Shortpersonbk

Have you ever considered switching the round 4inch to the oval? A guy had a similar issue on supra forums and the switch tucked it up very nicely.

4 inch also seems verrrrry overkill but I'm sure you have a reason that I missed reading back.

Scaxx

I did consider it but I have such a small amount of room to work with with I don't actually think I have the room for an extra transition. (Edit: and still exit out the side which saves more weight) As for it being overkill, you're absolutely right, it is, actually I think I might be losing some power in the short run because of it. However after all is said and done I'd like to be around 480ish (possibly more) at the wheels and it should be just perfect at that point. I have also played around with the thought of a stupid-charger, but that's at least a few years in the future. So basically it is overkill for the time being but should be better down the road.

I decided on the single 4 to drop weight originally, I could save a significant amount of weight just in tubing over a dual three, and that wasn't considering the extra muffler that would be there too. So why not a single 3.5 you might ask? No idea, I'm probably retarded. But I think I might pick up a few extra hp down the road with the 4" if I'm correct.

Scaxx

Well there's now a hole in the side of my car. Still need to do some trimming as well as smoothing out the cuts but the muffler fits great! I can tuck the inlet real close to the frame rail where it curves up and the outlet just needs a tiny extension to dump right out the side. So far things seem to be working out alright. I'm thinking of trying to box the structure that I just cut out back in by welding some metal around the muffler, need to make sure there's still an option for water to get through but I think that way I shouldn't lose much rigidity and it'll give it a nice finished look.

Like I said, I still need to do some trimming and smoothing of the cuts but at least the structure is gone.

Scaxx

************. My finals are a week before I thought they were. Lines up ******* perfectly with the rallyx I was going to. Literally every autox or rallyx since september has lined up with either finals or midterms. God damn this sucks, I was really looking forward to that, it was a two day event too.

Edit:Now I realize why I thought the finals were later than they were, one of my teacher's schedules is wrong and said the final was a week later than it was.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

Oi, that's quite a hole for just an exhaust. I'd have gone another route, but it is what it is.

Scaxx

Yeah not a whole lot of places to exit it out the side unless I exited it out the side of the bumper but that defeats the whole purpose of it since I was trying to reduce weight with the side exit. I am gonna try to box the structure back together though kinda like what I did up front but with thinner metal. I wasn't too excited about how much I had to cut out either, but I think it'll turn out fine. The cool thing is it keeps heat away from my diff once I flat bottom it though, also opens up a massive amount of space for a diffuser.

Scaxx

Pressed my studs into the front and rear hubs on saturday at my buddy's place, also got r package tie rods in the mail yesterday. Pretty tired, here's some pictures.

Scaxx

Well things were kinda shitty today. I need new wheel bearings in the rear which is more money. Looks like about 80 from shipped from arlington mazda. So I moved on to try to get the rest of the power steering lines hooked up, pretty sure whatever way I have them will interfere with the sway bar if I keep the stock cooler, not sure yet but they sure as hell look like they're going to. Oh and coming to sway bar mounts, they (v8r ones) make it almost impossible to put the suspension back together with the subframe in the car, got them in after a bit of pounding, I'll probably do a little cutting on the mounts depending on where the sway bar ends up. Guess every day in the garage can't be a good day, but it is what it is. Hoping to put a little more work in tomorrow but probably won't get a ton in. No pictures today because the pictures I took are of things that probably won't work. We'll find out tomorrow.

Scaxx

Hmmm, definitely need to email Shandelle. The bracket things that hold the sway bars onto the mounts don't even line up with the holes in any configuration, not sure what happened there but something's not right. I can always weld an 1/8" plate on there and drill new holes but it's frustrating nonetheless.


Also I cut the hole for the exhaust in my quarter panel. Started by making a mark on the inside where the bottom of the muffler went. Then I used one of those little automatic puncher things from HF (those things are great) to make a mark that I could find on the painted side. It was actually almost exactly where I had originally planned to drill except about an inch lower. Then I took the hole saw and cut out the hole. It was kind of a bitch since as soon as part of the hole was all the way cut the saw kept on catching but it came out pretty clean. Since the muffler is at an angle though it needed to be expanded in a couple directions so I did that with the grinder. Gonna make a stainless sheet to rivet over it to make it look decent but it turned out alright.
Edit: There's still a lot of trimming to do and the exhaust won't stick that far out, that's just so that I can measure angle without having to hold the muffler the entire time. It'll also be more flush.




Then I moved to the trunk and took all that black sound deadening **** out of the bottom. It was baked on there pretty good but the torch and wire wheel got rid of it nicely. I've also found splashing a bit of gas and taking a wire brush to the last remnants gives a nice clean finish to it. Then I hit it with some black paint and called it a day.


All in all today was a better day, still lots to do on this car but I feel like I'm somewhat getting closer.

Scaxx

Since the stock power steering cooler loop no longer fits I was playing with the idea of making one out of copper. The stock one is just steel that's coated, any reason why I shouldn't use 3/8" copper tube? It's easy to flare at the end as well as bend into shape. The only thing I can think of is the copper reacting with the oil negatively but I haven't seen anything from a quick search. Plus I have a bunch of copper tube and fittings laying around.

OGRacing

iTrader: (1)

that's a boom hole hahah

Scaxx

Johnny, that's one word for it hahaha

Well I'm just gonna re drill the mounts for wherever I need them and weld a plate if needed, emailed Shandelle this morning asking if they were supposed to be like that

Now that I've stepped back I'm not as annoyed as I was yesterday, probably won't get too much in the next couple weeks though since I have two and a half weeks left of school. Although I'm still confused as to why they're different from the stock mounts as well as the racing beat ones, but whatever.

Looking at picking up a bunch of random small **** from summit this weekend, starter is the big item on the list. Other stuff on the list is shrink tubing for all the wiring, heat shield sleeves for the wires that go by the headers, mainly the two knock sensors, hose mount clamps to hold down wires and the fuel line under the car, and some rubber hangers for the exhaust. Also need to get some braided tube for the wiring to go through. Can't think of anything else right now, basically trying to get all the small stuff out of the way so I'm not waiting on little clips and **** to get the build done.

Oh and I'm thinking of making the diff bushing out of acetal since they want like $50 for a poly one. Should save me some money and give even less deflection which is the main problem with the cts and its wheel hop. Well those are my thoughts for the night, back to homework.

Scaxx

Just put in an order with summit, got the starter as well as a bunch of tiny things. This is all the random little **** that I left a big buffer on my budget for, shrink tube, hose clamp mounts, heat wrap tape, heat mat stuff for the footwells/trans tunnel cause I've heard they like to melt shoes, and some more heat protection stuff. I still need to get more of that braided **** that's like on the holly harness but I'm waiting until I have the harness put back together so I know what sizes I need. Next up is the rest of the clutch stuff, guess I'm gonna just go with the spec "stage one" (I ******* hate the "stage" bullshit manufacturers come up with). Reason for the spec is I can't find anyone who will sell me just a pressure plate and clutch plate without the flywheel, everyone wants to sell it as a package. Reason I didn't go with something else is cause I can't afford a mcleod or something haha, hopefully the spec doesn't fall apart, heard both good and bad things about them. I also need to get a new pilot bearing since the ls1 pilot bearing is different than the ls3, couple other things too.

Holding off on buying the v8r clutch kit which is just a wilwood kit with a different adapter as well as a couple of lines, but I don't mind supporting Shandelle's business a bit and I was planning on buying a speed bleeder from tick anyway so I might as well just get it from v8r. Reason for holding off is Johnny's warnings of clutch troubles, if a solution isn't found by June-ish I'll probably just say screw it and try to figure out the problem in the future if I run into it as well.

Also might need to get a new throttle cable, the stock miata one fits but the end that goes to the throttle body is a little too small, looking to see if I can't make something to make it fit but we'll see.

Shortpersonbk

Spec is not tooo bad of a brand my 2jz swap miata has a spec twin in it. I did alot of research prior to purchasing and almost any issues i have seen regarding them have been related to the twin disk and issues with needing a larger master or stronger slave. Plenty of people in v8 land have loved the single disk stuff and say it holds up.

Scaxx

Shortpersonbk, a couple of my buddies swear by spec but I've also heard opposite sides of the story, could just be a break in problem too though. Some people don't understand the idea of breaking in a clutch it seems.

Well that was quick, my summit order is already here. One thing was on back order so it'll be here at the start of may but it's not big deal. Not really very exciting stuff in the package, really just a bunch of small stuff but the starter is pretty cool, it's pretty damn small which is nice, hopefully I'll get to test fit it in the next couple weeks to make sure it works with the kooks.

Scaxx

Also the dust cover doesn't act as a spacer on the ls series engines right? I was gonna buy some sheet to make one but then I remembered on miata's it goes the entire circumference of the trans-engine and therefore acts as a small spacer. But all the dust shields I've seen for ls1's and such have just covered the bottom of the trans and the starter but don't go any further than that. I was thinking 1/16" sheet aluminum should be fine. Yeah, it definitely doesn't act as a spacer, nevermind. I'll still post the post in case someone else has the same question.

Scaxx

Well ****, shandelle's offering 5% off until the end of the month, I guess I have until then to decide about the clutch or not. Might just say screw it and go ahead and buy it, not really sure what else to do.

Shortpersonbk

I'm sure the spec will hold fine. Comp also sells a nice twins disk for around a grand for your motor/trans also if your at all interested in that.

Scaxx

Probably just gonna go with the spec, running out of money real quick and other than my body I don't have much left to sell haha

I think I know what happened with the sway bar. I was reading through Emilio's k20 build and someone, I think it was Andrew, mentioned the mounting points for the na changed in 94 with the new engine, I'm guessing they changed the width of the holes from each other which is why my mounts don't line up. Looking at energy suspension's bushing set their mounts have slots instead of a hole, I'm guessing this was so that the mounts would cover all the years. May just go ahead and take my mounts to school and throw them on the mill to make slots like the energy suspension ones. Interesting though, I'm gonna email Shandelle and see if he designed them around a 94+ car, might confirm what I think happened.

Scaxx

Ordered a bunch of stuff today. Bought the clutch and throwout bearing along with some pressure plate bolts from Tick. Bought shandelle's clutch kit. Got new wheel bearings from rosenthal along with rear dust covers. Also the difference between the cheaper ones and the more expensive ones are the cheaper ones are "mazda value" parts. I was gonna go with them but decided not to, don't want to watch my brake rotor pass me like Kieth. Also bought a **** ton of metal, bunch of assorted bits along with a 2" diameter chunk of delrin for the rear diff bushing. Just realized I never actually measured the diameter of the bushing but I'm pretty sure it's below 2", that was the largest size they had anyway so there wasn't much of an option I guess. I can always make a steel sleeve like the v8r one. Not a whole lot left to buy, getting down to the last few items now.