Awesome! I actually found the correct driveshaft- MX-5 6 speed driveshaft- actually fits the diff yoke of the RX-8 as well, so it should be a pretty straightforward shortening job.
Now the challenge is splicing the NA Miata axles with the RX-8 axles. The driveshaftshop.com doesn't think they can do it, as the RX-8 has 35 splines and their tooling won't work on it. Sooooo.... one solved, another created.
In reply to Teh E36 M3 :
You can try contacting Raxles for the center bar. I spoke with them recently for my project but never made it to a quote.
Dutchman made my axles. They cut the splines to match my MGF hubs, so should be able to cut them to spec.
https://dutchmanaxles.com/index.php
Thank you for the leads! I'll contact for quotes. Just checked the dutchman website and on the cover is "35 spline axle shafts" hahaha... (funny because other shop said that's the specific number they don't have in their tooling).
Dutchman was very reasonable as well, so hope they can help you out!
Did some shop work today- I don't use air much, but I've got a compressor, and I'm not certain if the reason is because it's a pita to hook everything up, or because it's fundamentally bad. So I soldered up some copper and will install tomorrow.
Also- I cut the front out, and now I'm making the "slugs" or whatever you call them- the frame outriggers are 2x2x.065, so I cut some 2x2 tubing down and will make it fit inside the rails, and connect to new 2x2 rails. Then I'll build out the front/suspension off of that.
Glad you got the driveshaft figured out. But incase you need to do something different, it's confirmed, the Aerostar slip yoke fits the Miata transmission, and uses u-joints with C-clips so it's rebuildable.
That's fantastic! If I need it, I'll be glad to have the information.
Today I got the frame tubes welded up. With the slugs, it actually came out pretty good- I did a bunch of rosette welds and some linear welds along the inner tubing. Not much in the way of warping- less than 1/8" so I'm pretty happy there. Will need to do some serious triangulation of what I have left to make it remotely stiff.
Now to fitting the engine- clearancing starter, figuring out concentric clutch slave, building front and rear suspension... etc etc etc.
I cleaned up the welds
So I found this awesome thing:
Which is a "reverse rotation" duratec water pump. Just what I need to avoid idler pulley hell. Its from Ike Engineering in the UK- I've got an email in to them to see whether it reverses flow as well, or how it works with correct flow with the impeller turning the incorrect direction.
Got the geo metro alternator- it should be a very nice little swap once I gin up a bracket. It only has a 3 rib belt pulley, but as I'll only be running it and the water pump, I should be able to get away with a three rib. Or I could build a sleeve for the 6 rib pulley from the miata and make that work. 55amps. Should be plenty.
Item 2 is the concentric slave- I don't know why I thought this might work- I ordered the Saab version, and the ID of it is only ~28mm while the input shaft sleeve in the Miata 6 speed is 36mm. Also the bellhousing is so deep in the trans it might not be worth all the effort to just get rid of the clutch fork. I just didn't want to do additional cutting, so I'll be looking at that again.
Item 3 is the clutch. I guess this little dude sat for a while. I had already splurged and ordered myself the Flyin MIata happy meal clutch kit, so this vindicates that purchase a little.
So. Eagerly awaiting the flyin Miata package, alternator bracket shouldn't be too big a deal, and the clutch dove will be another problem to solve. I can't find anyone on the internet who has done that with a Miata so I'd be pioneering my own solution. Maybe take another look at the standard piece and making it fit.
Alternators: Geo metro 6.94lb and original miata 14.00lb. Awesome little 7lb loss there.
For the engine weight lovers, the engine, without flywheel/clutch, alternator, starter, intake, and with 1/2 the tubular header weighed 202lb.
Flywheel was 16lb so the flyin miata unit will reduce that by about half.
Did you have clearance issue with the external slave? I've never like internal slaves.
Yeah. The clutch release fork fouls on the frame rail. I'm going to put it back in again and see if there is t a way I can clearance it. It is going to be difficult to make a concentric slave work with this trans anyway.
In reply to Teh E36 M3 :
Wow that's got to be cozy. Would rotating it and standing the engine up straighter help a little?
Nice job on the copper air lines however a word of caution. 60/40 solder has a melting point of 190 degrees F unless you used Silver Bearing solder which has a melting point of 840 degrees F. Solder with 80 % silver has a melting point of 1370 degrees F.
Do not leave your compressor on and maybe go so far as to let the air run out when you are not using it.
If there were a fire it can probably get hot enough to melt the solder and then you have compressed air blowing into the fire area. The forced air would blow until the tank is empty or if there is still power going to the compressor, it will continue to blow air. Not Good. .
According to Ready.gov, the average temperature of a house fire gets between 100 degrees at the floor level and 600 degrees at eye level! That’s hot enough to scorch your lungs if you inhale it! Just for info, temperatures can reach 1500 degrees at the ceiling.
68TR250 said:Nice job on the copper air lines however a word of caution. 60/40 solder has a melting point of 190 degrees F unless you used Silver Bearing solder which has a melting point of 840 degrees F. Solder with 80 % silver has a melting point of 1370 degrees F.
Do not leave your compressor on and maybe go so far as to let the air run out when you are not using it.
If there were a fire it can probably get hot enough to melt the solder and then you have compressed air blowing into the fire area. The forced air would blow until the tank is empty or if there is still power going to the compressor, it will continue to blow air. Not Good. .
According to Ready.gov, the average temperature of a house fire gets between 100 degrees at the floor level and 600 degrees at eye level! That’s hot enough to scorch your lungs if you inhale it! Just for info, temperatures can reach 1500 degrees at the ceiling.
Well that is some information I didn't have before! I am confident this is the low temp solder, as it was *really* easy to use. So- I'll purge the lines when I'm done for sure! I don't leave the compressor on, and rarely use air- this will just give it an iota of convenience that might cause me to use it when it is called for. Thank you for the info!
also- I was born and lived 9 years in Paradise- the town in northern cal that burnt to the ground. My childhood homes are gone, and friends and family that lived there during the fire had stuff burn that just seems impossible. A Norton commando case was in an aluminum puddle in his shop. Fires are serious.
damarble said:In reply to Teh E36 M3 :
Wow that's got to be cozy. Would rotating it and standing the engine up straighter help a little?
Oh, it's cozy allright. The more I rotate toward the exhaust, the better it gets, and I think I have a few more degrees I can go that should get the fork off of the frame rail and into the footwell, which I am more comfortable modifying. Also I should be able to get an access panel so bleeding it doesn't require me to bleed.
In reply to Teh E36 M3 :
WOW! Sorry to hear that about your home town. i am sure that purging the lines will keep you safe. Take care. and I do enjoy your build story!
Thanks!
Had a crap day yesterday, but today got some really good work done. Finally clearanced the engine, and found its final resting place. I'm super stoked with how everything is working out- I almost believe I don't need to buy the $$$$ sump from Raceline, as it sticks out about an inch below the frame rails. I also found clearance for the slave cylinder so I don't need to futz with the saab concentric debacle.
I'm waiting on my volvo 740 engine mounts in the mail to make up final mounts. For the slave, I'm about 1/4" clearance with the mounting bolts, so I'm going to order panhead bolts and countersink them into the slave mount bracket- should net me another 3/8" I think.
So now I want to get some suspension under it- any gurus out there? I don't know if this requires a separate topic, but I've got a couple prospective builds on VSusp that I'd love for someone to take a look at. I'm going for 4" bouce and 2" rebound travel for 6" total.
"1" was my effort using guidelines from "Chassis Engineering" by Herb Adams. The swingarm lengths are in the 100-150" range he likes. The camber curve is pretty mild. It seemed good until I saw another post on here with someone asking about locost numbers, and after looking at theirs I came up with #2.
Drivers side engine mount and final (?) alternator mount. It's a bitch getting those pulleys to line up. But I switched out the three rib pulley on the geo metro for a 6 rib. The internet is amazing- found a place that sells alternator parts online, has specs etc. Full endorsement of Maniac Electric Motors www.alternatorbrush.com. Not sure if they'd be interested in advertising, but worth a shot.
I'm still trying to find another inch or so in hood clearance so I don't have to do a bulge- I assume getting rid of the vvt solenoid, oil cap, and EGT from the top of the valve cover will take care of that. Raceline (UK) does a valve cover that accomplishes all of these things, and I've got an inquiry in to them for that and some ITB's.
Since I have to delete the VVT, I'm going to use that as an excuse to buy some cams- recommendations welcome, but I like Fab9's stage 2, since I don't have to do valve springs or pistons, and they are the only ones I've seen that actually show dyno graphs. I'm working to figure out what tooth count I'm working with to make sure I buy the right cam gear and chain to replace vvt. This might get more complicated than I want.
Effffffff- yeah! Sorry double post today, but got the hood back on after finally removing the VVT, oil cap, and PCV. There is daylight between the hood and the valve cover. Imperfect but a damn good omen. Especially if I get the raceline valve cover, which is allegedly about 1/2 inch shorter. Also, counted cam gear teeth- 38. So should be pretty straightforward cam swap.
Out-Berking-Standing !
Thought that you might enjoy checking this out if you haven't already seen it:
https://www.mgexp.com/forum/mg-engine-swaps-forum.40/mg-midget-v8-swap.4058519/
Re: Vsusp: How high is the rear roll center going to be?
Took a quick look, vertical roll center change is pretty good, probably want to dial in some more negative camber as I suspect you'll over load the outside of the tires.
In general: awesome build. That transmission looks massive, relatively speaking. Following.
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