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After so many street and track miles racked up in Kaiko while developing NC Xidas, we have decided to flesh it out into a fully sorted track toy. Up to now, our NC2 has been run bone stock with just Xidas and a range of different wheel/tire combos. Nothing done to it just yet. Dropping off to get flares installed and car painted in a few weeks. We chose the 30AE orange with some fine metallic flakes sprinkled in. It's almost identical to our semi-famous 949 Racing orange so kind of a no brainer.
We'll update this thread as we go
Our project goals:
-Streetable HPDE track toy
-Almost fully bolt on. Minimal or no fabrication.
-Bone stock long block, minimal mods underhood
-Utterly reliable so none of usual radical experimentation. Our definition of reliable is endurance race-like: 3 drivers running 5 sessions a day for a full weekend in 90° heat = 5-6 hrs per weekend with nothing more than bolt and fluid checks. Our FRS project car "Blub" pulls this feat off without fuss.
-Balanced handling vs power. We think around 280whp should work nicely with the other mods we have planned.
We want to run our new 18x10 6UL design that's in the prototyping stages. No ETA on wheels but we have two new designs, gravity cast, forged CNC options in addition to our classic low pressure cast-flow formed in development . With the bump travel Xidas allow, that means flares. Carbon Miata FRP flares in this case. To push those meats we'll need a bit more power. We have settled on a BBR stage 2 turbo kit. That's the basic outline and dictates most of the other mods.
We're looking into a shorter 6th gear for the transmission. Our calcs show the stock 4.1 diff ratio will pair nicely with our power level but 6th kinda useless. We installed a lower 6th gear in Blub and it's perfect. Guessing around 2380lbs w/o driver or fuel.
Our plan/ parts list so far. We have a bunch of stuff on order already. We hope to have it build and sorted by January 2022. Long shot is getting it at least partially finished so we can take it to Miata Reunion in October at NJMP.
Everything on this list is subject to change as we go. We'll see how things mesh and make changes if and when they're needed. This is gonna be fun!
Drivetrain
- Blueprinted 6 spd from Walter Motorsports
- Custom tuned OS Giken diff
- Sprung plate , twin disc OS Giken clutch
- Setrab diff and trans coolers under back of car
Suspension
- NC Xida single adjustable, 600/400
- Protoype Supermiata end links
- Prototype Supermiata sintered oilite 863/urethane control arm bushing set
- Racing Beat front, Whiteline rear sway bars
- Prototype BX13 Boxmount Wilwood Superlite BBK. This kit should be available around the end of the year.
- Wilwood prop valve plumbed in
- Endless 650 brake fluid
- Supermiata brake hoses
- RX8 hubs
- ARP wheel studs
- 949 Racing 18x10 forged CNC 6UL
- 949 Racing forged lugs
- 949 Racing high temp alloy valves
Engine bay
-BBR stage 2 GT2860R intercooled turbo kit
- Delicious tuning flexfuel kit
- Tuning by Delicious Tuning
- CSF radiator
- Setrab 100 series oil cooler, -10 hoses. This might become a Supermiata kit.
- GWR exhaust, not sure which one yet
Aero/ body
- paint: 30AE orange with fine metallic flakes
- DG Motorsport carbon hard top, color matched
- APR GT-250 high mount wing
- DIY alumalite (10mm) 5" splitter
- ETX14 powersports AGN battery
- Supermiata 50mm steering wheel spacer
- Delete soft top
- Hard Dog Hard Core single diagonal, color matched
- OMP HTE-R400 driver seat
- OMP HTE-R passenger seat, which is a bit wider than the 400
- PCI adjustable seat brackets
- Element fire suppression stick
- Aim Solo 2 logger
- Racequip 6 pt FIA pull down camlock harnesses
- Trackspec hood vents
For anyone interested in wheels, shoot us an email and ask to be put on the wheel & NC mailing lists; info@949racing.com. We'll have an offline sneak peek in a month or so.
NCs are becoming a great value, crazy covid spike aside. After finally messing with a NC, I won't ever prep a NA/NB for the street again. Track prep is still up in the air for me..... as I finally finished the kswap.
Also, let it be noted on 6/28/21 this build is set for the following. Bets on when it'll progress to "So we decided to head to SLB and then we added......."
I'm curious if there will be any oil starvation issues in the 2.0 MZR like some of the 2.5 GLTC guys have been struggling with.
Also E, why are you not just planning on doing your own tuning with ROMDROP? After seeing what you can do with the stock ECU with just a tactrix cable, I can't ever imagine paying for a closed tune.
Also E, why are you not just planning on doing your own tuning with ROMDROP? After seeing what you can do with the stock ECU with just a tactrix cable, I can't ever imagine paying for a closed tune.
Frankly, I just don't want to be bothered. Bill knows what he's doing. I worked with him on Blub's tune, providing some input and suggestions. But he did all the work remotely.The resulting tune is money. For Kaiko he'll tune it live on the dyno. He has base maps to start with and does MZR's so for me, its the Easy Button. We are also not going for kill mode type of power. A 400 horsepower NC would need a different transmission, different gearing, much bigger brakes, and start to be too fast for HPDE level safety equipment. If I were on a tighter budget and had more time to spend on it, yes I would do it myself.
Big picture, I want to get the car done as quickly as possible and have it be stone reliable like Blub.
Marcus,
lol, I guess I earned that. We have had our fair share of wacky moonshot projects over the years. But the last 3-4 years have forced us to really focus on being efficient and making sure we have good ROI on project cars. We have also fallen in love with Blub. That car is so fast, fun to drive, comfortable and reliable. It's like the perfect HPDE Beast. We want more of that. The beauty of this project is that it parallels what many NC or owners want to do with their cars too. Having a clear idea of what the car is going to be when it's done and sticking to that pays dividends.
On a personal note, I have lost some of the fire for competition that I once had. Pretty much won everything I set out to win. Most of my competitive spirit is focused on bike racing these days. Now I just want to win HPDE
Probably switching to a different wing. Talking to John Nguyen of Trackspec/ G Stream about a custom built 800 foil, 71" span x 12" chord. Custom mounts attaching to tub then poking out through bumper skin. https://www.g-stream.com/
We tried the Carbon Miata flares. Beautiful shape, good fit and the right size but they are designed to be glassed or bonded in. No provision for riveting. So we're switching to the large DG motorsport flares pictured below (not Super20). We'll rivet them on, cut away the fenders underneath and paint match everything. Lotsa room for the beefy 265/35 Goodyear SC3R's on forged 18x10 6UL's it'll run. If anyone wants that set of Carbon Miata NC flares, $299 with free shipping, contact us. Pics are DG flares we found on the web.
Decided not to run the BBR GT2860 based kit. Neil McKay of BBR let us know that their high mount kit isn't intended for hard track use. Fine for the occasional trackday or autox but not the kind of extended hours we'll put on it with a two pro drivers. Instead we're doing a Glease Manufacturing low mount manifold and DP with an EFR6258 instead.
PCI seat brackets arrived. Slider on the drivers side, fixed on the pax side.
Work progressing on the BX13 Boxmount BBK. Yesterday we scanned the knuckle and hub so we can model it inside the 18" 6UL with the brake ducts and all.
We're doing things a bit backwards as we'll do the bodywork and paint first, then start bolting go fast bits afterwards. Really anxious to see that metallic Racing Orange.
I'm finishing my top mount fab9 GT2860RS kit install right now and really wish I'd done bottom mount EFR. I primarily went top mount for easier maintenance access, but turns out access to all the turbo bits is terrible with top mount because it's all packed so tight between the bundle of brake lines and ABS pump and the valve cover. Bottom mount would have better heat management and equal or better maintenance access, especially with relocated mazda3 alternator.
Last edited by jpreston; 08-05-2021 at 02:02 PM.
Reason: Valve cover, not intake manifold
Yup, that's part of what Neil spoke of with the BBR too. Less cooling, and troubled packaging. Great street kit but not the ideal config for a near race set up.
Playing around with our gearing calculator. You can download and input any ratios, tire diameters you like. The calc uses OD which tends to be larger than static loaded radius. So all the speed in gears will be slightly higher than actual due to the tire being effectively shorter once it's loaded.
6th is a bit too tall for track use. In Blub, our project 86, we dropped the 6th gear ratio from OEM .767 to .861 with an aftermarket 6th gear (Mfactory). That makes 6th useable on track. Ideally, we could find an .88 or .89 6th gear for Kaiko but it doesn't seem to exist. So we'll have a big jump to 6th. I'd also like taller 1st and 2nd but nothing available there either. Gen 1 RX8 is bit better but not enough improvement to be worth the hassle.
Since we're using the stock NC2 longblock, we'll stick with the OEM 7500rpm redline. I don't think we'll ever need ~163 of top end. Realistically, we might hit 145 or so at Willow Springs. Going shorter final drive gets us there but then makes 1st, 2nd even more useless. This strategy is what we do on the NA/NB. 6spd with low final drive so 1-2 are for loading on trailer, leaving you with a very close ratio four speed (3-4-5-6) for road course.
Most here are looking for the opposite, lowering highway revs and the expense of staying in the powerband on track.
Anyway, this is a screen shot of the worksheet I was playing with this morning.
Playing around with our gearing calculator. You can download and input any ratios, tire diameters you like. The calc uses OD which tends to be larger than static loaded radius. So all the speed in gears will be slightly higher than actual due to the tire being effectively shorter once it's loaded.
Chrome refused to download the file - silently - when I followed your link. I was able to get it by right-click save-as, and then when it told me it couldn't download the file securely, right clicking and doing "keep".
Make sure you account for the differing 6th gear ratios between nc1 and nc2/3 transmissions if you are bolting in unopened stock units. Nc1 6th is .832 and nc2/3 is .787.
Drop in a shifter and row that walter box through the gears before putting it in the car. I know of multiple Walter NC 6sp boxes (including mine) that wouldn't shift when they arrived. One of the internal shift rods can get bumped out of position during shipping and you just have to pull the top access plate off and move the rod back into the correct position. It's a super easy fix if you catch it before installing the box but can't be done in the car.
Also, pro-tip: Any time you remove the top access plate, make sure the box is laying flat and leaned toward the left/driver side. There's a brass bushing that will fall into the box if it's leaning over to the right, and it's not fun to fish out.
Built 6 spd with NC1 6th gear from Walter Motorsports arrived. We're developing a Sport Clutch for both 5spd/6spd NC. Like our NA/NB clutches, we'll offer the sprung puck and sprung hybrid/organic disc. We have a Supermiata light aluminum flywheel ready to go.
Custom tuned OS Giken arrived.
Hard Dog single diagonal roll bar arrived. Getting it paint matched with the body. 30AE Racing Orange (same as 949/Supermiata orange) with a bit of metalflake in it.
Carbon DG Motorsports hard top and big flares here in a few days. All will be painted body color.
PCI seat brackets arrived.
Trying to get the flares, roll bar and all paintwork done first.
06-27-2021, 02:41 PM
Kaiko - Supermiata NC track toy
. With the bump travel Xidas allow, that means flares. Carbon Miata FRP flares in this case. To push those meats we'll need a bit more power. We have settled on a BBR stage 2 turbo kit. That's the basic outline and dictates most of the other mods.
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