This thing is going to be so badass when it is finished

 

Starting to take shape... but god damn, still so much to do.

This has got way out of hand, and become too much of a science project for myself lol!





This is where the shifter ended up, could have been a tad longer but pretty good position! Unfortunately I hacked the tunnel up before to fit the T56 :|

 

Getting closer, only 9 pages of "to do" left!! (Which sounds bad, but I have written 203 of them since Dec '16, and I have 377 pages of notes on the car, including diagrams & part measurements)

 

Looks great!

 

 

I was thinking of putting in a mustang steering rack in my LS swap but had questions. First I noticed know one is using a sway bar just a rack?? Are you using LS power steering pump and running lines to that?

Thank you very much. I really like what you're doing and give you all props for all you have accomplished.

 

I still wanna see the caliper mounts.

 

me too!

 

I will update brake pictures when I have them all finished up!

I am still working on the car, but still lots to do! Realized I made a mistake when I made the updated drivers side mount and knew it would be difficult to correct, so I sat it aside while I built a welder and kept up on some other projects but I am back to it now as I need to have it done for this summer!

There has been a **** ton changed since I last posted in here, and I will eventually try to post some information from before. Some of it is irrelevant since this car is a never ending project and always changing anyways Anyway I have made the changes to the mount & working through a few other things I realized were not fitting quite as hoped or otherwise I had a new idea for a improved design such as downpipes which need thicker flanges. Painting the engine bay from rattle cans in the cold last winter did not play out as anyone would expect and it has chipped like crazy any time I touch it installing parts, and since I have recently setup a new shop in a hangar I am renting I have made friends with shops on site to help me get a real coat of paint on the car at last!



Finally have all of my RX8's in the hangar!!





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Powertrain is almost ready!!

 

Still making good progress on the RX8! Though I am still kinda going backwards, I am excited to be finishing the final components as I go and the end assembly should be fairly straight forward!

I have pulled it apart a bit more as its moving down to the otherside of the airport this week for my friend that is Parks Composites to help me paint it. He is going to re-paint the engine bay for me along with the rest of the car to fix up the paint damage. Painted it last year but it was likely too cold in my garage at the time and it didnt stick well. I could probably live with it as it is, but a nice coat of paint in the bay would be icing on the cake!

I have the wiring harness out again as I am updating a few things in it and setting it up to be joined to the power distribution on my kitchen counter lol. Easier to work on it here than in the car!











Hangar is slowly coming together and getting a bit more organized!





Have the engine over at the hangar now!

 

I know this is the third time I have said this, but the engine is in there for "good" as much as this summer until next winter tear down. Regardless! Its hopefully only a few parts to fabricate and otherwise assembly!

I have stopped giving myself deadlines and I am just picking away at it now. I will finish it eventually as I am way too deep to give up lol. Looking forward to hearing the first fire up and I am sure the spark will reignite!





My buddy that shares the hangar with me is in the process of fitting an REW into his track RX8, and donating its good running renesis to his street car (red) lots going on in the hangar!

 

Bit more progress over the weekend! As usual, found a couple things I am not quite happy with and will recreate some bits to fit better, but getting there!

 

Did you decide on a front brake solution or has that been put to the side while you finish up the engine? I have been tempted to make a 2007-2012 GT500 14" brake setup work, but your viper caliper looks like it may be a better option.

 

I am also very interested in the brake setup. I am holding off on ordering the Stoptech 355mm kit for now....

 

I am semi set on the Viper brakes I suppose. I made a set of mounting brackets on the mill for them already, I just still really dislike the excessive cost with the Vipers and difficulty sourcing good calipers. I think Stephen that is LS1RX8.com had done something with the mustang brakes, I never looked at those calipers specifically. I feel like my aggravation over the viper brakes continuously leads me to random attempts with other brake kits and by now I could have just bought 2 wilwood or equivalent aftermarket kits and saved myself a ton of headache lol.

Getting reasonably close to starting it, I should be able to at least fire it in may! Just a mockup splitter on it right now. Trying to design a new set of forward half of the turbo intakes as I learned another lesson there with overlooking the diameter of tube I was using in relation to what the drop in MAF requires... lol. Oh well, I should have known better, whats another few parts to redesign at this point anyway haha. I feel like I am in perpetual mock-up assembly with this, always hoping its the last time

Whatever. One day it will be cool

 

Getting closer!

Oil has been primed and flushed through the motor, revisiting the oil cooler setup but otherwise almost ready for first fire. Hopefully less than a couple days of work before the test fire, which I am working to do sooner than later in case I expose some mistakes during that time I can address them before I get too far into final assembly.

 

You make it appear as if Mazda designed the engine bay for the LS. Good work!

 

Just so everyone knows... I haven't given up on the car lol. Even if it takes me 5 years, its going to happen. This is just a personal fun project, and has no goal to race in any series, be some show piece, value item or anything like that. It nothing more than to see what I can come up with, and learn as I go.

Life has not been forgiving in spare time & funding to keep this ridiculously time & money expensive project going, and ultimately.. I have switched careers to building spacecraft so some of my work excitement has been directed elsewhere. Have moved it between shops to cut monthly costs, but have done tons of work since I last updated it. It only need the power distribution work finished up in the interior to fire it up. Still needs a driveshaft, paint, suspension finished, CV axles etc, so I am a bit away from driving it, but at least getting close to test firing it.

Sadly a very expensive shelf.. such is project car life lol.

 

Glad to hear that! I fully understand that type of project, and congrats on the new career, I had a feeling you were involved in some form of Aerospace Engineering.

Firing it up is a major milestone and rekindles a lot of ambition towards the project...but also opens doors to many hair pulling issues haha.

Good luck and keep plugging along!

 

Hey Chezman!

By any chance would you be willing to sell a set of those Viper caliper adapters?

I'm building a budget track car with the theme of using as many OEM parts from various manufacturers as possible.

 

What power steering rack and pinion is this?

 

having the courtesy to read or search the thread first helps, but here’s my spoon-feed deed for the day:

https://www.rx8club.com/non-rotary-s...7/#post4751613
.

 

Fyi. i searched for probably 3 hours trying to find the info i was looking for. but yea just assume i didn't look.

It was a 2004 rack fyi. with a Volvo PS pump.

 

took me maybe 5 min and you could have read the entire thread in maybe 30 minutes, not going to assume anything from that though …