How did I miss this until now?!

VERY INTERESTED.

I wonder if FM is going to include headers in the kit price. That's the most difficult part of the swap, I would imagine.

 

Custom limited run headers are pricey ($800+).

Frank

 

Up on their site now:

http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?...5&parentid=115

Frank

 

Once we have a good supplier for headers, we'll hopefully carry them. If it's an off-the-shelf solution that's readily available elsewhere (such as some Hedder "block huggers", for example), we'll simply tell you where to get them.

 

Any idea how much just the "no engine mounts" subframe would be by itself from them?

 

Right around $1000.

 

ohhh baby, that not as bad as I thought....

 

What about a C5 header?

 

What is in the way? According to Zenspeed, the only thing in the way is the steering shaft. They use Ujoints to get it out of the way.

 

I'm not in a position to answer those questions myself yet. Let us get the engine in the car first

 

Every variation of factory header has been tried and failed. Most come off the block to wide. There's not much room on the sides of the LSX where the runners leave the block. You can see in the pics on Nathan's LS1 swap page of the RC headers:

http://home.comcast.net/~npartist/exhaust.html

The headers that v8roadsters has been using (not their future long tubes) are probably similar if not the same as the RC units. I'll know when I get mine next week hopefully.

Frank

 

We have a set of those headers here. On first glance, I am underwhelmed by the quality.

 

They were cheap and the only game in town. Not sure what else to do. Maybe the ones I ordered are better. But I did order today before the holiday weekend so hopefully the guy won't build them til Monday.

Frank

 

Man after looking at that link : http://home.comcast.net/~npartist/exhaust.html
I really want a monster.

 

Now if only V8roadsters kit can have a prefabbed exhaust like that made for it.

 

If Enthuza makes the v8 swap exhaust for the RC kit, it'd probably only be a slightly shorter flange for the v8roadsters kit as it simply moves the motor back a bit further.

Frank

 

I am working with Jason from Enthuza to see if it is business savy to make a Racing Concepts exhaust for sale. It would be a copy of my exhaust. The hold up is that I am in Michigan til mid august working and have to wait til I come back down to make up a jig for the exhaust if he decides to do it. I say contact enthuzacar so he has an idea of the demand.

 

I have already contacted him about it. Got a 99 camaro as a donor. 6500 for a drag car I builtr for a kid last yea....... part it out but keep what I need

 

Some other non standard items are the cooling and fueling solution. Npartist was fairly straight forward and even offered the parts that he used in his car (good info!). This would be SO much easier if we could just buy a parts car that was wrecked and use as much from that car as possible. If I was going to do this, I probably would try to find a way to use the camaro instrument cluster Just because I think it would be better than having to use one or more converters to get the transmission to read RPM and speed correctly in the dash.

I have been following the engine conversion developments for about a year now and I can't see anyone without their own fab shop doing this for under $10k. I know people with mad skillz have done it cheaper, but I am not one of those people and I suspect much of this market will fit into my category. Mechanically inclined, but not willing to have the car sitting for a year while I work on it.

FM, if you are going to do this, my suggestion is to REALLY offer this as a kit. Subframe, trans mounts, diff, diff mounts, driveshaft, half shafts, cooling, fueling and headers. Otherwise people are just going to spend more time trying to get it to work.

One other thing... you need a trade in program I am sure loads of people would love to relinquish lightly used FMII kits and healthy drivelines in exchange for a v8.

 

A trade in program would be SWEET! RC now has a kit that includes fuel system, cooling system, and everything else you need for 4399.