Serious? For an engine swap I would have thought you'd be all over the Kmiata kit...

You could make LFX equivalent power(almost) with a bolt on Rotrex kit from Jackson/949 and not have to mess around with a different transmission, new exhaust, direct injection etc.

 

I'm just eyeballing at the moment. The car is running well and teaching me a lot. It'll stay as-is for quite awhile yet.

The things that I find attractive about the LFX:

1. I like being normally aspirated on a track car. The LFX has a lot of displacement and torque and isn't at HP/L levels that make me worry.

2. There are a bazillion LFXs (factory reman crate engines ~$1200), although the combination with a manual tranny is harder to find. Many more LFXs in this country than Honda Ks or Mazda BPs.

3. The engine is short, tight and light. Should give less weight and better rotational moments of inertia than the 1.8.

4. No cutting/welding of the transmission tunnel.

5. Other than swapping in the engine/tranny/ECU/driveshaft, I've read that everything else on the Miata is re-used (Torsen, axles, hubs). So, pretty painless compare to an LS. I'm not sure how the Torsen is being located without a PPF though. ??

Anyway, not looking to be first with this. But I do want to eventually rectify this situation:

I was chasing a white, caged turbo Miata that was prepared almost the same. It had 225 NT01s vs. my 225 Rivals, but other than that . . . both lightened, both with hardtops, both caged, both on 15x9s, same spring rates, etc. Apparently, I had more skill and outdrove the other guy in the corners. But the difference that an added 90-100HP made on the straights was dispiriting.

 

Where have I been, car is looking great Rick!

LFX? Are you meaning a GM v6 engine? Sorry, to lazy to read

 

gotcha... the engine makes sense, but I would be concerned with the unknown track durability of the LFX- has that engine been proven to survive at high rpm/high cornering load for a long time? And of course the swap hasn't been well documented yet, so I'm sure that would cause issues somewhere.

Either way- nice driving!

 

Been traveling for work for the past month. Got back late on T-day, so did some maintenance on Honey Badger Friday and went to the track on Saturday. After the 1 month hiatus, drove a track configuration that I last drove on September 1 (3 months ago).

I expected to be rusty and to have some learning curve. Long story short, I wasn't rusty at all . . . set a PB on my first session out. Went even faster on the next session and ended up with a 1:26.212 on the 1.7CCW, more than a second better than my September 1 time. It happened while I was chasing my friend Dennis in his Silver NASA American Iron series Mustang. Dennis and I have a symbiotic relationship. I really like catching big-power cars. He really doesn't want my measly Miata passing him. The end result is that we both went quicker. Win-win. LOL.


Then, all the Miatas came out. Like mosquitoes. I kid you not, Miatas everywhere:



The Porsche 911 Turbo S is an amazing machine. 560HP. 0-60 in 2.9s. Top speed of 197mph. A normally aspirated Miata doesn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell of passing such a beast on a straight without help.

Video speaks for itself. All I can say is that I found driving behind this person frustrating. He finally let me by and I appreciate it.


So, what to do after such shenanigans? Well, I'm doing Spec Miata lap record times now, and the BFG Rivals I've been abusing since May are looking pretty tired. So, how about my first set of DOT R-Comps? Maxxis RC-1s:





Thanks Emilio. The car is great!

 

yes yes yes yes yes yes

hopefully i get some time to watch these videos later.

 

I'd love to get a ride in a Miata with some Xidas to see the difference between them and my revalved Bilsteins.

Looking smooth as **** dude, gonna be nuts with the RC-1s.

I've got a track day at the end of January and 2 in February, I'm so excited.

 

You're going to love it.

 

Watched the vids. Great driving, and looks like a ton of fun!!

 

It is, big time! Best part is that when (not if) I go off track, it's no big deal. This track (MSR-Cresson) may be one of the safest in the country from a run-off standpoint.

 

Great success with the Maxxis Victras. Super easy to drive and I went 2.6 seconds per lap quicker on the MSR-Cresson 1.7CW. I'm glad I spent so much time learning on street tires, but I doubt I'll go back.

Note on video . . . other than showing a fast laptime, vid is pretty boring:

 

You never make us wait, Rick. Props.

 

Looking good man. Inspiration to my motor out and put some new rings in it.

 

Your VVT motor? I thought it was nearly new?

 

It had 58k on the clock when I pulled it. I'm curious if the motor sat too long and the rings carboned up. I didn't tear down the bottom end when swapped everything out last winter. Probably a good time to upgrade pistons and rods anyway if I can afford it.

 

Are you using oil? Compression low?

 

Rick mind highlighting the RC1 difference in regards to your Rivals? I flat-spotted mine somehow I decided to order some RC1s since the price point was pretty damn close to what I paid for Rivals.

How cold was the track, how'd they hold the heat, how'd they do cold, tire pressure etc etc.

You don't have to answer all those, but just getting a good datum point before next weekends autocross.

 

Blowing oil out the vents and over flowing my catch can. I haven't done a compression test yet. I'm only getting smoke from the exhaust under high vacuum conditions, so I suspect the oil rings aren't doing their job. I figure if I should tear it down anyway to put new bearings and rings in it anyway. Pistons and rods are more of "if" I have the funds.

 

"Don't have to answer all those" . . . LOL. You know me too well.

What I found was pretty well summed up by Andy Hollis here:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/ar...re-track-days/

The only part that was different for me was Andy's comment about the tire being "edgier." I found the opposite vis-a-vis the Rival. I thought it was easier to drive/rotate. When pushed too far on the wrong side of the slip-angle/grip curve, it was easier to recover.

The tread compound used on the Maxxis seems really similar to that used on the Rival and RS-3. Seems to generate the same to a bit more peak grip (in the neighborhood of 1.2 to 1.3Gs on Honey Badger). The usable grip peak also seems to cover a broad range of slip angles, making for a forgiving tire. Not "peaky."

The difference from the EP street tires is that the sidewalls are much stiffer. That gives the following benefits:

1. The grip gets generated at a lower "perceived" slip angle. The slip angle at the tire contact patch is likely similar, but the lack of sidewall flex means that the slip angle being perceived by the driver is less. Maybe this is what Andy meant by "edgier."

2. Perceived slip angle vs. grip is extremely linear on both sides of the curve. Again, the minimized sidewall flex makes things more direct for the driver.

I really liked it. R-comps are often not recommended for new drivers because of the "peakiness" of the compounds, which makes learning how to drive at the edge and rotate the car a more difficult task. But the compound here isn't like that -- I think it's a great learning tire. The compound is also durable. The flip side, of course, is that it's not super-sticky like a Hoosier or top-level Toyo. Nonetheless, I was a lot faster on it compared to Rivals:

1995 Miata MSR-C 1.7CW (1_27.119) vs. 1995 Miata MSR-Cresson 1.7CW (1_29.734) by VJ 1995 Miata MSR-C 1.7CW Comparison (RC-1s vs. Rivals) | YouTube Doubler | Mashup Helper

As for coming up to temperature, it seemed to generate grip from the start of a session at least as well as a Rival (50-60F air temperatures). Got about 7psi increase on most loaded tire during a session. Seems to like about 2psi more than the Rival for best times (I was using 36psi after experimenting for 7 heat cycles).

TL;DR: Similar to a bit more grip than top EP street tires. Broad peak. More linear and easier to drive because of stiff sidewall. Durable. Great learning, practice and Enduro tire.

Bummer. Certainly sounds like rings. I had high hopes after seeing the incredibly clean shot of the head in your build thread.

 

Me too. It was still pulling strong even blowing oil (about 1/2 a quart a 30 min session at Road Atlanta). I think after this winter, I'm going to actually put it on a dyno.