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(was) Yoeddynz's 1968 Viva + Mazda V6. New owner ! Welcome Guzzi rat.


yoeddynz

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Fantastic sunny day yesterday morning when we drove out to airforce base Woodbourne 8km from my olds.

Picking up the Eunos 500 I won on TM few days back.

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Put a fresh charged battery in and after about 3 years sitting (and it looked like it) it started straight away. sweet! The noisy lifters soon quietened down. Nearside CV joint blown so no test drive. Bugger.

A few old cars there in the yard including one of my favourites...

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So we fitted my slightly ropey looking tow rope... (see what I did there..)

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And cruised back home, slowly, me thinking this is a hard tow. Back wheels on Eunos were smoking.

Handbrake was on.

Started stripping it back. got dash out and just cut the loom right back. Still some to remove. Quite fun job that I always enjoy, but even better in the sun while fuel'd with coffee.

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We taught one of the cats to take photos.

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Under the dash we had discovered some top Mazda engineering.

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And this box... I figure is the ecu for the auto box that this car originally had?

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I also won two good auctions yesterday afternoon and I am now the owner of not one but four V6's. 1.8, 2.0, 2.5. Baby, mumma, pappa.

The first auction was a low mileage (grain of salt..) KF 2 litre engine. It was too cheap even with some frieght to pass up. I think it might be a Jdm model engine, possibly the ZE version with an extra 20bhp at 160.

http://www.trademe.c...px?id=523014943

Then an hour later after I had won the above engine I was back on Trademe and scored massive bargain of a deal. I had found this auction..

http://www.trademe.c...px?id=523029713

for lots of V6 parts last week. It included among other bits;

Two 2.5 engines complete but semi assembled,

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A manual bellhousing to suit a Toyota W55 gearbox etc,

One lightened flywheel,

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One custom made inlet plenum for RWD application!!!...

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All for $126

I watched the auction over the last 20minutes expecting the current bid at $125 to start soaring but nothing. Maybe 5.45pm on a Saturday is a bad time to have a auction finish- I don't know, but I bid a another $1 and got it!

Even though I'll have to get it frieghted down its still a huge bargain and some of those parts will certainly speed things up if need be.

I imagine the seller is a bit put out that it went so cheap but in the emails sent since he seems happy enough..I have told him its going into a Viva. He gave thumbs up.

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Yesterday we popped back to Blenheim and pulled the engine out from the Eunos. Took longer than thought due to a few things like one wheel being seized on solid to the hub. Many big hammer blows later dealt to that.

Once the engine sat hanging from the chain withe the gearbox and all the other stuff in place it looked pretty big...

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With the box off I found the nice new clutch as fitted by the fella I bought the car from.

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As I stripped it down it looked better and better. Eventually I was left with the bare engine. By bare engine I mean no alternator, no powersteering, no inlet or exhaust manifolds, no clutch, no oil, no wiring loom. But I kept the flywheel in place. Then I weighed it, on two sets of scales to be sure, and it came up at 130kgs.

I will weigh the other bits in next few days to get an overall engine weight. Internet searches for engine weights seem to offer up all sorts of figures so its nice to know for sure.

I cant quite remember but I think a bare 12A block as above including flywheel is about 100kg. I never weighed my complete 12a turbo as it sits in the Viva but I figure its around 130kg. I will weigh it once pulled out.

So it looks like I am going add about 20-30kgs up front.

Getting it into the back of the van wasn't easy easy as shifting the small rotary about..

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All the stuuf we have stripped from the car and the tools certainly made the van sit down a touch at the back- although the vans springs are well over due for resetting anyway.

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The inlet manifold is huge. You can see the small footprint compared the overall size! Plus it weighs in at 12kg! Looking forwards to getting rid of that.

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I have some ideas for different inlet designs including one idea of building a variable length runner setup similar to F1 cars (but way cheaper and most likely not so pretty..)

I'm thinking that I could use the VRIS air valve control wires to switch on two solenoids sequentially and change the lengths in two stages. But I am not sure if the ECU uses the VRIS butterflys in two simple stages as the revs increase or if it goes through different combinations. It could all get a bit messy.

The other option would be to make a set length manifold and remove the VRIS stuff altogether. If I was to build a manifold with say lengths halfway between the longest and shortest length on the stock manifold will the ECU cope OK and just adjust the fueling as any other ECU would with a set length manifold?

I could also use that manifold that comes with the bulk lot of V6 engine stuff I bought from trade me. But I think its made for a low bonnet line lotus seven and hence has quite short runners- not very good for torque. Ideally I want the longest runners I can fit.

Its all new to me...so much to learn as always but I'm loving it!

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This evening I managed to locate and borrow an rx7 box from a bloody knowledgable and helpful fella called Stu. He also gave me a flywheel as I was looking for a ring gear to use…

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Got home and first thing was to try my V6 clutch disc. It fits!!! Thats great as its a brand new exedy clutch that came fitted to eunos.

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Next thing was to try the box onto the engine. Some ducks stood guard outside.

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Wow- I cant believe how close it is! I levelled the engine up and then levelled the box and one main bolt hole lines up perfectly on the side.

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The perimeter curve of the bellhousing follows very closely to the block curve and with some fettling and welding of some extra meat into the bellhousing I reckon it could be fitted up with out the need for a adaptor plate. An extra angle bracket could be bolted to the bottom of the block at the rear and then bolted to the bottom bellhousing holes. I will spend more time tomorrow evaluating it.

Another pleasant surprise was that the v6 ring gear is actually 290mm- not the 280mm I originally roughly measured on the first engine I had looked over at the wreckers. The rx7 item is 300mm. So I need only to move the starter pinion in 5 mm to mesh. Hopefully this will be easy enough. The starter is centralised and located not by the bolts but a shoulder on the starter locating in the big hole. If I make the hole in the bellhousing bigger and then machine up a offset spacer ring it to centralise it where I want it.

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The rx7 box also puts the starter motor almost spot on in the right place fore and aft in relation to the v6 ring gear…which is nice.

I remeasured the length of the engine and double checked where it will sit in the viva. Then checked the engine mount positions on the block and related them to the Viva crossmember. The mounts should sit about 50 mm in forwards of the centre line of the cross member. This means that they should be well clear of the steering column as it comes down to meet the rack. Again very lucky.

If the car was to be a super dooper race car I would move the box back and with it have the engine further back- there is enough room, maybe 90mm, between the heads and the bulkhead. This though would place the gearstick too far back, involve shortening the prop shaft, less area between bellhousing and the tunnel for exhaust pipes and necessitate moving the clutch master cylinder.

But as the car is not a race car I'm happy with the position.

Another sweet thing is that not needing the powersteering pump or the AC pump means I can loose the front pulley. I will adapt or make a new alternator bracket and run it off the rearmost pulley. It means I can loose the silly, heavy, bulky, ugly tensioner bracket. I tension the alternator the old fashioned way- by swinging it outwards. The smaller crank pulley will mean I will be slightly under driving the alternator- will this be a problem? The stock alt is a 90 amp item. I have no major drains on the battery though- the Viva being devoid of posh things like electric windows etc anyhow.

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This lump of nasty can go..

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I also got out from my arsenal ofd fancy tools my faithful lump of timber. This I used to work out how much room I have between the sump line on the engine to the underside of my bonnet.

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Then worked out what space I will have on between the inlet manifold mounting face and the bonnet. About 190mm which is a fair amount of space to build something fairly nice- I want to build a manifold with quite long runners- similar in style to the Ford Mondeo BTTC cars of the 90's. (but cheaper..)

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I'm amazed the engine ran so well in the eunos given this……

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I might try make a cam angle sensor using the parts from this…

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Yep- after a good bike ride in the morning I spent this afternoon chilling in the sun stripping, cleaning and 'getting to know my engine'. I cleaned everything with a toothbrush and petrol.. well its cheap.

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There is a crank angle sensor locating hole. It has a little cover over it but the back of the pulley has a 6 point disc on it. Maybe there for the models that used eddis ignition? the Ford Propes ?

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Its looking much smaller and is loads lighter now. All the extra brackets and crap add up.

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There is a cool thing I have not seen before. It looks like a little resonance chamber to help amplify any knocking sounds to help the sensor to pick them up.

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Where the dizzy slots in. Much tidier without it sitting in place. I may yet continue using the stock dizzy to start with just to get the car back up on its wheels quickly using the stock ecu etc.

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I prefer the old mazda font but this is still cool...

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stripped down number two engine today- the one I bought from westport. Its a KF 2 litre 160bhp and so far seems to be in fine fettle. It seems to have very clean runners into the head with very little oil residue. usual oil weeping from cam covers and block covered in mild oxidation (westport.....)

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Cool thing is that it has a crank angle sensor fitted. Only 6 points on the wheel but at least i now have a sensor to use with whatever ecu I go with.

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I'll keep this one at work and with the box there now I can buy some plate and build my adaptor. Again it looks so much better all stripped down.

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Engines number 3, 4 and maybe 5 are on the way down. Big thanks to Sam for your help there.

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Today this arrived from Auckland.

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I picked it up at lunchtime then took the rest of the day off work and unpacked it all, sorting it into piles of bits to leave at work and bits to take home (homework..). This was very very fun. I cant get over how much stuff there is...

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Rebuilt short block - painted in hypercoat or something. Includes very lightweight flywheel...

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Rebuilt heads, all very clean and shiny. Some porting work as been done, i think nothing more than a clean up of rough edges.

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New clutch, toyota w55 belhousing and an original fwd bell housing that the seller was going to merge.

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lots of dizzys and one new cap..

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new seals, gaskets, bearings, new cambelt, fanbelt, water pump. not one but two KLZE ecus!!! sweet as because i need one of them.

Last lovely item was this...

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Sadly when I got home I discovered that the inlet manifold is designed to be backwards facing.

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My Viva has not got enough room for it in that position- too close to bulkhead. So it'll go on the market or something. I'll be back to making my own. Shame as its nicely made. It would need to be lifted very high to clear the cam cover if spun round.

But I cheer up when I see these sitting on the bench..

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So I now have at least two complete Kl (2.5 L) engines, one rebuilt. Plus many spares. I'm very happy indeed.

Entertaining a friend over from England so cant do much except look at parts sitting there this weekend. Oh well. Next week...

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On Friday we had some proper decent race car scales at work to weigh the front of the Bedford CF Im working on. I took the opportunity to weigh the Viva.

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Now a bog standard poverty spec Viva HB 2 door weighs about 770kg. I have added a heavier rear axle from an HC magnum, heavier larger front discs and calipers, heavier engine and box, heavier seats, heavier widened steels. I have always wondered what the car weighs and I have always guessed it might weigh in at about 850-900 kg.

Guess what it was and then answers on a post card here...

http://oldschool.co....n/page__st__340

Oh btw- it came up at almost perfect 50/50 weight distribution! well at least without me in it that is.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have not done as much work on this as planned as I am trying to get as much bike riding in- I have a mtb race in March that I really want to do well in- beat my previous best time (of 18 years ago..) :-) And then any spare time at work recently I have been using to build a welding bench for my new welder.

Anyway- on Saturday I marked up and drilled the 10mm thick adaptor plate. It was a bit of a mission as I wanted to get it spot on.

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I made a spacer to hold the input shaft tight and central and then a little bit on the end with a centre that I could measure off...

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I was originally going to use 16mm, then decided on 12mm but that wa almost the same price as 16mm. Going to 10mm saved me $85! And it means I dont need to space the flywheel back so much. I decided to make steel inserts for the bellhousing bolts though rather than rely on 10mm of alloy to screw into. The plate locates and centralises on two dowels in the bellhousing and two in the block.

tonight i finshed the last insert and checked that it all worked. I have yet to finish cutting down outside of the plate.

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I then set to working through the starter pinion/ring gear problem. As the V6 ring gear is 10mm smaller dia I was going to have to move the rx7 starter inwards 5mm. I originally discounted using the V6 starter as the locating tabs were wrong and the solenoid sticks outwards. But I checked the room in my Viva around the starter and there is still enough room for exhaust pipes.

The V6 starter was too big in diameter by only 5mm and it also has a bigger pinion- 9mm bigger. Almost the difference I need. Plus its a later high torque unit.

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I spun it down to fit.

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And its almost perfect for mesh.

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I would like it in a further 1mm to take up the back lash so I might turn down the other one I have but do it in the 4 jaw chuck and offset it by 1mm.

Now I need to move the starter forwards by as much as I can- I need about 8mm. This photo is as it is with out any spacer to take in account of the 10mm plate I have added.

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I cant just space the flywheel back all the way as I fear I then wont have enough room for the clutch release bearing to clear engagement. I will take some off the starter - maybe 2.5mm. Then hopefully mill the flat that the starter sits against - but not till I get my box out of the Viva. ( remember this current box is on loan)

I would like to borrow a release bearing and clutch fork so I can see what I can get away with. Hopefully I can get these locally. I'm bloody relieved that the pinion to ring gear diameter problem is sorted anyway- it would have been a mission to try and move the starter inwards.

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This is not a huge update full of massive steps forwards but I am very happy indeed to discover that with only a small amount of modifying the sexy fraser inlet manifold will fit facing forwards. sweet!

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I promise to get some real work done this weekend....

and soon the rotor will have to be pulled out... sad times but thats evolution.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This weekend should be the last weekend that the Viva will be propelled forwards by two softened triangles spinning away merrily. I will miss it but Im positive the V6 will be even better (certainly sound better) and I have very itchy engine swappy fingers.

Last night I finished off the spacer that moves the flywheel back 13.5mm. Its a good fit and with that done the conversion of the V6 into RWD configuration is all finished. I now just need to sling it in place and build some engine mounts.

I have been playing with our new ac/dc tig welder. Its top fun! lots to learn but boy its gonna be handy! My first alloy welds, just practicing running beads. My control still isn't there to blend two thin bits together yet but with practice. The really messy porous looking welds were due to a loose gas hose to the hand piece- I was wondering what was happening and why it was going all messy. Plus the torch was getting hot. Then I heard the argon escaping down by the machine. hah.

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I then thought why not see how the welder handles 10mm thick alloy. I veed the gap out first and then set too. things got pretty hot by the end of it, including me on what was already a hot summer night in the shed. BUt the welder was fine and it almost looks neat. It wont actually be seen anyway but at least now the plate doesn't have a big gap.

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I bought a $35 chunk of alloy to make my spacer and then found a chunk big enough behind my tool box. Typical. I had to work carefully with the old lathe as its quite worn out and I dont want any throwout at all with the flywheel.

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the spacer all finished.

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When I have finished lunch its off to work for the afternoon to finish getting the last things ready before I pull the Rotary out. I have many many things to make and do once the V6 is sitting in place but it will still be a cool place to be just having it mounted there.

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So took the Viva out for last (rotary powered) spin yesterday evening. Met up with Andre who brought out his genuine GT. Had a couple of little races here and there just to confirm to Andre that my little rice powered engine still beats his boat anchor 2.3 slant 4 with big ol' webbers..... :-)

Got some pretty photos.

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I'll miss this little engine- it has done 8652 kms completely fault free and never failed to start since last october. Nothing amazing for a modern engine but for a cobbled together old 12A being fed by a carbie turbo its not bad. Still uses bugger all oil. I think its next home may well be Shane's little Ford Anglia- he's the painter at work. Will go bloody well in that!

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Today the Viva goes under the knife.

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And its out...

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Then in with this.. except I had only loosely done the clutch cover bolts so the input shaft moved it out of line, it was bloody hot and we were running late to look after the olds dogs. But anyway- it fits without touching the servo- so thats nice.

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Oh and looking after the new Mainecoon girl called Molly- who has the biggest tail I have ever seen on a cat..

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The Mazda V6 engine is now sitting happily in the bay. Looks good but is now involving a fair bit more work than I first thought.. I knew it!!! Typical. But its all for the greater good.

Started off this morning by making a proper engine hoist hanger bracket thingee that is adjustable front to back so I can tilt engine. Now much better than silly chain we tried using 3 days ago. With the new EHHBT the engine slid into place with a nice 'thunk' over the input shaft.

This is where I started head scratching. The engine sits lower than thought because the rotary was mounted a bit higher due to its sump. With the engine lower it also seems a bit further forwards than I thought it would be. Plus, due to the g/box bracket being situated about one third along from the rear of box, the box end has gone up as the engine front went down. hmmm- now the prop shaft sits a touch too high.

Hannah and I stood there looking at the vast space between the heads and the bulkhead. My only main reason for not planning on moving the engine further back was because the propshaft would need shortening, the gear lever might end up too far back, the Lh head would hit the servo. But it was just bugging us- all that space. So we set to work before I changed my mind and while Hannah removed the gearstick, carpets and gearbox crossmember I removed the exhaust and propshaft. Then I chopped a big hole out of the tunnel with mr plasma..

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..then we pushed the engine back 60mm.

Ahhhh- much better!

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I will have to move the servo to the left by about 25mm and to do this neatly I will make a new pedal box layout, chop a silly little bracket away from the bulkhead, strengthening it else where with seam welds and move the servo closer to the bulkhead while I'm at it- to make it tidier a looking area.

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I need to make a new brake pedal anyway as the new certifier I'll be using will spot what the last one didn't even look at- the fact that my current brake pedal is made up of two pedals, rx7 and viva, welded together. Welding these parts is apparently a big no no.

So there we have it- now a fair bit more work involved than I had initially planned but that doesn't matter as the engine is now in a better position and so far its still actually falling into place in OK manner- for example..the new gearbox position 60mm further back meant possibly a new crossmember. But I noticed that the crossmember is not straight across and actually has the box mount forwards. So we flipped it around 180 degrees and the box mount still sits right in the middle. And the new gearlever position falls to hand even better now.

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The oil filter has a little cooler thing mounted above it. Now the filter sits right over the rack and cant be easily removed. But I was thinking of removing the little cooler thing- its so small I cant imagine it does much? Does it? I think its more of an oil warmer for cold climates and quick warmups maybe? anyway- i'll have more oil capacity with my planned sump mods so maybe that will offset the warmer oil?

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Engine is all in nice and solid on it own mounts now. I have over built them a little to make sure mr certifier is happy. THey certainly wont break..

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While engine was out to seam weld the mounts on the crossmember I also lifted the box out and drilled the final holes for the starter. That is all now solid and lines up really good.

The tiny flange of steel that was stopping the servo being able to shift sideways I cut out and and seam welded up the area. Once I have sorted the sump and brake servo relocation I'll seam weld more of the bay in places to add some strength. I wont go over the top though as its not a rally car etc.

I have started working out the sump design. Its nice that it is still front bowl sump for several reasons. Tonnes of space to build in big capacity, easy to slide in and out as I fabricate it, I can use the existing pickup untouched. sweet.

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Last night I spent time chilling out near the creek evaluating sump designs with the aid of rum and sun...and timmy the cat.

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For some reason I don't feel so clearheaded today. I'll just chill for a while and get back to the car later i think...

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I have a few photos to pop up starting with this one....

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Yep. My Viva is now back home. I now have no excuse, except mtbing, running, swimming, drinking rum in the sun..to not crack on and tinker away at it whenever I am home.

As you may have spotted- Timmy the cat is standing guard. He's gonna get lots of cuddles now I'll be about working on the car and be a right proper time waster I think.

Its a good spot. I don't know why I have never bothered to park it around here before. Close to the shed, the truck, the creek, hot and sunny in the afternoon through to sunset. Plus I now have my big old hifi setup to crank up.

So before it moved I spent the last week going to work off and on in between the above activities and chipped away at the trickier fabrication jobs where workshop equipment is handy. I continued on with the sump and lengthened the sides down following the original shape for easy access to the bolts...

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I had a go at tig welding it. First proper go at tigging steel..

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Its not the tidiest welding thats for sure but as long as it doesn't leak I guess its fine. The weld penetration is good and its great practice. I only had one 1.6mm steel filler rod and the suppliers were all shut over xmas break. I want to wing it and have as much capacity without it sticking down to far. I have some rods now so its first job for tomorrow. I love not working mondays!

Another job I completed was the relocation of the brake servo/booster. It needed to be shifted 20mm out and also in closer to the bulkhead.

First off was to fill the old hole and re-centre a new one..

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I ditched the puny pressed steel brackets and made this from 2mm sheet...

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It had to be shaped to suit the now 'not so flat' position on bulkhead. I then added a forth bolt once it sat flush.

Strengthened it as well as sealing it to stop engine smells, drafts with some stainless exhaust tube laying about.

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The current brake pedal would not have cut the mustard with mr Cert man. You are not allowed to cut and shut, weld etc the brake pedal arm. You can play about with the foot pad end but the main arm must be one piece. So I built a new one which allowed me to also change the location. I wanted it to be beefy and stiff. I found some 8mm thick angle iron and plasma cut out the general shape, ground it neat, bent it with gas set, added a new foot pad and machined a new pivot sleeve to take the old bushes. I moved the pick up point for the servo rod down 10mm as the travel was always too much and felt squishy even after lots of bleeding. I may later on play with other positions and or master cylinder bore sizes but I think it should be good now.

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Its super tough and almost looks factory so im happy with the result. Hopefully Certman will like it....

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The old gearbox tunnel top with the gearstick gator turret was getting pretty tired after now having been hacked at and moved for 3 different engines. Time to make a new one. Again a nice job to do at work over a xmas break, with no one about and MY music being played at number 11. Plus having tools like this available to use make things fun and easy..

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I welded it in slowly, stopping often to make sure nothing was on fire. The new turret position in action...

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After having finished that it was off to the beach for a freshen up. 30 degrees outside and not a cloud in the sky makes being in a big tin workshop not a nice place. The beach is only couple of minutes away. ahhhh.

Finished off last jobs when back from beach. I wanted to get rid of all the extra holes in the bulkhead...

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I'll make new ones to suit the new loom etc. So we pulled the engine out- this time with the box attached which was easy as. I welded little discs in place while Hannah sat inside the car wearing leather gloves and extinguishing all the fires catching in that old car horse hair like insulating matting thats fitted on the bulkhead.

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While I was standing in the bay I cut off the very ugly ferry tie down hooks. If its ever rough sailing when it goes on a ferry they cansling it through the crossmember or something. Looks much cleaner without them there and thats the look want.

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For now the bulkhead will sit with primer till I have finished all the plumbing, wiring, hacking. Then I'll pull the lot out and get Shane, the painter at work to paint the bay in a really smooth, lush, hardwearing coat of 2 pack. In original colour. I want it to be super easy to clean unlike my current orange peely rattle can job.

While shifting stuff about I moved the old rotary engine crossmember and realised its another big chunk of weight I was losing from the bay- all helping to even the weights out.

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Better get some sleep and be fresh for a day of vivaring.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Photo dump time as its been a while since last update. I just spent f--king ages typing out my latest update

and then accidenty pressed the x of doom and lost the lot.

so now a short version..

Inlet manifold- i wanted to do somethimng in a 80s factory rally sort of look. The fraser manifld runners are too short

and put the tb in wrong place plus i wanted to build my own. I did lots of thinking about designs, lots of drawings etc

and read lots of stuff on nerd net. I found out about the dual plenum designs used by audi for many years;

http://www.bufkinengineering.com/intake%20manifolds.htm

I liked the idea but the tapered tube would have lost me vauable space. So I thought inside the box...

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I made room for the new Tps position..

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I then milled up a lid with the old mill at work. Its exactly the look I have planned since

first picturing a V6 in the viva. Sadly the mill doesn't have a proper collet type holder and the 5mm slot drill I had used slipped down in the chuck and went right through on the second groove I cut. I'll weld it up from behind. You can see where it went through on the top right...

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The stock mazda TB is a horrible huge peice of work...

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I duly removed this lot with the saw..

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Ended up with this..

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I'll weld up the remaining holes and mill it flat.

This afternoon I gas cut some exhaust flanges out and Hannah had the fun job of covering herslef in

small shards of metal used the die grinder to clean up the holes.

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I'll order some exhaust bends tomorrow.

We started on the Megasquirt build. And i mean we as Hannah has been reading up the fuel injection book I bought from amazon and is pretty into it. Handy as she spotted quite a few simple things I almost mucked up when assembling it. its quite fun building it- I think the setup and tuning will be more of a drama. Note how my sideburns have gone grey from having to deal with the ownership of one small cat. I totally understand the stress parents must have...

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I have installed the new radiator. I actually managed a pretty neat (for me) set of welds when adding some brackets. Its shame they wont be seen. Happy with the radiator and the way it fits in. but its too shiny and will end up being painted black I think. I dont have a photo of the radiator in place but heres the weld i like..

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and heres Timmy hard at work helping me...

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I broke out the little old mig for some hole filling. I filled in the old air feed hole for the SU carb and made a new larger hole to feed the pod filter on the other side..

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Next big job to get out of the way is to build the new exhaust.

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exhaust time. I thought that instead of building the headers from heavy steel pipe I would instead use lightweight wood. The car would be greener and smell nice too.I could also paint them with house paint. In any colour! So with this in mind I built my headers....

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I then realised that all those gaps would let the fumes escape and that would be no good really. Plus the wood might burn. So steel it was. Started off with my little mig welder and then the co2 ran out. So I then tigged some bits together which looked nice and pretty with neat flat welds but my current argon bottle is almost out and I need that for some more alloy bits in next few days. So luckily my boss let me borrow a mig from work.

I have tried to get the runners matched as best possible within the room I have. Two are almost spot on and one is 10mm longer.

N/S one finished but for end flange.

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Its not really that important as the rest of the exhaust is going to remain 2" for now which will probably make more difference to performance then header lengths. I'll be using exhaust wrap as always- I love the stuff. I think it works well and makes me itchy. Certainly must cut down engine bay temps as on the rotaries I could place my hand on the exhaust pipes with engine running.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My new computer just crashed after having typed loads!!! Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark it. So now a quick update.

The exhaust is finished. Im happy with it as it was tight under there and had to build mid section from litle sectors, upside down under car with sandflies biting. It should flow ok- not sure how noisy it will be yet.

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Spray bombed engine bay. I was planning to get painter at work to do proper job but that can wait till later in year, just wanna drive it. looks much better. i even masked some bits.

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I painted the underside of bonnet too. long overdue.

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Also I started painting inlet manifold. I had to wait till I finished my home made idle control valve - using old mazda bits and made to bolt to rear on plenum underneth. Manifold all etch primed and waiting to wrinkle paint it.

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I have re-routed brake lines through out so they wont need to go across bulkhead. Will look neater and easier to keep clean.

The propshaft all done and balanced. luckily old propshaft safety loop fitted easily in new position with a few mods.

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I have finished building Megasquirt Ecu and just need to test it. then make ignitor box. have some mitsi V6 coils off a GTslow I think. will mount them on bulkhead and mount igniter box nearby so have nice fat leads to feed coils.

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Thermostat housing used to mount on back of the block but adaptor plate is in the way so I have luckily discovered that the rx7 bell housing has a tapped hole to utilise.

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So that was nice. Just need to finish off the pipework next.

Built a little under car surge tank. I need one as this Viva has a small tank and the pickup can be left exposed easily.

Its version two- bigger than version one. Its made to accept an in tank pump after having discovered how much external

pumps cost$$$!

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We now have a second classic car (and was free!) - back up for the Nats if this doesn't make it. Hannah has claimed it and needs to start a thread. Its cool, blue and very English.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some latest photos..

Triple checked bonnet clearance. Close but fine. Also finished all the heater pipes.

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Rear coolant pipework all done..

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My coils- from a mitsi V6. The bracket was huge but once chopped down fits perfectly on bulkhead behind cam cover.

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Building up another engine now. A 2.5L KLZE. Hopefully will sling it in this weekend. I had to work Monday!!! First Monday for ages. 5 day week- yuck! But will take extra time off next week :-)

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