...it could be done with one bellcrank mounted on the bracket in the back for the shaft "in and out".
I would still have needed a crank to reverse the twist motion (or fabbed up a way to flip Zero Decibels trwist crank).
Another benefit of my design is the angle of the cables coming into the cockpit. They are angled down which is their natural position when routed under the intake manifold and over the FFR gas tank. It makes for almost no bends in the cables.
A piston is a piston, spec it out and you can have it made for marginally more than an "ez30" piston. Same for rods, but you will need to go back to symmetric rods.
... Still, it could be done with one bellcrank mounted on the bracket in the back for the shaft "in and out".
This got me thinking, so I redesigned my shifter to have all the bell cranks mounted in the back at the transmission. I was able to modify the Zero Decibel Motorsports Bell Crank Shifter to work with either the stock FFR shifter or the optional aluminum FFR shifter and run the cables straight back for better shifter feel.
The mods are labeled for easy identification.
Make a new cable bulkhead mount
Replace the 3/8" spacers between the ZDM bracket and transmission with a new bracket to support the additional bell crank to reverse the in/out motion
Flip the stock bracket upside down to improve clearance
Rotate the stock twist bell crank to reverse the twist motion
I have new custom cables and more red aluminum rod ends on order to finish out the design. I will post completed pics when all the new parts arrive.
Here is a picture of the stock ZDM bell crank setup for comparison.
Last edited by Hobby Racer; 03-08-2017 at 07:18 PM.
Reason: Add stock photo for comparison
This got me thinking, so I redesigned my shifter to have all the bell cranks mounted in the back at the transmission. I was able to modify the Zero Decibel Motorsports Bell Crank Shifter to work with either the stock FFR shifter or the optional aluminum FFR shifter and run the cables straight back for better shifter feel.
The mods are labeled for easy identification.
Make a new cable bulkhead mount
Replace the 3/8" spacers between the ZDM bracket and transmission with a new bracket to support the additional bell crank to reverse the in/out motion
Flip the stock bracket upside down to improve clearance
Rotate the stock twist bell crank to reverse the twist motion
I have new custom cables and more red aluminum rod ends on order to finish out the design. I will post completed pics when all the new parts arrive.
Here is a picture of the stock ZDM bell crank setup for comparison.
I purchased the optional K-tuned FFR aluminum shifter from another forum member and really love the looks and operation, it really is art. However, the forward facing cable layout FFR uses leaves much to be desired. After reading many MR2 shifter conversion threads, I decided to do my own rear facing cable conversion using my FFR aluminum shifter. Initially I was going to turn the shifter backwards and go from there, but I decided to leave it facing forward. Either way would require dual bell cranks to change the direction of throw for the forward and side motion so the transmission shift pattern would be normal.
I then cut the front of the shifter off to make room for my Wilwood brake adjuster; made a new base plate and started fitting the bell cranks. Each bell crank has three adjustment locations for the cable and shifter connection allowing a large amount of adjustment for shift throw. The final cable routing allows for an almost straight shot back to the transmission. I am also using Mechie's rear bell crank to eliminate the large loop for the twisting motion of the shift shaft. My new cables will only need to be 70" total length!
The bell cranks are made from 1/4" aluminum plate with 5/16" Oilite bronze bushings pressed into the pivot for smooth operation.
A couple questions, first are you doing anything special with your alternator brackets? Are your engine mounts keeping the engine at the stock height? I'm finding that the space between the frame and the engine is pretty tight.
I have about a 3/8" spacer between the motor mount and engine to accommodate the front pitch mount. I may have to notch the frame like you did. The way I have it now the headers will have to be at nearly 90' to clear the rear suspension brackets.
...are you doing anything special with your alternator brackets?
The cast aluminum piece will double as a mounting point for a dry sump scavenge pump if needed. It is also the front lifting point when I take the engine/trans in and out.
Originally Posted by flynntuna
Are your engine mounts keeping the engine at the stock height?
Right side engine mount form underneath.
I think I raised the motor about an inch compared to where FFR places the EJ motor. I did that so the drain plug would not hang below the plane of the belly pan as I am going to have a flat bottom for better aero. I did not raise the trans mount, that works just fine.
Originally Posted by flynntuna
I'm finding that the space between the frame and the engine is pretty tight.
I have about a 3/8" spacer between the motor mount and engine to accommodate the front pitch mount. I may have to notch the frame like you did.
Its definitely tight. I have between 3/8" and 1/2" space between the right side cam phasers and the frame where I notched it out. Luckly the STI mounts are quite stiff and with the natural balance of a flat motor there should not be much side to side movement.
Here is pic from underneath the right cam phaser looking up.
I also added a snubber in case the motor pitches forward so it won't damage the cam phasers. If the motor moves more than a 1/4" forward, the vertical channel will push up against the thick front pitch mount on the case preventing further movement. Under normal conditions it does not touch.
Originally Posted by flynntuna
The way I have it now the headers will have to be at nearly 90' to clear the rear suspension brackets.
Instead of routing the exhaust over the suspension and out the back, I think I am going to try to exit it just in front of the rear tires on each side. It will make for a really short exhaust run, maybe 20". The exhaust will exit through the side sails.
Last edited by Hobby Racer; 03-15-2017 at 05:27 PM.
I like your solution using the snubber, I'm using the stock motor mounts so I'm going to use the pitch mount bracket. My engine didn't come with the alternator bracket so I'll have to source one. . Here's a couple of pics using the headers that I got with the car.. Not sure yet if I'll cut these up or start from scratch. It seems that cutting the tubes and add sections to them might work, that would be my first choice, but then again sometimes what seems the easiest route doesn't always pan out.
I like your solution using the snubber, I'm using the stock motor mounts so I'm going to use the pitch mount bracket. My engine didn't come with the alternator bracket so I'll have to source one. . Here's a couple of pics using the headers that I got with the car.. Not sure yet if I'll cut these up or start from scratch. It seems that cutting the tubes and add sections to them might work, that would be my first choice, but then again sometimes what seems the easiest route doesn't always pan out.
Are Those are the raptor SC headers? Are they torqued down and clearing the frame?
There is a video somewhere on this forum showing an ej motor with SIGNIFICANT movement under acceleration. I think it was in somebody's build thread. You will have to search. It seemed evident that not utilizing the dogbone mount that attaches to the top of the trans just behind the stock intercooler, as the kit is designed, allows too much movement. Your cam phaser would definitely hit even if your engine only moves half as much as the ej in the video. The motion to worry about is not engine vibration. It's the twisting from the drivetrain
There is a video somewhere on this forum showing an ej motor with SIGNIFICANT movement under acceleration. I think it was in somebody's build thread. You will have to search. It seemed evident that not utilizing the dogbone mount that attaches to the top of the trans just behind the stock intercooler, as the kit is designed, allows too much movement. Your cam phaser would definitely hit even if your engine only moves half as much as the ej in the video. The motion to worry about is not engine vibration. It's the twisting from the drivetrain
Zach, That video was mine.
The video was with OEM engine and trans mounts. I switched to Megan Racing mounts. I still don't use a dog bone.
There is a video somewhere on this forum showing an ej motor with SIGNIFICANT movement under acceleration. I think it was in somebody's build thread. You will have to search. It seemed evident that not utilizing the dogbone mount that attaches to the top of the trans just behind the stock intercooler, as the kit is designed, allows too much movement. Your cam phaser would definitely hit even if your engine only moves half as much as the ej in the video. The motion to worry about is not engine vibration. It's the twisting from the drivetrain
Both John and I are using the EZ36 motor which uses a pitch mount in front of the engine instead of the dogbone that you describe. Johns using custom motor mounts and I'm using stock mounts and the pitch stop.
Yes they are the raptor headers, unfortunately they don't fit without modification. They hit the frame where the rear suspension bolts to.
Shame. I remember ruling out the raptor but I got excited when I saw your exhaust. In my opinion it is one of two issues preventing more ez builds (other is ecu)
Don't want to hijack John's thread on side issues, but although headers, ECU and probably wiring harness add expense, you don't need the expense of intercoolers ect.
I installed a secondary rear firewall to completely separate the engine bay from the cockpit. Since I'm installing an EZ36R and its tight, I installed the aluminum sheet on the cockpit side and not the engine side like most others have done. Sealed the panel with silicone and secured it with rivets.
To give the side intrusion panels a finished look, I wrapped them in carbon fiber vinyl wrap. They look excellent. I will also wrap the FFR rear firewall and center console.
Sorry for the out of order reply, but, I just read your thread for the first time this morning. One caution on using your magnetic mounts in your tank particularly if you think you may burn E85, many magnets, particularly rare earth, are susceptible to corrosion. We are aware of E85 damaging non-anodized aluminum parts, zinc plated fasteners, etc. I have never tested magnets in fuel, so i really don't know that you are headed for a problem, however, you might want to take an extra magnet, attach it to a stray piece of steel and drop it in a glass jar of your preferred fuel and park it on a shelf. It would really suck to have the hydromat started floating around in your tank when you need it most.
BTW the carbon fiber wrap looks fantastic.
One caution on using your magnetic mounts in your tank particularly if you think you may burn E85, many magnets, particularly rare earth, are susceptible to corrosion.
Good information. The magnets are from Holley, specifically made for use with Hydromat in a fuel tank so I hope it will be ok.
Lots of changes, but I'm focusing on the the coolant system for this post. I had the following list of ideas I wanted to implement for my coolant system.
Use a large dual pass / dual row aluminum radiator
Run a Laminova oil to water oil cooler
Run both coolant tubes down the passenger side
Use hard lines were ever possible (not using the corrugated tubing that comes with the kit)
Have it look as OEM as possible
Use Gates PowerGrip heat shrinking coolant clamps (no worm gear clamps here!)
I started fabricating the coolant tubes using the 1.5" aluminum tubing that comes with the kit. I soon figured out I need more than the two tubes the kit ships with and ordered a few more online. I pie cut the tubing where I needed bends and had a local guy tig weld up my joints when I was finished. Below is the progression.
Tubes fabricated and fit up before tig welding, and after tig welding.
Like all H6 motors, the EZ36 has two coolant outputs at the top of the motor that need to be joined together before routing the coolant to the front radiator. This required fabricating a very unique coolant tube. It can be seen as the first tube is each of the above pictures. Here it is installed on the motor in the pictures below.
Next, hot coolant flows through the top tube to the front mounted radiator. The tubes along the side of the car are spaced apart so as not to transfer heat as much as possible given the space constraints of the side panels of the car. It goes for a double pass through the radiator and then out the bottom and back to the underside of the engine.
The radiator was mounted as vertical as possible, not laid down like the WRX radiator would be. This gives a better flow path for the incoming air. Later I will fully seal off both the intake and exhaust sides of the radiator core to optimize flow, forcing all incoming air through the core.
You may have seen the oil to water cooler and Accusump mounted in the side panel between the coolant tubes in some of the pictures. I'll be doing a separate post on those later when they are complete.
Last edited by Hobby Racer; 08-07-2017 at 05:12 PM.
I forgot to show it with the side body mounted! Its tight but everything fits under the side panel and did not require modifying the fiberglass at all.
When putting in an EZ30R or EZ36R engine in an 818, space between the front of the engine and the frame/firewall is at a premium. I noticed that I could get a good deal more clearance between the cam phasers and the frame if I tilted the engine trans combo back as far as the chassis would allow. Essentially pivoting on the motor mounts until the transmission tail housing comes close to the rear frame. To do so I would need to modify the Subaru transmission mount to reduce the amount of rubber between the upper and lower metal plates.
This picture shows a stock transmission mount next to an STI Group N mount.
I took the stock mount and cut out the rubber that joins the two metal plates in preparation for pouring a new polyurethane isolater between the two plates. I have to tell you, it was quite difficult to get all the old rubber out as it was tenaciously bonded to the plates. I had to cut out as much as I could with a saws-all and then switch to a razor knife, then a wire wheel, and finally a sand blast cabinet!
Here is a picture of the new mount plates tack welded together to hold their relative position so I can pour in liquid polyurethane to create the new lowered mount.
Notice how much closer the top and bottom plates are as compared to the first picture. The OEM mount has 1 1/4" of rubber, and my new mount has 3/8", so I took out about 7/8".
Here is the completed mount next to an OEM STI Group-N mount.
Hobby Racer,
I love you plumbing.
Great job, keep up the good work.
To make my cooling system self bleeding. I have 2 small hoses coming back to the expansion tank.
1. From the high point off the engine, same as you. I put a pill in that hose with 1/8" hole in it. This allows air through quickly but limits much fluid going through.
2. Small Hose from top of radiator, kept as high as possible, back to the expansion tank.
I teed these 2 hoses together before attaching to expansion tank.
Hobby Racer,
I love you plumbing.
Great job, keep up the good work.
To make my cooling system self bleeding. I have 2 small hoses coming back to the expansion tank.
1. From the high point off the engine, same as you. I put a pill in that hose with 1/8" hole in it. This allows air through quickly but limits much fluid going through.
2. Small Hose from top of radiator, kept as high as possible, back to the expansion tank.
I teed these 2 hoses together before attaching to expansion tank.
Bob
Bob, what did you use for the pill? Also, do you have a line installed at the bottom of the expansion tank for the engine to pull fluid back into the system?
Bob, what did you use for the pill? Also, do you have a line installed at the bottom of the expansion tank for the engine to pull fluid back into the system?
I took a 5/16" bolt and cut 1/2" long piece out of the shank. The drilled 1/8" hole the long way.
I'm using the standard wrx expansion tank. The bottom hose out of that tank goes to the suction side of the water pump. tank.jpg
I took photos of the before and after position of the motor/trans to show the extra clearance you can gain by making the Subaru transmission mount shorter.
Here is a side by side with a black line drawn across both images to help see the pitch difference. It is most noticeable looking at the valve covers.
Now look at the clearance difference when looking down at the engine front cover nearest the firewall.
I know it may not seem like much, but I need every bit I can get!