blkjck

really diggin thos emblems, how much were they if you dont mind me asking?

$20K? holy **** haha

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

$55 + shipping for one.

Eh, cheaper than a new SS (and going to be faster, too, hehe).

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

I hate cars some days...

So, did the trunion upgrade to my stock rockers, everything went smoothly. You know, so smooth that you think "huh, that was almost too easy"...

Reinstalling the rockers, and now it appears some of the pushrods are too long?! With the one valve fully open, I compress the other valve as I tighten the screw down, almost a full turn in some cases.

WTF.

Not every single valve does it, but many do. Here is how many turns past snug I turn the screw before it's tight (and the valve is opening this distance - all #/8 to make it easier to compare)

Cylinders 1/3/5/7 (front to back)

0/0 - 5/8 - 0/0 - 4/8 - 5/8 - 7/8 - 0/0 - 0/0

Cylinders 2/4/6/8 (front to back)

4/8 - 0/0 - 6/8 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 5/8 - 7/8 - 0/0

And that is with some lifters maybe already leaked down, so this would be best case scenario.

Do I need to go to a shorter (7.350) pushrod with stock LS2 rockers, stock lifters and no machining done to the head other than a cleanup cut of 0.002"?? Ron @ Vengeance said the 7.400" would be fine for my application... apparently not?

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Buld Update:

Parts - Tranny fluid, diffy fluid, brake fluid, Viper alarm, and trunion upgrade:



Trunion Replacement - So, swapped them out. Everything went smooth on the actual swap, a step by step:



Stock trunion pounded out. Used a deep well socket and punched them out with the hammer. Took very little effort, all things considered. Straddled the two red bars you see in the photo so the trunion drops out the bottom.



Pressing in the first bearing. Note the red bars on the bottom, pressing against a flat surface. Using a socket on the top that fit around the new center bar and pressed against the rocker body.



First bearing pressed in.



Second bearing set into place. Note gap of the red bars, you have to allow the center bar to push down, a flat surface won't work. Straddle the red bars with the rocker body. Each rocker has one side that has flat 'tabs' on it so you can press against that side as shown.



Pressing in the second bearing...



Pressed in.



Socket removed, just need to check the bearing for end-play and smooth rolling.



I found that most were bound up after the pressing in, a light tap on each side of the center bar (light enough that if you hit your thumb it wouldn't hurt very badly) was enough to shift the bearing outward to allow them to roll freely. I held each as shown and spund them 4-5 revolutions clockwise and counterclockwise.. If you find there is a 'rough' spot, lightly tap each end of the center bar once more and it should free it up nicely. They should spin smoothly with consistent resistance throughout.



All spun freely, with snap rings in place. Ready to install.

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Found some good info around LS1Tech.

The short version:

Pushrod length?
The long version:

correct pushrod length

So, I'll check some measurements tomorrow night.

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Build Update:

Parts Arrival - All the VDO gauges showed up, sweet!



Top down from upper left:
8-18 Volts / Fuel Level (adjustable tube type matches Miata sender 'close enough' to work E to F) / 8000rpm Tach
100psi Oil Pressure / 300F Oil Temp / 250F Water Temp / 160mph electronic Speedo / Adapater kit
Oil Pressure Sender / Oil Temp Sender / Water Temp Sender / 3 Metric to 1/8"npt adapters / 15psi Low Oil Pressure sending unit

Will work on layout in AutoCAD, and get it over to buddy Adam to CNC plasma out of sheet aluminum. Will also have him whip up a few engine hoist hooks, too. I need to replace the one on that back that twisted (and will change the design a touch for visual happiness) and replace the front one that will be lost when I sell the GTO power steering resevoir.

Rocker Arms - A wicked head cold results in poor judgement, it seems. After a good night of sleep, my brain is working again. Rocker arms have preload, which is ~0.080 or so. Basically, all is well. So, tightened everything to spec and slapped the valve covers on.

Engine - I photographed every casting and stamping marking on the engine and heads, "just in case".. you never know when you might need some of that and once it is painted, some may become hard (or impossible) to read.

Headers - Nothing sexier than 6.0 liters of V8 awesomeness with a pair of headers on an engine stand.. buuya!




Cleaned up some of the welds on the headers and pipes, going to send them out to Jett Hot to get coated with the Extreme coating. Will do that after the fitting of the engine and what not.

Oil Pan - Someone (I forget who) mentioned that the oil pan drain plug is going to hit the exhaust pipe... and yup.



The take-off exhuast is pre-dented for the drain plug but it is not enough. Drain plug has 12 threads, I can only get 8 out until I bind up. Considered having a new bung put in but don't see a good place for it, so going to buy a replacement bolt for it and call it a day. I hate the idea of oil spewing right out on the pipe, but with coated pipes, I don't think it will matter much.



CTS-V Accessories - Dry fit the accessories, just to see how it all works. I am running the GMPP CTS-V kit, but leaving off the power steering which presents some belt routing issues.

Dry run:


Routing with ribbed side running over power steering idler:


Routing with power steering idler removed. Potential conflict with alternator mount bolt (directly below unused idler in photo)


Honestly I hate how the routing looks with the tensioner up high (regardless of PS or not), but not much I can do about it that I am aware of. Might have to buy the power steering delete from V8R for the belt routing, too.. not sure. Open to suggestions to get rid of the high tensioner and figure out a good belt route.

I'd love to replace the PS idler with some sort of tensioner and go crank to alt, alt to tensioner, tensioner to water pump, then back to the crank pulley. That would put the rib side of the belt against the water pump, though. Going to pour over all the accessory belt photos I can find and see what optiions I have.

Fan Shroud - Started the clear coating of it.. looking good so far.

WeeWolf

iTrader: (16)

Replace the idler with a ribbed pulley and call it a day!

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Found this:

http://lsxe36m3.com/?p=266

Brilliant solution to the the PS delete, replaces the smoth idler with a ribbed one. Still ugly tensioner up high... but hey, one thing solved hopefully. Still open to other ideas, folks!

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Good timing.. see the other post.

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Drain plug for the V8R pan is 1/2"x20 thread, 3/4" length (but I need 1/2"). Couldn't find that, so bought 1" and will cut it down. Problem solved.

Marky522

iTrader: (8)

You hit my #1 reason for going with an Electric Water Pump, I didnt want that ugly high mounted tensioner. Now all i have is the alt on the bottom right with no bracket, using a spacer at the top bolt, and catalevering it to tension the belt... Only belt goes around crank and alt... VERY clean...

Mark

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Build Update:

How does it go? A picture is worth a thousand words:



But I'll add two more:

F-YEAH!

Motor is in the car, test fit is successful. But let's start at the beginning tonight...

Oil Drain Plug - Cut the 1" down, what a PITA to reinstall. I am going to hate every time I change the oil in this car.. not sure what to do other than maybe trim it a touch more.

Tunnel Mods - BFH, cutting torch and a complete disregard for engine bay paint results in some room for the vroom:

Driver's side:



Passenger's side:



Center:



V8R calls for 18" wide at a point 5" below the tunnel lip. I went wider, about 19"+ (I'll get a real measurement once I pull the engine back out.) For the tunnel lip, made enough room and didn't need to trim the tranny at all.

Everything all clearanced (round one):


Engine & Tranny Test Fit - Went ahead and test fit the engine and tranny.

NOOB ADVICE: I struggled with the engine cradle, had to tear it back apart. I had all kinds of issues (LCA bolts in wrong, motor mount bolts wouldn't fit, etc etc etc.). I would suggest mount it dry, without suspension. Put the motor mount bolts (the big long ones) in from the front, nut facing the rear. Otherwise you have physical contact with the back of the AC compressor. I put the motor mounts on the cradle with the long bolts, then bolted the mounts (with bare cradle) to the engine.. My notes:

• Motor mount long bolts - nut to rear
• Install cradle dry - too heavy and clumsy to install assembled
• LCA alignment bolts, put both in from the middle (front bolt - nut forward, rear bolt - nut rearward). Do this otherwise you can't get the front LCA bolt in once the steering rack is installed.

So, mounted the cradle to the engine, then mounted tranny to engine (no clutch, engine is going back on the stand for paint anyhow). Rolled it under the car...



Hoisted the engine into place, bolted the cradle in.

Driver's side clearance, low:

Driver's side clearance, high:

Passenger's side clearance, low:

Passenger's side clearance, at head:

Tunnel clearance, center:


Definitely going to have to work the firewall over behind the passenger head, the lift hook is mashed against it.


But, it looks good sitting in there.






Did some eyeballing of various angles and areas, for future swappers:

Heater core inlet/outlet relocation clearance (about 2" from head to frame rail):



Driver's side head (about 3" from head to frame rail):



Water pump and heater core fittings (about 1.5" from end of pipes to frame rail):


Water pump to radiator support (about 5.75" from end of pipes to rad support):

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Build Update:

Parts Arrival - Pulley and belt to eliminate power steering, and some fuel line fittings.



Radiator Fan Shroud - Finished up the paint, came out nice.



Gas Pedal - Worked on getting the GTO pedal in the car.

Stock Miata pedal assembly:


Miata pedal, mount stud and cruise lever removed:


I mocked up a few times, but not done with it so I'll spare you the photos until it is right.

Frog Arms - Installed! Drilled the holes for the wire tuck also.




Driver's side looks the same (but different!)

Miata Body Wiring Thinning - Messed around with the Miata body harness, pulled out everything that was Miata engine related. Have a few loose wires to contend with but not bad.



Accident Damage Repair - Worked on the body damage, got it to a point where I think it looks fine.





Frame Rail Stiffeners - Got them in the right place, had to beat the stock rails (they were all smushed into weird shapes from hitting speed bumps) until they fit.



Here is where the fronts of the rails ended up.. this was to make the tranny cross brace line up perfectly on both sides.

Driver:


Passenger:


Tranny Crossmember - Mocked up into place as well.

RC000E

What do you think your final costs will be to accomplisht the swap?

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Dunno, the body work I need done is hard for me to estimate. I'm at $20,860 right now (car not included) with a few hundred known left. I am sure I am missing stuff from that list, so body work and repaint of the car aside, should be under $22k?

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Build Update:

GTO Gas Pedal - I really struggled with pedal placement, I couldn't find a location that felt "right", but I think that was due to wearing steel toe work boots.. so I figured putting it back to the Miata setup would at least insure I liked it no less than that. Unfortunately, I forgot to measure the stock pedal so a call to my buddy Steve (thanks pal!) and his NA Miata yielded the info I needed.

2 7/8" between the clutch and brake pedal pads
2 7/8" between brake and gas pedal pads
Gas pedal set back (towards firewall) about 1"
Gas pedal hangs 1" lower than the brake.

So, my setup mimics that orientation.





Installed! Fabricated a beautiful mount, if I do say so myself! The GTO pedal looks like it had a slip-fit securing method at the bottom, the bottom hole can't be used for a screw as it would prevent WOT. This also means no stud mount for the top, since you have to slip the pedal into position. So, I welded up a similar setup, with nuts welded to the back of the plate.

I think it looks pretty dang good, and very happy with it.



Frame Stiffeners - Installed, with tranny cross member.




Took some measurements on the final product:

V8R front crossmember to oil pan, Driver's side: 6 7/8"
V8R front crossmember to oil pan, Passenger's side: 6"
Distance between V8R Frame Stiffeners: 28 1/4"
Driver V8R frame stiffener to center of output shaft: 14 7/8"
Passenger V8R frame stiffener to center of output shaft: 13 3/8"
Driver's rear LCA to center of Getrag output: 10 3/4"
Passengers's rear LCA to center of Getrag output: 8 5/8"

Put the drivehaft in to help with tranny alignment.. just a taste of what is to come!



Shifter landed just a shade left of center, looks good to me:

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

that frame rail stiffener setup looks so much more heavy duty than 'standard' subframe connectors... i bet between that, the frog doohickies, etc, this thing is ridicustiff

13secGTP

Where did you get those headers from? They look like they will flow well.

Ygen

Weird, you have less clearance behind your cylinder head than me (by maybe 1/8" at most) yet your shifter location looks a touch more forward than mine! Don't know what that means! lol.
I'm glad to see your shifter in place though. I dont have one yet, and didn't know how it'd be being left of center. I made my own motor mounts for the stock subframe so I figured I screwed something up!

Great build thread though man, I follow the miata.net build more often, actually.

As for the wire tuck, are you running the body harness through that hole, or the LSx harness? Maybe both..? & Will it run through the fender then?

Wallyman

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I don't think it will matter much at all, the FC RX7 conversion put the shifter off center a little too. I may have slightly more clearance on that head now, the tranny was a little low and in the wrong spot when I took the initial photos. I need to double check all that stuff now that it is hard mounted.

Thanks! Doing three threads is actually pretty cool.. I get a unique perspective from each of the three audiences, and good suggestions from each. Here I get a lot of gerat LSx info, NoRotors gets me good swap ideas and some LSx info, M.Net gets me great Miata info, great swap info and someLSx info. Good blend from all three, well worth the effort of doing it.

Body wiring for sure, the LS2 harness will tuck somewhere else tho I haven't picked a spot yet. Behind the intake maybe, or low passenger side above the starter are my first thoughts.

The wiring will route out the hole, tuck behind the frog arm the tie it along the body under the fender, re-entering under/next to the headlight. It iwll land between fender adn body, above the fender liner so out of harms way (hopefully!). The body wiring is basically just lights on both sides (everything else was removed). Fuse box is relocating somewhere else, probably will do the same with the headlight/horn/headlight motor relays from the driver's side as well. The goal is a fully tucked engine bay, no body wiring visible, and minimal engine wiring visible. Lofty perhaps, but I think doable.