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I've been following the build thread, the car's looking good man! I've probably said it multiple times but you basically have a completely different Miata now haha.
On all of the G-loc's I've run, the rotors were either new or had already been run with a G-loc compound so I can't say how sensitive they are to having a fresh transfer layer or not. G-loc wasn't lying, however, when they said their dust isn't corrosive. I just cleaned my wheels with a proper degreaser for the first time in 6+ months and the anodizing below still looks basically new. Really good if you're lazy about deep cleaning your car like I am haha.
Thx I took it for a spin and it needs more powa now. Turbo will go on ASAP, I'm just a little tired of wrenching though. The wife has been complaining as I'm off in the garage a whole lot lately.. lol
I'm leaning towards PFC pads at this point. A local shop has them in stock so I'll probably swing by and pickup a set. I've run them on my Honda and no complains. I know PFC's aren't picky about swapping pads and I've heard some different stories regarding Carbotechs being finicky so seems the choice is obvious for me. I already have some new street pads I'd rather not have to replace with G-locs.
On the coattails of my last post, I found the video of me locking up my front brakes in T1 during my first hot lap last April at WSIR. Not the brake pads' fault, but I figured you all might enjoy laughing at me lol.
Ha many people are used to being bailed out by ABS. It definitely takes a little more thought/effort w/o ABS than just mashing the brakes w/ ABS. Heck, many/most modern cars have so many nannies like stability control/etc. That's something I like about the Miata, it's pretty much "analog" and makes you work for everything.
Hahaha, it's always something! Hopefully you find satisfaction in your current modifications for a little while at least. I'd be tired of wrenching with everything you just modified/installed as well. Lemme know how the PFC pads work for you. Maybe I'll give em a go once my R10's are smoked.
Yeah, I agree on the nannies as well. I have zero excuse though because my car's the only one I've ever driven on track Just total hack behavior on my part. I'm with you on liking the "analog" feel. I feel like I've had a big advantage learning track driving without ABS or traction control. Would be interested to hop in a modern car on track one day and see what it's like.
Honestly it wasn't that much work finding the info. I have so little faith in social media keeping info accessible that if I come across something I find really interesting, I save it on my PC in a document.
I'm really glad I've learned so much from tracking a car without ABS for the past 7 years, but after bearing witness to the carnage of my last cold and wet track day I'm ready to have the "hand of god" experience that the people that have added Mk60 ABS speak of. It's going to be my next major project. Wingman was able to get the parts needed for $200 to install the E5 version - if it saves one tire from flat spotting, that's break even. If it saves my chassis from meeting the wall in the wet, it's saved me thousands of dollars and a broken heart.
... Wingman was able to get the parts needed for $200 to install the E5 version - if it saves one tire from flat spotting, that's break even. If it saves my chassis from meeting the wall in the wet, it's saved me thousands of dollars and a broken heart.
Quoted for truth.
On a good day you can turn it off, but that won't save the flatspotted tyre. But when conditions go south it comes into its own.
Can’t push aside the fact that you’ll probably see faster lap times too. I think he said on his first track day he was consistently seeing .2 or .3G’s higher in the hard braking zones over pre-ABS.
That being said, I think it’s a good thing to get used to threshold braking before adding ABS. it cost me a tire or two but I’ll still stand by it.
Brofab Yaris rear hubs are in. This car now has parts from BMW, Chevy, and Toyota on it. Honestly I was expecting my rear wheel bearings to be much more torched than they were. Not bummed though, I have been wanting to get these in for peace of mind for a while now. Plus having the ARP extended studs on all four corners looks dope.
Beef.
Also went in to work this morning and did some more work on the car. Threw in my street pads on all four corners. Swapped in a pair of smoked tires on the rear to keep my meaty ones good for the track. Changed the oil and filter, removed the seats and carpet and pulled out the frame rail reinforcements to get ready for the trans swap. Put the driver seat back in because I decided I want to drive it tomorrow.
Removed the trans cooler pump and lines as well. Anyone need a Tilton trans cooler pump?
Drove the car home from work. 5sp/3.6 gearing is loooooooong. Comfy on the street, though. Gonna meet some buddies to hit the canyons in San Diego tomorrow. We’ll see how it works for aggressive driving.
ZF6 transmission shipped from a parts house in Germany last week and shows it’s in my county now. Should be here on Monday. Gonna give Kmiata a call Monday and see if I can get an update on my order. Hopefully I get good news. The countdown to Chuckwalla on 4/12 continues to tick…
Who you went with the tranny from GER?
Maybe could have something arranged for you, just ask next time.
I would rock a 5 speed / 3.6 combo on the streets, if the boxes weren't made of glass! Update your 80-120 times in the other thread, would be interesting. 3-5th
Make sure you torque those hubs to 250 ft-lb as per Bronsons latest recommendations, and check them every now and then. I torqued my first set to the low end of the factory spec, which is why I needed a second set.
Who you went with the tranny from GER?
Maybe could have something arranged for you, just ask next time.
I would rock a 5 speed / 3.6 combo on the streets, if the boxes weren't made of glass! Update your 80-120 times in the other thread, would be interesting. 3-5th
I got the box from a company called Schmiedmann Nordborg. It was less than anything I could find on eBay or elsewhere by a few hundred dollars. Didn’t know you could help me out. I’ll shoot you a message if I somehow break this box and need another!
Going to have a decent bit of time on the freeway today and will do some 80-120kph pulls for science. I currently have the car running on wastegate pressure, though (~223whp), so results may not be that exciting haha.
Originally Posted by OptionXIII
Make sure you torque those hubs to 250 ft-lb as per Bronsons latest recommendations, and check them every now and then. I torqued my first set to the low end of the factory spec, which is why I needed a second set.
Thanks for the heads up. I forgot I read about that previously and torqued them to 217 ft-lb. I’ll retorque em tomorrow and then again when I receive the new nuts. Wouldn’t want my new, more reliable hubs to become less reliable lol.
Mountain rip day! The car is back, albeit a little different than I’m used to. Ran it in low boost today with a ~40% ethanol mix. Probably in the 230whp range. No frame rail braces and bald/heat cycled rear tires made the thing loooose! Still had a great time driving it though. Met up with a bunch of track buddies from San Diego and did a big ol’ loop through their inland mountains. The 5sp/3.6 is loooong for canyon ripping, but I was sitting at 3k rpm going 70 on the freeway the whole drive down. That was nice.
As an added bonus to top the day off, I drove by a gas station 5 minutes from my house and found that they have E85 now. It’s like they knew I needed it!
My buddy Chase’s ITB NA6 and my car.
DV, I failed you. The traffic on the way down was enough to prevent me from doing any solid 50-75 pulls. I got a couple in but they wound up being on inclines. I’ll do a couple pulls on the way home this week for the thread.
Mini upgrade for this week. My buddies have started cutting wheel spats for NA miatas. I grabbed a pair of them today. Stoked.
What's the E36 setup in the background? Looks like some meaty tires all around...
I forgot to answer your question from a few days ago:
"I’m not familiar with that designation, actually. Is that the same trans that’s out of the 04-06 330i/ci? I know the getrag 5 speeds can be sourced from a Z4 but haven’t heard anything about the 6 speeds."
Same boxes. GS6-37BZ - THEG for E46, THEA for the Z4's, but I haven't found the difference yet Same input shaft, same guibo, I don't know, they're interchangable. Even M54 530i E60/61 will be.
I think the ZF GS6 shifts even a tad better than the ZF310/320, you'll gonna love it.
What clutch kit are you going with the swap? OEM clutches will hold 300tq or a bit more, but if you upgrade your turbo, you will be on the very edge of tq capacity of the OEM stuff.
We BMW guys like to use Sachs Perfomance pressure plates (883082001243) with OEM clutch discs for smooth clutch action, but they will hold 400wtq. For what it is very affordable, very drivable and OEM reliability.
edit: IMPORTANT: The Kmiata kit uses a solid flywheel. BMW OEM clutch setups are RIGID discs with a DMFW, thats why we have very smooth operation with the OEM disc and upgraded PP.
I have never driven a BMW with a solid flywheel, but OEM rigid clutch disc, but I suspect some chatter. I don't think it will be horrible, because it's still a full face organic disc. Ideally you want a sprung disc for stock like drivability, when using a SMFW, so be prepaired.
Maybe not so important for a track car, but your car seems kind of dual duty.
edit edit:
There is the Valeo 4KKIT SMFW conversion for all kinds of cars, maybe you know them. That's the one for the E46, see, sprung disc.
and for comparison a stock kit, solid disc
Last edited by der_vierte; 03-18-2024 at 06:07 AM.
I forgot to answer your question from a few days ago:
"I’m not familiar with that designation, actually. Is that the same trans that’s out of the 04-06 330i/ci? I know the getrag 5 speeds can be sourced from a Z4 but haven’t heard anything about the 6 speeds."
Same boxes. GS6-37BZ - THEG for E46, THEA for the Z4's, but I haven't found the difference yet Same input shaft, same guibo, I don't know, they're interchangable. Even M54 530i E60/61 will be.
I think the ZF GS6 shifts even a tad better than the ZF310/320, you'll gonna love it.
Ah, I forgot to message you back after I asked that question! After I ordered the trans, I saw the designation GS6-37BZ in the description. My simple mind just thought "ZF 6 speed. That's all there is to it" LOL. Is the designation THEG / THEA visible anywhere on the transmission itself? The page I purchased it from doesn't have the designation listed in the description. https://www.schmiedmann.com/DisplayP...spx?id=2009978
While I've got the BMW master here... a quick question. I've seen lots of people talking about needing to replace the shifter detents in the ZF 5 speeds. I haven't found any similar info on the 6 speeds though. Are there any common issues I should be attending to before I put the trans in the car, aside from replacing seals and gaskets? I'm going to replace the clutch fork pin with a stainless steel one but haven't found any other issues that need addressing via the Bimmer forums.
The E36 in the background was a clean but mostly stock 328i. I think he was on the larger end of the spectrum as far as tire size. Maybe 255s or bigger? Unfortunately, the driver was one of the only guys I didn't know there and I ended up talking to my other 5 buddies much more haha.
Edit: Ah, right, clutch! I ordered the kit with the ACT 6 puck sprung clutch that Kmiata offers. I'm currently running a SM sprung 4 puck sport clutch which is quite chattery and noisy. I gotta imagine the 6 puck sprung is less aggressive than the clutch that's currently in my car.
Thanks, Nate! ALLOFIT pulls will come as soon as I confirm I've got everything for the swap.
The spats are actually for the front end. I've got a little bit of a gap where my front air dam doesn't completely shield the front tires from incoming air. These should cover them up completely. I'll put up pics if I get a chance to install them this week.
Ah, I forgot to message you back after I asked that question! After I ordered the trans, I saw the designation GS6-37BZ in the description. My simple mind just thought "ZF 6 speed. That's all there is to it" LOL. Is the designation THEG / THEA visible anywhere on the transmission itself? The page I purchased it from doesn't have the designation listed in the description. https://www.schmiedmann.com/DisplayP...spx?id=2009978
While I've got the BMW master here... a quick question. I've seen lots of people talking about needing to replace the shifter detents in the ZF 5 speeds. I haven't found any similar info on the 6 speeds though. Are there any common issues I should be attending to before I put the trans in the car, aside from replacing seals and gaskets? I'm going to replace the clutch fork pin with a stainless steel one but haven't found any other issues that need addressing via the Bimmer forums.
...
Edit: Ah, right, clutch! I ordered the kit with the ACT 6 puck sprung clutch that Kmiata offers. I'm currently running a SM sprung 4 puck sport clutch which is quite chattery and noisy. I gotta imagine the 6 puck sprung is less aggressive than the clutch that's currently in my car.
None of our GS6 boxes have problems with the detents. AFAIK nothing to be exactly sure on the boxes. Z4 and E46 have the same stamping on the casing. 016 and 018 last three digits IIRC.
We/my buddies have several cars equipped with these boxes and I have helped pulling one from every car We've only had one failed input shaft seal. Very few have problems with the input shaft bearing, but these are hard to source and very expensive.
Seals and pin is usually all you need to replace.
That's nice they have a sprung disc for these conversions. Clever people at Kmiata. You'll be fine
Killer! That’s good to hear. I’d like to have fewer things to wrench on in the next few months. Glad you’ve got so many good things to say about the trans. I’ll pop in the new pin and seals and call it a day. Kmiata says my kit is still slated to ship next week so that gives me two weekends to get it in before Chuckwalla.
Gonna take my mind off that for a sec. Tire spats are on! Sometimes the little mods can be really satisfying as well. Love how the front end looks with the tires no longer exposed.
Killer! That’s good to hear. I’d like to have fewer things to wrench on in the next few months. Glad you’ve got so many good things to say about the trans.
I don't know how much this information is worth it to you, but even my wife says, that her GS6 is the best feeling box out of all the ******* cars we had over the last 10 years - and those were a lot
Funny story somewhat related:
Bought a Mini R56 S a few weeks back with a blown engine, rebuilt it, came home, she didn't like it all that much at first and I said "Just drive it to work tomorrow and tell me again".
Next day, 9am, comes a message: "The Mini can stay, what a nice gearbox it has, just as nice as the Z".
I just thought "Yeah, GS6-53BZ "
03-13-2024, 01:27 PM
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Just total hack behavior on my part. I'm with you on liking the "analog" feel. I feel like I've had a big advantage learning track driving without ABS or traction control. Would be interested to hop in a modern car on track one day and see what it's like.
Same input shaft, same guibo, I don't know, they're interchangable. Even M54 530i E60/61 will be.
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