Hmmmm, I just happen to have a Hayabusa motor, and it weighs about 150lbs, without headers or extra stuff bolted up. :)

So me having 575hp in my 1950lbs car with a 95" wheelbase is crazy! That's what I like to hear!!!

Looking forward to the mold photos!

Slightly off topic....
Why are those any better than these?
http://www.customdynamics.com/illumi...#LED_Tag_Bolts

Completely serious question, I'm in the market for some.

I have those too--for mounting license plates. I've got M6 and M8 styles, micro-LED, screw machined, multiple colors, built in circuitry to prevent reverse polarity damage, yada yada yada. The other lights are meant more as accent lights. They can light on a toggle, be used as an idiot lights, in array as a shift light, etceteras. The patent-pending design has the hole milled under the head. You can mount it through an acrylic sheet and the light will carry through it. I want to put them on the side of endurance racers as night-time marker lights.

Cockycordy's pat-pend. slit is just under the head so it can light up plastic sheets. Slick idea IMHO. And they look nicer once you get closer than 3 feet, at least judging from the pics of each. But will cocky's be $20/pair? Or have the option of dual sideways white & amber/red lighting?

Tim, the milling under the head is intended to light up the lower portion of a motorcycle screen. Too bright, and the screen edge can possibly cause a distraction while driving at night. Two should be enough to light up a sticker or etching. A pimpin' ride could use milled lights on all the screws and really light up the screen. For shows only.

BTW, I come here to share my projects and because I love cars. I don't want to trade barbs with anyone. Please just call me Cord.

edit--here are some pictures of the license plate bolts.

subscribed

the micro machined metal with an led back light is the same concept implemented for the new koenigsegg

Mold update--about half of the molds have been machined, which is just part of the process. They'll need to be hand finished and plugs made from them.

The first plug will be fitted to the car to check tolerances, fitment, mounting points, etceteras. Each body part will also need a mating surface created so it can connect to the part next to it, and items like the head light and tail light buckets will require their own sub-assemblies. It's all very involved and time-consuming, dammit.

Sorry, but no pictures until the plugs are on the car.

Good God man just been through your thread and your Sir are a different kind of Awesome

Thank you! But there's no way I could tackle this by myself. I've got a really talented group of people helping. Right now Dave Green of DG Motorsports is doing all the work, as he will be making the bodywork. For reference, Dave made all the carbon bodywork for Brian Goodwin's evil yellow MX5 track car. This is a car where nearly every panel is made from carbon fiber, and regularly sets FTOD at some of the more fun West Coast tracks.

Dave's built dozens of SEMA cars for Ford, Mazda, GM, Dodge and others as well, so we know that the bodywork is being finished correctly. This ain't no off-brand fiberglass company making the body with a chopper gun. ;) Check out his site at www.dgmotorsports.com if you're in the market for carbon hoods, tops, downforcers, center consoles, door panels and other fun stuff.

Quick pic--here's a couple of pictures of the headlight bucket. It's still a work in progress. The main headlight is dichroic, and has a high / low beam setup. It's SAE compliant (DOT approved).

shakedown!
 

While waiting for the final body molds to be cnc machined, we decided to take the car to El Toro air base (closed) in Irvine for a shakedown. Long story short, the car is surprisingly close to the correct suspension settings and didn't do anything unexpected. No breaks, no surprises, only happy testers.

The initial feedback from our two testers (both professional drivers) was that the car had neutral handling, cornered flat and had progressive brakes that they raved about. Funny thing--the brakes are stock Mazdaspeed units. We put this down to the refreshing "new sensation" of not having ABS.

Check out the second run here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn2Qv...ature=youtu.be

Thanks to Tony Woodford, Roman, George, Gary and Mike for a successful test.

Wow

So much want. This is turning out amazing. Keep the video's coming!

Here are some still shots from the test. I like the first one because you can see the hanger in the background that Ken Block uses as his own personal obstacle course. :)

If you look closely at the tires in the turning sequence you can see that they haven't rolled over at all. The tires had 25lbs of pressure (cold) at this point, and it was way too much for the weight of the car. We'll sneak up on a correct tire pressure after we've added bodywork.

Another shakedown video
 

This time it's Gary's turn. This is one of the early test runs where the tires are still over-inflated and the rear sway bar connected.

I just LOVE the sound this car makes--a raspy burble just like a sports car should. ITB's would just complete the sound effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJGw...ature=youtu.be

What do you think the weight of that vehicle is as it sits?

best thread ever.

Do a rear coolant reroute while you're at it. I'm not kidding.

More, please. Just for background, even with no shrouding there were no issues with overheating during the test. We're planning to shroud from the bodywork to the radiator and then route the exit. We've got more elaborate plans for the track-only car.

Wet weight is around 1,400lbs, give or take. There's over 100lbs of "fat" on the mule (stock seats, HEAVY exhaust, extra tubing, etc.), but that will be replaced with bodywork, lights, interior, aluminum panels, and extra odds n' ends. Pig.

There will be the same rain dance with race prep. Add some, take off some. Bottom line is that this is proving to be an awesome base for a performance car. The frame is light but rock solid. The bottom is flat. Best of all, you can transfer your go-fast goodies to this frame. I can't imagine it with more than 250hp...

i can imagine it with my 400whp driveline :D

You wont see overheating in the gauge. This motor was pulled from a FWD car so mazda decided to make it easy and reroute the coolant to the front of the motor for our miatas instead of at the back by the thermostat. The engine is fed cold coolant by the water pump from the front of the motor and then the heated up coolant goes out of the front of the motor instead of through the entire engine. The only circulation the rear of the engine sees is whatever can get through the heater lines. For stock street driving for the average chick this is just fine.. since ya know miatas are chick cars? :fawk:

But for track driving the rear cylinders will overheat quickly especially in boosted application. Thats why its so common to do a rear coolant reroute.

Here is stock. Cold=top pic and Fully warmed up = bottom onehttps://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1338665529


This is with the reroute. Fully warmed up.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1338665529

Ahhhh. I've seen this discussed before, but not with this clarity. Thanks! I'll be sure to get this done when we pull the whole car apart. But then again, we removed the heater so it should be good to go, right?

No... the issue is that the rear of the engine gets shitty coolant flow because the inlet and outlet are very close to eachother. moving the outlet to the rear of the head solves this.

Do it.

engine configurations
 

Mule #1 has a 1.6 and Mule #2 has a 1999 1.8. Both will get the coolant upgrades. Mule #3 is getting a turbo and will definitely get the upgrade. #4 might just have a mystery motor that won't need this upgrade. :)

No to what?

please be a V8... please be a V8... please be a V8... :D

FWIW My coolant gauge will show the famous just less than half pretty much all the time.

Tuner studio on the other hand tells me the true story. My coolant gauge won't even start moving till about 240F. The computer does a much better job of telling me what exactly my coolant is at.

<-- Having overheating problems.

He did mention earlier in the thread he had a Hayabusa motor laying around.... and knew the weight on it. :party:

Ah yes. I would also accept this as a reasonable substitution.

Comment from Youtube:

"I kept throwing money at my monitor. Why won't you take my money!"

Lolz, my feelings also (except I don't have any money for this sort of thing, but if I did...).

I'm going as fast as I can!!!

And yet again I'm showing pictures that I probably shouldn't upload. I really, REALLY should have held off showing this car until it was absolutely finished, but what the hell--that ship has sailed.

The two main body panels left missing are also the largest. And most important. Even so, I thought it would be fun to put the existing panels on car. My first thought was that this small cage of a car is getting bigger! It's a go cart with just the frame, but is taking on car proportions with the bodywork.

Also, it looks like there will be ample wind protection even with the small windscreens. While this car will no doubt see lots of track time, it looks like I won't need to wear a helmet on the way to Starbucks. ;)

pic 1--One the floor--first article body panels

pic 2--A whole car fits in my Land Rover

pic 3--The view from the seat shows that there's plenty of protection

pic 4--Pieces in place, though not perfectly placed.

btw were u planning on making a roof too?

If I get enough requests I'll build a double-decker version. ;)

damn that looks awesome how the body work hugs the frame.

I think im gonna take out a loan when this becomes available.

any potential business opportunities as an australian reseller available? :D

That's awesome, because it will only cost you ONE MILLION DOLLARS! :rofl:

thats cool $1m isnt really a lot of money anymore.

could be worse it could be one Hundred billion dollars!

The issue with this car is that it's ALL custom. The headlights don't also fit on a 1972 Chevy truck, The exhaust needs to be custom made, the suspension is standard Miata but has new settings, and most stock items that are tossed need to be replaced with new, custom-made parts. Just today I was working on the headlight covers, fly screens and surrounds for the headlight unit--all custom U.S. made parts.

I'm trying to balance the cost of the kit with the contents. Do customers want to supply their own suspension? Wheels and tires? Are they expecting the full-blown interior, or raw race? And of course the frame and body are completely from scratch--and costs that I'll be amortizing for some time.

I don't want the end result to be expensive, but neither will I allow it to be anything but a quality vehicle. Based on weight alone, it will be faster than any Spec Miata--700lbs lost is like gaining 100 horsepower, not to mention the dynamic and braking performance gains that will be seen.

So how much would you pay for an exotic, exclusive, low volume, high performance car that's been designed and built in America?

$37,478.96



I mean, tree fiddy.

I understand it wont be cheap..

its something I may not be able to afford.

the amount I'd be willing to pay would depend on my financial status at the time.

I personally would not care for a full interior, but one that covered just enough to not be an eyesore. I would be willing to guess that everyone that buys these will have a different take on suspension and wheels, so they should be on their own for that.

Hows the door situation going to be?

Doors were ruled out early. Anyone who has used a Cobra door knows that it's pretty much useless. We thought we'd be tricky and make a mini step-over door, but in the end it's just as easy to sit on the side body and slide your legs over to get in, and simply step over when getting out.

The steering wheel is removable so there ends up being a lot of unrestricted room for ingress/egress. The big benefit is that side protection on the car will be excellent.

How about a CLK-GTR doors :P How tall is the current entry point going to be? It almost looks like it will be higher than the engine. That's nearly same height as the current stock miata door.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1339775551

Doors are do-able, even scissor doors. Bottom line is that this car needs to be finished and offered in some sort of "base" format. THEN we can start to tinker with the design.

This car has been all about choices. When the addition of doors means added weight, complexity, cost and reduced rigidity, the choice is not hard to make. And the door decision wasn't made until after ingress/egress was tried by several people.

Obviously.

even the SLC has doors, and it uses miata handles!


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1339778724

Fran has done a SMOKIN' job with the SLC. And I know that's he's not done with his supercar dreams. I actually got him a spot at SEMA to show his SLC a couple of years ago in the Sebring Tuning booth.

I also pretzeled myself getting into his car. It wasn't easy, but with a little practice you wouldn't notice it after a while. BUT it's not a damn CIVIC! A certain small amount of commitment is required with some cars. It's what separates you from the soccer moms driving around in their minivans.

I thought you answered that question back on page 3.


Isn't that still your target?

keep up its $1m now..

I think he wants it to be affordable but doesnt really want to even hint at a price bracket as hes not sure of what itll be.

set a target and you start making compromises.


btw cordy any updates on the datalogging unit? If I cant buy the car I atleast want the datalogger.

I still don't have all the prices solved, so I can't set that base price yet. However, I can say with great confidence that the base will be under $20k.

As for the data acquisition unit, it's coming along swimmingly. We're in Beta testing now, and have sewn up most of the code work which is the agonizingly slow stuff. Software setup is MUCH quicker, and more fun too. We also upgraded to a new chip that is crazy fast. We'll be able to pull g-force, pitch and yaw, linear potentiometer data from the suspension at 1000 readings per second, plus TPS, plus CAN, plus a whole bunch of other stuff I can't divulge yet. And it will cost less than a set of tires. MUCH less.

I still don't have any pictures of the new bodywork, dammit. Dave Green and I are waiting for the cnc machine to finish up the side panels.

They are quite complex. Each panel is made with a two part mold, as the shape of the body would otherwise get trapped inside the mold when it cured. A separate removable headlight bucket and taillight bucket have been made, meaning that each side panel takes a minimum of four separate molds to manufacture.

Until we've got real pictures, I thought I'd let you know that Dave has made MX5 Super20 flares out of urethane. He went the extra mile to make urethane, which can be painted or installed raw so they look like the show car. Cool.

that looks pretty good.

I like the flares, but something about the way that car sits, it looks like a monster truck.

Easy to cure, either by going "hellafrush" or by color-matching the flares. Mazda could have dropped this car a bit more, but it looks like they might be offering the "GT" package MX-5, so the stance would be stock-ish. My guess...

work continues on the body panels
 

The big, huge side panels molds are finally done. They're literally the length of the car, so a heavy 2" x 6" frame with caster wheels was needed just to move them around. They're being treated now, and should spit out some sample bodywork next week.

Included are the headlight buckets bucks. These were done with a rapid prototype machine. Rapid, as in it took about three days to grow each headlight bucket in the machines. The two studs sticking out of the plug locate it in the body mold.

Give your composites guy a high five for me. That looks great...

Those parts are not actually composite, but plastic. They were "grown" in very high-tech rapid prototype machines. However, because of the size "rapid" meant that each part took over 24 hours to complete, prior to hand finishing.

For reference, the headlight buckets probably cost more than a good (and complete) turbo setup.

The main molds are getting squared up and will have fiberglass laid in them this week. I can't wait to get them on the mule, and obviously get some pictures up on the forum. :)

Well, I'm out :loser:

So much win in this thread... Please let us know when the road-tour starts. I missed this if/when you were in town for MRLS. Been dying to get a look at this!