Yes, the engine is finally fitted! I had intended to do a few other bits first, namely painting the gearbox, replacing the rear oil seal and turret seal (again, on the gearbox) and modifying the sump. In the end, I had run out of things to do at the back of the car and so I was just wasting time. I could do all of those jobs with the engine in situ.
Fitting was pretty straight forward really. I didn’t need to lift the car at all.
The load leveller really proved its worth here, allowing the angle to be changed whilst the engine was going in.
Here’s why the sump really needs to be modified:
I don’t think the suspension is set that low at the moment, ground clearance is a good few inches but not for the sump!
A few other photos, here’s the comedy mismatch of the passenger side engine mount.
I expect the bracket doesn’t match the chassis and the holes in the chassis are the same whatever engine is fitted.
The tunnel top panels will also need some attention. The gear lever is in neutral here:
And finally on the engine/gearbox front, there was no photo for how the gearbox bracket is fitted so hopefully this will help:
The bracket bolts to the bottom/rear of the box, with the thicker end pointing towards the diff. I still need to drill the holes in the plate of course.
In other areas, here’s the current pedal arrangement:
As you can see, the brake and clutch are ridiculously far forward of the accelerator pedal. There’s adjustment left on the brake, but the bar is hitting the clutch pedal. I’m hoping if I chop 8mm off the clutch pedal bar, it should line up nicely. The clutch pedal is currently sitting in front of the foot rest!
So, with the engine in, I have a bit more sorely needed space in the garage. I’ve also got the opportunity to fit a lot more stuff, this giving me back more space. My current plan is to shift everything at the side of the garage to the back. Then, I can put the car in the middle and lift it on axle stands as I won’t need to move it again.
As far as I can see, I’m still on track for a March completion!
Westfield build, Mazda SDV 
Looking great. Thanks for the pic of the gearbox mount, as you say, not a lot of photos around of that.
Need to get more time for breaking the mx5 so i can get cleaning up the running gear.
Engine looks great too, an engine colour scheme I was looking at too with the black cambox cover and orange lettering (a logical choice i guess). Looks really good though.
Have you looked at what MX5 bits you are going to port over in the engine bay?
For example, after a look around it looks like the Carbon canister and all those bits can be removed to save space, make it look cleaner etc. (Perhaps leaving the solenoid connected to ensure ECU is happy still)
I’m still pondering the air filter side too, seen a few engine bays with aftermarked air filters, replacing the intake pipework entirely, equally i don’t want to scupper the MAF sensor – still need to think about that!
Great effort though, looks good
I don’t think I’ll be fitting the carbon canister no. If I’d thought about it, I’d have not fitted the extra pipe (under the car) for it which would have saved a lot of hassle! I’ll also be disabling the EGR – the pipe for it doesn’t fit with the coolant reroute I’ve opted for. However, rather than swapping the inlet and exhaust manifold for non-EGR ones, I’ll just cut the pipe, crimp it and weld it.
With regards to the air filter, I was looking at that tonight. The manual says to use the standard pipe from the throttle body, then mount the airbox down near the steering rack. Presumably you’d then need a flexible pipe to join the two together. The FW bonnet has vents on the sides though, which I wanted to make use of along with an induction kit. These sit just behind the front wishbones which won’t help as the engine is too far forward. Even if I bolted the MAF directly to the throttle body, and an air filter to that I’d be way out. I may use the standard pipe and stick the MAF/air filter on the end of that, but it’d be right next to the exhaust manifold.
Theoretically, there will be enough cool air flowing through the engine bay for it to not really matter where the filter goes. Good excuse for ITBs though with the side air vents!