Episode 121. A New Hope

[dliverance]

Wow. That didn't take long at all. Looking forward to more pics.

[reddragon]

Pulling things apart is the easy bit! Have set myself a target of 1 hour minimum per day to work on this build. If I can keep that up it should progress fairly quickly.

[Advancedynamix]

Have you read up on the swap? There will be some fabrication needed.

[reddragon]

Yes, been reading up on it. I have a couple of mates that are quite clever with car mods/welding etc, who are happy to assist if asked.
I enjoy tinkering though, carpenter by trade so I'm pretty good with tools. Will be looking to purchase a mig welder in the next few weeks, and will attempt to do this on my own before seeking assistance.

[reddragon]

So, have been prepping the engine bay, and just gave it a quick coat of primer.

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And here's the donor Capri

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Surprised at how cheap these Capris are. This one cost $900, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. The soft top looks like it's new.
Not real comfortable to sit in or drive, but they came like that from the factory.

[Advancedynamix]

Before painting the engine bay, you'll want to modify the frame rail to fit the Capri trans and you'll want to do the front lower radiator support modification.
This swap is one of the best performance bargains on the planet. You'll end up with a car that is extremely quick and agile, but feels even more refined and easy to drive than a stock Festiva. The Capri transmission requires that the engine be moved forward about 55mm. This helps put more weight on the front tires. That, combined with the equal length drive shafts, helps the car to get better traction than a stock Festiva. Install properly tuned suspension and brakes and the car will do things that should only be possible with an expensive supercar.

[reddragon]

Yeah, will be doing that. The primer is just a thin coat of zinc gal. It's quite humid where I live so helps keep the rust from forming on bare metal.
Can weld through it, and helps protect the areas you cant get to after welding. A light sanding will remove it when I'm ready to etch prime and paint.

[moz]

Before painting the engine bay, you'll want to modify the frame rail to fit the Capri trans and you'll want to do the front lower radiator support modification.
This swap is one of the best performance bargains on the planet. You'll end up with a car that is extremely quick and agile, but feels even more refined and easy to drive than a stock Festiva. The Capri transmission requires that the engine be moved forward about 55mm. This helps put more weight on the front tires. That, combined with the equal length drive shafts, helps the car to get better traction than a stock Festiva. Install properly tuned suspension and brakes and the car will do things that should only be possible with an expensive supercar.

I thought you could have the end of the g series almost touching the frame rail rather than boxing out around it.

I massaged my frame rail and have a 1/4" gap between box and rail. Should I watch out for binding issues?

[reddragon]

Heart has been removed from donor. Dog gets excited, shoots lasers from eye sockets.

[reddragon]

Radiator lower support removed. B6T in engine bay, bolted to gearbox support - drilled the front hole slightly larger, then drilled a new front hole 40mm in front of the old front hole. Capri gearbox front mount sits in these. Have cut away the small raised section towards rear of gearbox support (basically extending the length of the large hole.)



I have about 10mm clearance between gearbox and passenger rail, no massage required?



And about 10mm clearance between pulley and drivers side rail



Plan is to use the capri donut mount flipped upside down, and fabricate a bracket similar to the stock121 one to bolt it to rail.

Please let me know if positioning looks wrong before I go too far! It's looking tight, but if I use the intake off the gen 3 B6D and tilt the engine forward a few degrees, I think the brake booster/master cylinder will fit without modification.

[reddragon]

Just checked, not much clearance (3 - 4mm) but brake booster and master cylinder will fit without modification, using B6T intake. Just need to tilt engine forward a few degrees. Will try with the revised B6D in a few days time, but think it should have a tiny bit more clearance.

[firebush357]

The B6T will be my first ever Swap and it is going to take a long time for me to even start it but I'm already nervous about the Mounts and what and where to cut so the Pictures are greatly appreciated!

[reddragon]

This is my first swap, the pictures are partly so others can tell me what I'm doing wrong before I get too deep!. Only cut so far is the lower radiator support, which will be easy to fabricate new one, and the gearbox support. I don't do nervous, but it started to get confusing reading too many of the other builds/threads. Too much knowledge in the wrong hands or something. So I'm just steaming ahead now. Will stuff some things up, but that's how I learn.

Will definitely post more pictures of mounts, gearbox support etc when I pull the motor back out, should be in a week or two. The one in the photos is the one I just pulled from the capri. Just using it to set up engine bay. Once thats done, I'll pull all the good parts off it and bolt them onto the low km 3rd gen B6d that is waiting by the sidelines.

[reddragon]

Made some progress, and few sidetracks! Will update over coming days.

Couple of parts cars I couldn't resist for the price

1988 Mazda 121 Shades, identical to the one in previous posts. Runs well, tidy body, minimal rust. Came with 1 months rego for $300



1998 Mazda 121 (DW) Shades, very similar to my daily, main difference being the mazda logo - My green 1997 has the old mazda logo, this one is the refresh model released when they changed to the current mazda logo. Rear hatch is badly dented, but in good condition otherwise. $400.



The DW 121s look to have a lower radiator support that is very similar to what the mod does. Am investigating whether it could be used for the modification. If it can be used, it should look completely stock.

[Advancedynamix]

I thought you could have the end of the g series almost touching the frame rail rather than boxing out around it.

I massaged my frame rail and have a 1/4" gap between box and rail. Should I watch out for binding issues?

Radiator lower support removed. B6T in engine bay, bolted to gearbox support - drilled the front hole slightly larger, then drilled a new front hole 40mm in front of the old front hole. Capri gearbox front mount sits in these. Have cut away the small raised section towards rear of gearbox support (basically extending the length of the large hole.)



I have about 10mm clearance between gearbox and passenger rail, no massage required?



And about 10mm clearance between pulley and drivers side rail



Plan is to use the capri donut mount flipped upside down, and fabricate a bracket similar to the stock121 one to bolt it to rail.

Please let me know if positioning looks wrong before I go too far! It's looking tight, but if I use the intake off the gen 3 B6D and tilt the engine forward a few degrees, I think the brake booster/master cylinder will fit without modification.

On my first b6t swap I centered the engine/trans between the frame rails like that and I had to shorten my right (drivers side for you guys) axle about 7mm in order to run negative camber and not bind the axle. On my Lemons car I moved the engine over to the left when I made the mounts. I had to clearance the frame quite a bit on that car and it doesn't have axle issues.