Fuel lines

The following are some pics of the fuel line routing I used, from the rear showing the filter and return line, then going along the outside of the frame rail, up to the junction of several unit body pieces, and then out into the engine compartment. I initially used two pieces of stainless braided teflon line, apparently it couldn't take the high pressure, as it almost immediately developed  a pinhole leak.

I think if you were clever, you could use hard line with unions approximately where the flex joins the long run along the frame rail.

The last pic is on another car, showing approximately where the engine compartment hole should be.

The routing goes into box sections that make up the frame structure of the car, not into the passenger compartment, and the small exposed portion in the fenderwell could be easily covered with a sheetmetal cover.

Weights and Measures

These are mostly for my own information, since there is considerable variation out there on the internet. For starters there will be a selection of blocks and heads typical of those commonly used in Miata V8 swaps.

First off, bare blocks. Chain was zero'ed out.

6.0L LS truck motor, cast iron.

 5.7 L LS1, aluminum

 347 Ford, cast iron, 302 .030 over

Air Conditioning compressor relocation Ford 302

AC Conversion Ford 302.

Passenger side 1993 Tbird 302 V8 with air pump shown under alternator, hangs from bottom of alternator bracket. Delete the air pump, mount AC compressor in its place.

Small angle bracket brace from compressor to handy block hole.

AC compressor mounted to plate, hung from air pump bracket using 5/8" thick aluminum plate. Ignore the pattern on plate, it was used as a backup for a CNC mill. There are small tubing spacers on the bolts between the compressor and the plate.

Note precision spacers on the pivot bolt at the top of the plate. These were to adjust belt alignment and to allow a tight fit so the casting ears would not be stressed and broken off when tightened.

Big Brakes

Some pics from the "big brake" conversion that I did as part of the V8 conversion back in 2007. Initially I used the stock brakes from a '93 Tbird front and rear, with rotors from a 2000 Mustang GT on the front and the stock Tbird rotors on the rear. Fronts are 10.9" with the correct 5@4.5 bolt pattern. The rear rotors were slotted to fit the new hubs, since they were 5@4.25" pattern. Later I found some PBR 2-piston aluminum calipers from the front of a late model Mustang that were a good interchange with the Tbird calipers, and weighed just about the same as the original cast iron Miata calipers, with pretty significant increase in swept area.


Tbird caliper frame with custom bracket

 Not real sure why the skewed looking offset, but it fits. Must have been a good reason

 Same adaptor bracket on PBR caliper. You can see the white marking where the bracket had to be relieved slightly. Obviously the shape could have been somewhat different for the 2-piston caliper

 Size comparison: Original '91 Miata, '93 Tbird, late model Mustang. And the PBR calipers are about the same weight as the original cast iron Mita's

MiataV8 302 Exhaust

A few pictures showing the latest iteration of exhaust routing I used for the 302 Ford and 4R70W transmission.  Not the greatest, but it's only the second system I did after acquiring the exhaust bender. Excuse the rust. It looks a lot worse in the pics than in real life.

 These pics also show the lower arms I made to adapt the Tbird uprights. And the hi-tech subframe  braces.

 This exhaust stuff is harder than it looks. This routing around the trans pan took a few attempts to get it as good as it is. You may notice that the bump in the bottom of the pan appears to be the low point. There's actually another version of the pan that doesn't have that bump.

 Next time I'll put the O2 sensors on the top.

 Not really part of the exhaust, but showing the radiator mount. There's a length of 3/4" X 3/4" angle welded to the top of the mount as a stiffener and to help capture the radiator.

 

 

Tri-Y Headers, 6-speed

While doing the pan modification , I had a 302 block and heads hung from my gantry-like fixture that holds the motor in place while I figure out how to make things fit. So I decided to try the ebay Tri-Y headers that I got a while back. That worked out pretty well, so the next obvious thing was the T56 mounted to a Quicktime adapter that I've had for a while.

 A little more clearance necessary here.

Modified Ford 302 oil pan

The Ford 302 has a front oil pump that interferes with the placement of the motor in a Miata. The front sump of the oil pan is one of the limits as to how far back and how low in the car the engine can be placed. So, it's common to modify the pan for optimal placement. These pics show the beginning of the process, marking the pan for subsequent cuts. This essentially duplicates what I did when I installed the 302 in my BRG several years ago, but since I didn't take good pictures at the time, I'm taking this opportunity to document the process.

The idea is to place a vertical wall at the rear of the oil pump as close as possible to the pump body. It can actually touch; there is no relative movement, but that's poor form, so a little clearance is suggested. Then the placement of the horizontal floor is determined by the internal rotating assembly, pretty much by turning the crank so the connecting rod bolts (nuts) are at their closest point to the pan and allowing some clearance. This is a moving part so some clearance is required. Maybe 1/8" or so. I fit the pan very close with no gasket, the gasket thickness then determines the clearance.

The modification only needs to be in the area of about 2" or so behind the oil pump, as the only interference is the very top and front edges of the round steering rack tube.