79 302 swap. General info
 

Hi guys, picked up an 84 rx7 with a 302 & t5 in it. Had a granny kit. Car was shot and I've got a very clean 79 with a 12a that's never been good to me.
so I'm getting the 79 ready to take the 302&t5. I had a couple questions.
1. Any general things I should be aware of on the swap?
2. Will I have to cut the tranny tunnel to get the shifter through? The swap car was cut.
3. Exhaust, the donor car didn't have the exhaust completed. The motors got headers, they were running duals, but the clearance was almost nothing. What are you guys doing to get clearance?
4. Current engines a stock 302 out of an 80s tbird. Do you think I'll be happy with that, or should I look at a top end kit for it? Heads, cam, and intake?

Thanks for any input!

You can get 3.5 pipe over rear end if you chose, but hard to find someone to bend it. Might want to buy precut angles.

never rebuild the top of an old motor w/o doing the bottom. Tranny tunnel should be same as on the 84…I.e. probably have to cut it a little and check the firewall on the 84 to see if has been massaged for the exhaust.

Ok so I'm getting a little deeper into this.
my donor car did have some marks on the firewall where they crushed it a little. Not sure if they were just giving extra clearance or actually needed to do that. My motors got shortty headers on it so it may clear?
I've got an 86 302 out of a Thunderbird. It has the front sump oil pan. Will that give be enough clearance or will I need a different pan?

What's the verdict on slave cylinders? I've got a new master, but the old pull type slave was gooned up do I ditched it. Would rather have a push type. Any issues with that?

For the exhaust do I need to tear out the old heat shields or will the pipe fit with them in place?

Thanks for the help!

you should really dive deep into build threads here. one in particular https://www.rx7club.com/v-8-powered-...build-1092839/

post # 43 and 101 show the indentation of the firewall on the drivers side. post 164 shows the oil pan.The header "might" clear......but it will be too close to actually be able to bolt up as the header ends right by the firewall. but moreso it will be way to hot on the inside of the car (mine was smoking inside the car before I put some different flame retardant insulation under the carpet). the original exhaust heat shielding should be ok to leave on in my experience. Just my opinion, but if you have any chance to ditch that T5 I would do it in a heartbeat and run a manual tranny. 5 speed sound fun....but I have had issues with my T5 and clutch setup...took me a while to get the right combo. and it will be faster off the line. 1st gear is useless in mine 90% of the time and second is good, but will get squirley when getting on it....while the cars with automatics drive past you changing gears 3 times with a slow shifting tranny. just one of those things that sound great but not great in real life IMO. hope this helps. the search button here and google images of swaps help a lot as well.

for the exhaust over the rear axle, I saw this add on ebay selling pre-welded super tight radius pie-cut SS elbows the other day

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164954027768
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