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Old 10-06-2018, 06:37 AM   #99
John V
No more BMWs
 
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: Ram, MS3, CX-5, RX-8
Location: Glenwood, MD
Posts: 14,753
I made good progress this week. I removed all the emissions crap from the wiring harness. I made some brackets to fit the NC radiator and fan in the RX-8. Not planning to use the stock radiator, but it's convenient to be able to make off the shelf parts fit wherever possible. I got the input shaft of the gearbox cut down, which is required to work with my bellhousing (which is designed for an FC TII transmission with a shorter input shaft). I got the driveline angles correct by shimming the front diff mount, and I got the slip yoke and pinion flange for the 8.8, which means I can start building the driveshaft.

Today I spent most of the day wrestling with the intake manifold, which wants to share space with the ABS pump and the belt tensioner that replaces the belt-driven steering pump that I'm not using. Eventually I'll use an electric water pump setup as well but for now I'm just using the factory water pump. I do need to machine a spacer or find one from a Mazda 3 tensioner because the pulley is about 5mm inboard of where it needs to be to line up properly with the alternator and engine pulley.

The tensioner that came with my 2.5 actually worked once I milled off about 30mm of material from the mounting bosses to move it closer to the engine. The stock NC intake manifold is pretty restrictive and also doesn't fit with the engine straight up in an RX-8, so I got a used Moto-East intake and cut down the runners to move it closer to the head so it would clear the ABS and the fuse box. I relocated the ABS pump to under the master cylinder and re-routed all of the lines. I modified the Mazda 3 alternator, which sits low on the driver's side to make room for the turbo and exhaust plumbing, so it would clear the steering coupler. I spliced in the wiring for the alternator, and finished the battery routing. My hands were filthy all day so I didn't take any pictures of that stuff, but I did take a picture of the "finished" product.

I really want to get this thing fired before thanksgiving to stay on schedule but I need to pick a clutch and flywheel first...

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