infernosg's S5 N/A Build

[infernosg]

Originally Posted by tweiss3

I could never hurt, and will take only 5 minutes to do.

Yeah, making the wire isn't difficult I just need to find a convenient way to connect it to the battery.

Despite heat indices over 110 degrees I've made some small progress. The loom for the coils is done. I just need to connect all the wires to the main engine harness.



My custom K&N filters also came in so I tapped one for the IAT sensor and mocked them up.



I put the IAT sensor in the rear filter because I figure that'll have hotter intake temperatures and therefore be the limiting factor. I really need to find a way to get cooler air to the filters. A TII hood should put air in the general area...

[beefhole]

How about something like this?
Yes, it's a 20B in an RX-8 but you can see the general idea. Build a plenum and a big duct.


PS
check out speedhunters, should have some good rotary stuff coming up seeing as tomorrow is 7/7

[infernosg]

A small update after a Summer of getting nothing done.

Except for the alternator and starter power wires everything is connected in the engine bay. I have about another 12" of wire remaining that needs to be covered on the main branch but I ran out of electrical tape. I also need to shorten wires that run to the transmission about 6" but I think I'll do that with the engine out.





Yeah I know the loom is ugly and kind of sucks. As long as it keeps the wires from getting wet/toasted though. It doesn't have to be pretty; it just has to work!

I've also gone ahead and purchased just about all the parts I need to rebuild the engine. What $2000+ in parts looks like:



Picture includes but isn't limited to: RX-8 stat gears, NRS ceramic apex seals, Mazda OEM seals (except apex seals and with FD corner seal springs), gaskets, etc. RX-8 e-shaft will also be used but it, along with all my other rotating parts are at Mazdatrix being balanced.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by infernosg

I put the IAT sensor in the rear filter because I figure that'll have hotter intake temperatures and therefore be the limiting factor. I really need to find a way to get cooler air to the filters. A TII hood should put air in the general area...

A T2 hood would make a great cold ram air intake to those filters. Looks like they are about the same size and similar placement as the stock T2 intercooler. Just fabricate up a box to enclose the filters that is open on the top side, with your choice of sheet metal or fiberglass, and stick a mating flange surface along the open top side that matches up to the rubber seal under the scoop area of the T2 hood. Tip - borrow a T2 IC to use as a template. To locate the box and keep it in the right placement with the hood closed, you can fabricate AL bracket(s) to rigidly mount the box to one or more of the unused threaded holes on the keg that were once used for the vacuum plumbing.

[infernosg]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

A T2 hood would make a great cold ram air intake to those filters. Looks like they are about the same size and similar placement as the stock T2 intercooler. Just fabricate up a box to enclose the filters that is open on the top side, with your choice of sheet metal or fiberglass, and stick a mating flange surface along the open top side that matches up to the rubber seal under the scoop area of the T2 hood. Tip - borrow a T2 IC to use as a template. To locate the box and keep it in the right placement with the hood closed, you can fabricate AL bracket(s) to rigidly mount the box to one or more of the unused threaded holes on the keg that were once used for the vacuum plumbing.

I really wish I had a TII hood to mess with. Otherwise, what you laid out is what I was thinking. I'd have to pass the throttle cable through the airbox though. I also want to make a cut out in the hood and add some ducting to vent the radiator but I'm not sure how that would work with the TII hood scoop (i.e. would I just suck the hot air back into the intake)? Once I get the car running it's definitely something I'm looking into.

The main harness is completed. It still looks pretty ugly but as long as it keeps the wires dry/cool it'll do for now. All that's left are alternator power wires, the starter power cable, the spark plug wires, and trimming the transmission harness once the dummy engine's out.



This area was a PITA:



I put the alternator and spark plugs in to get an idea of how to route the spark plug wires:



I'm thinking 90 degree boots at the coils then the wires run next to the fuse box, over the alternator, and down to the plugs with straight boots. This should keep them from the main harness and any wires it comes near will be crossed at 90 degree angles.

[Gregory Casimir]

Hey where did you get your din and radio display and how much was it?

[infernosg]

Originally Posted by Gregory Casimir

Hey where did you get your din and radio display and how much was it?

I picked it up used from another member here. IIRC, they were a limited run part by someone over on 7Club. Unfortunately not something available "off the shelf." It probably wouldn't be all that hard to make if you have some 20 ga steel and the proper tools.

It's starting to looks like a proper engine bay again:



I finished the alternator power wires. They sit higher than I'd like, which means the plug wires are going to be close. Hopefully this won't cause an issue. Starter power, plug wires, and shorten the transmission harness and the wiring is complete.

[infernosg]

Took measurements for plug wires and got the starter cable completed. Here's the end result:




The starter wire snakes along the frame rail next to the main harness and passes under the steering column to the starter:



I'm going to go back and redo the wiring a little. I've determined I don't need the second breaker in the engine bay. There is already one breaker <12" from the battery and the alternator power passes through a 100A fuse in the main fuse box. I'm going to replace it with a bus bar or single post terminal to eliminate the loop in the starter cable and just in general clean things up.

I checked out the whole system again. Fortunately everything still powers up and the starter spins. I hadn't gone back and verified the system worked since taking C. Ludwig's advice about the primary ground.

[infernosg]

Ordered custom length plug wires from Magnecor and some electrical stuff to clean up the main power cables on Friday. Should be here today or tomorrow. Ovder the weekend I rigged up the throttle cable. Made a bracket out of 1/8" flat stock and reused the stock throttle cable:





I had to tweak the cable mount on the TB a little and increase the width of the "channel" in the cable guide to get everything to work with the stock cable. I still need to rework the bracket a little to allow me to remove the throttle cable without pulling everything apart and position the cable a little lower to be properly aligned with the guide. The biggest PITA was getting the range of motion of the pedal to match that of the TB, which involved me having to modify the pedal assembly a little. Works pretty well now but the pedal is softer than I'd prefer. I need to find a way to increase the spring tension at the pedal or TB or both somehow, so if anyone has any ideas I'm all ears. Also, does anyone know how to remove anodized coating without a ton of sanding (i.e. chemically) or if you can anodize over an existing coating? Trying to ditch the blue and would prefer black.

How the engine bay currently sits:

[infernosg]

Another day, some more (slow) progress.

My custom Magnecor plug wires arrived yesterday. 30" length, 90 degree HEI "top post" style boots for the coils and straight boots for the spark plugs. I also got two sets of their wire separators. Considering the decent wires and terminals and the proper crimping tool/dies $110 really isn't too bad of a price.



These are their 8.5 mm "KV85 Race Wires."



Magnecor makes a lot of claims about their wires and EMI/RFI interferrence but I don't know about all that. Either way I've had good experience in the past and their super easy to work with.

THe 30" length was somewhere between a measurement and a guess. I used some old vacuum line to approximate the route of the wires. Fortunately my guesstimate was spot on this time.



Another angle:



The wires are held in place at the fuse box with a little bracket I made out of 16 ga steel (is in the process of being painted):



Overall I'm pretty happy. The wires just barely contact the brake line for the driver's front caliper but other than that there is ample clearance to the alternator and steering column. I tried to route them so they cross everything else at 90 degrees and I pretty much accomplished that.

[infernosg]

Found a solution for the soft throttle:







Went to Autozone and picked up a pack of generic throttle return springs and a cheap APC throttle return spring bracket. I bent the bracket flat in a vice and it works quite well. There was an unused threaded M4 hole in the cable pulley that I used for the other anchor of the spring. The pedal could still be a little stiffer but it's a lot better than before. Of all the springs this was the stiffest one that could fit between the pulley and the cable guide arm. I'll probably make a little extension piece to add to the APC bracket or make a new bracket altogether so I can run another spring on the other side of the pulley for some more tension.

[infernosg]

It's been a while. Time for an update.

The pedal was still too soft for my liking so I wanted to add another spring. The APC bracket was too short so I made another using it as a template. It's still a little rough but the pedal is nice and firm now.



I realized I didn't need the second circuit breaker in the engine bay so I replaced it with a single post terminal. This got rid of the weird loop in the starter cable and made it shorter. More clearance between the main harness and the alternator now too. I also found a neat cover-thing to prevent any shorts.



While I'm waiting for my exhaust manifold to be completed I started cleaning and painting various engine pieces. Nothing crazy. Aluminum pieces painted "aluminum" and iron pieces will be painted "iron."

Alternator and new dual sheave pulley:



Water pump housing:



Masking/painted rotor housing:





Alternator relocation bracket (still need to paint the slide):



Blocked off oil metering pump on front cover and painted it and the CAS:





Ordered oil pan brace and painted it black:



I also convinced myself to replace the bulk of the 23 year-old fasteners.

Bolts for water pump and front cover and washers for exhaust manifold and engine mounts:



Additional bolts for the front cover, nuts for the water pump housing, exhaust manifold, and engine mounts, and washers for the water pump housing are still on their way.

McMaster for just about everything else (all are Class 10.9 and black-coated):



Cleaned the oil pan:



Still need to remove some residual silicone/gasket material and paint.

Balanced rotating assembly came back. New main pulley and e-shaft thermal bypass delete:



F/R rotors (within 3g):



Other rotating bits (new rear counterweight on the right):



New e-shaft (RX-8) versus old:



More painting/cleaning to come. Dummy engine will come out once the exhaust manifold is test fit.

To do:
-Paint intermediate housings, intake manifold and misc brackets
-Clean engine bay
-De-power steering rack
-Duct forward side of radiator
-Make FG fan shroud
-Make extension harness for O2 sensors
-Permanently install seat/harness
-Rebuild/install engine
-Make some kind of exhaust
-Start???

[DivinDriver]

You do nice work, sir!

[infernosg]

Not much going on. Waiting for the exhaust manifold to be finished so I can wrap up the engine mock up and wire the O2 sensors. I decided I didn't like the blue so I soaked the anodized TB parts in drain cleaner:



After a little bit of polishing I cleaned and assembled the TB for the last time. It not gets wrapped up and stored away until it's time for final assembly.



After several hours of masking I get the intermediate housings all painted. No flashy colors here. Color is "cast iron." Fitting.



I've also painted all the misc. engine brackets and stuff black. The oil pan was stripped and repainted as well.

I decided to make my own fiberglass fan shroud so I bought all the materiel for that. I now just need to find the time to get that made.

Where I'm stuck and what has been a perpetual thorn in my side is ducting the inlet side of the oil cooler and radiator. Stock oil cooler and Koyo N-Flo radiator in the stock locations. No matter how I look at it I can't seem to visualize a good way to make the ducts and/or how to attach them to the car. The popular trend seems to be to make a new undertray and duct the oil cooler and radiator separately with the oil cooling vented underneath the car. Thoughts, pictures, examples?

[infernosg]

So I realize it's been over a month since I've updated. More on that later.

I've purchased just about everything else I need for this build except for a harness:

I decided to stud the engine, rather than re-use the stock tension bolts.



This is the kit from Turblown. I also sourced two new OEM tension bolts for the "legs" of the keg.

Also purchased:

- New clutch slave cylinder and SS clutch line
- RB primary injector plugs
- RB oil pan baffle
- RB "street" oil pressure regulator
- RB aluminum flywheel, street/strip pressure plate, street/strip HD disk
- Mazdatrix oil cooler lines
- New OEM oil cooler brackets

I probably won't use the little support plate RB supplies with the injector plugs as this is a N/A engine so the plugs will never see positive gage pressure and it's downright ugly. I'm going to have to tweak to th injector plugs a little as well because for some reason they extend into the flowpath of the intake ports. Nothing a little grinding won't fix.



That's all the parts that have been sitting in my garage for going on 3 weeks now. I said I haven't been able to get much done and this is primarily for two reasons:

1. Still can't figure out a design for the radiator/undertray I like.
2. Our first child was born 10/26:



Hopefully as things calm down I'll be able to get back out to the garage. Goal is still to fire up in the Spring.