RX7 FC finding out what it wants to become

The T5 boxes used in 1994 and 1995 had an input shaft that was 5/8" longer than previous years.

http://www.moderndriveline.com/Technical_Bits/t5_history.htm

Nice!

As long as the bellhousing and trans are from the same year it should be okay. There's a tag on the trans, get the numbers off of it and it will tell you what year and car it came from. The flywheel needs to be a 50oz flywheel.

http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/Borg-Warner-T5-ID-Tags.htm

The balancer he gave goes with the Mustang accessory drive. The one that is on it has the pulley built into the balancer and a missing tooth ring for the ignition. Explorers use coil packs and a missing tooth setup (notice you don't have a distributor). The Explorer accessory and waterpump setup is also shorter than the Mustang setup, more compact for the Ranger size engine bay. The waterpump, w/p pulley, and brackets need to be matched to the balancer you choose.

The V8 Ranger guys will maybe want to buy the exhaust and possibly some of the other stuff you may choose not to use (tins, maybe W/P) . Might put a feeler out or do some checking on some of their web sites. There is an oil pump relocation kit on the Explorer motors, notice your oil filter coming off at 90* instead of straight off the block. You can go to the traditional setup really easily or it may actually work out in your favor the way it is.

I think you're pretty much committed to long tube headers with the P heads, but TheJed says OEM shorties from a Fox Mustang/Lincoln might work. Might be worth a try. You can still find folks giving them away from time to time. I think I have a set still, but shipping to CLT from DFW is probably more than they are worth.

More thoughts - when you get the transmission, see if you can get the aluminum plate that goes between the block and the bellhousing. You need one, it's the starter locator.

The fuel rails on there are a returnless style. If the Mazda used a return style fuel system, you'll need to find the rails off of an older Ford 302. They'll have two lines instead of the one you have currently.

Thanks for the info on the balancer the guy I got it from was going to run the motor in his foxbody so he was going to run the pulleys from his stock motor. And a distributor is on my list im going to run the the motor on a carb while I get the EFI parts ready so im not to worried about the fuel rails and no throttle body yet. I am keeping my eyes out for a carb intake manifold along with a distributor. Ill have to find a distributor with a hardened gear to run with the hardened roller crank.

I didn't know about the starter index plate they look to be kinda cheap new so that's added to the list. Along with water pump (why not since the motor is out) alternator and bracket. Oil pick up for the new oil pans. Tranny, bell housing, clutch, and flywheel. Along with the starter.

Lots of new things to think about with a motor in hand! The seller of the motor said I might want to get new head gaskets since the motor has been sitting for a little while... I will look into that one.

Need to paint the motor but I have to get the little bit of rust off so Iv got to find a way to clean the motor.

What tranny and clutch to go with.. I found a t5 and bell housing and new shifter and a 28oz flywheel for $500 came out of a 85 mustang GT.

Why do I need a 50oz fly wheel is the internal balance of the HO more than the standard 302?

Thanks for all the help guys hope to make a lot of progress on the build!

as far as I know, all roller cammed 5.0's use a 50oz imbalance. Sucks not having the flexplate, that would show you for sure.

Looking at pictures of the Explorer balancer, I'm pretty sure it's 50o0z imbalance.

see this article for better comparison pictures? The 28 oz is lightened on opposite side and still has a smaller balance pad. About half of the Explorer balancer is offset, the 28 has a smaller pad and holes on the opposite side.

http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2000/06/vibrations/

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1430161&parttype=7108

ford 5.0 carb / roller cam distributor. Comes from an '85 5.0 HO Mustang. There were two options. The CFI had a flat tappet and iron gear. The HO had a carbureted roller cam motor and steel gear. They list both here, make sure if you order one, it's steel. Hard to beat 55.00 for a lifetime warranty. You can also use the gear off of your Explorer's stub, I believe it is the same shaft diameter. It still uses a gear to drive the oil pump.

Sorry, random thoughts again. I wonder if taping it off and spraying it with CLR or oven cleaner is worth it or if spraying it with rust converting paint would be easier.

On the head gaskets, they are excellent quality OEM gaskets. Unless it got very hot, I wouldn't worry about them. It does not appear to have ever gotten hot. Compression test will show you what you need to know though. I'd probably save the 50.00 or so for gaskets unless you want to do the valve springs and port / bowl cleanup at the same time. On the other hand, if you get a big fat lumpy cam for it, then yeah, you'll want to check piston to valve clearance anyway.

Wow $50 is a good deal for a new dizzy. That's added to the list! And thanks again Beagle for all the help! I wanted to do this project to learn and to end up with a cool car! Its hard to find people with the knowledge to help and searching forums will only help you with very broad questions.

It looks like I will put the balancer up for sale and stick with stock. That way it will be easier to go back to EFI down the road.

As for cleaning the motor Im going to stay away from rust converting products because of the heat and the paint adhesion on top of that. I think ill try CLR and maybe some muriatic acid.

Well had to do a lot of running around to day but the motor is 100% ready to pull even picked are hoist back up. I pulled the rad and cooling lines and was able to keep the mess to a minimum. Also took the clutch lines out so that should be all the connections besides the motor mounts and tyranny mount.

Looks like im going to max out my little hoist. Cant decided if that motor is just way back in there or the front of the car is really long either way I hope to have the stock lump out tomorrow.

Well the tranny I was looking at is not up on CL anymore... I wonder if going to a junk yard and pulling one will be a good bet? Be cheaper so when I blow it up I can afford to rebuild it with some good parts. What year mustang (and other cars) would I be looking for?

More done to the car today! Got up under it and found one last ground cable I didn't disconnect so now it really is ready to come out! It will have to wait till tomorrow because I will need help taking the hood off and the motor out. So With not much to do I thought I would work on the rust...

This is whats left of the cancer when I cut it out.

And here is where it came from.

And here is my patch. Was not looking for a amazing fit just something to fill the hole and give suport back to this area. I hope to punch some holes here later on to mount parts of the harness to.

And here is it tacked into place. Never grabbed a pic of it welded in. Im not a good welder yet but im getting good at grinding if you know what I mean.

Still haven't found a T5 yet and im looking at what im going to go for the alternator and water pump. I have had a few people interested in the old motor so hope to get some more funds coming in soon!

Merry Christmas Everyone! We are not doing our Christmas today it gave me time to work on the RX7. So We pulled the motor! Started by pulling the hood all 15lb of it! Then we had to dance to hoist around to get it to reach the little rotary way back in there. Had to start from the side and work our way around to the front it was a bit of a dance. The hardest part was waiting for the tranny to leak out all the fluid.

And then there was a big hole!

Stock motor looks very clean and looks like everything the PO said is true. I have some people interested in it so when someone brings me cash for it it will be gone!

While I had the hoist out I thought I would take a better look at the 302 so I pulled it up out of its box to inspect it.

Then I just got carried away! So I dropped the 302 into the car just for kicks and to get an idea of where it will sit. The explorer pan sits much lower that the foxbody pan so it should sit a lot lower when everything is said and done. Looks like there will be room for the headers and the alternator when I get one on there.

That's all for now folks!

Well that escalated quickly...

Yep I went and found me a T5 and picked it up on Christmas day! for $270 it was not a bad buy. It spins and shifts into all of the gears so as far as I can tell its good. its number is 13-52-065-908 and from what I see it came from a 84 V8 mustang or capri. On another site it shows that this T5 is a world class (the bearings in front is the one used on t5 WC) but the world class didn't come out till later so its unknown what it is at this point. I will just need to figure out how long the input shaft is and get the right bell housing for it. Then start to worry about flywheel, clutch, starter.

Next on the list.

-Find a used bell housing to fit the tranny so I can bolt it to the motor and start on motor mounts and a tranny cross member.

-Order a foxbody oil pickup to swap the foxbody oil pan to this motor so it will fit in the car.

Saw the craigslist add and that your down in stanfield. At least i think it was your ad...

Im up in Albemarle.

Did you get accessories with the new engine? If not, ive got a couple of foxbody 5.0 drives ill let go CHEAP.

Nope don't have anymore more parts for the front of the motor. Dusterbd13 shoot me a PM or respond to mt ad on CL and maybe we can work something out. And if you have other 5.0 parts I can use (im in need of a lot of parts)

Just ordered me a oil pickup should be in next week. Then grab a bell housing and ill be making some motor mounts!

Well more info on the T5 that I have. It looks like it is a 85-86 mustang with a 302. It is a world class so its a bit better and from info iv found it looks to have a rating of 265lb Torque Max (lb/ft) not good but not the worst t5 out there and for gears it should have 1st (3.35) 2nd(1.93) 3rd (1.29) 4th (1.00) 5th(0.68) R (3.15) gears so not the best but not the worst. I will run it in the car like it is and when it blows up then ill rebuild it with some good parts.

It was hard to figure out what tranny this was without the ID tag but this sight was a big help -identifying t5-

Your first post was less than 20 days ago....I like where this is going. Well done!

I sent you an email through cl. If you didn't get it, let me know. I want to get some of this crap outta my way.

And my best friend has mire misc mustang crap in his way. We should be able to set you up pretty good between the two of us.

Thanks fujioko I do have a head of steam going on this project so id really like to keep it up and maybe just maybe have it drivable by summer. My "first" project was a 1977 Yamaha xs400 it was in bad shape and I got it running and made it into a cafe racer. That project has took 2 years to get on the road and its still not near done but I can ride it now. So im trying to get the rx7 really moving, its taking up room in my dads shop and I don't want to wear out my welcome.

Dusterbd13 I got your e-mail but today we had family in and out so I never had a chance to get on the phone. I will call tomorrow and see what we can work out. Im really existed to find someone close that has parts to help. Used parts are a must to keep the budget on track. Then once the car is running then ill invest some money on better aftermarket parts. Also once its on the road I can better decide where my money needs to go. Stock the motor may be more than enough power so why spend the $500 on a new cam and valve springs if the car doesn't need any more power.

I have also talked to the guys at -Fox Mustang Restoration- about some parts (carb intake, alternator bracket, T5) They are in Locust NC and iv heard they do some good work but the prices they gave me on the parts were just out of my reach. But they were good parts (rebuilt t5 with ford racing parts $700, Powdercoated alternator bracket $75) I don't need a 350lb T5 and I have a powder coating setup at home so they are all things that would be nice but not worth it to me.

For the sake of more photos I found this FC with a carbed 302 in it. Gives a good idea how it should fit and how clean I would like it to look. (This is a granny speed kit as well.) I found another photo of the motor in this car and it looks like he was able to use the stock heater core. It looked to me like I would have issues since the heater core outlet comes right out of the center of the fire wall, it looks like it will be tight but it will work! Heat is a good thing!

In that picture it looks like the heater is hooked up. Good progress on the parts gathering!

I was checking on something and this may be a repeat of something already said but I figured it bears repeating. The timing cover is Explorer/ 94-95 Mustang specific too. Water pump / Timing cover /crank pulley / front end accessory drive should come from same style donor.

I saw this and wondered if it might give some ideas for the alternator mount: http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f10/mustang-5-0-into-a-s10-410159/index4.html

about halfway down the page. I'm wondering if the RX7 alternator is as deep as the Ford unit.

Picked up some parts from Dusterbd13 today some really nice stuff! I have 2 sets of mustang accessory brackets, aluminum valve covers, alternator, AC pump. Still not 100% sure what im going to do, as of right now I think im just going to run alternator and water pump for simplicity sake.

This is what im thinking about for the front of the motor. (Thanks to Beagle)

It will be simple and easy. I can use one of the pulleys that I have thinks to Dusterbd13 and make my own bracket or try one of the universal alternator brackets on ebay for $30 -alternator bracket- I could even swap the locations of the pulley and alternator so that the alternator is on the driver side of the motor and closer to the stock wiring harness witch will keep the wires neater and keep me from hacking up the harness.

Or go even simpler (if I have room under the hood) and go with this setup.

just wish the ford pump turned the other way because life would be so much simpler...

Anyway lots to think about and hope to pick up some more parts tomorrow and start on the new valve covers and oil pan!

I may have found a water pump that will let me run a much simpler set up as far as the belts go. The 302 crank spins counter clock wise but the water pump spins clock wise. Sumit has a water pump for the explorer motor that runs counter clock wise. Sumit says it fits 302 from 1996-2001 explorer so it should fit my motor! I was looking at replacing the water pump anyway because why wouldn't you when you have the motor out like it is. -sumit water pump-

If anyone knows anything different about the water pumps direction of rotation or if something does not look right let me know iv started confusing myself after looking at all this mess haha.

I checked that part number (which is 25.00 on Amazon, btw) on GMB's web site and they show it as a stock replacement part for a 1996-2000 Expl/Mountaineer. I would call Summit and have them confirm... they've been known to screw up their descriptions before.

I can't find a standard rotation like you would need for your desired setup that fits the 94-95 Mustang or Explorer. :( Since it's just the impeller direction that is different, I wonder if these guys could fix you up?

http://www.kelloggautomotive.com/wpparts.html

Thought I hit the jack pot today with a bell housing... It doesn't fit the trans...

What should I do?

Can I bore new holes to make it fit? Or is that bell housing scrap and start looking for a new one.

Also got lots of other parts that it will show soon! Just to upset that this didn't fit to mess with the other parts...

What's off And where?

The bolt pattern are different as well as the center hole is to small on the bell housing to fit on the tranny. It is hard to see in the photo.

my bell housing is the ford all the way on the right, and I think this bell housing is for the GM? May not be but its hard to tell. Witch doesn't make since seeing as the bell housing came out of a foxbody, same as the tranny.

There is a foxbody place down the road I may see if they will swap for the correct bell housing. But that is a job for another day.