It's been a while since I've updated this. Been busy with the baby for the most part but I managed to get a few things done. Painted a bunch of stuff:

Intake manifold:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8...122_184200.jpg

T-stat cover (ground off misc. features):

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7...122_184237.jpg

Water pump:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B...123_171454.jpg

I decided to redo the ignitor mount design a little. I went with thicker plastic spacers instead of metal for better insulation/retention:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F...123_154814.jpg

Modified/painted the RB injector plugs. They no longer extend into the intake flowpath:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j...125_221144.jpg

Bought/installed harness for driver's side and installed most of the interior again:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...122_172934.jpg

Bought a neat oil catch can so I'm not using the charcoal cannister as one:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8...124_220813.jpg

Pulled steering rack to de-power: Before:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-q...127_161240.jpg

After:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B...127_175751.jpg

Need to figure out a few things to the de-powering process since TitaniumTT's sticky is missing a couple pictures. Still shouldn't be too difficult.

Still waiting on my header from Logan @ Defined and put in an order for an ISC Racing front splitter. Toying with the idea of buying one of the vented hoods from Shine Auto Project.

Got a little more work done last night. Unfortunately I can only work ~1 hour during the weeknights with my current schedule so progress is slow. Got the rack/pinion completely diassembled:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...128_172843.jpg

Followed TTT's how-to thread and cut off the seal on the rack, and removed the bearing to get to the snap ring holding the seals on the pinion. I also pulled the spring out of the seal on the rack support.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-d...128_221810.jpg

There's still a seal (or two?) inside the rack housing that I need to figure out how to remove so I can pull their springs as well. Next step: weld up the pinion to remove the "slop:"

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...128_221711.jpg

The ISC Racing splitter came in on Wednesday. It's certainly a no-frills fiberglass racing splitter. I'm going to need to be careful with this.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-k...130_213638.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-C...130_213733.jpg

Their "mounting kit" was unavailable so I need to figure out my own way of installing it. I want to incorporate Dzus fasteners for ease of installation and removal.

i've since given it some thought and i figured (at least for the IAT) that the open elements are probably be the better choice. i considered the points you mentioned, but i also figured that it might be a tad more accurate from minute to minute. it's all total conjecture on my part though.

Got the housing cleaned up. Cut off and welded up the P/S ports on the rack housing and plugged the ports on the pinion housing with QuikSteel (no TIG and couldn't find the right bolts).

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-n...203_150759.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u...203_150811.jpg

I also welded up the pinion but my welds kind of suck so I'd rather not share that picture on the internet. I just need to find a way to paint the housing (too damn cold!) and I can put everything back together again.

I also started to mess with the TII side skirts I've had lying around for over a year since I'm going to do some body work with this build. I bought the side skirts second (or third?) hand so they're missing several clips and things, which are NLA from Mazda. I'm going to have to be a little creative to install these...

Got the steering de-power done:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-z...210_165928.jpg

I still need to find and mark "center" for reinstalling. I've counted lock-to-lock on the pinion shaft and I'm coming up somewhere between 2.5 and 3, which is weird because I'm 90% certain I had the electronically controlled (vehicle speed sensing) power steering, which is supposed to be like 3+ turns lock-to-lock. Is the inner tie rod supposed to be able to slip through the rack "plug" (the thing with the lock wire) on the passenger side? Mine doesn't.

I also picked up another set of TII side skirts in MUCH better condition than my previous ones. These still have 90% of the original clips so it'll make installing them that much easier.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-s...210_170115.jpg

I'm also in the process of selling my current 16x8 RPF1's. The new setup will be 17x9.

New wheels and tires arrived!

17x9 +22 Enkei RPF1 in black with 255/40R17 Dunlop Direzza ZII (successor to the Star Specs):

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B...220_173646.jpg

Comparison of 255/40R17 versus 205/60R15 (what's on the car now). I'm surprised how great the diameter difference is.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z...220_173751.jpg

Unfortunately the hub rings that came with the wheels don't fit (59.2 mm != 59.6 mm, thanks Tirerack!) so I didn't mess with mounting the wheels just yet. Here's a couple mock up shots:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H...220_173842.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v...220_174246.jpg

Just a little bit of poke in the front ;) (Shine wide fenders coming soon).

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a...220_174303.jpg

Inside clearance is tight in the front but looks doable. I'll check again when the hub rings come in and I put the car back on the ground. I assume the inside clearance in the rear will be just fine but I'll likely be massaging the fenders a bit.

Nice man. The shine fronts will clear that easily. I have 17x9 +20 up front with Shine's fenders and it has plenty of clearance...

What do you plan on doing for the rear fenders?

Looking at them now I could probably get them to fit up front with more camber (only at -1.5* now) and a little more rolling/pulling. When I was going through the calculations I estimated the wheels would stick out further than my previous setup (+22.7 mm) and I was told the Shine fenders were really only +20 mm.

I plan on just rolling/pulling the rear fenders since there's a lot more material to work with back there.

I honestly dont have a stock fender laying around but I'd say the front is wider than 20mm over stock... don't know on the rear (not using their rear fenders.... yet). The shine front fender has a 20 degree less cut on the arch, that may be where you got the 20mm vs the normal 30mm. They are modeled after the foresight fender which is 30mm. If you need me to take a fender off and make measurements... let me know.

That could be it. I've already placed the order with Shine so I'll have them in a few weeks to take the measurements myself. Either way it can't hurt to have a little more room. Depending how close everything is to the suspension I may want to space the wheel out a for more mm anyway.

For anyone's reference Tirerack says a lot of wheels won't fit our cars not because the wheels don't physically fit but because they don't carry the correct 59.6 mm hub rings. I find this strange because a quick internet search yielded literally hundreds of results for 73-59.6 mm rings. I got a new set from Discount Tire Direct coming in today. Not only will the fit but they're also metal unlike the cheap plastic ones from Tirerack.

Yea.. The plastic ones I got from tirerack on the enkeis for the rx8 were plastic and have since destroyed themselves on track. I don't even run them now... The fc has metal ones though.. Also from discount tire lol...

Can't wait to see ur beast on the ground with those wide fenders :)

I know a lot of people that don't run them or say they aren't necessary. It's justa peace-of-mind thing to me. The new ones came in (neon teal in color) and fit perfectly.

Small update today. Got the steering rack centered and installed this weeked:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...223_154644.jpg

I think I've have actually gained a little extra steering angle. I reattached the outer tie rods to my previous marks and the hubs were definitely pointing off to the driver's side. I re-centered the rack by measuring the total displacement and splitting the difference of one of the inner tie rods. Perhaps the piston on the rack also acted like a stop?

I test fit the rear wheels with the car on the ground. I'm going to need a little more camber and some small fender work:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-c...223_154538.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O...223_154612.jpg

Nothing a roller and some time won't fix.

After that I played around with the front splitter. This thing is going to take a lot of work to look halfway decent:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_...223_161902.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Y...223_161915.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-U...223_161939.jpg

Basically it's 2-3 inches too wide at the front wheels and seems uneven from side-to-side. According to ISC-Racing this is the quality of a "race part" I should expect. Maybe it'll fit better with the bumper cover actually mounted and not held on with duct tape and once I notch the splitter for the stock fender bolts. That won't happen until I get the other fiberglass pieces in and get everything lined up.

On a whim I looked up the 929 MC and brake booster upgrade. Found a set with 161k miles locally that I'll probably pick up for the hell of it. I never really intended to do this swap as I still have the stock brakes but if the parts check out, why not?

What got me thinking about this was I've increased the height of the accelerator pedal to match the range of motion of the new TB setup. This causes that pedal to be even higher than the brake pedal and I'm worried this'll make it excessively hard to heel-toe. Hopefully the decreased brake pedal range of motion with the 929 MC and booster the pedals will be better matched again.

Turns out they had already scrapped the car. Found another 929 booster/MC somewhat locally and went to check it out this weekend. Looks to be in pretty good shape but the car was at the bottom of a "stack" of three cars. They're going to pull it for me over the week and I'm heading back up next weekend to pick them up.

While I was at the scrap yard I asked if they had any Miata transmissions lying around. I ended up coming home with this:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H...303_142154.jpg

Miata transmission without tail housing:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z...303_150946.jpg

Miata bell housing removed:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9...303_155307.jpg

Side-by-side with my stock transmission. I wonder why the Miata transmission doesn't have the huge harmonic balancer on the output shaft.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Y...303_165402.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h...303_165417.jpg

This is about as far as I got as I'm unsure how to proceed. Everything I've read on the subject just says "swap the 'guts' and modify the input shaft." Not very descriptive. Do I need to swap the output shafts to keep the harmonic balancer? What about the gear housing? Is there an easier way to remove the input shaft than what's outlined in the FSM? Whatever the end may be I plan on cleaning up the housings and painting them and replacing all relevant seals.

Lastly, here's the driveshaft bearing in my tail housing:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q...303_170640.jpg

Is the bearing usually this color or is the bearing toast? FWIW, the bearing on the Miata tail housing looks similar.

Interesting build.

I like that wiring. Clean.

I wouldn't fret about the harmonic balancer being on the original transmission and not the Miata, I believe only S5 transmissions got those. The bearing looks fine to me.

Thanks! It's far from perfect and nowhere near as nice as some of the other builds going on right now but it should serve its purpose. I figure I'll probably redo everything in future so I'll spend the big bucks on fancy loom and connectors then.

There's a little more wear evident now that I've cleaned the tail housing some but I plan on just leaving it. I really don't want to mess with removing that and installing a new one.

I spent a good amount of time in the garage this weekend and got seemingly nothing done. I was finally able to remove the large lock-nut, which holds the harmonic balancer, with some large channel-lock pliers and a vice.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t...310_104831.jpg

After that I removed the selector rods ends and pulled both intermediate housings.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W...310_111323.jpg

That's as far as I can go now without the tools needed for further disassembly. I spent the rest of my time trying to clean 24 years worth of oil residue and road grime from the transmission housings.

I also picked up the 929 brake booster and master cylinder. I don't remember the booster being this rusty when I looked at it last week.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i...310_104755.jpg

The inside of the booster and backside of the MC were both completely dry so I assume the leak is from the bottle. Does anyone know if the seals for the 929 bottle are the same as those for the RX-7? I took a wire brush on an angle grinder to the booster and forunately it's only surface rust.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b...310_164254.jpg

It's pretty pitted but still structurally sound. I need to pick up another wire wheel to remove the paint from the backside then I plan on hitting the whole thing with several layers of hot temperature primer, paint, and clear. The MC cleaned up pretty decently with some solvent and a wire brush.

Got the transmission disassembled as far as I care to go.

Started by removing the gear selector rods and clutch forks.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l...316_130211.jpg

This was the best method of organization I could come up with - taping parts onto cardboard and scribbling the disassembly number from the FSM on the tape. In the end I have two of these cardboard pieces completely filled.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...316_130226.jpg

The modified puller from FC Fach to get those hard-to-reach bearings and clutches:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-G...316_131317.jpg

After that I basically forgot to take pictures because I started having difficulty. The mainshaft lock nut didn't cooperate for the longest time. I ended up completely disassembling the 5th/reverse clutch to remove it. The biggest PITA was the main countershaft bearing. The mainshaft popped right out of it's bearing but the countershaft didn't want to cooperate. For reference the FSM states to "tap the end of the countershaft lightly with a brass hammer." Yeah, that didn't work. I ended up having to pull the bearing out of the bearing support plate. Shortly after removing counter shaft bearing:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b...316_205922.jpg

You can see the giant-ass socket FC Zach made for the mainshaft lock nut in the background. Quick shot of the countershaft, maintshaft, and bearing plate.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...316_210322.jpg

You can see the bearing still on the countershaft and the mainshaft bearing still in the support plate. Both have been removed since that picture was taken. All that work just to get to this:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-J...316_211551.jpg

The "input shaft" and second gear pinion. The input shaft needs to be cut down a bit to fit the RX-7. Once that's done I get to clean all the individual pieces and reassemble. Synchros all look good so no plans to replace them now. I spent the better part of Sunday cleaning 24 years of demon sludge (road grime + engine oil + transmission fluid) off/out of the transmission cases in preparation for paint.

Looks like a great weekend of work. You have more guts than I do, transmissions scare me.

Maybe other transmissions are different but the Mazda "Type M" really isn't all that bad. The hardest part is having the right tools and keeping track of everything. Speaking of keeping track of everything, here's the entire gear set exploded:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-G...323_181140.jpg


Something interesting to note; the Miata 2nd gear is double-synchro'd:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-R...323_181332.jpg

Another odd difference is the RX-7 reverse gear is straight cut whereas the Miata is helicall.

I've also got the housings mostly clean.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j...323_181229.jpg

If the weather ever warms up I'll finish scrubbing these and slap on a few coats of paint.

The input shaft is with a machine shop to be modified (also modifying my RX-8 rear stationary gear). While I wait for that I'm debating swapping the RX-7 5th gear over to achieve a taller 5th for highway driving. Because of the Miata input and countershaft differences the ratio bumps up from .697:1 to something like .75x:1, which is still better than the .814:1 of the Miata. It's not like I'll ever go into 5th on the track anyway.

Shine body parts will arrive tomorrow as well. It's going to be a busy couple weeks :)

Is the ratios like the FC ratios?
If so, this makes sense...
If the ratios from 1st to 2nd are pretty wide, then the double syncho would make for a smoother shift between the two, especially at high revs.
FC's are known to scratch the 1st -> 2nd gear shift when getting close to redline.
Also, trying to downshift and rev match is a royal PITA from 2nd -> 1st, although most people don't need to, but some really low speed autocross course might...


This makes sense too...
FC's tend to scratch going into reverse gear...
A band-aid procedure is to shift into 1st (or 2nd) first and then into reverse on the FC.
This seems to help.

Kudos and documenting this and posting the info!


-Ted

this ...
... and this.

Everything I've read about the Miata gear ratios has 1-3 being taller, but closer together than the RX-7 ratios. 2nd gear gets slammed quite a bit both up from 1st and down from 3rd so I can see why Mazda added the second synchronizer. I can see this being even more advantageous in an RX-7 application due to the higher engine speeds. It's a more complicated design, which means more points of failure so I'm curious how it'll hold up. It's a completely different transmission, but does anyone know if Mazda made this same change to the Type R transmission in the FD?


I recall having this issue. Fortunately I spend very little time in reverse. It was just something interesting to note. These transmissions are all fundamentally the same so it's interesting to see all the little internal revisions Mazda did throughout the years. My transmission came out of a '96 Miata so it's possible other years are different. I've heard the latest ('04?) Type M's are the best to get because they have the most amount of improvements.

I'm going to try to take more pictures during the reassembly process. My goal is to use them in reverse in a "how-to" thread. There are many other small differences between the transmissions (e.g. snap rings, bearings, etc.) and I'll try to reference them all there.

In other news the input shaft modification is supposedly done so I'm going to pick that up after work today. I gave them the dimensions from Mazdatrix's website but I'm still a little worried it won't turn out right. Just an annoying trust issue I have I guess...

That is some damn good info in this build keep it up! I'm really looking forward as to how you will set-up the 929 MC as my friend has his installed in a 88 turbo. I haven't done this yet (91 turbo conversion) due to the brake like set-up.

Let me know when you are doing that because I need to get my rx8 stat gear machined too, prob couldn't hurt to have them both done at the same time, maybe help split the cost. Do you have a stock rear stat gear for them to setup the chuck/mockup the bit for?

I already had the machining done and picked up the parts yesterday. I found a local machine and die shop the seemed competent enough to do the job. Groove put in the rear stationary gear:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...327_215027.jpg

I wasn't able to get good measurements of the groove myself so I left them the stock stationary gear to use as a setup. The groove is approximately .100" wide by .060" deep. I plan on using a little RTV in addition to the o-ring so a little error shouldn't be that big of a deal.

I also picked up the input shaft. Fortunately it looks like the turned out correctly. Modified Miata input shaft on bottom, stock RX-7 on top:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-X...327_214814.jpg

A quick check shows the overall length and spline length to be a little longer than the RX-7 shaft but I verified the dimensions with Mazdatrix's recommendations and I trust they know what they're doing so everything should work.

The fiberglass body parts were delivered yesterday too (busy day).

Shine Auto vented hood:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_...327_143507.jpg

The hood is latched in above picture but not bolted to the car. It lines up fairly well but I'm going to have to lower the latch quite a bit it seems. I'll be picking up some hood pins somewhere along the way. It's a true vented hood:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f...327_143523.jpg

I'll be tying the vent into some kind of post-radiator fan ducting eventually.

Shine Auto Fenders:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5...327_144043.jpg

It's a pretty subtle flare but should be enough to cover the wider wheels and tires:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-D...327_144119.jpg

I've got family visiting this weekend so I won't be able to work on the car too much. The immediate plans are to reassemble the transmission and to mock up the body parts to verify fitment. I'll leave the final fitting and painting to the professionals. I'll be picking up a fender roller early next week to work on the rears.

Got bored last night and decided to mock up the driver's fender and hood:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D...404_191333.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w...404_191438.jpg

Any doubt I had taking this direction with the car has been squashed. This is actually making me consider painting the car black now. Plenty of room with the new wheels and tires though. There's definitely going to some fitting involved but I only plan on getting it "close" so I can install the splitter and work on the radiator ducting. I'll let a body shop deal with the final fitting.

Busy weekend. I decided to spend more time painting (due to warmer weather) but I still got to work on the body. I got the passenger's side front fender off and mocked up the fiberglass one:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3...407_184135.jpg

I rolled and pulled the #$%^! out of the rear fenders:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p...407_184216.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3...407_184244.jpg

Overall it's a ~1 inch pull, which is a lot more than I thought was needed. The roll/pull isn't perfect but it's "good enough" for me. This isn't going to be a show car. I chipped the hell out of the paint but I don't care because I've decided to repaint the car once the bodywork's done.

Friday night and Saturday morning were dedicated to scrubbing the transmission housings some more. After the rear fenders were rolled I attacked the transmission and brake booster with high temperature paint. The end result(s):

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7...407_184051.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-h...407_184418.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8...407_184306.jpg

The transmission is just sprayed with "aluminum" but I decided to paint all the misc. brackets and panels black for a little contrast. I decided not to try to fill in any of the pitting (had some Bondo handy) on the booster. I was hoping the paint would fill the pits in a little better, but oh well. Three layers each of primer, paint, and clear should keep it from rusting again for a while.

Here's a shot with the new wheels on front/back. I need to raise the front and lower the rear some, I think. It's hard to tell because the new fenders lowered the arch.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3...407_184113.jpg

I still need to drill the mounting holes in the fenders and work on the hood but I don't know when I'll get around to that. Next weekend is going to be dedicated to reassembling the transmission.

This came in yesterday along with an engine rebuild DVD, intake manifold gasket, and clutch alignment tool:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-p...410_200538.jpg

Aluminum driveshaft. Why? Because I could. I know the stock driveshaft isn't overly heavy but it was relatively cheap and less rotating mass is always a good thing. Also new u-joints...

I started reassembling the transmission. I only got the bearing plate reassembled because taking measurements and keeping everything as clean as possible takes time, which I don't have much of when I can only work after the baby's asleep.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9...410_195518.jpg

I know this part is going to give me a hard time this weekend. I don't understand why Mazda would design a transmission where the bearings are driven in from one side but the shafts are driven into the other side. It seems like this is just asking for the bearings to get all knocked out of place during subsequent reassembly. If anyone has any tips regarding reintalling the main and countershafts I'm all ears. I already plan on trying to heat up the bearing inner races (hopefully without melting the seals) and freezing the shafts.

Hey, if you need an extra hand building your engine, I'd be glad to come over and lend a hand. I know how cumbersome it can be to try to assemble the motor by yourself. Let me know, I'd like to see this engine and wheel/tire setup you've put together.

I didn't know there was was anyone else in the Cinci area. I've seen very few rotary cars out here. I'll keep you in mind as I'm sure I'll need help at some point. This is my first rebuild afterall.

Just a note my guess is the Miata has a helical reverse gear because of the projected audience that would buy the car. They were probably avoiding complaints from customers from excessive noise in reverse.

EDIT- not even excessive noise, its normal in a manual car they just dont understand that.

Yeah, every FWD manual I've ever driven whines in reverse. When I had my 6-speed Tacoma I was actually surprised it didn't make noise. I can technically swap the reverse gear and synchro but I don't see a need. Straight-cut gears are usually for strength but I don't see needing that in a reverse gear.

I only managed to get the mainshaft reassembled over the weekend. I spent entirely too much time looking for vice jaw pads and material to make a bearing driver. Apparently no one sells vice jaw pads locally so I used some 3M 1/4" rubber tape I had lying around. I ended up using 1-1/4" galvanized pipe with the threads cut off as a bearing driver. It turns out the ID is actually closer to 1.40". At least 1.37" is needed to clear the clutch splines on the mainshaft.

Clean parts:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V...413_153723.jpg

Assembled mainshaft:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-R...413_165218.jpg

Everything is cleaned and ready for the next step but life got in the way yesterday. I'm taking pictures of every step along the way. I plan using the pictures in reverse to make a how-to thread.

Well the whole reason is cause of the massive torque in reverse, but reverse isnt used as much as the other gears so you'll be fine lol. It really doesn't matter IMO.

I forget the reverse ratio but I didn't think it was all that high (shorter than 1st). I guess FC did have more power than the Miatas but engine speeds are low in reverse. I'm not worried; it was more of an interesting observation than anything else. There are actually a bunch of small differences between the transmissions.

I was able to get the mainshaft and countershaft installed last night, which is the one task that most worried me. Getting the countershaft out was a PITA so I was worried installing it would be just as bad.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-M...415_195216.jpg

I tried to line up the gears as best as possible. I'm not sure why Mazda made it so the teeth on the countershaft don't line up nicely with the teeth on the mainshaft . 1st is a bit offset but 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are close and those will be the most used. Main bearings stayed in place:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...415_195223.jpg

I used my 1-1/4" pipe to support the bearing as the countershaft was tapped in. I had to remove the reverse idler gear and cage to do this. The whole process is definitely a two-person job. I had my wife hold the bearing plate on the pipe and support the mainshaft while I worked on the countershaft, ensuring everything was lined up. I decided to call it a night after installing the reverse pinion and gears.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-K...415_202125.jpg

There's not much more left: 5th/reverse clutch hub, 5th gear, some washers/spacers, and the rear bearings and this level of the assembly is complete.

Naturally I didn't get as much done as I wanted. It's hard to make progress when you only have ~1 hour to work and you get stuck on something. The 4X mm nut that goes behind the hub gave me issues. The FSM says to shift the assembly int 1st and reverse simultaneously to keep the mainshaft from rotating but because the reverse pinion on the countershaft is helical and unsecured it pops out of position allowing the mainshaft to spin. Eventually my wife came up with a solution to use a small wormgear hose clamp to hold the reverse pinion in place. Torqued to ~140 ft-lb (FSM calls for 94-174 ft-lb) and staked in place:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z...416_201504.jpg

With the delays due to the mainshaft nut I was only able to install 5th gear and the thrust washer behind it:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7...416_202759.jpg

All that's left on the mainshaft are a couple of c-washers and their retainer, the rear bearing, another set of c-washers and their retainer, and finally a c-clip. After that a spacer, the 5th gear pinion, rear bearing, and nut are installed on the countershaft and this part of the assembly is complete.

Long post ahead. I've made a ton of progress on the transmission since I last updated this.

Installed the rear bearings and finished the gear/shaft assembly last week. Getting everything ready for the next level of assembly:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i...420_134532.jpg

Shift rods, clutch forks, etc. installed. Ready to install the intermediate housing:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H...420_152642.jpg

Intermediate housing on, shift rod ends installed, and speed drive gear in place Ready to install bell and extension housings.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-C...420_203038.jpg

Bell and extension housings assembled.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-o...420_211715.jpg

Front bearings installed...

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-g...421_173933.jpg

...and covered.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4...421_175340.jpg

Finished...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G...421_181701.jpg

...or so I thought. After the silicone cured I decided to slap on a stock shift lever and test out the gears again. I quick row from 1-5 to neutral and everything checked out. Wetn to test reverse I found I couldn't get it to engage. I checked the other gears again and all were locked out. A quick spin of the input shaft told me it was already in reverse! I pulled the extension housing (and all it's pieces) off and discovered somehow I managed to shift into reverse while going from 5th to neutral. This morning a quick internet search showed this is quite common in Miatas and RX-7's though I'd never heard about it. Apparently this spring:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5...420_145725.jpg

on the front of the 5th/reverse shift rod puts a good amount of force in the reverse direction. Shifting too quickly from 5th into neutral or too slowly from reverse into neutral seems to be the primary causes although some have reported this is worse with worn shifter bushings. I'm guessing what happened to me was when I released 5th gear into reverse (didn't 'guide' it) the force of the spring boosted the forward momentum of the rod, which somehow carried it into reverse at the precise moment I moved the selector rod into neutral. It probably didn't help that I had only 1/2 the shifter bushings installed and that the transmission was vertical so gravity was acting in reverse's favor. What's most annoying is there is a fix that can be done without removing the extension housing involving a screwdriver through the reverse switch port. Had I waited a few hours I would have discovered this and not had to remove the extension housing and associated pieces. Now I get to scrape off all the silicone and go through that process again. Either way, the transmission is essentially done so it'll be time to move onto the next task soon.

Wow, so a little over a month since my last update. Life got in the way for a few weeks but I've made some progress. The biggest issue I'm having is with the forums actually. I can't do my usual early morning and lunchtime browsing because for some reason my work network has flagged the forums as a malicious/fishing website (other forums are okay). Any idea admins?

Anyway, got the transmission straightened out. Realized I was missing the lower shifter bushing - the one that fits in the selector rod control end. Freaked out for a bit until I realized MMR sold a delrin replacement. Picked that up along with some motor and transmission mounts:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0...519_202516.jpg

As other people have found the bushing needs to be milled/ground down from 19 mm to ~17 mm to clear the return spring. In it's final home:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-k...520_205048.jpg

Transmission selects gears super smooth now. Can't wait to get it on the car. Shifting away from the transmission now, I finally got my 929 MC. Waited >2 months for a Dorman unit from Amazon. Gave up after it kept getting delayed so I picked up a Raybestos unit from RockAuto.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...519_203105.jpg

Definitely a "universal" casting. Too bad the "OEM" unit (Beck Arnley) was over $250! Got to work getting the 929 MC and booster on the car. 929 MC (right) versus stock N/A S5 FC (left):

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-D...527_110433.jpg

And after much bending of break lines and trimming of the BPV bracket everything on the car:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W...527_163104.jpg

Next everything comes off so I can paint the BPV and bench bleed the MC. The most exciting update is after nearly a year of waiting my Defined Autoworks header arrived!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k...524_192338.jpg

I couldn't contain my excitement so I quickly mocked up the engine with exhaust and intake manifolds:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a...524_191959.jpg

Notice something?

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...524_191702.jpg

Yeah... Intake runners are ~1/16" away from the exhaust runner for the trailing rotor. In fact, the intake has to be installed first to even get the exhaust manifold on! Definitely looking into TBC/ceramic coatings now for both the intake and the exhaust. I'm also considering getting the intake manifold flange milled down .100" or so to give some extra clearance. I really want to squeeze a heat shield in there. With that "sorted" I decided to mock up the exhaust on the car. I installed the delrin mounts so everything was in its final position and went at it:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B...527_094016.jpg

It's a pretty tight fit at the passenger's side of the transmission tunnel. The stock heat shield has to go and even then it requires some finesse to get it installed. TBC/ceramic coating is going to be vital. Good thing I know some guys with connections to Cerakote...

That's it for now. Once I get the brakes finished the car will go off to get an exhaust made. Here's where I could use some advice. I really want to go with a single exit to keep overall weight down. Just through eyeballing it looks like I'll be able to fit a presilencer/muffler or two mufflers in series with this setup. Logan at Defined recommends Borla XR-1 mufflers but I'm wondering if two of them in series would be enough to keep noise down. I'm not concerned about volume myself but I don't want to be black flagged on track so sound intensity needs to be <92 dB. The other options I'm considering are Racing Beat presilencer -> Power Pulse muffler or two Power Pulse mufflers in series.

Personally, I don't care for the XR-1 muffler. Lately, everything has been magnaflow with no issues and lifetime warranties. Use a thicker 14ga exhaust tubing with an RB presilencer and good magnaflow performance muffler and it should be plenty quiet for track officials. I know the 14ga is heavier, but an NA rotary with thin exhaust is going to get noticed...


Everything else looks great BTW.... should be a great ride when your done.