I am planning an LSx swap for this winter into my '02. I don't have my own garage, so my buddy has offered his for the project but it is about 4 hours away. I'm not really excited about that, but right now it's the best option I have. It's got all the necessary tools, except a lift.

Anyway, the real question is do you guys who have done this before think I will be able to do my swap in 6-8 weeks if I work every weekend, and take a week or two of vacation to work on it? I will end up doing most of the work myself I think, though my friend who owns the garage will help when he is available, as will his father I believe.

I do get every other Friday off, but because of the long drive, I won't be able to work full days on Sundays.

 

I don't want to burst your bubble, but no, unless your WAY faster then the rest of us (minus Nathan, he seems to be a pro at swapping LS1's quickly), I don't think you'll be able to get it done in that time frame. I'm going on 7 months with my build, but could knock 2-3 months of the build off from not having to wait on parts anymore. Another month could be knocked off for not having to keep other cars, trucks, and tractors running. After that, add two months because for most of this time, I've worked on it for several days at a time, and possibly another month because, well, for better or worse, I wrench on a daily basis in order to keep our crew of old mostly modified vehicles up and running.


So..... Its a real tossup. Give it a shot. If you can't get it done in the time frame you need, I'm sure someone would be willing to take it on for side cash

 

The quickest I've done a Ford conversion is about 24 days of 8-12 hours each. Keep in mind that's with EVERYTHING ordered, EVERYTHING reconditioned and detailed beforehand, and EVERYTHING lined up ahead of time that is not under my precise control. With this current build I'm looking to keep it under 20 days but it's going to be tight.

The only way I can get through them that fast is that (1) I have a VERY understanding wife who is willing to deal with me not being around for two months of weekends and (2) I've done it a few times. Also, I'd say from what I've seen that the Ford conversion is a little less invasive and thus a little shorter (no dash removal, minimal welding, ect) that the LSx builds. I highly doubt I coudl build an LSx build in two months of weekends (maybe two months of weekDAYS...).

-Jason

 

What parts of the job take so long? I want to minimize the amount of time I take up the garage in New York (that's where the buddy is). Is there prep work I can do here and still be able to drive the car to New York, and then stuff to finish after the car can drive back?

 

Have everything sorted out. Have the wiring harness wired. Test fire the engine out of the car to make sure the harness is hooked up right. If your using DBW, hook all of it up also, so all you have to do it mount the computers somewhere, and mount the pedal in (I recommend running the F-body harness and drive by cable since your in a time crunch). Order all your parts and have them in hand. From front to back, make a list of everything you need to do to the car. If your not familiar with wrenching, make lots of bags with labels so you know where all the nuts and bolts go. For any of them that go to the engine or stock stuff you don't need, throw them in a catch all box.

If your getting the V8R swap and pan with Sanderson headers and Enthuzacar exhaust, have them weld the drain plug in the front portion of the sump area vs the rear. I went ahead with this to keep extra bends out of the exhaust, since right now, it is like two straight sewer pipes under the car.

When you get the car stripped and ready to cut into the tunnel if your doing the rearward mount setup, STOP! Grind all the paint off first. Its a real pain to clean the metal up after the fact.

Also, from the get-go, strip the bumper, front fenders, and hood off it before you mess with anything else. It makes the rest of the swap much easier, and you never have to worry about leaning on the fenders (they flex really easily if you haven't noticed.

If you don't plan on drag racing, I'm half tempted to say you should try to use the stock torsen rear end with 3.6 gears installed. This could save you a bundle if you have a torsen already.

Which rear end are you going with? Plan on keeping A/C? Power steering?

 

Thanks for the tips! I will plan to do all of those things. I will also keep looking for a garage around here so I can work every evening, AND weekends, without wasting 8 hours a week driving to the project. The garage in New York is plan B, I just don't have a plan A yet.

I don't plan on doing much drag racing, but I do plan to do a little, just enough to see what the car is capable of. I do, however, want the entire driveline to be reliable, and I just wouldn't trust the mazda rear end with the torque an LSx produces. That and I have an open rear end anyway. I will go update my sig right now, just realized I haven't done that since I bought the '02.

I plan to keep A/C, and power steering. I could be convinced otherwise on the power steering, but I do want to keep the A/C.

Now, when you say test fire the engine out of the car, what exactly do you mean? Like hook it all up in the bed of the truck, use a coffee can full of gas and fire it up? And are you also saying I can do the wiring before I bring the car to NY? Won't it be a lot easier to wire the car with the engine and interior out?

 

The 7.5 ford rear end from Martin seems like the most promising swap. Good fitment and fairly cheap. I'm running an RX7 TII/929 rear end with an FD Torsen. Doing that in an effort to keep the feel more stock like.

Power steering is easy to keep, but AC is.. well...... a real PITA (at least it was with the surge tank I had PRC build to get the air out of the system)

The test fire would be out of the vehicle. For fuel, you can take the valve out of the schrader valve of your DD and run a fuel line to the LS1 fuel rail. the DD's battery can run the engines power supplies also. This will let you diagnose the possible issues quicker.

 

What makes the AC such a pain? Is it something I can do when I get back? Maybe bolt up the pump to the engine and just wait to plumb it up?

Schrader valve of my DD? Isn't the schrader valve in the tire? I will be really excited about firing up a V8 in the back of the truck.

 

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=369746

I am putting an LS1/T56/Ford 8.8 in my 2001 Miata with the V8R Rearward Kit and V8R driveline components.

I have access to tons of friends, a lift with unlimited usage, a MIG welder with a friend that welds for me at anytime on the spot, ENDLESS TOOLS, and more experience around me than I'll ever need.
Working on this project 6 hours a day, EVERYDAY except sundays, I had the LS1 and trans in the car in 31 days, and started the engine to, including all vehicle modifications/welding...

In a month and a half, I am 75% complete. Just gotta mount the 8.8 (was waiting for parts) and connect radiator hoses, and put the interior back in.

Oh and about 5 days of the install was installing my alarm system.

What I am saying is, with endless tools/help and a WORKING LIFT, it can be done in 2 months if you are SERIOUSLY motivated. I am at a halt right now and haven't updated my thread because I caught on fire and have been in the hospital, doing ok just gotta get better before I can work on it again.

I will tell you this, though I'm not trying to scare you, I could not IMAGINE doing this project without a lift. Holy crap, I have been under my car while the car is ABOVE me and it is still a Pita to wire things/fasten things etc... Man I have some serious RESPECT for people that have done this project in their backyard/garage.
A plasma cutter I will say is MANDATORY for this project by the way, especially if you are getting the rearward mounting V8R kit.

Good luck man!

 

What aspect of the job makes it take so long? I know it's not an easy thing to do, but is it just all the little things, or is there one aspect of the job that just takes forever?

 

Modifying the trans tunnel took 20+ hours.
Dude it's just soooooo much work it nitpicks the **** out of you!
Trust me. I have SERIOUS respect for backyard v8 Miata LS1 builds.

 

As he said, all the little things add BIG time into the project. More time is also spent trying to correct any earlier mistakes you might have, or things your unsure of.

 

Ok, so 6 weekends and 2 weeks is unreasonable, what would you guys consider reasonable if I do as much before I go, and after I get back? I don't want to overstay my welcome at this borrowed garage, and I'd like to make sure he is prepared to have me for as long as I will need to be there.

This garage 4 hours away is still my plan B, but I don't exactly have a plan A yet...

 

48 weekends and 2 whole weeks.

 

wow 48 weekends? i dont anticipate it taking that long for my swap, drivetrain is already droped, bolt in the fuel system, rear end, have the wire harness all plugged up to the engine, slide the engine and trans in at the same time.... then the longest part should be just wiring the harness to the body harness... call me crazy but i dont expect it to take much more than 2 weeks once i start dropping it all in (granted all my parts will be there and ready to go in)

 

Prove me wrong then.

 

haha hopefully i can.... o.O cant start the project on my end till i get back to the states... hard to do from africa lol

 

I got my complete martin kit and started in Nov '07 and had the first drive June '08 working weekends and a full week for Thanksgiving and full week for Christmas.

I worked mostly 12hr days. I took 6 hours to label everything and 6 hours to remove the complete miata drivetrain. I had a mustang donor car so I had to pull the tranny, engine acceories, wiring harnesses, and topend from the donor car so that took some time. I bought a brand new crate longblock motor from ford so that saved some time there since I KNEW the engine was sound and not a problem. This was helpful when ironing out all the kinks of why the motor was not running smoothly since I could assume that the engine condition/build was not suspect.

FYI, you project will never be 'complete' as you will always want to upgrade brakes, suspention, or clean up/change some little things like how the fans are controled or add guages etc.

Make sure you are having fun - which may be hard if you have a deadline - or you will hate working on the car.

Best of luck!

 

Geez, I am still having trouble wrapping my head around what takes so long, except that little things add up. I will be buying the engine and trans used, so I won't have to deal with a donor car, and I plan to fire it up before I go to NY to make sure it works.

I am going to try to get use of the garage around here with real tools and a lift, but their rules may prohibit that, and $6/hr could get too expensive very quickly.

 

Guys, Give it up I am 64 years old and did an LS2 swap without a lift. I just slid the engine in from under the car using jackstands and raising blocks I made for the rear wheels. I used my my engine puller to hold the engine after I placed the engine/transmission in location than raised it, bolted everything in place without any problems. It was not that big of a job. Replacing the Getrag bushing took longer than the engine install itself. Now prep time for engine install that is a different story.

 

Can you elaborate on this? Do you mean preparing the car, or just getting stuff ready?

 

I don't think anyone said a lift was mandatory? I did mine in in a barn with a rock floor that I put some rubber mat on top of.

Wiring, tunnel cutting, and cleaning were what took me the longest. You can only do so much per day before you start messing up constantly and get fed up with it.

 

That is true, I know that from the turbo project.

 

You will find that chpmnsws6 is right on target. I have found that you have a lot of small surprises along the way. Items will come up that test your resolve because its always something that needs more attention than you thought. These forums and the members can however provide a wealth of knowledge. Items like radiator and front sway bar locations. The locations needed to be developed and located. No fixed locations come with the kits. It seems all builds vary a little to the final destination. A great running Miata V8.