Andrew's '93 NA6 - KL V6 swap

jules · Postby **jules** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:11 pm

I still reckon if I was ever to go down this sort of route, I'd be looking at an SR20DET motor. Would love to know how the forum member with the Laguna Blue Clubbie is faring.

Jules

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:14 pm

I was thinking the same thing. I guess it is about engineering complexities - 2.5 litres capacity is a straightforward engineers approval, and an SR20DET is a bit more work (as was discussed in that guys thread).

PaulF · Postby **PaulF** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:20 pm

I think there's some appeal in using a Mazda engine as well. It's something that Mazda could have done themselves. And a V6 obviously has different characteristics to a turbo I4.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:29 pm

That's right, keep it in the family. A V6 is unique whereas an inline 4 turbo will get the question 'Did you turbo the original engine?'

JG · Postby JG » Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:26 pm

Anyone got a link to the SR20 thread? I've been tossing the idea of an SR16VE, SR20VE or SR20VET around a bit and would love to see what's involved...

dazzvazz · Postby **dazzvazz** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 9:23 pm

Just found this thread and I am astounded by the magnitude of this build. Keep it up the amazing work!

If you are not considering making kits you could always sell CAD files and instructions for the build? Then anyone could go about to their local machinist and get the parts made.

Beelzeboss · Postby **Beelzeboss** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 10:03 pm

lightyear wrote:It does seem like a lot of effort for what could be achieved in one afternoon with a turbo kit on a standard 1.8. But if you want something special and unique - then your way is the way to go. It's good to see some people still giving it a go, and not simply ordering parts from a catalogue. The lessons you learn from doing this will stay with you forever. Good luck, and hope it goes well for you.

Thanks lightyear, I'm definitely learning heaps of new skills in the project. It's been great fun but it is dragging on a bit.

PaulF wrote:I think there's some appeal in using a Mazda engine as well. It's something that Mazda could have done themselves. And a V6 obviously has different characteristics to a turbo I4.

bruce wrote:That's right, keep it in the family. A V6 is unique whereas an inline 4 turbo will get the question 'Did you turbo the original engine?'

Thanks guys, I think by the noise it makes no-one will be in any doubt as to whether it's an inline 4 :lol:

So far all parts in the car are either custom made or Mazda OEM. I'm pretty happy with how that worked out, though I don't have any moral objections to engine swaps from other manufacturers.

dazzvazz wrote:Just found this thread and I am astounded by the magnitude of this build. Keep it up the amazing work!

If you are not considering making kits you could always sell CAD files and instructions for the build? Then anyone could go about to their local machinist and get the parts made.

Thanks Dazz, I'm still thinking about a possible kit. The major complications are the sump and the intake manifold, everything else I can easily reproduce. I could sell the CAD files but I wouldn't feel quite right about it because the bellhousing patterns were given to me by a member on miata.net. All I did was put the starter motor and flywheel into CAD, lay the two bellhousing patterns over each other and that basically created the adapter plate.

It's been a busy week back at uni, hence the lack of progress and I'm really starting to panic. As of next week I'll have to start studying hard and this will mean very little time to work on the car. I have to try to get the engine mounts and exhaust done by mid this week. To that end I'll be enjoying many early morning starts and late nights working on the car :evil:

. My next door neighbours are away on holiday so I can use the grinder a bit later, this should mean more progress.

I've spent the past few days making a jig to produce engine mount brackets. It's finally finished and I've churned out the first passenger side engine bracket. The new brackets will move the engine 5mm back and 7mm closer to the drivers side to give better clearance on a few components. The jig is completely adjustable to put the engine pretty much anywhere I want and making new brackets is about a 2 hour job.

I'm very happy with how it looks, the jig is very strong and easy to set up. The engine mount bracket is TIG welded from 4mm thick mild steel. Tomorrow morning I'll finish welding it and make the drivers side bracket. If there's time after that I'll do a bit more on the exhaust. With any luck I'll post another update tomorrow night.

Beelzeboss · Postby **Beelzeboss** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 11:18 am

Oh how I love 6am starts :evil:

I'm just about to head out to uni but I thought I'd quickly post this anyway, I've finished both of the new engine mount brackets.

Old vs new drivers side

Old vs new passenger side

This pic shows the difference in "heights" which is responsible for moving the engine towards the drivers side.

Depending on how long tonights Formula SAE meeting is I might be able to make the water pump spacer today. Tomorrow I'll hopefully get the coolant re-route done and then the only difficult part left is the rest of the exhaust.

Bizi · Postby **Bizi** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:22 pm

Thanks for the updates and the great pics.

I agree it's worth making up some stuff like the engine mounts if you have time and someone willing to use your exact setup.

Good luck with the exhaust. Get the measurements triple-checked.

Beelzeboss · Postby **Beelzeboss** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:25 pm

Thanks Bizi, I really enjoy getting feedback on the progress I'm making on the car.

Today I made the 2-1, 2" - 2 1/2" collector. First I made two small triangular shaped pieces to join the two pipes, then I squashed a 2.5" pipe so that it had the same radius as the 2" pipe and split it in half length ways. Then I welded stainless triangles into the gaps created.

I also made the water pump pulley spacer. It spaces the pulley out so that it runs on the same belt as the alternator.

First I machined the 32mm dia. spigot on one end of a piece of aluminium

Then I had to indicate it true (within 0.0005") and machine it to the required 24mm thickness

Then I drilled a 25mm hole (the biggest drill I have)

Then bored it out to 32mm dia.

Test fit, this is where it goes on the engine

Then all that was left was to drill the four holes which hold the pulley on

The finished article, mounted with some longer bolts

Tomorrow I'll try to get the exhaust done up to the back of the gearbox, the rest of it looks pretty easy to do.

Postby **NitroDann** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:35 pm

Beelzeboss wrote:

You know you can just use 2 pieces of straight 2.5" pipe?
First you cut a long V into the pipes.
Then use hose clamps to squeeze the pipe into a cone.
Then with the clamps connected tack weld the V together.
Remove the hose clamps and Seam weld the pipe.

Now you have a perfect cone. Cut the ends of the pipes at whatever diametre you want.
Of course now you just cut and join the cones like any straight pipe you were making a collector out of.
Like this:

But of course with the cones rather than straight pipe, and at whatever collector angle suits you.

Looks good though.

Dann

Beelzeboss · Postby **Beelzeboss** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:54 pm

Cheers Dann,

I've made one that way before but it was really difficult to do the weld in between the pipes and when I cut off the end of the pipe it didn't make a perfect circle (and it never will unless you're using 2 of the same diameter pipe as the outlet) so I had to bash and bend it to get it circular. Also the fact that stainless work hardens really easily and you're trying to bend it right where you've welded it makes it a bitch to make. In steel I'd definitely make it that way but for stainless I prefer my way.

Anyway, it's done now and fully welded.

Postby **NitroDann** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:57 pm

Yeah it looks great, dont get me wrong.

Just thought Id let you know if you weren't aware.

Wish I had a lathe.... and a mill...

Dann

Beelzeboss · Postby **Beelzeboss** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:01 pm

Haha, thanks Dann I appreciate the input.

As for the machine tools I only have them because I've done machining as a hobby for many years. I started out with a small second hand lathe in high school and made a couple of simple steam engines.

Then I made an Edge Sidewinder Plus from plans. It had a Suzuki GS-500F twin cylinder 4-stroke engine with a 6 spd gearbox. It really flew when it was working but it was insanely loud :lol:

A car/vehicle has to make the right sound. Unfortunately I went a bit overboard with this one, it was deafening.

Build thread here:
http://www.edgebuggyforums.com/viewtopi ... =25&t=4832

Finally I moved on to my current project which is on hold until the MX-5 is done. It's going to be a two seater mid-engined race car powered by a Subaru EJ25. Target weight is 700kg, hopefully road registered with a full fibreglass body.
Basically all I've done so far is the chassis with a few suspension brackets but the whole car is designed in CAD. It took me months to research and design the suspension geometry, chassis, drivetrain, etc.

Build thread here:
http://www.ozclubbies.com.au/index.php? ... oby-middy/

*EDIT* Sorry about the massive picture overload