temp switch 170-185f, and a universal pipe thread. I was going to use one like martin suggests but its to hot 92-97c and if i want a cooler switch I would have a hard time finding the temp range and thread. Im definetly running parralel relays and seperate fuses with a manual bypass for the misserable manhatan/brooklyn/queens traffic I find myself in a few times a month.

 

E0ECD14D-B372-4C27-B616-D78B5B6E27CB.mp4 Video by richharr21 | Photobucket

 

Waiting on an aluminum driveshaft from shaftmasters and a dual pass 3" aluminum radiator from saldanas. Figured if i bought a cheap radiator and steel driveshaft I would never upgrade, so it should be money well spent. Added a vdo oil pressure gauge and fuel pressure gauge, still waiting on the water temp. Finished the exhaust minus o2 bungs because I didnt have the tap. The exhaust is 2.5" steel, I used 2 j bends and about 14' of straight. All tig welded just because I had a full tank of argon and its soothing to do. The cans were free from a friend who only used them a week before changing his mind. I welded them together for a center exit, not for ascetics, just because its a super simple setup. I still need to add hangers to the center but im going to wait till I get the driveshaft.




This is a video, cant figure out how to make it work

http://s216.photobucket.com/user/richharr21/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-08/DC11FE42-C46A-4972-8791-E62AE9E15CB8.mp4.html