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5 speed and 3.9 is an unusual combination, I don't think they were available that way from the factory.
I believe 5 speeds were paired with either a 4.1 or 4.3.
I checked speed vs. rpm yesterday and you are absolutely right, i have a 4.1 diff.. so to reach 60 in 2nd gear i have to put revlimiter at 6850 (so i won't have to shift another gear before 60)..
on the other hand i don't care that much, it was just fun to see in what ballpark the car is now.. it's not faster than a normal porsche but not much slower either.. (my goal was to have more power per weight than my "old" cayman gts from 2015 that i had a few years ago, and i think i have achieved that.. the porsche had 340hp , i believe at the crank and weighed 1400kg)
The car has been running great.. today we are going to a racetrack called "Knutstorp" in the south of Sweden, and let's see how this will go!.. hopefully i will have some nice gopro-video-stuff for you guys in a few days!
From the trackday i got a little bit of home work to do.. some service is needed.. front brakes gave up in the end of the day .. and also i hope to find time to replace the diff bushings this coming weekend or next week. on the 30th we have another "sprint" event.. which is basically a autocross light that is very common here in Sweden. I hope for the autocross-scene to also spread here, that form of driving seems really fun!
New front brake pads Old front brake pads after trackday
Hi guys.. i started fitment of my "budget big brake kit" which i had laying around since last winter.. i tried to get it fitted by a friend who thought it demanded some adjustments/adaptations so these last few days i found an hour here and there to look into it.. now i know what i need to do and the rest will probably go faster..
I ordered these adapters from freakyparts and had to do the following adjustments:
- Aftermarket screws/bolts was needed with a shorter length not to interfer with the disc
- I bought the discs separately (they are Corrado G60-discs 280mm ventilated)
- Two of the holes were a size to big which let the hole fitment move with a little force, so i put a set of cut-to-size helacoil threads in the hole which made it snug and tight and no movement
- The holder for the caliper needed be graded off so it wouldn't interfere with the disc (a little cast grade edges to be filed off) .. it is a very tight fit but now the disc spins freely and give more confidence that things will work
Here are some pictures of the kit fitted.. i also mounted my new Hawk DTC-60 pads "when i was in there".
I have a similar kit for the rear to keep the brake balance, i will share more pictures when all is mounted.
Despite the fact that it is a project car.. and a track car.. that now has been firmly beaten by several pilots at some few events.. it feels kind of finished.
The feeling in the car is of course slowly changing when things get worn but looking ahead, now service and some good maintenance awaits..
Today i tried a new racing seat i bought from a friend.. it rubs a little on the door card but feels very good to sit in!
I have a very short upper body so i mounted it as high as i could to be able to have a good line of sight.
since last i sold my supercharger, bought a Renesis 13b, shot my bp4w- engine with turbo and a poorly translated map from ms2 => emu black, sold that ecu, bought ms3pnp, put in a vvt and now am prepping for another compound/twincharge build..
improvements this time includes ceramic coating on turbo hit parts and manifold, a newer m45 sc, 6spd, 4.3 diff with os giken and some other bits and bobs
i finally found seats that agree with my bodyshape and i plan to run my rotary engine outside of any car before i would even attempt to do a 13b-swap 😆
Good to hear your back into it!
What brand/type seats are those?
Thank you, it's great to be back.. the list and mods have piled up now for a while and i will try to share here what i do with it..
they are corbeau seats, i bought them from sps motorsports down in Germany / Europe.. a bit pricy but got tired of midevil-torture seats getting in my way of enjoying the car
Today i had a testrun before MOT here in Sweden. It was clear that a few creature comforts need attention. Otherwise i am awaiting this inspection before any bigger steps will be taken in the compound build. Hopefully the parts for coating will be sent out tomorrow and i have some supporting mods i can work on for now.
Btw, is there anything in my build that you want me to document in greater detail or is it enough just to share like this with pictures now and then ?
I will run the same setup as last time, but with a newer blower.. (still m45) and planning also to connect my AEM WMI2-kit to see what the difference will be.
When running this a couple of years ago i had very little issues with anything except IRP gear stick vibrating apart and the car seems to show a little bit more wear than the other years.. but heat management and everyting like that was never a problem, even on trackdays
If you are asking why i tore it down then..?.. i don't know.. i can just say that building and trying new concepts has been the central part of this hobby for me.. more than the driving part.. so when the car felt "done" i just started feeling restless and wanted to try something new..
Nothing i could come up with during these 2 1/2 years have given me the thrills and joy as this setup so i look forward to going back to this very soon!
Again i will limit my power output to try to stay within the oem limits.. taking account for SC parasitic waste i will lower the ceiling a little.. from Bofis recomendation of max 220 lbft at the wheels i will aim for 190-200 and hopefully that will keep it within reasonable limits.
When the price of a rebuild on an engine (albeit one that after can stand much more than oem) is in the 2-3k $ and a used 1.8 with or without vvt is attainable for 6-700$ the motivation to reach for the skies in power goes away..
When i drove this car with about 240whp peak power and an absolute platteau of a torque curve i felt that MORE power would not do that car any good in drivability and enjoyment. Already at this level you run out of gears and roads become too small and short everywhere..
Maybe i will change my mind when i have gotten the chassie to match this power level.. but for now, it does not.. with yellow speed coilovers and beefier front antirollbar the car feels a little bit loose
Here are some pictures from current status..
Had to replace one of the hinges since it got fatigued and broke on me..
New budget brake kit until i make up my mind about front caliper choises etc.. (nb sportbrakes.. and a master cylinder 1" is on the way)..
It is a rx7 cover on a 4.3 miata diff that i swapped out bearings and the core to a os giken 1.5 diff.. and then measured/adjusted the play according to guides for the miata diff..
In the back of the housing i have put a temp sensor to hopefully be able to monitor the diff temp in case it goes bananas.. (perhaps it will tell me that cooling will be needed.. let's see)
Took more hours to get *ss out of the sofa than to do the actual swap.. but with 35mins of effective workshop time yesterday evening and about 2h today and the old diff is out.. and the new one is in!
Very excited to drive this without FI now first to see if i notice a difference due to the ration change (from 4.1 to a 4.3) and also if the giken lsd will change the feel and behaviour of the car..
Next thing to do on the list is to buy and weld in a flexible pipe down from the header and then hang up the exhaust in place again.. ready for shakedown testing and MO..
Then i am looking into the wiring a bit.. to wire in the temp sensors and check the EBC-funktionality.. since it is a ms3 this time around and not the same ms2-box as last time..
Today some of the final parts arrived for the rebuild to be able to happen.. i don't know if this oil return will work with the low mount turbo location yet.. but let's see..
Since i am now basing my compound setup on a vvt-engine i haven't yet drilled and tapped the oil pan.. and hope now that i won't have to..
Also i recieved the mazda 929 master brake cylinder that will hopefully be a nice upgrade together with the nb2 sport brake kit i wil be running for the re-registration of the car in modified state.. (swedish rules about building a upgrade brake system as a requirement for re-registering with moar powah)..
I got some time today to weld the adaptor from oem header to 3" kraken exhaust.. it's not beautiful but it will work nicely..
This weekend i plan to have a testdrive to check so the diff feels alright and that the afr's are in the right ballpark for inspection next week.
Current setup before the FI-build:
- VVT 1.8
- MS3PNP
- 700cc injectors
- Upgraded fuelpump
- E85 tune
- Skunk2 intake and tb (will probably change back to oem tb soon for driveability)
- fab9 cops
- adjusted ps-pressure for slightly heavier feel
- 13lb flywheel with a stage2 fm-clutch
- 6spd
- 4.3 diff with os giken lsd core
- Ported oem header from 99-00 1.8
- 3" kraken exhaust with magnaflow end-box
- Yellow Speed coilovers
- Freakyparts caliper-adaptors for 280 rotors in the front
- Braided steel brake lines x4
- Brake-stopper
- Some interior parts, roll bar, steering wheel and seats
I had a chance to finally test drive the new diff the other day. It is really good and something i will miss in every car from now on that doesn't have it. The clutch diff locks up alot more than the torsen and more predictable.. this means in feel that the car becomes more stable.. (not so wiggly under acceleration) and you feel more in control.. i tried a few throttle-based u-turns and it is much more confidence inspiring i must say. This is what people with experience with them has told me before and perhaps it is placebo, but i really feel that the way it works changed the car.
When it comes to gearing i also feel that the gearing is more in harmony, the car feels more alive and even if the difference between the previous diff is only 5% wheel torque, those 5% is noticable. With this diff though, reaching my prepped revlimit of 6500rpm faster argues more for a higher rev limit than i felt i needed before.. (when i drove the car with the compound setup i set the rev limit a bit lower than oem to spare the powertrain and supercharger a bit.. since having all that torque from idle, it felt like the rev range was enough anyways)
This coming week it will go to inspection and then the preparations for FI will start so i can reregister the car as a FI-miata.