TARP Racing NB1 Build and Campaign
 

Here's another belated build thread. TL;DR, I started with an STR NB1, did some DE's, now I'm finishing a chassis swap with a spec Miata tub, targeting my first PTE race in October.

I'm a newb to this here forum: https://www.miataturbo.net/meet-gree...-pte-nb-96961/

So... Where do I begin? Her name is 'Christina Aguilera', as in that Young Jeezy song about white girls. She started off as your classic 949 STR car. 15x9 6UL's with 225 RS3's, Tien MonoFlex, RB Front ARB, RB Headers, a horribly designed CAI.

That was a lot of fun, and we campaigned her for about 2 years, dominating two regions. At this time, she was still a daily driver.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b21a93a292.jpg


Once I saved up for a truck, I started doing the track only stuff. Here's the custom knock off exhaust I had installed...

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...359fc2445a.jpg


Then I took her to some track days at Cresson and TWS. I also rebuilt the motor in there somewhere, and used these days to shake it down. I battled some head gasket issues, but I'm just a terrible mechanic, all is well.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f4f0c0cc1e.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bf1a2fd5c5.jpg

After TWS, and my first time on Hoosiers, I knew it was time for a cage. So, like a mad man, I bought Matt Reynolds' old spec miata tub off of Craigslist, and began my chassis swap. This would also include a full rebuild of the suspension, with new bushing (including the offsets).

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c2c3b11df1.jpg


Now things are finally starting to pick up steam. I've got all the body work done, all wiring is finished, safety gear is going in.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a99c6f337c.jpg

General todo list:
Finish up the seat (I'm 6'2", it's a tight fit)
Finish up fuel system
Add fluid
Test startup
A thousand little things
Shake down
Get it teched
order take off SM7's
Go race

Winter todo's:
Build for that new class (looks like that means new wheels)
Aftermarket ECU
DIY aero
Better CAI design
Provision extra motor

I'll keep this updated with my progress. I'm all ears, if you have any advice.

I heard you like cats, here's my cat.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eda314124d.jpg

Update...
 

Wheel Update...

With the move to lightweight ST5, my 15x9's aren't going to work. I tried a trade on facebook, for some 15x8's, but nobody came through. So, I found a rebate program at Discount Tire, and got a cheap set of Konig Hypergrams in 15x7.5, bronze. These will get some used SM7's. Plus, I really like my 15x9's. Maybe I can use them in crapcan enduros.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5548f21a62.jpg

So.... I finally tried to start the car, and failed. I get master power, the fuel pump comes on with the ignition switch, but when I press the start button I get no click, and the brake light comes on.

I haven't detected any shorts, the starter is getting power. I triple checked the clutch and brake sensors. I've checked the engine fuse, under the dash, and all fuses in the engine bay. I don't have my parking brake installed, but I can't imagine that it's required to start the car.

Got the seat and belts installed. I used short eye bolts for the belts, the OG racing seat brace, and Kirky side mount brackets. I had to cut out the cross member, and hit the transmission tunnel with a sledge hammer a few time, then mounted the brackets directly to the floor.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e3b0229394.jpg

Another productive weekend... but I still can't get the car to start

gutted the doors some more, that saved a ton of weight.
installed a small mirror on the a-pillar. this was the cheap amazon mirror that someone suggested.
got my radios to work. I had to seriously trim the shock protection from the car side so the kenwood connection would fit properly. big thanks to nerdie radios for the kit and support.
got my mylaps transponder registered. I had to bend the pins to get a solid connection to the race key.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...75070a142b.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b9ca5e5c34.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c8f1b58cb4.jpg

Yea, I agree, it should be pretty simple. I think it's the lead to the solenoid. It's very loose. Shop help has been sparse lately, and I need someone to push the button while I test.

I've confirmed power to the starter. I've confirmed that the battery is good, and starter is good by running a 12v from my fuse box to the solenoid, and it cranks. ECU seems to be fine, I can read obd2.

Is there anything in the braking system that would cause this problem? I've removed the emergency brake. The brake light appears on the dash when I try to start it (I'm not sure if that's normal behavior).

I'm assuming that running a 12v lead directly from the button to the solenoid isn't a viable solution.

Another weekend in the garage. I'm just wrapping up some of the small stuff. I've been reaching out to shops in Texas, trying to get tech'd before the drive out to NOLA. Car still doesn't start, but I'm confident that I can make it work, with some local help. It's probably time to start with the air dam and a nice air box.

Mirror installed - I just bought some short mounts, made some brackets out of aluminum angle iron, and stole a big mirror out of a clapped out MR2 Turbo build.
Numbers ordered - I found out that someone has 13 reserved, so I spent too much on some cool 136 panels with my team name.
Rookie plate installed and bumper back on. I figure I'll cut the bumper with it on the car.
Adjusted the submarine belts - such a PITA without removing the seat

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4408b4b01c.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8f0625b2f8.jpg

Is your brake fluid reservoir empty?

No, but thanks for the hint. We bled the brakes, and have very strong pressure. I check the sensor, and see if I have a spare to swap out.

I had a few guys over this weekend, and we got a ton of stuff done. It's amazing what a some pizza and beer can get done.

First off, the car starts! The general root cause was splicing together two wiring harnesses. The tub I moved to had some of the harness left over, and I just filled in where there were missing components. Well, I missed a bunch. We fixed the no crank issue by adding a jumper to the connector going into the clutch pedal sensor. Then we noticed that the fuel pump wasn't kicking on, and sure enough, it wasn't getting power. We found that all of the under dash relays had been harvested from the old tub, so we grabbed them off my old harness, and boom! Everything started up.

In the processed we removed the dash skin, making it a lot easier to access stuff, and saving a little weight.

We also got all the tabs welded in for the window net, so that's done.

Our last effort on Saturday was corner weighing the car. Our scales weren't super accurate, so I didn't spend too much time fine tuning. With driver, we're at 2240 lbs, and very light in the right rear.

Yesterday, I started buttoning up the carnage from troubleshooting the wiring harness, and built a little dashboard. I also got all of my wires running through grommets.

Progress!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...166dede5ce.jpg

You may contact Rob, who used to run Humming Aero. I had him laser cut a few dash panels for me that wrap up over the dash bar, worked out well. The one below was for a switch panel similar to yours, a kill switch, fire pull, and two gauges. I had another with 5-6 1/2" holes for switches and 5 gauge holes that I can't find a picture of.

Also, do you have a legal dash bar? AFAIK the stock one isn't.

Sadly this is my best photo:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...04d2558c04.jpg

Looks nice. Sadly, that's the only dash bar in the car. I guess the spec miata got away with it for over 10 years, but I may not be so lucky.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll add it to the to-do list.

Big progress over the holiday weekend. The interior is 100% done. I even added a dual purpose USB port/voltmeter.

I'm missing one last bolt for the PFF, then I should be ready for shakedown at a local autox.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9ac8d424c6.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dfd6941a49.jpg

A few updates...

• I've postponed my licensing attempt until early next year. I'll just have to ditch my Lemons team in 2019 to make this NASA thing work.
• I've got my bumpers cut, initial plywood splitter designed, and rivnuts in my bumper. More to come on that.
• After sitting for several months, it appears that I've got some valve issues. I started the car up, with the intent of shaking it down at an autocross, and it started making a terrible racket. Oil change didn't fix it. Initial inspection shows several valves out of spec. More to come as I address the clearance issue, and hope it's not a rod bearing too.

This weekend I performed all of the initial measuring for new shims. While I was in there, I found a little surprise. The guy that rebuilt my head used metal shavings to achieve the correct valve clearance. I removed all the junk, remeasured, and have proper shims on the way...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d4925519b6.jpg

:eek: :eek: :eek:

:bowrofl: well that's just smart thinking right there

Holy crap! :eek:

Well, it wasn't the shims. I got everything to spec, after waiting a week for the adjustment shims to arrive. When I started it all up, I had the same terrible rattle. Next, I'll replace the exhaust header gasket, and check to make sure the headers are seating well. If it's not that, I suppose it's time for a junk yard motor.

While I was waiting on shims, I worked on my air dam and splitter. I'm pretty happy with the results. It still need to mount some sweet supports I got from the circle track guys at Smiley's.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...42c870818e.jpg
laying out 14 new shims, I got to re-use 2.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9f8bfa5b91.jpg
After cutting the dam, the splitter is in paint.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8634210106.jpg
good from far, far from good. I cut some wood blocks to act as my splitter height guide.

Update: I'm an idiot. It was an exhaust leak. I must have been drunk when I installed the headers. The tab from the coolant hard line was stuck between the header and gasket. Engine sounds great.

I also went by Smiley's and got some sweet turnbuckles to secure my splitter. I used some pre-drilled angle iron and threaded inserts to mount it to the plywood. My goal is to be able to secure the splitter without having any additional mounts exposed to the airflow in front of the air dam. We'll see.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3fdf389f75.jpg

That's the most jank valve lash job I've ever seen.

I'm glad to hear this. I halfway figured people to tell me that it was a common solution. Oh well, live and learn. He won't be getting any more of my $.

Wait. The valve lash thing wasn't a joke?

A few updates:

• Installed a cool suit system
  • I used what seems to be the same cooler as the pros. It's a 13 quart fishing cooler, available at Academy. I also got my random 500 bilge pump there.
  • The Academy boat section has some great stuff for trailer and cool suit fixes, if you're in a crunch
  • I was able to source all of the hoses at home depot. I also insulated the hoses.
  • The cooler is hard mounted to the car, using angle brackets. First, I used 3M hull adhesive to seal up everything. That almost worked, so I went back over everything with clear jb weld.
• Created a duct to route air into the radiator
  • My initial design involved hanging a box off of the bumper, but the mounts started to get real heavy, and I wasn't happy with the decreased ground clearance with the splitter off.
  • Design two was a cardboard aided design exercise that resulted in a three piece duct built out of ABS plastic. This is mounted to the splitter, with the idea of adding additional ducting between the radiator and bumper to seal everything up.
• Restored my old BMX
  • My old Cooks Brothers Racing BMX from high school was sitting around. I found some cool blue tires that match the current livery
• Killed our E36, again
  • at about 5 am in the houston race, one of our drivers missed a corner destroyed the oil pan :(

Now for giant pictures!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1b89b5f2b9.jpg
photo of my splitter braces. Turnbuckles from Smiley's to angle iron from Ace.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b003b8e884.jpg
DIY Cool Suit cooler.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5792fdfda1.jpg
Cool Suit hookups, I ordered these from some water system supply. Much cheaper than Amazon.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eece6ddadb.jpg
Duct CAD
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c1b395a7bb.jpg
DIY ABS Brake
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ccd2f7e575.jpg
DIY Rad Duct
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9fab0e34f8.jpg
Duct installed with little adapters glued on to seal it to the dam.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b2ca35dc8b.jpg
Pit Bike!
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b498abe627.jpg
Dead E36, and my feet.

We had a great weekend in Houston. My car went through tech with ease, and I got my provisional comp license. The car was slow against the ITR and S2000 in my class, but that's just something to work on. I'm at 116 HP pushing 2280 lbs. The wing is in the mail. The aero imbalance was pretty rough.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your ideas on this forum. It's been a huge help with build.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...47d850d44.jpeg
Passing test. The only chance I got to do any :(
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...04817a208.jpeg
race ramps FTW
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c7264849e.jpeg
116 HP - needs work

I've decided to change my approach to 2400 lbs with 225 wide Hoosier R7's. I figured I'm already at 2280, so why not be the lightest car on big tires, instead of the heaviest car on 205's. If I can make enough power, I might bump this up to 2450 lbs, to get the weight modifier down to -.3.

I'll need about 40 more hp to get to my target. My goal is to do this with simple bolt ons and a tune, so I can just drop in junkyard motors. We'll see how it goes. The Megasquirt is in the mail, and I've talked to Team MER, at Cresson for dyno tuning. This is a lot to get done before the March 9th event. Fingers crossed.

The big wang is installed, along with a Skunk2 intake manifold, and some ballast to make weight.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3c40aac4e9.jpg
Wang Gang!
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...217957f374.jpg
New weight, wider tires, more power!
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8933578a23.jpg
Skunk2 intake manifold. It sits very low, creating some fit issues with the intake piping and coolant reroute.

Just a quick update. I ran the car at 2400 lbs for the Cresson race, and I was able to get on pace with the only other ST4 car, by the end of the weekend.

I got my car tuned, but it still only made 120 HP. I've been chronicling my terrible mechanical skills on this post. My cam gear was off a tooth. https://www.miataturbo.net/megasquir...me-help-99580/

During the event at Cresson, I boiled my brakes on Saturday. Switching to high temp castrol brake fluid fixed it. I know my rotors and calipers aren't getting very hot, but it could have been heat from my headers, boiling the reservoir. I won the 50 minute enduro on Sunday, because no one else entered my class. Oh well, good enough for some Hawk bucks.

Since then, I've ceramic coated my headers, fixed the cam gear issue, and built a heat shield for my intake. The car gets tuned in two weeks, then my next race, at Hallett, in June. Wish me luck! (oh yea, and my wife bought me a clapped out civic si for my birthday)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eb8509ac9b.jpg
gold airbox, ceramic coated headers
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2e31f591a8.jpg
My new $600 civic si daily.

I'm hoping that is the before picture of your heat shielding efforts and not the after picture. Your left front brake line and your master cylinder are still completely unprotected. Don't die out there.

Well, that's the after photo. After ceramic coating the headers. I'll go ahead and add a shield for the brake lines. Thanks for the encouragement :)

Don't want to risk hurting it or you.

I split fuel lines lengthwise and slip them over brake lines and throttle cables as a shield. I usually put foil tape over that to reflect the heat.

You have a very nice build.

Thanks for the idea. Done.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c7afbe1ccd.jpg
Heat wrapped brake lines.

I saw your car pop up on Jesse's feed yesterday and then I just happened upon your build thread today. Glad he was able to squeeze out a bit more power for ya. :bigtu:

This is relevant to my interests...

Also for what it's worth, I also have a racing beat header that is ceramic coated inside and out, and have never run any sort of heat shielding for the master cylinder, reservoir, or that brake line. Probably has somewhere between 150 to 250 hours run time on track over the course of 4 years and never had a single issue. Using ATE Super Blue or Typ 200 (same stuff), and only bled every other pad change. Stock NA8 brakes.

But of course, the heat shielding is good practice anyways. Just thought I'd provide some insight.

Hey guys. Yes, the car is running like a top now. Jesse did a great job of getting it tuned, and I get to put my "where's the beef" thread to bed. 163 at the wheels with a stock motor (aside from the MSM intake cam). Goal!

https://www.miataturbo.net/megasquir...me-help-99580/

As for the heat shielding. I agree that it's probably not necessary after the ceramic coating, but it was an easy fix, and I'd better be safe than sorry.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a6f27b3d5c.jpg

Wow that's really strong for a stock motor. That's on a dynojet right?

Wonder if the S2 intake manifold is contributing to having peak HP at redline. Looks like a rotrex dyno.

Looks like a Land & Sea “DYNOmite” brand dyno.

I was under the impression Dynomites read a little low...

So yea, extremely healthy numbers?

That is um..... enormous power. Unbelievable power, even. :rofl:

But numbers don't matter. Feels way better i'm guessing? :)

"Race" Report - NASA Summer Shootout at Hallett

It was a disappointing weekend, but I'm trying to keep my chin up and learn from my failures. In the end, I packed it up after the first race. I couldn't get three laps out of the car without the engine cutting out. I swapped out my CAS and tightened down my crank position sensor, but my tach signal just kept bouncing all over the place. We think it's a short. I was too tired and hot to trouble shoot it at the track.

Lessons learned:
- Don't go racing if you don't have the time. I missed Friday practice at a new to me track.
- Come to the track with a car that's 100% ready. I had to change brake pads and troubleshoot wiring at a very hot track.
- Sleep is valuable. - I was hella tired from a conference. I tried to camp at the track on Friday night, but someone decided to have a mini bike race in the middle of the night.
- Only mount race tires when you're ready to race. - I got a screw in one of my Hoosiers while it was at the shop.
- Prepare to win. - My wiring is a rats nest. This isn't how we win.

I plan on rewiring the car, and possibly skipping Texas Motor Speedway for some private test days. I want the car to be solid for the MSRH enduro.

Here's a pic of my bouncy tach signal. Arg.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...597e51797f.jpg
tach signal issues

I had some (similar maybe?) tach issues and it ended being a megasquirt firmware issue.

At least, I re-loaded and updated to the newest firmware on my MS and I haven’t had any problems since...


Just a thing to check...

I think I found the root cause of the tach issue. The cable to the crank position sensor was frayed. I can't believe I didn't inspect this earlier. This occurred on the original, and replacement. The wire got tangled up with the accessory belt. So, as opposed to buying the fancy ballenger motorsports sensor, I just purchased two standard replacements, wrapped them in power braid, and re-routed the cable with some extra zip ties. While I was at it, I zip tied the cam angle sensor connector.

I figure this should do the trick. Fingers crossed.

I'm also doing this rear brake caliper fix I saw in NASA's magazine. https://nasaspeed.news/tech/brakes/m...brake-removal/

In other news.. the Houston NASA enduro got canceled. I'm headed up to Miatas @ Hallett next weekend. I've got a score to settle with that track. I did some autocross last weekend, and the car ran fine. Lots of over steer with a big rear bar and tiny toyos.

It looks like my year with NASA is done. I'm going to keep running some cheap events at Hallett, and autocross. Next year, I'm plan on doing a few NASA races, and #gridlife touring cup, in Colorado.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4019eb600e.jpg
zip tied cam angle sensor
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...289a7a5432.jpg
top two are hardened replacements, bottom sensor has a frayed wire.

Event Report: I took the car up to the Miatas @ Hallett event. She worked like a charm. I probably got two hours of seat time each direction. I volunteered to be an instructor, so the chief instructor showed me the correct line. I also met some Miata guys from Dallas that has some good tips. By the end of the weekend, I was able to get the car down to a 1:31. That's pretty much on pace with everyone else in my run group, and 10 seconds faster than my last visit to the track.

big update
 

Big Update: Over the winter I've been getting the car prepared for #GRIDLIFE Touring Cup at COTA. This will be a support race for the Super Lap Battle event on 2/15-16. Everyone else seems to be running K24's and a lot of weight. I'm going for the lightest build with 225 R7's. I've registered as 2258 lbs with 172 max hp.

From a race weekend management standpoint, we've decided to ditch the idea of camping out of the back of my truck. We've got an RV rented for COTA. If we like it, we might trade my truck for a Class C.

Build stuff:

• Zerek Fabrication bash bar to help free up air flow
• 9 Lives Racing splitter mounts and ducting - this resulted in moving my brake ducts further out
• DIY 7 ply 3" spitter - replaced a 4" 5 ply splitter
• Hatsune Miku stickers to match our E36
• Xida Race with 1300/600 springs - replacing 10 year old TEINs
• E85 conversion parts - 450cc injectors, DW300 pump, gates barricade lines - this hasn't been installed yet, more to come

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6b27cd750.jpeg
Xida's replacing my old TEIN's
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fc238daa5.jpeg
New splitter mounts and ducting from 9LR. There's a Zerek bash bar under there too.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f4784a0e2.jpeg
Miku livery
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...06ebfcb3bb.jpg
450cc injectors and DW300 for E85 conversion

Nice.

I'm flying in from AZ on Friday so I'll be there to spectate.

Race Report: We attended the #GRIDLIFE GLTC COTA Special Stage event last weekend. This was my first GLTC event, and I am absolutely hooked. The track was awesome. The fans were great. The staff was great. My car was slow.

Here's some awesome coverage of the event:
I registered as 172 hp and 2258 lbs. The car weighed in at 2291 with driver and a full tank, so that was pretty spot on. Unfortunately, the lil BP4W didn't have the torque to hang with all the Honda motors.

Race 1: DNF - the nut fell off of the alternator charging post, and melted the alternator. Voltage wouldn't regulate. We had to go get a replacement. My idle control valve also fell off of my Skunk2 throttle body, so we made a replacement gasket out of an old box.

Race 2: 10th after a great battle with an RSX rally car

Race 3: 9th with the same battle. I just get walked on the start and catch up.

Race 4: 9th after passing the RSX and an S2000. Come to find out, that S2000 had a failing gear box.

After getting smoked by so many K motors, and realizing that torque is a lot more important that being super light, we decided to move forward with a K24Z3 swap. I've ordered the kit and I'm in the process of sourcing the motor. I'll be selling my BP4W build and all the fancy bits.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...945f1e0a9.jpeg
I'm gonna beat that van, some day!
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e8b0cd9b43.jpg
Setting up a pass into 11.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...947f7a596.jpeg
Sharing a proper F1 garage with James.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a62db1d1cf.png
Proper coverage.

Looks like a lot of fun. Sucks about the electrical issues (reminds me I need to just ditch the IACV for race car). Got some screen time as well.

You could do a low boost turbo for less than the K24Z3. That's my plan after looking at a lot of TSE's early development information. (Though I'm not up on NASA rules and where that drops you.) I've got a Kraken manifold and DP with a EFR6258 I'll hopefully have at Gridlife Midwest to start bench mark testing.

Yea, I considered turbo, but went with what I consider to be a more reliable solution. I like the idea of having access to lots of cheap engines and avoiding the cooling issues of a turbo. There are a few turbo miatas in GLTC. They may have the leg up when we go to Colorado.

It was great to meed you guys. Car looked fun out there.

Was watching the event live. Car looked great out there

Was watching the races last weekend. Great racing! K24 is the right choice, don't listen to Cody and his crazy rear mount turbos.

You coming to NCM?

Thanks for watching the stream. That was really cool.

I'm not going to make it to NCM. My goal for 2020 is to get some cheap, local, seat time. I had a blast at COTA, and I'm planning on making it out to PPIR for the festival.

If all goes well, I'll make the long haul to the midwest stuff next year.

Update on the KMiata Swap:

1. Everything has been ordered, but I just found out that the kit is delayed until April. That's completely understandable considering the current global health crisis.
2. There's a lot of other stuff that's needed to make the swap work. I got the KMiata K20 oil pump kit, 3" exhaust, KPro ECU, Clutch, K20 harness, K24 Harness, sensors, trigger wheels, and a K24Z3 from a 2010 TSX with 80k miles. car-parts.com was a great resource for finding the motor.
3. Since everything's out of the car, I took the subframe to Vintage Connection for reinforcements.
4. I'm also rigging the car up for E85. I installed by big DW fuel pump and started collecting all the -6 AN plumbing bits, sensor, and new FPR.
5. The crank bolt was a real pain to remove. In the end, the brushless KOBALT impact and weighted impact socket did the trick.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...633fb4ba3.jpeg
24v brushless impact and weighted impact wrench for crank bolt removal. Nothing else worked.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9f8c9dddd.jpeg
Mocking up fuel system plumbing.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cd478d940.jpeg
Tearing down my K24Z3. I took lots of pictures of the timing chain. I don't want to get that wrong, again :P