Another S2000 Powered Miata
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,187
Likes: 3
Originally Posted by hingstonwm,Dec 15 2008, 01:36 PM
Being a student and cash strapped, I decided to drive out and pick the engine up myself. The transportation of choice? Not my truck; it uses to much gas, nope I used my trusty old 1988 Acura Legend. Take out the passenger seat and off to Vegas, hell its only 11 hours one way and I have the whole weekend off. The result, mission accomplished transmission in the back seat, engine on the floor. Vegas and back in 26 clock hours!
Awesome! Sounds like you're going to have some good stories at the end if this is how you start it out.Keep us posted on the build!
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,868
Likes: 1,058
If you haven't bought your engine yet, look at this. It was done for a lotus 7.
It's being sold by a local speed shop here. There's only 5 hours left on the bidding.
fltsfshr
Nice set up
It's being sold by a local speed shop here. There's only 5 hours left on the bidding.
fltsfshr
Nice set up
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 49
Likes: 1
Car prep for this project included removing the old engine and transmission, removing the dashboard, seats and carpet. I realize that this conversion is going to mean installing and removing the engine more times than I care to count, so I took the prep a step further. Using a couple of pics posted by fyrestrike you can see the upper radiator support and front bumper support, with these in place an engine must be raised above them then dropped in at extreme angle with limited room to facilitate install; not my idea of fun.
The radiator support also acts as a mounting point for the hood latch.
Plastic inner bumper, behind this is the metal support, I will add a photo of the metal support later, but you get the idea this thing is in the way.
The solution: remove them. This will allow the engine to be slide through the front of the car easily for install and removal.
No more lifting the engine over the front of the car. Yeah, having a life long buddy with a killer shop sure makes things easy!!
I had a donor chassis that I cut the bumper support out of. I drilled out the spot welds and separated the sheet metal. Then I fit the back sheet metal to the bumper support on my car, this will give the strength back to the support once it has been reinstalled. The radiator support is even easier. I drilled out the spot welds holding it to the unibody and made a couple of cuts. The bracket with the spot welds is also bolted to the unibody, this makes reinstall easy; align bolt holes and tighten. I will fab up a couple pieces of aluminum to bridge the cut lines this will keep any possible vibration out of the equation; an important consideration for any street car.
The radiator support also acts as a mounting point for the hood latch.
Plastic inner bumper, behind this is the metal support, I will add a photo of the metal support later, but you get the idea this thing is in the way.
The solution: remove them. This will allow the engine to be slide through the front of the car easily for install and removal.
No more lifting the engine over the front of the car. Yeah, having a life long buddy with a killer shop sure makes things easy!!
I had a donor chassis that I cut the bumper support out of. I drilled out the spot welds and separated the sheet metal. Then I fit the back sheet metal to the bumper support on my car, this will give the strength back to the support once it has been reinstalled. The radiator support is even easier. I drilled out the spot welds holding it to the unibody and made a couple of cuts. The bracket with the spot welds is also bolted to the unibody, this makes reinstall easy; align bolt holes and tighten. I will fab up a couple pieces of aluminum to bridge the cut lines this will keep any possible vibration out of the equation; an important consideration for any street car.
Trending Topics
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 49
Likes: 1
First fitting of engine, we walked the engine straight in, the chassis mod works like a charm! The S2K engine is a front sump engine, the Miata engine is rear sump; this is a problem. For those who don
