240_to_miata

iTrader: (2)

competitive yes.... good quality... seems so.... do i want them... sure....

The issue so much of us have is that a lot of us are broke and therefore go for the best hp/$.

Look at it this way... what percentage of us here have FM gears and fidanza flywheels? Not too many.

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

Uh huh. If someone had run these for a year, I wouldn't get anything else. I am a bit concerned about how it holds up (though I'd in the end risk it - I would expect less slippage than with metal ones), but really, any timing gears would have to suck my **** before I'd feel better putting the money there than into rods.

Of course, now that I have rods.... :-)

Honestly, the whole kit will be a nice touch. You know what would be a good point to bring up? Why you're not taking that same 4 oz off the OD of the flywheel??? :-)


EDIT: Oh! Didn't see that post where you said you ARE going to test them, on the track. Awesome! That's half the reason not to buy them - the other being, well, they aren't free. Can't do a lot about that one. :-) Post pics when you do it!

M-Tuned

iTrader: (6)

Software is available to tune the stock Honda ECU for FREE!! I love the support the ODB1 Honda stuff has.

BenR

iTrader: (2)

It's not a question of it being a bad deal for what it is. It's a question of it being untested.


Otherwise why don't you have a set on order already?

TravisR

iTrader: (9)

Yea definitely, we're going to take care of testing. All my design components use a factor of safety of 3 or more. 3 For this component because its not life threatenting. If its a component that could kill if it fails I'll use 10 or 7.

With a factor of safety of 3 in theory I could of made it 3 times as light and it still would of done its job without problems. The thing is diminishing returns. Who is ever going to notice the difference of 40 grams, and at the cost of reliability.

I am going to send the parts with a set of tests I'd like for him to do on the parts. He's going to run them on an intense dyno session and then remove the parts and evaluate any damage that has occured to them. If there isn't anything to worry about he's going to road race them that weekend and probably re-evaluate. If nothing turns up then, he'll have them on the car permanent.

If there are problems then I can re-evaluate and re-engineer the part. This is to be thought of as prototype testing, not final manufacturing testing. There maybe a couple of iterations here.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Yeah, I'm curious how you could test these, other than on the car being used as you describe. Perhaps mount a cam gear to a cam and put the belt on, and then pull till either the belt breaks, or the gear? I dunno. But seeing these parts tested would be nice. Seems to me like if you bumped them the wrong way they could shatter. But I dunno **** about carbon fiber. How's it compare to fiberglass? I'm more familiar with fiberglass.

BenR

iTrader: (2)

It's great as long as it's setup right, and it doesn't experience any forces outside of it's designed parameters.

Ever watch an F1 suspension catastrophically fail with a minor off road? yea.

DammitBeavis

I don't feel that it's cavitation. I run waterless pressureless coolant with a boiling point of 375F and mine does that too.

TravisR

iTrader: (9)

I have a bunch of different fatigue tests. I'll make a video.

I'm using omnidirectional 2x2 twill carbon fiber. So the carbon fiber doesn't have any paticular weak direction. As far as carbon fiber vs fiber glass this is going to be between 5-7 times as strong. If you use one layer of carbon fiber you would have to use 5 layers of glass to eqaul it.

Cavitation is the formation of bubbles of low density which create gas in the liquid. When the liquid contracts back into the gasous area this sends shockwaves in the pump, and reduces pumping efficiency dramatically. It doesn't have much to do with the liquid your running unless viscosity and vapor pressure are significantly different.

BenR

iTrader: (2)

I agree, it doesn't matter if it's not water, and isn't under pressure, just that it's a liquid.

DammitBeavis

The vapor pressures are significantly different. According to Evans tech info, 50/50 water and EG mix is 360kPa under 15psi of pressure @ 176F. The NPG+ coolant is only 8kPa at the same temp. One of the benefits of this stuff is that it's supposed to solve cavitation problems.

http://www.evanscooling.com/main20.htm
http://www.evanscooling.com/html/npgben1.htm

TravisR

iTrader: (9)

Well beyond cavitation there is also straight out pump inefficiency. I will agree that is a significant reduction in vapor pressure that would curtail cavitation. I'm sure the NPG coolant is less efficient then water though. Did you notice an improvement when you switched? If you did there must be atleast some cavitation occuring at the upper ranges, I don't think you can find a better liquid with similar operating ranges,viscosity,heat caring capacity, and conductivity.

DammitBeavis

It's strange stuff for sure. Coolant temps went up, but symptoms of overheating disappeared.
On water/EG I could see when the engine started getting hot at an autocross before the stupid factory temp gauge even started moving. The J&S would start flickering and taking away my timing. At an event after switching to NPG-R, I found myself accidentally running with my coolant temps at 120C (maybe higher) when the thermostat decided it wasn't going to open all the way. Astoundingly, the car acted as if nothing was wrong.

On my DSM I frequently run it up to 250F on the hot summer events, and once pegged the coolant temp sensor which stopped reading at 280F while using the NPG+. I start pulling a little timing at 220F because I'm chicken to see how far I can push it, but so far nothing has broken in the 2 years I've been doing that.

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

I'll jump in here, I might be interested in something like this.

Honestly my primary interest is that crank gear and adapter set. If you could machine in some dowel pins of high carbon steel to mate the adapter and cam cog together then you'd have me sold.

For the cam gears, not sure I really like the physical appearance of them. Maybe you've addressed this already, but I'm way too lazy to read this entire thread... How are you planning on keeping index with a carbon fiber hub and billet cog?

AlexandertheOk

iTrader: (1)

Beucase he isn't taking orders yet. (as far as i know)

Actually i am seriously considering selling my FM gear that i haven't used yet and picking this up. Pending positive test results obviously.

On a side note, are you going to be be hanging around sandia or ASR this spring/summer?

1slowna

iTrader: (1)

im sure a lot of guys have spent a lot more then 350 bucks on alot less, especially guys who are in classes that limit your modification. scca limited prep ep class? i don't really know the classes or the rules but we had a guy bring an ep car down to the shop to make some dyno pulls and he had an awful lot of money in that motor for only 150 some odd whp im sure to someone like that the extra couple hp is worth far more then 350 bucks given its within the rules of his class.
i hope it ends up being both a financial success for you and a good cost effective upgrade for the consumers.

BenR

iTrader: (2)

I may be interested in your FM gears if you get these. Depending on when and how awesome these turn out to be.

I should be around sandia, this year maby not as much as most years. I've got a wedding I need to pay for happening around june, I need to sell my house asap, and then finish prepping the miata for Silverstate. But I should be out there probably once a month or so. If there's a paticular event you're going to hit up out there let me know, maby I can help out or something I live about 10 minutes from the track. I haven't been to ASR in years, maby next year, I'm planning on picking up a trailer and start on a rally car late in the year.

TravisR

iTrader: (9)

Carbon the way we've manufactured it will be somewhere between 3-4 times stronger then steel, and the stud/nut interface we're using will be able to apply preloads in the 5-7000 pound range so whatever index you set will not slip, or deform out of shape. Carbon also has really good fatigue characteristics. It won't loose its shape over time.

As far as the crank adapter set, there is no way those too parts can move independently under the huge preload the crank bolt puts on them. When this goes together, the keyway should never be under stress. The friction forces should take care of keeping the parts in line.

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

Alex,
I didn't talk to you at a conference on rad hard electronics, did I? I remember getting very drunk with a pair of sandians, and I thought one had a miata...

AlexandertheOk

iTrader: (1)

Oh congrats on the wedding! I only have one Fm gear but ill let you know if sell it.

Once i get my car running ill chose an event or two and let you know.

Abe- Sorry boss, wasn't me.