DJWade's California LFXocet

[djwade]

Quick update (sans photos for now)

All of the v8 Roadsters components have started arriving, so I've finally been able to make some progress again. I'm not confident enough in my welding skills (nor do I have a welder right now) to do the subframe kit welding, so I dropped that off at a local shop, and it should be finished tomorrow.

I didn't have too much time to dive into things today, but I started laying out how the fuel and brake line would run along the transmission tunnel.

I'll grab some photos of the subframe later this week and get into more of the nitty-gritty of the progress.

[phocup]

Saw on MT that you'll be doing the welding yourself as a first timer. Please document that aspect of it ( mistakes / regrets / lessons / ect ) because I'll probably be in your same shoes eventually.

[djwade]

They had some really good advice that I'll be following with learning TIG first to get a good understanding of it before moving on to MIG for the quick and dirty stuff. I found a place locally to do the differential bracket welding cheaply that frankly gives me more confidence. I'll practice welding on scrap and side projects for a while before doing anything as critical as the pinion angle.

An added expense, but one that lets me sleep better at night.

[djwade]

This afternoon I finally got some time to make some major headway on the build again.

First thing on the chopping block was finishing all the work on the underside of the car so I could start attaching the larger, heavier components. I ran the fuel and brake lines down the transmission tunnel, but ran into a slight issue with the offset. Because I didn't rivet or use low profile screws to affix the fuel line P-clips, I had to use nuts as spacers for the brake line p-clips in order to prevent excessive bends. It's not a perfect solution, and it's definitely something I'll revisit in the future, but for now, it should be just fine.

The next order of business was the gas tank. Before I started fitting it on the chassis, I wanted to take care of the fuel pump upgrade. V8 Roadsters supplies a Deatschwerks DW200 fuel pump to supply additional fuel to the LFX engine as a part of their fuel kit. Overall the install is pretty straight forward. The only hiccup encountered was attaching the old connector to the new pump's wires. I could not get the wires to tin for the life of me, resulting in a messy, yet functional, solder job. Just for paranoia's sake, I added additional strain relief around the solder joint, so I shouldn't run into any issues.



Once that was finished and the chassis flipped back over, I ran a quick test fit of the gas tank. The Exocet holds the gas tank angled back from OEM, so a fairly sizable chunk of the volume is wasted. I could probably fabricate some stands to hold the gas tank forward, keeping it closer to the OEM angle, but I suspect a fuel cell will replace the gas tank before I ever get around to doing that. The other item of note is the lack of clearance between the front of the gas tank and the chassis behind the seats. This is where the new stainless AN lines need to run in order to mate up with the fuel filter. The easiest solution seems to be using vibration isolation mounts to elevate the gas tank, adding in clearance for the AN lines at the front of the gas tank, so those were put on order this afternoon from McMaster-carr, in hopes of getting them by this weekend.



Finally, to end the night on a high note, I decided to install the front subframe. This is different from the standard way of attaching the Miata guts to the Exocet chassis, in that the typical way of doing this is by lowering the chassis onto the Miata "roller-skate". However, because the LFX swap eliminates the PPF, having that roller-skate isn't possible. I was debating assembling the subframes off chassis, then attaching them to the chassis after the fact, but decided that I would have an easier time attaching the subframes to the chassis bare, then building them up on the chassis. Now with the subframe on the chassis, I'll be able to begin brainstorming the easiest solution to make the alternator fit, which is the only real interference that needs a solution when making an LFXocet.



The last pieces from V8 Roadsters are being shipped off shortly, including the clutch kit, which is the next roadblock. I'd like to start throwing on the brake booster and steering components, but I know I'm going to hate myself after the fact if I don't install the master cylinder beforehand.

There's still plenty I can knock out this weekend, however. I'm hoping I'll have both subframes installed along with their respective control arms so I can start clearing out space on my shelves. I'm glad I'm finally starting to see these leaps of progress. It gives me hope that I might get this on the road while it's still warm and sunny out.

[djwade]

Had some slight delays at the shop, but I finally got the subframe welded and returned with the old bushing sleeve pressed out, and the new one installed. Once I got it home, I gave it a few coats of POR15, and got to work installing it once it had finished drying.







With it in place, I finally got around to loosely bolting the control arms up, and making sure everything looked alright. So far so good. I have an aftermarket of forward upper control arms that I'm using temporarily until I get the rebuildable ball joints and press them into the matching powdercoated OEM control arms. I need to source the replacement vertical bolts for the lower ball joint today, but provided I can pick one up today, I should be able to piece the rest of the suspension together so I can load it up, then torque everything down.











The spacers for the gas tank arrived and look pretty good so far. I may use a few washers as spacers to get it a little higher off the rear subframe and provide some more space for the fuel line, but it seems to be a good solution overall using the rubber isolation mounts. The issue I've run into since I've had the rear subframe mounted is finding a good place for the fuel filer included with the LFX fueling kit. For now, the plan is to shift the entire fuel line back a foot or two, so instead of mounting the fuel filter in front of the subframe where there's no more room, I'll be mounting it on the front side of the gas tank sheet metal in one of the unused through holes. I'll remedy the needed extra length in the engine bay by replacing the 120° Russell fitting with a straight fitting to mount to the FlexFuel sensor I'm adding in, then making a small extension to go from the FlexFuel sensor to the fuel rail. This looks to be the best solution for the Flex-fuel sensor anyways, given there's no return line to use, and i want to minimize the amount of fuel going through the engine pre correction.



There's a lot of potential for progress this weekend given the long weekend for me. I'm cautiously optimistic about getting the engine and transmission dropped in so I can work on the alternator bracket and the transmission brace.

[gwnwar]

You might want to drill the rear tab on the upright for the fender mount brackets.. Before you add the hub unit so you can get a
drill on it.. Looks good so far..

[djwade]

The weekend has arrived, and with it, some more progress.

After having test fit the block, I finally got around making the last little adjustments I needed to in order to finally get the engine in the chassis for good (hopefully). Once I had pulled the engine back out, I got to work re-attaching the flywheel and clutch. The flywheel had a fair amount of surface rust on the outside, but the surface looked brand new, as it should for only having 500 miles or so. A quick clean with acetone and non-shedding wipes, and the clutch was back in place.



With a bit of wrestling to get it into position, I got the transmission and starter mounted back together with the engine and got everything torqued and loctite'd together back to spec.



Before I installed the engine and transmission, I had to modify the -6AN line that comes with the LFX fuel kit from V8 roadsters to accept the FlexFuel sensor, so I took care of that while I had the chance. I probably could have done it later, but being able to saw a hose without the engine in the bay saved a lot of headache in the future.



With that taken care of, there wasn't really anything left to do other than get the engine into its new home. Even with just myself, this was pretty easy. Not having body panels in the way of anything makes nearly everything easier.







Once it was bolted to the engine mounts, I installed the passenger downpipe to check for any interference. It's pretty tricky to get it on with the studs in place for the exhaust, so i may look into some shorter studs to make it a little easier for the exhaust shop when they're fabbing the exhaust in a month or two. Overall clearances look pretty good. The clearance between the top of the transmission and the chassis tunnel is close, but I think that will open up more once I install the transmission support and get the output flange to the right angle to match the rear differential 1.5° pinion angle.

[buildercg]

Looking good!