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88FestivaGTR wrote this article.
This should shed some light on the tranny swap 1st off, I'm not a photographer, I'm not a spelling teacher, so don't wine about those things. Second here are some pics of my work in progress. These are rough, fabrication pics. Nothing finished, everything dirty and ugly. Second I tried posting this once, spent an assload of time on it and erased everything on accident. So I have already spent too much time on this, and descriptions might be short. I AM lazy, but I am NOT a prick. So if you have any questions, post them, I am glad to answer.
Here is a pic of just the tranny in. No motor for better pics. It is mounted in with both mounts. You can see the axle here. Pretty straight.
Another pic of the axle underneath. Again, pretty straight. The jack is there to lift the suspension to lessen the downward angle. in reality it will be better with the weight of the motor and when the car is on the ground.
Here is a closer look at the axle. You can see the slight angle back. If the tranny was moved back a bit more, it would be perfect. But that's not possible, you'll see. If some on tells you that you can get the axles "PERFECT" straight, they are lying, or have never done this before. It is impossible.
This is why it is not possible. This is how much clearance there is between the tranny and the steering rack. BTW that is not my hand. I hired a hand model for these pics, he was a little pricey, but hey...nothing but the best for you guys.
This shows the same clearance issue from underneath. When the engine moves back and forth the bolt thingy hits the rubber boot thingy (technical terms I looked up in the mazda manual) There is almost enough room for the bolt to go under the boot when moving. I may look into shaving the bolt,and the steering rack down a bit to find perfect fit. This is whey my motor mounts are FIRM.
Another angle. The bolt clears the steering shaft.
Once again the bolt clears the shaft, but I believe I am going to cut it down in case of any side to side movement.
This one shows the modification required to the engine cradle. The shifter mechanism is further toward the driver side than the stock tranny. So some cutting was involved. I done some weldind to the cradle to reinforce it a bit, figured it couldn't hurt. In this pic you can also see a crude pic of the shifter linkage. I used the capri shifter AND linkage. The linkage tubes were larger in diameter than the festy. n fact the front part of the linkage, where it actually hooks up to the tranny, is from the festiva. I just cut off a long piece of the ends from the festiva, and shoved them inside the capri tubes. Got inside the car a felt where I wanted it, than welded it in. No measuring, EASY process.
From the top showing where it was cut.
From underside. You can see how much I cut. Works perfect, no rubbing.
This is of the FRONT of the cradle.This is the front tranny mount(the round thingy). You can see how I moved it forward. I just drilled another hole. The third hole is from the factory. I intentionally left the bolt off for a better pic.
Last is a pic of the clearancing required to the frame. To put it bluntly.....it doesnt fit. But I got out my BFH and ever so gently,,,,tapped on the frame until I got the results you see her. I'll do some more tapping to make it prettier, but it clears perfect now.
Also, my transmission is in the STOCK location. Which is to say..... If you were to put a G25M-R into a sotck festiva, with a stock motor, without moving it anywhere, using the stock passenger motor mount......This is where the transmission would sit. I believe this is the perfect place for it. Just uses solid or very firm mounts to limit engine movement.
Thanks alot guys!!! And special thanks to Abe.
Matt
I posted a couple more pics of the tranny on my site. Nothing too special, but to those of you saving all the pics for reference when you sawap, it's worth a look.
Here are a couple of examples.
Capri shifter from above, note modified bolt holes.
There is more on My site!
88FestivaGTR wrote this article.
This should shed some light on the tranny swap 1st off, I'm not a photographer, I'm not a spelling teacher, so don't wine about those things. Second here are some pics of my work in progress. These are rough, fabrication pics. Nothing finished, everything dirty and ugly. Second I tried posting this once, spent an assload of time on it and erased everything on accident. So I have already spent too much time on this, and descriptions might be short. I AM lazy, but I am NOT a prick. So if you have any questions, post them, I am glad to answer.
Here is a pic of just the tranny in. No motor for better pics. It is mounted in with both mounts. You can see the axle here. Pretty straight.
Another pic of the axle underneath. Again, pretty straight. The jack is there to lift the suspension to lessen the downward angle. in reality it will be better with the weight of the motor and when the car is on the ground.
Here is a closer look at the axle. You can see the slight angle back. If the tranny was moved back a bit more, it would be perfect. But that's not possible, you'll see. If some on tells you that you can get the axles "PERFECT" straight, they are lying, or have never done this before. It is impossible.
This is why it is not possible. This is how much clearance there is between the tranny and the steering rack. BTW that is not my hand. I hired a hand model for these pics, he was a little pricey, but hey...nothing but the best for you guys.
This shows the same clearance issue from underneath. When the engine moves back and forth the bolt thingy hits the rubber boot thingy (technical terms I looked up in the mazda manual) There is almost enough room for the bolt to go under the boot when moving. I may look into shaving the bolt,and the steering rack down a bit to find perfect fit. This is whey my motor mounts are FIRM.
Another angle. The bolt clears the steering shaft.
Once again the bolt clears the shaft, but I believe I am going to cut it down in case of any side to side movement.
This one shows the modification required to the engine cradle. The shifter mechanism is further toward the driver side than the stock tranny. So some cutting was involved. I done some weldind to the cradle to reinforce it a bit, figured it couldn't hurt. In this pic you can also see a crude pic of the shifter linkage. I used the capri shifter AND linkage. The linkage tubes were larger in diameter than the festy. n fact the front part of the linkage, where it actually hooks up to the tranny, is from the festiva. I just cut off a long piece of the ends from the festiva, and shoved them inside the capri tubes. Got inside the car a felt where I wanted it, than welded it in. No measuring, EASY process.
From the top showing where it was cut.
From underside. You can see how much I cut. Works perfect, no rubbing.
This is of the FRONT of the cradle.This is the front tranny mount(the round thingy). You can see how I moved it forward. I just drilled another hole. The third hole is from the factory. I intentionally left the bolt off for a better pic.
Last is a pic of the clearancing required to the frame. To put it bluntly.....it doesnt fit. But I got out my BFH and ever so gently,,,,tapped on the frame until I got the results you see her. I'll do some more tapping to make it prettier, but it clears perfect now.
Also, my transmission is in the STOCK location. Which is to say..... If you were to put a G25M-R into a sotck festiva, with a stock motor, without moving it anywhere, using the stock passenger motor mount......This is where the transmission would sit. I believe this is the perfect place for it. Just uses solid or very firm mounts to limit engine movement.
Thanks alot guys!!! And special thanks to Abe.
Matt
I posted a couple more pics of the tranny on my site. Nothing too special, but to those of you saving all the pics for reference when you sawap, it's worth a look.
Here are a couple of examples.
Capri shifter from above, note modified bolt holes.
There is more on My site!
