Big Brakes

So with more than doubling the power with the V8, its time to upgrade the brakes too.
I went with a four wheel big brake kit from Flyin' Miata. It uses new larger front rotors and four piston calipers from Wilwood and new larger rear rotors from PowerSlot. Also new braided brake hoses, mounting hardware, pads, and a rear brake bias valve are included in the kit.

Kit:


New front versus old. Just a little larger...


Rear caliper relocation bracket installed for the larger rotor.


New rear rotor and stock caliper installed.


Front rotor assembled with safety wire.


Front rotor and caliper assembly installed.


Now with the bigger brakes the stock wheels will no longer fit. I will remedy this problem next...

Unplanned surprise...oh and it runs!

Well I didn't plan on this. I tried to purge the fuel lines prior to an engine start attempt and we were getting no fuel from the pump. Pump was making sounds but doing nothing. I removed the sending unit/fuel pump assembly only to find this surprise:
A nice rust filled fuel tank...


and corroded pump assembly.


So now I need a new fuel tank. I don't plan on sending all of that rust and corrosion into the engine and fuel lines! Moisture must have gotten into the tank and taken over. This is humid Florida after all.

So a couple of weeks later I got the new tank from the local dealer.
Nice and shiny inside, quite a difference.


Out with the old tank..


A view from under the car where the tank used to be:


I decided to redo the fittings on the sender for the fuel lines. I was never too satisfied with the original setup. Decided to use a set of Russell EFI screw on fittings on the existing Mazda connections. To do this I had to cut off the flares and file down the lines just slightly to fit.
Some pics:





New pump and sending unit assembly ready:



And installed:




After all of that we were able to purge the fuel lines and test for any leaks. Of course there were a couple that were fixed. We then got ready to start the engine. Fluids were added and fingers were crossed. Connected the ECU and turned the key....nothing. What? Oh yeah, I forgot the clutch safety switch. Oops. Pushed in the clutch and she fired right up! Woo-hoo!
It was so rewarding to hear that engine rumble, open headers and all.

Now its time to start reassembly. Interior, suspension front and rear, and lots of small stuff. Hopefully its all down hill from here!

Front sway bar mount

There is not much room in front of the V8 in the engine bay once the accessories and radiator have been installed. The factory mounting location for the front sway bar places it right into the crankshaft pulley on the engine. It has to be moved forward or find a custom sway bar that would clear. I chose to move the bar forward. Using a set of reinforced mounts from FlyinMiata, I moved the mounts forward enough for the bar to clear the engine accessories. The mounts were then welded and bolted into place.

Driver side mount in position:



Mount installed (I know, ugly welds but it works)

Remote oil filter

Next up was finding a home for the remote oil filter. Decided on placing it in front of the radiator behind the front bumper. As long as I don't hit anything really hard it should be ok. (If I hit something hard enough to damage the mount/lines, I think an oil leak would be the least of my worries!)

Some pics (note you can also see the power steering cooler also in the head on picture):

Headers...uh oh

Something is wrong here...can you see it? Yep the "custom fit" headers hit the steering column. After speaking with the header builder it was decided the best solution would be to dimple the header since they would need the car to design a new header. They are not local so I couldn't supply the car. I was worried about damaging the ceramic coating but was told it should hold up and after heating with a torch and a few hits with a hammer & impact socket, it seems to have done the trick. We shall see.

Well it’s been awhile since the last update, sorry I’ve been a slacker!

We now have the engine/transmission officially mounted and installed in the car. First attempt needed some slight mods to the firewall but nothing a couple of hits from a BFH couldn’t handle.

So now I need to start connecting all of the accessories, wiring, and plumbing to the engine. For the wire harness I enlarged one of the existing holes in the firewall that was used by the AC unit (since am not keeping AC) and ran the engine harness for the ECU through. The ECU will be mounted where the original Mazda unit was located, on the passenger side footwell area. I made a mount for the ECU out of aluminum and some aluminum diamond plate for a cover for a passenger’s feet to sit.

Heater core lines

Up next was connecting the heater hoses to the heater core. The Mazda heater core in/out is located on the driver side while the in/out on the engine is on the passenger side. The “easy” solution to this is just run heater hoses under the hood to the factory Mazda location on the driver side and work fine. However I did not want rubber hoses draped across the top of the engine and the location on the driver side of the firewall is pretty tight to connect to. The alternative solution that was used is to run new copper hard lines from the heater core on the driver side to the passenger side under the dash which gives a straight connection to the engine. It took a few tries to get the angles right but it came out ok. I had the copper line pressure tested as well. They held 80psi of air for awhile so I should be alright...I hope!

Interior:



Driver side heater core in/out:



Passenger side:



Under hood:

Engine accessories

Installed the accessories. I used a GM kit that is made for a 2005 CTS-V from Pace Performance. This accessory drive is tight against the front of the engine for the needed space to the radiator.

New Gauges

Gauges are also needed for this beast. The factory Mazda gauges could have used except for the speedometer which is cable driven. Adaptors are made for cable speedometers but I have read mixed reviews and wanted to have a new aftermarket set anyway. I purchased a set of Speed Hut gauges including a new 3 3/8”speedometer, 4”tachometer, fuel, water, oil and voltage. Since I had new gauges why not a new cluster to house them? So I designed and built a new cluster to mount the tach, speedo, fuel, and water in the main housing along with warning lights and turn signals. The oil pressure and voltage gauges will be mounted in a separate enclosure in the center console, to be built soon. After lots of sanding and painting, the new cluster came out nice.

Original versus new cluster:



Primed:



Painted:



Placed in dash for a trial fit with new gauges (still need to mount indicators):