HSV MX5

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:34 pm

Car ready to go under the knife

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:35 pm

Now, what's missing here?

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 11:33 pm

Double up on the timing chain, for double the fun, hopefully a bit safer for the big revs.

ham · Post by **ham** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 12:35 pm

Lovin this thread. Oh if I had some spare cash. Keep it up

Stevo · Post by **Stevo** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 5:13 pm

ham wrote:Lovin this thread. Oh if I had some spare cash. Keep it up

Yeah Donovan, Keep them coming.....
Cheers Stevo

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 8:33 pm

Thanks for the comments, but I think I am going to need this post soon to vent some frustrations, you may want to avert your eyes soon.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:31 pm

7th April

All parts ready and waiting to go in, so time to start cracking into it. First thing to go on is the custom made oil pan. And the first thing not to fit is the custom oil pan (insert lots of swear words here). Turns out the oil pan is too short, and hitting up against the oil pickup on the bottom of the block. We pretty much know that the Corvette and the Holden use the same block, so there shouldn't be any differences there, so can only assume that the pan has been made up incorrectly.

Lots of emails back and forth to Flyin Miata with photos and measurements trying to figure it out.

You can see on the sump marks photo, where the pickup is butting up against the oil pan, making it impossible to fit.

Also from the Room for Africa photo, there is a bit of room there, so no sure why it was made so shallow.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:46 pm

15th April

Current suggestion is to bend the oil pickup tube so it is no longer touching, hmmm. Chances of starving the engine of oil?

Transmission tunnel has been widen by 2" each side to fit the Tremac, crikey that's a bit of metal bending.

Headers in the way of the steering column, but that shouldn't be too hard to fix (hopefully)

New clutch master cylinder also touching up against the coil pack and cylinder head, apparently this one is a known issue with the RHD cars, but only just tell me now (sigh).

Apparently there are 3 MX5's in Australia running around with the same conversion, so will have to try and track them down to find out what they did.

Bugger, bum and blast (want to use a stronger work that ryhms with truck, but most likely will get edited out)

Growler · Post by **Growler** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 2:10 pm

You could machine up 10mm (Or whatever you need) aluminium spacer to fit between the sump and the block. If you dowel it to the sump it shouldn't move.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:26 pm

Yeah, had thought about that, but just worried that it potentially just gives another point for oil to make it's escape. Going to make a new pickup tube that is slightly shorter, so hopefully will take care of that.

Possibly going to have to make up a new set of headers as well (sigh).

Then it is just a matter of sorting out what can be done with the Clutch Master Cylinder touching up against the coil packs.

brownie · Post by **brownie** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:49 pm

go to a steel sump??,Or even borrow one to confirm suspicions

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:23 pm

brownie wrote:go to a steel sump??,Or even borrow one to confirm suspicions

Pulled a steel one of the engine, plus the standard one doesn't fit, as it is in the way of the front cross member. Plus weight is a concern.

brownie · Post by **brownie** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:27 pm

They aren't that much heavier,At least they are easier to modify.
Had a similar problem with a 383 with alloy heads Chev motor i crew on for Speedway,We got the pick up altered,problem solved and no worries so far,pulls 6000 rpm all day long going L/H around the track .just keep a good quality oil in it,as i'm sure you will.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:12 pm

Tracked a guy down in Australia that has done the same conversion and picked his brains for some of the gotcha's with the engine (damn, should have asked him what diff he was running)

Anyway, he had the same sump as me from FM, turns out his one fitted like a glove. So we are going to modify the pickup tube so it fits, FM have agreed to cover the cost of the fabrication.

The guy in Aus also told me the way to get around the problem with the Master clutch cylinder hitting up against the coil pack, so that one should be sorted out as well now. Hopefully smoother sailing from this point on, only problem is, this was all the kit based work just about done, and now it is into the unknown with the rear end (gulp).

sprsta · Post by **sprsta** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:53 pm

im sure mx4000 has commodore rear end in his

have you talked to him?

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:42 pm

Yeah, he does. Talked to him a little bit before the last set of events down there, so thought I would let him concentrate on things down there, rather than bugging him about how he set it all up.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Sun May 01, 2011 9:55 am

Have been in touch with the guy in Aus, he is running the Getrag diff from the Caddie as part of the flynin miata kit, along with all the axles and driveshaft, so there goes that fountain of knowledge out the window.

MX4000 has dropped me a line, so going to pick his brains a bit more about running the commodore diff in the MX5.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Tue May 31, 2011 2:02 pm

Farther, it has been a while between post, and I have sinned at least many a time.

Things have been going very slowly, new extractors have been made up, which you will see in following pics. These are hopefully going to get HPC coated to try in some sort of useless attempt to try and keep the temperatures down under the bonnet.

Flynin Miata are shipping over a new oil pickup tube, which will hopefully solve the problem with the sump

We have measure the half shafts on the holden, and surprisingly they are the same size as the MX-5's, it is just the HSV LSD is about 40mm wider, but we still might be able to use them after all without to much hassle.

Other than that, there are a lot of parts lying around the workshop and a very bare chassis sitting on the hoist.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:27 pm

Could this be the fastest two wheeler around

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:28 pm

And this would then be the slowest

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:29 pm

And here is what is called extreme weight saving

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:31 pm

But I might have gone a bit over board with the weight saving on this one. Was supposed to be a shot looking in via the front air dam all the way out the back, but Barry got his fat head in the way with the welding mask on.

For those of you with the keener eye, you will have noticed that the transmission tunnel has been persuaded to move out a few inches by having the crap smacked out of it.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 8:34 am

It has been over a month since the last time I saw the car. Sold the 1.6 Engine and gearbox to a guy wanting to convert his Auto MX-5 to a manual. Said he wanted the engine, as the Auto engine was detuned compared to the manual??

Anyway, this was mid June, so went down there to help him load it up, and see what progress was made on mine. Not much, still an empty shell.

We received a new pickup tube from FM, but it is exactly the same as the other one, so either the Oil Pan is the wrong size, or there is some really different about the Holden LS1 block compared to the GM LS1, which I just can't see. Just decided to modify the oil pickup rather than stuffing around anymore.

The transmission tunnel has been finished being widened, and is pretty much ready for painting.

Other than that, not much else has happened, I think I need to pop down there at some time and sort out what is going on. But lets face it, with the weather we have been having in AKL lately, it is most likely a good thing it isn't on the road, it would be a real handful.

And who would have ever thought that it would have been so hard to shove a 5.7L V8 into a little MX-5. Maybe that could be a new Tui's billboard add, yeah right.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 5:24 pm

By god this is taking a long time. A couple of months ago I wasn't so worried about the time it was taking, cause it was raining all the time, and who wants to jump into a 300kw monster that weighs as much as a fart on skinny tyres in the rain. Not I.

But now it is dry, the sun is starting to come out, the grass is starting to grow (bugger, need to get back into mowing the lawns, but on the plus, can stop scrambling around for feed for the cattle), and I feel like having some fun.

So, in the end not much of an update, new headers are finished, and hopefully off getting HPC coated, will try and get a photo when they are back (if I get to see them).

For those of you that have noticed some of my posts, you will know that I have given up the idea of trying to get the NA dial cluster working with Tremac gearbox, and have foolishly decided to put an NB in there and sort out the wiring. Well I got a jap 180kph cluster from 2low2c with plugs for the loom, but really have a hankering for a 240kph (if you can do it, why not show it) so have been looking around for one. Eventually located one....wait for it....in Canada, bonus is it is a white faced one.

So bought it, shipped it back here, and now I just hope the plugs are the same between the two, otherwise I am in shit creek.

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 7:02 pm

WOW! thats a great deal!
it even came with a full tank of gas!..... BONUS!

HSV MX5

Who is online