Man, it’s dusty in here!
[cough] Wow! [cough]
Yeah, the car’s dusty, too. Maybe I’ll take a photo later.
So, what’s been going on with the DuraSpit over the past YEAR? Precious little, I’m afraid. In spite of an enthusiastic start, about the only thing Jeff has accomplished since the last update was a little more sheet metal trimming and the welding in of some structurally sound, but unimpressive engine and transmission mounts that I may end up redoing. (or not, depending on how I feel after closer inspection and introspection)
Why no progress? A lot of reasons. Part of it is me. I’m sure I gave Jeff the impression that I was going to be there helping a lot more than I was, but his shop being an hour drive away from me didn’t make that easy. And, frankly, he was doing some pretty hardcore cutting and stuff that made me cringe… I couldn’t bear to watch! Instead, I just told him what NOT to do (the Prime Directive: Don’t cut the hood) and left him to fit the engine into the car. Unfortunately, his helper quit due to health issues, leaving him with a project he couldn’t handle on his own. (then again, said helper is the one responsible for these crappy engine mounts and a lot of lost parts…) Couple that with a simple loss of momentum and motivation, and here we are.
But, I decided that it’s time for me to take control of this project and get it done, even if that means I have to do more of it myself than I intended to. Such is life.
My baby is back home today! Many thanks to Ed Courtemanche for divesting me of a bunch of Miata crap that was taking up space in my garage in exchange for helping me get the Spit back home!
Current status:
- Many of my high-quality OE Triumph/Standard nuts and bolts are forever lost, this will prove to be a pain in the ass.
- Missing bolts for steering shaft clamp, on order. (presently have no steering)
- 2.0 Duratec engine, ready to rock (well, it’s a salvage engine, so who knows?)
- Duratec > Type 9 bell housing, check. (need correct bolts)
- Hydraulic throwout bearing, needs plumbed and shimmed to fit.
- Type 9 transmission, needs another 2mm trimmed from input shaft.
- Need to source pilot bearing to fit input shaft to crankshaft.
- Type 9 > GT6 driveshaft on order from Canley, will need to be shortened.
- Engine and trans mounts need attention.
- Custom intake and exhaust manifolds need to be designed and fabricated.
- Alternator, bracket and belt routing needs to be sorted.
- Waterpump outlet and pulley needed.
- Stock radiator will fit in stock location, need to build a fan shroud.
- Coolant hose configuration needs to be sorted.
Whew! I think that’s just about all that will be needed just to get the engine IN THE CAR. Then I can move on to fuel and electronics. Then there’s exhaust, fixing the large hole in the firewall, custom-bending the shifter and maybe the hand brake lever, not to mention all the deferred maintenance items that need to be caught up on.
Spare parts:
- 1500 engine completely disassembled (and missing parts, some of them sold already)
- Two 4-speed single-rail transmissions (one good, one w/ bad 2nd gear synchros)
- Two 1500 driveshafts (both good)
- One good 1500 diff (broken ear on case)
- Bunch of 1500-specific custom fuel injection parts (PnP Megasquirt!)
Really glad to have the car back home where I can work on it. But, don’t expect too much progress too soon… we’re in the hottest part of the summer. Maybe I can at least get a good start on sourcing parts and required fasteners and other bits while it’s hot?
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