Project Car Update:  The V8 Edition

By Colin Holte

A quick glance at the project car column should tell you that MotoIQ has a large (and ever expanding) roster of project vehicles.  With all these vehicles it can sometimes be tough to keep the updates flowing for each.  In some cases vehicles may have even been sold but we still keep them on the project roll for posterity.  These articles are intended to share a little bit of the details with you of where some of the project vehicles that haven't seen the spotlight in a while are at in their evolution.  In this installment we check in with the V8s:  Project Mustang V8 5.0, Project Tundra, Project V8 RX-7, and Project Lexus IS F.

Project V8 RX-7: Goin' Legit (Project RX-7 vs the State of California)

by Jeff Naeyaert

Now that it doesn't look like the world is gonna end we need to get our RX-7 smog legal and on the road!  Since the car has been down for surgery with the heart transplant the registration has long since expired. It's only a matter of time before we get busted by the fuzz for old tags and excessive hooning around.  

Project Miatabusa part 16: What's That Noise? 

by Dave Coleman

There's a complicated string of excuses explaining why you haven't heard from this project in a while. They involve lots of things that have nothing to do with Miatabusas, like buying 90-year old homes, filming zombie movies and machining medical devices, but there was one car-related issue that contributed to this big delay: a horrible, horrible noise.

Project Frankenmiata - The Ultimate Coolant Re-Route

by Dave Coleman

Our Frankenmiata makes almost double the stock power output, and can endurance race in 100+ degree weather with the coolant temp staying under 200 degrees. In more civilized weather, it often stays below 180. There's some magic in our cooling system that I'm going to reveal now for the first time. Of course, this is the first time because I've been too lazy to do it before, not because it's some big secret. Still, it sounds more impactful when I use that "first time" line, doesn't it?

Project V8 RX-7: Part 12 - The Intake & Moment of Truth! (VIDEO INSIDE)

by Jeff Naeyaert

Welp, the last day of Project V8 RX-7 Week is upon us!  If you’re a rotary zealot or Vh8er and we’ve been pissing you off all week, your suffering is almost over my friends!  All we've got left is the intake and this son of a bitch should be ready to roll! 

Project V8 RX-7: Part 11 - Finishing the Driveline

by Jeff Naeyaert

The end is in sight!  Only a couple of things left on the TO DO list and the most glaring is our driveshaft and rear end.  Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a really big deal; you just get up under the car, take a few measurements and head to your local driveline shop where they can either modify your old driveshaft or build a whole new one.  But we've got a few other things in mind! 

Project V8 RX-7: Part 10 - Power Steering

by Jeff Naeyaert

We want power steering!  Even though our RX-7 is pretty light at 2,843 pounds with 3/4 of a tank of gas (to be exact), doing 3 point turns in the neighborhood or negotiating parking lots sucks.  That suckness is compounded by the smaller 330mm Sparco steering wheel we're using.  Some argue you get better steering feel at higher speeds without power steering, but the best argument for NOT having power steering in your V8 converted RX-7 is that it’s a buttload easier to just plumb a bypass line on your power steering rack and ditch the power steering altogether.

Project V8 RX-7: Part 9 - The Exhaust

by Jeff Naeyaert

The title picture already gave it away, so I’ll save the prose, it’s time to build an exhaust!  This isn’t going to be a sissy grandma exhaust either like on Project G35 whose owner couldn’t stand how loud the Berk exhaust they originally installed was… in fact, it's the same folks at Berk that are gonna kick it up a notch and help us make a super bitchin’ set of pipes that’ll make children cry and leave no question in any Rotard’s mind that our dead Wankel was replaced with a big ol' hunk of American Iron aluminum!

Project V8 RX-7: Part 8 - The Shifter & Some Engine Dress Up

by Jeff Naeyaert

Hey guys!  Long time, no write.. I'm sorry.  We've had a lot going on and recalling the last episode of Project V8 RX-7 I hastily titled it “Bringing the E-ROD LS3 to Life (Almost),” which unless we were going to do a lame “(REALLY Close Now)” followup article, committed us to have a running engine by the end of the story.  Unfortunately, there turned out to be a lot of things we still needed to cover before turning the key—so much so that our article woulda turned into a novella and lost the attention of even our most devout reader by page 12!  Thus, Project V8 RX-7 Week was born! 

Project Miatabusa Part 15: AEM Datalogging (& Some RC Plane Parts)

by Dave Coleman

As we inch ever closer to getting Project Miatabusa on a dyno, more and more unfinished business keeps revealing itself. Ok, the car starts and runs now, but it still has lots of disconnected hoses, gauges not working, and untested changes waiting to blow things up.