The Miata experience: his and hers.

Well, E36 M3...

Did some more investigation today and the current clutch hydraulics are maxxing out the physical travel available to the clutch arm, so the problem is in the flywheel/clutch/pp stack.  Trans is coming out tomorrow... ugh.

I guess the good news is I have the FM clutch that came out of the car, and a second, new FM clutch on the shelf so at least I have some options in stock if the Supermiata clutch I installed for the swap isn't going to work.

Did probably the quickest Miata transmission R&R I've ever done...

Most of the credit goes to the lift... with the help of my hillbilly fab table/transmission jack combo.

I still had to lower the lift to an uncomfortable height for the low trans jack to reach, so a real shop height transmission jack is definitely in my future.

Anyway... couldn't see anything wrong with the new Supermiata clutch I installed for the swap.   I swapped in the FM clutch/pp/throwout bearing that were in the car before the swap, bolted everything back up and it's working.  Took the car for a test drive and everything seems to be good.

I started thinking about dimension stacking, and unless the SPM pressure plate is bottoming out before the release point, I think that had to be the problem.

Honestly the FM clutch that went back in looked great, and should be plenty for the stock K24 power level.  The only reason I had bought a new clutch is that this one had six years on it and it was one of those 'while you're in there' things.  I'll be doing some more investigation, but will likely end up sending the SPM clutch back to have them take a look at it.

TL;DR - car is ready to go on the dyno on Monday.

Truck and trailer were filthy after the last expedition in the rain to pick up a motorcycle, so they got a wash.  Nice and shiny for the trip to the dyno tomorrow.

Miata is ready for the dyno and loaded in the trailer...

In reply to Rodan :

Flyin' Miata has a specific pedal adjustment for their clutch throw. That may have caused the other clutch to not work properly. I am no expert, but I am considering the "happy meal" versus ACT, etc, and read through the destructions. 

In reply to tester (Forum Supporter) :

I'm familiar with the clutch adjustment procedures, and that was not the issue.  Even with full mechanical travel at the clutch fork, the pressure plate was not disengaging.

FM makes a good clutch, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

213hp/174tq...  

It's late, more tomorrow.

Another quick post before I need to run out the door...

This was the same dyno where I had the BP VVT engine tuned, so I got a direct comparison.  Blue is HP, green is TQ.

Roughly 80hp and 50 tq? That will be noticeable with the butt dyno. 

In reply to CAinCA :

Yup.  I'm really pleased with the outcome.  It was a long day, with 6 hours at the shop, and 7+ hours of driving to/from the dyno.

All did not go completely smoothly, however...

The Idle Air Control Valve, which I cheaped out on because the Honda part was literally 10x the price of aftermarket, had an internal short and faulted the circuit that provides power to the crank and cam sensors... took a few minutes to diagnose that, but fortunately that wasn't needed to complete the rest of the tune, and the car is idling fine without it.  The next problem was the VTEC wouldn't engage.  The tuner probably spent an hour screwing around with the tuning, before he told me there was a problem, and we started diagnosing.  Honda switches the solenoids on the 'high side'... power from the ECU to the solenoid, and the solenoid wired to ground.  With a standalone, it's wired the opposite... 12v to the solenoids, and the ecu grounds the circuit on the 'low side'.  We talked about that, and then pulled the valve cover to confirm cam timing (it was fine), and checked the oil pressure at the solenoid and it was fine.  As we were buttoning that back up the tuner realized the tune was set for 'high side'/OEM switching... literally a forehead slap moment.  From that point it was working fine and he finished up the tune.

While he was tuning, I used a cell phone decibel app to check how loud the car is.  I'm not convinced that these are all that accurate, but at 15 feet I got a max of 91dB.  The track we're running on Saturday has a 95dB limit, but measured much further away.  I'm hoping we're good, and the greater distance from the meter at the track will counter the additional tire/wind noise.  If not, I can still swap on my 'Laguna pipe'.

Yesterday, I picked up an IACV at the local Honda dealer.  At least they matched online prices, as their original ask was well over Honda 'retail' and $140 over the online prices!  For anyone reading, don't cheap out on these... apparently the OEM Honda one is the one to have as all the aftermarket ones are junk.

Then I dove into all the little things that still need to get done before the weekend...  Still have a full day's work today, and maybe tomorrow as well.

I find it maddening when dealers sell parts for OVER the manufacturer retail price.  At least your Honda dealer was willing to match the online price, most of the dealers local to me won't.

Grinding away...

When we pulled the valve cover at the dyno shop, the gasket tore, so I pulled it again and put in a new gasket.

Next up was finishing the mods to the air dam for the new air intake location.  First up was a panel in the rear to protect the air filter from debris thrown up by the tire.  First was a CAD prototype, followed by the final version in aluminum.

Next was cutting an intake hole in the airdam, and backing it with 1/2" rabbit fence to keep out larger debris.

There's a guide behind the air dam to keep the air flowing toward the filter.  I may take the time down the road to make a sealed airbox, but right now I'm just trying to get it track ready.

Documentation is always important with swap builds, so in addition to my 'notes' books, I made two binders.  This way any info I need is at hand in an organized format.  One is for the mechanical swap, and includes printouts of the swap manual and relevant Honda shop manual pages.  The other is for the electronics and includes wiring information, manuals, and tech sheets on all the components, sensors, etc. 

Up on Paco Motorsports stands for alignment today.

My first DIY alignment...  the stands make it pretty simple, though it is a little tedious.   Hardest part is getting everything torqued without moving anything.  

I drove the car about 3 miles to a local gas station to fill up, and it feels pretty rowdy.  Can't wait to drive it on track.  I wanted to fill it so I could take a reading on the fuel level sender, since I no longer have a fuel gauge.  Now that I know what 'real' full is I can program the values for a fuel level on the PDM.

Got it back to the shop and started checking everything over.  Already lost a nut on the exhaust collector...  looks like that was the only thing that came loose... so far!

Another warranty issue with the AiM gear... the SmartyCam camera will not connect to the head unit, so that's on its way back to get checked out.  Everything else seems to be working as intended.  We'll see when I get some data recorded at the track.

I think everything is ready to go.  Headed to the track Saturday.

Success!  Sort of....

Completed our first track day with the K swap and everything worked!

Our biggest issue was me being stupid.  The last time the car was driven before the swap was to a local car show, and I never swapped the track brake pads back in.   Something I should have double checked, but didn't.  So we had a car with a lot more power, and no brakes....

As for the power, a quick look at some data showed an increase in terminal speed on the front straight from 98mph to 107mph.  Corresponding gains on the other straights.  At least one turn that used to be just a lift now has a braking zone.   And we had no brakes... LOL

As a result of the brake fiasco, I never swapped on the fresher set of tires, and temps were in the 90s so lap times weren't anything to talk about.  

Also started to get a misfire at around 6000rpm under full throttle as the day got hotter.  I need to look at the data and try to figure out what's going on.

More to come after I get the car unloaded and pull some data...

Spent a while looking at data, and the misfire is definitely due to a trigger error with the crank position sensor.  Not sure yet if it's the sensor itself, or something else going on. 

The AiM setup absolutely made it easy to isolate the problem, but their documentation still sucks.  I shouldn't have to skim through hours of YT 'seminars' and tutorials to get the basics on how to use your (completely unintuitive) software.

Good news is coolant temps were consistent in the high 180s on track, and everything else looked good as well.

The power... is fantastic.  It feels just like any Miata, but more...  it's sneaky fast, because the power curve feels just like a stock Miata, but you get to the braking zone a LOT faster.  And that 'Vette... it isn't pulling away on the straight.

I'm really happy with the results, just a few little bugs to iron out.

What temp thermostat do you have?  Do you have an oil cooler? 

In reply to Sonic :

It's the standard K24 OEM thermostat.  No oil cooler.

It did go to about 215*F idling on the grid, but I had the fan coming on too late.  I changed the fan to come on at 200*F and after that it stayed under 210*F idling.  Out on track it was generally running 185-189*F.

It does have an oil temp sensor, but the numbers were too low (lower than coolant temp), so I need to check the scaling in the LINK configuration.  I think the scaling is incorrect. 

I know folks have had oil temp issues with the K24, but I held off on a cooler until I can see what's going on.  My radiator and ducting setup was very effective with the BP engine, and first indications are that it's not going to be a problem with the K24.

Checking over the car over the last couple of days, I've found nothing of concern, and nothing loose!  That surprised me, but I did locktite just about everything as I was putting the car together.

I reinstalled the track pads, giving them a quick kiss with the belt sander beforehand, just because.  This morning I went out while the roads were deserted for a dawn brake bedding.  Everything feels good.

Picked up a new splitter (hopefully 2...) at HD Racing this morning.  Hoping to have it done for the next track weekend, and it will incorporate a few evolutionary changes from the current setup.

Got some fresh rubber in...  though I'm a big fan of the Toyo RRs, I wanted to try one of the newer super 200s.  Unfortunately, the best options only come in 205/50-15, so I decided to try the V720s, which seem to have the best ratings for the 200TW tires available in 225/45-15.  These will let me re-classify with one organization and move me from the wrong end of the power/weight curve to the pointy end.

Got my camera back from AiM and everything's working now.  Screen test shot:

Forgot to adjust the rpm range and units for the overlay, so I'll do that next time I get the laptop out.

The other thing that happened the other day is I finally got some additional storage that I'd been wanting for a while.

I looked into several alternatives, with the mission being to get long-term storage out of the garage and shop, and to provide 'indoor' storage for my 2nd Capri to get it out of the elements.  The container was cheaper than same size 'pre-fab' sheds, and slightly easier to move if I ever want to.  

First up was adding a heavy duty shelving unit to the deep end.

Which I promptly filled up with stuff that I don't expect to touch for a while (mostly Ford 2.0 SOHC stuff).  Hope to get the car in there over the weekend.

That's going to get really hot down where you are, any plans to vent or shade it?  At least it is a light color to start.  

I also weighed the NA this morning, with a somewhat confusing and disappointing result.  But I think the problem was the last time I weighed the car, which was in 2022.  This was on someone else's scales (that I had no control over), at the track, where I just drove on, got a number and drove off.

That weighing indicated the car was ~2030 without driver, and actually LOST about 70lbs with the cage installation.  A lot of other things changed as well (OEM to race hardtop, gutted doors, etc), but that always had me scratching my head.  It always seemed too light for a caged NA.

Today, I used a brand new set of Proform scales from Speedway Motors.  I set the tare weight, and I scaled myself on each scale which was dead nuts to my bathroom scale.  The result:

With driver:

Without driver:

So, 2170lbs, and I still have a coolshirt system to add.

I do think there was something wrong with the weight I got in 2022, though I will try to get another data point if I can.  And the car will be going back on the scales for corner balancing at some point after the coolshirt system is in.  The good news is this actually helps my classing with the group I run most with and puts me at the pointy end of the class power/weight wise.  It also gives me a little wiggle room in NASA TT4.  The bad news is I have no way of directly comparing before/after with the K swap (which I think was a wash anyway).

In reply to Sonic :

I don't really plan for anything "perishable" to be stored in it, but I may rig up a solar powered roof vent at some point.  These containers are vented, but it certainly won't be circulating a lot of air without help.