When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
yeah- since it's been supercharged... 12? track days
Originally Posted by hornetball
Motors are consumables.
??
time/money/stress are not. I'm not racing the car and I got what I wanted out of the whole experience. This was going to be my last season of tracking anyways. Time to cut it off.
What's the most likely cause of the melted pistons? Tune? Failed head gasket? IATs because of small IC?
150k miles. Runs nice. Interior is clean but rattle-ly.
Melted pistons due to any number of the following:
-10:1 compression motor (2001 VVT un-opened)
-Running lots of boost (had recently gone to 75mm pulley)
-Got greedy with the tune (cranked up timing recently)
-91 octane gas
-Smallish intercooler
-Running flat out for 30+ minutes trying to chase down GT3's
Hello MT. I have been lurking for a very long time and have never intended to post. I am not bumping this six year old thread without cause – I am the Jeff mentioned in the post above that bought this car.
In the past four years that I have owned it, I have barely managed to put 3,000 miles and handful of track days on the car. It is a constant reminder of my failures and poor financial decisions.
After shelving it for the past two years, I finally found the time to work on and drive it again. Questions came up, but I remembered that he had a build thread. Reading through gave me a lot of great information, and I felt like it would be prudent to at least document the changes for future reference.
Thinking about it all has me feeling quite nostalgic, so I suppose I’ll just write about the entire journey. After all, I have a bit more free time on my hands with this whole virus thing.
My adventure with this car started back in early spring of 2016. At the time, I had a STR-trim AP1 S2000, a Z51 C7, and a pair of stock NAs. I was just getting into track days after a few years of autocross.
While the C7 was immensely fast and comfortable, it was too expensive to continue tracking. Pads were $450 a set, rotors were $400 each, tires were $1800 a set, and the constant fear of wadding up ~$65k would prevent me from properly thrashing it on track.
Common sense would dictate I just continue to modify the s2k for track use, but I knew I would hate driving it on the street if I went the direction I wanted (stiffer springs, bucket seats, roll bar, stripped interior, aero, etc).
I also discovered the Miatas at Laguna Seca event. Being a Gran Turismo fanboy growing up, it had always been a bucket list track. A group of friends were planning on going and it seemed like a great opportunity to tag along and fanboy out over Miatas. But I wanted to drive. Badly. I started putting a list of parts I’d need to build a Miata for track use.
Conveniently, this car popped up for sale. It already had all the requisite (top tier!) track goodies, it was even supercharged, and it was only an hour away! Stars were aligning.
I grabbed some friends, blasted down to meet Dave, and struck up a deal to take the car and his entire garage’s worth of parts.
I had just moved into my new place, and I hadn’t even unboxed my own belongings – but here I was unloading another car and a truck bed full of car parts. This is how my neighbors got to know me:
The ad indicated that the engine had died in a puff of glory at our local track, but I had to at least try driving it. It fired right up. It sounded smooth and there wasn’t any smoke coming out the exhaust. Good enough, time to let it rip!
This thing felt FAST. The supercharger and bypass valve noises were intoxicating. My butt dyno indicated it was much faster than my s2k. With the VVT and small pulley, don’t these things usually make 220-240 RWHP??
My friends and I would take turns romping on it and doing 30-80mph pulls while giggling the whole way. This would last about 30 minutes before the engine changed tones and sounded like a Subaru at idle. Dang it.
Five months would pass. It was August and the M@MRLS event was only 5 weeks away. I figured I should probably prepare for the event that I bought the entire car for in the first place. Got the crew together and pulled the engine.
I sent Dave the pics in the posts above, but here’s one he didn’t post!
I’m not an engine guy so I don’t know what that means or why it failed. From the posts above, no one else does either! My homeboy nick470 had just done an engine build, and I decided to replicate his build so I wouldn’t have to do any thinking whatsoever. I took the VVT block and a pile of parts and dropped it all off at the machine shop.
ACL/King Race Bearings
Manley H Beam Rods
Supertech 83.5mm 8.6:1 pistons
Wiseco Rings
ARP head and main studs
Boundary Engineering billet oil pump
Ported BP4W head
Mazdaspeed intake cam
Mazdaspeed oil pan baffle
Two weeks and many dollars later, I’d go pick up an assembled short block and put a bunch of that crap together. In it goes!
It fired right up and I was STOKED. The supercharger sounds so dang cool! There was only one week left before we left, so I pounded out 500 miles though the Colorado mountains. I had gone back with the 80mm pulley to be safe, and the car felt much slower than I remembered from the one time I drove it 5 months back. I assumed it was a combo of the much lower compression pistons and the bigger pulley. Bummer.
The first oil change on the engine was a trip. I'd pop open the drain plug, remove the oil filter, and walk away. There were a bunch of chunks of gritty material in the oil pan when I came back. My heart sank. For some reason, it was all non metallic. I cut open the oil filter and it was clean. I had no idea what it was, but decided the best way to address it was to pray it away. I filled it back up and tried not to think about it.
It wasn't until the next oil change that I'd realize it was the gravel getting picked up by the oil dribbling off the subframe into the pan.
Loaded up. Much love to nick470 for transporting it all the way out to CA.
We’re here we’re here!! It’s friggin Laguna Seca! And I finally get to properly drive the car!
Track day success! I was absolutely in love with both the car and the track. It felt like it could just lap for days. Dave did a hell of a job setting this car up. Track photos made it look like it needed a bit more camber…
Slidey shot!^
I didn’t do very well lap time wise, but I suppose I shouldn’t worry about that during a lapping day. The sign up for the event was so stringent - D group, one above novice, required 2-3 prior track days AT Laguna Seca! Come on, I have a Gran Turismo S-license. I should have just gone straight to A (not really).
In addition to all the stock power traffic, I also had to shift at ~5.8k because the overboost protection was set too low. It worked fine at elevation but was cutting in way too soon at sea level. I was (and still am) a moron when it comes to Megasquirt and had no idea this was the issue until much later.
A year went by. Lots of things in life happened, and Miata-ing wasn’t a huge priority. But suddenly! It was time for Miatas at Laguna Seca again! Nick470 was heading back out and had a spot for my car. I had so much damn fun last year that I had to do it again – especially considering it’s the only reason I even own this thing.
I wanted to be prepared this year, so I got started two whole months before we’d leave. On the agenda were the usual things like a brake service and alignment – but I also wanted POWER. So, I threw the 75mm pulley on and took it out to get tuned. Baseline:
After:
206.4 RWHP if you can't see the tiny screen text.
Video:
Again, I really have no idea what he did. I guess it was feel-good money to think the car runs safer now. And has nine more horsepower than before he tuned it! Although he didn’t believe me when I told him the car didn’t feel like it had a rev limiter, and I ended up over revving it (~7.5k) with him in the car to get him to believe me. And then I’d have to keep doing it until he figured out what to click to enable the rev limiter for real. Took a few tries. The car always smells funny after going over 7k, but maybe that’s just in my head.
The crank pulley also seemed like it had the slightest wobble but would stabilize if I revved it up. Weird. My tuner told me that’s normal, so ok..?
I got the extended lower ball joints on, had the car aligned, threw on fresh tires, and off we went for round 2!
I invited a good friend of mine from DFW to come check out the event with me. Laguna Seca was also one of his bucket list tracks and what better way to experience it than in a SC Miata? The two of us beat on it relentlessly for the whole day and it never even whimpered. I managed to get much, much faster than last year – but still very slow overall and not a time worth mentioning. Here’s a crappy video though- even crappier than usual because I forgot my gopro charger and it's filmed on a shitty old cell phone:
And of course a bunch of action photos so people think I'm cool:
The hood has less paint on it from being neglected outside for the past year. Visually, the car still looks like it doesn't have enough front camber. Again, I don't know a damn thing about car setup so I'm just guessing.
Last edited by JeffForSale!; 03-20-2020 at 12:18 AM.
Now we’re entering my third year of ownership! Spring would be a wild ride for my life outside of cars, and I would suddenly find myself with all the free time. I spent most of my severance racing LO206 gokarts and going on mountain biking trips, but was itching to drive this thing again too. For the first few months, it went largely ignored due to my other project vehicles. If you know 4x4s, there are four locking differentials in this photo:
First, I wanted to investigate why the crank pulley wobbled ever so slightly at idle. Holy ****! I wish I had done this sooner and/or been more active with the MT community. I’m sure someone would have pointed out that it isn’t normal, and that this is also to be expected and should be checked on a supercharged car.
I ordered a new key and timing boss. Planet Miata sent me the wrong one, but you can see the damage on the one I pulled off. I really did not want to have to rebuild an engine while living off my savings account. I was told by a good friend that this is still nothing to worry about, it could be much worse, and that I could TIG the crank and get it all fixed up if I wanted. Here’s a pic of it waiting around for parts:
I put it back with the new components and Loctite this time around. Dave set down some blazing fast lap times here at our local track, and I figured I’d set his times as a benchmark and slowly work my way up. Time go to play!
I wish I was cool enough to have a trailer, but I just had my GF drive out the truck so I could nap. I also felt obligated to use my dual onboard air compressor to help justify the purchase.
The track had just gotten re-paved, so I thought I’d have the upperhand. No such luck, I’d only pull off a 2:05. Still a second off Dave!
I tried to think about how to go faster, and decided an alignment might help. I thought it’d be smart to crank the front camber to -4° off nothing else than the pictures from Laguna Seca.
Two years later, I’ve been told that this is not a good Miata alignment. Hi Wags! I wouldn’t and still don’t know any better, so it’s time to go win another track day. I dug up the nifty trunk with the plastic piece riveted on. Here it sits with angry camber and a flappy thingy on the back:
Back to the track! I came across a pair of very cool and very fast S2Ks. Apparently, these guys were local OGs who had been frequenting the track for nearly a decade, and we instantly became friends. Chasing them around track helped me improve significantly. It’s always way more fun to have another car to play with at the same pace – up until now it had been getting smoked by Porsches and Corvettes while trying to dodge all the slowpoke 86s and Miatas.
Admittedly, I’m not very “in tune” with cars in general. I have a hard time telling the difference when I make changes, and it didn’t feel like the spoiler did anything for the car. It looks cool though, right?
And I was able to drop my personal best down to a 2:03! I finally beat Dave! I can finally claim this car as my own or something. I don’t know. But it felt nice.
Interestingly enough (or not), I only hit ~118 coming down the back straight – Dave’s data shows 122 mph! My own butt dyno from the initial purchase vs new engine build indicated that the car felt way faster with the VVT engine/head. The data seems to reflect that as well. Well, too late now.
Also, the -4 degrees of camber in the front would be a TERRIBLE idea. First of all, I have no idea how to properly drive a car without ABS. I’ve only ever driven cars with fantastic ABS. With the new alignment, it definitely felt like I was flat spotting tires much more frequently. It might be that I was getting more comfortable with the car and pushing harder, but I was still flat spotting the crap out of the Rivals. I’d rotate the rears to the front and then flat spot those too. The car would be very, very vibrate-y on the way home.
Unfortunately, I would find employment again much too quickly. My free time once again waned off, and I would choose to pursue other interests. In the fall, one of my best friends would fly in and borrow the car to take to HPR. He wanted to get some laps in prior to our WRL race later that month. I forgot to tell him about the radiator block off plate, and it must have been sitting in front of the damn fan.
He mentioned the needle was almost at the H when he got stuck in the Denver traffic. I showed up to the track and the car seemed fine, so he ran it for the rest of the event. On the very first session he would slam off the track on T13 and rip off the lip and brake ducting. I was very unhappy, but he finished off the rest of the event with very unimpressive times.
I parked the car at home dreading any potential damage from the overheat. I was also really salty about having to install a new lip and brake ducting when I wasn’t the one that broke it. In my head, if I never drove it again – I’d never know if it overheated and wouldn’t have to replace the head/headgasket/headstuds/whatever else. I’m the kind of guy where the less I know, the better off I am. The car doesn’t have any sort of coolant/oil temp or pressure gauges, and I like it that way. The idea behind it is – if I built it properly the first time, it should last. Right?
So once again, I’d park the car. The video from May of 2018 would be the last time I drive that year. Or even the next. Great sadness.
NICE build bro! I can't wait to follow you on this journey! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks dude.
Continuing on:
So now it’s 2020. It has been quite some time since I’ve driven the car, and I’ve been forced to watch my friends go to the track and have all sorts of fun. They’ve let me come out and drive their cars too, but you can never (IMO) drive someone else’s car as hard as your own.
Over the past two years, gainful employment had allowed me to amass a neat pile of parts for a car I don’t drive.
64” Nine Lives Racing Wing (damn facebook hype)
Konig Dekagram 15x10 +25 (facebook ads really work when you sit on a computer all day)
245/40 Rival S
Rotrex C30-94 (just the supercharger off a Honda partout)
I also got derlin diff bushings, some “proper” singular hood vents, and aerolatches – but those aren’t nearly as cool. I still haven’t thrown the 3.9 rear in either.
Getting beat by that S2K had me out for blood, and I wanted to wipe the floor with it when I finally returned. I turned over at my Miata shaped garage shelf that housed Land Cruiser parts, bike parts, and their respective tools. I decided it was time.
But first hey here’s some random pics of the red NA Miata after the same 4 year transformation:
And the reeaaal pretty Dekagrams next to the American Racing 15x10s that I was putting on my Land Cruiser. Two very different vehicles but the same wheel size! I thought it was cute. Except the black wheels weigh more than double the grey ones:
Tires on and getting ceramic coated with CQuartz Dlux:
This stuff is incredible btw. Post track day DTC60 dust just powerwashed off without any scrubbing or cleaning. What a crazy concept.
I spent a day rolling the fenders some more in order to clear the tires. All the effort to leave the fender liner intact was wasted, as I would explode them while rolling over some curbing at the next track day.
Before:
After:
I changed the coolant and there was no trace of oil. I got the oil tested and there was no trace of coolant. So that’s good. Here it is finally on the ground after 6 months or so on jackstands:
NOW WE DRIVE! I was quite rusty after the time away, but I quickly fell back into a rhythm. I had forgotten how well this car drove. Either it was two years of video games or the new fat tire set up, but I instantly dropped nearly two full seconds off my personal best:
That lap was immediately followed by a dumdum moment on the fastest corner of the track. I really think that would have stuck with aero. I made a new friend with lots of aero who followed me on my very first lap out:
Not a very good lap. But we’d play around for a bit:
And some photos courtesy of dtors photography - also known as Blue on this forum.
This is the same black s2k from 2 years ago, and we are now great friends. Shortly after meeting me, he would also buy a NA miata and it made me happy. We still have our track cars of choice. His 255s on a 9.5 inch wheel look skinnier than the 245s on my 10 in wheel!
That was a very fun day, and I would like to do some more track days. I had a 2:00.9 optimal lap from my quick session, and I think I’d easily find even more time on a day that didn’t have standing snow on track.
I’m not sure what’s next. I really don’t want to install those parts until I’ve figured out how to drive the car in its current form, and I’m also quite concerned that going faster means breaking parts.
Now to continue window shopping miatahubs or bro-fab pieces to add to the pile o parts…
Really cool build thread here, did you tell the new owner of the car about this thread? It would only be right for him to carry on the legacy by posting here.
04-05-2016, 04:30 PM
0
