Long, slow build and swap

That poor little spyder ... looks like something I'd buy . I don't think I've ever seen you post a project , thanks for sharing . Glad you decided to keep the sparkles !!

I have the same kirkey seat , I had to cut the side bolster down because it interfered with my shifting . Keep us updated .... 🤠 

I also didn't want a bunch of gauges cluttering up the inside

    I like this part the best. I think its down right stupid to have too much clutter with gauges and a fire extinguisher mount on the A pillar.  I always felt people did this kind of thing to show off that they are a dangerous car guy when all it did was reduce visibility.  I like the digital gauge where most of what you need is centralized and focused. 

Now I know what you have been doing with all of your "Free" time 😋 

@Phats, the only other "build" thread I've ever posted was on spyderweb when I did my own 2zz swap.  This car was rough and cheap so I felt it was a good candidate for beating, cutting a little and doing whatever else needed for my wants.  I'm to the point though now where I just want to drive it and will have a list of things that need more work later such as the gauge install.  I'm going to use some ABS sheet to smooth everything, then repaint it in a textured matte black so that it just looks nicer.  For now though it works for what I need. 

@dev, that's why I like these digital dashes a lot anymore, especially when running a newer stand-alone as they usually have provisions to easily connect it.  The nice thing is I can set up multiple pages so something I don't need to see all the time, such as fuel pressure, pre and post IC air temp, or water temp for the A2W setup can be put on a secondary page and the push of a button will change the dash to another page and then back to things that are important to keep an eye on. 

@not-2-old-for-2-seater,  Yep, very little free time.  Sometimes I work on this car 4 hours a week, sometimes I'll carve out about 12 hours to work on it through the week.

Is that a KMOD turbo manifold? I have seen similar variations on their site. I was going to be using some of their parts in my build.

It's a PLM.  If I was to do it over, I would probably get a top mount manifold instead, the cold side piping wouldn't be much longer but it would open up a lot of space for routing the cold side.  I've been debating on going that way anyway since I haven't done the exhaust or any cold side stuff yet. 

I like the top mount manifolds as well. It frees up more room to run a liquid to air intercooler and piping which is the direction I am heading.

I love your build so far!

Not much in way of updates as I haven't been working on the car much.  I'm mainly at the time where I'll do a few hours of work and realize how I want to do the next step to completion and end up waiting a week on a couple AN fittings and some hose, a Deutsch DTM connector kit, just little stuff that I can't source locally.  I've installed and removed the engine loosely a couple times to check clearances, plan routing for fuel and other fluid lines, figure out where I can secure the lines and such as well.  I'm mainly down to the 'grinding' stage where it's just time and effort mainly now.

Well I ended up selling my original turbo manifold and going to a top mount setup.  It just simplified a few things such as coolant line routing for the turbo and the space it affords for a proper A2W intercooler and reservoir.

https://imgur.com/1TT0vqR

Decided to go with one of the Lotus style hoods to duct air from the radiator, This hood is decent quality but you can't use the factory bolts to mount to the hinges, the needed ones are smaller diameter, which I'm not big on.  I may end up making it fully pin on since I'm using Aerocatch latches on the front anyway.  On the plus side, it's definitely lighter than stock and will make ducting easy.  There's also an insert that I've seen some people buy and you can cut your factory hood and mold/rivet/whatever the insert on.  I wasn't much on that due to mixing materials if molding (steel hood, fiberglass insert) and riveting in on just looks ultra cheap like those "widebody" kits that are glorified fender flares.

https://imgur.com/Qj8MAoD

I also decided to change over the entire shifter setup.  I was never really keen on the Innovative shifter mechanism with the bellcrank to reverse the shifting.  I've went with a complete Hybrid Racing setup.  Their RWD cable bracket gets the cables going in the right direction for the spyder and using their RSX version 3 shifter.  Mounting it backwards so that the cables come in from the rear takes care of making the gates and shifter movement a normal pattern.  The only thing is I had to swap to RSX shift cables, and the only non bolt in part will be drilling the stock spyder shifter footprint in and the Hybrid Racing shifter footprint in as well to mount it in the car. This keeps moving parts to a minimum, the Hybrid racing shift cables have rod ends and spherical bearings so I'm hoping for a very solid shifting feel that may even envy @dev lol.

I read, "I've been collecting parts for 4 years" in the first post and about lost it. I feel like i've been collecting parts for going on 8 years at this point. Second spyder with parts all pulled from the first.. an almost finished turbo kit that i've had for about 7 years, coilovers that need a rebuild, and a soft top that I just cut out because my cat decided to jump on it and then proceed to fall through. I guess i'll read the rest of the thread now.

@pattielipp @nocoolname

I don't feel so bad now entering the second year of my supercharged 2ZZ build... And still collecting parts.... Almost there.

Hell, it took me 7 months to get the dead 1ZZ out and 2ZZ to life... Much to the distress of the garage owner that let me use their space. Heh... 

I also have a complete soft top assembly sitting on my dining room floor, waiting for  me to clean it up and install it. That's only been taking up significant floor space for two months so far.

I got interested in motorcycle-engine swaps the other day. I found a neat thread with a guy documenting his MG midget swap.   The build is getting close to completion....after SEVEN YEARS.   

A build can take on a life of its own.

Mine already has. A quick and moderately painless K swap turned into tearing down the block to swap internals, K20 oil pump, steel K series oil pan, a K20 head and a K24 head because I can't decide which to use, a LSD equipped RSX trans and I still haven't ordered the damn install kit from Mitch's.

Part of my delay is also my wife and I starting two separate businesses.

@wilcomr-s

Tell me about it.  This started as a track build on my then recently totalled green spyder, it was going to be an NA k series with head work.  Now it's more of a street/strip build and I'm already looking at Albins and PPG gearsets and building my other k24 block I have sitting around...  But that will be a 2021 project as I'll have to spend money on a hardtop for this car since I gutted the soft top where it was in such terrible condition.

I hung a dry erase board in the storage unit I work on the car in.  I made a list on it of things to do on the car.  I'm now on my second/updated list after marking off half of the stuff and adding things I had forgotten/changed.  There will probably be a third revision before the car is on the road lol. 

Pretty relatable... Started my "Build" when I was 20 in 2010 not long after purchasing the car. I was young, dumb and had ambitious plans of a track build.. Three years of daily driving while building the car into a decent AutoX machine and I had to put it on the back burner. Got a new car and it just sat for a while. years pass, I continue buying parts, do little bits of work and ultimately give away that frame after purchasing a new and swapping all of the parts. It's now three years since trading up to a new MR2 and i'm still at it, only now with two kids, having moved 8 hours south, and life in general causing a slowdown of the whole thing.