I have a 93 TT that I'm getting ready to slip into my 73 RX2. I've got an older front cover so i can use the front mount. but here's the rub. I was told the front cover needs to be modified to allow the TT oil pump(?) to work. Where can i find a write up of this mod, or some pics? How hard is this to do? I can spin a wrench pretty well and have a decent selection of tools to work with.

Use a front cover from a 12a and an oil pan from a 12a gsl-se and turn the oil pan 180 degrees and drill the oil pan to match the holes. You will have to modify the oil pick up tube a little to make it work.

no such thing as a 12a gsl-se you need front cover and oil pan from a 13b gsl-se... the only kind of gsl-se made LOL! I helped a friend with his swap and he used a gsl-se front cover and a gsl-se oil pan to put his 13b-rew in his FB (z-beater on the forum).

Robert is right. I took the front cover/oil pan off my GSL-SE. There are a few things to watch out for.



1. The rew has two oil drains. One is in the front cover and the other is in the rear iron. When you swap out the front cover you will be eliminating the oil drain location for the stock twins. You will need to find a solution for this if you plan on running the twins. If you are running a single setup then I reccomend drilling and tapping the front cover for an AN fitting. Don't waste your time trying to route your drain to the rear iron. You will be wasting your time.



2. All the internal components will match up. Use the rew oil pump assembly. It will fit under the front cover.



3. OMP. I eliminated mine because I know that some people do not consider them a reliable piece of equipment. You might be able to modify a GSL-SE OMP to fit. I would just eliminate it though, it takes out one other component that can go bad. Since I come from the world of 2-stroke dirtbikes getting oil was not a difficult thing. I have tons of it laying around the shop.



4. If you need to run new oil cooler lines I would reccomend that you run AN fittings as well. I got some custom lines made to eliminate the banjo fittings. If you are on a budget though this might not be the most cost effective method.



5. Waterpump. Kind of a side note but you should use the 3rd gen waterpump. This can be kind of a pain since both the outlets on the waterpump face down. If you carefully place your radiator though you should be ok. If you want to install a 2nd gen waterpump you will need to re-thread the bolts that come off the front iron. Not a big deal, can be done. This will make it easier to use a stock radiator.



6. Magnetic Pick-ups. When you swap the SE front cover on there you will notice that you eliminate the CAS magnetic pick-ups. It is a pretty neat idea that mazda did, however for us swappers it will not work. You will have a location for a 2nd gen CAS that can be installed. I would think that this would instantly eliminate the ability to run the stock ECU. But at the price of a PFC(direct drop in with the S6 harness) it is hard not to do the upgrade. I found that S6 harness' are hard to come by so I just wired the car for a S5 harness. Make sure that it is a S5 harness. It does not need to be a T2 harness just a S5. There is a great "how to" on banzai racing's website. Banzai racing also sells an adapter for a FD PFC into a 2nd gen harness.



7. Motor mounts. While you are in there I would reccomend that you change out the motor mounts as well. Pick up a set through banzai racing. They sell a polyeurethane set for 110 shipped. I have personally used the stock mounts(too soft) & hockey pucks(too hard). I have yet to feel the car with these installed but I feel they will provide a happy medium between the two.



A lot of this has been trial and error for me. I am not some punk kid sitting behind a computer posting what I think is the best setup. If you talk to almost anyone that has done a swap they will tell you there is a lot of trial and error involved. Hope that you find this post beneficial.

You should be able to run the cas and stock ecu. You will have to figure out what wires need to splice to the new cas. If it works on the pfc it should work on the stock ecu, its just a magnetic trigger.



Other than that David is spot on, trust me he is reworking some of his parts for the third time just so they are perfect., he is a wealth of knowledge on swapping in a REW on a older chasis.



Whoops posted on my wive's account.

Chris

Thanks for the info. I have a few things I wanted to make sure I understand.

1) I'm going to run the twin turbo. do i just fab up a drain from the gsl-se front cover into the oil pan?

2) if i eliminate the Oil Metering Pump do i have to run premix?



thanks

Thanks for the info. I have a few things I wanted to make sure I understand.

1) I'm going to run the twin turbo. do i just fab up a drain from the gsl-se front cover into the oil pan?



Yes, if you run the twins you will need to fab up a drain. There are a couple ways that you can do this.

1. You can extend the existing drain to the oil pan

2. You can extend the existing drain to the front cover.



Personally either would work but I think that it would look much slicker going to the front cover. I personally would drill and tap the front cover for an AN fitting.



Since the block are similar in dimension you will probably not have to extend the drain very far.



There is no drain that goes from the SE front cover to the oil pan. Not sure what you are talking about here.



2) if i eliminate the Oil Metering Pump do i have to run premix?



Yes if you remove the OMP you will have to run premix. I use (1) 16oz bottle of redline per tank. This might cause a little bit of a "nuisance" but it is worth it to me. I think that it would be better to premix and not have to worry about my OMP failing and my engine starving of oil.

I've got the engine finally and I'm ready to start working but I want to clarify a few things:



do I HAVE to use a gsl-se front cover? I have an old NA 12a cover in my garage right now. Are there any major differences between a single distributor 12A front cover and a GSL-SE 13B front cover?



can i use the TT oilpan at all or do i have to get a different 13b pan? i'm having difficulty finding a used pan, and i can't see paying nearly a hundred bucks for a brand new pan that I'm just going to dent w. a hammer to make fit.



Thanks again.

i just saw a pic of the gsl-se pan and tt pan side by side. I can tell I'm going to need the gsl-se pan. I still would like to know about the front covers tho. Thanks,

The only difference in front covers is the OMP bolt pattern.