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Got this fancy little piece from 2nrs as a future "just in case I find it convenient" item. It's a billet timing chain tensioner cover plate with integrated o-ring that eliminates the need for Hondabond. It also has a -10 ORB port. The port could be used for a catch can or turbo drain is the thought depending on which direction the build heads down. Worst case, I just cap the port and it still looks really nice.
The morimoto MLED projectors installed on the car are fantastic in terms of output, so to date I haven't even needed the high beams, but full disclosure, one of the issues I've had that I've just been too lazy to diagnose was the fact that I couldn't get the high beams to work on the car. However, they work great on my power supply. Something was fishy!
After reviewing schematics and contacting TheRetrofitSource on the issues, they informed me that the LED driver that runs the projector needs a common ground and switched power (high side switch) to function properly. The NB Miata utilizes a switched ground (low side switch) which explains my issues. Ughh.
Solution #1 was to by the standard TRS relay harness, but I didn't want that as it is quite bulky, needs to be connected to a main 12v source, and frankly just not needed for the miniscule amperage levels that the LED driver pulls. Next idea...
Solution #2 was to figure out how to switch the Miata's high side switch to a low side switch with a plug and play adapter. I'm admittedly not an electrical genius, but I have friends who are. In a classic case of "it's not what you know, it's who you know", I got this diagram sent to me that uses a standard 5 pin automotive relay to do exactly what I wanted. I tested it out last night and now hi/low beams function exactly as they should. You need one PNP adapter for each headlight. For anyone that may find it helpful, here is the solution:
87A: low beam input to LED driver
87: high beam input to LED driver
Common Ground: Pick chassis bolt within reach and use that.
Note: the high beam indicator still does not function with the above schematic. It's quite obvious if you have your high beams on with these lights though as its like opening the gates of heaven in terms of light output. I'll save that fix for another day when I have nothing better to do.
Spent last week heading down to MATG. Unlike last year, I committed full on to driving the car down as I'm not about the trailer queen lifestyle. This photo from the first gas fill-up of the trip is the last known photo of my car actually being clean and not a dirty mess like it was the rest of the trip.
The car ended up being quite comfortable to cruise down in as long as you ignore the one massive dip in I-65 in Indiana that bottoms out every conceivable square inch of aero you have bolted to the bottom of your car. On the bright side, I now have zero concerns with my mounting methods of the aero after that 80mph impact test. Even the other miatas in the convoy had some issues with that dip. My car was getting 28mpg on the cruise down with #alltheaerodrag which was exactly the same as the bone stock NB1 with same gearing that was cruising down with us. I was surprised by that. This trip also further proves out how street-able an 800/500 rate on Xida's can be. If you are on the fence, just buy them. Other than that one stretch of road that made my butthole pucker greatly, no issues on the way down = happy face!
I got to Fontana to find this ugly PURPL car. He seemed to have equally horrible taste as me in automotive modifications, so it warranted a photo for science purposes
Had many questions about the car as it was parked near the vendor area throughout Friday and Saturday. Got to put a face to the name of many of you on here. Nice meeting you all!
Marcus couldn't lead the A&W cruise, so I took the reigns on that one and led the spirited run. Had about 25 cars show up. Fun times. #longestdriveforamilkshakeever
Had to of course take a damn photo!
Killboy getting great shots per usual. Here's one of many. The woman can be seen here being completely unamused by borderline reckless corner speeds the car is capable of here.
...and off back home we went on Sunday morning
Ended up putting a tickle over 2000 miles on the car in 5 days without a hiccup. Can't wait to do it again next year.
Decided to keep the car together for a bit longer than expected this fall to hit up some events in September and October, so no progress on the car itself recently other than washing 2000 miles worth of bugs off of it.
BUT
I did forgot to mention how beneficial MATG 2019 proved to be in regards to the build direction. Since day 1, I knew the car was going to get swapped. I looked down many avenues to make more power. The LFX and K swaps were the standout options for a multitude of reasons. After deciding that the K was the right choice over a year ago, I have been on the fence of whether I should stay n/a K24 or head down the boosted K24 path from day 1. What it really boiled down to was:
"is the car fast enough with mid-200whp n/a or will I want more?" AND
"Am I willing to have the car on jack-stands for more than a year to afford all the components and double my total swap costs (missing MATG2020 with it) if I go down the boosted path?".
After owning some absurdly fast 700+hp Cadillac's, I had fair reason to believe that a modest ~250whp would be boring. The kicker? I never drove a car like a Kmiata, nor is there really much out there to compare them to that I can simply go find at a dealer lot to test drive... I needed to drive one to make up my mind
This is where the customers at the Kmiata booth at MATG came in clutch. Got talking with quite a few of them over the weekend (explaining my dilemma) and had not ONE, but TWO owners toss me the keys to their cars to take for a brief spirited run down US28. THANK YOU TO BOTH OF YOU! Both of them n/a k24 NB1's, one making 230whp with 5spd/4.10 gearing and the other making 240whp with 5spd/4.30. I have 5spd/4.30 in my car and we had nearly identical builds otherwise so I'll reference the 240whp NB1 test drive in my sequence of text following.
Full disclosure, the initial first impressions while modestly driving around the first few corners were "...hey this drives pretty much like my BP with a little more torque down low to help come out of the corner." It was nice, but it wasn't ~$9k in costs nice. Then I started to lay into the throttle more, and THAT was where the opinion began changing.
A K24 swapped Miata is sneaky fast.
It doesn't have neck snapping v8 torque like I've been used to, but the torque that it does have keeps building and does NOT taper off (very much unlike my v8 or BP powered cars). It reminded me more-so of my old cbr600rr sport bike. It just begs to be revved, and even though my BP-brain was ready to shift by 7200 RPM, the K24 was still freight training the tach until the needle was buried 500 rpm past where the OEM Mazda tach registers (8500rpm) and you're nearing triple digit speeds without breaking a sweat. Many smiles followed once I got used to this new found top-end powerband. It was a blast to drive. While I can still see some desire to push past the 240whp range long-term, that 10 minute test drive showed that I could have a couple years of fun with an n/a k24. Being able to afford the n/a path over winter is another added bonus to being happy with this power level. Win-win situation given the circumstances really.
...and so it was decided. n/a K24A2 mated to the 5spd/4.30 it will be. Knowing now where the build is headed. I got back to business on the engine for what will likely be the slowest, most photo heavy engine swap in MT forum history.
Nothing much more than my standard documentation following here.
Flipped the engine over and removed the K24A2 oil pump / balance shaft assembly.
Waiting on Kmiata parts led to some free time at the house this weekend. It all started off with my coworker finally taking his project truck to work. The cab is sitting on a modern F350 frame with the OEM 7.3L powerstroke 4x4 powertrain. Like trucks or not, its a cool rig.
Went out for dinner with the woman later Friday night and had to triple take what I was seeing in the parking lot. It was a 70th anniversary La Ferrari Aperta. 1 of 9 in the world in the trim it's in, and it was just chilling in a standard parking stall at an average restaurant. I applaud the guy for driving the car, but I just find it funny that his car is worth more than the combined value of the parking lot, all the restaurants, all the cars, and the property that the car is parked near. Absolutely gorgeous car from every angle.
Saturday I decided to be productive. I had some Left Lane projects on my mind for a while and finally had the time to pull the trigger. I designed up some NA fender vents which was long overdue given the interest from people I have had. The body lines vary between NA and NB quite a bit so I needed to start fresh even though the design intent is the same. I took the more complex, but more visually pleasing route of making the NA vent design a 2 piece design that goes on either side of the OEM body line through the fender. This will open up some possibilities for people to order the upper, lower, or both vents depending on their preference and vehicle setup. Shown below are the blank templates to give an idea on size and location. Hoping to have a run of NA and NB vents complete in a couple weeks.
And another Left Lane project beginning... Had a lot of interest in making my NB1 retrofit lights, but (unsurprisingly) many people don't know that you cant run NB1 lights on an NB2 and have them fit properly due to the bumper cover variances. This led me to start exploring what could be done to make my NB2 people happy. I ended up finding a really cool customer who is giving me the reigns to do as I please (within reason) after giving him a brief summary on what I had in mind. There's been some new parts released by TheRetrofitSource that I've been eager to try. This should be a game-changer in terms of bang for the buck lighting performance and visual improvement for the NB2 guys given it all goes to plan. For the time being though, I just picked up this clean set of lights to molest off of eBay.
First batch of Kmiata goodies came in. Rather uneventful unpacking a bunch of boring OEM Honda parts, but it'll be nice peace of mind to have all the basic maintenance items taken care of. Need to get the water pump painted to match the rest of the block, then polish more bolt heads before continuing on.
I told David in my order comments that "any surprises found in the box would be posted to the build thread". In some sick twisted humor, he gave me 2 flywheel bolts. Only 6 more to go! Its almost like he expects me to order more or something
How did you only get two bolts?!! I'll get six more on the way shortly. I will also try to find some actual goodies, we were scrambling to get it shipped out.
__________________ KPower Industries
Home of the original KMiata Swap
How did you only get two bolts?!! I'll get six more on the way shortly. I will also try to find some actual goodies, we were scrambling to get it shipped out.
It's all good. I was laughing at this as I thought it was some teasing means of getting me to spend more money this month. I'll keep my eyes on the lookout for another mystery goodie box.
This next post can be summarized by one simple meme
David came in clutch with some ultimate sticker swag and the other 6 flywheel bolts for the swap. Thank you for that! Not much for progress on the K24 since the last update for reasons you will soon read about.
One of the neat products I've been working on the last couple weeks was some NA fender vents that are similar in concept to the NB ones on my car. Found a friend that wanted a set done for his car and he provided me donor fenders to use. I got cutting templates designed up.
Then here's a mockup with the first set of production vents in place. Note that they are not riveted in yet, so they aren't sitting perfectly square in place, but you get the idea. You could choose to run the upper, lower, or both!
The upper NA vent template also would look pretty slick on an NB as it turns out (if you don't like my large one piece NB design)
So I decided to put my money where my mouth is and get a big run of parts made as I've had quite a few people ask me "where can I buy those?". If you are reading this and want a set, toss me a PM. They should be available next week when I get them back from powder coating. They will all be done medium gloss black.
At the same time that NA vent design was happening, I started on the NB2 "baller on a budget" retrofit setup and installed some Profile Hi-Lens LED pods into the high beam location of the headlight. These things kick butt in terms of output. The car will be wired to have low beams stay on with the high beams. The OEM low beams will toss light out wide into the ditch, while the high beam pods will toss light down the road further than nearly any miata will need. Total high beam output should be killer. Also added a simple switchback halo to the setup per customer request.
Then last but not least, we added another family member to the house. I could've went another year or so before this, but the GF wanted one and I was out of excuses on reasons to say no, so we "compromised". Meet Tucker the new Left Lane Design's project supervisor. 13 week old border collie.
They look sweet, now I want to find something to stick those LED high's into
Thanks for grabbing the links.
The NB2 headlights shown above use OEM low beam projectors to keep costs down. The MD2S would be a solid upgrade if you had the coin to pay for it though. All parts came from TRS
07-22-2019, 09:57 PM
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