The fit of the BMW DCT or 8HP70 in an NB miata was where I got off the exit lane. I think an NC miata has a bigger trans tunnel and can fit the trans better. Most of the issues i saw was how low they both hung. My car is pretty damn low to begin with and I was super concerned with dragging the trans pan on the ground as I believe it was lower than the frame stiffening rails.

 

Don't the 8HP45/8HP50 have a much smaller oil pan compared to the 70/80/etc? I'm getting lots of 8HPxxx swap videos on my various social media places, and one video shows the jaguar 8HP45 (or 50?) with a narrow bellhousing compared to the Charger V6 8HP45.

 

Any of you guys see this?

 

yep - the guy has several track vids of that car. My pitiful contribution to the 8hp-45/50 swaps, re oil pan width. I've done nothing to my car lately. This is one of my -45's. About 11.6 inches at midpoint.
She said...

The pan is about same width all the way fwd., but the bell housing area obv gets bigger.

 

You can see the trans oil pan hanging down in the above Youtube video thumbnail. I strongly considered the 8HP with my LSx swap but a combination of oil pan height and exhaust clearance kills it for me regardless of how nice of a trans it is.

The oil pan clearance isn't an issue in NC as the centerline of the crank on an NC is higher off the ground than an NA/NB. The tunnel is also larger so exhaust is more straightforward.

 

Some general 8HP control news: Maxxecu released the first beta of Binary 5 today which is used for full clutch control. That is full 0-100% manual clutch control via an analog input, not just clutch kicks. I noticed that today when looking into renting the flashing tool.

Anyways, I’ve got the adapter plate. It came in a few weeks ago but I’ve been busy with work and vacation so I’ve not been able to mess with anything.

I got the 75A bushings for my innovative motor mounts installed yesterday. I opted for the highest engine mounting slot when doing so. Hopefully thatll help with the transmission oil pan clearance, but I’m afraid it’ll just cause problems on the top side instead. I guess we will see.

I think I’ve also got a parasitic battery draw situation occurring with the wiring harness I made, but it could just be that the old *** battery is finally kicking the bucket. It’s around 6-7 years old if I recall correctly. More testing on that to come.

Once my bacon gets out of the oven I’m gonna go down there and see if I can wiggle the transmission into it tonight.

 

Address this ASAP, there’s nothing as infuriating and pointless as trying to do electrical diagnosis with a bad battery. I would recommend just keeping a charger on it at all times when doing non-running tests. If you’re going to be running the starter and such, get a new battery, or one of those really big, noisy, fan-cooled starter boxes that plug into the wall and roll around on a dolly. The current draw of a starter on a weak battery is enormous, and the resulting low-voltage situations can really mess you up. Keep a voltage reading handy in your tuning software and check it often.

At the last event, I killed my micro-battery by leaving the fan on and had some folks push start me (downhill thankfully). It started immediately, but my oil pressure sensor was reading zero psi. I reluctantly killed the motor, only to realize that the sensor needs 12v and probably just wasn’t working right.

Other stuff needs at least 8v, so you may shithouse yourself if your battery dips below 8v while cranking.

ETA - put it on a charger and then check for parasitic draw at the fuse box, my bet is bad battery.

 

This reads like someone who has dealt with this issue in detail and does not play about it. haha

 

Working in a shop that deals with a lot of aftermarket ****, race cars, and super cars, it's hilarious how many times they're hooked up to battery charges. The big cart ones. Any sort of diag, flashing, coding, tuning, etc that doesn't involve having the engine running NEEDS to be on a charger. Most OE repair instructions list it as step 1.

Any car that's not driven 15+ miles/day or at least a few times a week should live on a trickle charger.

 

Watterson - any progress? I sure hope you've made more than me (zero!) other than sorta checking up on stuff. Stuff that is great? I just found out that the Maxx Mini is only $750 and can now control clutches including the TC clutch lockup. I'm trying to verify, but it seems that will allow the trans to be run without the TC, as was my plan from the git-go, at 1/3 the cost of the Turbo Lamik, and with what seems to be better functionality and easier programming. LIke multiple gear auto kickdown if I want to be a real weenie and run it in full auto mode.

Wombat