Day the project was to start, ended up being delayed slightly. First time in 25 years I have seen this much snow in Kelowna, BC. We are known as the California of Canada, nice thing about here it was only a 2 day event:



Doing some snow plowing taking the kid to school!!

Next Day already melting

Possible Seat Blanks, minus the suspension
We make the fiberglass seat buckets for our P1 race boats

Draining Fluids and up on stands




Tiny Engine is out

Bonus Header for whom ever buys stock drive-train

Done for this week

 

Test fit of V8 Roadsters universal sub-frame



Dash out and carpet



Minor Rear Quarter Rusting

T5 from 83 Mustang for Project

68 302 Block

Too Bad this Bad Boy won't fit so easy, I have a pair

Old School for this Build, The theme is to use up some of my parts... Next build will be fuelie....



Stripping out the wiring harness of unnecessary wires




Drop out the Rear Sub-frame

 

Look at that, found some cobra 1.7 roller rockers laying in a corner of the shop

Timing cover from 79, water pump normal rotation for 83 Capri, manual steering, use these on my Drag car when I eliminated the power steering and wanted to shorten the serpentine system. I kept throwing V-Belts on old system when I would hit the 300HP laughing juice. can confirm that above water pump with smooth pulley with under-drive alt pulley and standard tensioner works flawlessly at 8500RPM on the squeeze. Will post drag car set-up once local track opens.


Headers Arrived, going to try and make this kit work

Friend just sent me pics of his home built 3 axis CAD/CAM for carving model plane wings and such, testing movement before stepper motors are added

Its Plasma Time, now its getting fun







Patch Time

 

Mocking up the Cowl Braces







Out of interest, the top mounts are in different locations from left to right











Time to burn some Wire

 

Welds Lightly Dressed



Bit of body Welding



Being out side I need a bit of primer



Finish up on Cowl Braces




Final Fitting


Lower Web Fitment



Minor Clearancing

Cowl Braces Ready for Paint

 

Looking great so far!

 

Very nice welding! I may have to make my own cowl braces like this in the near future.
Also, nice E46. I have an E36 M. Glad to see another Bimmer enthusiasts building monster miatas. I work at a Bimmer indy shop and all of my coworkers think my Miata is a joke. I will show them in a few months when it is done though

 

rowen210
Won't be any laughter but yours when done, lol. Funny, all my Mustang, Camaro buddies think it's a joke too. Funny my M already toasts most vintage big blocks and my MX5 is only going to be faster. We will both be laughing when done.

Dean0

 

Didn't get much done this weekend but had to test fit engine. Going to try and use the Headman 89500 Ranger swap headers, to send me a split up kit from Summit with the 88400LSO and 89500RSO was going to be $149 + $189. Too much for this guy so I paid $209 and will make the 89500 kit work. Going to make my own for next build: PIC TIME!






Now the fun part... LOOKS LIKE A GO!!!






Small amount of tubing work... will fix up better when I finish the sub-frame connectors.

 

Notched the oil pan getting ready to TIG in a new 16Ga filler





Anybody guess what my background project is?
hint - it came with a factory roots blower and killed 5.0 mustangs all day!

Painted the cowl braces up... looks good for something nobody sees



Grabbed two 48" lengths of 14Ga 2" X 2" Steel tubing for my sub-frame connectors. Wanted the extra beef for my T5 Cross Mount.



Cleaned up the rack and reshaped the existing tubing to clear the V8 Roaster Sub-frame.



Keep Moving Forward

 

Oil pump to bottom of stock pan

Filler piece cut

My favorite portable press, hubs ready to broach

TIG'd in place, little shaky




Piece that was cut our

Leak test with solvent, 2 hrs still dry, willing to risk it


All painted up

 

Decided to remove fuel tank, want to run new lines and change FP anyways



Floor and bent frame rails cut out, ready for 14 Ga 2 X 2 tubing


Cut in floor section



I hope to never see undercoating again, what a pain in the A$$




Test fit of new frame rails, bit more clean up and some weld through primer yet.



Notched into existing sub-frame for strength



Bit Blurry but existing frame rails to be bent in 1/8" each side to tie into new frame rails.

 

Dug out my donor rear from a 92 Tbird, been out back for 15 plus years.


7.5 - 3L27 have a set of 3.55 gears for IRS rear, may change


Pumpkin and axles removed ready for cleaning


Save the hubs for a future project

 

Thanks for all the great pics of the cowl braces, those will be great for when I build myself a set.

 

Gotta love the design philosophy that created an IRS with cast iron!! a-arms and aluminum uprights. The uprights are great, the arms not so much.

Mike

 

stng_96

Just trying to help out, I know how some folk like lots of pictures.. I can do that!!

cvx_20

Could not agree more, lol. Maybe they needed the weight to smooth out the ride. At least the IRS out of the Mustang Cobras is a bit better looking. A bit more Aluminum, LOL.


Waiting for next project, 1st is just a warm up.
Thinking 427Clevelor with stock 351C 4BBL heads... see how the LS boys like that..

Dean0

 

New '04 Sport rear brake rotors, Much larger Vs Stock

10 7/8" VS stock 9 1/8"


04 Sport Calipers and mounts.. going to paint any color but RED!!

New rear Brake flex lines / Miata Slave / 70 CJ7 Master 13 / 16" bore

Still waiting to connect with a fellow member in Calgary for flares and front Sport Brakes / Rotors. Very busy time of year for me but I will be getting back to the project soon.

Keep Moving Forward
Dean0

 

Finally had the chance to bend up some frame connectors, After I cut the old rails out and manufactured some new 14 ga 2"x2" tubing I was not happy with how it looked and anybody that has closed up frame rails and winter weather $h1t will just go bad with sealed frame connectors. This will make everything look much more professional and weather resistant. Installed pics soon.

Those interested in the Dimensions they are 14Ga, 2" high by 2.375" wide, 37" long

 

My Job seems to be getting in the way of my Hobby L8tly but then NO JOB - NO HOBBY. At least when it comes to V8 Miata's. Was able to start the mock up of the Rear End this weekend, hope to have time after work this week to bend up some steel for brackets. Now the Pics and the hours of media blasting, fun fun.


SHOP **** ▲▲



Going to use the 1999 Mustang Cobra IRS rear isolator, will replace later if I find it an issue.

Was thinking of flipping sides but the more I looked at it the more it made sense to be on the the drivers side to help off set the applied torque.



Looks like it was meant to be, all so close!!

Was just going to cut the mounts off of the Mustang IRS Sub-frame but then decided that somebody might want it. Will advertise for a month and then cut them off if nobody wants it.

 

Started scraping the undercoating on rear sub frame


Wire brushing 7.5 92 Tbird rear

More Parts

Pressing out studs so I can clean and paint. Broached hubs purchased from fellow enthusiast--- Thanks!!

Time to get some axles built, going to take them to the same company that builds / splines custom shafts for our GO FAST boats. Will report on progress, planning on manufacturing 10 PCS or five sets possibly to help fellow enthusiasts if the price is reasonable.

 

Any more progress, build looks promising. I'm starting to gather my rear end stuff now since it seems to be the easiest and less expensive part of the build, I'm still not sure what to do about axles thougg so hopefully ur guys make some for us

 

The other job I have besides building Go Fast Boats is Movie Theater Maintenance. Guess what? you Hunger Games / Star Wars freaks have made me way too busy ATM. Changing Screens, fixing seats, testing sound / picture has me and my crew running 120%. The term "The Show MUST Go On!" takes a whole new meaning for me. LOL. I enjoy the pressure and been at it for 25 years so it will be soon over. However to add to the pile while I was out of town, my storage place was broken into, (2nd time), and about $40 000.00 in Professional Cinema Amps, speakers and processors were stolen. Glad they were stupid and took the worthless stuff and left my tools behind. As soon as they plug in the processors to the net it will handshake with head office server, can't wait. So long story shortened, my work shop is packed full of my storage tools and I am on the road for a few weeks yet. I should be back on the project 3rd week in January, I hope. Trying to be done for the season opener Instant Green Drags at the local track, (Thunder Mountain).

Keep Moving Forward

Dean0

 

Sorry to hear about the recent break-in. I despise a thief and hope he/she gets caught.

Really enjoy your build thread. You have quite the skills and great attitude! May the force be with you for the next few weeks at the various theaters... That's an interesting line of work that I've never even thought about before!

 

Feel bad leaving my project for so long, Hollywood must have done a great job this year as it has been one of my busiest in 10 years. Been getting in the way of my project, LOL.
Few updates, more to come over the next few weeks.
Pressing in F-Body studs, keep local track happy!!



Beefy looking studs in the Miata hubs, going to need some 12mm rubber stud protectors or extended nuts with covers.

Price was right on the wheels, using 04 16" wheels with 205/45/16 rubber. I liked the look of the Firehawk Indy 500 so I thought why not!!



Decided to use RED KYB's this build, mostly street driven

Fresh new NB tops from MAZDA, $25ea.

90 front Spindles with 04 sport backing plates, direct fit. New spindle nuts too!!


Rear hubs with 04 sport backing plates, pressed directly on 90 hubs


More updates soon, Rear sub-frame mods, motor mounts and sub-frame connectors V2.0.

 

Drag Racer came out in me and I moved the engine as far back as I dare. Actually measures 3/8" clear to firewall from back of head.

Clutch Master Modification, I used a 70 CJ master with a 13/16" bore. Built a 1/2" aluminum Adapter with a bit of grinding to clear the mounting bolts. I will share specs with anybody interested in building their own adapter.


Used the stock Mazda Clutch rod and threaded the shaft with a 5/16" X 18 TPI Die, cut the eyelet off of the CJ master and also threaded the shaft the same. I then tapped a piece of 3/8" cold rolled and joined the two together. Bit of loc-tite red and we are good to go.

Driver side header Clearance, She be tight!! I have the engine offset 1.25" to the Passenger Side.


Tiny bit of Ball peen love and Viola!! we have 3/8" clearance. Going to ceramic coat headers after I finish the collector down pipes so I am happy with the clearance.

Engine mounts mocked up, will do a bit more shaping to the raw set up to hopefully give a closer to factory appearance.
Drivers side mock up



Passenger side, Pretty happy with the mock up so far, did not want to add the extra cross bar I have seen other member do to mount a SBF in a V8 roadster subframe.



Sub frame 2.0 with tranny mount next