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Monster Miata - Down Under!
Hi All,
I thought I would start my build thread with a build spec so that everyone gets a taste of what my end goal or strategy is for the car and that in turn will influence what the build will be.. Intended purpose: Weekend cruiser, weekend away car for me and the wife Must have attributes: Easy to drive, reliable and comfortable and very very fast! Spec Sheet: 2001 NB Series 2, 425hp 331 Ford Stroker, T5z, 7.5 diff 3.27 gears OK...First things first...I don't have a car yet...LOL...yes that's right I am starting the build off with the engine build. Once I get the drivetrain and the front and rear subframes built...I will buy a car and swap them over. The spec sheet for my little 331 is as follows: So the build spec sheet is as follows.. STD Ford Roller Block bore, hone, line hone, deck machining - 4.030 ARP Studs Main and Heads (80 ft/lbs main and head torque) SCAT CAST Steel Crank 9000 series (28oz) SCAT Rods 5.4 inch I Beams King Bearings (1.8 thou main clearance and 1.5 thou conrod clearance) Crank End float 6-8 thou Camshaft end float 4-6 thou Mahle Pistons PowerPack flat tops Twisted Wedge valve cutouts (10:1) (These were selected for their light weight, great quality and small piston to bore clearances...much better than many other brands...) mellings 86 oil pump and ARP pump drive Custom FTI Ed Curtis Camshaft (...operating range effective 2250-6250rpm..max HP is about 6000 rpm) Trickflow 1.72 Roller rockers (TFS guide plates and moly pushrods) Ford Racing Roller Lifters - High performance type Rollmaster timing set New front cover and water pump (GMB OEM water pump) Trickflow 190cc 11R twisted wedge heads Trickflow TFS R Intake 80-85mm throttle Body 39 lb ford racing injectors 90mm ford lighning maf Aeromotive Adjustable Fuel Regulator Motorcraft Coils Bougicord OEM leads Trickflow Rocker covers cast aluminium (required to clear roller rockers) Gaskets all Felpro Performance range (head gaskets are cometic/trickflow MLS) That's it for the spec sheet...I will post up pictures as I get started on the build...parts are in transit from Summit racing... Its great to be here...and I can't wait to see this thing finished...but there will be many headaches before then I am sure!! :) Cheers John |
Sounds like a beast. Good luck with the build!
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I'm looking forward to seeing a built ford!
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Back in Business...Build starting...
Hi All,
I can't actually believe that it has been 2 years since I opened up this post..but it has. Over the last 24 months I have been slowly amassing my plans, parts and wits to begin the rebuild and rebirth of my 2001 NB Miata/MX5. This is where I am at: 1) Engine is built and ready - 331 Stroker 425HP. Utilising factory 2000 Ford Explorer brackets for power steering and Air con. 2) Drivetrain is ready (new T5z, new tailshaft, Ford 7.5 with 3.27 and Eaton TruTrac) 3) Custom radiator is ready (brass construction 56mm, 27 x 18 inch with two spall 11 inch 1620 cfm fans) 4) EECV Wiring loom and all sensor plugs and wiring is in and ready with new Ford EECV only relay bank (EECV successfully flashed with SCT handset and is ready...it is wired alongside Mazda ECU for now.) 5) New custom Monster Miata front subframe for RHD is ready. 6) Custom valved Bilstein shock absorbers and 550 lb Front and 350 lb rear springs are in and ready. No coil overs :) . All bushes upgraded with stiffer rubbers from IL Motorsport. 7) Baer brake kit upgrade 12 in rotors up front with Mustang Cobra 2 piston PBR caliper, standard Sport brakes rear (yellow stuff pads), 929 Mazda master cylinder upgraded..stops well... 8) Front fender cowl/braces added from Garage Star All other small bits are ready too..Monster miata kit is the source for the other small things... I will be adding some photos as I go through the change over from 1.8L :) Here are some pictures of the engine as it is today. It is using the factory explorer induction at the moment for the initial vehicle inspection/registration/compliance so it can be registered as a V8. Enjoy the pics and I will keep posting as things unfold... http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._55_15_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._55_34_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._55_24_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._55_39_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._09_07_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...ippis/tf_2.jpg |
Hi All,
I have begun the process of stripping the car down and starting the cutting, welding and other relevant preparation. I dropped the entire front subframe out with the gearbox and torque bar attached. Whole setup was on the floor within 3 hours. With a good hoist and the right tools (rattle gun) it is easy to do... Things I have done: 1) Dropped out everything from the engine bay and marked up the gusset removal 2) Assembled the A arms and struts to my custom subframe awaiting the engine 3) Engine gets bolted in tomorrow I hope :) I will post up some more pics of when we get deeper and dirtier into the build... :) Here is a pic or two for now.. http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._32_32_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._31_42_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._32_32_Pro.jpg |
Glad to see you are continuing to make progress.
What is the back story on the Miata you located? |
Hi,
The Miata I have is a late 2000 NB (Series 2) Miata. My reasons for selecting this car were that it had new paint and a very clean interior that was the not so common beige colour. The drivetrain had covered 130,000 miles and although it was running well it was getting close to the end of its good useable life. So for me it was an ideal candidate for tearing it all apart, good body and interior with an expendable drivetrain! :) So after I got out the old drivetrain I got started on the modifications and the install. The main modifications were the usual engine bay cutouts and as I was using the ford explorer 5.0l accessory brackets I also notched the frame rail to retain all of the oem setup. This was important for me as I was not using the EEC4 and A9L setup but rather the EEC5 and twin coil pack setup. This was necessary for emissions and compliance purposes. |
Well the exhaust was completed and I must say I was very happy with the result. It is a custom 3 piece header (yes three pieces!) that forms a long tube Tri Y design, then the rear is 2 into 1 with a single three inch outlet. It was not an easy job for the exhaust shop as the starter motor, steering, brake lines and fuel lines are all on the same side! But they did great work and I have lots of clearance everywhere as a result. Enjoy the Pics
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._36_43_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._36_54_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_08_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_15_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_24_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_31_Pro.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...814bbaff9e.jpg3 inch outlet |
Beautiful work.
Have you been able to start it yet to see how it sounds? |
Hi BGorden,
i have not started her up yet. Hopefully within a week or two. I am aiming to have it completed by new year. After I give her a serious wash to get 4 months of dust off, i will post up some decent shots. 😊 |
Now THAT is what I call a build update. Nice job!
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Hi All,
Ok I can now safely put some notes together for everyone as my build is now finished (well almost!) and I have driven the car for 3000 kms and can advise that everything is looking pretty good :) Driving the car is so much fun and everyone who sees it or hears it loves it...always a good feeling! :) I have also been able to finally dyno the car and get it running properly. The car made 250 KW or 340 hp at the wheels. This is very good number (and torque curve!) for a car that has a cam with only 215 deg @ 50 thou duration. This is a special Ed Curtis cam so it does great power without the duration, i could have made more power with a larger cam but that would make it less civil as a daily driver. Some things that I learned along the way that may help everyone who is going through the build or wants to do it. 1) I used the explorer brackets and accessories with an EECV system (twin coil pack) and it worked great. I needed to notch the frame rail slightly for the air con compressor to clear, but its is in a non critical area and i also reinforced the internal core of that area with some upright ribbing (see pics) 2) The Dakota digital Universal Speedometer and Tacho interfaces make setting up the gauges a breeze. The Speedo interface does the speedo and the VSS signal and the tacho makes easy work of getting an absolutely accurate tacho signal without cluster modifications and mucking around (just a word of caution on the NB the tacho signal wire in the cluster plug is GREEN/ORANGE and is located ADJACENT to the GREEN/RED wire (VSS OUTPUT for ECU). Why that is important is that after 17 years of colour fade, the GREEN/ORANGE wire looks GREEN/YELLOW and the GREEN/RED Wire looks GREEN/ORANGE...My tacho didn't work initially and I had no idea why...you can work out the rest :) ). The Ford EECIV and EECV VSS input needs a 5 volt 8000ppm square wave so setup the Dakota boxes accordingly. The Mazda NB speedometer needs a 8000ppm input from a 2 speed signal wire generator so use the Ford 2 wire version from a 2000 year Mustang it plugs straight in to the original Mazda NB 2 wire harness. Also the Mazda cluster outputs a 4000 ppm 5V square wave to feed the Mazda ECU VSS. Use the Dakota box to intercept the speedo signal and (orange wire on cluster Plug 2) and then feed the corrected signal back, in addition he Dakota box can then also send out the correct VSS signal to the EEC. I spent a bit of time finding the above info on the correct PPM and waveform outputs so you can have it easy, for a correctly calibrated VSS signal...stops that damn stalling when pulling up to intersection and you drop it in neutral ! :) 3) Custom exhaust was amazing and negated the need for the headers to go around chassis and back in....if you can afford it, do it... 4) Make sure you use a proper shifter in your T5z. I used the power tower from Pro 5.0. It is heaps better than the std ford racing shifter 5) 2 sheets of Dynomat (stuck back to back with the upper sheet being larger with sticky overhand to put it down, makes a great shifter hole cover and sealer...and its easy to shape and remove. The rubber tube in martins kit is not worth using. 6) Make sure the throttle travel is 100%, I had to bend my throttle rod a little to get the last few % of opening. 7) Use as many new parts as possible (TPS, MAF, Spark plug wires, can synchroniser, plugs, etc)..if you don't they will come back to bite you...my MAF and TPS bit me...and they were less than 20K miles old. 8) Single 3 inch exhaust sounds and performs amazing...also negates the need to have a hole cut in the bumper, but it makes the routing near the diff a little tight. 9) I used the Mazda SE Wheels 17 x 7 with 215/45 rubber. Car looks good and wheel spin is dramatically reduced when compared with 15 or 16 in wheels. The car just sticks and goes with full throttle. 10) I had Martin work some magic on my CVs to retain the NB ABS sensor and ring in the std position...makes for plug and plat and negates the need to move sensors or do other stuff 11) Make sure that you use ARP thread sealer or something good to do the head bolt thread sealing. You don't want a leak. 12) Don't mess around with cooling system setup, get the best stuff your money can buy 13) Be prepared for hood clearance issues if you use EFI and are using GT40 style intakes and or TFS R intakes. I needed to make a custom bubble that looks almost stock in appearance. I needed an extra 1/2 inch (even with a 10mm dropped front subframe) 14) Upgrade the suspension for sure. I used 550 in front and 350 in rear springs is what I used with bilsteins and custom valving. I also added a 26mm front sway bar with adjustable links (custom made to clear front pulley) and a 16mm rear adjustable sway bar set to hard setting. 15) Upgrade the fuel line with AN fittings and braided hose for the supply side and use the standard hard line for the return (makes for a cleaner install with only 1 line being required to be added) 16) Heat shield and sound proof everything that you can. These cars make noises OEM and with a thumping v8 everything is accentuated. So mute it if you like a more OEM experience. The heat shield is a must as the cars floor gets a LOT of heat. 17) The addition of a Hard Dog Deuce roll bar was great...Much better chassis rigidity, it acted like a bigger rear sway bar...and i feel much safer too. 18) Run separate Fuel pump, EEC, Starter, Ignition, Fan(s) , and Air con relays and fuses. Don't rely on the Mazda stuff. It is harder to do it this way but you will have a better setup in my opinion. Jumping wires as per Martins manual and the like is not the greatest way to wire...its quick but not super robust for me. 19) I ran 2 additional 4 gauge cables to power all of the new electrics on the conversion. I did not want to overload the existing wiring in any way. 20) Make sure that you run heavy gauge Grounding cables . Motor to Chassis subframe and then subframe to body. try and ground everything to a common point. You don't want stray grounds causing havoc with the electrics. I ran the 4 gauge form battery tot he front then split into 4 8 gauge wires that then grounded to car body, engine and motor. 21) I used a small form factor 850cca LiFe battery. Cranks over really easily, I am not sure if the Mazda MX5 style 400CCA type batteries would cut it for very long. 22) Put heat shield on your starter solenoid and motor to prolong its life. It gets hot there. 23) Use heat shielding on the brake lines, fuel lines and electric cables etc otherwise they will melt. PLEASE double check all cables and wires are tied securely so they are not touching exhausts and or pinched in a bad spot. 24) Get good brakes all round as you will need them . NB Sport brakes are perfect for the rear, I suggest upgrading the front to an aftermarket kit of sorts...many to choose from, I used the Baer kit 25) A custom subframe is a good idea for any build as it will afford you a lot more room in the underside to service the car and fit a proper long tube exhaust system. I love my custom subframe that Martin made..its a work of art..makes installation and servicing as easy as a std car. 26) Clutch adjustment was simple enough. Martins kit makes it easy. Out of the box my car could not change gear so we needed to turn the threaded rod until the clutch disengaged. Then it was fine. Flyin Miata have a great instruction set for adjusting the clutch, follow it for any build. In a nutshell you back the adjusting rod and the clutch switch right out and then you adjust the main rod for zero lash, then tighten it up. Bleed and enjoy. Others have struggled in this area, but mine worked easily..also use a new clutch slave cylinder !! :) 27) Make a brace for the slave cylinder mounting point and brace it to the T5 case...must do. Mine turned out great see pics.. 28) Keep everything clean and neat and if you have doubts on how to do best do something check out what the factory OEM cars did for things like fuel lines, clearances, rubber grommets, mounting brackets, heat shields etc. etc. A lot can be learned by reutilising OEM stuff from other cars or models. 29) Vinyl sprays and car detailing products can be used to restore plastics and rubbers for a small cost. keep an eye on the details and the finished product will come up beautifully!! 30) The Factory Wind shield CAN be installed with the Hard Dog Roll bar. It just needs two brackets made up. I made some myself from Stainless steel angle..they look OEM when painted in the trim color. I will post up pics...the wind is greatly reduced at highway speeds. Hope that helps...I will post up some pics of the car when it stops raining and I can wash it...in the meantime here are a couple of pics of the roll bar :) http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._01_37_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._01_29_Pro.jpg That's it for now. I will upload some pics another day!! |
Absolutely beautiful work on your Miata.
I really enjoy reading threads where care and attention to detail is so obvious. Your summary of lessons learned is great for anybody doing a V8 conversion to follow but I have to say that the Australian accent does not come thru. Some of the details on an LS build differ slightly but it still gives a solid line of reasoning and points anybody interested in the right direction. A few questions for you ; How difficult is it being in Australia and working with companies in the USA? Also I am wondering on how you decided on the specific drivetrain components you utilized as the transmission and differential you utilize have a reputation for being less robust than the output of your engine would seem to require? The 3" exhaust has me doing a bit of head scratching as a quick calculation says that dual 2 1/4" should flow better than a single 3". Maybe my numbers are off but I get 6.49 sq. inches of area for a single 2 7/8" inside diameter but 7 sq. inches (3.5 x 2) for dual 2 1/8" inside diameter exhaust pipes. Is there some secret or method to your madness or am I missing something? The look of the Hard Dog deuce roll bar fits the look of the Miata much better than the more effective standard style roll bars. Perhaps I will go with that style for mine. Only difficulty is that it is not SCCA approved for track use here in the USA. |
Originally Posted by BGordon
(Post 24508)
Absolutely beautiful work on your Miata.
I really enjoy reading threads where care and attention to detail is so obvious. Your summary of lessons learned is great for anybody doing a V8 conversion to follow but I have to say that the Australian accent does not come thru. Some of the details on an LS build differ slightly but it still gives a solid line of reasoning and points anybody interested in the right direction. A few questions for you ; How difficult is it being in Australia and working with companies in the USA? Also I am wondering on how you decided on the specific drivetrain components you utilized as the transmission and differential you utilize have a reputation for being less robust than the output of your engine would seem to require? The 3" exhaust has me doing a bit of head scratching as a quick calculation says that dual 2 1/4" should flow better than a single 3". Maybe my numbers are off but I get 6.49 sq. inches of area for a single 2 7/8" inside diameter but 7 sq. inches (3.5 x 2) for dual 2 1/8" inside diameter exhaust pipes. Is there some secret or method to your madness or am I missing something? The look of the Hard Dog deuce roll bar fits the look of the Miata much better than the more effective standard style roll bars. Perhaps I will go with that style for mine. Only difficulty is that it is not SCCA approved for track use here in the USA. Hi BG, Thank you for the kind words and encouragement it is greatly appreciated �� Now in response to your well thought out questions... 1. I have been dealing with US based companies for about 20 years or more. I have found it so easy to deal with them on almost all levels. For this project the companies i used who were all amazing were..Monster Miata, Bethania Garage, RockAuto and Summit Racing. Plus a few other random eBay suppliers. All were terrific and delivered goods to spec and in time. Pricing was good too...shipping was terribly expensive but in the end a plug and play setup with proven parts makes the job much easier. 2. I selected the T5z because it was light, small and cost effective. It is weaker than a T56 but in a Miata I have sone things on my side. There is less weight than a full size mustang so there is less strain on the box. Secondly the car will wheelspin before it overloads the gearbox components. So when you combine these two things you have a kind of safety valve. The gearbox will absorb the full torque brunt when the car is heavy and the tyres are very sticky. In this case the car under hard power launches will kill the gearbox at some point. But for me in a daily driver street car which is light and wheelspins when pushed, it is a much better proposition. Also I know how to drive a car sympathetically enough to avoid damage. You have to try quite hard to kill a T5z in a Miata if it's a new gearbox. Shifting nice and smooth under power is an important skill that everyone needs to hone �� For the diff, I chose the 7.5 to avoid exhaust and CV clearance issues. I know it is weaker but for street duties it will hold up just fine.Martin recommended it...so I went with that. It was all pretty much plug and play �� In relation to the engine power being too high for the box, that is technically true. But again the above elements of weight, wheelspin and sympathy work together to ensure that the box does NOT bear the full brunt of the engine torque and therefore I don't leave metal all over the road �� 3) There is some method to my madness (well most of the time!). With the exhaust I agree that duals have more internal cross sectional area and technically can flow more gas. However this additional area is only of benefit if the engine requires it. On a street car in order to flood a single 3 inch pipe it needs to flow over 750cfm of flow, this will exceed the intake cfm flow of my 331 stroker at 6200rpm which is about 580-600cfm. In addition increasing cross sectional area too far introduces resonance or droning in the exhaust at low speeds (I personally hate this a lot..lol). Also exhaust diameter is most critical at the engine end and it becomes less critical as you move rearward. My car has twin 2.5 in pipes until just before the diff, where it moves to a single 3 in. I have used 2 into 1 single 3 inch pipes on a few of my V8 cars and they work quite well for sub 500HP street riven applications. With exhausts it is always good to be a bit on the small side than the large side, it will sound better and wont vibrate or resonate as much. Any advantage of a larger exhaust is only seen if the original pipe size was very restrictive. From my experiences having a 3 in single pipe configuration is on par with a dual system (2.25 or 2.5) for normal power levels (sub 500HP). Obviously if we are making over 600hp and revving to 7500 rpm then the dynamics of the requirements change and a larger exhaust may be required. My car spends 95% of its life sub 3500 rpm as a daily driver so its no where as critical as a high revving race car pulling full power all day. On an emotional level, I love the more mellow and deeper note of a single pipe myself...and in my car there is zero drone or exhaust resonance, which for me was very very important as i drive my car for 2 hours a day. So I needed a more OEM style experience. Yes I agree that the deuce hard dog bar looks great. It fits very well too...its a decent job to install (read - I cut my hands to shreds and cursed for a full day) but well worth it. �� Plus I can use the wind shield...i will upload photos of how I did it. Yes regrettably its not SCAA approved....but if you are not racing then you can run it :) Thanks for taking the time to put down the considered questions...always great to share ideas and thoughts on stuff like this :) cheers |
Great build, love all the attention to detail.
If I may ask, what is the name of the product you used in the tunnel as a heat shield ? I see the dyno mat on the underside of the floor pans but cannot make out the product in the tunnel. I was thinking of using dyno mat thru out but am unsure if it is an effective heat shield or more of a sound deadener. Thanks in advance |
Originally Posted by hotwheels000
(Post 24516)
Great build, love all the attention to detail.
If I may ask, what is the name of the product you used in the tunnel as a heat shield ? I see the dyno mat on the underside of the floor pans but cannot make out the product in the tunnel. I was thinking of using dyno mat thru out but am unsure if it is an effective heat shield or more of a sound deadener. Thanks in advance YEs you are correct Dynomat is not technically a heat shield. Dynomat Extreme is probably best described as a sound proofing that can be used in the engine bay as well as under the car. It will take heat but not exhaust level heat. So you need to keep it away from direct exhaust heat with the heat shield. The way i did it was to use Dynomat extreme for the tunnel area first (make sure you clean the metal from dirt and grease). Then on top of that I used a peel and stick fibreglass backed aluminium heat shield that worked really well. You can buy it from Sound Deadener - Car Builders - Sound Deadener Heat Insulation Car heat Shields or from ebay.com.au. I used it everywhere I could, the area in the tunnel and especially right near the seat belt buckles as this takes in a lot of heat. Even after the shielding it still gets a tiny bit warm...but its a long way from being burning hot like before ! The last thing I did was use a spray can sound deadener to get to all those impossible places where dynomat does not work. A spray can works fantastically well and gives the whole undercarriage a nice deep black look. Do all of the above and you will be happy with the result :) Cheers |
Originally Posted by engineer
(Post 24509)
3) There is some method to my madness (well most of the time!). With the exhaust I agree that duals have more internal cross sectional area and technically can flow more gas. However this additional area is only of benefit if the engine requires it. On a street car in order to flood a single 3 inch pipe it needs to flow over 750cfm of flow, this will exceed the intake cfm flow of my 331 stroker at 6200rpm which is about 580-600cfm. In addition increasing cross sectional area too far introduces resonance or droning in the exhaust at low speeds (I personally hate this a lot..lol). Also exhaust diameter is most critical at the engine end and it becomes less critical as you move rearward. My car has twin 2.5 in pipes until just before the diff, where it moves to a single 3 in. I have used 2 into 1 single 3 inch pipes on a few of my V8 cars and they work quite well for sub 500HP street riven applications. With exhausts it is always good to be a bit on the small side than the large side, it will sound better and wont vibrate or resonate as much. Any advantage of a larger exhaust is only seen if the original pipe size was very restrictive.
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Hi All,
Here are some pictures of my Deuce Roll Bar install with the addition of the Mazda Factory Wind Deflector. Many have stated that the wind deflector cannot be refitted with a roll bar but that is not exactly true. What you need to do is make two new brackets to slightly extend the position of the wind deflector so it sots in front of the roll bar. I used some 2mm stainless steel angle to make them. I made a cardboard template first and then a few trial fits to get the right hole positions and angles. I am really wrapped with the outcome as they look factory fitted once they got painted in the trim color. As far as performance goes, the wind is dramatically reduced over 40MPH. Without the deflector the wind was terrible at around 60-70MPH. Now with the windows up and the top down it is great and one can easily have a conversation with only a very small amount of wind coming into the cabin. Enjoy the pics! http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_56_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_42_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_33_Pro.jpg |
Hi All,
Here are the pics as promised..I finally had a chance to wash the car properly for a photo shoot..Enjoy!! http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...9_17_Pro_1.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_10_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_05_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._40_21_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_56_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._10_22_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._10_48_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._11_20_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._11_12_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_10_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_17_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_27_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._39_36_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._10_57_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._11_04_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._11_30_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._11_38_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._11_45_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._12_12_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._12_15_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._12_21_Pro.jpg |
Wow, beautiful build. I’m going to be redoing a few bits on my car this year and will be using a few of your ideas. You say you braced the clutch slave. Any pics of that? I have my doubts that it really needs to be braced, but it couldn’t hurt. Will be adding more heat shield even though I did the entire interior with heatmat. Surprised you had hood clearance issue even after shimming the subframe. Does this Martin subframe make the engine sit higher than his LH drive models? And need details how you did the fan shroud. |
On your headlamp housings, are those some sort of aftermarket units?
They look to be something other than factory and one thing I am looking for with my car is something better at night. |
Thanks Brad,
I must say that your build helped me so much in planning for mine. Your pics and notes were invaluable to me (as were many others) and as such I am happy to be able to give you and anyone else something back through my experiences. I will take a pic of the Clutch Slave support, which worked our really well to be honest. Yes you definitely do need to support it as the bell housing does flex slightly when the clutch is depressed. Someone had put a video up ( i think Gabriel ??) of his clutch action and I think you can see it there. It is not much but its there. Yes heat shield, heat shield and more heat shield is the name of the game for sure. Best is to put it underneath and on the firewall if you can. I did not do my firewall as I still had all the stuff on it as I did not strip the entire car down, so all the brakes and wires were still on it. Which makes it hard to get a nice 1 piece finish on the heat shield. I was little disappointed with the hood clearance to be honest as I thought I would get by with it. But with my setup there was no way for the hood to close. The reasons for this are as follows. 1) I have a stroker engine, therefore the pan needs to be deeper by at least 0.25 inches. Why that is important is that a deeper pan interferes with the steering rack sooner :) 2) I have a very tall intake manifold (TFS R) which is 11 inches tall std., By comparison this is 0.25 taller than the GT40 manifold and likely at least 0.5 in taller than the style of manifold on your engine. The GT40 and older 5.0L manifold choke the engines potential (especially a stroker) so I could not run it. So the added 0.75 in height stack makes all the difference to hood clearance. The main point of interference is the TPS switch, the manifold funnily fits in easily under the power bulge. But as the Throttle body sits to one side it gets to a lower point on the bulge..or just off the edge of it as in my case. To combat it I did the following: 1) I dropped the subframe by 10 mm (not a fan of doing this but had no choice) I used the special tie rods to combat the bump steer issue (if it ever arose 2) I milled my intake by 4mm for some extra space (still not enough) 3) Removed the hood bracing across the power bulge 3) I also had my bonnet modified slightly to get me an extra 1/4 inch by enlarging the "power bulge" slightly. It is subtle so you may have missed it. :) Which is the whole idea! So now the hood closes but there is only 3mm clearance...it touches slightly so I will need to do some more trimming on the TPS screws so it clears by an extra mm or two... Martins Subframe does not make the engine sit higher, its just a bad combination of the above that takes away that precious 1/2 inch that is afforded to everyone who use a 5 litre engine with a shallower oil pan and a lower profile intake. But it fits now so I am happy :) The Fan shroud is an interesting one as it is nothing more than a single flat sheet of 3mm Aluminium (in hindsight 6mm would have been better..will explain later) with two massive holes holes cut out of it for the fans. I mounted the fans to the shroud. Now as I had a custom radiator I had 6 mounting studs brazed to my end tanks. I then used a 10mm hollow tube spacer to space the shroud away form the radiator mounting surface to allow the fans to pull air from the corners of the radiator core as well and not just the core area directly in front of the fans (this helps a lot in pulling air flow across the entire core evenly). I also put an insulator fibre washer under the spacer so that the tanks don't get wear marks over time form metal to metal contact. So what I then did, was use self adhesive weatherseal (from a hardware store) and I ran it all along the outer edges of the radiator (looping around the hose outlets). I then did the same on the radiator mounting surface of the shroud. The shroud has 6 holes drilled into it to allow the radiator studs to pass through. I also drilled some large holes in the "blank" corners of the shrould where the fan blades were not covering and I set them up as air bypass vents. I used 1.5mm Rubber and some "xmas tree" plugs to secure the flaps in place. The bypass flaps allow slightly more air flow at speed by allowing it through the shroud and they theoretically close by suction when the fans are operating. See pics above for details. I then mounted the radiator in the car first, then I put the shroud on by passing the 6 studs on the radiator through the shround and squashing the two weatherseals together in a "sandwich" (see pics above). I then used 6 nuts and washers to secure it in place.. The shroud worked beautifully but the SPAL fans I used were massive and heavy and as a result the shroud "flexes" so I used some rubber "feet" (same as those founds on the radiator supports on the factory Miata radiator) on the inside of the shroud to support it right in the middle between the fans. (see radiator pics above) If you need more details let me know but the pictures above show it pretty well..I hope :) Thanks Brad.. |
Originally Posted by BGordon
(Post 24543)
On your headlamp housings, are those some sort of aftermarket units?
They look to be something other than factory and one thing I am looking for with my car is something better at night. The headlamp housings are actually factory OEM Mazda Miata NB Series 2!!! :) There was a change by Mazda in the headlamps design to better units with three separate sections in late 2000. The original 1999-2000(early) NB lamps were like a single large lamp (like yours!). These units are a plug and play affair but they may be pricey if new from Mazda, mine were! :) My original lamps were the same type but they had turned yellow so I invested in a new set. They make a world of difference in looks and performance! |
Originally Posted by MX-Brad
(Post 24537)
Wow, beautiful build. I’m going to be redoing a few bits on my car this year and will be using a few of your ideas. You say you braced the clutch slave. Any pics of that? I have my doubts that it really needs to be braced, but it couldn’t hurt. Will be adding more heat shield even though I did the entire interior with heatmat. Surprised you had hood clearance issue even after shimming the subframe. Does this Martin subframe make the engine sit higher than his LH drive models? And need details how you did the fan shroud. Here are the pics of the slave cylinder brace...and they are very average (so sorry!) as I didn't have access to a hoist. But it is pretty easy to see it once you know how it is made up. Essentially the brace is made up from steel square tube. We then welded up a mounting tab at the tailshaft end of the brace to mount up to the transmission casing ab that protrudes out from the T5z casing (it has a hole drilled through it). This tab is near the reverse switch. What we did at the bellhousing end is we made another tab and welded it to the brace. We then welded the that tab to Martins slave cylinder bracket. We welded it in between the two mounting bolts on the underside of the bracket. So as you mount the slave bracket/brace assembly you tighten the two bolts in the bellhousing and you then secure the rear with a bolt, washers and nut. http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._28_56_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._29_09_Pro.jpg The finish is very neat and its super strong, no flex or movement :) Hopefully that makes sene |
Cool. Thanks for the explanation. Looks similar to another brace I saw posted here. I like your xmember braces too. I did the hole through the passenger side floor, but I like your version better. Glad that my build helped you. I had a long thread here somewhere where I asked questions along the way. Lots of good info there provided by the great folks here. Can’t wait to get mine out of storage. We’re suffering through the last little bit of winter here. |
Hi Brad,
Here are some better shots of the brace...I got it up on a hoist :) Chttp://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._13_38_Pro.jpg http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/..._11_37_Pro.jpgost is $9200 |
Thanks for the pics. I’m planning on making a heat shield for the slave, so maybe I’ll try this too. I’ll be chatting with you when I build my next motor (possibly next year). You seem to be pretty smart about the 5.0. |
Originally Posted by MX-Brad
(Post 24561)
Thanks for the pics. I’m planning on making a heat shield for the slave, so maybe I’ll try this too. I’ll be chatting with you when I build my next motor (possibly next year). You seem to be pretty smart about the 5.0. In addition I have engine modelling software (dynomation). I can even spin one up with the combo you are thinking and see what it will do in the simulation. On my engine it predicted 340Hp at the wheels..I made 335hp with a bit of wheelspin...so 340Hp is bang on the money :) |
The more I look at your pictures the more impressed I become with your build.
Little details like the Mazda emblem on the valve covers just show that you spent that last little bit of time and trouble to make it as perfect as possible. With your transmission & rear end gearing & tire size what speed are you getting at redline in each gear and what rpm are you getting at highway cruising speed? Since I am debating and planning my next Miata swap with one consideration being to use a different transmission it is of interest to me. Will definitely staying with an LS engine but the transmission and differential you are utilizing is a possibility. Speaking of engines, what were your reasons for going with the engine you chose? Presumably thing are different in the land down under but I do know that the Holden V8 engine is an LS so they are available but for all I know they could be a big cost premium. Here in the USA the LS based engine is super inexpensive and available due to the wide range of vehicles using them. Pretty close to half the pickup trucks on the road are General Motors products with LS derived engines under the hood. Sure wish we had the Ute here cause I would have one of those instead of a hotrod Miata. Something else that I have been wondering is if you have any plan to keep your intake air cooler than the under hood temperature? As best I can tell from the picture your air filter is just open to the rest of the engine bay. |
Hi BG,
Thanks for the kind words. I did try my hardest to make everything as OEM standard and looking as possible. I did not want it to be better than OEM, just factory level detail and quality. It is pretty hard to make everything perfect when you are on a limited budget, but there are many things that can be done to make things look "OEM clean and neat". That is what i did essentially. I made sure I used as much of the factory stuff as possible, grommets, brackets, cables, connectors etc. It makes a difference when you add everything up. The Mazda logos on the rocker covers were not hard to do...but were a little tedious as they are Trickflow cast rocker covers. They are embossed with a the Trickflow logo from factory and I had to grind it all off (very messy, cast alloy went everywhere!). I then used metal reinforced fibreglass to make a small flat mounting platform for the Mazda Symbol as the surface is not flat there and the logo therefore wont stick. After i made the little flat area and sanded them back a little, I covered them with black VHT Wrinkle paint. I am pretty happy wit the outcome, it fools a lot of people who look under the hood, as they cant really tell what engine it really is :) (Perfect!) As I drive the car everyday it is not worth the extra effort or expense to make it look better than OEM. Plus the OEM look appeals to almost everyone, its a universal kind of presentation that works. So I am very happy that you like the outcome and I really appreciate the kind words of support... As far as the gear ratios, Diff ratio, Tyre Size and RPM goes the table is as follows: https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...49de045773.png On the Highway I am getting about 2000 rpm at 70MPH. This is a really nice cruising speed for the engine provided that the camshaft is matched. My cam is just on the start of its power ramp at this RPM which makes it feel crisp for overtaking as you squeeze on the throttle to pass other cars. There is no need to change gear, the full torque of the engine is there from about 2500 rpm to 5000 rpm so you just squeeze the throttle and ride the torque wave. :) The reason for me going with a Ford 5.0L is four fold. First, I love Fords, enough said there!. Secondly, I know these engines very well and can build them with my eyes closed, so I built this one. Thirdly I had the full Trickflow top end available to me form another identical engine that I sold (so heads, Intake, TB etc), so its cost. Fourth is the most important reason, Legislation. The engine size of the Ford engine makes it possible for this conversion to be legal in Australia (only just!). Maximum engine size allowed in this vehicle is 5.5L, thereby removing many other engine options (i.e LS). LS engines in Australia are plentiful and priced well. If I had a choice I would get an LS engine without question, its newer in design and lighter. Plus it would have been cheaper to get one with low miles than build the new Ford engine. However the fitment of the Ford engine is easier (no tunnel mods...which are a big no no if you need the car to be legal) and they afford you more room in the engine bay. Australia is in many ways quite draconian with its laws around vehicle modifications so things like modifying tunnels and inadequate clearance are frowned upon. Things have improved but it is still a minefield for the uninitiated. Most people give up as they do not know how to approach things, something as simple as not putting wiring through a grommet or having adequate clearance in some places can invalidate a car from being legally registered. As a Mechanical engineer, I worked for the car companies (GM, Ford, Toyota) as a steering and suspension designer, I know what the registration authorities will look out for as I have gone through the legislation carefully for each and every modification that I have made. It is a long, convoluted and in many parts of legislation it is unreasonable and lacking any kind of physics in its approach. This is very frustrating as if you want to do something ever so slightly outside the exact legislation the process can be too hard. In the USA you are all quite lucky not to have this sort of Nanny State antics making your project a painful experience :) So that's why I settled for the little ol' Ford 5.0L, it is also easy to fit, quite cheap, reasonably reliable and readily available. Also servicing is a DIY breeze...With a decent set of heads, cam and intake they can be made to deliver power. However the one thing that hurts them is the cast iron block it is heavier than the alloy block LS engines. There are Ford Alloy blocks available (Dart, Ford Racing) but they cost a lot of money and if I was richer, then yes I would get one for my builds...it only weighs 85lbs ! :) And yes the Australian "Ute" is a great variant, it drives like a normal car but gives you the versatility of a small pick up truck. Check out the Holden HSV variants for some good reading!! They are very popular here in the modified car seen, some are supercharged, turbocharged..its an Australian culture thing! As Australian as a Koala! Yes you are very observant and have spotted my exposed air filter (yuk!) !! I am in the process of making an Airbox/Shroud to stop the hot air from hitting it. I will also try and get a cold duct into the airbox shroud from somewhere. There is not a lot of room in there and as such I am still developing that solution. I initially tried to get a mustang cobra air filter pod box but I wasn't able get it to fit..it was too big. The air temp is something that needs to be addressed, as the engine is high comp it needs to stay as cool as possible. I might measure the temperature at the air filter there one day to see what it is and I will then remeasure it with the airbox in place to see if it has made a good deal of difference. So far I have not had any detrimental performance or engine behaviour with the expose pod, BUT best practice dictates a sealed airbox for smooth airflow entry to the maf for accurate readings. Cheers I will post up some pics once I get the airbox thing sorted out. :) |
Thanks for the response.
All of your discussion points make sense. Here in the US the small pickup V8 Chevy engines are 4.8 & 5.3 so they would ne usable within your size restrictions. The 5.3 can even be gotten with an aluminum block from some Cadillac SUV's. I even know of one guy who destroked a 5.7 to get an engine that revs like an exotic. Don't know his redline but based on the sound it must be somewhere above 8000 rpm. You have lots of restrictions that don't make sense but hopefully they are consistent within Australia. Here in the US each state has different restrictions with California being one of the worst. I am lucky being in Oklahoma because the state does not even know or care that I have done a swap. For insurance and registration purposes it is still a slow little 4 cylinder. For the cold air intake you might take a look at the Yellow Submarine LS build. Originally he routed his intake so that the air cleaner is in the area in front of the front fender where the fog lights would normally go. The bonus is that you get consistent cool air because the opening in the front that used to house the fog light works very well. He notched the very front of his box frame to get clearance for the round tube but when I was considering doing it my idea was to fabricate a rectangular duct that would flow a decent amount of air and lay right against the box frame on the driver's side without the need to do any trimming. https://www.v8miata.net/general-moto...ar-2911/page9/ https://www.v8miata.net/attachments/...ine=1469330282 As a variation on that you could probably work up a duct to feed cool air into a box located inside the engine compartment but it seems to me that would be doing double work over simply figuring out a direct duct configuration. |
Hi John, I take you got the weight over 1100kgs to engineer the motor as per the VSB14 rules?
|
Mx5 v8
Originally Posted by kaboose
(Post 24707)
Hi John, I take you got the weight over 1100kgs to engineer the motor as per the VSB14 rules?
Yes I did. I finalised all the engineering this month. it was a 14 month journey but I am 100% legal on every front :)!! |
Nice!! I'm hoping to do a NC 6.0 LS at some stage down the track so its good to hear an mx5 has been engineered without going the ICV route.
|
Hi Kaboose,
The Tare weight listed for the NC Series is somewhere between 1062kg-1101kg according to Redbook. If you wanted to do a 6.0L LS the Tare mass would need to be 1200kg in order for it to be compliant. Unfortunately I think that this is too far away from the mark to be signed off as a 6.0L. The 5.3L LS could be an option for you and they can be made to make decent power too.. :) |
I've got an online brochure here for a series 3 NC and the heaviest listed weight is 1179kg, still not 1200kg so I'd have to talk to VASS engineer to see if options or anything can tip it over 1200 or not.
Congrats on the build too, looks great!! |
v8 mx5
Hi Kaboose,
Just make sure that you are referencing the TARE weight and NOT the KERB weight. Heaviest NC TARE weight i could find was 1140kg. Multiplied by 5 gets you a maximum engine cc value of 5700cc. So a 5.7l LS engine will be ok, provided everything else in vsb14 is compliant and legal. I hope you can get it over the line. It's a fun thing once its legal and running .I love mine..😁😎👍 |
Good Lord, never really appreciated how lucky we are in the States. Great conversation on being legal down Under.
Good Luck, RonR |
Originally Posted by 5.0MX5
(Post 25504)
Good Lord, never really appreciated how lucky we are in the States. Great conversation on being legal down Under.
Good Luck, RonR You have no idea how draconian the Australian laws can be. there is a reason for this in that they want to ensure that the cars that are modified are safe for people to drive...i.e. stop, steer, don't pollute, not noisy, too low, pose a fire hazard, dangerous in a collision etc. It is a good system...but it is utterly unforgiving to anyone who is uninitiated with it. Some of the stories that the certifiers told me about were quite hair raising i.e. cars attempting legal compliance with horrid brakes that locked the rears first, rubber fuel lines that run right next to exhaust systems, etc etc. So the safety net needs to be there for those cases. I am happy to have done it the right way in the end...but boy o boy they do NOT make it easy, even for me and I knew what to expect. A sample… 1) Full Emissions test (not easy to pass with a modified engine) 2) Full Brake and manoeuvrability test 3) Full Noise Test 4) Full Chassis Torsional Rigidity Test 5) Complete modifications listing and approvals needed from brakes to grommets for wiring 6) Finite Element analysis report for chassis structure (yep..bet you never guessed that one!) The list goes on...I get bad memories just thinking about it :) haha Overall I got through without too much drama in the end but that was because I had done 14 months of research and provided a massive report to the certifier with everything that he needed to issue the authorities with. The USA does not have this level of governance...but I think a happy medium point would satisfy both ends of the equation. It is all over now and I am just happy that my dream to drive a V8 MX5 is now my daily reality! :) Cheers |
Until your next v8 conversion :biggthumpup:
|
Originally Posted by kaboose
(Post 25595)
Until your next v8 conversion :biggthumpup:
|
Nice!! I can hear the purists now though :naughty:
|
Hi All,
I haven't posted on here for a year in my thread but I wanted to give everyone a little update on the build and what I have been working on and what tweaks have been done. I hope that someone finds the information useful... 1) Diff Ratio: I have changed the read end ratio to 3:73 (was 3:27, then I went 3:45). I feel that with the tall overdrive on the T5z (0.63) that the 3.73 ratio makes the car much perkier but hardly affects the highway cruise experience (only 150 rpm difference from 3.45 ratio). I need to note that I have a tall wheel and tyre combination...17 inch with 215/45/17 tyres. A 3.73 in a 14/15 inch wheel car would likely be different.. 2) Starter Heat: I noticed that heat around the starter motor is an issue with these cars. I saw some heat damage on the cables on the starter after 12months of summer time cruising. I have now used Kevlar/reflecting heat tube around all cables going to starter and have used self adhesive heat shield around starter itself to stop this. Occasionally after a long run and when car was hot it was always bit hard to start...but all good now, starts first go. 3) Tunnel Heat: Although I added heat shield in the tunnel area to reduce the radiant heat, I felt it was not quite enough and I added another layer recently to try and slow the heat down even further. Especially around the handbrake/seatbelt buckle area...it would get hot there. 4) Battery Cables: I upgraded the battery cables from he original Miata cables..they were pretty much dead and corroded in sections. A must do for everyone. 5) VSS Signal. I had trouble replicating the EECV VSS signal from my Dakota Digital speedo module. So I have reverted to utilising a instrument cluster from the correct vehicle which fees the ECU the right signal. I have the cluster hidden in the boot in the cavities down the fender. It was the only way to stop the VSS Error codes from appearing and from having the car drop rpm too quickly when pushing in clutch whilst moving or even at idle. Correct VSS signal helps this situation. 6) Valve Spring: I had some bad luck in that I broke a valve spring...no idea why it happened. I changed all of them just to be sure. They are a PAC racing spring so theory says they should be good, but I guess there is a first time for everything. I had slightly erratic and lower than ideal vacuum. It was a dual spring and only the outer spring broke..the inner spring kept the valve going. I would only notice it sometimes stumble. It had broken very early on in the piece, I did 10000 miles like that...LOL. 7) PCV Valve: I installed an adjustable PCV valve from mewager.com. This allows you to exactly adjust the vacuum at idle and cruise for correct PCV operation. These engines tend to suck a fair bit of oil through the PCV into the intake so getting the right operation point for the PCV valve keeps this oil ingestion to a minimum. 8) T5z Gearbox: I had to rebuild the T5z because it didn't change want to change gears one day. Although the box shifts very smooth, is quiet and works well it feels marginal from a strength perspective. if I had my time again I would get a T56 or TKO 600...I considered it but clutch, tail shaft, exhaust, mounting and shifter all need to be modified to work with it...for the conversion cost involved I could rebuild the T5z another 4-5 times. So I will stick with it. 9) CAM: Whilst I was doing the valve spring I also upgraded the cam to a larger Ed Curtis custom unit currently its 222 @ 50 with 0.6 in lift (Was 214 @50 with 0.6 lift). Idle excellent and is pretty much the same as before if not smoother! (with all valve springs now working properly!). Sound is slightly heavier and engine sounds much better and throatier. I am still running the clutch in so I will find out when it hits the dyno...aiming for 370 rwhp. Apart from that the car has been running perfectly. It is a great machine and I look forward to enjoying it over autumn!! cheers |
Adr69/00
Hi Engineer
Congratulations on your V8 MX5 build. My project (Melbourne Victoria) has stalled on the rules for ADR69/00 offset frontal crash. The VASS engineer requires me to prove that a V8 Mazda will perform identically in the crash test compared with OEM and apart from crashing my car in front of him nothing satisfies. This includes crash computations which he could not understand so these were rejected summarily. There seems to be no intention of allowing V8 Mazda to be approved in the ‘nanny state.’ How did you get your vehicle approved under this ADR rule? Do you think your car would comply with Victorian application of the rules. regards CivEng |
Hi Civeng,
Thank you for the kind words on my build. It was a really long haul to get her built and legal but I am happy now that I can drive it :) The ADR60/00 rule would typically be applied to a manufacturer that is looking to produce vehicles on mass for ADR compliance for legal sale in Australia, thereby a sample is mandated to ensure all is OK with the end product. This is a normal process that is reasonable when applied at the "manufacturer" level. Now in your case..you are NOT a manufacturer and your vehicle... if I am not mistaken is being certified as a modified car OR is it being classified as an ICV car ?? There is a difference in how the certification process and certification requirements work with each process. If its certified as a modified car with an "engine change" then it is NOT in any way reasonable for the VASS engineer to mandate an ADR 69/00 crash test. If they insist on you doing this...then they need to understand the following: That ANY car with ANY engine change according to this logic MUST be crash tested as there is no way that ANY engine swapped car can meet the original ADR69/00 test. The VASS engineer's logic if applied, will mean that ANY engine swap in ANY car needs a full ADR crash test. This is of course not only absurd for a one off vehicle, but also not necessary as you are not a manufacturer. Additionally, if they apply this logic law to your application and car, then they must apply it to all engine swapped cars. I am sure they don't ADR crash test every car that has been approved or applied for an engine swap !!! :) However I feel that that the VASS engineer is simply AVOIDING your project. They don't really want to do it, so they try to scare you off with ADR crash tests. They simply do not want to risk their license by putting their name to the car...this is obvious. I know this myself as I had so many of them almost hang up on me after I told them what I wanted to do...ROFL :) They told me "that's dangerous, I would never certify something like that" or "That is not legal, cant be done" or "mate you cant do that and maybe you should build something else". I have heard it all it before...and most people would say "oh well...I tried". But unlike most people I read all the VSB and ADR regulations, I understand the engineering, the requirements of that law and how we could meet both. I spent a lot of my time (14 months) on this but it paid off.. Any VASS engineer worth a dime, would sit down with you and see how things could be reasonably worked out. If they cant or wont do it...use another VASS engineer. This is a very tight rope to walk...but it is walkable. Good luck with it! |
Hi All,
Another couple of new additions to the car that I think are noteworthy for all: 1) Added the 5th Gear countershaft retainer plate to the T5z. This plate was designed by Paul Sagliosi from 5speeds.com (https://www.5speeds.com/t5.htm) and it is very very very worthwhile addition to any T5 rebuild. It did two things for me...it eliminated almost all of the "clunking" noise that happened in my T5z when the car was bunny hopping. The transmission sounded like it was loose. Now it sounds very tight and nice. Also I found shifting was smoother with it as well. It simply stops the entire 5th gear countershaft from rocking on the bearings. An excellent mod and its less than $50 :) 2) I added a trunk lift kit and I lined the inside of the trunk lid with dynomat and covered it in black carpet. The car is noticeably quieter now when driving and additionally it looks great with the trunk open ( I will take a pic and post it) and the lift kit makes it sooo much easier when getting stuff out of the trunk. I highly recommend it! Also less than $50 ! Until next time... |
Hi All,
I thought that I would post a pic of my heat shield setup for reference. I ran a 3 inch flexible ducted pipe from the front of the bumper opening through the factory hole in the body (just ahead of the wheel arch inside the engine bay). I enlarged it slightly to get the ducting through. So now there is a very strong stream of air that comes through and blows air all around the air filter which is encased by the heat shield. The heat shield attaches to an aluminum bracket which is attached to the Air flow meter mounting holes. I also shaped the heat shield to follow the contour of the body. I have tested it with a thermocouple and it drops the air temperature almost as soon as the car is rolling to the ambient temp. Without the shield and ducting running an exposed air filter element will make you air intake temps soar over 50 deg C. With the duct and shield the intake temps are almost ambient when the car is moving even at slow speeds. Simple but effective :) Enjoy https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...4e98bc5e4c.jpg Stainless steel heat shield with dynomat style reflective sheet https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...a5ecc0b266.jpg Rear shot showing a lack of being totally sealed...but it doesn't make any real difference. As soon as the car rolls it gets cold air. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...776766c30a.jpg I used a 2 inch feeder pipe to add additional air into the main 3 inch pipe that goes to the filter. This pipe neatly fits inside the lower cavity of the front bumper and runs across the mouth to the other side. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...e28cee68d5.jpg Top view of engine |
Hi All,
Just a quick review of some minor mods I have made recently: 1) Brake Master Cylinder brace: I also added a brake master cylinder brace which attaches tot he strut tower. I can honestly say it has made a very noticeable difference to the initial bite of the brakes. It just digs in a lot better. Well worth the 5 minutes it takes to fit. You can see it in the pics above.. 2) Mishimoto Oil Catch Can: This was another easy little mod that helps keep the intake system clean. I noticed that it collected more oil than I expected. Well worth the effort as it keeps the intake clean. Quality of Mishimoto product was excellent. 3) LED Number Plate Bulbs: This was a necessary mod as my plate bulb blew so I changed to LED and WOW are they heaps brighter or what!. Pretty cool! 4) LED Trunk lamp: I designed my own trunk lamp using a couple of LED lights. It works a treat, as soon as you pop the trunk it grounds the connection and you get a bright trunk! no more darkness....AND when you combine the light of the interior trunk with the number plate lights...its super bright. You could study for the BAR exam under that light until well into the early morning!!:) 5) Ken Auto Dosukai brace: I got this brace and fitted it up but I think as I have a roll cage it probably didn't make that much difference. Still its a well made brace, very light. In a standard car it would help I guess, but I couldn't tell if it was there or not :) 6) Clock Spring: OK I was getting intermittent air bag errors in the car for the last 5 years I have owned it, flashing error code 6 (Drivers Airbag on an NB). New OEM Mazda clock spring and 20 mins later...it was replaced. Now there are no more errors! 7) Nardi 5 Speed gear knob: I was able to find a unicorn! A Mazda Nardi wooden gear knob with a 5 speed pattern! Never seen one before or since. It was immaculate...So now I have the correct 5 speed pattern on the gear knob for my T5z :) 8) LED Headlight bulbs from Flyin Miata: I replaced all of the main bulbs in the headlight clamp with the Flyin Miata Diode Dynamics kit. They are USA made and are excellent, they provide so much more light than the standard halogen globes. The MX5 has average lights at best but these make them pretty decent. Enjoy! Cheers Enjoy... |
Hi All,
Just thought i would post up the last 2 mods that I have made to the car..which may be of use to someone with similar issues: 1) Charcoal Canister Purging solution (to remove fuel smells) Recently I have been toying with the Miata EVAP canister system as I get a fuel smell coming from the canister which then wafts under the hood and then eventually finds its way through the air vents and into the cabin. It will happen when its a hot day and the car has been idling a lot in traffic. This is due to the V8 getting the tank and fuel lines very hot and expanding the vapors to the point where they flood the charcoal canister and overwhelm it, thereby letting the gasses "leak" out from the open air vent on the canister. This happens on the standard MX5 as well but nowhere to the degree of the V8 converted cars. Many people delete the evap canister but thats not a smart thing to do as it has an important role to play. From what I could find out, the SCT tuner software that I use to tune my car does NOT have a parameter that allows me to control the duty cycle of the purge solenoid. So I was stuck with whatever the factory duty cycle was for purging, which is no where near frequent enough to evacuate all the fuel vapor gases from the tank and canister. So what I have done to solve this is to use a really cool Multi function Timer that I bought from here: Buy Multi Functional Timers online | Timers.shop This timer allows me to setup cycling of the purge solenoid (independent from the ecu) so that the vapors can be sucked into the intake manifold at a more frequent rate. I have currently got it setup to work as follows:
The Cycle will then repeat every 10 mins until ignition is switched off. I thought I would share it as its been a bug bear for me for a while now....as people have often complained about my car smelling like its got a fuel leak, and the garage would stink of fuel after I parked the car (when hot) in it and closed it up. So no more fuel fumes headaches after 2 hours of being stuck in traffic :) 2) Vacuum Canister for Brakes (Helps improve brake power) The brakes I had on the Miata seemed a little weak due to he fact that the booster sees reduced vacuum from Mazda OEM spec due to the larger cam in the V8 engine. I was getting about 13 in Hg of vacuum at idle, a booster will need about 17-19 in Hg vacuum to get a good charge for full power. I did have a vacuum pump on the car initially to help, but it was a heavy and noisy thing and as a result I didn't like it. So I decided to install a brake vacuum canister to assist the brakes to get more power by storing more vacuum so it can fully charge the booster. On downhill runs with engine braking the engine will pull over 21+ in Hg of vacuum, that gets stored in the canister and booster (and locked in with a one way valve) thereby letting me get full brake power on my next stop(s). The install was easy, I just had to make a bracket to mount it just in front of the shock tower and above the chassis frame rail. What I noticed immediately was that the pedal felt like it was "higher" and "cushion like". Essentially I am getting more bite earlier and the power assist is now higher from the increased vacuum so it feels "cushion like". I am pretty happy with the improvement, more braking power and no moving parts or noisy pumps :) I will post a pic when I can.. Until next time... |
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