TT3/ST3 NASA Rotrex Build - Lucy
 

Introduction/Version 0(stock):
Hello everyone, I've been meaning to put a build thread together since starting my build 18 months ago. Well this morning’s coffee is extra strong, so here goes. I was in the high HP evo fam, and bought a miata to daily. Turns out a 100whp Miata is a lot more fun to drive(and less expensive) than a 600whp Evo.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459466114


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459466114


The evo was sold and the rest is history, this thread serves to document said story. As all of the work has been done by me(except trans/clutch/diff) I aim to help forum members and internet trolls alike. If anyone has any questions please feel free to comment or PM. Here goes.. The pictures below was taken the day of purchase.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459466114


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459466114

Version 1
 

So the build began as a mild street setup. I went into "Version 1" on small budget. The following parts worked well together, and I would recommend this setup to anyone looking for a canyon-carver or very light track use. I went to laguna like this and had a blast understeering around every corner as the tires went to shit. All work performed by yours truly.

Version 1:

Tein Street Bassis
RB Tubular Front Sway Bar
Hard Dog M1 Sport
Advanti Storm S1 15x8
Yoko S-Drives 205/45(ish)
Water Temp Gauge
Hawk HP Plus Brake Pads
Napa Blank Rotors


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459466764



https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459466764

Version 2
 

After some fun on the track I decided to step things up a bit. I went with a Rotrex supercharger as the turbo thing had been pretty played out with my Evo’s. I wanted something new.

Enter Rotrex:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459468380


Version 2:

Kraftwerks SC Kit
Xida Coilovers
949 End Links
OEM Hardtop
Roadster Sport 3 Catback exhaust
Megasquirt PnP 2
Bride VIOS 3 Racing Seat
Garage Star Seat Bracket
JE Built Transmission
OEM Torsen LSD
Poly Diff Bushings
ACT HD Clutch w/ light flywheel
Innovate WB O2
Grams 330cc Injectors
HF Fuel Pump
ARP gtc-200 w/risers
TDR Radical Splitter (garbage)
Hood Vents
Autokonexion V2 Fender Flares
Advanti Storm S1 15x9
Hankook RS3 (225/45)
Hard dog Hardcore Double Diagonal
Mishimoto Radiator
Mishimoto Dual Fans w/Shroud
Coolant Reroute
GV Front Lip
MSM Rear Sway Bar



https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459468380




https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459468380

More on the Rotrex..
 

All in all I am very satisfied with the Kraftwerks kit. Everything is well put-together and the kit is 100% plug and play. The only gripe I have is their limited supply/R&D in regards to belt length. I started with no AC, with PS and it took a few tries to get the right belt. Later on in "Version 3" I deleted the PS too, so again with the belt chase.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459469984



Kit comes in this giant heavy box. Inside the box are boxes inside boxes inside... you get the point.. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING! Laying everything out on the table is somewhat intimidating, so properly labeled parts are well accepted.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459469984



The grams 330 injectors are simply not big enough. I was running at 140% IDC at only 9psi redline. Now, that's also considering I have every bolt-on known to man so that plays a factor in inefficiency. I have logs showing this if anyone is interested. THESE INJECTORS ARE NOW FOR SALE PLEASE PM IF INTERESTED.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459469984



HF Fuel Pump went in without incident.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459469984



Once the SC Bracket is in place, it's just a matter of bolting everything up, running oil line and IC tubing. Having a friend there to help with the piping saved me a big headache.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459469984


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459469984



I'm going to conclude this post by saying the kit couldn't have been easier to setup and maintain. I have over ten track days with it, never once incident. This thing is driven to/from every event it's been in. Rock solid, unlike my old evo's... More to come with Version 3, I'll write it up tomorrow.

You got a cat. You might get more if you do lap time comparisons.

Did you get your kit new? This thread is definitely starting to make me need one.

Welcome aboard, looks good. I had one of the first gen Kraftwerks C30-74 kits on my '01 and drove it for 6 years. After some initial teething problems, it was rock solid over about 25 track days.

I used 550 EV14 injectors, your 330's are way too small yeah.

A big syringe and some silicone tubing makes changing the traction fluid and priming the fluid up to the rotrex pretty simple.

Welcome, I too came from a high horsepower AWD car, I had a 700+whp Mazdaspeed 6 and purchased the Miata as a daily and quickly realized that I was having significantly more fun driving the Miata than I was in the MS6. Then I decided to go the turbo route in the Miata, still a work in progress for me. Glad to see you enjoying the boosted Miata life!

Thanks for the advice! I will get some lap times up as soon as I catch the thread up to date.

Yes, purchased brand new from THMotorsports for $3400 shipped. I learned later on that this was the discounted introductory price, that I lucked out in some capacity.

Thanks for the input! Yeah mine has been very friendly as well :) I am now on some 610cc, seeing 70% IDC at redline (10psi).

Quick question - how oftern did you change the rotrex fluid? Manual says like 50k street miles, I have approx 10k and 12ish track days on original fill-up. I will use the syringe method as the first time I ended up with fluids in my mouth :facepalm:

The Crash(es)
 

After installing all of my "Version 2" parts, it was time to hit the track.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459884876


First track day went off without a hitch, I was in the sub 1:30's around Thunderhill West. My timing was VERY VERY retarded. This was mainly a shake-down event, given all of the new mods (see previous post for mod list). The car felt good, but definitely alot more power to be had.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459884876



And then, I hit a rock slide in Napa...

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459884876


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459884876


Two weeks later, a driver malfunction led to this little off road adventure...


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459884876


The car then sat in my garage for the next 6 months, broken and bruised :( The vision for my car had been blurred, and I really didn't know how to proceed. It wasn't until April 2015 that I started working on her again. This brings me to "Version 3" Lucy.

Damages
 

The car sat in my garage for six months with the following damage:

- Bent Rad Support
- Broken lip
- Broken Splitter
- Broken Canard
- ARP Pedestal Fail
- Rear Bumper Cover Deformation
- Two bent wheels
- Odd noises

Pics of damage:


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459894325


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459894325


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459894325


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459894325

how did you break the wing support? did you roll? Or just too much downforce?

Really? He showed pics of the wreck just a few posts above you...

Lol, I saw the pictures, but I don't see how he broke the wing support. I am surprised they are that weak, if they just snap like that.

Thanks for the question, and sorry I didn't specify. I believe that the hardware was weakened and/or loose from the crashes. A loose bolt put strain of the turnbuckle maybe? I was doing 110+ through a long sweeper and the wing simply collapsed. I'm fortunate that I noticed before it ripped completely off. I have since put in new hardware(sent from ARP without questions) and the wing is solid.

I put about 36k total miles on the car and changed it twice iirc. Once after the first 4 years, then again before the start of the 2015 track season. Edit: I should note that the first 4 years had no track days. I changed it when I started tracking the car, and again at the beginning of 2015.

You should count track miles as 20x street miles; this is what my engine oil wear rate was. For me this worked out to 2-2.4k street mile equivalence for a track day, so depending on how often you track you could possibly go two seasons. If you track frequently in hot weather, though, I'd probably go ahead and change it at the beginning of each season.

I came up with these intervals by getting my oil analyzed at Blackstone, and settled on 6 track days for it. I don't know where/how to get the traction fluid analyzed, though, so I don't have any hard data for wear intervals for it. I assume it is negatively impacted by extended high rpm hot running in the same way that my oil is.

Mods could you please move this to build threads?

sure

What rotrex is that? the c30-74?

Where did you mount the reservoir for the rotrex fluid? Care to post a pic?

Oh my, I must have glossed right over that! It is indeed a c30 - 74. I mounted the reservoir by the hood latch - under my "upper TDR rad cooling plate swag thingy." I will post pics in a few days, thanks for the questions!

After the off road "learning experiences" the car sat and waited for me to get the itch again. Well, after some personal stuff I was very ready to revisit my passion(tracking). So, onto the new iteration (Version 3).


I was never happy with the power my car made. It wasn’t until I opened the ignition maps that my local tuner whipped up after my SC installation. I was running extremely retarded timing all the way to redline. I can post pics of my datalogs and/or maps if anyone is interested..

NEW PARTS:
Hawk DTC-60 Brake Pads
NAPA Blanks
Delrin Door Jams
Delrin Motor Mounts
LED Intake Signals
LRB Undertray
Garage Star Front Tow Hook
Racing Beat Header
High Temp Coating for Header
Exhaust Manifold Heat Blanket
Rear Bumper Cut/Strip/Quick Release
Goodwin Racing HF Cat
Oil Cooler
Engine Bay Strip
Kraftwerks 80mm pulley
Crank case breather
Frozen Boost BOV (Type 10)
Oil Catch Can
Boost Gauge
PS Delete
EGR Delete
MAF Delete (Bung for IAT installed)
Lexan Quarter Windows
Tekata Rear Tow Strap
Advanti Storm S1 15x9 –STREET
Hankook RS3 (225/45) –STREET
Konig "Dial in" 15x9 –TRACK
Maxxis Rc1 (245/40) -TRACK

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461703503Bumper / Cover Cut
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461703503Lexan Goodies
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461703503Frozen Boost Type 10 VTA BOV
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461703503Cork Screw

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461703503




The last couple pics are from my Laguna day. Most, but not all of the "V3" parts were installed. The car was still on the base tune. Next post will be the tuning and should bring this thread nearly up to date (finally). I really want to get this thing caught up because I've been attending quite a few events and would love to share some detailed experience surrounding the part combinations!

Adjusting Power/Weight
 

After a few track events on new RC1 and a cleaned up engine bay, I decided to start with some serious weight reduction. The goal here is a clean 10:1 p/w ratio to run NASA TT3 class. With my current mods this will need to be adjusted but the rules are somewhat conflicting(adding more weight for a 245 100tw tire than a 40tw hoosier?). I will be in contact with the officials closer to race day.. Anyway, onto the weight reduction!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463780626Dash and Heater are HISTORY! The total weight savings was somewhere in the 40s, but hard to say for sure because some stuff went back in..

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463780626Gutted doors and carpet. I found a nice hole to bolt in one side of the gauge cluster, the other side is held on with zip ties working in tandem. The center piece you see in the photo above acts as a sort of gauge pod / switch board(can't see the blank piece of abs from the photo) but more on that later when I get switch crazy... Keeping the carpet on the trans tunnel as this car needs to be driven to/from the track without burning me.

DG Motorsports RACE Hardtop
 

The OEM hardtop is nice, but has been a point of internal debate since its purchase. The aero and chassis rigidity argument never really outweighed the extra 40lbs on the top of my car. So I sold it and picked up a DG Motorsports RACE Hardtop!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463781269With the lexan in place, the DG weighs the same as a treasure coast piece. I chose this because lexan comes pre-installed and I saved on shipping (SoCal-NorCal vs Florida-NorCal). The piece was packaged well and there weren't any big imperfections in the fiberglass. DG also threw in some rear brackets to compliment my GarageStar top/side brackets.

Dyno day
 

After a long battle with sub-standard timing and fuel maps, I finally got around to renting a Dyno. Lucky for me, I found a shop in Sacramento that rents their Dyno for $130 / hour. Here's what happened that day..

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463784506Came in early and got the car strapped down. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463784506After just a few pulls we settled on this timing map. The tech was pretty sketched out helping me as tampering with the ECU isn't all that kosher in California. Good thing this isn't a street car and all videos were filmed in Mexico!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463784506Final VE Table, hitting 11:5(ish) AFR all the way to Redline. Note: MegaLogViewer showed my sensors picking up 11:1 but his sniffer said 12:1, so we made adjustments under the assumption both were right and split the difference.

Final Numbers
 

Final Numbers: 200whp / 170wtq on 91 oct. The dyno is a "SuperFlow" and I've never heard of that brand before. At the end of the day a dyno is just another tool, however I asked all numbers be corrected to reflect dynojet as they're the most common.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463785511Results: 200whp / 170wtq on 91 octAm I happy with the results? Yes and no. I'd like to see what more timing and leaner AFR would do, however my tuning confidence isn't very high.. For now though, 200whp on what I've come to believe as conservative timing and AFR maps isn't too shabby. Coupled with the weight reduction this car should be a blast on the track! Also, YAY LINEAR POWER BAND!!! No delay or lag, the power is instantaneous on corner exit. Track videos will follow, comparing old power and weight with the new stuff.. For now though, I couldn't be happier with how she's turning out!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463785511Version 3 in its entirety

Track Videos
 

The following videos have been taken the last few months, each with different upgrades. Building this car and testing it after each big modification has been very rewarding. More videos to come, subscribe to keep updated!!

Video 1:
Track: Thunderhill West
Time: 1:28.5
Mods: Pre-Diet so approx 2150lbs (plus driver) and Pre-dyno (approx 130whp) / No Aero / Fading 225 RC1
Notes: Slow
Link to video:
Video 2:
Track: Thunderhill West
Time: 1:25.5 with passenger
Mods: Approx 2050 lbs (plus occupants) and 200whp / APR GTC-200 Wing / Fresh 245 RC1
Notes: Need no passenger mod
Link to video:
Video 3:
Track: Sonoma GP
Time: 1:54.6 no passenger
Mods: Approx 2050lbs. (Plus Driver) and 200whp / APR GTC-200 Wing / Fresh 245 RC1
Notes: First time at Sonoma in the dry
Link to video:

Wow, sonoma seems like a bumpy track

Thanks for the vids and pics!

Since the Rotrex is a centrifugal supercharger, it is weird that your torque and hp is falling off towards redline.

The engine bay pic isn't loading, but I don't think he has a flat top IM, or the 00-01 head. Maybe that's why it starts falling off, even as boost approaches maximum.