I'm putting a Renesis into my Rx2 soon enough and it will not be bolted to the original subframe mounts. I am wanting to center and level the engine but am not sure if this is a good idea.

I remember reading somewhere that the engine was set to one side to compensate for the driver. And the reason it is angled up in the front is for driveshaft pinion angle. Are these things true? Or can I set my engine level and centered in the engine bay?

 

You can put it anywhere you want. The only issue is you need to make sure the pinion angle matches the output shaft angle. When I say match, that means if the output shaft(engine) is pointing DOWN toward the back let's say 3 degrees, the pinion must do the same thing. The lines extended from them need to end up parallel so the pinion needs to point UP coming out of the rear end.

You may have the pinion a degree or so less angle if you have soft bushings so under the load of driving the bushings wind up and the pinion raises up to match the output shaft angle. You will know if you are in phase if you don't get any weird vibrations at speed.

 

If this was true, they would have different mounts etc for LHD versus RHD

The tranny tunnel in the oldskool mazdas is centered, from the SA and beyond it has a slight offset.

 

Awesome, thanks.