You always have to leave room for improvement in the future. It seems to me that making mid 500's on pump gas with an almost stock motor would be great from a reliability standpoint. A friend here in town is making 580ish on pump gas from two rear mounted turbos on his Trans AM... on a bone stock motor! The Miata should weigh right around 2400-2500 once i get it running.
As an update, i started putting the interior back in this weekend. The dash is staying gutted for now since the heater core was leaking before. Wiring harness is run back into the engine bay, and i am in the middle of mounting the fuse box in the glove compartment. I was going to take some photos, but it started raining.
Finally another photo update. Doesn't look like i got much done, but it all adds up... eventually. I tackled the alternator issue yesterday. I think i am going to make a bracket to position it in the same area in the photos. Wish i could just use an F-body bracket and be done with it! Oh well, since the Corvette accessories sit closer to the engine, i wanted to keep as much clearance as possible.
Anyways, now the interior is coming back together. I put the brake booster back in, all the pedals inside, dash bolted down, body harness back in with wires run to relocate the fuse box into the glove compartment, etc. Next up is modifying the engine harness, and putting on the F-body oil pan.
Flyin Miata is just milling the stock F-body alternator bracket down so it will work with the C5 pulley. They also use an LS2 waterpump with the shorter snout. I'm sure you probably know all of this, but I just wanted to make sure. Your build is turning out VERY nice
__________________ Rule to live by when buying or selling:
Quote:
if you get a pm from a potential buyer where it is difficult to read (spelling, grammar) then you may want to skip that person and go to the next. As you can now see it can be a reflection of the mindset of the person who has contacted you.
Actually i didn't know they were milling down the stock F-body bracket. I would look into that, but i think this will turn out fine, and i always like making things even if they don't look as good as factory in the end.
Thank you for the info!
Oh, and Eric, just take a look at how simple it is to make a bracket. As strong as it is in the photos, you could probably just keep it like that with only 1 piece of steel bar being used.
Considering I've only used one bolt to hold the alternator on, you should have no issues with your setup as long as they line up. Kind of have me wanting to go that route instead because you can now get rid of the tensioner and water pump in favor of a WP119 drag pump
__________________ Rule to live by when buying or selling:
Quote:
if you get a pm from a potential buyer where it is difficult to read (spelling, grammar) then you may want to skip that person and go to the next. As you can now see it can be a reflection of the mindset of the person who has contacted you.
Finally another photo update. Doesn't look like i got much done, but it all adds up... eventually. I tackled the alternator issue yesterday. I think i am going to make a bracket to position it in the same area in the photos. Wish i could just use an F-body bracket and be done with it! Oh well, since the Corvette accessories sit closer to the engine, i wanted to keep as much clearance as possible.
Thanks for the update. Looks great! I was beginning to think that you had lost some interest in the project. When actually, there's been a lot of progress made.
__________________ LSX powered MUNSTER.....Mod's list? 5 lbs per HP with a sh!t load of low end torque...Friend to all car people...Thanks LS1Tech
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__________________ Rule to live by when buying or selling:
Quote:
if you get a pm from a potential buyer where it is difficult to read (spelling, grammar) then you may want to skip that person and go to the next. As you can now see it can be a reflection of the mindset of the person who has contacted you.
Considering I've only used one bolt to hold the alternator on, you should have no issues with your setup as long as they line up. Kind of have me wanting to go that route instead because you can now get rid of the tensioner and water pump in favor of a WP119 drag pump
Yeah, i have been using a straight edge to try and get them lined up as much as possible. Still going to have to work with the washers to get it a little more in line. And thanks for the heads up on the underdrive pulley issue. Right now there are so many little things like that to buy...
Quote:
Originally Posted by LS1-450
Thanks for the update. Looks great! I was beginning to think that you had lost some interest in the project. When actually, there's been a lot of progress made.
I wouldn't call it a lot of progress, but i have spent most of my free time working on the car. I just forgot to take any photos of progress last weekend. Right now my goal is to get everything together so i can start the car up on spring break week. I still won't have the rear end taken care of, and probably won't have the cooling covered either, but i want to be able to hear it run!
Quote:
Originally Posted by s10_onbagz
What type of racing are you building this car for? It looks like you even welded the frame rails up.
Since Miata's are a pretty short wheelbase with great balance, they are generally used for auto-cross racing. I have always been more of a drag race fan, but got carried away on my last build and made it a pain to drive on the street. My goals with this are to have a fast, fun car that i can drive around on the street with minimal discomfort (noise, vibration, harsh handling, etc), and then take it to the drag strip and have some fun too. I mainly just did the welding on the front end to help tie everything together a little bit more since i was already in there with the welder. There are a lot more chassis bracing areas that are going to be covered later.
My tranny should be shipping out soon. As soon as i get a new oil pickup tube, the engine is coming back out to put that on. Then pop the tranny on, install the frame rails, tranny crossmember, and move on to fueling. Should make for a fun time!
If you end up wanting to get a pulley I'll make you a deal on a BNIB one from Powerbond thats SFI approved. I accidentally ordered two for my miata/LS
__________________ Rule to live by when buying or selling:
Quote:
if you get a pm from a potential buyer where it is difficult to read (spelling, grammar) then you may want to skip that person and go to the next. As you can now see it can be a reflection of the mindset of the person who has contacted you.
Once again not a very productive weekend. Started getting the engine harness stripped, and almost finished relocating the fuse box to the glove compartment. I have 9 days off coming up for spring break (the shop is slow then). Trying to place as many orders placed as i can so i can try to get the car running or as close as possible that week.
Tranny should be here this week sometime along with fuel pressure regulator. Then as soon as i get my clutch/flywheel, all that can go on. Oilpan should be swapped out next weekend since my new oil pickup should arrive tomorrow.
__________________ LSX powered MUNSTER.....Mod's list? 5 lbs per HP with a sh!t load of low end torque...Friend to all car people...Thanks LS1Tech
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Thanks for the link. I know it helped me out, as i am sure it could help some others out too.
I finally yanked the motor back out this weekend to swap the oil pans. After scratching my head for a little bit i did some research to find that i have an LS2 oil pan instead of the F-Body. They look almost the same, but have a little less clearance up front where my steering rack goes. I might have to do some "adjusting" there. Fortunately i could reuse my oil pickup, and the windage trays were almost identical too. I have an F-Body dipstick that isn't going to work now, but i think i can make use of the original one.
While the motor was out, i checked the alignment of the alternator and adjusted it a little as well as painted the bracket. I also finally adjusted the brake lines to fit around the motor. It was a lot easier than doing it in my old Honda's.
Another thing i changed up too was the way the power line was run. The factory routing is under the car along the torque arm from the front to the battery in the rear. I decided to just run it inside, and have it come out of the firewall right above the starter. Running over stuff and having my whole electrical system short out isn't something i care to worry about.
Other than that i am still just collecting parts to try and get it started during spring break in a couple weeks. Got my LS7 clutch kit in which was waaay bigger than i expected. (I'm used to Honda's hahaha)
The engine harness is almost ready to be placed over the motor and taped up.
Since it seems like it is every 2 weeks or so that i update, the next big update might be during spring break. All i lack is the fuel system and a couple electrical things, and i should have everything to get it cranked up.... hopefully.
