Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

For this post I figured I would share with you guys my main distraction during the downtime of the RX-8.

My dad had come to the track with me a couple times to check things out and he got a ride out on track in a Miata from one of my good friends. He was hooked after that and he soon hit craigslist, a short while later he purchased this:

A 1994 Mazda Miata R Package with 104k miles on the clock, bone stock except they had added in power windows and an aftermarket head unit.
The R-Package comes with front and rear lip, rear spoiler, upgraded shocks/springs/sway bars from the factory and also has factory LSD and no power steering. Only about 1,200 were made in 1994.

It had previously been a summer only car in Colorado and used to belong to the guys mom. Here's the best part about this car... SHE HAD IT SERVICED EVERY 5,000 MILES AT FLYIN' MIATA... so the car was in impeccable mechanical shape, it didn't even have the famous Miata HLA tick so we snatched it up only 8 hours after it had been posted on craigslist. The guy got 4 other offers over the phone while we were there checking it out for more than asking price ($3500) but thankfully he was a stand up guy and took the asking price which we had offered over the phone only an hour before.



Now you may be thinking, "Hey Arca, you're a pretty big dude... how the hell do you fit in there? And isn't your dad too big for it as well?!"

The answer is with patience, a big ******* hammer and thin aluminum seats that are bolted straight to the floor and rest against the rear firewall. My dad is 6'2" and fits a little better in there than me, but I can still drive it comfortably.

It makes 130RWHP @ 7,200RPM and 104RWTQ @ 4,600RPM on a Dynojet.
It weighs 2100lbs even with 1/2 tank of fuel.

Those power numbers are with the timing at 16*BTDC, we backed it off to 12*BTDC so that it knocked it down to 125RWHP so that we could stay under our HP cap of 128RWHP for competition in NASA TT-E class. It is also eligible for Time Attack A Class since with driver it has around 18.8lbs/HP.

Here are the modifications:

Weight Reduction:
Removed interior
Removed A/C
Removed side windows
Removed Charcoal Canister and EGR System
Removed Headlight assemblies
Removed airbags, sensors, module.
Gutted Doors
Gutted Rear Deck
Sound Deadening removed

Engine/Intake/Exhaust:
Exhintake Cam Mod (Use another exhaust cam on the intake side)
New NB Purple Injectors (265cc @ 3bar)
5xRacing Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator
5xRacing In-Line Fuel Pressure Gauge
Custom made cold air intake with velocity stack (CAI was +7WHP on mustang dyno, and another +2WHP after adding velocity stack)
Racing Beat 4-1 Header (Ceramic Coated Black Inside and Out)
Racing Beat 2.25" ID Test Pipe (Ceramic Coated Black Inside and Out)
Roadstersport 3 2.25" ID Exhaust System (Connecting Pipe Ceramic Coated Black Inside and Out)
Gates Racing Timing Belt
Gates T-Belt Idler/Tensioner
Gates Racing Water Pump/Alternator Belt
Nissan Pump Co. Water Pump (made in Japan) with 3D Cast Impeller
New Front/Rear Main, Cam and Valve Cover Seals
NGK Copper Plugs
NGK Blue Plug Wires
Rotella T6 5w-40 Synthetic Diesel Oil (No HLA tick at all)

Drivetrain:
Fidanza 7.0lbs Flywheel for 1.6L (Converted to 1.6L Clutch/Flywheel. Smaller and lighter)
Exedy Stage 2 Clutch (3 Puck Thick Disk NON-HD) for 1.6L
TechnaFit Stainless Braided Clutch Line
Ralco RZ Short Shifter (Do not buy this... took a lot of fab work to get it to work and it's starting to get sloppy.)
Sickspeed 2" Shifter Extender
VooDoo Piano Black 2" Weighted Shift ****
AmsOil 75w-90 GL4 Trans Fluid
AmsOil 75w-90 GL5 Rear Diff Fluid

Cooling:
Mishimoto 55mm Radiator
NRG Air Diversion Panel
Samco Blue Silicone Radiator and Ancillary Hose Kit
Secondary Radiator Fan Removed
Stant 16PSI Radiator Cap
Stant SuperStat 180* Thermostat with jiggle pin drilled out

Suspension/Brakes/Wheels/Chassis:
Replaced stock manual steering rack with de-powered power steering rack (quicker ratio)
Flyin Miata VMaxx Track Pack Coilovers
Flyin Miata Front and Rear Sway Bars
949 Racing SuperMiata Adjustable Endlinks
Energy Suspension Poly Control Arm Bushings Front and Rear
Energy Suspension Poly Diff Bushings
949 Racing Poly Motor Mounts (Get the softest ones, we did medium and it's too harsh even for a track car)
Hawk HT-10 Pads
Cheapo O'Reilly's Rotors
949 Racing 6UL Wheels 15x8"
Stock 14" Hollow Spokes for the Street
6 Point Custom Roll Bar by Fathead Fabrications
All New Wheel Hubs and Bearings
GoodRidge Stainless Braided Brake Lines

Interior/Exterior/Electronics:
OEM Mazda Non-Defroster Hard Top
Ultrashield VS Halo Aluminum Seat 17" (Driver)
Ultrashield Spec Miata Aluminum Seat 17" (Passenger)
Crow Enterprizes 6 Point Harnesses (Blue)
Small Fire Extinguisher
Painted Interior White
Painted Seats White
Painted Rear Deck Area/Trunk Matte Black
Painted Roll Bar Blue
Momo Hub Adapter
NRG Gen 2.0 Quick Release (Black)
Momo Mod.78 Leather Steering Wheel (Flat, 330mm)
Radiator Protective Mesh Mounted Inside Bumper
Driving Lights Mounted In Bumper Opening


And that's all I can think of for now...

Mods on deck are some Prosport Gauges, Oil relocation, and Mishimoto Oil Cooler with thermostatic sandwich plate.

Anyways here's some pictures of how it sits now.

Getting a little sideways in Tower Turn at Firebird Main Course:



Here is an uncovered old shot of the intake and how it is routed, it gets air from the turn signal air scoop and is sealed off from the engine bay:



Engine bay now:



Some Interior Shots:





Also here's a video from a recent event. I was exactly 1 second off of the TT-E track record. I was on 225 NT01's but the way my classing sheet is done I can be on 225 Hoosier R6's, which are coincidentally worth about 1 to 2 seconds depending on the track...

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

So now that we're all caught up, here's a run down of how the car sits, and then a run down of all the parts and modifications going into this iteration of the ongoing Time Attack Build, as well as a couple of pictures of some of the more interesting parts that I've amassed.


As it stands:

Engine and Exhaust:
AEM Cold Air Intake Wrapped in DEI Gold Reflect
BHR Midpipe
Espelir JGT500 Catback Exhaust (2.25" after split)
Agency Power E-Shaft Underdrive Pulley
Black Halo Racing Ignition Kit
Oil Catch Can
Z-Enterprise Grounding Kit
Air Pump Delete
Throttle Body Coolant Bypass
RX8Performance Poly Motor Mounts
Ingalls Torque Dampener

Fuel System and Engine Management:
Idemitsu Premix
Cobb AccessPort
Tuned by MazdaManiac

Suspension, Wheels, Tires and Brakes:
PowerTrix Race Coilovers Custom Spring Rates
Progress Technology Sway Bars
Whiteline Adjustable Spherical Endlinks
Hawk HT-10 Brake Pads
Cheap Blank Rotors
ATE Super Blue Brake Fluid
Agency Power Stainless Braided Brake Lines
Agency Power Stainless Braided Clutch Line
Axial Flow Brake Master Cylinder Brace
17x9" +37 5Zigen ZR+520 (Street)
17x9" +45 Enkei RPF1's (Track)

Interior, Exterior and Electronics:
Interior/Stereo Completely Stripped for Weight Reduction
Custom Plexi Sunroof Insert
Sparco Circuit Plus Driver Seat
Crow Enterprizes 6 Point Harnesses
Momo Mod.08 Steering Wheel
Momo Steering Wheel Hub Adapter
NRG Gen 2.0 Quick Release
Fathead Fabrications Custom 6-Point Roll Cage
AEM Digital Gauges (Water Temp, Oil Temp, Oil Pres.)
Racing Beat Oil Plate and Water Line Adapters
Lotek Triple Gauge Pod
Custom Oil Cooler Grilles
GenRight Hood Louvers
Custom 4" ABS Functional Front Air Splitter
JDM Clear Corners w/ Stealth Bulbs
Removable Light Assembly (HID Angled, LED Bar Center) For Night Events
Mad Stickers Yo

Drivetrain:
Axial Flow Engineering Short Throw Shifter
8-Ball Style Weighted Shift **** (Neo-Chrome)
2" Shift **** Extender
Synchro Saver Plate






Modifications on deck:

Engine and Exhaust:
Rebuild with all OEM Mazda Parts
New Oil Pump
Racing Beat Header (Ceramic Coated)
Racing Beat Non-Resonated Midpipe (Ceramic Coated) 3" Piping
HKS Hi-Power Single Exit 3" Piping
A/C Belt Lip Milled Off of Agency Power E-Shaft Underdrive Pulley
RotaryFX Lightweight WP+ALT Pullies
CSF Racing Aluminum 52mm Radiator
Racing Beat Radiator Screen
SAMCO Silicone Hose Kit (White)
Racing Beat Street Port
Mazmart Oil Pressure Regulator
RX8Performance Electric Water Pump Adapter Plate
Meziere 55GPM Electric Water Pump
Mishimoto 169F Race Thermostat
SOHN Adapter

Fuel System and Engine Management:
Dyno Tune by Jeff @ MazdaManiac (Will have two tunes, max power for Time Trials B Class and a Time Attack A Class Kill tune with a completely flat horsepower curve for hopefully the entire power band via closing the drive by wire throttle body based on RPM.)

Suspension, Wheels, Tires and Brakes:
17x10" +38 Enkei RPF1's, need some more of these.

Interior, Exterior and Electronics:
More weight reduction, gutting doors, cutting out rear speaker deck, etc.
Sparco Evo 2 Passenger Seat
Works Bell Steering Wheel Extension (Not sure on size yet)
GenRight Fender Louvers
Custom 8" Alumalite Functional Front Air Splitter With New Chassis Mounting Design
Brooks Motorsport Composites Swan Neck Mount Wing (68" Span, 13.5" Chord)
Even More Mad Stickers Yo

Drivetrain:
Quartermaster 5.5" Twin Iron Disk Clutch (5.6lbs)
Mazdatrix Race Flywheel (4.75lbs)
Mazda Automatic Transmission Counterweight
Mazdaspeed 5.12 Rear End Gears



The big ****. Most of the mount will be inside the car, it bolts directly to the chassis inside the trunk area. It will go through the rear quarter panels.
Also that is not a love seat, it's actually larger than a full size couch...




Here is the midpipe coated, ignore the parts on the top, those are Miata exhaust parts.




Header coated. Will probably extend the runners later.






Mad Tyte JDM:




CSF Radiator vs. Stock. Almost twice the thickness. Dual row single pass.




Quartermaster 5.5" Twin Disk Clutch, weighs 5.6lbs and holds 600ft/lbs torque.




Flywheel and assorted hardware as well as the clutch unstacked. Entire clutch and flywheel assembly together is 10.35lbs.






New addition to the light bar for night races. This thing is retarded bright...

yomomspimp06

curious as to how much your flywheel setup & clutch cost. you can pm it to me if you would rather not disclose

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

I ended up piecing together everything for about 1300 not including a counterweight.
Pricing info is available here, but some of those parts can be had cheaper elsewhere. This is pretty much a track only setup.
Racing Clutch and Flywheel

kops

iTrader: (1)

This is a fantastic thread

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

Thanks man.

Car still treating you well? Bet it's a blast to drive in the snow haha.

bse50

It's time to dump those powertrix coilovers and buy something serious given the level of the other modifications!

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

They've actually been great so far and after seeing shock dynos I'm actually pretty impressed for the price point.

That being said I have worked out a partnership with another company to get a more track only oriented coilover setup with much stiffer rates and specific valving. Looking at possibly around 16k front and 12k rear. Not really sure yet.

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

Also something else I've been looking into is converting the rear to a cantilever setup which would be awesome, but won't be able to do that until I am up into the NASA big bore classes since in Small Bore this is a death blow as far as points go. (+6)

Example:

J8635621

iTrader: (10)

What would be the advantage?

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

Well most cantilevered systems are run because of packaging constraints or weight distribution or aerodynamics in the case of open wheel cars, the advantages wouldn't be massively superior in my application, just slightly better. I just think it looks cool too, I love looking at fab work and what people come up with.

The only real advantages would be:
-Easier to adjust suspension.
-Increased rigidity (this would be "the ultimate rear strut bar" since they would now be integrated into the cage the way I would do it.)
-Lower unsprung weight because you can invert the shock mounting, meaning that the spring will not have to move the body of the shock, only the pushrod and shock shaft which are much lighter, but this can be accomplished with inverted shocks anyways so not too big of a deal.
-Greater tuning ability since now you can play with bell crank angles and ratios.
-You can use lighter and smaller shocks and springs and just use leverage to multiply their force.
-Weight gets moved inboard, you can also have them flipped towards the front or the back for slightly better weight distribution.
-And it looks badass I guess.

MEboy

iTrader: (1)

I love it and can't wait until I make as much as an engineer to do this stuff. #undergradprobs

bse50

The only problem of such systems is the R&D involved to make them efficient on a specific car. You can't just slap them in there and expect them to outperform a common shock system.
They're also way more sensitive to fine tuning and that requires hundreds of datalogging megabytes

Another option is to build a push rod system by not keeping the shocks perpendicular to the car. You could place them lower in the trunk while having them point to the nose. That's an even better setup but it gets messy and torsion bars for such setups are real engineering masterpieces. Definitely not something a non-engineer can build and design.

Some GT teams make pushrod suspensions by just placing the shocks horizontal and under the wheel wells, not inside the trunk. This system is a little less efficient but way easier to cope with.

On your new shocks: the quality of the valving and overall build vs your current setup will really make a difference

EricB

iTrader: (7)

Im actually going to order myself some swift springs for my GR+, My competition driving does not warrant anything better than Stance's GR+ (at this moment) What spring rates would you recommend?

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

They're only more sensitive to tuning if you don't use a 1:1 ratio on the lever. Even then if you do change it, it's just simple math and things you change are just amplified by a set factor.

Fabbing something like this up doesn't look too difficult it's just math and making sure you're dead nuts on your measurements on both sides.

And yes, definitely excited for all the changes.

If you want to change them to be a little more track oriented then you can increase spring rates by 1kg/mm if you really wanted. The valving won't handle much more than that. Personally I would just save the money to use towards something else, swift springs aren't cheap and changing rates to stiffer ones by only 1kg/mm isn't going to make a huge difference especially if the valving can't really handle it anyways.

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

Got some more louvers from GenRight.com for the fenders. They're pretty pliable so I'll be able to bend them in order to get a good contour. These are the same type as on my hood. I was also thinking of adding more to the hood as well.

Here's a picture of one sitting on the fender.

EricB

iTrader: (7)

do you have brake cooling ducts?

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

Not yet.

Fickert

iTrader: (6)

Man I just wanna say this thread is great. Keep updating and when are you getting your engine rebuilt? Any porting?

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

I'm tearing it down slowly right now and taking pictures etc, then I have a week off for Christmas and it's time to get some **** knocked out on this project. I have to drive all the way to Ohio with one of my buddies to pick up an NSX he found dirt cheap next week so that'll put things on hold a little.

I'm rebuilding it myself with some help from experienced locals, I'm using all OEM parts, am going to use Racing Beat street port templates. I was considering getting the lower intake manifold Extrude Honed but it's too expensive right now (700 bucks not including shipping). I have a spare LIM that I might send out to try later. I'm also having Freelance Motorsports CNC machine the housings and a local company here called SuperFinishers Inc. will be lapping the irons so they are flat within 50 millionths of an inch. I am really hoping to make 220WHP but you know how the Renesis is... the only other things I can think of (within reason) if I don't make my power goal is extending the header into a longtube unit, converting to an electric water pump and extrude honing the lower intake manifold.

Fickert

iTrader: (6)

He found a nsx in Ohio? Surprising. But that is great news. I didn't realize getting the intake honed was that expensive damn. but good luck to ya and can't wait to hear back. Also you should post pics of nsx.

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

It's a roller with the engine and trans on a pallet. Nothing pretty. He already has one and he's buying a second to turn into a wheel to wheel race car.

SW20FTW

Awesome thread, thanks for posting. I got a real kick out of reading this as for awhile your build parallels what I did to my first car as I got deeper and deeper into time attack/road course driving - I was right at the point of gutting interior and prepping for a cage install when I wrote it off on a high speed wet corner

Will be following this with great interest, GL!

JimmyBlack

Arca, good to see you putting in the time to bring your project to the forum. As we say in NZ, Chur bro!
RE additional WHP, check out this thread, and go to the bottom of the page and click on RIWWPs link to the Eric Meyer 233rwhp thread. The transmission and diff treatment may assist with a few extra ponies.

kops

iTrader: (1)

Yeah man, it loves to play in the snow haha. It hurts seeing it covered in it though