SpecRacer.com

Hi,

I have been looking for information on building a Gen3 Kit and have not found anything.
Are home builds relatively rare in SFR, most being built by race shops and CSRs?

Thanks !

There are definitely some people doing their own conversion. I think someone capable of doing an engine change can handle it, but having done one before or one already done to compare with helps getting over the humps. You can find out about most of the humps in the Gen3 section here.

Have you looked at the Assembly Manual (https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/0f9e9d_ee1043dc052e40748f89d5da70e9ea01.pdf)? It is pretty darn complete.

HI Dave
Many thanks ! Much appreciated !

I know nothing of your skill level but Yes it can be done. I just completed my own conversion and it went pretty well. Study the manual and the info about motor mount locations on this site. Take your time and it can be done.

The one skill you may need that many do not have is the ability to weld or get welding done. If you need to move or modify your motor mounts it is much easier if you can do it yourself

Definitely
Buy a new wiring harness
Buy the new shorter transmission mount
Buy the new rear transmission mount
Fill the fridge in your garage with beer for contemplating those special issues and to avoid dehydration.

Those items will save you a lot of aggravation. You'll end up buying them in the end and you will avoid waiting for them to be shipped while your in the middle of the build.

Lee Spuhler wrote:I know nothing of your skill level but Yes it can be done. I just completed my own conversion and it went pretty well. Study the manual and the info about motor mount locations on this site. Take your time and it can be done.

The one skill you may need that many do not have is the ability to weld or get welding done. If you need to move or modify your motor mounts it is much easier if you can do it yourself

The only welding in the "standard" installation (assuming mounts are within spec) is the welding of a ground boss to the frame. I used a riv-nut instead.

We rebuild JD's car. Barnum Racing is a family race team doing our own setups and maintenance. We replaced all rocker brackets, made sure the frame was square, not twisted, powdered coated, replaced all brake lines, replaced all aluminum, installed the new rockers, and the new shaft arm, and replaced the dash. we also moved the fire system over from left to right side.
Big thanks to Flatout Racing for their support and advise.

We installed the motor only to make sure the frame mounts worked. Then removed and added the transmission and reset back in the frame. Remember to check the clearance between the oil pan and the right rear angled frame brace. we adjusted for about a 1/4" clearance. Yes, you can install the motor with the intake on BUT I really did not take the chance of damage the intake. We didn't have a lot of trouble installing the intake and alternator like others have stated, why, I don't know.

I Looked at other car installs which really helped and followed the install written instructions. How long did it take? Seemed like forever for various reasons. However, I think in actual time it was a little over a month working 4-5 hours at a time. Why so long? I am slow and I bet I used over 100 zip ties re-routing wires, hoses, and stuff. Plus all the ones we actually used. I used 3 different colors of zip ties to try to keep looking clean.
One thing we found after the first time on track was our pipe from the header to the muffler would rotate. So I spot welded the tailpipe to the muffler, header to muffler pipe to the header and safety wired the springs and added safety wire to the tailpipe to post.( JD was hit in the nose by a tailpipe which had come off a car. That is why I added the extra 2 safety wires in case of the rubber grommet failure.)

Definitely spot weld that tail pipe on!

It's highly liable to fall off if you don't. (Ask me how I know.) Also, safety wire the two pipe at the flex connection end.

Not in the instructions:

-- You'll see the engine shipped with two gaskets over the intake. The metal gasket faces the intake manifold o-ring gasket, while the blue paper one faces the throttle body side.

-- There's a "mystery" Allen cap screw that goes on the upper reverse (right) side of the transaxle-to-engine bolt-up. It's the only bolt on that side.

-- No need to move the fire system if you don't want to.

-- You should put a bit of blue Loctite on the threads of the fuel pump wiring pass-through on the fuel cell fill plate. Those things tend to loosen up and leak.

-- You can drop the engine in with the transaxle attached using an engine leveler.

-- Replace the alternator warning light with a much larger, brighter one. That's what warns you if the alternator/water pump belt goes adrift.

-- If the engine starts and then won't hold an idle and dies, and you're using a well-worn Idle Air Control off the 1.9 engine, replace with a new IAC and that should fix it.

-- You should place a block-off firewall plate over the now-exposed seat belt anchor "ladder" space. It's easy to fashion this from sheet aluminum and pop rivet or Rivnut on there. If you have the older wrap-around flat anchor plate, then cover it up with fire resistant cloth you can get from Pegasus or other suppliers.

Just an observation - it looks like the OP is asking about building a new Gen3 kit from scratch, not about doing a conversion. Will that be any more challenging for a home-builder than doing a conversion, or is this best left to the pros?

Thanks to ALL - much appreciated !
I was actually referring to a from scratch build however.
Thanks again !

When I did my conversion, I took that opportunity to do a frame-up rebuild, so that was essentially a from scratch. I'm not a "shop" but I have been working on the things for a while. It could be a challenge for a newbie, but how much so depends on how many experienced friends you've made