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I took it for a 30 minute hard drive yesterday, a couple WOT 1-2-3-4, twisties staying in boost, basically the hardest I could flog it legally where I am. Car ran perfect, temps looked good, no abnormal leaks noticed, and more importantly, no misfire code. I appreciate the help finding the issue, and fingers crossed I didnt blow up the motor.
I did tear the car down to get oil out. I figured with a track day a week or so away I should give everything a once over, get brake pads in, mount splitter, etc. You can see in the first pic how I kept the catch can on the hot side of the VC and added a breather filter. I want to see if there is any build up on the track or not, if not, I will simply filter the VC.
Draining oil.....
I have never had anything other than basic calipers on a car before, I wanted to try swapping pads at home, if its easy, ill do it at the track going forward. Holy wow, fronts were simple. Literally 1 minute once the wheels were off. However on the back the FlyinMiata LBBK has the parking brake. Perhaps it was the vodka, perhaps im a bad mechanic, but I could not see for the life of me how that cable gets removed so I can pull the pads. Granted I was a few drinks in and it was past 10pm, but besides removing the cable entirely from the parking lever etc, I don't see where I can loosen that. Goal for today, research these cables. I may remove it all together as the brake is really useless. FYI, I plan to run BP-40s front and BP-20s rear.
It would appear that would work, I think maybe it was just crusty and I was tired last night, but there was no movement in the cable. Ill yank on it some tonight and try to clean up that rusty crud.
Edit: I didn't realize all my pictures are small and crappy. Sorry about that. I will try to upload larger ones going forward.
Last edited by Swanpuppy; 04-24-2019 at 09:02 AM.
Reason: update
Update. Car had final shake downs, lots of hard runs. Everything was working beautifully. Track Night in America had an event at Blackhawk farms last night. It was wet, rainy. Cold tires track brakes and more HP makes for a slidey time. I don't have a lot of experience running a rain line so it ws a good time to learn for sure. I shaved 26 seconds off my first session in the wet to the final which was starting to dry out. Simply getting used to the car, etc. Here she was ready to go.
The last session I was starting to push the car harder, get back into a rhythm. It was quite nice to be able to hang with bmws, pull on the FRS's and BRZ's and overall stay with the pack. Last lap of the last session going up to the main straight I noticed a bit of smoke in the rear mirror so I slowed as it was the final corner then pit lane. Pulling into pits the smoke filled the cabin, pouring out of the hood, I basically jumped from a moving car. Thank goodness for camlock harness, I was out on the roll. Crew hit the underside with an extinguished and I went to pop the hood....... fire *****, engine compartment was on fire. They hit it over and over with an extinguisher and pulled me to pits. Thats when the fun happened.
The fire was inside the car. It was in the dash. Flames were behind the radio, cig lighter, transmission tunnel was on fire, shifter was lighting up from underneath, we poured gallons and gallons of water through the vents, dash, engine bay, trying to douse it. When it was all said and done I got a tow home.
The car is dead... there is no way it will run again. It is a sad end to 4+ years of tracking and love. I tried to diagnose the cause, nothing so far. There appears to be oil all over that probably ignited on the mani/DP, however the oil feed/drain are new and perfect still. There is no charring around their connections. The engine was running up to the pits so I don't think I vented the block, water and brake lines seem intact. the steering column boot is gone and roasted, but that doesnt explain the oil. Once I get some time I will remove the hot side (ha... hot cause it was on fire) parts and see if I can figure out whats going on. The good news is im alive. I got home. and the majority of all parts, if not all parts (minus electronics/engine probably), are still good to go and can be pulled for the future.
I will updated after I finish my bottle of whiskey.
No, there no oil in the can, filter, and the line actually survived the fire and is intact. I actually think the turbo itself let go, from what I can see at this point the only areas that had oil were the turbo and behind the turbo, and the lines are intact with no charring at the connection points. Granted it could have shot oil all over, but I need to get the shields off and start removing things to determine.
Gotta be an electrical issue to be burning under the dash and the console. May have resulted from the other issue. Needed to disconnect battery to stop it. What part of the world are you in?
I am in Madison Wisconsin. Other racers said the flames were about 4' long under the car, so I think it started in the engine bay and lit up the DP/trans tunnel due to the oil coating everything (my assumption). We had the fire out for 10 minutes or so, then it started to smoke in the console and dash. I think there was still fire burning under the car we could not see and it worked though and in. Some thing let go as there was oil all over the hot side, but I have yet to find the cause and haven't started to tear into it yet.
I am sure I will have answers once I get some time to dive into it further, at this point it doesn't seem like I f***ed up, but we will see. Has anyone experienced a turbo failing to the point where it sprays oil? Its the only thing I can think of right now as my lines seemed perfect....
I’ve seen an oil line split from being too close to hot parts. That car did the same as yours, fire on track, returned to pits and interior caught fire. Down side to tracking a street car. Car in question was an evo x.
Once I start to get into it more I will better understand the failure, as well as what parts of value survived. My plan at this point is to diagnose while I strip it and scrap the car. that brings up the question, what's next. I went with a low boost turbo set up because I wanted that little bump in power for the track. I loved the 170-180hp this gave me right up until I was engulfed in flames, tears, and misery.
1. Easy button is just to sell the turbo parts (the not crispy ones) to recoup a little money, buy a stupid cheap NB, strip it, install go fast bits, and have a light weight stripped naturally aspirated car for reliable tracking. This is easy as I have wheels, brakes cooling, aero, ball joints, sway, etc to just drop on. Downside is the car won't be nearly as clean as mine as Ill need to find the cheapest thing possible, and ill be back to the same power levels as before.
2. Buy the cheapest NB available and install the turbo kit again and hope I don't explode. However I would need to sell some stuff off to afford the new car.
3. Sell everything. I have a lot of parts in the car that I can sell off. Take all the funds and re invest in a new platform.
- My friend is trying to get me to go for a e36 M3, however their maintenance scares the crap out of me. As does buying a 5k M3. But the M3 has a proven record of being extremely capable.
- Other thought would be an NC, they are coming down in price, have high speed potential, and could be a quick car. Recently in my area there was a $1500 NC that blew an engine, send it out for a 2.5 swap and I could have a great car on the cheap. Also there is a 06' with 190k miles local for about $3700 right now too. Downside is I'm starting over as none of my parts fit, and I would have to find the cheapest thing possible to have any chance of getting it track prepped this year yet and affording it.
As I tear into it this week I will try to post more carnage pictures.
I started to tear into the car yesterday. The plan right now is to pull parts and scrap the shell. The fire roasted a lot of stuff in the engine bay, the fender liner is roasted, the fire under the car melted all the wiring along the trans tunnel to the rear, O2, sensor is melted, speed sensor for trans, etc. Couple that with the water in my wiring harness, I can't imagine the headache of trying to rebuild this and chase wiring issues forever.
The good news is almost everything of value survived. The ECU and gauges didn't get wet, shifter is still fine, heck even the turbo looks ok minus being messy and im not sure what failed yet. The only part so far that is lost is the brake line for one caliper was right in the blaze and will need to be replaced.
I don't know how to proceed. I am still debating on just bolting stuff back up onto a cheap chassis, but I want a bit more HP. I honestly don't know if I can go FI a second time after literally being on fire.
How is the NC Miata? Reading says early gens had some less robust transmissions, the 2.5 swap seems prevalent due to engines breaking, and it doesnt seem like the racing community has embraced them quite yet. I feel like the speed potential of the chassis is going to give me that bump I want in terms of lap times and power, but blowing up motors isn't fun.
I would consider pulling the dash and making what you have a race car with only necessary wiring reconnected. You won't need dash lights and radio and airbags and blower motor and stuff. Also buy in NC to drive on the street. It doesn't feel like it right now but the fire did you some good and helping to make it easy to know what to remove. The only wiring you need going down the transmission tunnel is fuel pump power and brake lights. Easy peasy. And maybe the fuel pump power comes from the harness behind the seat. I can't remember right now.
What is the most basic wiring needed to run one of these cars. Ill look and see if there is a write up somewhere. In my head it seems super complicated, but perhaps I can yank everything out and make this a stripped out car. Lets say the fire just ruined the wiring behind the dash, is there a generic idea of cost or complexity to replace it? I also just removed the voodoo box and gauges last night.... so if I keep this im gonna slap myself.....
04-22-2019, 08:09 AM
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