Josh's AWD Worklog

[racycle]

Impressive work I'm loving the rims but not 100% sure about them. Can't wait to see the clearance with the car actually sitting on them.

[IMACHU2]

The 18's look kool on there. Plenty of hook for the new and improved no-longer along for the ride rear end With the AWD your going to have to make sure the overall diameters are the same. This is a great site for that. http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalcold.html

Curious, so you basically just have to massage the MX-3 frame rails and the AWD protege rear sub frame just bolts in place? This gives me a bad idea

[Josh]

Well kinda, I will get better pictures in the on coming weeks and show how I am doing it in more detail. But its more like a deep tissue message to get it in place. If you check club protege there is someone building a tubular rear end that mounts to a toyota rear diff that may be a direct swap, it is anyways for the Escort and should be for our cars. Looks killer though.

[IMACHU2]

Interesting. Ya the Escort/323/Protege and MX-3 are very similar. My 323 is 95% MX-3 V6 at this point. Front and rear cross members, full wiring harness, transmission, brakes drive shafts full suspension etc. I wish there was a manual V6 AWD transmission. I don't mind automatics in high horsepower applications, but an auto and AWD would sap a poor KLZE dry. Is it true the GTX and GTR AWD transmissions are pretty weak? I see the 4cyl FWD guys on CP are doing Toyota MR-2 transmission swaps, what do the GTX, GTR guys swap-in?

[Josh]

Yeah, I have had thoughts of a V6 AWD. It would be tight, I think the best bet would be to go with a Toyota drive train. Knowing what I know now I would use a Toyota drive train in the MX3 if I were to do it again.

[im2bad4ya]

I'M NOT WORTHY!!!


lol, any updates?

[marcdh]

18s look sweet, though look heavy? Tyres look grippy, trans breaking stuff

[Josh]

Well I had plans on taking some pictures of the progress this weekend but we have a little snow storm right now, so if it all dies down by weekend I will take some.

The 18's are actually lighter than my 17's that I have had on it but the offsets are kind of jacked up for the MX, so chances are I probably will not be using them but they do fill the wells nicely

The progress I have right now is I have filled the rear end mounts with 90 shore polly urethane, and I have cut off my old frame rails that I had welded in place (that was not a fun thing to do) and I have started fabrication on the new frame rails. I am using tubular 1x2" steel tubing.

I do have to re cut out the floor pan in the cargo area as I will have to raise it up about an inch. Still trying to figure out how I am going to run the exhaust up and around the rear end to exit out of the rear... I might have to step it down to 2.75" or 2.5" to get it to clear and I was dead set on a full 3" I will make it work what ever I do with it I still need to get a magnaflow oval for it as well, as I will not be running any kind of Cat or Resonator on the car.

[mx3matt]

Just an idea but what about side exit at the front of the rear tire?

As for exhaust run the 3inch you had in mind. Something like header-downpipe-few inches of exhaust piping lol- glass pack- another glass pack- side exit- flamesssssss

[Josh]

That's the same setup I ran on it for 2 years. When finishing the car I am doing everything as if it were factory, so I want to insure I do something nice and clean. That and when I get the car to the height I want the pipe will scrape everything. My plan is a duel tip center exit out of the rear bumper. It is going to be nice and clean looking. The tips I am using are factory RX8 tips so they are a good look and nice size. For performance reasons I am sticking with 3" exhaust. I will probably have to build a slight hump in the cargo area.

[jeffs93toy]

did you ever decide on what spoiler your using? I may have missed it reading your worklog.

[Josh]

Well I HAD decided on the MS spoiler and lip, but due to very recent developments I am going to use my modified wrap around. Why you may ask, well I am the proud new owner of some JDM full length sides and the wrap around will flow a lot better with the overall look I am after. The MS spoiler and lip are going on the GS as it is already white

Other than that I have not gotten much done on the car since the end of last year. I have been working a lot. I should be finished up with the new frame rails not this weekend but next though. I will get some picture posted then.

[mikeinaus]

if you cant fit the 3" pipe over the axle do you think itd be possibly to install a Y pipe and have 2 smaller pipes fit threw then collect into another Y before hitting the muffler? i dont think that would have much affect on flow if you could make it work.

[jeffs93toy]

DRAT! Ive been looking for a ms spoiler and was hoping to nab yours up lol.

It good to hear you not storing it though. I think they accent our cars very well. Keep up the work I enjoy reading worklogs like yours.

[Josh]

if you cant fit the 3" pipe over the axle do you think itd be possibly to install a Y pipe and have 2 smaller pipes fit threw then collect into another Y before hitting the muffler? i dont think that would have much affect on flow if you could make it work.

I have been contemplating that. I can fit a small pipe above the rear end on either side of the pumpkin and my plan is to run duel tips out the center of the bumper. I have the tips I just need to decided if I want to do the exhaust without a muffler or not.