discuss reliability on teh track
 

All these local motherfuckers talk shit about how all the turbo cars around here aren't reliable on the track. Even the FM fanboy "turbo-spec" owners/drivers have reliability problems.

Discuss.

You are a pussy. End of story.

another earth shattering post from America Jr.

Too decisive for you? Maybe I should make a poll?

And it took you nearly 15 minutes to come up with America Jr? Don't you know that most Canadians aren't all wrapped up in national pride bullshit .... hence we don't make war every 10 years or so. :)

But really, I'm sure someone will come along and give you a pat on the head to make you feel better.

:vash:

LOL, I used to beat the shit out of my Miata with it's BEGi/FM prototype setup and I never had problems once I had gotten it sorted out... but then again, I ran 100 octane fuel on the street. I did finally blow the stock motor, but my 99 lunched it's first motor while it was still stock (#4 Bearing issue.)

Mark

Needs more ITB, and PC-Pro.

The increased stress of sustained high rpms and boost will strain any engine period. That said, there are plenty of boosted miatas that hit the track and do fine. Usually the extra load will expose your weakest link at the time and then you move on.

For example, back in the spring, my oil drain line started to crack and leak from the sustained heat being right next to the manifold. Replaced with a stainless line and moved on.

I think that as long as you keep an eye on your gauges (temp, afrs, etc...), use some common sense, and get off the track if you have concerns, you'll be fine. Simple things like skipping a session on a wet day or turning down the boost (when you finally turbo your car that is) a little on the particularly hot days might be the way to go for you. Bring extra parts/tools and be ready to limp home just in case.

I've talked to many of the guys who bring their boosted miata to the track and they've all had some stories about problems at the track, but all have made it back home without blowing their engine b/c they played it smart.

My temp gauge started peaking on the straights at +110mph....so i kept in it and let it peg to 240°F

And that particular engine is now where? :gay:

sitting in pieces on my garage floor :bigtu:

danger to manifold?

I think I have my bases as covered as possible. I have stainless lines for everything and I'll have spare coolant hoses for the heater box. I'm worried about shit like cracked manifolds and downpipes, piping and coolant hoses blowing...shit like that.

Just turbo your car and enjoy it already. Sheesh. Anything can happen. Hell, at the last track day, 5 cars left the track on tow trucks. None with blown engines. None were turboed. ALL were wrecked into a wall, and all but one was from the instructor group and the other was in group 4 (most advanced). It was a dry track. Shit happens.

I hope Hustler doesn't work for the post office.

Heat is the biggest issue. I don't know if you'll experience this but after a lap on a 75F day, I was boiling over. I have a PWR rad, new cap, Waterwetter and a low coolant to water mixture and I still was running hot. That and like I mentioned in another post, I melted an engine mount and an exhaust hanger. I've since added a shroud and dual Spal fan setup that seems to pull a lot more air through the IC/Condensor/Radiator so hopefully this will do the trick...or I'm going to get something better for the track.

The reason these turbo cars are not "reliable" is cause the owners do not take the steps to make them track worthy with the supporting mods.Hustler,just make sure you prep your car right and take a full detail once over on everything the night before you go to the track and fix/repair any potential problems you see.

........jayc you got it all wrong.America sr. only starts wars when a new warlord gets elected into the white house.Gotta show the rest of the world not to fuck with the new leader and what he's capable of.

This is the kind of shit that worries me. I have a coolradiator 2.5" rad, but I think I'm going to need more. I should probably get off my ass and drive down to SanAntonio to get that FM hood. So you still have not had any successful track outings?

yes....heat kills....and yes this was on the track:

http://www.boostedmiata.com/cracked_...brokeassdp.jpg

http://www.boostedmiata.com/cracked_...ld/cracked.jpg


had i been smart and not made a bracket for the exhaust to bolt to the tranny, it would have never happened.

i was also smart and relocated my PS line (which i previously has near the manifold). It burst randomly on the street, even insulated in heat wrap, it melted and finally gave way.

just fucking run it, and fix what breaks, and learn from your mistakes.

shit like that and overheating are what scare me. How many track days have you run, and what is your experience with overheating?

I did ok before I plugged up my front end with a huge IC. I guess the smaller IC allowed air to go around it and through the radiator much easier...so think twice about that huge, cool looking but not neccessary intercoolers.

I bought the big one from BEGi. I hope it works out.

That is so true Braineack. I must admit though, when I was pegging my temp guage, it did affect my concentration a little. Oh yeah, one other thing I forgot about that happened that same event, my steering wheel started to work lose. So here I was, 130 on the back straight, pushin' on the steering wheel so that it stayed on the splines, watching my temp guage hoping that my motor wouldn't sieze up and I had 20 minutes left in the session. Needless to say, my instructor had no clue and I was not going to pull into the pits and call it a day after I paid all that money to run on the track all weekend!

Cooling system mods I've done to combat heat issues include the FM hood, removing the front mouth black plastic reinforcement and install abs plastic to aim air at the IC and radiator, run the OEM belly pan, install a diy front splitter/pan along with a GV front spoiler, seal around my FM radiator with foam insulation, as well as around the sides of the radiator to force air into the right places, install an external oil cooler/remote filter assembly, coolant reroute from back of head to upper radiator, 180º thermostat, 20% Zerex G05 coolant, 80% distilled water, one bottle of RMI-25, add foam to the OEM fan shrouds, run the OEM fans parallel. With the MP62 I was seeing maybe 94ºC coolant temps during 40 minute sessions at Sebring. I am expecting the temps to change with a turbo setup. The external cooler/remote filter assembly increased oil capacity by a quart which also helps. Amsoil 10w40 engine oil helps as well.

What I don't like are the turn signal intakes or anything that may take away from airflow through the radiator. Anytime someone installs something such as a TSI it takes away from the cooling system's abilities since it's pressurizing the engine bay from somewhere other than through the radiator. If something were made to keep the TSI air contained at the air filter, and not allowed to flow through the entire engine bay then it may not be as bad.

You and I are on the exact same page with everything in this post. Where did you mount your oil cooler? I have a 24 row and still don't know where I'm going to put it. I have done or will do everything you're doing and have the BEGi scooper if that doesn't work. I really need to go pick up that FM hood.

The hood makes a noticeable improvement in temp management and reduction of front lift. The oil cooler is mounted to the radiator. It was a kit from ISC Racing, very nice for the price IMO. The TDR IC may be shorter than the largest BEGI IC, but Gary really did some excellent designing of the airflow management components of the kit. His kit's not just an IC and some tubing. The FM radiator is not as large as that Godspeed radiator guys are buying btw. If I need more cooling down the road, I'll probably make my own fan setup with 2-12" fans and some abs plastic from a local distributor. For now, the OEM fans are adequate. I think the scooper will help. I don't remember the size of the oil cooler, but I think it's smaller than 24 rows. I kept the OEM water to oil cooler in place, so I don't use an oil thermostat. I figure the coolant helps bring the oil up to temp, then they sort of help each other. I don't know what the oil temps are, I don't have a gauge, but I did use an IR gun on the pan a couple times and the oil temps were well within range as I recall. I know the IR gun isn't as accurate as a probe gauge, but whatever. I may do some temp testing once a turbo replaces the SC since the coolant and oil are going to pull double duty.

you should have just bought a truck as a daily driver and bought a cheap open trailer, then who care about reliability

The fact that you spent 250$+ on the track event + gas + time, only to blow up 10min into your first 20 min session?

I am doing everything possibly to keep the car reliable before I even touch a roadcourse. AutoX/Drag/Street could care less. Lapping is what rapes a car.

no shit...considering the subaru gets a whopping 20mpg.

Sell the miata to fund your diaper supply you fucking baby!

awesome anigif, I use Calibre Maximo as my avatar on forums where we get avatars.:vash:

touche!

you have no idea how cool that looks when you are really drunk