82transam

iTrader: (18)

the fc engines mount by the middle plate, not the front cover like the 12a and SE 13b engines, thats where the problem comes in. But like said earlier, its a non issue if you swap the fc engine along with the subframe.

grantmac

Just to put this in perspective it's taken me 3 months working at it about 3 weekends a month. During this time the plan has been revised many times. I did all of the welding my self with my friends Clark wirefeed (No gas, flux core) except for a few things that I used the ARC for. Other than that the only other tool I used was an angle grinder and hack-saw. When I started the project I had just enough welding experience to do a simple job like welding on a muffler, now I can actually look at my welds an be somewhat happy with them (Although the ARC is still a pain). Basically if you can afford to have your car take-up an entire bay in your garage for a good few months then this should be fine, but it will take time. A good couple weeks were spent on motor mount designs, if you go with the FC motor this will be greatly reduced; but the wiring may take up more of it. So all in all I haven't driven the car enough to make a really good estimate of what it has done to the performance, but that info should be on here soon.
Grant

autopaul

do you have a pic of the 12a or se13b engine mount finished, i want to see how you did it, and the steering column too, did it all line up nice in the car, not too far back or forward? or did you have to re weld the steering column or a linkage or what not?

grantmac

I don't have a digital camera. Much of what I did would have to be viewed and explained. The steering wheel is about 1" too far forward for my tastes but I have somewhat short arms, it is similar to stock and totally driveable. The mount is just a piece of angle iron bolted to the front cover and run to where mounts were made on the frame for the stock motor mounts, there were spacers and whatnot involved too and it's more complicated then that but I really would be hard pressed to explain. The FC column will require it's mounts to be taken off and new ones made with the FB spacing, unless a non-tilt one is different. To date I have been unable to find a decent way of mounting my turnsignals, I may have to weld a mount below the column.
Grant

82transam

iTrader: (18)

ah ok, so the stock FB plastic column surround and combination wipers/signal switch won't work as you have it then?

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

sounds like you have a crazy project on your hands, grant. bring it to timmies one day!

grantmac

The stock FB turnsignals won't fit, if you do the whole thing differently then I did you may be able to make then work but I couldn't.
Paradox: I may bring it out to Timmies but due to it's extreme dirtiness and non-rice aspect I feel I will get no respect from the bing-wing and GTR bumper crowd
Grant

'85 GSL 302

Hey Grant, I just got my FC stuff today and actually tracked down that write up. I can already see there's tons of stuff not covered in it, although I'm ahead of the game with the motor plates I installed since my engine is now magically hovering in the bay, with no cross member (magic in this case being a term to describe an 1/8" thick aluminum plate welded to the frame rails). So, at least no motor mounts to deal with. How far back does the sub frame need to go to place the wheel in its proper location in the well, and is there enough space to mount the strut still? I would think the strut would be placed under significant pressure by tweaking it. I'd much rather spend the time now and either relocate the bolts in the frame rail, or re-drill the subframe.

Oh yeah, then there's the joy of the RHD swap..... stupid JDM clips and their cheapness and availabilty.....

autopaul

Oh yeah, then there's the joy of the RHD swap..... stupid JDM clips and their cheapness and availabilty.....[/QUOTE]


i know what you mean about wanting to do it right the first time, and bring the whole rack &pinion setup back a bit, ive heard that it should be another inch further back, but i dont know what RHD stands for, im guessing something to do with the rear suspension, spindles and stuff from an fc, but im not sure , is there any more writeups on changing the rear to independant from fc? thatd be cool.?

82transam

iTrader: (18)

RHD is "right hand drive" as in what they have in england, japan etc. He got the front clip from a japanese spec car and hence will be right hand drive. I find it hard to believe that it would be easier to find a JDM front clip than a USDM one, there are plenty of FC's in junkyards, but whatever. This may be a dumb question, but wouldn't moving it back the needed inch be as "simple" as removing the 4 studs on the FB's fram rail, drilling new holes and welding them in an inch back?

Gregs

AWWW come on, i know you like my integra bumper (hasent been mounted, that pic was taken as a "fitament" pic... uhh yah so it was just kinda hangin there

grantmac

Basically I'd move it back about an inch. However I have yet to really try it out and see if I like the extra caster, I might! The strut bolts togather as said in the write-up, however the FB spring is a little long and is under significant pre-load in my set-up. A coil-over system would work much better for this.
I'm probably just gonna drop the subframe with the struts and everything still attached and grind the holes into slots with my die-grinder and see how it goes. No doubt other people will come-up with better solutions to the problems I encountered.
Grant

abeomid

On my setup the stock FB light and wiper switches fit just fine. As per pictures:
http://www.bcrx7.com/modules.php?set...view_photo.php
anything on the right of the black part is stock and in stock location.

'85 GSL 302

Considering there's a shop 3 min. from my apartment with 2 of them, also the fact that the owners are friends of mine, and that the whole clip is costing me $300, the JDM clip is a better option. I figured the parts would run me close to $1000 from a yard around here. Anything that doesn't have a bow tie badge on it tends to be rather expensive.

Yeah, no FC rear suspension. I got to take a good hard look at one last night, I have no idea WTF Mazda was thinking when they designed that thing. I'll stick with the Miata IRS thanks. Much simpler. I'd buy an FC long before I tried to install that rear suspenison.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

weird that a shop in SC would have 2 jdm FC's at it. Anyway, in you're case that is quite a deal, not sure you could find the stuff that cheap elsewhere. As for the FC IRS I agree its pretty weird, the miata is much better.

grantmac

Abeomid it looks like you made that from a non-tilt column, mine was unfortunately tilt and it was a bit of a nightmare to fit but it's in now. If anyone has a non-tilt column they'd give me I'd try that. As it stands I'm probably going to move everthing back 1" as this will solve a few of my problems, of course I'll have to redo a few mounts but that isn't a big deal.
Grant

abeomid

Nope, it was a tilt column, actually i got the flange that is on there to join the two pieces together from the tilt.

grantmac

So did you use the entire FC inner column complete with U-Joint? Your solution seems pretty good but I dunno if I like the idea of the U-joint just rotating without any support at either end, could be I'm just over thinking. I'm probably going to move the entire subframe so the column will come back a bit more anyway, that will solve a number of problems I'm having; this one included.
Grant

'85 GSL 302

They have three complete Skyline's and a RHD FD as well. Not to mention about 35 other clips, several RB's and SR Nissan's, you get the idea. Yeah, I pick good friends...

82transam

iTrader: (18)

thats sweet, wish there was a place like that around here...

abeomid

Nope, I slided the inner shaft from the fb to the outer shaft from fc. This way i did not need the tilt shaft and the u-joint all. When It gets a little bit warmer around here, I pull the steering shaft out and take it apart for some pictures.

grantmac

Ahh so the colapsable part just slides togather? That makes it much easier! I think I'm gonna do this as it will negate a lot of the problems I've been having. I also have a spare FB column so it shouldn't be an issue if things get screwed-up.
Grant

P.S. Should have the wheel adaptors on this weekend, then I can finally wring it out.

abeomid

Yup, they just slide together. Pretty neat...

grantmac

Wish I'd known that when I was swearing at it about 3 weeks ago! But I think I'll do that this weekend!
Grant

robtherx7nut

A guy told me that mazda made rack and pinion for kia....and some of them would work direct bolt on? but I do not know which models bolt on....I thought he was taking about for
the first gen...anyone know about it?