Bill was being a wuss when driving - he said he was shifting at 5500, when he bothered to shift at all. The fact that he had it stuck in 3rd through some very slow parts of the track does take a bit of the edge off the motor really. The average speed on his fastest lap was about 45 mph. It's a very slow track, and I tend to only hit third in two spots. My third gear is also much lower than his - I run a 4.10 final drive while the V8 car has a 3.42. So it's definitely not being worked as hard as it should. Hopefully Bill will let me sneak out to the track some day this week and lay down some fast times with it. I know the track pretty well :)
Because of the slow speeds on this track, we use autocross tech rules. After all, our top speed is less than is allowed in a fast autox course. There's some rollover protection on the car, but I'd prefer something a little beefier myself. It'll happen.
It does look as if the speedo isn't working quite yet. Before going to the track, the extent of all testing the car had received was driving it to the alignment shop and back. The LS computer will be driving the speedo, so it's just a matter of a missing wire if it's not done yet. I haven't actually driven the car yet so I can't comment - and we'll debrief Bill as to any oddness in the car when he gets to work tomorrow. It does look as if the tach is twitching at one point.
Tire-smoking burnout? Not on the brand new Nitto NT01s, please :) We'll put something a little cheaper and closer to expiry on there first.
Big lump? The conversion picked up under 200 lbs from the naturally aspirated version of the car, 1/3 of which landed on the rear wheels. We have less than 53% of the car's weight on the front wheels. So it handles kinda like a turbo Miata, which has a very similar weight distribution. Even with Bill's lazy driving, the car was turning appropriate times for a well-driven turbo Miata. Once he starts using that lever between the seats (or gives me the keys so I can do it!), I'd expect to see some very competitive times.
Given that I'm leaving for the Targa in under two weeks, I think I'll stick with my current motor :) My car did go around the track faster than all other Miatas (turbocharged or otherwise) at the Open House so it's capable. It's also in a much lower class than the LS car would be - I'm in Modified, it would be in Unlimited. So I'd have to go faster to make the same times, and it's unlikely that a lack of horsepower will be my biggest concern! But when I get home...well, I'd have to say the thought has crossed my mind even if my Targa car's motor is a real sweetheart.
We've been getting a lot of interest in turnkeys. Now that we have this car up and running, we'll figure out reasonable numbers. I'd expect it to be price competitive with a built engine and turbo kit, possibly a bit more due to the new rear end. The biggest problem is that there are no baby steps. With a turbo Miata, you can start off easy with a basic turbo kit, then add the ECU (or vice versa), then build the engine, etc. With the V8 swap, it's all or nothing.
