Well before everybody screams in horror. I always wanted a 1st gen. (had a FC since 91). I picked up a 84 s for a $100 with very dead engine.





Yes that is a WC T5 out of a v8 camaro..

And before you all go ape crazy.. Mazda does not make 12a rotor housing anymore.. Don't get me wrong I love rotary engines. I just did not see the point of re-building an engine that only one manufacture makes parts for just stopped production.






Since it is a v6 (GM 4.3 that has been "modified") it fits really well.




Right mount


Left Mount




Cross member modified and powered coated.

 

Engine mount brackets


Clutch pull slave


Clutch master cylinder. Wilwood 3/4". CNC 7/8" pull slave. 1.20 : 1 clutch fork ratio.








Converting a Carbed Manifold to Multi Point Injected. Running MSEFI II

 

Decided to paint the block black.. chevy orange just looked fugly.



From this pic you can see how only the water pump and harmonic balancer is just barley forward of the axle canter line.




The upper plenum will be modified. The throttle body will be rotated 180° angled down from the thermostat housing 5° and angled to the right 10°. This will give me ample clearance with out modifying the hood..


Fuel system. an-6 feed and return, a-1000 -6 pressure regulator, Bosch 0580254910 195L/Hr at 3.0bar (130 @ 5bar). Fram G3727 Fuel filter, very common on 90's+ Gm autos, Earls 991955 16x1.5mm (saginaw fitting) to an -6 for the G3727 filter, Russell 640913 12mm to an-6 banjo fitting for fuel pump, Various -6 / -8 fittings, stock fuel pump mount (it will be modified to mount the hi pressure pump)
-8 push loc hose, -6 push lock hose (Aeroquip)

 

Cleaning up of brake calipers and suspension.

Before.



After shots.

 

Rear suspension is 3-Link with Panhard bar.. I had to redo the axle housing since the first one was bent beyond repair. Turned out good since I upgraded to a Disc brake/lsd.









Old school computer


Using parts from the stock upper links to make new links.


Don't worry that watts link is going bye-bye.

 

The upper link is mount offset 4.5" to the right of center line. This is done to apply more anti-squat to the right rear.



Panhard mount

 

The GLS rear axle that was modified. Not in pics is the 3.636 Ring and pinion that I got out of a early 80's 626 5sd car.

All cleaned up and Painted. Third link mount added. Panhard mount and cross brace, upper mounts cut off. Lower mounting points dropped down 7/8". Stock spring mounts cut off and replaced with moser 5" spring perches.

Cleaned and painted brake backing plates with new axle bearings/retainers.


Third link box welded in with 18ga sheet metal, primed, seam sealed, painted and under coated.

From under the car


The pre-emptive rust abatement. This is a very common rust area on 1st gens. I had no signs of rust until I removed the reinforcement plates from the wheel wells.





Reinforcement plate welded back in. Primed, still needs seam sealer,paint and truck bead coating.

 

Exhaust header flanges, 3/8" thick cut with a plasma cutter.

Bolted up to a spare cylinder head.


Merge collectors from Cone Engineering (do a web search for them, they have a ton of stuff)


Exhaust system is 1 5/8" x 36" headers collected to 2 1/4". The duel 2 1/4" will be merged into a single 3" after the transmission. Magnaflow 5"x11" with a 22" case. I don't want it to be to loud.
I have a lot more pics. just click on any one and it will take you to my webshots..
RK

 

Beautiful work man, can't knock you for the fabrication that's for sure

The MS2 will be a great ecu for your setup too since it's already setup for GM sensors etc.

 

looks good man. thanks for the fuel links too I now have mine near complete as well.

 

Nice build! 4.3 v6

 

VARY nice metal fab work!

 

Thanks for the positive comments. More love for keeping an FB alive here then other forums.
I forgot to mention that the area under the wheel well reinforcement plates was primed with rustoleum cold galvanization primer (It welds through really well). The white primer is Rustoleum clean metal primer.

 

Though seeing a 13b would be great, the 4.3 looks to fit in the fb engine bay pretty well, almost where the 12a sits. Your fab skills are great as well so it looks great too. I thinks its great you went v6 instead of small block, oughta save some weight on that and just on outward appearance it looks like you've done some work. if you don't mind me asking what do you have done I see efi and intake, how about, cam, roller rockers, valves, compression? Forgive me if it's been answered but, my curiosity is getting the best of me on how you've speced this power plant. Pretty creative though I must say.

 

You are a bad influence!

 

89~92 roller cam block non balance shaft. 97 true vortec cylinder heads (they have the lt4 style ports and heart shaped combustion chamber), with some bowl work.. Comp cams did the cam based on what the heads flow. IIRC .525" lift, 225° @ .050 with a 108° LC cam is advanced 4°. Compression ratio is 10.25:1 Dynamic compression is 8:1. Comp 918 beehive springs, comp magnum roller tip rockers . Cylinder head to piston top clearance is .034" Pistions are KB hypereutectic with .0017 wall clearance. Rotating assembly balance to a 50% bob weight. Melling performance select 10% with a 3/4 inlet. EFI is based on MSEFI running extra code.
The engine is built for a very strong mid range iirc 2,000 to 5,800 rpm and will nose over at about 6,400. The T5 trans is out of a v8 camaro IIRC 2.95 1st and a .63 5th, combined with the 3.636 Ring and pinion is a good match for the rpm/power..
rk

 

Well we know now that your front suspension will work much better..

 

I just looked up some specs when I ran it on a dyno with a 650 holley 4150 and a marine points distributer 16° at idle 32° by 3,400rpm.
max torque was 342 ft/lb @ 4520rpm Max Hp was 334 @ 5,800rpm fell to 323 by 6,500
funny thing is it was making 315ft/lb @2,200rpm.. and a 152hp by 2,500rpm..
It had non optimal small 1.5" headers on the dyno. I don't know if I will gain any more hp with EFI but throttle response should improve as well as drive-ability.

 

Damn that's a stout little engine you've got. Should be a blast in a FB. Looking forward to more on this build, loving the fab work so far!

 

Nice fab work man.

 

DAMN. I would say so. Should be fun as hell!

 

Ya, but they are flywheel numbers taken on a engine dyno.. I figure if it is not enough power I will build another lower end for a turbo application 700ft/lbs may be over kill..

 

300+ HP from a 6 banger. Impressive.

 

That is one hell of a spec sheet man, should be brutal

 

Awesome job with that car - I am thinking I have parts to redo my 12a but I really do question whether I want to go with a 4 or 6 with more power, better support (parts) and gas mileage (ha, i don't care about mpg - 3K miles in 6 years).

Best of luck with that beast.