Much appreciated! Headroom was the name of the game.
I'll definitely be bringing it by the shop next time I'm down that way. Pretty sure I've learned something new every time we've gotten the chance to interact.

 

Finally got the car back on the dyno. 350hp/330tq

Started off having to troubleshoot some EBC issues that were making it go from fully open to closed within about 2% duty. Turned out to just be the frequency. Needed to be reset to 39Hz instead of 78Hz.

We tuned 93oct until we got to 320hp / 295tq @ ~16psi then switched over to E85. The runs were going pretty much flawless until we got to 350hp / 330tq @ 19psi and the clutch started slipping. I have heard multiple reports of miatas running 400hp+ on the supermiata pucked ceramic clutches but I seem to have gotten unlucky with mine. Everything looked good and was cleaned last time I was in there so I don't believe there was any oil contamination. Unfortunately, in the moment I completely forgot to take a photo of the dyno graph, so I'll have to make a stop at one of the many local motorsport shops dyno days. The car is an absolute blast to drive and I cant wait to get it out to some HPDE events.

We did one more pull and had no clutch slip so I decided to leave the tune there, enjoy it, and come back in a few months with more cooling upgrades and a clutch rated for more tq. On the topic of cooling, my current system is clearly inadequate. I knew this would probably be an issue, but didn't realize how badly haha. Some of my hardware for my ducting went missing so it was left off, the Texas heat was sitting around 100deg, and my poor ebay aluminum radiator was begging for mercy. I now have an SM crossflow on the way, am planning on reinstalling my ducting + adding additional sealing, have hood vents waiting to be installed, will be removing the front radiator support, and will eventually be adding an oil cooler before I run track sessions. Texas heat is brutal, but I believe this should manage the temps well.

 

We rate the BP puck kit at 340 lbs/ft (crank). We have als had reports back form customers of the kit holding well beyond our ratings. You're right at the upper limit. No pedal adjustments are required, but make sure the pushrod into the master has a tiny bit of freeplay with clutch engaged as it is from the factory. Sorry it's slipping. If you can't get it to hold, I'd look around for one of our twin disc kits (discontinued).

 

Thanks for clarifying.

Let me rephrase because I didn't intend to knock the product. I didn't get unlucky, the clutch works perfectly as advertised and has surprisingly great streetability. Others have had some exceptional results and I was *hoping* to join the club.

I'll be on the lookout for one of those twin disks. I've seen a few before in my area and they do sound like the best available option.

 

Another update while im sitting here waiting on parts. I got a little sidetracked and bought a BMW trans swap...

But first, I put the car on jack stands and started to fix the cooling. I cut out the front support to make for better ducting, added the R-Theory hood vents, switched to a Supermiata crossflow, and am building a better sealed ducting solution with coroplast for now. I also added Aerocatch latches to keep the hood closed. Any tips for adding a quick bumper disconnect would be great too.

Whats holding me up currently is waiting on new inner tie rod safety washers to arrive since I also decided to get rid of my PS and swap to a welded manual rack that a local builds for tracked miatas. It really frees up a lot of space.

Finally, I was not planning on swapping transmissions for a while, but in light of my clutch slip, and finding a great deal, I made an 8hr round trip and returned with:

• 2x Getrag 260 transmissions
• GM CTS Getrag 3.42 differential
• KMiata swap kit
• PPF Delete
• BMW Clutch
• Driveshaft adapter

All it needs is a driveshaft solution for the current diff, and a custom driveshaft + axles for the CTS diff. I'll probably hold off on installing any of this for a bit so I can get some seat time, but It was too perfect of a deal to pass up.

 

Time to update.

Got all the cooling modifications done, the depowered rack in, and had the car driving. The difference in cooling ability was amazing with the temps usually ranging from 170-190 while on the street and barely being able to touch 200 at the end of pulls. An oil cooler will still be necessary before serious track activity but I'm very happy with the cooling as it stands.

I had been occasionally street driving it to get a feel for the car and test it out before any events and have had to put it back in the garage after a unsolved issue popped up regarding sync issues. Here's the thread where I detail it: https://www.miataturbo.net/general-m...st-e85-107355/

TLDR: I Increased ethanol by 10% and immediately began misfiring, hitting what felt like a soft limiter, and getting sync issues in the logs. Really odd scenario that ill continue troubleshooting.

All credit to the car though, for the 2 weeks it was driving, it was every bit as much fun to drive as I was hoping and I'm dying to get it out to autox then HPDE.

 

Got the sync issues all cleared up. Got lucky and turned out to just be a bad connection at the CAS connector. Some JB weld and electrical contact cleaner seemed to fix it up.

On another note, I saw oil temps jump up a bit higher than I liked mid day on the street and realized there's no way I can run track days without an oil cooler. Purchased the 25-row Setrab kit from Fab9 and have it ready to install, but I'm at a total loss for where I can fit it without blocking either the rad or FMIC since I'm running 2 spal fans for the street.

I was considering mounting it like the TDR kit in front of the passenger wheel but doesn't seem like a 25-row will fit safely there. Any suggestions on where I might mount this thing?
(yes, ducting is wack, but its a working bandaid untill I get a splitter and simplify the front end)

 

Bout time I update this thread. Had the first HPDE lined up, but unfortunately ran into more issues the week before.
Looks like it's going to be down for a while while I sort out the last of the issues.

First, don't be like me and think you can eyeball your tierod adjustments to get the same toe as before. After the rack replacement, I clearly butchered the toe and killed my front tires after just taking it out on the street for ~300 miles of driving/testing.

Along with that, the MSM 6-speed didn't always like to upshift into 3rd on the first try and had a slow drip from one of the case seals. Last week I took it out to see how it behaved in the cooler weather but noticed a sizable leak trailing behind the car when I pulled it into my garage.

I have almost all of the parts for a BMW Getrag 260 swap, but I'm also inquiring local shops about trying the "circlip mod" as an option for upgrading the transmission. Looks like either would work for my needs, but I don't plan on taking the car out again until I've got some type of drivetrain solution in.

Here's to more blood sweat and tears!

 

Unfortunately, establishing your early career, a layoff, and financial turmoil is not the recipe for success when building a project car (especially one that already doesn't run). Fortunately, I believe most of that is in the past after this last year.

This car mostly got shelved as a priority, but I have slowly made some notable steps forward to getting it running again.

First, right before my 6spd trans **** the bed, I noticed my oil temps were hitting the danger zone just from street pulls. Being in texas, and hoping to be track-capable, I sprung for a Setrab 25-Row Oil Cooler w/ Mocal 180* Thermostat.

Choosing a mounting for this guy with my limited fab skills was tricky, so I sprung for removing the secondary fan, and mounting behind the radiator. Not ideal, but I'll run it until I hit the limit of this configuration.

 

Second, and more significantly, I installed the Getrag 260 transmission with the K-Power swap kit. This was a painful progress. Mostly not K-Power's fault, but very frustrating nonetheless.

Notable parts are:

• Getrag 260 transmission
• ACT HD Clutch and B015 pressure plate
• KMiata PPF delete
• KMiata trans swap kit components
• Local custom driveshaft

First, the pressure plate. I purchased this kit local with a stock E46 clutch from someone who never installed their swap. Great deal for me. My impression, however, was that the stock E46 clutch was not quite up for the ~400whp range so I sprung for an upgraded ACT clutch kit.

Somehow in my research, I first missed that there were two Getrag 260 input spline counts depending on the year, the clutch kit I bought neglected to advertise this, and I happened to get the wrong one. The second clutch kit I bought (as absurd as it sounds) neglected to advertise that the pressure plate was only meant to be paired with a proprietary ACT flywheel with a unique bolt-hole pattern, not the OEM bolt pattern used on the KMiata swap kit. Luckily the clutch disk itself worked and I purchased a B015 pressure plate to complete the correct setup after losing a then upsetting amount of time/money.

The instructions for installing the kit were mostly clear except for figuring out what bell housing bolts were meant for which locations.

The next issue I ran into was that my starter mysteriously quit working. I had replaced the starter and tested all the wiring I could think of, but it turned out that my car was missing the OEM head-to-chassis ground strap, and when I deleted the PPF (which serves as a motor-to-chassis ground for the starter), I did not correctly re-ground the PPF ground to the chassis. This combo resulted in the starter having no connection to ground and just about made me lose my mind for 2 months.

Finally, I got the swap kit fully installed and shifting, and I put in my order for a custom driveshaft with a local shop. After receiving that and installing it, I went to start up the car as detailed in this post, and the fuel pump quit priming. I spent another few weeks trying to trace wires and understand odd symptoms before realizing my MS3 firmware had corrupted while trying to crank on a half-charged battery. Luckily a reflash solved the issue.

After getting the full new drivetrain in, I realized that my exhaust and the O2 bung contact the new transmission mount, so my last step is to wait on a local welder to modify the exhaust to clear everything. Knock on wood there are no more complications before seeing this thing drive again.

 

Holy crap man. Props for sticking with it and documenting it all. Have a few cats.

 

This project gives me hope I can get past my commitment issues

 

REALLY cool to see you back. Sorry I missed this this first time around, but excellent job, this is how it's done!

 

Time for another update on this snail-paced project:

I got my exhaust modified to fit the trans mounts and had it driving briefly. Unfortunately, I was too excited, forgot the need for a clutch break-in period, and immediately turned up the boost. The clutch started slipping and it took me an additional 2 months to figure out how to deglaze the clutch and get it to hold full power.

After getting the clutch to hold, obviously a celebratory burnout with my old tires was needed to commemorate finally having my car in full working order...

I immediately snapped my welded differential arm and once again put the car out of commission for another 3 months while I sourced a stronger RX7 diff housing to install.




I just got the new diff housing installed, threw on fresh rubber, and am waiting to take the car for an alignment, then, fingers crossed, I should finally have the car ready to take on HDPE and AutoX.

 

After 5ish years, it's finally coming together.

I sorted the alignment and hit a local autocross this past weekend. Dialing in the tire pressures and brake bias was relatively easy, but I still have a lot of relearning to do as a driver to drive this car properly. It's more than capable of putting down blistering times.

I still managed to put down the fastest raw time in the novice class (30 cars) and ran into essentially zero issues besides the VTA catch can spitting excessive oil. Seeing the car perform so well after putting this much into it is so rewarding.

I'll be doing a nuts and bolts check on everything this week, and then the next logical step is taking it to an HDPE to get some track instruction and to see if it holds up to a track session. (no oil/water temp issues with 5 consecutive autox runs @ 100*F ambient).

Any pointers before attempting an HPDE?

 

Hell yeah! Super awesome that you got some seat time and that the car is working well. Is this your first HPDE? If it is, I would say:

1. Be humble
2. Have fun
3. Have someone experienced pick your driving apart
4. Don't be a hero. Accept when either you or the car is at the limit
5. Warmup your tires and use a cooldown lap if possible
6. Don't pull your e-brake when parking
7. Take notes and don't change a lot at once

My approach is to sneak up to the limit of grip lap by lap, and focus on improving 2 or 3 items per session. Smooth is fast.

 

My tips, in addition to the other good tips shared here:

1. On first out lap take it very, very easy, Actively wave to corner workers and make note of any stations that are unmanned.
2. Focus on touching a tire to every apex, every lap.
3. If you make a mistake, don't get emotional, talk about it or think about it. Immediately purge and focus on next turn. Mental or video download after session and then, pick things apart. Be icy and focused on track.
4. Hand position. If you shuffle steer, begin teaching yourself not to. Shuffling is moving left hand all over wheel when you don't need to. Left hand should never really move unless you need to go hand over hand in a hairpin. Most common cause of spins is bad hand position.
5. Steer slow and little as possible until the car breaks loose, then steer as much and fast as possible. Most new drivers do the exact opposite. Also the cause of most spins.
6. Remember to have fun, learn and ask questions.

 

Good tips, listen to these guys ^

As for your VTA catch can spewing, you likely need to enlarge the breather holes on the VC, and also the tiny holes in the baffles themselves should be opened up. More volume = less pressure, and pressure is what carries the oil into the can. My car couldn't go 5 laps full tilt on the track until I did this, now it never even gets close to filling up a can.

 

Thanks. Those points are all very helpful reminders.

Luckily I'll be participating in an HDPE that is also a "driving academy" so I will have an instructor critiquing me at all times.

As far as the catch can goes, I've already modified the VC baffles and am running two AN10 lines to the DaveFab catch can. The can is not full so it seems like it's more of an issue with the DaveFab cans baffling not condensing the oil vapor until it reaches the exhaust filter. I may just need to switch to a new can with different baffling.