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It’s time to start showing off some new projects for 2017. The shop car fleet has recently grown from one car to three. My original NB test mule will stick around, and now its time for two more builds to get going.
One is an NA Miata endurance race car, soon to be built to World Racing League GP1 class specs. Info coming soon on that project.
The second car is something I’m equally excited about:
We took a road trip and picked up this ‘01 NB back in November after spending a while hunting for a white NB2 with black interior. As you can see, we've already made some essential changes. This car’s primary goal is to be a street car, but it will see some track time here and there. The fun part is that this car is going to get a K series swap with BOOST (I'm doing my best to fit in at MT.net). We have an upgraded drivetrain in the works that will handle all the power we can throw at it, and this is the test platform.
We’ve already sourced a stock K20Z1 (05-06 RSX Type S) engine, a Getrag diff, and a mystery transmission (details to be announced soon).
Goal is 500-600whp from the stock block. 2018 edit: Initially we considered going with a TVS 1900 blower setup from MercRacing, but ultimately settled on a GTX 3076R gen 2 turbo.
Yes, we realize this is silly amounts of power for a Miata. However, we have seen that there is certainly a market for boosted K swap cars, so it’s time to pave the way, and enjoy some ear-to-ear grins while we do it.
We’ve already installed a Blackbird Fabworx SD roll back, some beautiful red Elise seats on custom brackets that sit nice and low, and XIDA coilovers with 700/400 rates. Also not pictured is a set of 15x10 6ULs in charcoal that just need some tires. The whole car need some paint correction and headlight cleanup, but overall it’s a solid starting point.
Expect to see some updates in February once we tear into it a bit more.
__________________ KPower Industries
Home of the original KMiata Swap
A little jelly of the white/red combo. I would be tempted to do custom red carpet and flock the dash in red.
Yeah its exactly what I was visualizing, I love it. We had the seats before the car, and we knew the car had to be white/black. And the white roll bar from Moti finishes it off perfectly.
__________________ KPower Industries
Home of the original KMiata Swap
Definitely interested in seeing this. Very curious about the transmission as well. I doubt I'll ever modify mine enough to need it but then again, I didn't think I would be putting a K24 in my car either.
Thanks everybody, it's certainly going to be a riot. Here's the CTS diff we picked up. I'm amazed that a beast Getrag clutch type LSD can easily be grabbed from a junkyard for $125. This one is a 3.42 ratio, which will pair nicely with our gearing. One of my other parts guy told me he had three 3.42s and I could have them all for $300. Crazy.
We'll be developing our trans option to work with a Miata diff as well, but its a wise move to put a Getrag behind a boosted K series, considering we'll be around LS torque levels.
__________________ KPower Industries
Home of the original KMiata Swap
Tranny options and engine weight were the only ways MZR swap was better than K-swap. You might might the K swap actually viable in my mind with a usefully tranny behind it.
Sub'd to watch and learn from you building a fast boosted K car before I do. LOL
Curious to see how your going to utilize a TVS blower as the Merc Racing kit puts the throttle body inlet basically right against the firewall unless you make some custom snout that bends around 180* like the Jackson Racing M45 setups. I'm sure you have it all thought through though
Tranny options and engine weight were the only ways MZR swap was better than K-swap. You might might the K swap actually viable in my mind with a usefully tranny behind it.
Yup, that's the idea. Just needed another car to test it on, so here we are. The whole point of this car is to develop the drivetrain that can handle all the boost you can throw at it.
Originally Posted by Padlock
Sub'd to watch and learn from you building a fast boosted K car before I do. LOL
Curious to see how your going to utilize a TVS blower as the Merc Racing kit puts the throttle body inlet basically right against the firewall unless you make some custom snout that bends around 180* like the Jackson Racing M45 setups. I'm sure you have it all thought through though
Yeah, we've spent a lot of time discussing this. There are TVS blowers with the intake inlet for the throttle body coming out of the front of the blower, next to the pulley. But I think the best option for this application is going to be an intake inlet that comes around front the back to the front. We've discussed some options with MercRacing and it sounds promising. And if all else fails, the car will get a turbo.
Our setup will be similar to the second Civic in the link, but we'll actually tune it on true E85 so our power goal should be realistic.
Here's the MercRacing manifold mock-up I did in December. As you can see the Merc manifold has inlets for an aftercooler, which is the main reason a big 1900 blower can do so well on these engines. Clearance will be okay around the Miata steering rack, which was my main concern.
__________________ KPower Industries
Home of the original KMiata Swap
Yeah its exactly what I was visualizing, I love it. We had the seats before the car, and we knew the car had to be white/black. And the white roll bar from Moti finishes it off perfectly.
I'm glad we did it that way, especially with the Red logo decal for extra style points