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Bought this car complete in late 2016 and have replaced damn near everything on it because I am OCD and wanted a few upgrades. It used a 1999 NB as the base with an FMII turbo kit and last dyno it put down 255whp. The car is an absolute beast and the funnest thing I have ever driven. You basically point it and pull the trigger like a gun. I love the car but I am ready to go back to an ultra reliable naturally aspirated motor so I can beat on it without worry. I don't trust the turbo BP for a track motor after seeing the amount of work many people put in to make them reliable on track. Thankfully Ryan (ThePass) has done a lot of the R&D on the LFX swap and reaching the potential of it in a miata chassis on a track. Goal is an ultra reliable 300whp on E85 and then drive the hell out of it.
Just tracked down a super low mile (18k) MV7 Cadillac 6-speed transmission. These things are a bit rare because most Cadillac owners understandably want a slush box in the base model CTS. Next I'll be sourcing a low mile 2015 Camaro LFX engine and a 3.42 Cadillac G80 LSD. And finally the V8 Roadsters LFX kit.
Expect to see a part out sometime in October as I definitely want to drive the car over the summer and then work on it over the winter. Cheers and will update this as I acquire parts and make progress.
Holy hell finding a low miles 3.42 G80 LSD is tough. The new ones apparently doubled in price due to a manufacturing supplier change making them about $1,500 now.
Good news is I found a 57k mile 3.42 LSD on ebay out of a 2006 STS for $250 shipped. The parts interchange data on the 3.42 G80 for the 2006-2009 CTS is all over the place by the way.
From V8 Roadsters:
We utilize the Getrag in our road course and street cars.
When sourcing the Getrag look for the 2006-2008.
The later models have casting and seal updates.
G80 series limited slip GM part numbers:
3:23 – 25978162
3:42 – 25873500
3:73 – 25873497
3:90 – 25968531
Available in the following vehicles, RWD only (in reference to 3.23)
2005-2007 CTS Base 3.6L
2008-2009 SRX base 3.6L and 4.6L
2009 STS Base and Platinum 3.6L
I think the diff from the STS can be from 2006-2009 fyi. Will be able to confirm shortly when my diff gets here on Tuesday.
Rode in a turbo exocet a few years back and it was an absolute blast. Looking forward to your lfx powered exocet. That blows about diff prices, glad I got my 3.42 when I did.
MV7 is here! Snagged one with 18k miles from Canada. Shipping wasn't too bad and these things are getting tough to find with low miles. Looks like it is in great condition.
A long overdue update. I decided to keep the 3.91 OS Giken I have in the car currently as it should be a riot and lots of burnout fun. We'll see how streetable it is.
Sold the 3.42 G80 LSD I had to a member on here.
Got the Kmiata diff braces and an MGW shifter. Spoke with V8 Roadsters today and they are willing to attempt to modify the MGW shifter, so we'll see if it is possible. I really want to use that MGW shifter so fingers crossed.
Found a totaled 12k mile 2015 camaro in Houston with a good engine for $1,250 with the starter, alternator and gas pedal. Car was totaled from driver side damage and was not a rollover. Engine is currently running and I'm picking it up Friday.
Update on the ECM... V8Roadsters confirmed the ECM I need is a GM Part # 12648906. Got one on ebay for $60. More updates soon as the partout and swap should begin soon.
Drove to Houston today to pick up the 2015 LFX engine. Lucked out and found a car with only 12,000 miles that had been in a driver side collision with no rollover. The windshield was pretty interesting. Looked like a deep head print with hair still in the glass on the passenger side.
We managed to get the engine to fit into a Honda CRV and got it back home without any issues. Knocking down the checklist of parts needed pretty much daily now. The oil pan has been ordered from V8R and they said it will be 2 weeks. Also sent them my MGW short shifter to see if they can modify it to work. That MGW shifter is a work of art, absolutely gorgeous. Also received my DW300 fuel pump that is E85 friendly.
Parts still needed: Custom Driveshaft V8R wiring harness Kmiata PPF Delete Ticon 2.5" Titianium Exhaust and Sidepipes (hell yeah!) Custom intake V8R lfx/exocet engine mount kit New LFX clutch and flywheel from summit V8R clutch kit V8R NB/LFX Gauge adapter or custom gauges
Need a little help finding some small clips on the transmission. I've searched every parts diagram and website I can find, but for the life of me I can't figure out what these three parts are to order them. My transmission came with these three clips missing. If anyone knows what the part numbers are for these clips it would be a massive help.
Image taken from ThePass' LFX thread.
Edit: I think I found the two part numbers... 92293203 and 25753853 (x2).
Intake manifold was sent to Jacfab for porting. I'm also picking up the overkill 80mm throttle body and intake spacer from Jason at Jacfab. He has been awesome to deal with and cut a package deal for me on all that stuff. Should have everything from him next week. Removed the factory passenger side valve cover vent and realized it was already the perfect size for 1/4" NPT threads. (EDIT: DO NOT DO THIS!!!, KEEP THE OEM PCV) Tapped it and got an Earl's 1/4" NPT to 3/8" 45 degree hose barb to improve venting to the catch can. The motor I have only had 12k miles and the valves were heavily coated with burnt oil. Took about two hours to clean them all and the amount of oil in the heads around the intake valves was ridiculous. I don't want to have to do that again. Got the 4 piece balancer puller set from harbor freight. If you plan on using this kit to remove the LFX balancer you will need to take the arms from the second smallest puller and put them onto the puller size one step up from that one. Worked fine once that was done.
Thanks to gooflophaze and his build thread (https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...d-87186/page3/) I got the 2014 cadillac cts coolant pipe that goes down by the alternator and got it mocked up. Also ordered appropriate size aluminum and steel 90 degree tube bends from https://www.verociousmotorsports.com to tig on longer hard pipes for the lower and upper coolant pipes. I'm pretty sure if I do this right I can negate the need for odd size rubber hoses to fit the Supermiata radiator I'm using. The goal is to make it so I just need a simple 90 degree bend rubber hose on each side and improve clearance.
The tubes I ordered are below, will confirm if these are correct when I get them.
1.5" OD 90 Deg. 6061 Aluminum Mandrel Bend, 16 Gauge - 1.5" Radius, 6" Legs
1.38" OD 90 Deg. Mild Steel Mandrel Bend, 16 Gauge - 1.5" Radius, 6" Legs
And thanks to Ryan's build thread, I got the plugs he mentioned for the two holes beneath the rear coolant pipe plugged and sealed.
I'm trying to maintain the sloppy mechanic mentality of at least 30 minutes per day to continue making good progress.
Had a conversation with the guys at Maxxis tires today. I'm having traction issues (in the rear) with my VR1 245/40/15 tires in the car's current trim with 250whp. Looking at adding nearly another 100whp so tires will definitely be an issue. My question was around being able to use the same size RC1 tires on the street and whether the heat cycling would be an issue. They confirmed it should not and being that the car is never driven in the rain and does some track duty, the RC1's should be fine. So it looks like that is the direction I'll be going shortly. If I can get traction in the rear with the RC1's, this car should be very fun.
Power to weight goal is 400hp at the crank (340whp) with a weight of 1600 pounds, which should put this car firmly into supercar territory.
Took a few minutes to figure out what bolt holes to use for the engine stand to get the oil pan off. You'll need a 90mm long bolt and nut for the hole on the lower right, it is unthreaded. The lower left bolt goes into the inner starter bolt hole. V8R Oil pan should hopefully be here next week.
Had a hell of a time trying to clock the alternator. GM used an Alternator Decoupler Pulley (ADP) on the 2015 alternator that I have. I thought at first I had to remove the pulley because that is how you would clock a traditional alternator. Ryan confirmed that you don't need to remove it which is great because you would have to buy $30 worth of special tools to remove it. You will need to remove the rear plastic cover and the small brush cover under that as well as the four long side screws. After that, you need to beat the living hell out of the back half with a rubber mallet (striking it away from the front half) to get the two pieces to separate. A word of caution... the brush cover comes off fairly easily, but I still haven't been able to figure out how to get it back on and even broke mine in the process. There is a dimple in the back of it that looks like you could insert something to hold the brushes down, but the translucent plastic cover prevents that. Tried removing the plastic cover and ended up breaking the brush assembly in the process. Taking it to a denso alternator shop this week to see if they can get a replacement brush assembly for me. If I were to do this over again, I would have just paid an alternator shop $40 to clock it for me and saved a ton of headache. I'll ask the alternator shop what is the right way to get the brush assembly back on and report back.
Quite a few updates... alternator is fubar'ed. Shop said they can't order parts for it, but were nice enough to offer to clock the new one for free. Oh well, you can't win them all. Best price I can find for a new one is $250 on Rock Auto.
Part out of the NB drivetrain went great. I priced everything pretty aggressively to move and almost everything sold on here within a few hours.
Ordered the last LFX subframe in stock at V8R so the wait time shouldn't be bad. They did say because I'm using the MV7 transmission in an Exocet they will have to make some modifications. I think this is the first MV7 in an Exocet. Cool! V8R was also trying to modify my MGW shifter to work in this application per my request. Bad news is that they can't modify mine as some of the pins were permanently installed. Good news is it sounds like they are working with MGW to make a shifter specifically for the Miata swap. Woohoo! Super stoked to get my hands on that as soon as it is available.
The Jacfab modified intake came back with their spacer and Overkill 80mm throttle body. Looks great and the Overkill throttle body (80mm) is a beast compared to the factory one (72mm). I plan on running a full 3.5" intake and I'm waiting for confirmation from Will at Overkill that he can tune for that before I order the 3.5" titanium intake tube from Ticon.
Will be ordering the V8R custom harness and Maxxis 245/40/15 RC-1 tires next week.
Made a circuit to emulate ECM/BCM control of the alternator to boost the voltage up from 13.6 - but it didn't work in our car. Wondering if I accidentally broke ours while I was experimenting. If I could find a circuit board (or even a good photo) I might be able to get some understanding as to why.
NB engine and trans are out and will be shipped off to their new owner next week. Got a nice reminder of how much I absolutely despise removing or installing the miata PPF. Waiting on the subframe from V8R and ordering their harness this week.
Also added in a pic of my new favorite tool, the Kobalt 1/2" Corded Impact Wrench. 350ft/lbs of torque at your disposal and for $120 worth every penny!
List of completed items:
- camaro gas pedal mounted
- fabbed an aluminum bracket for the AIM MXP Strada dash
- got the subframe and trans mount from V8R
- diff beefed up with the Kmiata diff brace
- Spal fan brackets made and fan is mounted
- Modified the battery box to fit and got the new Odyssey PC925 in
- All PTFE fuel lines in tank now with a DW300 fuel pump and Holley Hydramat (15"x8" cross)
Kmiata PPF delete going in next and hoping the V8R oil pan gets here soon. Ordering Xida XL's with coaxial uppers tomorrow to replace the FM Vmaxx's. Then it is a bunch of wiring and fitting everything into place. V8R played with my MGW short shifter for the V6 camaro I sent them and it looks like they will be working with MGW to produce a new shifter for this swap. Very excited to get my hands on that as soon as they have it.
04-26-2018, 02:21 PM
NB Exocet Seeking LFX Glory... Valhalla!
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