Paco664

well??

kickerfox

lol Patience Pacosun.

I'm waiting for my wiring harness to show up.

LiL BenNy

i dont know if youre a genius or a maniac. i just skimmed through a few pages and between the 1993843 car manufacture parts you are interchanging and graphs youre comparing, im lost at what youre doing but this seems superrrr interesting

kickerfox

Yes.

The graphs! I was attempting to come up with some sort of *average* power comparison (between a stock Isuzu v6 and the Renesis) across some *usable* RPM range. Like apples to oranges, who cares if your just throwing them at someone anyways, although the oranges may be softer on impact... I digress. It's the insanity talking.

They are close in peak performance but boosted, the Isuzu engine will stomp a Renny to the ground -shields up- and use less gas doing it.

If anything, my projects usually involve solving problems that other's may have come across with their own projects. Like how easy it was to retain the instrument cluster, or play music on it. If someone appreciates the effort it's all worth it.

Where are you lost? Isuzu v6? Solstice trans? Camaro clutch? Nissan turbos? 3 computers to run it all? What's to be confused about?

ABdragonVX

Bump

kickerfox

lol

I'm preoccupied with finalizing a product launch. Haven't had a chance to work on the car in weeks.

CRO8TIA

Come on Kicker, pull your finger out, we would like updates .

kickerfox

The 8 is sitting in the garage on the charger for now. I'm deep into a work project that's consuming all my time. I need to get my chassis finalized for production then I can get back on the car.

If anyone here is into computers this is it.

kickerfox

I figure I better update this...

Funds are tight right now because we're building out a gaming arena at the store but I did source a crank and plan on having my engine together and in the car before it gets any colder. It'll be my winter project to plumb and wire it.

On another note...

I make a subwoofer (for the car) out of some old computer speakers. It was cheap and I wasn't expecting much but figured I could get it to sound somewhat decent. I wouldn't think it was going to be anything to write home about but WOW! I've built many speakers large and small for home and auto but this thing is just ridiculous. Sounds like I have a couple hundred watts on a 12 back there. It was $65 including the speaker, flared port, wood, and carpet. The flare was scavanged from the computer speakers and extended using cardboard tube from a roll of bubblewrap and tuned around ~44hz. The box is about 33" wide, 9.75" deep, and 9" tall and built from 5/8" MDF. It's light enough to carry under your arm and fits like a glove. I'll do a write-up on it when I have a chance.

VaioStreams

Keep us/me informed. i'm really interested in this. At the same time, i'm looking into finding spear parts (mainly rotors) to do a little tinkering.

kickerfox

FINALLY some parts are ordered and on the way.

Two Rods w/ pistons (Isuzu), Chrome Rings (Enginetech), Main and rod bearings (Enginetech), Oil pump (CNS), Water pump (GMB), and Timing kit. All for under $350.

I ordered two used rods w/ pistons because my #1 rod had blueing on the big end and I noticed dents on the edge of the #3 piston. It was cheaper to just grab two good rods/pistons off ebay then to order one piston and one rod and have two pins pressed. I didn't dent it. The previous "builder" must have dropped the piston and installed it anyways.

EDIT - Also ordered crank, full gasket set, and head bolts.

kickerfox

Well the yard called back to tell me they don't have a 3.2L crank. It was a 3.5L. >.<

This crankshaft is SO hard to find, at a reasonable price anyways. I either have to buy a used engine and hope there's a good crank in it or order a new one for $500 (ouch). I'm probably going to go the $500 route so I know I have a good one.

All the used parts are cleaned and ready to go, block prepped, pistons cleaned, and the new parts are all here. I could start gapping my rings but I think I'll do that the same day I build the engine to avoid any risk of mixing things up.

That's it for now.

KFC

Hey,
I've been watching this for a little while but been researching for months. I came up with virtually the same idea as you have but a 3.0L honda accord engine.
In the UK, engine choice is a bit different. I'm not too bothered about having to make an adapter plate for the bellhousing. I know someone that has made a MX6 2.5L V6 fit a MX5 bellhousing. I think the water thermostat is on the back which might cause a minor problem. I want an engine that comes from a cheap donor, good aftermarket support, compact and good power, very similar to your choice. Are you having 1 or 2 turbos? Just wondered what configuration will be?

kickerfox

The turbos I have are from a Nissan 300z. I've heard they work well with the Miata 1.6L so a pair may work well with the Isuzu 3.2L. I'll be making my own exhaust and manifolds.

The most complicated part of the swap so far was relocating another steering rack.

As for your engine choice, make sure you can mount a starter to your adaptor plate. Most fwd v6s have the starter mounting from the transmission side. That could put it into the firewall. Keep an eye out for that.

KFC

Thanks for that! The 2.5L v6 swap I spoke about, I'm sure the starter motor was mounted aft, so there was a bit of modifying to the tunnel with a hammer.
Do you think the longer gearbox, ie, further forward bellhousing splitline contributed the decision to move the steering rack? I don't know. It seems a standard gearbox would allow the engine to sit further back but that means cutting into the bulkhead..... A difficult decision. I've only seen the car once and the splitline does look far in the tunnel.
I look forward to see your progress!! 😄
Oh, I just wanted to say I can't believe people think you want hear a suggestion of "why don't you just buying a different car"? Uh.... You want to be different! 😃

kickerfox

I moved the rack because the crank pulley would have hit it. The only other option would be raising the engine 4~5" to clear it. I want to maintain as much of the car's handling as possible so that means keeping things low and as far back in the engine bay as I can. It also leaves hood clearance for the intake.

The RX-8's transmission is on the long side (shifter to bell housing). The front of it actually sits behind the firewall. The rear of the rotary engine was tucked slightly into the tunnel. Since the heads of a v6 have to be forward of the firewall, you need a fairly long transmission to reach the stock shifter location. The Pontiac Solstice trans fit the bill due to the location of it's shifter. It's also a very strong transmission based on the Asian R154 (Toyota Supra turbo). It also bolts right up to the Isuzu bell housing. There are a TON of bell housings that will bolt to it but unfortunately there are very few FWD engines that drop in a RWD platform.

I've looked at just about every engine from Alpha to Zunder. I wouldn't have thought in a million years I'd be building an Isuzu v6 as a performance engine but the block is build like a brick shithouse and the head should flow well. Trans options galore! It's only downfall is the lack of aftermarket support, cast pistons, and it's cast crankshaft. No reason these couldn't be custom made. The Aussi guys (who got 1680hp out of it) tell me the crank is good for 700-800hp so we'll see. The Isuzu electrical system is also very basic.

If I ever get (another) Miata I'll do the same but with a 3.5L and leave it NA.

KFC

Oh this is the thread I was talking about for the MX5 KLDE 2.5L V6.

Mx5 V6 project

kickerfox

I know it well. There's a post of mine in this thread somewhere that shows the one I swapped into a sandrail. It's a good engine.

I wonder if there's a legal reason Mazda can't put a powerful engine in a sports car or if they're just ignorant. I'm pretty sure they're taxed for horsepower. The MX-5 should have had a KL from the factory though.

kickerfox

Found another engine. This time I got to hear it run. Sounds EXACTLY like a Mazda KL but smoother. This was the first time I had a chance to blip the throttle on an Isuzu v6. It revs up nicely for an automatic. It should be pretty responsive with the 4cyl flywheel on it. I've read these engines can vibrate and the valvetrains are noisy but I didn't hear anything clatter and it seems very smooth.

I'm picking it up next week and should have it torn down by the weekend. This project will keep me occupied over the winter and gives me more time to spend on the details. Come spring it'll be ready to go.

Having two engines will be very handy for the swap. One can sit complete and ready to go on the stand and the other I'll leave as bare block which will make it easy to mock-up engine mounts and align the drivetrain.

kickerfox

This guy took a while to get it out but pickup tomorrow! :D

I stumbled across a post from some guy building this engine for a boat. He runs 18psi on it.

Here's his numbers.

516hp@5350rpm
479ftlb@4760rpm

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

do you have the dyno graph for that boat anchor motor?

kickerfox

No but the math seems about right. (250/14.7)*(14.7+18)=556hp.

I haven't been able to find much on this engine but I did find a couple charts on the site of a company installing chips.

First is 2004 Rodeo 3.5L. Second is a "Holden VN-VSII Commodore 5.0L / 5.7L V8" (LSx) but they aren't clear as to what engine was tested. I wanted to post a comparative engine because their dyno numbers looked conservative.

149hp (v6) and 196.6hp (v8). I like that Isuzu torque curve.

Not sure if any of it makes sense because aren't torque and horsepower equal at 5252 or is that only for US measurements?

shadycrew31

iTrader: (6)

Wait... Are you still deciding on what engine to put in your car?

kickerfox

Nope. I bought two complete Isuzu 6VD1 v6 engines and the parts to rebuild one of them. I bought the second engine because the first had a bad crank plus the price was right. I have all the major components for this build.

EDIT - The 2nd engine is in the garage now. I'm tearing it down for inspection before the rebuild and using the best of everything out of the two. I also have the complete Isuzu harness from engine to ECU. My hands will be in that harness for some time stripping out the lighting systems etc. and leaving a single lead set for tying into the RX-8 electrical system for power/grounds and whatnot. It's a bit of a headache but just takes some patience.

Leon R

They should always intercept at 5252. They probably had a problem with picking up a proper RPM signal or they used the wrong setting (from V8 ?) As for actual values, DynoDynomics dynos are the lowest reading, so you use them as a tuning tool and not for bragging rights