Onward!
Took a break from "winter deferred house maintenance" to install the new clutch and pressure plate, and bolt the transmission back up to the engine.
I've got a question, though: how smoothly does the trans usually mount back up? I was able to wiggle it within about 1/2" of flush, but past that it took some gentle cranking in of the bolts (in a star pattern) to finish. Have I berkeleyed something up?
Also removed all of the exhaust heatshields and cleaned them. Like I said, you can blame Woody's excellent build thread for my new "if it comes out, it goes back clean" mantra.
Naw, should be fine. The alignment tool was probably plastic meaning the clutch disc was not dead centered over the pilot bearing so the input shaft snoot was rubbing hard on the splines. Now, if you had cranked down on the bolts and the trans had refused to go at all, you'd have a problem.
If you are concerned, use a pry bar to push the clutch release fork back, then hold the engine front pulley (might need a buddy to do this), stick the transmission in gear and turn the output shaft. If all is well, the transmission should rotate pretty freely with no noise, of course there will be some resistance from the disc rubbing the PP/flywheel.
From previous experience, I am tempted to cut a hole in the bellhousing so I can hang the PP/disc on the input shaft, install the transmission, then tighten the PP bolts through the hole.
Looks like good progress. Keep it up!
In reply to Curmudgeon:
Cool. I've got a spare pilot bearing, if worst comes to worst.
Late to the thread.
Is that a Defined header? Looks slick.
I keep wanting to get Logan to make an exhaust for me, since I never seem to be able to put anything decent together, but he charges what he's worth and that's more than I can typically chew at any given time.
Knurled wrote:
Late to the thread.
Is that a Defined header? Looks slick.
I keep wanting to get Logan to make an exhaust for me, since I never seem to be able to put anything decent together, but he charges what he's worth and that's more than I can typically chew at any given time.
Sure is. It's originally out of a bridgeported FC, so it's not perfect for my application, but it wasn't the $820 they want for just the 6-port header, so I'll live. The collector needs to be angled to the left just a bit, and I'm not a huge fan of slip-fits so I'll be adding a flange. It's beautiful though, isn't it?
Now, as discussed, DIY poly motor mounts:
Polyurethane rod from McMaster Carr. I used a 90A durometer rating, on second thought that feels a little rough. We'll see. If I was to do it over I'd try the 80A poly (part number 8784K943). 6" makes three sets, which you could resell if you wished.
Washers matching the diameter of your poly. I went with part number 96582A389, as you need 4 for each set of mounts you're making. These are potentially locally sourceable, but I wasn't able to find them.
Two bolts, M10x1.25* 80mm long. Was able to source these locally. Probably a good idea to get Grade 8 or higher...
Washers and self-locking nuts to match, if you're not reusing the original nuts and lockwashers.
Drill a hole large enough to fit your bolt through (make sure it's centered). Assemble parts (bolt, small washer, large washer, poly, larger washer, small washer, nut). You'll need to disassemble a bit to install them, should be pretty self-explanatory, just make sure the large washers stay next to the poly mount itself.
That's it! Way cheaper than the $100 people want for FB motor mounts, AND you've got enough poly for a few more...
Note: 2" diameter is a little small, if you're able to find larger washers, you could go up to 2 12" and be fine.
* Note: Not sure what size/threading the factory nuts are. Please check if you wish to reuse them.
Got the engine in today!
No real complaints, other than one day I really should just buy a load leveler...
Started buttoning everything up
Now, in that picture, you can start to see my next predicament; the airbox. I was planning on mating up the S5 intake tubing to the stock airbox, and I already painted the airbox cover the blue Mazda used on the 12A RX-7 airboxes... I think they look great and it'd be a nice litte homage. Playing around with it outside the car make me hopeful..well that was foolish. It just doesn't fit. As you can see here:
it pushes the AFM forward enough that I can't use the stock airbox with the S5 tube.
There are a few solutions:
Throw a cone filter on the front. I think this looks tacky, and the length of the S5 tube put the filter pretty much where the coolant overflow tank is. Sure I could move that to the other side and move the battery to the back, but at this point I'd rather not have that level of scope-creep.
Something like this:
Which looks terrible and blows my attempts to keep things looking fairly stock right out of the water.
Make some new elbow-to-AFM pipe. If I could figure out a way to do this and have it not look out of place, this would be my choice. Get a 3" pipe bent to fit and use silicone couplings? That's starting to break away from factory. Any suggestions?
Spent most of the day working on the S3.5, made a fair amount of progress.
First, I ran new fuel lines. Due to the hybridization, I was unable to use the factory solid lines at all, so I just ran soft lines the whole length of the engine. For a little extra protection I picked up some reflective/insulating wrap for them. Overkill? Probably. It was cheap enough.
Then I worked on some sensor adapting.
Here you can see the S3 and S5 temperature sensors. S3 is the bullet-type.
Intake air temp sensors. S3 is the longer one.
It now sticks out pretty far into the airstream, I can't decide whether to think that leads to more accurate data, or the turbulence causes a lack of power. I'm leaning toward more accurate.
After that I bolted the manifolds back on for what I thought was the final time...turns out it wasn't. While I was cross referencing wiring and plugs and making everything find it's place, I realized I had not done anything about the throttle body coolant lines, one of which was located under the manifold. That I just bolted down after slathering it with goopy gasket sealant. Motherberkeleyer. Oh well, went to the autoparts store, bought tiny coolant hose and some thermoplastic clamps. Came back, took E36 M3 apart, installed the hose and the clamps. Not much to see. Verdict on the clamps? Awesome. I'll be using them for all the coolant hoses on this car now.
What are you going to use for coils for the engine?
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:
What are you going to use for coils for the engine?
Factory FB distributor setup.
One day when I go standalone it'll get FC coils, but for now it's basically a GSL-SE with an S5 intake and keg.
Got a link to the exact reflective wrap stuff you used?
Build looks great!
Link. If you've got Amazon Prime, it even has free two day shipping.
Excellent, thank you! Will probably combine that with an order for a few of the gates clamps, those look awesome. And need some gold foil stuffs.
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:
Excellent, thank you! Will probably combine that with an order for a few of the gates clamps, those look awesome. And need some gold foil stuffs.
RockAuto has them cheap. Haven't looked on Amazon, though.
Unless you like the look, DEI's "gold" foil doesn't offer any real performance benefits over traditional silver foil, heat management wise. It's rated at a higher contact temperature, but what are you putting it touching that'd be 800*?!
Osterkraut wrote:
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:
Excellent, thank you! Will probably combine that with an order for a few of the gates clamps, those look awesome. And need some gold foil stuffs.
RockAuto has them cheap. Haven't looked on Amazon, though.
Unless you like the look, DEI's "gold" foil doesn't offer any real performance benefits over traditional silver foil, heat management wise. It's rated at a higher contact temperature, but what are you putting it touching that'd be 800*?!
My water lines are going to run very close to the headers on the Escort. No real way around it. 
Osterkraut wrote:
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:
What are you going to use for coils for the engine?
Factory FB distributor setup.
One day when I go standalone it'll get FC coils, but for now it's basically a GSL-SE with an S5 intake and keg.
I was just curious, because when I rebuild my SA, I was going to use MSD Blaster 2 Coils.
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:
Osterkraut wrote:
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:
Excellent, thank you! Will probably combine that with an order for a few of the gates clamps, those look awesome. And need some gold foil stuffs.
RockAuto has them cheap. Haven't looked on Amazon, though.
Unless you like the look, DEI's "gold" foil doesn't offer any real performance benefits over traditional silver foil, heat management wise. It's rated at a higher contact temperature, but what are you putting it touching that'd be 800*?!
My water lines are going to run very close to the headers on the Escort. No real way around it.
I'd still save my money and go with the silver variety. It's half the cost, and the reflect-a-gold doesn't even have real gold!
Osterkraut wrote:
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:
Osterkraut wrote:
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:
Excellent, thank you! Will probably combine that with an order for a few of the gates clamps, those look awesome. And need some gold foil stuffs.
RockAuto has them cheap. Haven't looked on Amazon, though.
Unless you like the look, DEI's "gold" foil doesn't offer any real performance benefits over traditional silver foil, heat management wise. It's rated at a higher contact temperature, but what are you putting it touching that'd be 800*?!
My water lines are going to run very close to the headers on the Escort. No real way around it.
I'd still save my money and go with the silver variety. It's half the cost, and the reflect-a-gold doesn't even have real gold!
I'll just melt down my crowns. 
Appreciate the tip, though! I'll give the silver a shot!
Oh E36 M3, an RX-7 update?
Sort of. Yesterday I blew the dust off and tackled a small little project: extending some wires in the engine bay. The BAC jumps sides of the engine, and I'd prefer for that to work, so a cuttin' and a splicin' was required.
I figured you left in a field to rust like every other SA/FB RX-7...
