new looking at building a ls3 miata but...
 

Houston,Tx

At the moment i am looking at getting my second miata. the one thing i am going for on this one is to build one with the ls3 but i would like it automatic because i want to be able to daily drive it and causally race it in the track.

i know i know automatic :nuts: but i dont want to hassle with it just focus straight on driving and nothing else.

Just saw a Scion FRS with an LS and auto tranny at the Texas mile. It would be nice if you could add the paddle shift like in the Vette.

Pretty easily done. The stand alone trans computer in my Jeep for the 4L60E it's plug and play to add button or paddle sifters. Just have to enable it on the in dash display.

There's a member here that has an automatic behind his turbo ls in an NC Miata. Hbwiggins is is screen name.

Nothing bonkers about running an auto if that is what you want. It's just personal preference and for every good point to the auto there is a good point to the manual so don't sweat it. Build the car you know you will love and you will love it!

Nothing wrong with focusing on going straight either but you really do miss out on most of the fun since it is built to handle. And just look how happy corners in a V8 Miata are...
https://www.v8miata.net/attachment.p...ine=1446562482

+1 to the paddles. The NC steering paddle wheels can adapted to NA and NB and I believe some GTOs had paddle shifts along with vettes so just find the right donor and you are good to go.

Anyway welcome to the fun! Do you have a car yet?

for a street car auto is fine.
the track heat will KILL and auto real fast. i've seen monster oil coolers not be able to cool the fluid that is ran threw a torque converter.

if your worried about shifting... i can run road atl in 5th only. 45mph-155mph. all that torque has advantages.

LOL I do the same thing at Raceway park in Omaha. I only gain about a half a second to shift in one spot so usually it's 4th for the whole track 45 to 135.

I had not thought about keeping it cool that is a very good point. Heat on the track is really hard to dissipate out of these cars!

i was listening to an interview on driven about a trophy truck. they installed a tQ converter over a manual trans to stop large jumps from blowing up the trans on landings. yea the engineering is crazy. but he said that the Tq converter had 3 heat exchangers ( smaller air to water coolers.) and then the big cooler was in the radiator shared with the engine. the TQ got so hot that it overheated the entire truck. they couldn't pass enough air threw the radiator to keep the tq converter cool. everyone i've seen with an auto on track goes threw transmissions like water.