Still waiting on my engine. I'm at 10 weeks now, so it should be any day now, except they are way behind. Another guy I've been collaborating with is now at 14 weeks on his wait.
So in the mean time I brought home a S550 for a day to look over. After many measurements I am confident everything will clear with careful placement and some minor metal work.
Good to see that the oil filler is extended and can be easily lowered. I am using the 2.0 motor I picked up with a mustang oil pan to do my basic fitting work and will be ordering an Ecoboost 2.3 crate motor as there are just too many things I need to change on the 2.0 to make it work in a GT6. Biggest issue being the turbo location verse the more RWD friendly 2.3.
Love your build, watching closely. I'll start a build thread on the GT6 soon.
dherr (Forum Supporter) said:Good to see that the oil filler is extended and can be easily lowered. I am using the 2.0 motor I picked up with a mustang oil pan to do my basic fitting work and will be ordering an Ecoboost 2.3 crate motor as there are just too many things I need to change on the 2.0 to make it work in a GT6. Biggest issue being the turbo location verse the more RWD friendly 2.3.
Love your build, watching closely. I'll start a build thread on the GT6 soon.
I can't wait for your thread. Us EB guys have a chance to really advance the platform by sharing knowledge.
I took a bunch of pics and measurements, let me know if you have any requests.
These S550 Mustangs have tons of room around the 4 pot. Working on these would be a breeze.
A/C delete is super simple.
I measured from the bellhousing bolt at about 1-2 o'clock here.
I then measured off the bolt on my mocked up trans to see if it would fit under the cowl. I oops though and should have went off the hole just below. So yes, the HPFP will fit under the cowl just fine without disturbing the top of it, and the VIN plate that's right there.
In reply to damarble :
Looks really good. So many similarities to the 2.0, but then differences here and there. Like the turbo downpipe looks to be a 3-bolt mount instead of the band clamp.
So did you get a Hertz rental for the day or something?
Yes, thanks for the turbo side detail. Very different than the 2.0, which has the output side of the turbo pointed down and the turbo is mounted several inches higher, which makes it easier for RWD installations. That downpipe detail is also very helpful, looks like it also will be easier to handle for my chassis. Hope you get confirmation your engine has shipped soon!
TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to damarble :
Looks really good. So many similarities to the 2.0, but then differences here and there. Like the turbo downpipe looks to be a 3-bolt mount instead of the band clamp.
So did you get a Hertz rental for the day or something?
I did a Carmax 24hr test drive. I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate me taking the engine cover off but I needed to see the situation. I did them a favor though, the last person to have it off didn't tighten the bolts so now it's tight lol!
Well this blows. At this point I have to recommend avoiding Mars Swaps. I'm sure most here would anyway since they are kind of pricey, but I was paying for convenience. Well the delivery sucks. I got word today the wait time will be closer to 20 weeks. I would cancel and go another route but they want an almost $2k restocking fee. So I'm going to get the wheels on and roll this thing out of my garage and work on something else for a bit.
In reply to damarble :
So ten more weeks now? Or 20 more? Either way, that does stink.
Seems like a stretch to charge you a restocking fee for something you never received. In that scenario I might apply a couple hundred bucks to my lawyer for a nasty letter about their breech of contract. Discuss the importance of a swift and complete refund. I'm not a litigious person, but that kind of thing has its place.
TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to damarble :
So ten more weeks now? Or 20 more? Either way, that does stink.
Seems like a stretch to charge you a restocking fee for something you never received. In that scenario I might apply a couple hundred bucks to my lawyer for a nasty letter about their breech of contract. Discuss the importance of a swift and complete refund. I'm not a litigious person, but that kind of thing has its place.
10 more. I have to do some thinking on this one. I'm sure somewhere in the checkout process I agreed I could not hold them to the stated 10-12 weeks.
In reply to damarble :
There's always body work...
That'll make 10 weeks disappear...
Geez, what are they doing, waiting for somebody to crash one?
obsolete said:Geez, what are they doing, waiting for somebody to crash one?
They've just moved to a new location, are hiring, and are blaming parts suppliers for backorders.
TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to damarble :
There's always body work...
That'll make 10 weeks disappear...
True. But my plan was have it drivable first. I have plenty of other stuff to be working on right now anyway. Building a teardrop, engine/trans swaps on a Jeep and F150, and a home remodel. I won't be bored.
The brake kit requires the steel sleeves to be pressed out of the calipers and installed from the other side. Not wanting to damage the aluminum caliper or the little clips around the sleeve, I made this little guy to press against. Used to be the input bearing retainer snout on a T19 transmission that snapped off. Perfect fit.
damarble said:obsolete said:Geez, what are they doing, waiting for somebody to crash one?
They've just moved to a new location, are hiring, and are blaming parts suppliers for backorders.
So they want to charge a restocking fee for something they haven't yet stocked?
paddygarcia said:damarble said:obsolete said:Geez, what are they doing, waiting for somebody to crash one?
They've just moved to a new location, are hiring, and are blaming parts suppliers for backorders.
So they want to charge a restocking fee for something they haven't yet stocked?
Exactly. Stand up outfit eh?
I'm pretty sure I'm cursed. These big brakes, a well thought out kit that has been around for 20 years, are kicking my ass. Went to install the calipers and the pads have a wear indicator that was catching on the bolts holding the rotor to the hat.
I figured I must have the bolts backwards so I switched them around, which was a pain in the ass with the hubs on the spindles. Then torqing them down was a hassle, and a few of them did not want to tighten. We'll circle back to that...
So I put the caliper back on, and now the rotor hat bolts are clipping the caliper bolts. FML. So caliper back off to flip rotor hat bolts back to the first way, and trip to the vise to grind the wear indicator off the brake pad.
Now there is clearance, but those bolts that wouldn't tighten? Yeah, they stretched. So I said berkeley it on the passenger side for today and moved to the driver, which still had untouched rotor bolts. With the ground pad it all fit together properly.
The original hand brake location and linkage wasn't going play well with the bigger driveshaft. I pulled this out of a Suzuki Forenza. It may need too much modification to be a good candidate.
In reply to dherr (Forum Supporter) :the way that engine sits in that spitfire/gt6..it looks to be mid engined.. just the engine is in front
Mars Swaps is firmly on my E36 M3 list. 12 weeks came and went. I contacted them and was told there are 50-55 engines ahead of mine to process. Through other avenues I found they send out about 7-10 engines a week. You do the math on that...
So the Datsun is tarped in my driveway while I build my teardrop. There's plenty I could still be doing to it of course but I get irritated just thinking about it.
In reply to damarble :..that jackstand doe's not look safe there.. on the curve of the bodyshell,, might you mive it back a few inches?
In reply to damarble :
have you thought about a corvette parking/ hand brake? i had the same problem in my conversion.. the vette parking brake sits between the driver seat and the door.. you pull it up to set , then release it, and i falls to the lower setting.. to release the brake,, just push the button on the brake.. the brake in use, will not impead you from getting in and out of the car.. and a cable set up it easy to have made.. if you like i can post some phots of mine saturday
In reply to Alfaromeoguy :
I'd like to see that hand brake. I think this or some other junkyard brake could be made to work but I'm open to options.
That's probably wise about the jack stand. It's already been taken down but for next time a few inches back would be safer.
dherr (Forum Supporter) said:Good to see that the oil filler is extended and can be easily lowered. I am using the 2.0 motor I picked up with a mustang oil pan to do my basic fitting work and will be ordering an Ecoboost 2.3 crate motor as there are just too many things I need to change on the 2.0 to make it work in a GT6. Biggest issue being the turbo location verse the more RWD friendly 2.3.
Love your build, watching closely. I'll start a build thread on the GT6 soon.
Be mindful that the 2.3 has a taller deck height than the 2.0. It's not much in the grand scheme of things, but that 10-15mm might be needed!
You'll need to log in to post.
