Freds FE3 into the ute swap COMMENTS THREAD.

[fredio54]

LOL,



damn you are right!!

[carcenomy]

Got a sneak preview before all you geezers of Fred's flash flywheel.... ooooh it's pretty. Nice work there gov'nah.

[fredio54]

there ya go nick, the rest of the pics, just look at that audi vband flange :-)

fred.

[M2cupcar]

Nice work Fred. And thanks for documenting everything - makes it interesting and a good resource for answering questions of all kinds. btw- after reviewing photos of the build, I now understand why you don't wear socks - because they're all stuck in your engine. - rob

[carcenomy]

It kinda makes me curious now that the binding issue has been tracked down - how well do the H-type F2T boxes fit on the FE3? Is this problem limited only to the RWD gearboxes, or it is common to all?

[bakmans]

interesting thread.
im also preparing a fe3 T for my 1979 hardtop 626. i was wondering what gearbox u use and why you have to rings on your flywheel? i mean the one for the starter?

[carcenomy]

He's using an F2T flywheel as far as I'm aware, and as such had to remove the ring-gear and cut it down a little to fit the correct ring-gear for his gearbox/starter setup.

[fredio54]

correct carcenomy, and in answer to the other question, in my limited fwd experience, the boxs dont have spigot bearings, and the input shaft is supported by the main bearings, and is one piece all the way through. or something like that. i was wondering the same thing, but i'm sure we would have heard about it if there was an issue. right? i'm not so sure, but probably :-)

fred.

[carcenomy]

If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right, and in a tidy manner - she's looking gorgeous Fred, I'm quite impressed

[fredio54]

thanks mate, wait till you see the manifold i havent made yet ;-) its right here in my head. ready to go tomorrow night or the one after...

fred.

[shwine617]

looks great fred, you do very nice work. I wish I had a nice welder and a lathe
I have a fe3 with the f2t trans, I didn't see any clearance issues with the pilot bearing. I'll go check mine out though before I put the trans back in. I am still waiting for my custom flywheel, they keep pushing the delivery date back. I have to wait 4 more days and call him back to see if it's ready.

What type of trans is in your truck? is it an rx7 turbo II trans? If so what did you have to do to get it to bolt up? In the future I am going to be putting an fe3t into an rx7, that's why I want to know.

What is done to your motor internally? Is it all stock? did you change the bearings or anything?

Keep up the nice work, and good luck, can't wait to see it done.

[fredio54]

thanks shwine, means a lot coming from you! :-) do the f2t boxs even use a pilot bearing? i know many (if not all or close to it) fwd boxs dont, a pic of an f2t bell would be a nice addition to the clutch thread in general 1g.

i know what you mean about waiting, i have two bosch 910s on the way from the US of A, and although i dealt with the same guy to get my 044, there is some delay, and they are 1.5weeks late...

the trans is the same as the turbo II trans bar the ratios, and the tail shaft extension, and the bell, it came from a 93 b2200 12v ute standard, so it drops right in with a bigger driveshaft out of a b2600 that shared the same R type box. the only two things i had to do thus far were cut the nose off the input shaft as pictured, and also a similar amount from the guide tube for the release bearing. the latter may not have been an issue if using the stock lx/dx/fe3/ute 225mm clutch setup.

internally due to major time pressure, the motor is stock. its 10:1, and i'll be tuning it twice, once for 98ron (usa 93 ki) and once for 104 race gas from somewhere in kumeu. i have two other fe3s, but no time to do anything to their guts before i jump on a jet...

the fuel will make up for that though.

i really appreciate the comments, keep em coming.

fred

[fredio54]

btw, the lathe is only by luck, i was intending to pay someone to do that work for me. and the welder i saved on equiv of US $6 bucks an hour to about US 1k to buy. so that was definitely hard earned!! :-) its great to have a commercial grade welder though. so rock solid, not like the cheap ones a third the price that you can buy....

spot ya,

fred.

[fredio54]

also, no, i didnt change the bearings, but i did pull them all out, inspect them, and clean them, and reinstall with synthetic oil on both sides (back for heat transfer, front for lube) the journals were all good (coin test) and motors make better power with broken in mains anyway :-)

[shwine617]

hmm, do you know if that trans is avalable in the US? that may have been your problem, maybe on that trans, the tailshaft(where the pilot bearing rides) and throw out bearing shaft may be a little longer, either way you figured it out.
I have a cheap Lincoln mig welder, good for small jobs and exhaust, but I want a nice one so I can weld cleaner and weld aluminum. I hate it when I have to pay someone to do my welding and machining.
the f2t trans uses a pilot bearing. Would you like a pic of the f2t trans bell housing? it's in the trunk. I can go take a quick pic for you.