This may be a little ridiculous - a $2018 challenge oddessey

Plus one on going for reliability.  a new clutch set up will pay itself off down the road.  Silver and black's not so bad, kinda like a Raiders theme.  Hope you never see any streaks of oil on it.

Yeah if it will pull an Equinox I really did wonder what it would do in a Miata. I hear these engine are reliable but I don't know if they hold up to high rpm abuse. Of course with more torque you could change the rear ratio a bit to get a better rpm range.

A 125 shot. That should be fun. Yeah, that should be real fun!

I had an iron headed 3.4 camaro engine in the s10 with 3.42 gears. That went around cmp a BUNCH. bouncing off the rev limiter like mad (which was valve float)

Damn thing went another 40k after i sold it.

Im going to say high rpm abuse wont be an issue. The torsen i snagged is a 4.10, which should keep me in the meat of the curve in third, versus the 4.30 gears which would have had me shuffling 3/4 a lot. At lease in theory. 

Re: clutch 

Dad gave me something to think about: power shift it like ronnie sox with traction and power. Do you want to end your weekend on the third run? 

Hes right. Essentially what happened to the amc. That was busted trans, but infinitely frustrating. We probably could have snuck into top 5 without the clutch and trans issues. So im going to prevent it if at all possible.  

Re:125 shot

That should be enough to get my night shut down. Roll bars only good to 13.50.....

Excuse my ignorance, but the Ronnie Sox mention confuses me.  Are you afraid of breaking the trans or rear end in this thing shifting this thing like it owe you cash?  I think a better clutch makes that more likely, right?

Just pretend I'm not from the south and tell me what you're talking about.

Ronnie sox: never lift until you see god. Then wait a little while longer. (Applies even more to shifting. He was able to shift faster and more consistently than the automatics of the day. But was brutal on drivetrain parts)

I honestly think drivetrain will hold as long as i dont get a dead hook at the drags. We overbuilt the driveshaft, and torsen rears and 1.8 axles are generally good for 350rwhp. The trans is rated for 300ft lbs. The clutch slipping on full throttle shifts (which i do regularly in competition, weather drags or autocross, as ronnie was my hero) would kill it quickly, thereby ending the event. Breaking hard parts would be better in my mind than a marginal clutch letting go.

Awesome work man! Love following your builds. Curious why you chose the 3400 over 3800. Price, size, availability?  Sorry if you covered this early on in the thread.

In reply to Papabishop :

All three. And i love these little engines. I really want to do one with high compression and itbs

I had a Buick with series 2 3800 car was decent quick. Knew guy that had one in Camaro, did few bolt ones, changed rear end gears and tube it’d give stock ss run for its money 

Duster art for Duster.

Give this man a cigar! He found the car i found at 15. Which is why i idolized Ronny Sox. 

Back in the day, my heroes were Don Garlits, and Grumpy Jenkins.   Glad you enjoyed it.

I guess a cigar is in order.   I just jumped into dorkdom, with this post.

Two notes from tonight:

1. The wiring on this is going to be a mother.

2. Engine goes back in tomorrow. Plumbing first, then wiring.

I need to get reassembly done and organized......

I hear you on the wiring, have just started the installation of mine now, looks like I'll be shortening a lot of the Miata harness to make it all fit. Great to see your progress!

After sleeping on it and talking with Patrick I have decided that I'm going to treat it as two separate wiring harnesses. 1 harness just for the motor and the other for the Miata. Will make life much simpler for initial testing

so after a top end rebuild and twice removing the manifolds, plural. I FIND NO.4 CYL. HAS 50 PSI AND THE OTHER 5 ARE 150.  scottb has an 01 impala engine for 100 bucks . I am using OBD1 now and that engine is obd II . not too big a deal as it comes w/ computer.  donny petrunik, was going to trade a case of heiny's for a northstar engine but he faded away . thing is a 96-99 northstar makes 300 hp and is obd1, so if one is out there let me know.  THIS IS TOO CHEER YOU UP MIKEY,    E-Coli  Happens.      

 not quite 

Looks like its going need a bump in the hood, also the top manifold needs to come forward to bolt in so there will be a bit more of an elbow to the air cleaner. Yes?

I like the way it sits in the bay. The short block length and narrow vee of the engine look like it should be a lot easier than a LSx swap.

I do appreciate all the trouble you have gone to confirming a daydream I once had...

It actually sits slightly different than it does at the moment.  I warped the k frame welding it. So now the header huts, etc. Back of the engine is about an inch from where it needs to be. 

Qe confirmed previously that the intake clears the hood. By a few thousandths.

Throttle body ro filter was done just for E36 M3s and giggles. Needs mucho work. Tgink im going to try to run the filter in front of the radiator and try for some ram air effect. 

Step one is tweaking the k frame back to shape.

VERY nice! 

This should be a good year...

Still maintain it wont be done in time. 

If i can hear it run and see it move under its own power before the challenge, I'll be happy. I'm not being an untested and unsorted car again. As much fun as i had last year, it was too high of a fix/race ratio for me. 

Are the wheels Enkei's or knockoffs? The car is looking good going together. 

In reply to pres589 :

Knock off. And ones bent. But they're good enough for now!

Have nb1 15s with sm7 on them for the show

Challenge budget so far:

previous challenge budget: 1709.68

recoup total: 820

new money:

plug wires: 10FMV

clutch kit: 52.99

plugs: 14.94

fuel injection hose: 2.98

exhaust manifold gaskets: 13.57 FMV

new total: 1908.22

recoup: 820

so, some ups and downs this week.

Got the headers wrapped (first time ever wrapping headers). The stainless zip tie things that came with the header wrap sucked. So dad did safety wire at all the ends. Aint going nowhere now!

20180703_174436 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180703_182229 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I turned my flywheel on a brake lathe in preparation for putting a new clutch in. it was a hard decision, but I feel the right one. This may mean I forego turbo parts under challenge budget, but I would hate to end my race due to a failed worn out clutch. Much happier twisting an axle or breaking a trans or something.

20180702_165318 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

my free, but put in the budget at FMV plug wires

20180702_131327 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180702_131323 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I got everything assembled on the stand except the upper intake, and started prepping the engine harness.

20180706_170509 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180706_193250 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

then got it mated to the k frame

20180707_113131 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180707_121624 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

my joy stopped there. Apparently when welding the k frame, I warped the crap out of it. The rear 4 bolts didn't come close to fitting. So I quit for the night.

20180707_140651 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Today I tackled it again. Using some creative jack placement, a scissors jack, some ingenuity and leverage, we spread the ears of the k frame that were warped. Its all bolted down. All the coilovers are found to be bottomed out at the moment (on the bumpstops). But by god, its on all 4!!!!

20180707_141856 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180708_082055 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I went ahead and started laying out the chassis side wiring. Near as I can tell, the chassis is just about standalone ready from the factory in 99. everything will work without the ECU except possibly some gauges and indicators (which I don't have anymore!). I will need to extend the starter and alternator charge wires to reach their new locations, and then find some convenient switched is start and run circuits for the GM engine. Not a whole lot of overlap of GM and Mazda as far as wiring goes, at least as far as I can tell at the moment.

The biggest change to the harness is the battery leads and rear wiring. Factory they ran down the trans tunnel on the torque arm. Since that doesn't exist anymore, I ran it through the AC evaporator line hole, under the dash, down the passengers side rocker, and into the trunk.

20180708_090315 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180708_095331 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180708_113712 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180708_113715 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180708_113736 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20180708_113730 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

got the frog arms back in

20180708_113722 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

sometimes, you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Other times its vice versa!

Nice progress. You are moving fast!

Glad to see you figured out a work around for the k-frame. I agree with your decision to get a new clutch. Keep up the good work!