[ananthkamath]

Originally Posted by Harbir

You can build Locost 7 for yourself though.

That is in the pipeline

[Harbir]

or you can get a westfield miata kit. Its designed to salvage all the parts from a miata, down to the wheels. So you get the kit, then use your miata to build it, turbo engines and all.

Flyin' Miata : The Westfield

[ananthkamath]

I am not going to pay $18000 for that thing. I could probably build something better and faster for a lot less money, and also learn a lot in the process.

[ATL_BOY]

Hey Ananth, Great work .. determination and ebay can help you achieve anything .. I should def. check this out when I come to visit relative in Michigan ..

[Harbir]

probably is the key. its pretty tough for a homebuilt locost to outdo a westfield or a caterham. But it has been done.

At VIR, an instructor I had once had a pretty good one that he took 5 years to build. It weighed 990lbs and had a Yamaha R1 engine and transmission. It was phenomenal!

[Mpower]

So, finally I drove the turbo Miata last weekend and what a rush it was. Drove it initially in traffic in my typical everyday style high gear, low revs and reminded me very much of my Talon in the way it thrusts you forward.

Took it out on the freeway and did some high speed runs...buried the pedal in 4th, car shoots forward but clutch slips due to excessive load. Ananth suggested 3rd but I was skeptical due to the fishy handling.
Finally found a safe stretch and did 3rd gear redline shift and all hell breaks loose. The engine note from 6-7000 rpm is simply orgasmic and the thrust was simply mindblowing. The thrust is similar to my M3. I have no idea of the speed I was doing...only glanced at the tach.

The tuning was so good that I would'nt doubt that this was a Mazdaspeed turbo Miata if I did'nt know better. I've seen some tuner cars that are hissing and stumbling and overheating. None of that here. Temp needle was rock steady.

Car had some known wheel alignment issues + it was zero degree weather on summer tires so I was not feeling 100% confidence to cane it.

[ananthkamath]

Thanks Mpower. I am working on getting some videos but cant promise anything in this weather. The boost was set to 10 psi when you drove it.

This car will get a completely different drivetrain this winter. The engine has a leaking valve seal (nothing related to turbo) and its just cheaper to replace it. The diff is a 6" ring gear which is known to break, and mine's on its way out. Will be replaced with a 7" ring gear and LSD. Clutch is still the stock 1.6 unit, and will be replaced with a 1.8 light flywheel and 250 lb-ft clutch. Along with some charge piping and intercooler upgrades this should allow to run a very efficient 12 psi on the stock internals.

Suspension development is under way and we are working on this from a full-vehicle perspective, goal is to get better limit handling while trying to maintain a decent ride quality on broken surfaces (the most common road surface in metro detroit). I have a full set of Carrera coilovers that will be modified and re-valved to suit the miata.

[GTO]

What a coincidence! I caught a Miata this morning @ Churchgate and was thinking of Ananths project. Well, looks like it is progressing just fine Mpower.

[maddy42]

Well ananth hats off to your attempt man.

I do agree with your statement that we got to get over a mental block of anything electrical. The wirings and electronics really look weird though..well am a noob to all this so pardon me.

Congrats in the end

[harsh87]

Awesome project Ananth. Congrats on completing a DIY of such magnitude.
I have one question, many in fact.
How did you manage to keep the drill chips out of the sump when you drilled the hole for the turbo's oil return.

I know the strainer does its job but it can get ugly sometimes.
I realised this the hard way when our FSAE teams engine ceased three years ago due to debris. When we opened the sump, we found the debris had clogged the strainer and may this may have starved the engine of oil.

Anyways, how reliable is the Megasquirt, I was planning on using this on our FS car this year, but we bought a DTA unit instead. Our main concern was reliability, beacuse last year two teams had issues with your custom made ECU's.

And where have you connected the lambda, is it downstream near the back-box or just after the downpipe.

Originally Posted by ananthkamath

Suspension development is under way and we are working on this from a full-vehicle perspective, goal is to get better limit handling while trying to maintain a decent ride quality on broken surfaces (the most common road surface in metro detroit). I have a full set of Carrera coilovers that will be modified and re-valved to suit the miata.

How much does a re-valve job cost. We were considering it for our dampers. We've finally got our spring stiffness right after 8 sets of springs and now we want to experiment with the damping.

[ananthkamath]

Thank you.

I used teflon grease on the bit to keep most of the chips out. The ones that may have gotten in, I removed by flushing the pan with two quarts of isopropyl alcohol. This thing is so good, it removed most of the sludge in the pan too. And you're right, the strainer and oil filter dont allow anything to get through, but its unlikely to get to the filter anyway.

Megasquirt is dead nuts reliable, even with the amount of hard-wiring in there. No problems with that.

The o2 sensor is connected about 24" from the downpipe flange on the turbo. I dont know what you mean by back-box?

If you needed 8 sets of springs even before you went to shock tuning, then you're doing something wrong. Its easy to spec spring rate when sprung mass is known.

The coilovers I have are revalvable at home. But at my workplace we have the capability to valve and dyno any shock. That's one of the things we do. So I guess I could say a re-valve is free for me.

[highwayblaze]

Talk about a well engineered mod !

[jaysmokesleaves]

Excellent entertaining encouraging reading Ananth.
Hats off and congrats on a very special and unique DIY job.
A lot of the technicalities are bouncer for me but it was really superb.
One liner for your project > Sasta Tez aur Tikau.
Thanks for sharing.
cheers:
J

[ananthkamath]

Now that my masters degree is under my belt I can finally find the time to move on to suspension development.

This is what prompts an improvement in the suspension (thanks to angelfire for taking these pics):





The stock suspension does a good job on back roads and general street driving but just doesn't control the weight well enough at auto-x and on the track.

So I got a set of these:



These are a set of non-adjustable Carrera shocks used in circle-track asphalt racing (basically a NASCAR feeder series).

They are a twin-tube design and have an aluminum threaded body. Travel is 9" front and 7" rear. Weight is 3-4 lbs each. The shock bodies are almost a perfect match for the miata (0.5" shorter than OEM in front, and 1.25" longer in back). The ends have 1/2" heims so custom mounts will be needed. That's the easy part.

The price I got them for is jaw-dropping: under $180 shipped for all four. Obviously used but that's killer anyway you look at it, considering new aftermarket coilovers cost anywhere from $1000 to $6000 a set!

The next 3-4 months will be spent testing optimum spring rates, anti-roll bars, shock valving etc. on the rig. Street and track testing will commence whenever it warms up enough to do that.

[prabhuav]

Dude, you are completely nuts. I have never seen a combination of knowledge, economy, dedication and sheer effort. Hats off to you dude