Just thought I'd throw up a thread for reference sake incase someone wanted to mimic my rwd drivetrain set-up.
The car is a 1990 miata, has a JDM FE-DOHC with a 2.2L probe aluminum flywheel, 2001 miata 6 speed transmission ( yes it fits), miata clutch, mx6 2.2L starter, 2005 GSXR 1000 ITB's on lower stock ported fe manifold, 1.8 miata Raceland ss 4-2-1 header, 2.5" ss exhaust, FE3 cams, miata coilpack, custom made aluminum oil pan (tried the kia steel pan but it was a waste of time as I made it myself and fubar'd a few things).
The difference with this swap is the transmission. Everyone told me it would not work, well they werre kinda right I guess, it did take me a whole 2 hours to measure and drill out the holes in the bellhousing to make it bolt staright up to the FE block
Its pretty easy to tell once you have both pieces infront of you that they have very similar bolt p[atterns and where they do differ the trans has "blanks" where holes can be drilled after some tranfer punches.
Anyways, just thought I'd throw it out there that the 6 speed is do-able
Nothing serious. Made some motor mounts, oilpan clearance is tricky unless u want to shim your subframe or cut your hood, my set-up requires neither, lowest fe3 miata I've ever seen.
All in all its good motor but I think for the work I'd rather have done a k swap (300NA whp would be pretty decent), so in a couple years I think thats the plan. Motors tend not to last very long in my car :S
love this thread. but we really need shots of the mods and differences of the tranny's. i want to see what you had to mod to make it work. love the finished product though!
Here are the two top holes that need to be drilled out, on the opposite side of that flange there are already holes they just didnt drill them out from the factory.
You could get creative and also make the top engine holes fit but I wanted to keep the transmission in good enough shape that just incase this didnt work i could still mount it to a miata motor again.
Motor mounts were fairly simple, set the motor in then tacked up some plate, used the oem bottom section of the mounts, which is where the urethane is, no these are not solid mounts lol.
Kind of how they sit.
My friend cutting the oem manifold.
Milling it down
Cleaned out runners
When I first got it running, runs and sounds like ass yes lol, havent taken any recent videos, once I'm done fixing everything I broke via running into a curb the other week :S I'll get some driving vids.
Great stuff man, sounds good! Ive got my first startup vid from 2004 somewhere but its too embarrassing to post, sounds like a busted tractor due to VERY out of sync throttles haha. I should take some new ones this year, because as you know, it sounds like the devil himself playing overdrive bass under the hood! Any plans for air filters?
Went back and forth for years between speed density and alpha-n, finally settled on alpha-n and highly recommend it. Although Im pretty sure you can do a hybrid MAP/TPS with Megasquirt but Ive never played with it myself.
The 5 cent tour of my setup:
-Fairly untouched FE3 (headwork coming next year), FE3 on both cams
-TWM 48mm ITBs, for a 1.8 BP, chopped/welded to FE3 intake
-SDS ecu (old school yes, but options were limited 10 years ago haha)
-440cc injectors, because my car became an alcoholic this last year
-and a thousand other odds and ends but you get the idea
Ill make some new vids once the weather gets better but here are a couple of recent (but sorta crappy) pics:
Haha ya know, Ive worked with all sorts of systems from MS to Haltech and to be honest I still love tuning my own SDS. No frills all business, doesnt have every option in the world but its still very streetable.
Mine wasnt too bad either but it was more like an On/Off switch, going atmospheric at very little throttle, I just didnt have much resolution at all (Ill post a datalog screenshot if youre interested). To make it a little smoother for you, make sure your vac hoses are the same length. Sounds frivolous but it does make a difference. Also, if you havent already, make sure the throttles are synced. I picked up a CarbTune (awesome tool!) from the UK but there are other ways to do it too.
Every year I say Im going to but its yet to happen. Just as I get it ready I make a major change and start again (ie E85 last year). Hopefully this year!
DC, have you dyno-ed yours? I have been VERY interested about ITB on an FE3 but am wondering if the gain is worth it for me. The throttle response is impressive though!
I am building a vehicle for desert racing and am deliberating my options.
If I leave stock injection, it lets me run in a class that's much more affordable and I stand a much better chance (4cyl and small V6). But if I go ITB, I'll be forced into a much more competitive class (unlim. 4,6 and lim. V8)... Plus, I really like POWER
I havent dyno'd mine, I will this year as last year was really the first summer of driving it and little issues were being ironed out.
I doubt the gain would be worth it, most dynos I've seen with ITB's vs an after market intake manifold show fairly equal numbers, unless of course youre going to be building the motor to utilize the itbs fully (high comp, huge cams, built head ect)
Thanks, yeah, my hands are kinda tied when it comes to the engine; the lower class allows unlimited internals but must maintain stock fuel injection "style" and ECU (but piggy backs are allowed!).
The set-up I'm running is a Kia Sportage, and if you've seen them, the int. manifold is fairly prohibitive, but like with anything, where there's a will there's a way. Especially when we're dealing with a mill like the FE3!!!
the only thing you did to have the gearbox mount to the FEdohc was drill 2 holes on the top which was 'already there' but not drilled all the way through? right? all the other bolts lined up?
This is correct. The holes I drilled where "blanks" in the sense that they were holes just not all the way through the flange of the bellhousing. There is some clearancing that needs to be done for the bolt head to sit flush but nothing serious. There is only two other main bolts plus the starter bolts holding the trans to the motor though. So 4 large bolts and a couple smalls ones, no issues thus far though.
It was so ridiculously easy I laughed that I was the first one to ever try it!
I have pics of how it mounts on miataturbo.net if u search fe3 and dc2696 it will come up
Hey mate,i am looking for RWD trasmission options,your photos are not present anymore,but can you just confirm,that it wont need any adapter plate to bolt Miata gearbox onto FE3?and by saying 2.2l flywheel,you mean 2.2NA?F2 or F2T?
You'll need a truck bell housing, and that's about it. F2 vs F3 only matters in terms of hollow crank end, or not.
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