The K20 swapped RX7 goes into surgery (and so do I)

0:01 Nowadays, it's hard to be patient.

0:03 For 30 years since the proliferation of the internet,

0:05 everything has been instant.

0:07 Maybe that's why we modify our cars to be faster

0:09 because we don't want to have to wait to get places.

0:11 And a big turbo is the next best thing to teleportation.

0:15 With video instant messaging, next day shipping, and non-stop flights,

0:19 if you're taking things slow, it's got to be on purpose.

0:22 We are unaccustomed to being forced to wait anymore, unless it's for Comcast,

0:26 in which case they'll have a guy out to your house between the hours of 8 a.m.

0:29 and 10 p.m.

0:30 So, imagine what's going on in the head

0:32 of terminally impatient car guy Ben Thorne when the K

0:36 series in his RX7 needs to be moved in the engine bay 19 mm to the right,

0:40 20 mm up, and 6 mm forward.

0:43 And the only solution for that is lots of fabrication and patience.

0:51 Well, it's been far too long since we've worked on this car,

0:54 but we've gotten some parts in that I was waiting on.

0:56 And unfortunately, the reason we haven't been full speed

0:59 ahead on this car is because this doesn't fit.

1:02 This is a new turbo manifold for this car.

1:05 Really excited about it, but it doesn't fit.

1:07 So, what are we going to do about that?

1:08 I could run a different manifold,

1:10 but I don't want to because I like the RTK manifold,

1:13 and I think it's the best one you can get.

1:14 So instead, I'm going to move the engine,

1:18 which you know that requires a lot of work.

1:20 So let's dig in.

1:28 So the the tight constraint is down here in the steering rack.

1:31 Steering rack to the oil pan and crank pulley.

1:33 [music] It's just about like it's touching.

1:35 That's why the engine is back as far as it is.

1:37 We've actually notched the firewall.

1:39 But if we come forward a little bit,

1:40 that'll help a lot of clearance, but the steering rack is in the way.

1:43 So, rotating and lifting the engine up should give us a little bit

1:47 more room to be able to come forward a tad, but we'll find out.

1:52 The Honda K20 engine was never meant to live in an RX7 engine bay,

1:56 so moving the engine around to fit

1:57 an exhaust header isn't as overkill as it sounds.

2:00 The engine was installed originally in such a way that it fit,

2:04 but that doesn't mean that it's optimized.

2:07 I've got a bunch of spare K series over

2:08 here that are sitting somewhat flat in the oil pan, and the valve cover is 6.8°.

2:12 8°, but the tilt that I have in the R seven is about 10°.

2:16 So, I can kind of turn it forward.

2:17 I know about 3°.

2:18 [music] I should look up and see what other

2:20 people are running on this episode of Nerds and Gasoline.

2:26 Yep.

2:26 Ben's nerding out.

2:27 Watch me figure out how to open the hood.

2:29 [laughter] 8.

2:32 And it should tilt towards the transmission if I'm right.

2:34 Yeah.

2:35 Let's see what the the OEK is.

2:37 Ben is Mr.

2:38 K series around these parts.

2:40 So, he has ready access to several K engines, which gives him good data.

2:44 Or at least it does right up until

2:46 battery died.

2:48 You want to throw me the other one?

2:49 Well, this is measuring almost zero.3.

2:52 The car is on a lift.

2:53 Maybe the lift isn't level.

2:55 I [snorts] don't got to take that with a little bit of grain of salt.

2:58 Let's see how the tilt backward tilt also six.

3:01 One thing is for sure, we have too much sideways tilt on that engine for sure.

3:08 Because the one on the ground and this one are both around six to seven.

3:13 Don't you say it.

3:14 Don't you say it.

3:15 I better not see it in the comments.

3:18 67.

3:19 If you didn't just click off the video,

3:20 now is the part where Ben will lift the K20 and his RX7 using this tool,

3:25 an engine support bar.

3:28 [music] Did you read the instructions on this?

3:30 Here's the real test.

3:31 Oh, yeah.

3:31 That's the real test.

3:33 I guess I'm a little lighter than an engine.

3:35 Yeah, you're like 105 lbs.

3:36 You want to take a thumbnail here, Cam?

3:38 Just, you know.

3:41 All right, we got the thumbnail.

3:43 We got the thumbnail.

3:44 All right.

3:45 While Ben starts lifting the motor,

3:47 if you're wondering why I'm the one narrating this video and not Ben himself,

3:50 he is currently out of work with wisdom tooth surgery.

3:53 He's been on painkillers due to nerve pain in his jaw.

3:56 And as much as I'd love to hear him mumble

3:58 his way through a bunch of VO in a narcotic stuper,

4:01 for some reason, he [laughter] couldn't see the humor in it.

4:04 Weird under the engine.

4:06 I just took the mount out.

4:06 Why is the engine not falling on my head?

4:09 So, these are rear wheel drive K swap motor mounts from Innovative.

4:13 And they're fantastic mounts.

4:14 And these are the softest durometer.

4:16 These are 6A durometer rubber, which is the street setup.

4:19 And it wasn't that bad.

4:20 So, this is definitely like a pretty popular go-to for rear wheel drive swaps.

4:24 But I'm going to go more custom than this.

4:26 Since we have to move where the motor is in the engine bay anyway,

4:29 we might as well upgrade the mounts to something even better.

4:32 Let me show you what could be better than a good solution.

4:37 The best solution.

4:38 These are RBZ mounts for case swapping an S2000.

4:42 So, we're pairing that with OEM Honda S2000 motor mounts.

4:48 Now, if you recall, this sounds like a little bit of deja vu,

4:50 and that would be because Ben Lynn did this exact same setup on his S2000.

4:56 Go figure.

4:56 So, we're going to do the same because it worked really well for him.

4:59 So, we're going to have to bolt

5:00 this to the engine and then figure out where this will

5:03 rest and then we're going to have to fabricate

5:06 everything to work because I don't know if he's noticed,

5:08 but it's not an S2000.

5:10 So, we're going to make it one just a better looking S2000.

5:13 Ah.

5:14 Oh, Ben.

5:17 Getting into this flow state where you've got all the right parts and all

5:20 the right tools is what car people associate

5:23 with the positive sentiment of working on cars.

5:26 This right here is chicken noodle soup for the car enthusiast soul.

5:29 That's pretty neat to see just coming up.

5:34 It's why so many of us describe working on cars as therapy.

5:37 That's actually correct angle.

5:39 15 gets you at the factory angle.

5:41 Yeah, that's [music] pretty good.

5:49 We've got some room to work with a little bit.

5:53 Let's go up and shift the trans part now.

5:56 So, we need to go forward with the engine.

6:02 That's what I want.

6:03 I want it to sit loose so that we can kind of slide it that little bit there.

6:08 And then once we find out where it actually rests,

6:10 then we'll have to redo some of this trans mount.

6:13 But now I can put everything else up [music] with this just loose.

6:23 How much [music] more forward do you need to come?

6:25 I'd like to come as much as as I can till it

6:28 hits that subframe cuz then we're going to go up with the engine.

6:31 Okay.

6:31 So, in order to get the drive shaft angle correct,

6:35 we have the engine height up [music] about an inch from where it was before.

6:39 And I need to move the engine over this way,

6:41 which actually should help line up the [music] drive shaft,

6:43 but also give me more room over here for the exhaust manifold.

6:46 The problem is that things are getting hit over here.

6:49 There are clearance [music] issues.

6:50 The brake booster is hitting a fitting that's coming off the intake manifold.

6:54 We have our [music] brake bias adjuster is

6:56 also going to get hit by the intake manifold.

6:58 And then on the back here, there's a fuel align that is hitting the firewall.

7:02 So, we've got to fix all these things.

7:04 Yeah, very slow moving, but we are we are moving.

7:07 Have to cut that right there.

7:08 Still [snorts]

7:22 should I have cut more?

7:24 Let's go another 1/2 in.

7:25 But we often forget that for all

7:27 the self-improvement and stress relief we associate with therapy,

7:31 it can also be a difficult, gut-wrenching, and painful process,

7:36 which centers it in the tunnel.

7:39 Problem then is if the diff is at any sort of angle,

7:42 we need to match that angle with the transmission.

7:45 4 and a/4 in.

7:49 It's not even centered in the in the tunnel.

7:53 using the pinch weld as a maybe the pinch welds are off.

8:00 The work continues.

8:02 Okay, [music] so done some math and what

8:04 I've determined is that aliens might exist,

8:06 but also the drive shaft angle that I had all this vibration issue with before,

8:12 we're trying to correct that as well, positioning the engine.

8:14 But I just measured center line of the engine

8:17 and I've determined [music] that it would actually the engine

8:22 is actually perfectly in line with where the rear

8:24 diff is as far as center line with the car.

8:27 It's a/ an inch towards the driver's side.

8:29 Rear diff also/ an inch towards the driver's side,

8:32 but the back side of the transmission is actually pointed the opposite way.

8:37 I don't know what the angle of that is

8:38 cuz I can only measure center line to center line.

8:41 I'd have to do some math on figuring out

8:42 the distance between the two and then not quite that smart.

8:45 But I'm smart enough to realize that the drive

8:48 shaft angle is definitely wrong this way,

8:52 which is kind of that's this is a breakthrough.

8:54 This is a major breakthrough.

8:57 Now I just have to figure out [music] how to fix it.

8:59 I know this is this is like the most

9:01 exciting work that to possibly watch on YouTube.

9:03 [music] Fabrication is so slow paced,

9:06 but it is uh rewarding when you get it right.

9:11 [music]

9:13 If you're wondering what's going on, Ben is cutting

9:15 off the tabs on the RX7 subframe that the old

9:18 K series motor mounts used to attach to to make

9:21 room for his new OEM Honda motor mounts.

9:24 At this point, there's no going back.

9:32 Dang, that thing's heavy.

9:33 Okay, actually there we go.

9:36 Mounted something like that.

9:39 Okay, well, this is proving to be really

9:41 difficult to get the angle grinder in there.

9:43 So, [music] I think I'm going to count

9:44 my losses on that and just remove the subframe.

9:48 Um, the engine's still being held up anyway in its position.

9:50 So, if I remove the [music] subframe,

9:52 I should be able to cut those pieces out much easier.

9:54 And then I'll put the subframe back to measure out where the new mounts go,

9:59 which feels like more work, but I think in the end it's less work.

10:04 This is the thought process you have to go

10:06 through just about every time you work on a car.

10:08 Is it better to struggle through a less optimal working condition because

10:11 it means I have to take less stuff apart, thus saving time,

10:15 or is it going to save more time to take more

10:17 stuff apart because it makes it a more optimal working condition?

10:21 In this case, Ben has opted for the ladder,

10:23 taking the subframe completely out of the car

10:25 to cut off the old engine mount connecting points.

10:28 And good for him.

10:29 He's being patient, taking the more time-intensive route in order

10:32 to do things the most right way they can be done.

10:42 Are you not pumpkin?

10:43 But of course, this work comes with problems of its own.

10:46 And when something won't come out when it should, it tests your patience.

10:55 [music] [music] [music] The battery's dead.

11:19 Both of them.

11:20 I have a third somewhere.

11:21 [music] Well, we're halfway there.

11:31 [music]

11:32 Good job.

11:33 Proud of you.

11:35 You're almost there.

11:36 [music] [music] [music] [music]

12:07 One more.

12:11 [music] My hands are like shaking perpetually.

12:32 Now I got to clean it all up.

12:44 [music] When Ben's patience for batteries runs out,

12:49 it's time for the corded [music] grinder.

12:56 [music] These are the types of projects that we

13:00 might typically truncate in your average build video where we're

13:03 trying to show you how much we got done

13:05 on say the GTO in an episode or something like that.

13:08 Laborious, painstaking processes like this can be boring to watch,

13:12 but they're often the most important stuff in a car build.

13:16 All

13:22 [music] [music]

13:29 right, I got to I'm going to have to do something about this cuz it's

13:32 going to be difficult to get the subframe in and out with this flopping around.

13:35 So, I'm going to take the wheel off and disconnect the steering rack.

13:38 Often the slow pace of mechanic work will

13:40 cause you to try and hurry to make progress,

13:43 which can lead to situations you haven't fully thought out.

13:50 Hey Mark, you want to grab this?

13:59 But every mistake is an opportunity to learn.

14:02 So you never make that mistake again.

14:05 I just did this.

14:07 I just did this and now I didn't think this through again.

14:10 [laughter] Aha, [music] still going to need your help, Mark.

14:40 [music] Oh yeah.

14:46 Actually, go up.

14:46 Can you pump it?

14:47 No.

14:47 Little little more.

14:48 I'm telling you.

14:50 I I'm telling you if you go up, I can get this side in.

14:53 I can't get this side in.

14:57 And right now it's it's at [music] an angle.

15:00 Okay.

15:00 How much you want it down?

15:03 Actually, that's good.

15:04 That's good.

15:05 Okay.

15:05 Pump it up.

15:08 My size is as good as in as if if yours.

15:12 Same.

15:12 Okay, that's pretty good.

15:23 14 and 3/4.

15:24 [music] Yeah.

15:25 Yeah.

15:25 Bingo.

15:26 All right.

15:26 That's where the engine should be.

15:28 Cool.

15:33 Yeah.

15:33 28 and 12.

15:34 That's an inch and a half.

15:36 Yep.

15:39 Puts that in line.

15:42 The engine and trans are square with the chassis.

15:45 The diff is sits over an inch, but it's also square with the chassis.

15:49 So, the drive shaft is an inch an inch off,

15:51 but they're both square, which is good.

15:54 It wasn't like that before.

15:55 So that's the whole thing.

15:59 See?

16:03 Well, we have room to make them [music] out there.

16:11 Wait, what?

16:12 Right.

16:15 Yeah, that fits.

16:18 That fits.

16:19 [music] There we go.

16:23 [music] It's off by like an inch.

16:30 That [music] mount has to go through that subframe somehow.

16:38 [music] I mean, I like leaving as much OEM as I can,

16:53 but I just don't think I can get that in there.

16:55 Uh, why?

16:55 I just don't know if I have the hood clearance up top.

16:58 I've already raised the engine 3/4 of an inch this side.

17:00 Now, I'm starting to raise more,

17:02 which puts the angle for the exhaust manifold on this side off.

17:04 [music] I don't know if I have enough room to put this sheet in here,

17:07 but I don't know if there's going to be any kind of like twisting force.

17:11 Like why would they put that on there?

17:12 [music]

17:13 So what if you chop like I don't know how I don't know how you're doing this.

17:18 I could chop the top part.

17:19 I'm going to have to just assume that the [music] engineers

17:21 are smarter than me and I'm going to try to keep it.

17:24 It's a lot more work and it's going

17:25 to take like probably two more days of fabrication.

17:28 [music] You You got this.

17:29 I I believe in you.

17:32 At least somebody does.

17:33 But this is why you like fabrication, right?

17:35 No.

17:35 I take your time.

17:36 Who said I like fabrication?

17:38 You love fabrication.

17:39 Like everybody knows it.

17:42 Fabrication requires so much time and everybody wants me to make a video.

17:46 And where's the release this weekend?

17:47 Ben, other Ben made a bunch of jokes in his videos.

17:51 Where's your jokes, Ben?

17:54 Yeah.

17:53 Where's your Australian accent, Ben?

17:55 On the subject of patience, On the subject of patience,

17:59 fabrication requires a lot of it.

18:01 Most of making things is measuring and marking,

18:04 then reme-measuring 30 more times because you know you've

18:07 measured things wrong so many times in the past,

18:09 you'll be darned if you're going to do it again.

18:11 If you try and rush this process without

18:13 showing the gods of geometry their due difference,

18:16 you will for sure cut things too long or worse, too short.

18:33 [music] Got it.

18:37 All right.

18:37 I need square tube now for this side.

18:40 have to weld a racer on that side.

18:47 So now we can get that angle much better.

18:50 Much closer to square.

18:52 It's a perfect width, which is nice.

18:56 So now we only have to cut the length and then

18:59 mold it to the curve [snorts] and we're good to weld.

19:03 Okay, time to drink some coffee and then uh put all my welding gear on.

19:10 and start reversing what I just did.

19:12 Cutting and removing metal.

19:14 Now I get to add metal.

19:15 It's coming along.

19:16 [music] We're almost halfway done.

19:21 [music] Hope this is set right.

19:27 [music] Not welding clamps.

19:31 Plastic melts when it gets hot.

19:37 [music] I tell you what, the the weld is not super pretty,

19:40 but I can weld better than whoever

19:42 makes the freaking clothes hangers at American Eagle.

19:44 [music]

19:45 Don't worry, I don't know what he's talking about either.

19:51 [music]

20:01 [music] [music] The angle is.3° off from factory.

20:12 The location this way is over by 3/4 3/4 of an inch,

20:17 which is exactly where it needs to be.

20:19 Geometry- wise, it's it's as close to perfect as it's [music] going to get.

20:22 Now that we can take the weight off though,

20:24 since the weight is no longer on the mount, I want to see if I can bolt up

20:28 that exhaust manifold before I fabricate this lower [music] engine mount.

20:31 That seems like a smart idea.

20:32 I'm going to put the hydraulic table under the engine,

20:34 though, just in case it falls.

20:37 [music] Please fit.

20:39 Please fit.

20:39 Please fit.

20:42 Woo!

20:43 I think it fits.

20:45 Let's uh let's mock it in.

20:48 When accounting for engine torquing still, that's definitely really close.

20:52 The brake booster is another really close spot.

20:54 I think it's probably worn.

20:55 Yeah, it did.

20:56 It did wear.

20:57 I've got to replace part of this hose now because

20:58 it rubbed it rubbed the hole in the thing already.

21:01 I had to notch this, which now I maybe realize I didn't have to do.

21:05 I think this is [music] really cool.

21:08 Good job.

21:10 Mark is proud of me for once.

21:12 It only [music] took me two weeks of fabrication.

21:25 It's a lot of welding.

21:26 So, I'm just going to box this in basically like that.

21:29 Right up against [music] the side there.

21:30 Weld it on.

21:31 Less cutting on this side.

21:41 Nailed it.

21:43 Nice.

21:45 [music] An important job like this is a lot

21:51 of work that makes the car better to drive.

21:54 So as the person doing the laborious, boring,

21:56 patience demanding work, it feels really good to have accomplished it.

22:00 This is the job that makes working on cars therapeutic.

22:08 I didn't get the pedal hot enough.

22:10 Oh, that's a bad ending.

22:11 Oh no, it hit that [music] gummy part.

22:16 It was good until the end.

22:18 We'll try it.

22:18 What the heck?

22:19 This side's on the bottom.

22:20 Nobody Nobody's going to see this weld anyway.

22:23 Except for, you know, people watching.

22:27 Okay, both mounts.

22:30 Now they have a place to live.

22:31 So, that's nice, snug in there.

22:33 Um, but before we put the subframe back in, I

22:36 want to adjust this rear bar here as well.

22:38 Um, which has been a problem because underneath you can

22:42 see it has a bunch of scrape marks all over it.

22:45 And that's because I've bottomed [music] this thing out.

22:48 It is the lowest hanging thing on the car by a long shot.

22:51 I have hit a rock and it sounded like I was about to split the frame apart.

22:56 Um, so I don't like how low hanging that is.

22:58 I think whenever they made the subframe in the first place,

23:00 they just wanted to give it a bunch of extra clearance,

23:03 but it doesn't need that much clearance.

23:04 So, we can move that bar and I believe I can

23:08 go straight across with the bar instead of having this dip down.

23:11 So, I'm going to cut this bar out and replace it with a slightly smaller bar.

23:15 Just when you thought we were done with the subframe, there's more.

23:19 [snorts] [music] All right, let's tack it in.

23:54 H Why is it doing that?

24:03 Well, I was going to weld, but my line busted a hole in it.

24:10 It hit the pedal here.

24:11 Listen.

24:14 You hear the argon coming out of here.

24:18 So, I got to go to the welding store and get another one of these.

24:21 That's like, man, these things aren't cheap.

24:24 That sucks.

24:26 I was right there.

24:27 I was We were so close.

24:34 This is the new hose.

24:36 It's twice as long.

24:37 It's the shortest one they had.

24:39 [music] So Ben did all the work.

25:02 He got this almost all the way to the finish line and uh

25:05 then had some uh just crazy bad luck with dental uh pain.

25:12 Had just got some wisdom tooth surgery and uh

25:15 dealing with some infections and stuff like in his jaw.

25:18 So, uh, Mark and I are very valiantly helping to carry this project across

25:24 the finish line and do the really the hardest part of this whole process,

25:28 which is, of course, painting and reinstalling uh,

25:32 the subframe that Ben Thornne is already finished.

25:34 So, we're going to do that and uh, this this little project will be finished.

25:50 [music] [music] Nice.

26:02 [music] So, we haven't actually fitted the [music] exhaust

26:11 manifold yet to see if it actually fits in.

26:14 So, now is the moment of tooth that we

26:17 can [music] try and fit this exhaust manifold in.

26:22 That is close, but it shouldn't come in contact.

26:27 So, the main takeaway from this video

26:28 is that working on cars often requires patience.

26:31 Whether that's because your batteries are always dying or you have to do

26:34 hours and hours of tedious fabrication or because you get 9/10 of the way

26:38 through your project and all of a sudden you're hit with insane

26:41 impacted wisdom tooth pain and need a root canal at the same time.

26:45 Ben's had some really bad luck this past like 2 weeks.

26:48 I'm happy that Mark and I were able to kind

26:50 of slide in and get this just across the finish line.

26:54 Thank you guys very much for watching.

26:55 I hope [music] you enjoyed it and Ben will

26:57 be back and better than ever in no time.

26:59 How are you feeling?

27:00 Ben was so excited to be like, "Oh, yeah.

27:03 I want to film Ben looking like absolute trash." [laughter]

27:08 It makes you look more human.

27:09 It's It's very humanizing.

27:11 Yes.

27:11 [laughter] Yes.

27:12 I mean, the hair is on point today.

27:15 [snorts] Thanks.

27:16 I'm glad you can make me smile at least.

27:18 Yeah.

27:19 You know, got to have fun with it a little bit.

27:24 [laughter]