My name's Daniil I'm from Vancouver Canada and this is my first "big" car build. I've swapped SBF/t5 and ls1/t56 in my e36 in the past but this is the first time I had to do bodywork and fab things from scratch, still not the best at it.
My original plan was to do a super light weight build with a motorcycle engine swap, I found this 1.8l v-twin from a honda vtx1800, went as far as making exhaust and mounts for it but when it came time to connect it to the rear diff, I couldn't find anyone locally to make me the flange for a reasonable price. So I gave up on it.

I then came across a really good deal on an LFX+6speed from a camaro - 1200cad$ for both(that's like 23$usd) and decided to go the LFX route.
I bought a bare subframe from v8roadsters; g80 3.23 rear end from v8 roadsters.

I did some chassis work to move the engine back, made new transmission tunnel, added some structural reinforcement under the dash and infront of the windshield - 2x 0.120 bars across, bolted/welded into firewall, frame rails, each other and tied to trans tunnel(I went a little overkill here)

I solid mounted the engine via FWD mounting locations at the front to the frame rails as well as regular location to subframe and bellhousing to the transmission mount/chassis brace.

I did the solid mounts in so many locations to give the car some more structural rigidity, since I had to cut a few things to move the engine back.

Decided to upgrade brakes/handling while I was at it:
Supermiata front boxmount BBK, SS lines all around;
Feal 441 12k/8k; 1.25 racing beat front bar, stock rear bar;
all poly bushings;
245 section maxxis rc-1 on 15x10 konigs

I finished the car this winter, naturally aspirated.

And then I came across Griff's turbo build. And then right around the same time I saw maxspeedingrods gt2871 for sale on amazon for 135$cad(like 1$ usd) shipped to the door. And since I cant drive the car in the winter I figured it was sign from above that I have to turbo this thing.
One of my favourite car builder's is Sloppymechanics on youtube. So I used a bunch of turbo parts that he frequently uses on his LS builds - emusa 38mm wastegates, 51mm bovs, on3 intercooler, I reused bunch of random piping/vbands left over from other builds to build exhaust/hotside.
The entire turbo setup cost me around 1200$cad, I just finished building it the other day.
I'm waiting for an intake coupling with a "t" so I can plumb the driver's side PCV into the intake and then I should be able to test the car.

 

I made this thread mainly to ask some questions
I saw in Griff's thread that his car was happiest at 5lbs of boost. I'm using 6lb waste gate springs, do I need water/meth or can I get away without it at 5-6lbs of boost?
Does anyone have a base map to share by any chance?

My shifter is very clunky, it kind of feels like an old t5, is that normal?
Also does anybody have photos of the shifter setup? I based mine on this photo, I shortened the linkage and mounted the shifter so that the linkage is in-line with the transmission shifter output linkage.
My transmission may have been damaged because the shifter linkage was bent but I want to rule out the linkage before i go get a new trans.

 

Well that's one hell of a way to introduce yourself. This things going to be insane.

I assume you're just running the stock Camaro ECU? I'm not sure how many people around these parts are HPTuners experts (assuming that's what you'll use).

I haven't looked through @griff's build recently, if ever, but maybe he can give you some pointers.

 

Foreign Currency Converter Bot : "Yes, all dollar amount conversions are accurate"

Love live sloppy!

Video links pleeeese

 

this is cool. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

Do you have pics and details of what you did on the firewall and transmission tunnel?

 

Yes, I'm using the stock ECU.

I'll post some videos once I get it on the road. There is still a lot of testing to be done, won't be surprised if I have to redo a couple things. I still have to do flares/roll for the wheels and get an alignment. And tune it.

I'm terrible at taking photos, those are the only photos I have of my miata period lol. I'll snap a photo of what i did when I have my dash off next. But basically I cut as far as the framerails, fabbed a huge box out of 16ga overtop without interfering with the dash and welded a bunch of reinforcements and the two .120 bars.I also had to get rid of the e-brake because that's where the aluminum driveshaft adapter is now.
Now I have enough room to stuff a v12 in there, the engine could go back another 6 inches or so. But because the lfx with stock oil pan is so tall, this is as far as I could go.

Also does anybody know of some kind of hydraulic e-brake setup for na miata? Or do I have to come up with my own adapters?

 

Are you sure you can't fit a few more things in the engine bay? 😂

Welcome! I'm finishing up a LFX in a NB and it's tight without the turbos, I can see now that I have nothing to complain about

 

Why two blow off valves?

 

Can't believe you pushed the LFX back, what? 8 or 9 inches if I'm eyeballing correctly. Also looks like you have the engine an inch lower than what the V8R setup puts the engine. Wow, you have done a ton of work.

I think Griff is the only one with a base map that could be shared, or maybe try someone on the camaro forums? Only other thought (And I've never owned a turbo car no matter tuned one, so take this with a HUGE grain of salt / maybe a horrible idea. Get the map from an ATS-V and go from there?)

I can help with the shifter. It is clunky, and comparing to a T5 is fair. I think the T5 is tougher, you can man handle it / shift it like an idiot. The MV5 feels more like you could hurt it if you man handled it like a ham fisted gorilla, but it works fine if you treat it with some mechanical sympathy. You set everything up correctly being in line & shortening it. I added the springs back on mine (a lot run without it). I think that helped with the feel.

I think you also asked about an e-brake. I've only read that putting a line-lock in is a bad idea for an e-brake, that it will bleed down on you and your car will roll away. (cause I was thinking of doing that too) If your running the stock rear calipers, what about running the stock brake handle & cables on the passenger side - on the "outside" of the tunnel, vs how Miata put it "inside" the tunnel on the drivers side. (you obviously have fabricating skills, so guessing you could make it look decent / fit well enough.)

Interested in seeing how the car does once you get her running. Good Luck

 

Welcome to the forum. That's an amazing build. I'm interested in watching your progress.

 

As others have said, welcome and impressive build. Are there plans to shield the brake area (fluid reservoir and lines). Would love to see some additional build photos/under side.

 

Holy hell, wasn't expecting to see anything like this today. Great stuff. Super impressive and the nonchalant delivery of your post is almost hilarious lol.

Will be following along for updates

 

Thanks for the help, now I'm not so worried about the shifter feeling clunky.
Two blow off valves because that's how the intercooler came, its a cheap-o unit from on3. Hindsight 20/20 if I had used one BOV on the intake before the maf, I could have mounted the rad/intercooler vertically instead of diagonally. I actually may end up doing that if cooling sucks, but I'm trying to leave anything to do with aluminum fab until later because I suck at welding aluminum for now(practicing and slowly getting better).
And yes there will be heatshielding for most everything, there is still a lot to do.

 

This is just awesome!

 

Started the car, engine runs smooth but no throttle and a bunch of codes, I ran some grounds and some of the codes went away but I'm still left with these and no throttle. Any of these look like they should be here because a bunch of stuff is deleted?
I'm using a plug and play harness from CBM Motorsports(wasn't so plug and play, wouldn't recommend) and it's a e39 ecu that has been flashed to 2013 manual Camaro, anti theft deleted.

 

You shouldn't have any of those codes.

Dead throttle pedal is normally a wiring issue between the pedal itself and the ECU. The accelerator to the ecu wiring is very sensitive. The throttle pedal also has 6 wires that go to it, labeled A-F. Didn't look up those codes but guessing those codes are for the throttle pedal & it's the B, C, D wires giving you trouble.

 

Reference voltage is your 5v, check for it at the pedal and throttle, should be on 2 pins on each, so 4 pins total. If not, start tracing back to the DME.

 

Sensor Reference "insert letter here" Voltage Circuit open codes refer to an entire VREF "tree" of circuits being taken down due to a short. Most modern ECUs use three or four VREF trees to cover all of the 5V engine control components. I.E. VREF tree "B" may supply 5v to the cam sensors, throttle position sensors, fuel tank pressure sensor, EGR sensor, etc. Generally these codes only show up if there's a short somewhere on the tree or internally shorted component in the system. (Ford mechanic here) I had a bunch of issues with this when the hybrid Explorers came out a few years ago. One of the cam sensors would short out internally and take the whole VREF tree down with it, including the throttle body, oil pressure sensor, and a whole bunch of other emissions sensors. Needless to say, the vehicle wasn't very happy when this happened.

Easiest way to test this is to find all of the components located on said "tree" and unplug them one at a time until you get 5v at one of the connectors. In my experience any component-related trouble codes won't tell you which component is the cause of the short. You'll get codes for every component on the 5V tree since they're all not receiving power. Obviously you could easily have a short in the wiring or open at the beginning of VREF circuit from the ECU before it splices into circuits going to each of the supplied components (or god forbid the ECU might not be supplying 5v to that tree), but unplugging all of the components on the tree is generally somewhat quick and easy to check off the list.

 

Thank you for all of the suggestions. It seems that I have 2 5v at the pedal and 5v and 4.97v at the throttle body. One is 4.97v could this be an issue? Is the 4.97 point I should be looking at while unplugging cam sensors etc?

 

4.97V shouldn't be an issue. Lower than 4.5V would be cause for concern. On our vehicles, I usually see 4.9-5.1v on the VREF supply circuits.

You wouldn't happen to have an engine wiring diagram for the LFX would you?