Uncle Hoonsalot

No.

I bought my car about 3 years ago from a guy who'd said he built it to be a track car. At the time, that seemed plausible. I didn't know much about tracking a Miata then (do I now?). It had 15x8 6ULs with 8 (!!!) year old RS3s on them, Koni Yellows, an RB front bar, a Koyo Radiator, Willwood Dynalites, and a Hard Dog Sport roll bar. And a Fast Forward Supercharger kit. I'd never driven a fast Miata, and this one seemed like it was, so I bought it. My plan at the time was to make it a grand touring style build.

2 years later, I finally actually get to go to the track. Now on some FM VMaxx Coilovers, 15x9s, and 245 RS4s. October in Alabama was about 90 degrees, and I got the car hot in approx 3 laps. Yay. No space for a reroute either.

In continuing to learn more about tracking a Miata, I get the feeling the supercharger isn't going to stay. My wife and I did get to take the car to the Dragon this Spring, and hearing the s/c whine off the hills was...magical. About 30 miles of driving after we got home from that trip, the car coughed and died on the interstate. Turns out the main damper pulley bolt had backed out - apparently I did something wrong during the timing belt job 6k miles previous. The Woodruff Key broke, and saved any damage to the crankshaft, so that's nice. I work a full time job and about 30-40 additional hours/week running my own business, so it took me an inordinate amount of time to put the car back together. Finally fixed it 2 weeks ago, and feel underwhelmed by the supercharger now.

I'm going to remove the supercharger in the next month. Plan is to install the 6 speed I've got sitting in the garage that was rebuilt 40k miles ago, along with the 7lb flywheel I got from a parts car, and a puck sprung clutch from SuperMiata (to keep up with any future power adders). I got a hard top this month as well, and some Xidas and 15X10 6ULs earlier this year. The 02SE Saddle interior I swapped into the car is being sold this week, and cloth stuff will be replacing it. I have a Track Dog seat for the driver side, but need to sort out harness mounting first.

In short: I bought a super fun street car, and it was fun for 40K miles. Now I have an NC to daily and want something to get some seat time in without worrying. Love the idea of a K swap for some more jam while retaining the glory of N/A power, but a turbo isn't totally out of mind.

Full_Tilt_Boogie

iTrader: (1)

Very cool car

For what youre doing I think the K24Z3 swap would be excellent. Im considering trying to pick up another Miata to do just that.

andym

K24z3 sounds like the answer for you too. One of the issues with that supercharger is the lack of ability to run an intercooler so the charge air is hotter than ambient. But at least it isn't on the hotside compressing air.

I do think your choice in clutch is a bit aggressive though. I would run the k swap and use the clutch they recommend with their flywheel.

matrussell122

iTrader: (1)

Another vote for the k swap. Either the k24z3 or the K24a2. You would end up with more power than you have now and can easily add more if you want.

dleavitt

iTrader: (1)

Tom at For ***** Sake:

"e-CoOl iS JusT aS gOod!"

Also, K-swap. If I could go back and change history that's probably what I should have done (not that my turbo BP isn't amazing and reliable).

Uncle Hoonsalot

Was going to mention E Cool, but will just leave dleavitt's comment instead. I will say, in defense of Tom, he has been nothing but overwhelmingly helpful and kind in supporting the kit. He has provided his personal email to me, always responds within 12 hours, and if I have questions about small parts, his response is usually "I'm mailing some to you, you'll have them in 2 days." If I didn't want to track this setup, I don't think I'd really have problems with it. It's more work than stock, but I think you should expect that when you add 50% more power to your car. Still gonna take it off my car though.

Agree the clutch choice is aggressive. My car has some dumb aggressive clutch in it already (I think the PO said it was the FM stage 2?), so I'm not particularly afraid of that. Mostly just want something that can hold up regardless of where I take the car next. I had failed to consider the fact that the K swap will use a different flywheel anyway, though. That makes it a much shorter term choice. Much less aggressive needed for an N/A BP.

Is there a different recommendation y'all would make for a 1.6 clutch? I do have R Comps for autocross that I'll continue to use til they're shot (got them for $200 from a part out), so it needs to be able to hold up to launches on those.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

I'm going to be oddball and say you can have plenty of fun on the track with a N/A BP. Header, exhaust, intake, intake manifold, throttle body, tune, 6spd, and 4.3 final drive and you'll be having a blast for the fraction of the cost of a K swap. Doesn't require much cooling mods (ebay rad, ducting, reroute, and vents) and it'll run great ever session. Given you're location, Barber and TGP are not really "power" tracks and are great fun in a well balanced Miata. AMP is the same, not really a power track. Road Atlanta is, but still fun if you have a drafting partner.

Uncle Hoonsalot

I 100% plan to run the car like that for at least a year. As I mentioned, I've got the 6 speed sitting in the garage waiting to go in. Car already has a full exhaust, 4.30 Torsen, and I plan to use an NB1 intake manifold to avoid the VTCS butterflies (and because that's what I have on the shelf).

Even after selling the s/c, I'll still need to accumulate a good bit of cash prior to a K swap. I just want to drive the car on track. I live 15 minutes from Barber, and my shop is 10 minutes away.

Took the belt off the supercharger last night and drove home from my shop n/a. Car is very slow to me now, and quiet. I'm sure it'll be better once it's not breathing through a supercharger.

curly

iTrader: (25)

Probably not. But they can still be fun. As MidTenn said, if you're just starting on track, BP power is fine. If you want to be a decent drive, I might also suggest some 15x8s instead of the x10s, I don't know what you plan on adding, but on stock power it'll turn your car into a boring steam roller. Some 200tw 205s are great to learn on. 225 RS4s if you must. Run two sets of the RS4s, one year per set, a dozen track days per year, and you might actually come out the other side a decent driver.

andym

If I were op, I would leave the clutch and flywheel that is in the car alone. You already own them and they work well and will handle all the power you throw at them.
I might consider a megasquirt because I like knowing exactly what it is my car is doing. I would pitch the cold side ffs super charger and enjoy na power from the car and I would buy either the skunk 2 intake manifold or a squaretop.

Uncle Hoonsalot

Dangit. I hadn't considered that, other than that the X10s are overkill. I've also got a set of 15X9s that I can mount some 225s on, and 15X7s I can put 205s on. I've done two track days thus far, and a couple of years of autocross (not the same and I know it). 15x8s with 205s probably would be best, though. Ironic that the X10s I was searching for for 18 months are now superfluous.

The car also needs to go on a diet. It weighed 2389 with no top and approx 60 lbs of fuel. I'd like to have it in the 22XX range with no supercharger. I'm extremely fortunate to have my SCCA region's scales at the shop on long-term loan (we use them 2x-3x per year for races), so I can baseline the car again as it sits, and then check progress accurately. So far the weight loss plan looks like this:

Supercharger: -30lbs
Track Dog Race Seat: -15lbs
Lighter trailer hitch: -10lbs
Lighter battery: -10lbs
1.6 flywheel: -10lbs

These are 100% numbers based on what the interwebz say. We'll find out the true accuracy later. PS is already deleted and I'd love to retain A/C because street car in Alabama.

Roda

Absolutely.

I've got 2 seasons on our VVT swapped NA and it's still a lot of fun to drive, even on 225 R comps. It will definitely make you work on your driving skills... it's easy to be lazy with power. An n/a setup is also really simple and reliable for the track. I keep an eye on consumables, and change the oil... other than that, nearly zero wrenching since I finished the VVT swap three years ago.

I had originally intended the next step to be a low boost (~200hp) Kraken setup, and even collected some parts, but I'm really leaning toward the stock subframe K swap now. I'll put the turbo on our street NB.

Uncle Hoonsalot

Sold my saddle 02SE interior and put in cloth last night. Why do more people not talk about how much better cloth seats are?

Getting used to driving the car without f/i. I just get to act like a lot more of a tool in it. Needs ball joints, so ELBJs coming soon I suppose.

Gee Emm

Lose the softtop, replace with CF hardtop. Much -weight. If cost is an issue, then FG, but check the cost/weight savings equation before jumping.

Carpet is overrated. Also, old, dirty carpet is heavy (and ALL carpet is dirty).

Get lots of seat time. Have fun!

Dyladjent

I'm really having a hard time not selling my 1.8/td04 stuff and getting into the K24Z3 thing as well. But I like the character of the turbo and I don't really ever plan on tracking my stuff. I need to get my turbo car driving again before I make that decision I guess haha.

There seems to be quite a few of us around we should all get together and do hairdresser things.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

A 7 lb flywheel will make the car want to stall when the air conditioner compressor and fan engage at idle. Removing rotating mass will be very important and stock power but that's going to be too aggressive for a flywheel for air conditioning. I do however agree with the idea of going with the lighter weight wheels and tires. You will most certainly feel the difference in acceleration.

If in your choices you already have access to 15 x 7 and 205 then I would stick with them for naturally aspirated track duty.

Uncle Hoonsalot

So what you're saying is that I *should* just go ahead and delete a/c? Or at the very least, should I choose to go ahead and put in this flywheel, know that I can't run A/C at idle.

As far as the 15x7s, I will need new tires for them soon - suppose I could go with something like RS4s instead of the Conti ECS I was planning on. I still need to wear out my 245s though!

You should at least come over and check out my shop in Leeds at some point, since you're close! The purpose my my presence here isn't to promote my business, but I do run a side-business parting Miatas out, so if you need parts...



Soft top is already removed - lighter hard top or fastback is on the list. I've got a friend who is close to pulling the trigger on a bunch of CCP parts, so batching shipping would help that a good bit. I'm concerned about how well the lightweight hard top will seal - any experience there?

I had most of the carpet out of my car and was amazed at how much nicer it made the car to put 10lbs of carpet back in. If it comes back out, I'd need to figure out some form of noise reduction for street driving. There's a really great autocross region about 100 miles north of Birmingham, in my hometown of Huntsville, and I like to attend a few of their events a year.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

You can run A/C with the 7lb flywheel but it is going to be more difficult. It may require starting with a higher base idle and playing with the compensations a bit to make it tolerable.

Uncle Hoonsalot

Gotcha. Appreciate the heads up, and definitely good info to keep in mind before I make a final decision on using it.

Uncle Hoonsalot

Good times yesterday in the soon to be unsupercharged NB. I had 3rd RAW time at local autocross, and the folks in P1 and P2 were both running PRO. Not bad for a street car masquerading as an SSM car. Got to pick the brain of a local CSP driver who has an amazing CSP 92 Sunburst (VVT swapped, etc) about taking my car back to n/a.

Also finally started using the tire trailer I bought last year. It needed new tires and wheel bearings in one side before I could take it anywhere. Now that I've used it a few times, I have some thoughts on how to "rebuild" it better for my particular uses. Also the wood underneath the storage box gave out at some point during my drive home, so the box is not ideally mounted anymore. That will need addressing before I can go anywhere.