Damn this is fun to watch come together.

:+1

I was expecting to have made more progress at this point, but ... life.

Yeah, but, IMHO it is much better to take your time than rush and make mistakes.

Time to make the bushings for the front of the final drive. Bit of a weird configuration, so I made the bushing as two pieces, a complex shape that presses into the front ears of the diff, and a disc to serve as the lower isolator. The Ronin guys sent me a link to a guy that makes something like this, but I thought the version I came up with was a little better designed and didn't rely solely on the press-fit to hold the diff in.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/yx...=w1382-h777-no

Sorry the pics are so dark.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8d...=w1382-h777-no

With the front cradle mocked up. Everything fits surprisingly well. The Ronin guys did a really nice job with the front piece. I think just a little minor grinding will be necessary to tighten up the gaps for a nice weld. I have a bit more work to do before this is ready to weld but it's mostly just prep.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p9...=w1382-h777-no

This is a shot of the rear bushings I made, fitted to the Ronin plate, bolted to the RX-8 subframe.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rL...=w1382-h777-no

This is the front mount, with the bottom isolator bushing installed. You can see the gap from the Ronin front plate to the subframe is just a bit on the large side, probably okay for a MIG weld but a bit too large for a TIG.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_1...=w1382-h777-no

Looking good

Continuing work on the 8.8 swap. Final test fit before grinding everything clean and welding.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lM...=w1382-h777-no

Good fitment to the front of the subframe, TIG welding this was not a problem at all.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Xa...=w1382-h777-no

We also put a bead on the underside, where the rear of the front plate meets the RX-8 subframe.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/iC...=w1382-h777-no

Cleaned, primed, and rattle-canned black.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kz...=w1382-h777-no

Here's a close-up of the lower "legs" of the front plate welded to the subframe.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/l6...=w1382-h777-no

Another close-up of the welding on the front plate / subframe interface, as well as the front bushings, with the final drive installed. There were no fitment issues after welding.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fu...=w1382-h777-no

Top down view with the final drive all bolted up. Looks like it was meant to go there! The Ronin kit is awesome...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zd...=w1382-h777-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tN...=w1382-h777-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/s7...=w1382-h777-no

After a shitload of work, I got the engine to fit. It probably needs to move forward another ~ 0.5" so I can tilt it backwards another degree, but this is it sitting on modified stock engine mounts on the subframe. The steering rack is just about in place - one of the hard lines is just touching the crank pulley. I can re-route that hard line and solve that issue. This is a huge deal - having stock steering geometry will eliminate one big thing to re-engineer.

Best part, I don't think I'll need to dry sump the engine anymore. I'm pretty sure I can modify a stock MX-5 oil pan to clear the subframe crossmember.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2i...=w1382-h777-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9P...=w1382-h777-no

Three cars gave their life for this build. Unreal. All of it quite hard, IMHO, but that wiring harness will haunt my dreams.

Well... three cars gave their life, but not for this build. I like to think that the Fusion and MX-5 that I scavenged parts for just had the little "organ donor" box checked on their license :)

Nothing so far has been hard, from a fabrication standpoint. What's been challenging and time-consuming is trying to figure out all the inter-dependencies. Example: I started working on fitting the engine in the car almost immediately after buying the MX-5 (which is now gone). I could get it to fit, but not in a way where the steering rack would bolt up. So I raised the nose of the engine to clear the rack. Now the driveline angles are all wrong. So I raised the rear. Then it hit the cowl. So I decided to dry sump the motor (thinner oil pan). That added a bunch of unwanted complexity and cost.

I ended up rolling the dice on an aftermarket subframe which gave me the clearance I needed up front, and cutting the cowl sheet metal after a lot of discussion with the rules advisory committee about whether that was legal or not. That was the real breakthrough - once we determined that was legal it made the rest of it possible.

With the rear differential mounted and the engine roughly where it wants to be, I can order the bellhousing, mount the transmission, and finalize the engine location, mounts, and transmission mount once I get the driveline angles correct. That will enable completion of the wiring, work on the fuel system, relocating the ABS unit, etc. I still will need a custom oil pan. In an MX-5, the engine sits well aft of the subframe cross-bar. In this application, the front edge of the oil pan is above the cross-bar. So I need an oil pan that is two inches shallower in that location. Interestingly... one just popped up on eBay (something custom). Fate? ;)

It's frustrating to me that it's taken me so long to get all this figured out, but there is no instruction manual and I've never done something of this magnitude before.

Anyway thanks for coming along on the journey.