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BEAVIS' White NB Turbo Track Car
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Hi,
So over the last 6 years or so I've had 7 MX-5's. Three of those have been track cars. I've had this particular NB for the longest, about 3 years now. And while it has been a great, reliable and capable track car, there comes a time in a little boys life when he must become a man. I have decided it is time to go turbo. Figured now was a good time to make a thread here so you can all tell me what I am doing wrong... because lets be honest I have no idea what I am doing. So anyway, I have had plenty of fun with the car to date, it has always been competitive against stronger competition and is usually one of the fastest MX-5's (It's an MX-5, I'm from Australia) at the track days I attend. Some history to get things going. I bought the 01' JDM imported NB with standard VVT motor. It was missing a lot of bits, but that wasn't an issue as it was going to be a dedicated track car and would be stripped down anyway. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296868 Off to fit cage: https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296868https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296868 Pretty much as was when i took it for its first drive: https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296868 At this point the car was running the factory NB VVT Motor, 6 speed gearbox, Torsen 4.1 diff and running factory ECU. NB 'sport' brakes, cheapo BC Coilovers, a bigger front swaybar. Bonnet, roof and boot are carbon/fibreglass items. Note these were all made with the guidance of MT forum member Lightyear - here is the first lightyear fastback that was made, which currently still sits on this car. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296868 After about 6 months i needed more grip so a Wing, Flat Floor, Side Skirts, and larger front splitter happened. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296868 This gives perspective on the width of the side skirts https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296868 The car certainly is nice to drive around sunny Phillip Island: https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296868 And even not so sunny Phillip Island (the car makes a mean rooster tail): https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296868 Anyway the point of the thread was to discuss the turbo bits that are about to happen. If you are interested, there is more history on the car on the Aussie MX-5 forums, sadly thanks to Imageshack going 'paid service' some of the older pics have been lost: mx5cartalk.com - BEAVIS' White Track Car |
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So first thing I did recently was some 'simplification' to the dashboard. Cut out anything that wasnt really nevessary, but kept just enough to keep it still looking like a dash.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 Bought some Wilwoods and big rotors from Trackspeed. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 Almost installed them as you can see below, bit of a comparison on sizing compared to the factory 'big brakes' that came factory on the NB8B ... but then I donated them to another cause so I'm awaiting another set to arrive ... hopefully soon. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 I started thinking about reworking the radiator mount to help accommodate the intercooler. I have cut the front support away and replaced it with box tube, not sure if i really needed the box tube but I figure better to play safe for now. I know others have run cars without a brace between the rails. Please ignore my sh*t welding. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 I lowered the factory radiator brackets by bolting them to the spot where the antirollbar brace bolts. You can see the existing holes ~20mm above. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 And I have bolted a length of aluminium angle between either end of the now lowered radiator supports so I could mount the intercooler. Its a 460mm x 320mm core. With the end tanks, inlet to outlet it's about 600mm and fits nicely between the rails of chassis. There's about a 10-20mm gap between the radiator and the intercooler. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 Pulled the head off to swap the NB8B (01-05) headgasket for an NB8A (99-00) headgasket purely to best suit a coolant reroute. (HG part # is BP26-10-271) https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 Underneath the valve cover all looked pretty nice and shiny really. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 While the head was off, I painted the valve cover - pretty satisfied with wrinkle black https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 The guts of the motor all back together again. (swapped timing belt, water pump etc while i was there. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 I have swapped the front and rear radiator/thermostat housings/outlets. Nice easy routing of my coolant reroute hoses. The two radiator hoses I used are Gates #21864 and Gates #22382. Between them is a 300mm length of 32mm diameter aluminium tube. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 Bit of an overview of how things line up. You may see I bent up a little steel bracket which bolts off the throttle cable bracket to hold the aluminium pipe and then wrapped it in some old hose for protection. It is certainly tight behind the intake manifold thanks to brake and clutch master cyls. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 Theres about 3mm gap between the firewall and the rear hose. You can see the way the outlet that used to live at the front of the motor is now at the rear and points in an upward direction. The thermostat is at this end of the head now. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452296582 Should have some more stuff happening over the next week or so.... |
Nice work so far.
I really love that top. Any more pics of the front with the aero installed? |
How are you circulating coolant through the head/block prior to thermostat opening? Did you just drill a hole in the thermostat?
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Originally Posted by hornetball
(Post 1297950)
How are you circulating coolant through the head/block prior to thermostat opening? Did you just drill a hole in the thermostat?
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I thought that might be the case, but couldn't make out any hoses on the front from the pictures.
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Originally Posted by hornetball
(Post 1297950)
How are you circulating coolant through the head/block prior to thermostat opening? Did you just drill a hole in the thermostat?
Originally Posted by Monk
(Post 1297946)
Nice work so far.
I really love that top. Any more pics of the front with the aero installed? Wheel spats, splitter, reduced the radiator opening, blocked fog light holes. Mostly made of aluminium composite panels aka 'alucore'. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452427256 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452427256 |
Can't say I've seen many people update their build threads with a Ferrari just chilling in the background. lol
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Originally Posted by Schuyler
(Post 1298155)
Can't say I've seen many people update their build threads with a Ferrari just chilling in the background. lol
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Small update on whats been going on - Wiring and Intercooler.....
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 I was sick of all the ugly stock wiring on the front end so I started tracing, cutting and pulling wires back through the firewall. I did a LOT of depinning and tracing to check i wasnt going to remove something that'd prevent the car from running. I think these are AC relays, dont need those... https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 Depinned AC relays https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 Even the Diagnostic Connector that normally lives on the left hand side of the engine bay got depinned and pulled into the cabin. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 Collection of wires pulled back into the passenger footwell... https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 And the end result was no more wiring on the exhaust side of the engine bay, with the exception of the ABS sensor and some wires for headlights: https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 Likewise on the intake side https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 And a healthy pile of leftovers to clean up later. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 While i was at it, I relocated fuse box a coule of inches further into the corner of the engine bay. I think it neatens things up, although slightly impractical. Particularly given now I can only open the lid by unbolting the fuse box, but its a simple 30secs with a 10mm socket to get it out so eh. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 While I was in the mood for depinning things, I ran some braiding over the wiring for the connectors on the front of the motor. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 And thought I'd show some more detail on how the intercooler is mounted. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 Upper bracket extends up to the top radiator panel https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 Front shot, not the fitment between the chassis https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 You can see here the gap between radiator and cooler - also note the aluminium angle running under the intercooler. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 The lower bracket https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453897499 |
I just discovered that nylon braided loom- it is all win. So easy to expand over connector ends and then contract tight over the wire. Not nearly as bulky and unwieldy like most other loom covering (granted at the price of some protection). Nice wiring work- that's some tedious hours right there.
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Originally Posted by m2cupcar
(Post 1302783)
I just discovered that nylon braided loom- it is all win. So easy to expand over connector ends and then contract tight over the wire. Not nearly as bulky and unwieldy like most other loom covering (granted at the price of some protection). Nice wiring work- that's some tedious hours right there.
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Keep up the good work! That nb is nasty.
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Actually works great at keeping a group of wires together for routing and away from areas that would chafe. You just need the right material for heat- PET is what I used.
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Long overdue for an update.... sorry for the slowness.
Continuing with some of the electricals on the car. First up i've had the ECU apart to get a USB port in the thing. ECU innards https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 The ECU has usb pins labelled on the board. Really, I don't know why they didn't just unclude a USB port as part of the build. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 So I simply sacrificed a USB cable from an old PC to make my own ECU USB plug https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 And I had to rock out the TunerStudio to update the ReqFuel value in the ECU to accomodate the larger injectors. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 Next part of the electricals was neatening up some more of the wiring on the car. A whole heap of wires cut from the loom draped over a very dusty car (note the passenger seat has been replaced with wires) https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 I grabbed some of the Wiring spiral wrap stuff which comes with a somewhat unusual looking plastic installation clamp tool whatchamajig. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 And with these Wiring clamps https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 I end up with something of a neatend firewall. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 And the other thing that I've been tinkereing on over the last few weekends has been running oil lines for the cooler and filter. This gives you an idea on how I've run the Oil cooler. I will come up with some sort of clever ducting once i have the front of the car back on. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 Top shot of cooler and filter. The filter is bolted with an alloy bracket to the frame, quite nice and neat and mostly out of the way, yet much easier to get to than the stock spot. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 Reasonably happy with how these are done as the lines are short, discreet, should minimise chance of issues, and should work properly. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 I've sorted the Turbo drain barb in the sump: https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 Oh yeah, finally got the Trackspeed Wilwoods installed, pretty straight forward stuff really: https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1457014526 In other news, I may have actual genuine proper legit turbo bits coming in the mail soon. |
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Just a quick update.
Trying not to reveal too much of our secrets, but starting to think about a new rear wing... https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458040966 |
Subbed. Looking amazing so far.
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A small assortment of things have happened this week...
Bonnet repair/strengthening So I had a bit of flex in the carbon bonnet where it extended out from the molded mounting section that the hinges bolt to. I'd long been meaning to fix it. So i finally got around to sorting this out. Removed the bonnet, gave the areas that need repair a quick sand to scuff them up, then laid down a few layers of some scrap carbon I had. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 After the resin in the repair patch had set, I cleaned it up with a grinder, sanded and painted to blend it in. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 The flex that used to exist here is now long gone, really happy with the bonnet now https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 Clutch In preparation for more of the powers, new clutch has been swapped in. Exedy button ceramic should do the job. These things are actually made just 15mins down the road. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 Battery Thinking about a better spot the put the battery, this might do. Moves the weight to the middle of the car, and the cables are much shorter. Not 100% convinced this is the best spot to put it. I guess we'll see. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 That sound deadener stuff I was doing something else and got distracted, and suddenly had an impromptu desire to start hacking the sound deadener out of the car with a chisel. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1458306284 I'll just need to hit it with some paint and it'll be good as new. |
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I know what you were thinking.
This thread is getting boring, just another bloke with a slow MX5. Well thankfully, Turbo bits are coming in the mail very soon. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459648266 More progress on things that are actually on the car... Have made myself some duct work to direct radiator air out the bonnet. Used good old painters tape to mark out the openings and give me something to work to. Mocked up the shape with cardboard. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459648266 Then, cut out with aluminium sheet. Held together with rivets. It bolts to the radiator with 8x M4 bolts, and is fixed to the radiator and the pair are installed into the car as a unit. This now all needs to be installed before the intake hoses are installed. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459648266 The left side is shallower to accommodate the intake manifold. The right side doesn't have these sorts of limitations so i could curve it in a more 'open' shape. Not immediatly obvious from the photos, but the central section actually tapers in a V shape. You can see the holes for the intake hose and radiator hose on the left side of the duct. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459648266 Here it is installed with the coolant hose mocked up. All the edges match up to the existing bonnet louvers so very little air will (should) bleed out. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459648266 Put the Cusco Diff together and bolted that in the car. Need to remember it still needs oil..... https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459648266 I often found my heel would burn a hole in the paint below the accelerator/brake pedal. This would even result in the bare steel going rusty. So, made myself this little foot panel. Scrap Aluminium plate cost me about $3. Marked and drilled some holes for style points and gave it a brushed look with some sand paper. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459648266 Oh and I drove an ND https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459648266 Thanks to a fellow forum member and mx5er, I had the opportunity to take a demo car for a private, no obligation hoon around my local streets. Even had the thing delivered to my door. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459648266 This particular model was the 2litre and certainly had more oomph than I expected. Although, it's smaller than I had anticipated, and with the roof up my head was hitting the soft top. |
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Hello!
So update on, well, it's mostly just purchases. I've bought myself an OMP seat, now i need to try shoehorn it into the car. wish me luck as goddamn i hate the lack of space in an MX5. Being over 6ft makes fitting my stupid head under the roof far too difficult. Also, I have purchased some LS2 coil packs. Once I get the car up and running I will sort out getting them wired up and plugged in. While I don't expect any immediate issues with the stock NB VVT coil on plugs, I am trying to do things properly and do them once. Plus the coils are really pretty cheap as every second Holden Commodore runs them here in Australia. And have spent some cash on some silicone stuff and aluminium things to make intake/intercooler pipework. It will take a little masterchef-ery to fit around the radiator ductwork when I get around to it. Things that I have actually been doing..... Diff Bushes So to go with the diff update from my last post, here's some GarageStar diff bushes to stiffen things up. Little did I know, I could get them from OMGpham, almost made the mistake or ordering direct from GarageStar instead of helping out a fellow aussie. Pretty easy to swap in. The hardest part is certainly getting out the old ones. I lubed them up with some WD40 and then went at it with the drill to loosen up the rubber center, then taught them a lesson with a chisel and hammer to knock the things into submission (and knock them out of the diff). https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461501660 Turbo Is Here NitroDann has very graciously delivered some nice birthday goodies to me. A manifold and downpipe to go with my S14 turbo. He helped me out and of course knows how to make a turbo MX-5 go fast without qualms of reliability so I am pleased to run his work on my car. The downside is, now I have no excuses for not having the car running other than my lack of time. I do like the subtlety of the low mounted turbo, and the efficiency in the downpipe design is a nice benefit also. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461501660 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461501660 Wing Lastly, a sneak peak of the new wing designed and CAD drawn by myself and lightyear. Water jet cut 12mm alloy is not cheap. If you know someone who can do it for a reasonable price, please let me know. There is a foam core to go with this, that should hopefully appear next week. Then we will need to put it all together. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461501660 |
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Went to a Sunday morning car meet a few weeks ago which was down the road from home.
Was impressed with how 'lamborghini-like' this Lotus was with the wild wing and the huge tyres.... the colour was pretty awesome also. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462365630 This thing was also very impressive, a mostly home built GT40 replica. Everything was very neat and meticulously built. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462365630 Bought a new (proper) seat for the track car. It's not easy finding a seat that will fit properly in an MX-5, particularly given I'm over 6ft. This OMP showed promise with dimensions not too much larger than the old Sparco. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462365630 Making the seat fit, with half decent headroom, I decided to cut the floor.... sooo it doesn't look so neat, but trust me on this. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462365630 Seat goes in nice and snug. I haven't yet finished mounting it up, but its pleasing to finally have a seat thats actually got some comfort https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462365630 I've now mocked up the pipe work to the intercooler. (please excuse the horrid photo) I'm running 2" tubing from the turbo the the cooler. And 2.5" from the cooler to the throttle body. For the hoses on the exhaust side of the motor, I've purposefully gone around the radiator duct as much as I could. The the hose to the throttle body however will run a directly through the duct. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462365630 We picked up a new car.... https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462365630 So, despite what I mentioned in a previous post about the no obligation test drive of the ND, here's our new White 2.0l ND for my number 1 lady to daily drive. I promise it's for her and not me. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462365630 Oh and them feels when you come back to your car to find an SP parked next to it. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462365630 ......so yeah, 3 white MX-5's in the garage now. |
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Decided to supercharge my street car....
Took a weekend to do the bulk of the work and a couple of days here and there afterward to clean up the details. Please enjoy my attempt at a snazzy video. |
I can't understand a word you're saying, M8.
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Straya mate!
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Lol at video sped up :rofl: Good video though very snazzy
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So we had our first trial with making the new wing.
The alloy plate is used for mounting the wing to the car, and for the wing endplates to attach to. However for this first test we decided to use some plywood as the plates cost about $50. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1464848207 Weighing the foam core, it was under 290grams. (0.6pounds). We also used about 1.5kg of resin. The wing was cut to 1.4m span to match the car it will bolt to. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1464848207 For this test piece, we opted for a few layers of fibreglass, a layer of plain weave carbon fibre and some strategically placed carbon offcuts for strengthening. You can see our plywood end pieces in place https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1464848207 After layup, the wing was wrapped in plastic and returned to its original block to help with holding shape. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1464848207 The whole block was placed in a bag. Vacuum pump hooked up. Start sucking. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1464848207 After a few hours, we went to check the progress only to discover that the heat of the curing epoxy had exceeded the limits of the polystyerene. The end result was a very warped part. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1464848207 So we need to find an alternative foam, or change the choice of resin, or change the process to reduce the heating effects... or some other alternatives which we have not pondered up yet. We trialed the strength of the wing even in its deformed state. With near 200kg static weight in the centre of the wing, it did not flex, however any more than that and the wing started to fail. Nonetheless, it was a good test. |
When I did Formula SAE wings in college, we made our wings the same way, and used this for cores, can't recall which weight, I know we played with a lot of different ones.
Urethane Foam , Expanding Marine Polyurethane Foam We would just pour it in a mold, pop it out after a few hours. Then sand the core, wrap it in carbon, put back in mold and cure. The problems we ran into, came from having too thick of molds made from MDF, and we couldn't get things to cure in the middle. |
We spent some time trying to find a foam supplier that would cut the shape for us. We were trying to avoid having to make our own hot-wire cutter.
Even with a CAD drawing supplied, many foam suppliers were incapable of cutting to our desired shape. One supplier wanted over $400AUD for a pair of wings. However I think they priced it because they didn't want the work. Communication with them was atrocious. In the end we found this guy who supplied us with cut to spec polystyrene for under $100 per raw wing foam. However his results were initially not very precise. In fact the first cuts we got from him were nothing like the supplied CAD, it's almost like he looked at the picture, and just randomly cut a roughly similar shape. We gave him a second chance and the results improved. I think we can all agree that polystyrene is not the best choice of foam, but it is cheap and readily available. |
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Just a small update on things that aren't my car.
Had a visit from a 300+hp NB recently to help make an airbox and bracket for the COPs. It was certainly interesting to get up close to a car running a turbo setup not too dissimilar to what I plan on using. Albeit this car is a little more beefy in the engine department. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1465394271 Also visited Sandown raceway with the lightyear for a weekend of the state championships to enjoy the smell of fuel and rubber in the air and for an opportunity to get some inspiration and ideas on how to change/improve my own car. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1465394271 With aero always on the mind, I really liked the many details of the Audi R8's. The design of the front end was awesome. One of these was for sale for only $150,000aud. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1465394271 This sports sedan with its body removed offered a close up view of some sexy details not normally seen. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1465394271 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1465394271 |
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I forgot to post up the video i made of the wing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z00jNeLnx7U&ab_channel=BEAVISHSV https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1465814846 So needless to say, attempt 2 was much better than attempt 1. This wing is strong, weighs about 2.7kg (~6lbs) and works well on the silver NB. The gurney flap was cut down to about 4 or 5mm. We will hopefully make another wing soon, however there is a good chance we may try a different method again.... and make a wider wing. |
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So here are some pics of us making the second wing.
Laying up the wing, some 3 or 4 layers of carbon weave, waterjet cut 12mm alloy end plate mounts. The shape was designed by lightyear and myself, and then drawn in CAD by yours truly. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1466170635 Vacuum bagging the whole lot because wings love pressure differentials. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1466170635 Makeshift autoclave to aid with post curing, $12 heater and some old blankies to keep 'er warm. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1466170635 Straight out of the bag, needs a few hours of sanding and cleaning up. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1466170635 Strength test, after this photo was taken we had a go at standing on the wing at the same time. The wing didn't bat an eyelid. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1466170635 Sanded, trimmed, holes tapped for mounting to the wing endplates. Not 100% finished in this pic, but almost.... https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1466170635 |
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I'm overdue for an update.
Floor cut is done, the OMP seat can bolt in and STAY in now, and it is actually reasonably low...... Have I mentioned how much I hate MX-5's and their lack of room for seats? https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467110209 Anyway.... onto something different. LS2 Corvette Coils. Thankfully, these are easily available in Australia because every second V8 Holden runs the LS motor. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467110209 Well I need to find a nice and neat way to mount these, so, bust out my low spec 'fabrication' tools. Angle grinder, hammer, some bits of steel. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467110209 So, after an hour or two of work, this was the mockup of what I had in mind. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467110209 I then cut down the M6 rod, welded a nut to the end of it to make a 200mm long bolt. And cut up some alloy tube for spacers between the coil packs. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467110209 With the main bracket now done. I added some very necessary speed holes and gave it a shot of silver paint. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467110209 All Bolted up to the motor. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467110209 There is also a length of M6 rod on the other side of the coil packs with alloy tube spaced between them and a small steel brace to keep them supported. I tried to make it subtle on that side and I think I succeeded. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467110209 Lastly, wiring..... a work in progress at the moment. Thanks to Alex 'bartune' Barton for the help with this. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467110209 |
I took the Supercharged street car for a drive to Phillip Island.
While I was not competing in the track sprint day, I did get a chance to do a few slow laps around the track at lunch time... Video of the day: |
I was very satisfied when I fired up the ECU last weekend and everything seems to be working well.
After all the:
We tested injectors, checked the LS2 coil packs, configured the oil temp and oil pressure sensors, setup the MAC valve..... and everything was working as expected. The MS3 was happy and so am I. Next thing to do is update the ECU firmware, and get the flex fuel sensor working. The docco I've looked at suggests I need to be using the 'clutch switch' input to the ecu, and it appears the firmware the ECU is currently running is missing the flex sensor functionality. While there is a very good chance I will run the car on dedicated E85, I might as well set the flex sensor up if I can. |
I just finished installing a Sparco Evo 2. What a nightmare it is, and I'm only 5-10. The whole time I was muttering " these cars are too damn small for a real seat".
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I've always found getting seats in an mx5/miata a painful experience.
They are never low enough and there's never enough head room. If you have a cage, or If you're tall (6ft or more) ... you're going to have a bad time |
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Update time!
While reworking the wiring for the coil packs, things got a little out of hand and all the wires from the engine loom have now been trimmed and rewrapped.(As I mentioned in an earlier post) You can see the two Deutsch plugs for the injectors and coil packs. And all the front wires now run down the middle of the intake manifold, no more unsightly wires along the motor and out the front like you see on a stock NB. Attachment 232411 New coil packs needed new plug leads. So I got myself some fat wire, boots and crimpers. Attachment 232412 Attachment 232413 After a few hours one evening in front of the telly.... 4 leads for me and 4 spares in the event of an issue in the future. Attachment 232414 I need to be sure to manage temperatures, so I've made a heatshield for the exhaust manifld/turbo. Designed and folded from CAD, the mockup worked well because the end result looks quite reasonable. I made it extra deep on the rear/turbine side. Welded some studs to the manifold and it now bolts on quite happily. Attachment 232415 Had to pull the manifold off the car to weld the studs on, so here's the neat little package with turbo, lines and downpipe all together. It's tricky, but this whole lot can be installed onto the car assembled as is. Attachment 232416 |
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Sorry for keeping you all in the dark lately. Life gets in the way sometimes.
After some 3 or more years in use, I've removed the fastback from the track car..... It's being demoted, but thankfully it has been replaced by a newer, lighter version, kindly donated by the Lightyear. So I have started work on mounting the new roof. It will then need to be prepped, painted and windows installed. Attachment 232408 But the roof hasn't gone far. At least not for the moment. Attachment 232409 Speaking of the NA, I put it on the dyno recently to see just whether or not the supercharger was running everything ok and not going result in a surprise kaboom. Attachment 232410 The results: |
5 Attachment(s)
Some more news...
A sticker arrived in the mail... Attachment 232403 And was installed on the car. Attachment 232404 I've also managed to get the Nexus Tablet working with the 'OTG' USB cable, so it can now charge while connected to a USB device. (such as the ECU) If you're not familiar with these gizmos, basically the USB port in a phone or tablet which most people only know of as a charge port can in fact also be used to connect other devices like a keyboard, mouse or usb thumb drive. However, what if you want to charge the device while also connecting another device? Well you need a 'OTG' USB cable. Here's me taking a photo because I was so happy that I got it working with MSdroid talking to the MS3. Attachment 232405 While I am using MSdroid above, I am actually thinking of moving to ShadowDash for more customisation. So I started on a custom dashboard to run in the car whilst out on track. After a few nights after work doing the designs.... I went from this: Attachment 232406 To something more like this... Attachment 232407 And so I''ve pretty much finished the Dash for now, and quite chuffed with the result. :) Created images for all the indicators I want to use, so things like overboost, CEL, and FanOn now display with stylish icons. Once I start using it in the car, I may need to make some adjustments VIDEO: |
Fucking cool man. I like it.
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There's a good few hours in it, at least 16hrs or so, but I think it was worth it for the challenge.
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While a large majority of the underbonnet work on the car is done (well, for now), there were a couple of things that I did need to address to settle my OCD.
So, I wanted to moved the IAT sensor to read post intercooler. The easiest way to do this was to tap into the side of the intercooler. I'm hoping that where the sensor is now mounted will give a reasonably accurate reading. Attachment 232398 The standard GM IAT calls for a 3/8 NPT Tap.... Attachment 232399 Here's a shot down into the gizzards of the cooler. It all looks about right to me. Attachment 232400 The other thing that needed attention was the water pump inlet pipe. It was too close to the turbo for my liking, and meant that removing the turbo would probably require removing this pipe. So I took to it with the cutting blade on the grinder, and gave it a slight kink, just enough to get the clearance I need. Attachment 232401 Next is to weld this back together, but I'll leave that for another day. Attachment 232402 |
4 Attachment(s)
Here's the result of my first aluminium weld attempt - welding the water pump coolant inlet pipe as mentioned in the last post.
Not great, not a disaster and not bad for a first try I guess. But, most importantly, water tight. And now it offers the extra clearance from the turbo inlet which is what I was after. Attachment 232394 Attachment 232395 And while I was at it, I had a go at welding the BOV flange to this aluminium intake tube. This is the tube that runs between the intercooler and the throttle body. I cut, drilled and opened up a hole in the tube to allow the flange to receive the air, then massaged it to try ensure the tube and the flange meet up reasonably close. There were a few large gaps that made welding trickier. I think the differences in thickness also made it trickier. Being a polished pipe, there's probably a heap of polishing compound in there causing contamination? Attachment 232396 The BOV in question is a turbosmart kompact for a Nissan I believe. Although it's a 'plumback' design, I'm just going to run it open to atmosphere as pictured. Attachment 232397 |
Why didn't you mount the IAT closer to the TB as opposed to the intercooler outlet?? Even in that short piping you could have a few degrees of temp drop
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A couple of degrees isn't going to make much difference even if there actually is a temperature drop and not having the intake in the engine bay stops the sensor heat soaking.
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Mounting the IAT where I did was a nice, solid and convenient location, and I can route the wiring there neatly.
The key thing is to get the IAT mounted AFTER the intercooler has done it's job. I highly doubt there will be more than a degree or 2 of air temperature difference in the 250mm of straight aluminium tube from the intercooler to the throttle body. |
And the heat soak after shutdown, OMG, fuck tuning that.
Dann |
I never really had an issue with sensor heat soak as I mounted it at the bottom of the pipe and insulated by a little rubber.
But yeah, a few degrees temp drop is not an issue. |
Theres threads and threads about not putting it right before the TB.
Dann |
I actually didn't really consider it that much, my thought process was more along the lines of 'eh this seems like a good spot for it'... In hindsight, I'm happy with my intuition on this one.
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4 Attachment(s)
A couple of weeks ago I spent a weekend making these new flat carbon/fibreglass door trims to replace the previous CF ones which were too bulky for these gutted doors.
I wanted a simple flat panel, with a neat door pull and opener. The previous door trim opener was just a bit of electrician wire, and there was no door pull at all. So pretty much anything was better than what I had before. Attachment 232390 The trim is mounted with 7 hex head M6 bolts. I riveted on these aluminium tabs and threw a rivnut in them Attachment 232391 The interior door handle you may have noticed in the first pic is simply some aluminum tube bolted to the inner side of the exterior door handle. Pushing on the tube from inside the car will push the exterior door handle out. But, its simple and no fancy/complicated latch mechanisms required. Hand looks far too dirty for an IT nerd. Attachment 232392 I'll finish off the top edge that meets the window with some sort of trim - haven't worked that out yet. The door pulls were some random blue strap I had lying around. Opening the door is now as easy as pushing your thumb on the alloy tube and out the door pops. Attachment 232393 Next thing on the to-do list is to start on sanding and painting the new fastback roof... |
In case you're not a subscriber of my channel on YouTube, or you just missed it, I have a collection of new videos coming out, here's episode 1 :)
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4 Attachment(s)
Fastback Part 1
Over the last few weekends I've been doing my least favourite thing, body work. Bleah. Attachment 232386 The new roof needs to be sanded, holes filled, painted, windows installed, and finally mounted. I've started on the boot section first, filled all the little pinholes and imperfections. Attachment 232387 After many hours fillling and sanding with 120grit, this is where it ended up. You may have noticed the hole right in the middle where the third brake light usually lives. Attachment 232388 This is the quick latch mount I've gone with.... It has a socket which hooks into a bolt with a spherical end. To remove the boot I just need to push the button and the whole thing pops backwards. It's a larger size normally for mounting things like bonnets/hoods, but a single latch in the middle here seems to work well. These apparantly can support upwards of 80kg which should be more than enough considering the boot weighs about 5% of that. Attachment 232389 |
6 Attachment(s)
Fastback Part 2
So the roof is all ready for paint now... Main roof section is now sanded Attachment 232380 These are the mounting points out the rear of the main roof section, riveted and epoxied on, which the boot slides onto. Its just some aluminium tube welded to a flat alloy strip. The tube slides into holes on the boot. Attachment 232381 Attachment 232382 The whole lot back on the car for now. Looking forward to getting it all painted and some windows installed so the car is completely sealed up again. Attachment 232383 Attachment 232384 Well there you go, ready for primer next, and some sanding and perhaps a little more filling before the paint goes on. Attachment 232385 |
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PAINT!
So onto painting, and first off... allow me to introduce you to my makeshift paint booth: Attachment 232369 With that I was able to get the parts primered for the first time which was a good feeling. Attachment 232370 I then hit the whole lot with some more sanding and filled a few more imperfections. Attachment 232371 A final coat of primer to seal it all up. Looking nice and smooth all over now and in the sun to cure well. Special mention to the supercharged NA. Attachment 232372 Finally, colour! Looking nice and shiny in what I thought was Mazda 'Pure White'. Attachment 232373 I had an apprentice helping out, however the bloke was pretty useless so I fired him. Attachment 232374 After a day enjoying the sun I set the parts on the car and scratched my head as to why the colour was so off... Attachment 232375 It would seem the bloke at the paint shop stuffed up somehow along the way. The colour was too creamy. I went back and he mixed me up another can. He thinks he may have forgotten to add some black to the mix, either that or his paint code software is off. Note the two open cans. On the left is the original colour, on the right is the new mix. Attachment 232376 So second attempt at painting and the colour is looking better. The ladder was a good tool for standing the roof up. Attachment 232377 A reasonably nice gloss off the gun, and some orange peel. I guess I'm reasonably satisfied with the level of peel. When I get the time I might try sand it out a bit. Anyone know if it's worth the bother? Or will I make it worse? Attachment 232378 The end result :) Attachment 232379 Now it needs rear quarter and rear windows, seals and some brackets to mount it to the car, then this milestone is done. But, gonna start on the exhaust next... and come back to the windows. |
You Australians can build some wicked shit.
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It's either work on cars or fight deadly crocodiles and snakes.
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Just caught up on this build, excellent stuff man! You do some quality work :party:
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Originally Posted by Girz0r
(Post 1370689)
Just caught up on this build, excellent stuff man! You do some quality work :party:
There's plenty of people here that FAR surpass me in car-builder skills. |
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Exhaust!
Well I spent the last few weekends on making up the exhaust... Attachment 232359 Plan is to run a flex join on the end of the Nitro Dann downpipe which will then mate via a V-band to the rest of the exhaust. The exhaust itself will consist of a hotdog shortly after the V-band, and then a muffler at the rear. I would run less mufflers if I could, but noise restrictions are an issue. I started by tacking the whole lot together with the MIG. The slip in fitment for the likes of the muffler and the v-bands make welding easier. However, there is a huge gap around the hotdog ends which made welding those up a bit of a challenge. Attachment 232360 Mocking up exhaust tip designs... This upturned style was one concept which got scrapped very quickly. :P Notice however, I have angled the rear muffler upwards to make sure there is reasonable room for any rear underfloor work/diffuser. Attachment 232361 To get the muffler where I wanted it, the boot had to go. Attachment 232362 Saved about 3.5kg or roughly 7lbs. Not that heavy In the grand scheme of things, but every gram helps. Attachment 232363 Fast forward a week and I spent a morning welding everything up properly. Given this is just old fashioned mild steel, I decided to paint it for a bit of added weathering/longevity. I found this white exhaust paint at the paint shop and figured it would generate some questionable looks... Attachment 232364 Close up of one of my less sh*tty welds… Actually, lap joint of the v-band was reasonably easy to weld. Attachment 232365 Also notice the huge fat hangers I’ve used. They are bolted to the car with round rubber bushes, much stiffer than a traditional hanger, but not completely solid. Hopefully they are sufficient to keep things sturdy yet not cause any metal fatigue type issues. I might need to cut some metal out of them, they do look a bit heavy. Attachment 232366 And, last job was to try keep some of the heat out of the cabin/gearbox/flat floor... So I’ve wrapped it all in the DEI titanium stuff. This used up most of a 50 inch length roll (I think it was 50 inch). I used this stuff on the last exhaust (pre-turbo 2.5” dia zorst) and it seemed to work well. Attachment 232367 Attachment 232368 Next time I’ll hopefully get back to finishing the rest of the roof. :) |
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