Hi all, it's been a while, so I thought it was time for an update. I have not been idle, as I have now finally moved into my garage, bit of a struggle but made it. Anyway I have started getting ready to reinstall the engine and gearbox, when I found a crack in the gearbox casing, so it was decision time, spend upwards of 1500€ on a recon box; a new casing and rebuild the box or find an alternative gearbox, this was the route I decided upon, having done a bit of research, a Mazda RX8, 6 speed box was chosen as they seemed readily available and reasonably priced, with the adapter plate for the Essex V6 was 320€.
Now it was to plan my course of action, Step 1: Do I use Ford or Mazda parts or mix them, mix was decided, use the Ford clutch assembly and the Mazda operating system. Step 2: Trial fit to see what problems I come across, first problem gearbox won't engage fully with engine a 10mm gap is between them, using the newly acquired intrascope (thanks Amazon) I found that the clutch assembly foul's the bell housing in region of starter mounting (Mazda) a bit of grinding was required to give the required clearance. Step 3: Figure out how to set up clutch operating system, I had already decided on a hydraulic system, now to find a slave cylinder that would fit and operate the system, eventually a Mazda 6, CY-324 cylinder was found to be suitable. that is as far as I can go until the cylinder arrives (it's on back order).
So it's now back to fitting the 'Wilwood' front disc's and 4 pot calipers as the correct brake pipe adapters have arrived, again no instructions so where was the spacer to go? After trail and error I found it fitted between the brake disc and the stub axle, obvious now.
That's it in a nut shell so to speak, but in real time it's taken in excess of 60 man hours
Don