Another good way to check clearances is to use a 2x4 on a jack to go against the frame rails. That way you can try and keep everything at that height or above. It is hard in FBs to do so since the T5 is way bigger than the stock trans and really fills up the tunnel. My exhaust will be sticking a little under the rails at some points.

YAY!..I'm starting to master the "ultimate route" over my 3 speed bumps!..

..anyways Good luck with the build and I'll keep an eye on ya..heh,heh!
PS: you'll love the Growl that the engine gives off!..it's like it wants to EAT something!

Anyone seen this before? I was looking at my air injection diverter valve and it looks like it's coming apart. When use a vacuum pump it doesn't open. I wonder if something damaged it. I guess I'll add another $50 to the budget.https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0b6b7e45f6.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...30bbb80148.jpg

Could just be clogged with carbon, could try soaking in some alcohol to free it up.

So I was able to spend some time working on the seven this weekend. First, it looks like that diverter valve can be saved. I cleaned out the pieces of what ever that is and it seems to work okay now. I'm not sure what it was though.

I also tackled a few more important projects. I cleaned the transmission and related pieces. Bolted up engine mounts and some other hardware. Started cleaning my wire harness and connecting it to the engine. I am also removing the old tape and retapping while at it.

My last couple of hours I spent cleaning the garage. I got rid of old engine parts and other parts not needed to create sone additional space in preparation of moving the car in. i plane on moving the seven into the garage once I stab the engine. This will allow me to work on it over the winter.

Next weekend I plan on finishing the wire harness and rough mounting the radiator. If you recall earlier on my car was not equipped with the brackets that granny intends on using to support the radiator. They sent my two brackets I can drill holes in and screw into the car. But I think I am going to try and weld them in. We'll see how it goes. I will also try and get some other miscellaneous things done in the engine compartment.

I'm a big fan of lists! My isn't getting much shorter since I have been adding to it after I mark stuff off.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...407fe530c4.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...18767dee8a.jpg

I have a question for anyone who has installed the Granny's radiator setup on a first gen.

Has as anyone ever received an upper support that was bent wrong? The upper support seems to sit too high and I'm thinking it's going to contact the hood.

A quick update on the project. Yesterday I was able to spend nearly all day on the seven. I started my day by going to get a tire for the left front. I neglected to stay up on the tire inflation as the tires are rotting away sitting there. Consequently, a few weeks ago I saw that the tire went flat and the rim was sitting on the ground. I aired it up, but it was too late. The side wall split and no longer holds air. I have learned that my car came with the wrong tire size on it. It came with 155/80R13, but America’s Tire tells me it is supposed to have 185/70R13, which they had in a used tire. So I resolved this issue for $32.

After getting home and putting the tire on the car I then tackled cleaning the engine bay. I started by spraying down the car with water, sprayed some simple green on it and let it set. I then came back with a bucket of water and car soap and scrubbed the engine bay with a brush. I am surprised how well it actually turned out. Not perfect, but better than expected. I then procced with cutting off the mounting point for the original trans cross member on the D/S. Granny’s says it’s got to go to fit the soon to come T5.

Most of my day was spent mocking up the radiator mounting. In earlier posts I brought up that car was missing some tabs to mount the lower radiator support in place. Granny’s hooked my up with a bracket to drill and bolt in place. I decided to go a step further and weld it in place.
As you see in my previous post, the upper mount is a close fit. I have to get the radiator up high enough so the lower radiator neck clear the sway bar with clearance to fit the hose and clamp. But not so it’s pushing up on the upper mount because it barely clears the hood. The upper mount comes within about 3mm of the hood (I checked it with Playdoh). After I decided it all seemed to fit, I had a buddy weld the brackets in place.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...ff63be0404.jpg

So I now only have a few things before I’m ready to set the engine in the car. They include: remove the carpet, bolt the clutch and transmission in place, mock up the clutch slave and few other little odds and ends. I’m pretty excited, I should be in the car in a couple of weeks depending on how life goes.

Cool! My radiator bracket sits similarly I think you should be fine. Engine bay looks pretty clean in the last picture! I bet you are excited to drop the engine in

So last night i took the engine off of the stand and went to install the clutch. I hit an obstacle pretty quick. The damn pilot bearing was a b#%*h to get out. I gave up last night and went to my trusted source YouTube and found a technique that uses bread or water soaked paper to hydro press it out. So I gave that trick a try and sure enough it worked.

I moved on and got the flywheel and clutch bolted in. Tomorrow I will hopefully get the bell housing and transmission bolted together.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...ceffec5dbc.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4390850cd1.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...9ed2581ca8.png
What does everyone think of lifting the engine and transmission by the intake manifold? This is a picture I found on the internet. I can't get the original exhaust studs and lift plates to fit with the headers and I figure the rear bolt holes on the head will be to difficult to removed once in the car. Too close to the fire wall. Plus I want to use an engine leveler.

I always use the method you have now, never tried the threads but if others have done it it probably works, just get long enough bolts that thread all the way into the hole. Glad the bread method worked for you, it only worked for me once. Engine and clutch look really good!

So I’m happy to say I have everything in order to drop the engine in the car. This weekend I: finished bolting the engine and transmission together; bought an engine leveler and have it strapped down to the lower intake; removed the seats and pulled the carpet back along with some other miscellaneous tasks. Next weekend I will try and get it installed. That’s if I can find some help from a friend and fit it in between the holiday and couple of birthday parties.

Something I played around with today was how I’m going to stuff the EFI wire harness into the cabin. I cut out part of the bulkhead on the donor Mustang that includes the hole for the wire harness grommet. I’m thinking I will take this “plate” and rivet it the RX7. I think this will be the easiest solution to pass it through the RX7 bulk head. It will ensure the connector fits through and the grommet seals the hole because the plate will have the correct size hole. The harness should have enough space to fit between the bulk head and the blower motor case and mount the ECM somewhere under the glove box or right kick panel.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...3857580870.jpg

Engine and transmission bolted together ready to drop in.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4477dce0a9.jpg

Can someone verify this is relay on the right - near the left strut tower - is for the A/C?

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...33868720d6.jpg

I found this aluminum channel holding my driver seat in. I'll have to investigate further but I think my seat if from a different vehicle.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0b85837a55.jpg

The radiator bracket that was welded in last weekend that I painted today.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...f034b554ac.jpg

Where I plan on feeding the EFI harness through.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...50c8e32c76.jpg

The plate from the Mustang.

Everything is looking great! I know my FB may be different, but I got rid of all of those relays and wires. I ran my harness through the same spot on my car as well until I did my wire tuck. You dropping the engine and trans in this weekend?

I'm going to try. This weekend is just to damn hot. It's suppose to be like 115 out here. Next weekend is my daughter's birthday party. So I'm not exactly sure.

you are doing great work
i love to see more

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement guys. I'm definitely in the zone right now and accomplishing small task weekly that are adding up to progress.

I have some promising news too. The weather forecast has improved for tomorrow. So I solicited my neighbor into helping me drop the engine in tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed that tomorrow I will a big smile on my face and the engine mounted in the car.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...863e270d1b.jpg


Engine, transmission and the seven ready for tomorrow.
Over the last two days I mocked up the clutch slave cylinder mounting. I ordered some 5/15-24 threaded rod to extend the shaft on the pulling side of the cylinder. On the stationary side I used a rod end and made an L-bracket to mount the engine mount. The picture are before I painted the bracket.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...913d834aa6.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...9c50dec4ac.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...b4fc1ef340.jpg

Rod end and L-bracket.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...461b440656.jpg

Well there she sits, but I can't say I have the smile I was hoping for. It was a quite beast to get this thing in and I have several fitment issue to work out.

I'll start with the larger of the issues. The one that's confusing me the most is how the engine is not sitting level left to right. The engine is noticeably higher on the right side of the car. I realized this when I went to install the transmission cross member and saw the transmission was titled sideways. I think this explains why I was having difficulty aligning the engine mounts when going in. In order to get it to where it currently sits, I had removed the headers and all the engine mounts and brackets to work it in. I primarily fought the engine mount and bracket on the right side. I am questioning if Granny’s bracket on the sub frame is a little off spec creating the issue. I don’t know how to conclude that however or fix it.

Other fitment issues include the fire wall and steering box on the driver side. The air injection tube that bolts to the back of the heads is resting on the firewall. When installing the engine I actually had to come partially back out and relieve the firewall back another ½” or more. This is still not enough. I’m not sure the BBK headers are going to work either. The number 6 tube contact the steering box.

So my game plan is this. If the clearance between the oil pan to cross member is adequate, I will see if I can lower the engine on the right side. This would help me with the clearance with the firewall on the left side. The question is how to lower it. Elongate the frame bracket holes and sink the bracket? If I can’t find a way to do this, then I will be left to shimming the driver side up. This will also require the engine to come partially back out to relieve the firewall further and open that gap up between it and the air tube. After I address the levelness I’ll see how the headers fit again.

I’m open to any suggestion someone might have to lower the engine on the passenger side.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...131b8f6a4a.jpg

The contact with the firewall. Notice the absence of the header.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...d151054ffa.jpg

Close-up of the contact.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...d8e358d695.jpg

Notice the transmission is not centered in the shifter opening. The top is leaning to the left.

I would slot the hole on the passenger side, you want the engine as low as possible to clear the hood

i had the same sort of trouble with the 351 and i saw some where that the fire wall in that area needs to be beat in to gain space.
i at first played with the engine moved out a bit but when all front parts are installed the fan is too close to the rad.
so when i can i'm going to make lots of clearance for engine and headers.

still good to see a v8 sitting in your rx7 so smile