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Old 10-06-2018, 01:22 PM   #101
clyde
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John V View Post

I really want to get this thing fired before thanksgiving to stay on schedule but I need to pick a clutch and flywheel first...
So... why not pick something that's in the ballpark and move froward?

Suggested under the assumption that you'll be in/around there again soon enough after its first competitive run anyway...
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Old 10-07-2018, 12:19 PM   #102
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Quote:
Originally Posted by equ View Post
Awesome. There seems to be a ton of room up front, not so much on top.
There is room in front, but not as much as it appears. As it is a standard straight front anti-roll bar will not fit because it would have to go through the front pulley. So either the ARB has to move forward with spacers, or I have to have one made with a bend in it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post
So... why not pick something that's in the ballpark and move froward?

Suggested under the assumption that you'll be in/around there again soon enough after its first competitive run anyway...
The issue is I'm not even sure what will work. The clutch / flywheel assembly thickness from the crankshaft to the clutch fingers is a critical distance. It needs to be within a certain range to work. If this was an off-the-shelf install it would be no problem but because of the mismatched transmission and engine it's trickier.
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Old 10-11-2018, 12:48 PM   #103
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I finally got someone at Clutch Masters who had half a brain, and was able to in almost no time give me the diaphragm thickness of their dual-disc clutch setup. And, as it turns out, it's 2mm too thick to work with my bellhousing.

I mentioned this to the tech on the phone, who said that they had a "short" pressure plate that might help. It cuts 3mm off of the stackup height. Success! So I'm $1,450 poorer, but I have what I believe is a clutch setup that will work. Which means I'm one setup closer to getting the car running.

I had a super successful run to the pick 'n' pull yard this past weekend as well and nabbed a few parts I need for the build. I'll post up more of what I got done this weekend when I'm home.
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Old 10-11-2018, 02:48 PM   #104
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Cool!
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Old 10-11-2018, 03:38 PM   #105
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$1,450 for just the PP? Or does that include the clutch disks?
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Old 10-11-2018, 05:16 PM   #106
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$1,450 for just the PP? Or does that include the clutch disks?
pressure plate, discs, and an aluminum flywheel. Not a bad deal, really.

So I mentioned I had a productive trip to the pick and pull yard. I initially went there because my RX-8 was missing the front crash beam. The local yard had an '08 RX-8 and it didn't look from the pictures like it had been in a front end wreck. Turns out the car was pretty nice, and the bumper was already gone. So I nabbed the crash beam (four bolts per side, literally took a minute to get it on the cart). While I was there I saw that someone had removed the front wiring harness but left the bottom part of the fuse box. The one in my car had two broken tabs that I had planned to repair, but when I saw this fuse box I just grabbed it. Score.



While I was there I noticed that there were a bunch of Mazda 3's around. I remembered that the belt tensioner that came on my 2.5L engine was for a Ford, which uses a different belt (different number of ribs) than the Mazda engines. I deleted the power steering pump from my car and am putting a tensioner where the pump used to be. On a Miata with the power steering pump deleted, this would just bolt on.

Unfortunately, because of some packaging weirdness with the RX-8 and this engine, the intake manifold and the fuse box want to occupy the same space in the engine bay. Moving the intake manifold closer to the engine by shortening the runners would solve that problem, but then the manifold would hit the tensioner. The solution was to take the tensioner down to the milling machine and remove a bunch of material from the mounting legs, re-drill the outer legs so I could flush mount the bolts, then re-drill the inner part of the legs for the dowels, and reinstall everything. The result is just about perfect... but was a ton of work.





It also bothered me that the aftermarket subframe didn't have provisions for securing the factory brake line clamps nor the ABS sensor wires. So I went out to the boneyard and cut those tabs off of the factory subframe and hammered them flat so they could mount up just like stock. Eventually I'll just tack weld these onto the subframe, but since I also cut the factory control arm mount with the tabs, they're secured just like stock.





I also finished up a bunch more with the wiring. I ran the hot lead from the battery (re-located to behind the driver where the rear seat used to be), deleted all unnecessary wires from the engine-side harness, ran new wires to the alternator, re-pinned the factory harness for the Mazda3 alternator (moved from the passenger's side of the engine to the driver's side to make room for turbo plumbing on the exhaust side of the engine), and ran the wiring to avoid possible contact with any moving parts. The engine bay actually looks pretty put-together at this point.



I got the MX-5 radiator installed with some custom brackets I made... I'll end up running a better radiator but I wanted to use MX-5 parts here rather than RX-8 parts for reasons that should become apparent later. I verified the stock fan fits. I started measuring for coolant hoses. It's starting to come together.

I ordered a bunch of metal for the transmission crossmember, so it's sort of a race now whether that stuff arrives first, or the turbo setup, or the rear suspension arms. Or the clutch and flywheel. Either way, lots of work yet to go.
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Old 10-14-2018, 08:23 PM   #107
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I needed a way to plug the factory EGR tube at the cylinder head. I could have ordered a blockoff plug for $10 or so, but then I realized I could just cut the tube short, crimp it over in the vise, then weld the opening closed. So that's what I did. I don't know why, but this little task was really satisfying.

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Old 10-21-2018, 06:12 PM   #108
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I've been doing small things here and there on the RX-8 but nothing really worth posting about. I had been noodling ways to support the tail of the transmission since the RX-8 never had a transmission crossmember and I needed to fabricate one.

I started with some flat steel to bolt to the bottom of the transmission tail housing, then made two ears to capture a round tube and bushing which will bolt through it. My welding is still only sorta okay, I get good heat penetration but I tend to move too slowly when I start to pull the pool.



Next I used a piece of 2" 12ga steel tubing, cut it to 4" long and made two delrin bushings for it.



I gusseted the two ears of the bracket that bolts to the transmission side and drilled the ears for the isolator bushing and tube. This is the test fit.



I'm using a piece of 1" x 3" rectangular tubing to connect to the bushing and span the width of the car. I notched the 1x3 to prep for welding. It took a while to get the fit right, which when you kind of suck at welding, makes things easier.





I tacked it, then checked that everything was still square, and drew some beads. I feel like I'm gradually getting better at this. I got a bit of blueing on the inside of the tube so I feel like the heat penetration is good. Everything stayed square which is nice.



Underside, actually a harder joint to weld but it turned out better.



That's kind of where I'm at for now. I need to repeat this for the other half of the span, but I ran out of time today.
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Old 10-21-2018, 07:23 PM   #109
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I can only imagine how cool this is going to be to drive once it is complete.
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Old 10-21-2018, 08:13 PM   #110
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John V View Post
My welding is still only sorta okay

blah self-deprecating welding comment

blah another self-deprecating welding comment

more of same
Still room to grow, for sure, but I've seen a lot of welding that doesn't look nearly that good.

Impressive skill developing.
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