99 Miata Track Build

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Category: Projects

Published on Monday, 09 January 2012 18:06

Written by Jeff Lyon

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• Not like I had enough going on but there is always room for one more (not really :-]) we added the '99 Miata of Shawn Reilly CEO of Zoom Zoom Track Days.

This is Shawn's 10th Anniversary Edition '99 Miata 6-speed with 78k miles.  The current mods list:

• Spec Miata Suspension with somewhat softer springs (since this car will see minimal street duty)
• Evil Genius Racing Roll Bar
• New Rotors and Raybestos ST-43 pads on all 4 corners
• New braided steel brake lines
• Corner balance and 4 wheel alignment
• New fluids
• Track rubber
• ???  I am sure there is more, there is always more!

Just finished up installing the Evil Genius Racing Roll Bar.  Check out the How-To Install EGR Bolt-In Roll Bar for installation details.

I talked to Jay Morris, owner of Ground Control, and they have some brand new part that should be coming in soon.  Hopefully we can get them soon enough to put them on Shawn's car.

Well we got the suspension from Ground Control.  We went with Koni single adjustable sport shocks and some moderatly stiff springs.  The front spings are barrel wound so they actually have a slight variable rate to them which will improve comfort on the street... a bit.

There are a few steps that just make doing this job easier, rather than fighting them I just go ahead and do them and will point them out here. 

First, when unbolting the top of the 4 shocks they are all easy to get to except for the left rear do to the gas tank filler tube.  You can try and work around this but it is easier to just remove the tube to gain easy access to the top of the shock. 

Here is a pic and as you can see there just isn't much room to work with.

After removing some hose clamps, one 10mm bolt in the trunk and then 4 - 8mm bolts at the fuel filler to remove the metal neck. (Note: when referring to the bolt size I am referring to the head size not the shank size.)  Here is the filler removed.

Now that it has been removed you have a much easier time getting to the top of the shock.

Another tip is to loosen the adjuster bolts on the lower control arms.  These can be marked but most likely it won't matter since the car will have to be realigned after installing new suspension.  Also disconnect the sway bar, this will allow the lower control arm to swing down so you can easily remove the shock assembly.

The fronts are a bit more difficult since they go through the upper control are.  Again loosen the lower control arm, disconnect the swaybar links, unbolt the bottom of the shock and then unbolt the lower ball joint.  This may seem like a pain but it is much less work than wrestling with the shock assembly.  After unbolting the shock, slide it back toward the engine about an inch and there is a bolt going straight down through the lower control arm into the lower ball joint.  Remove that bolt and then the outer bolt and slide the lower ball joint out of the lower control arm.  This will allow the lower control arm to swing down.  In this picture you can see a socket on the bolt beneath the shock.

Now that all of the shocks are out it is time to assemble the new pieces.  These units from Ground Control came with the height adjusters, bump stops, springs, shocks and upper rubber perches.  I had to use the hats and the rubber bushings from the original shocks.

In addition to the new suspension we added a set of Goodridge braided steel brake lines, new rotors and Raybestos ST-43 Brake Pads all the way around.  Oh yea, we also flushed all the old brake fluid out and filled it back up with Ate Super Blue.

The Eibach sway bars for a '99 spec a 26mm front bar but that is a bit too stiff for this setup so I swapped it out for a 24mm bar so I am waiting on the bushings to install the sway bar and adjustable swaybar links.  Then we will be ready to align and corner balance this baby! 

Turbo Spec Miata

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Category: Projects

Published on Thursday, 27 October 2011 19:15

Written by Jeff Lyon

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UPDATE:  3/27 TurboSM makes 199HP/153TQ on 9psi of boost on first night of dyno tuning.
I took the mule down to the Mustang Dyno at Evil Genius Racing and found that the injectors that I chose are too big for this application so I will be going to a smaller size, probably in the 270cc range, but with some tuning we got the car running decently and saw a respectable 199.3HP at the wheels and 153.0lb/ft. of torque.  The car was running too rich so the numbers are conservative.  I have done some additional research and I think a different wastegate actuator and a manual boost controller will allow the boost to build at a lower RPM providing more torque and better mid-range power.   Also with these type of numbers I might dial it back to 8psi since with a proper tune I am confident that 180 - 190rwhp will still be possible.  We will have the car down at Laguna Seca for the Miatas at Mazda Raceway Event this coming weekend.  I will add more pics soon.   See additional pics below.

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I have come up with a pretty simple straight forward recipe for converting a 1.6 Spec Miata into a Turbo Spec Miata.  The goal is to keep the conversion cost around $5k and to up rear wheel HP from 120 to somewhere in the 180 to 200 HP range while maintaining reliability and policability.

To do this I am keeping the stock, unmodified ECU. 

Details of the parts used, costs and pictures will be added as the build progresses.

Doug Gale, owner of TrackMaster Racing, has a Spec Miata built by Justin Hall.  It is a proven car and will be the mule for this project.

Here is the current Build Sheet, this may change slightly as the project progresses.

Vendor	Product	Price
CXRacing	Turbo Kit w/Intercooler	$  1,300.00
eBay	99 Brakes with brackets	$     166.00
Craigslist	95 Torsen Diff w/58k	$     450.00
MPP/Recyclers	Half Shafts and driveshalft	$     160.00
Flyin Miata	MSD Ignition retard	$     158.00
949 Racing	Cooling re-route kit	$     329.00
Flyin Miata	O2 Signal Modifier	$     124.00
949 Racing	949 6UL 15x8 wheels	$     636.00
BEGi	Walbro 255LPH fuelpump	$        94.00
eBay	89-92 Supra Fuel Injectors	$        88.90
BEGi	Fuel Pressure Reg	$     229.00
AIM	Hankook Z214 225/45-15	$     756.00
Porterfield	Brake Pads ST-43	$     264.00
Autoparts warehouse	Rotors 94-05	$        68.93
		$  4,823.83

 

Here are some comparisons of Brakes and Tires for the TurboSM car build.

First a comparison of the front brake rotors.
The original rotors are 9.09" in diameter and the 1.8 rotors are 10.03" in diameter and they both have 5.5" of hub in the middle so some quick math shows that:
1.6 rotor has 41.14in² disc area
1.8 rotor has 55.24in² disc area
So the 1.8 disc has 14.10in² or 34.27% more area.

The pads are so straight forward due to their shape.  They are both about 4" wide but the 1.8 pads are just over .25" taller so some more quick math found that they had approx. 1.08in² or 15.6% more surface area than the 1.6 pads. 

Here is a pic for comparison.

The rear brake pads are about the same size between the 1.6 and the 1.8 but the rotor is larger moving the pads out further.  I believe this is done to improve braking efficiency by moving the leverage arm further out.  It would also improve heat dissipation somewhat.

Next is the tires. 

Currently we run Toyo RA-1's in NASA and SCCA Regional and SCCA National announced that they will be moving to the Hoosier R6 next year but all in the 205/50-15 size.  I figured we needed a little more rubber on the ground so I went to 225/45-15 Hankook Z214's for this project.  The Hankook is proven, popular and affordable.  So how much benefit do you get from going from 205/50's on a 7" wheel to 225/45's on an 8" wheel?  Would you believe just over a full inch of tread width?  That is about a 13.5% increase in rubber on the ground! For this comparison I compared apples to apples.  Doug's car just happed to have 205/50-15 Hankooks on it.

December 15, 2011 Update

I drove Doug's car at Infineon on Nov 19th and was amazed at the difference the brakes made.  The car felt great.  The Turbo mods will take place in January. 

Unitl then here are a couple of pics.  The kit from CX Racing is very nice.  The kit comes with a T28-2 Turbo

A very nice exhaust manifold

A nice larger Intercooler

and a whole bunch of tubing and brackets!

We will have lots and lots of pics of the install as it progresses.

January 8, 2012 Update

 In addition to pulling the engine, ECU and wiring harness out of the '95 Miata for the Ginetta G20 Project, I also managed to pull the differential out of Doug's Spec Miata in preparation for the '95 Torsen install.  For those of you who haven't tackled the diff swap it is pretty straight forward.  Here are a few pics to help.

First you want to disconnect the two half-shafts.  There are 4 nuts on each side.  It is easier to actually remove the half-shaft off of the studs after the diff is loose so there is more play.  If you try and force the half-shaft by the studs while the diff is firmly in place watch the cover on the end of the half-shaft as it will try and pop out and large ball bearings will fall out.  Ask me how I know this.  The second tip is to loosen the two large vertical bolts that go through the torque tube and diff but do not take them out.  Leave about 3/4" of thread showing at the bottom and use a mallot to pound them back up.  This will release the nuts on the top that are pressed into the torque tube and slightly protrude into the diff.  This will make removing the diff easier.

Next remove the 4 bolts that connect the driveshaft to the pinion flange on the diff.  If you have the car up on a lift you might want to suppor the back of the transmission as well.  This brace or torque tube as I have been referring to it acts like the rear engine mount so nothing is supporting the rear of the engine/transmission once the diff is removed.

There are two smaller nuts that keep the mount in place and then one large nut in the middle of each mount.  Remove the two small nuts first on each side.  This is a two person job, have something supporting the diff then remove the last two nuts.  It usually takes some manuvering to get the diff out.  Try and tilt the diff so the bottom comes out of the torque tube first then the diff will slide straight down.

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Here is a side-by-side comparison of the two differentials.  As you can see the '95 Torsen Diff is quite a bit beefier.  And for those that are out picking through the recyclers, here is what you are looking for.

If there is a large Pin or obstruction when you attempt to look through the half-shaft holes then it is an OPEN DIFF.  If you can see through it like this pic, then it is a TORSEN.

With the differential out, this is a perfect time to inpect the rear wheel bearings for play.  If either wheel bearing has excessive play check out this How-To Replace Rear Wheel Bearing to replace the bearing before continuing.

Here is a picture with the Torsen diff in place and one half-shaft installed.  After 1995 Mazda went to 1 piece hafl-shafts so I installed the right side half-shalft first then the differential.  Since I have the left side torn apart replacing the wheel bearing, I can install the left side half-shaft before reassembling the left side hub assembly. 

When iI installed the intercooler there were some studs that I was able to utilize on the back or radiator side of the mount but on the front or bumber side I had to drill holes into the sheet metal then weld on nuts to hold the front two mounts of the intercooler.  Here are a couple of pics and a couple of the intercooler with the plumbing in place.

Most 1.6 Miata engines have an oil port that can be accessed by removing a plug on the lower rear left (drivers side) of the block but this one didn't.  So I had to use an oil filter sandwich adapter.  The line that was supplied with the kit was still plenty long.  The fitting at the oiler filter end is a 1/8 NPT and shouldn't need a washer but this one lieaked.  Here is a pic of the adapter with the line.

I installed a fuel pressure regulator from Bell Engineering and timing retard boost module by MSD. 

The fuel pressure regulator from Bell Engineering was interesting in that it works in conjunction with the stock regulator so you can only increase pressure.  With the 320cc injectors stock fuel pressure was more than enough.

The MSD unit is simple enough, it has a vacuum/boost tube connected to it and modifies the signal going back to the ECU so that the spark is retarded or not advanced as much as it would be when the MSD unit senses boost.

The CXRacing kit came with a Garrett T28 turbo which might be a bit big for this application but the volume of air is nice.  The problem I ran into was that the accumulator on this unit was designed for 12-16psi so when we dialed it all the way down to 9psi the boost came on very late.  This can be easily rectified by switching to an accumulator that is designed for 7psi then use a manual boost controller that is set to 9psi.

The additional issues that need to be addressed are that we had an exhaust leak, partly due to us not being able to get a nut on the middle header stud since the #3 exhaust tube does not provide enough clearance.  We are working with CXRacing to get this resolved.  We are also looking at getting the manifold modified locally.

The oil temp got up to about 230 so an oil cooler needs to be incorporated into the kit.  Also adding ther scooper from Bell Engineering should help overall cooling.

With the fuel pressure regulator and 9psi of boost the stock injectors will be able to be used.  The 320cc injectors were too big.

The car was a blast to drive on the track and with some additional tuning with be rocket.  Please send me an email if you are in the NASA NorCal region and are interested in converting your 1.6 SM into a TurboSM!

Ginetta G20

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Category: Projects

Published on Thursday, 15 December 2011 20:13

Written by Jeff Lyon

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Fellow SCCA racer, Steve Martini, purchased this beautiful Ginetta G20.

These are rather rare in the US.  They race them in the UK with Ford Focus drive trains and attempted to get a series going here with them powered with Miata drive trains but they never caught on.  So Steve has had a few issues getting this beauty running right so we are going to transplant the engine, transmission and ECU from a '95 Miata into this baby.  At only 1350 pounds we should be able to get a solid 130HP at the rear wheels this car will scoot.  Then we can work on the setup.  Not much else to do, the interior is all business.

And the brakes are huge for a car this light!

This car will have the looks and the grunt to back it up on the track.  This should be a fun project.

And here is a pic of my son doing donuts in the donor car behind the shop.  It's a good running donor!

The engine and trans will be coming out soon, stay tuned for more pics.