トマト Miata!

Woof.

Roughed the alignment up and got everything installed and it feels pretty good. I went ahead and got the lower steering shaft to hopefully firm the steering up that last little bit and we'll call it good!

Well crap.

In reply to Bent-Valve :

Not to worry, just hadn't put the bumper on yet!

A wider engine bay is required?

Cage making it's way in....

Getting closer

Plasma cutters are awesome

Oh yes....

Are you going to tell everybody what your dropping in there or make them guess based on pictures?

In reply to Bent-Valve :

In reply to Bent-Valve :

Though I do suspect you and I are the only ones following this thread 

Clutch master cylinder installed

Hmmmmmm, is this perhaps related to a certain "want to buy" thread that was recently posted?

In reply to accordionfolder :

I'm still following, albeit silently. 

cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) said:

Hmmmmmm, is this perhaps related to a certain "want to buy" thread that was recently posted?

cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) said:

Hmmmmmm, is this perhaps related to a certain "want to buy" thread that was recently posted?

Guy with plasma cutter and modified Miata seeks aluminum block LS for illicit fun.........

Oh-hi everyone!

I think most everyone knows where this is going, but there's a bit more to this story and a reason why I'm hustling to make this a car again....

To practice for a track I've never been to, I built a sim cockpit closet to the shape of my Miata!

Pretty happy with how it turned out actually.

Mmmm. Yummy.

 Aluminum LS swapped Miata for the win 

In reply to Indy - Guy :

Very much so! I can't wait....

More parts are here...

More Corvette dna making it's way into the wee Miata.

Moar parts!

Oh! Many parts arrived today. Coming from regular Miata parts this throttle body is absurdly big, hahahaha

So maybe time for a more substantial update.

Q: So what am I doing?
A: I am making a mess.

Oh. You mean with the car?
A: I am making a BIG mess.

Ok, ok - I had a fantastic season doing track days and TT with the Ballistic Trashcan. I managed to go from a 2:36.xx with the 1.6 to a 2:22.xx with the 1.8VVT and aero. Now that's cooking! My car was pretty competitive in it's class and could be even more competitive with some more tweaking....

But.

Buttttttt.....

But I had the ~need~.
The need to be a "real" racer.
The need for w2w racing.

What series? GLTC: Gridlife Touring Cup - it's the coolest thing happening in my crappy opinion. The rules are fairly light: power:weight+modifier series. Generally the cars make about 180-200whp and come in weights that adjust to that. So what engine did I go with?

LS.

What now?

So besides doing GLTC in a season I spend a LOT of time on track just by myself driving in circles by virtue of NCM's club days that I take part in. With the 1.8VVT car it was pretty fun, but essentially was a test of how soon I could go to full throttle - also interesting, but I did feel like I had developed the car to be too tame. I had Tomo drive it and set a time - I managed to match it and then beat it. So while I know Tomo could go faster with more laps in my car, he is a literal professional race car driver, I figure I'm at least not under driving the car too badly. What does this have to do with attempting to detune a 5.3 LS to make <200whp? It also means that with the exact same motor and setup by the miracles of electronics and drive by wire throttle bodies I can have that very same car make 350-400whp. So my dream is to have a car legal for GLTC that also is a solo-lapping/TT machine with little in the way of changes.

Will it work exactly like I think? Probably not.

Will it be fun? I sure hope so!

Thoughts? Nay-saying? Positive re-enforcement? Throw down some comments!

later space 'tater

Since it's not posted here yet, best lap of last season:

 

Let's go BACKKKK IN TIMMMMEEEEEEE.

So LS ... still, a very expensive way to get this done for the power goals, right? K series would probably be cheaper ... or LFX.

Well, yes ... but also no? ... Kinda?

Like most of my project based decisions, I was walking along not paying attention to where I was going, tripped, and fell into a deal.

What kind of deal has you tripping and falling into an LS based miata? The weird kind. I share a garage with A BUNCH of miata types. We have cars being swapped to VVT, turbo, and K series. Depending on the day of the week we have 6 or 7 miata based track cars in or out of the garage amongst us. What this means is a bunch of well connected track bois that get buddy deals before they go live. That's how I got my VVT engine and full swap kit for a song and a dance, and it's how I ended up with 75% of an LS swap at 60% the price.

One of my garage track buddies picked up a miata to get around his (VERY NICE) M3 BMW seemingly being perpetually broken. His wife who also tracks a BMW ended up liking the idea of his miata so much that he found a deal for a well setup mx-5 that the previous owner had planned to swap to LS for her and connected me with the guy who wanted to move his swap parts too. Track buddy ended up buying two miatas from Mr. Not-quite-LS; so he went from 1 miata to 3 - THIS IS THE WAY!

For my part of the deal it included a brand new getrag rear diff, brand new MagnumF t-56, the full front subframe, fuel kit, axles and driveshaft, radiator, and tons of misc parts. How could I say no? Right?? ... no one?

Well I didn't say no and the wife didn't yell at me - so: HASHTAGWINNING.

Did I mention we got it shipped from Miami to Bowling Green? My buddy let me mooch off his shipping saving me many arms and legs. I only have so many of those, especially after writing the check for these parts.

At least I didn't have to drive across the country this time. See! It makes sense! Or that's what I'm telling myself.



Buddies new track car!


His "bonus" car and most of my parts!


The haul