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Yeah. That was my mistake to begin with. I thought it was in better condition and falsely assumed it would be some simple rust repair around the wheel wells. It wasn't until I really cracked into the project that I realized the error of my ways. Overall it didnt really cost me much more to get the new shell since I was able to retain all the interior, etc from the first car and would have needed it anyways. Oh well, you live and you learn.
Wow. Where did two and a half years go? Not into the build, I can tell you that much. Lot's of house projects, and entire basement remodel (which came out fantastic with pool table, home theatre, 4k projector, 5.2.2 surround, etc. highly recommend), new master bath, oh and had another son. Not much time was leftover (or at least wasn't prioritized) to work in the garage. But, luckily for me, I have some good buddies who kicked me in the ***, showed up with an engine hoist, and forced me to put the engine in. So to update what has happened in that time.....
The engine: Ended up doing a garage "razor blade rebuild" on the LH6. all new main bearings, cam bearings, gaskets, and a dingle ball hone. just to freshen it up and make sure everything was good. new oil pan from jegs. Installed the LS3 cam with a new 4x cam gear. doing all of this also allowed me to remove all the VVT/DOD junk that i wouldn't end up using anyways.
As I mentioned before I was planning on using the Z32 5speed with the lojkits trans adapter. I originally bought one that would utilize the stock z32 starter which bolts to the pass side of the transmission. Bought the kit and sat on it for over a year without even a test fit. Gorgeous piece of kit though if you ever need one.
The main issue with this kit is the starter location. because it is bolted onto the pass side of the transmission, it would encroach into the pass foot well. Luckily, LOJ came out with a new "high clearance" kit that uses a mini starter in the same location as the stock LS starter. I contacted them and they were willing to trade mine back in for credit against the new one. Fantastic!!!
The new kit uses a different adapter, flywheel, basically everything. With that it was a few bucks more at 1500. worth it though for the clearance and headaches gone. trans adapter
So with the engine rebuilt, new adapter in hand, and transmission ready to go on, I still needed to clearance out the engine bay. I know normally with the v8roadster kit and the normal LS/T56 build you have to remove the frame rail wings/supports and also open up the tunnel for the bell housing. This is reason #2 why i went with the Z32 trans (#1 was the t56 price). Quick rough math showed that isnt the case with my trans. Sure it is a bit longer and that may present issues with the shifter but that is going to be much less work than opening up the tunnel. The footwell is small enough, i want to keep that space as is. So i simply cut out the supports and threw on some primer. Now with the adapter plate adding 1/2" and the transmission being a couple inches longer to the shortest known shifter relocation bracket for the z32 (used when swapping it into 240x or something similar) i would still need about 1 3/4". So to get any bit i can to help i got some engine mount plates to help adjust the engine forward a bit.
This is where my heroes come into play. A good friend of mine (who i promised i wouldn't mention that he is the reason i had to get a new tub because he stripped out the frame bolts so this is me officially not mentioning it) pulled a few guys together and told me he is showing up with a lift. That was my excuse forever of why i made no progress, "I need a lift to test fit". Well no more excuses. Chilly Tuesday before thanksgiving we were able to get everything unboxed, bare heads bolted to the engine and off the stand, adapter and trans mounted, and got it all bolted up to the v8roadsters cradle and into the car.
(side note, I knew the miata was light but it ended up being easier to just put the entire engine/cradle/trans onto a pair of moving dollies, pick up the front end of the car, and roll it under. Should not have been that easy. Life lesson, don't let your excuses kill your project. let us continue)
(intake was thrown on to feel like we did more than we actually did. plus it looks better)
IT FITS!!! And with actually quite a lot of room in the tunnel. even though it is technically about 3/4" forward from the normal location, there is still plenty of room in front for the rad/fan. Best part is where the shifter ended up (pays to do the math before the project, see below)
I couldn't be happier with that. I know i will need to remove the dogbone and modify the fork to adapt a shifter but that is absolute perfection as far as I am concerned.
So that is where we sit. Next is to pull everything back out, get the engine bay cleaned back up, weld in the frame rail brackets, prime, paint. We already pulled the new engine harness through the existing firewall hole and have a ton of excess length inside the cabin to mount the ECU and fuse box almost anywhere i want. Going to pull the heads off and send them out to get CNC ported. Katech near me in Detroit will CNC port heads for $500. I don't know how you would say no to that. Still have a few parts to get and things to figure out. have the Cadillac rear to install, need to get a 350z clutch, figure out where to remote mount the oil filter, decide on manifolds vs headers, etc etc. But at least it is getting somewhere again.
And for your pleasure, a bunch of ******** (yes we are mostly all wearing Bad Obsession Motorsports working onesie)
02-17-2021, 08:54 AM
