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1992 Miata, LS1, then LS3 swapped
I don't know where else to put this but I wanted to share it so here you go. :) I started this project in '09, I wanted more power out of my '92 Miata and figured why not. First swap was with a junkyard LS1 which spun a bearing the first day I drove it. Then I built a 383 LS1 for it, which ran 12k miles and broke a rod at a track day due to quench being too tight and mechanical overrevs...thanks T56 shifter! :icon_no2: The latest build is a 415 cubic inch LS3, running strong!
Copied and pasted from another forum, forgive any weird inconsistancies... I bought my '92 Miata back in '98. In the 11 years I've owned it, its been turbocharged (Greddy kit), put back to stock, and sat in storage for almost 3 years while I focused on my '93 RX-7 single turbo and other numerous projects. The goal was for my dad to get the car, which is why it sat in storage, but after that didn't work out I got it running with the replacement engine and pondered what the next mod would be. While I love the Miata's handling, I've never liked the weak power. Since its already been turbo'd I wanted to do something different. So I bought a LS1 out of a '99 Camaro with 80k, along with a T56 6-speed transmission. I went with the V8 Roadsters conversion kit which requires modifications to the transmission tunnel. This kit places the engine farther back, so the shifter lines up, and you can use the Miata style radiator. I currently run a Mishimoto aluminum radiator so I'll be able to keep that as well as the stock fans. The kit requires that the oil pan be cut and rewelded to clear the tubular subframe - aside from gathering parts, this will be the start of the project and should be done by next weekend. That's where the pictures will start as well. The other stuff...I'm going with a LS7 flywheel and clutch kit along with a V8 Roadsters master cylinder to work with the T56's slave. The exhaust will consist of Sanderson block-hugger headers and true dual piping & Borla mufflers. The infamous '90-'93 rear end is being replaced with a Getrag LSD 3.60 unit out of a CTS, along with the V8 Roadsters rear end kit with beefier axles, driveshaft, and mounts for the diff. A Walbro 255 pump will feed the bigger engine and instead of running the stock electronics to control the engine, I'm going with a Haltech E11v2 and custom harness for engine management. I've been working with Haltechs since '01 and have installed 30+ in personal and customer's cars. I figured if I had to buy a software program to work with the LS1 ECU for $500+ and modify the GM harness, I might as well just go with the Haltech. So there it is. I'll keep this thread updated, with pictures of course. :) |
LS1
http://www.illicitperformance.com/images/miata1/ls1.jpg T56 http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ta1/tranny.jpg New tubular subframe, frame rail reinforcements, tranny mount and hardware http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/subframe.jpg |
And here's the car that its going in...this is an older picture, I don't have any recent pics with the 15" wheels I'm running now, but the car looks pretty much the same otherwise...
http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ta1/miata1.jpg |
Made some progress on the swap over the weekend.
So the first order of business was modifying the oil pan to clear the custom tubular crossmember. Since the oil pan was coming off, I ditched the shitty stock rod bolts for some ARP pieces. Anyways on to the oil pan. As it looked, coming off the engine. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/oilpan1.jpg After media blasting and baking for 1 hour at 400 degrees to pull any hydrocarbons out of the pores for a decent weld. Outlined is the section that needs to be removed. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/oilpan2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/oilpan3.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/oilpan4.jpg Cutting done! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/oilpan5.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/oilpan6.jpg Okay big disclaimer time! I'm not a welder by trade, to be honest I bought my first welder - a Miller Diversion 165 TIG - back in April. I know my welds look like shit. But please keep in mind that this is the second functional aluminum piece I've attempted to weld. The first is a shifter extension for my SC300's R154 and it looked much worse than this but it worked. I am open to criticism so let me have it. :lol: After first pass, before grinding. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/oilpan7.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/oilpan8.jpg Inside. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/oilpan9.jpg End result. All pinholes sealed, it held water for 30 minutes without so much as a drop. It took me a few hours of testing, drying, heating & welding, cooling, and refilling to reach this step. It doesn't look pretty but it holds liquid, it'll clear the subframe and bolt up to the engine, and I did it myself. I'm proud of it. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/oilpan10.jpg I'm waiting on a new oil pan gasket and oil pickup tube o-ring, then I'll seal the engine up. Also still waiting on the flywheel & clutch combo to get the engine set ready to go in. That's when the Miata comes apart and goes under the knife. |
Epic progress this weekend!
Old engine comes out... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/latest1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/latest2.jpg Look at that dirty transmission LOL...162k miles will do that I guess. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/latest3.jpg Empty engine bay http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/latest4.jpg Dashboard and HVAC yanked, carpet pulled back... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/latest5.jpg Firewall ready for cutting. See those braces at the top of the tunnel, on both sides? Remember those for later... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/latest6.jpg And the cutting begins! Plasma cutters are fun. Much better than cutoff wheels and the like. Well until you shoot sparks through the steering shaft hole and set insulation on fire on the floorboard of the car. :lol: I wet everything down real good, got a wet towel to cover up the seat and insulation, and continued flame-free for the rest of the day. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/latest7.jpg First section removed! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/latest8.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/latest9.jpg Cutting finished on driver's side, still need to bust out the grinder. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest10.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest11.jpg Time to cut up the passenger side! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest12.jpg Done! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest13.jpg *Almost* ready for a V8! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest14.jpg Time to cut the tunnel where it meets the firewall, so it can be expanded. This is where I had to stop yesterday. The braces I told you to remember above stopped me from continuing. My good friend Robert - a body tech - is bringing me a spot weld drill bit so we can pop the braces off and continue the cut...then after the tunnel is widened and rewelded, I can spot weld the braces back on. Passenger side http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest15.jpg Driver's side http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest16.jpg Driver's side from the engine bay...you can see that the cut isn't quite high enough...it needs to go to the top of the tunnel but the brace is blocking that. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest17.jpg More to come tomorrow! |
Spot weld drills are wonderful things. Got the braces off so the tunnel can be reshaped. After the tunnel is welded back up, these braces will be spot & stitch welded back on.
http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest18.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest19.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest20.jpg Cuts extended farther up... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest21.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest22.jpg And the pounding begins! Reshaping the tunnel on the driver's side... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest23.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest24.jpg Shaping finished on driver's side...still a lot of cleanup to do and welding, but its basically there... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest25.jpg About to start on the passenger side... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest26.jpg Got the tunnel completely widened last night, went from 16" to about 21", which will allow dropping the T56 tranny without having to pull the engine, should the need arise. The passenger side needs more shaping, gonna tackle that on Wednesday and start the cleanup... |
More progress tonight...
Yanked the subframe after welding up the driver's side tunnel a bit and reshaped the passenger side tunnel. We mocked up the transmission and it fits perfect with plenty of room to spare. :) http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest27.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest28.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/latest29.jpg |
After a LONG weekend, made some really nice progress. I only took one picture. :)
http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ta1/almost.jpg Engine, transmission and crossmember are in. LM Performance made a boo boo on my clutch order and the flywheel wasn't included. But I bolted up the tranny anyways, after the engine went in. This way I could set up the frame rail reinforcements in the right spot as they double for the transmission mount bolt points. I also wanted to see if the tranny could go on with the engine in place, it does. I'm very happy with the clearances. I also discovered that I got the wrong headers when I went to hook the steering shaft back up. :banghead: I guess Sanderson has two different styles of block huggers for the LS1 and I got the wrong type. Hopefully they'll exchange them. Also found out that the headers can come out with the engine already in the car. :) |
Over the weekend I got the Haltech E11v2 harness wired in...
http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/haltech1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/haltech2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/haltech3.jpg All sensors, coils and injectors are wired up. I still need to run some grounds for the coils and the power & fuel pump wires. |
So my flywheel finally came in yesterday! This is the same flywheel that should have come with my clutch kit, that I recieved a week and a half ago, but someone messed up and it never got shipped. :banghead: Because of that I had to put the tranny on anyways, knowing that it would have to come back off when the flywheel came in...there's no way of aligning the frame rail reinforcements with the tranny mount if it isn't there. And I love doing things twice! :lol:
http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/clutch1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/clutch2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/clutch3.jpg |
Didn't get much done, only had today to work on the car after coming back from a family turkey day gathering. My Vette front engine pieces showed up but no headers. :(
New alternator bracket from a Pontiac G8, fresh from Australia. This places the alternator bracket 3/4" back to match the Vette harmonic balancer and water pump. Some "shaving" was needed to get the Camaro alternator to bolt up...with the new style alternator it would have bolted right up. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/more1.jpg Corvette water pump on the left, old Camaro pump on the right. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/more2.jpg Radiator and both fans in the car, along with all the new front engine pieces. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/more3.jpg Passenger side fan showing clearance between fan and thermostat housing. I had to "trim" the plastic a bit on the fan frame to get it to slide up from the bottom. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/more4.jpg Driver's side fan. Also the new alternator bracket with an alternator in it. :) http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/more5.jpg Picture from underneath. With the Corvette balancer, there's plenty of room for the Miata radiator and stock fans. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/more6.jpg I had to move the sway bar forward about an inch to clear the balancer. I was told that it would bolt right up, but discovered otherwise. With a couple custom brackets, it was no big deal. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/more7.jpg Close up of the badass brackets. :lol: http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/more8.jpg |
I finally got the right set of headers from Sanderson yesterday. Only took 3 tries, my fault though.
Took a lot of pounding and massaging but the steering shaft fits! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/headers1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/headers2.jpg Before starter, passenger side... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/headers3.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/headers4.jpg After starter... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/headers5.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/headers6.jpg |
Loomed the harness tonight. No more spaghetti! :lol:
http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/haltech4.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/haltech5.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/haltech6.jpg |
Made more progress tonight.
Thermal tape/wrap is fun but the insulation makes my hands and arms itchy. :lol: http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/wiring1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/wiring2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/wiring3.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/wiring4.jpg |
And it begins...rear end swap time!!!
I pulled the stock diff and axles and mounted up the Getrag diff so I could figure out where the front mount needs to be welded. Tomorrow I'll clean the subframe, sand it, weld up the mount and install the axles and driveshaft. The car will be mobile tomorrow night!!! It still needs the exhaust before I can drive it though...that will come a week from Saturday. On to the pics! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/rear1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/rear2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/rear3.jpg |
The rear end is done!
Front diff mount bracket http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/rear5.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/rear6.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/rear7.jpg Adapter piece to go from 3 bolt flange to 4 bolt http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/rear8.jpg New beefy driveshaft, good for 500 hp http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ata1/rear9.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ta1/rear10.jpg New axles...thicker and heavier than stock. Good for 400 hp http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ta1/rear11.jpg Gotta do something with that fuel line...its not touching the driveshaft but its too close. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ta1/rear12.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ta1/rear13.jpg I drove the car last night for the first time since November. I'll get video later! |
Well I finally got the car on the road! Had the exhaust finished Saturday, drove it home in the afternoon and started tuning the Haltech. I drove it to the street legal drags at Fontana yesterday, just to watch, and on the way home disaster struck. The engine developed a rod knock but made it home without throwing a rod. :banghead: I discovered quickly that there were some slight engine issues, like a bit of blue smoke on acceleration that was worse when the engine wasn't all the way up to operating temps. So I figured I was gonna have to build the engine sooner than later...but not this quick.
So the engine comes back out this Friday and I'm tearing it down Saturday. Then its off to the machine shop Monday. If the crank is good, I'm going with Eagle H-beam rods, Mahle pistons, LS6 heads and a LS6 cam. If the crank is shot then I'm going the 383 stroker route with an Eagle crank and rods and Mahle pistons and the LS6 bits. And holy shit was the car fast even with this junk engine... :shock: |
The teardown.
http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ne/engine1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ne/engine4.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ne/engine5.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ne/engine6.jpg Damaged journals on 5 & 6. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ne/engine7.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ne/engine8.jpg Shot of 1 & 2. 1 was the worst, all the crank's journals were fucked. Definately gonna need a new crank. Stroker? :shock: http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ne/engine9.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...e/engine10.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...e/engine11.jpg At this point its looking like the culprit was the ARP rod bolts I installed as a precautionary measure when I had the oil pan off, before the engine went in the car. I was told by my machinist that because of the LS1's cracked cap design, changing the bolts would be fine...others on LS1Tech have done the same thing with no issues. Looks like my luck just ran out there. Oh well, live and learn. The new setup will be nice. :) |
Started the engine build last weekend!
Ended up going with a 402 stroker kit with the LS1 block. That's 6.6 liters. :) Went with a Scat 4.000" crankshaft, Scat I-beam rods and Mahle forged pistons. The cam is a Texas Speed and Performance 228R, also have Comp Cams valve springs and moly pushrods. Heads are the stock LS1s ported out, freshened up with a valve job and brand new exhaust valves. Milled .040" off each head to bring the compression ratio to 11:1. Picked up a roller timing set and TSP ported LS6 oil pump. On to the pictures! Nice shiny bores! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine/build1.jpg Mic'ing the Scat 4.000" crankshaft...rod journals came out as 2.100", mains were 3.559". I ran the dial bore gauge on the rod & main bearings and everything was well within spec. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine/build2.jpg ARP main studs installed... http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine/build3.jpg Pistons in! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine/build4.jpg |
I think this whole build is cursed. :(
Ever since my machinist decided to go with the 402 instead of the 383 - and bored my stock block to 4" - I've been worried cause the general wisdom is a LS1 can't be bored to a size larger than 3.908". My machinist is a good dude and knows what he's doing but he hasn't done a lot of LSx engines. So we both start investigating. He says Scat told him that you can go to 4" on the LS1 and that's why he went with the 402 kit. Then he calls them back and they say "oh we meant with a LS2". So my machinist is getting me another LS1 block and I'm going with the 383. He's taking care of everything, the only penalty to me is time. I took him the short block last week and I should have the "new" short block back in a couple weeks. Maybe then I can finally get this build over with. :lol: |
Got the shortblock back from my machinist Saturday afternoon. By 4 am this morning, I'm an hour and a half away from starting her up. Only got about 3 hours of sleep before going to work this morning but it was all worth it.
All that's left is to hook up the PCV hoses, add coolant and oil, verify oil in the pushrods during cranking and starting her up. Just hoping that oil pressure is good...I got a gauge this time. :) On to the pictures! Saturday's progress. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ild/build1.jpg Sunday, heads are on! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ild/build2.jpg Greddy oil pressure sending unit - gonna make sure pressure is good this time http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ild/build3.jpg Coolant temp sending unit http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ild/build4.jpg Starting to look like an engine! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ild/build5.jpg Haven't I been down this road before? :lol: After a long long day we're almost there! http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ild/build8.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ild/build9.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ld/build10.jpg |
Update!
Drove the Miata up to Nipomo yesterday to get some more miles on the engine. It was about 600 miles round-trip. I really need wider tires and LSD. Managed to get wheelspin in 4th earlier today, right before my friend took video... This car is a hoot... |
Got protection for my head and a new tire. All set for a track day this Saturday. :)
http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...atarollbar.jpg |
The Miata survived the track day! The engine ran awesome, the chassis still needs some work though. Here's some video if anyone wants to see.
In-car, with me driving... Me filming while my friend tries to destroy my tires. :lol: |
300 lb-ft of torque at 2400 rpms is nice. 350+ lb-ft of torque from 2800 to 6000 is even nicer. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...2010/miata.jpg Definately not bad, but could be much better. I'll probably throw in a slightly larger cam when I put the ported 243s on there, see where that gets me. I picked up 35 lb-ft of torque and 20ish hp by bringing up the timing to 26 at WOT, with the AFRs as close to a steady 12.7 as I could get it. There was a rich spot from 6k to 6500 that I couldn't clean up, I ran out of time. I'll fix that later with a street run. 3rd and 4th are even more of a blur now. |
Oh and here's the first run, compared to the best run. The bulk of the power increase was from bringing the WOT ignition timing from 21.5 to 26.
http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../miatacomp.jpg |
Its been a little while since I updated this. I've got a LSD now, along with Tein Flex coilovers, oil cooler, and NT-01s in 225 on the rear. No more wheelspin in 2nd!
Anyways got more goodies for the Miata. Now I can stop, thanks to my friend Miguel at Wilwood! Wilwood 4-piston "big brake" kit for the Miata. Using the "E" pads and standard rotors. These definately are not enough for a V8 Miata. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/brakes1.jpg MUCH larger. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/brakes2.jpg Caliper mounted up. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/brakes3.jpg Back shot of caliper to show mounting. Yeah my balljoints are kinda sad, balljoints & bushings are next on my list. You have to shim the calipers to get them centered on the rotor for equal pad wear. I only had to use one of the shims per bolt, where the caliper bolts to the supplied bracket. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/brakes4.jpg The only real issue I ran into was that the Rotas I run wouldn't clear the caliper. So I used a set of 5mm spacers on the front, problem solved. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/brakes5.jpg The car stops AWESOME now. It doesn't take much to lock up the front with the little 615k's, with the NT-01s it should be perfect. |
Took it to Chuckwalla Raceway in Desert Center, CA. Managed to outrun a ZR1 on the straights. That's the Vette that I pass and he tries to keep up. Ran flawless other than some oil smoke as the temps came up, might be the rocker bolts not sealing correctly.
Both videos are the same timeframe, one is front view, one is back. |
I haven't updated this thread in a while, all sorts of new stuff for the Miata.
I got a hardtop for cheap. Painted it satin black and called it good. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...iata1/top2.jpg Then I had a mini catastrophe. I let a good friend drive the car, who had driven it several times in the past, and during a hard 2nd to 3rd shift the passenger side diff mount stud ripped right out of the subframe. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/broken1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/broken2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/broken3.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/broken4.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/broken5.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...a1/broken6.jpg I had the diff repaired and picked up another subframe and reinforced it. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../subframe1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../subframe2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../subframe3.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../subframe4.jpg Then I finally got to get started on the set of Z06 243 heads I'd been sitting on for a while. I cleaned up the ports a bit and had them flowed on a bench. At .550 lift, the ported heads flowed 286 cfm on the intake side, stock is 275 cfm. Exhaust was in the low 200s. In comparison, the 853 heads that were on the car before flowed 247 cfm. That's an increase of 39 cfm on the intake side and the mid lift flow is much higher in comparison as well. With the increased port volume - 210 cc versus 200 cc on the old heads - these heads are definately an improvement. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/newhead1.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/newhead2.jpg I had a full valve job done on the heads and took .015" off to maintain compression near 11.4:1 static. Since the heads were coming off, I decided to go with LS7 lifters. This helped tremendously with the "sewing machine" noise this engine has had since the beginning. Lifter preload was in the .040"s before, now its at .090". Bores are still in great shape, pistons look new after 12k miles of HARD driving. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/newhead3.jpg But then disaster struck. Trying to bolt down the new heads I pulled head bolt threads on both banks. :( http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...1/newhead4.jpg I picked up a Time-sert kit to repair the holes and get the engine back together with ARP head bolts. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...headrepair.jpg With the new heads I have definately picked up horsepower but the bottom end torque is a little weaker now. As I haven't taken it to a dyno yet, the only measurement I could make was a freeway run with my friend's supercharged C5 Z06 making 636 rear wheel HP. We ran 50 - 150 and before the heads I would hang for about 3 seconds and he would pull by about 5 cars. Now with these heads I pull on him until I get into 5th, and he barely starts pulling away, to about 2 cars at 150. :) |
Updates! Lots has happened since I've been here last. Some good, some bad.
First let me give a HUGE thanks to my friend Brian at Indio Motor and Machine for helping me out with my latest build! Last engine went boom at a local track day. 5th lap into the run, on a brief straight in between turns, loud boom at 6k RPM in 3rd gear, WOT, engine shuts down followed by an insane vibration until I press the clutch in. I pull off the track and check the car out once the tow truck comes out...no leaks, nothing looks broken. Once I'm in the pits, I find that one of the Haltech fuses are blown and the ECU isn't coming on. I fix that, crank the engine and see that the Haltech isn't reading RPMs...there's something wrong with the crank position sensor. This, along with the bad vibration, leads me to think something bad happened in the engine. I get it back to my shop, pull the oil pan, and find this. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ne2/broken.jpg That's the big end of #7, still on the crank. It spun freely so it wasn't an oiling issue that broke it. I pulled the engine and stripped it down. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/ouch1.jpg Fresh marks on the piston are from it hitting the head as the rod snapped. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/ouch2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/ouch3.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/ouch4.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/ouch5.jpg Crank journals on #7 and #8 were in excellent condition. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/ouch6.jpg The block and camshaft were trash. What ended up happening on the track was once the rod let go, schrapnel from the break hit the crankshaft position sensor and destroyed it, which blew the fuse for the Haltech and shut the engine down. This saved me more catastrophic damage like a hole in the block which most certainly would have led to an engine bay fire. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/ouch7.jpg After consulting with my machinist and Scat - the manufacturer of the I-Beam rods and 4340 crank I'm running - it was determined that quench (the distance between the piston and head at TDC) was too tight and that an overrevving condition allowed piston to head contact, which in turn fatigued the rods until they broke. There were almost a dozen times where I mechanically overrevved the engine, trying to shift from 3rd to 4th and ended up in 2nd...thanks T56 shit shifter...anyways the datalogs in the ECU showed that I never went over 8500 but revving up there was obviously too much for the rods. The next engine needed to be better. With the engine trashed, I needed a new setup. All that was salvagable was the crank, heads, and main studs. So I opted for a brand new LS3 block from GM using my Scat 4" crank, which gave a displacement of 415 cubic inches, or 6.8 liters, with 4.065" Mahle pistons, K1 H-Beam stroker rods, and a Texas Speed & Performance "Magic Stick 3" cam. MS3 is 237/242 duration int/exh at .050", .604/.609 int/exh lift, and 111 LSA. I needed new valves for the head as the #7 piston had hit the valves but not bent them, we didn't want to take any chances. LS6 valves are no longer available so I ended up with Ferrea SS valves. The heads were reworked for more flow at .300 to .550, picking up 20 cfm at .300 and .400 and flowing 295 cfm at .550. Another 15 FPS of flow were picked up across the board. We ended up with 11.7:1 compression when everything was said and done. A little high but nothing a tune can't adjust for. :) Mahle pistons http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../newbuild1.jpg Assembling the short block http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../newbuild2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../newbuild3.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../newbuild4.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../newbuild5.jpg Keyed SLP harmonic balancer with a ARP balancer bolt. This way I don't have to stress out setting trigger angle in the Haltech, as stock LS stuff doesn't have timing marks. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../newbuild6.jpg Shiny combustion chambers http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../newbuild7.jpg A whole bunch of aluminum http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../newbuild8.jpg And back in the car. Took 2 1/2 days of work to get running. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im.../newbuild9.jpg Finally with the car running again, I could install the AIM MXL Strada dash I had been sitting on since shortly after the engine died in February. First I needed to get the Haltech reading the vehicle speed sensor on the T56. I thought this was going to be an easy task, but no, nothing with this car is. :lol: The VSS on the T56 is a reluctor. This means that it works like the trigger sensor on a RX-7, where you have a metal ring with teeth and a reluctor sensor...as the teeth pass the reluctor, the reluctor generates a sine wave which can be interpreted by the ECU as a trigger event. The Haltech only accepts a 5 volt square wave signal for speed...same goes for the speed input on the AIM MXL. They won't work with a sine wave. So I searched for a solution. There are converter boxes which transform the signal and even massage it to compensate for changes in tire diameter. They are $150 and above. Then there are reluctor adapters sold by Haltech and other companies that take a reluctor signal and convert it to a square wave. They are $200 and above. Lastly I could go the "fancy" route and have a trigger wheel machined to sit on one of my wheel hubs and use a hall-effect sensor, which natively creates a 5v square wave, to read speed. That would be $200-$300 and would be a lot of work. For a while I've had a theory that a GM HEI ignition module could be used as a cheap reluctor adapter, but I never had an opportunity to try it until now. The HEI ignition module sits in the distributor of the car it came from, and processes the reluctor signal into a square wave for the ECU...it also controls timing and fires a coil but I wouldn't need all that. I went down to Auto Zone and bought a 7-pin ignition module for a whopping $27...it was for a '84 Chevy Camaro with the High Performance 305. :lol: I wired up the reluctor wires from the VSS to the inputs on the sensor, taking care to match polarity, and ran the tach output to a Timed Input wire for the Haltech, and hooked up power to the sensor. Grounding is done via the mounting holes for the sensor. Basic wiring layout http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/dash1.jpg I then got a usable signal in the Haltech and got an accurate speed reading, after messing around with the pulses per km value in the Haltech. I made an aluminum backing plate for the ignition module and put the thermal paste on it (the sensors tend to burn up if you're not careful, in a "stock" setting...I'm not running a coil off of it so it should run cooler but better safe then sorry) and bolted the whole thing down near the Haltech. Then I discovered a nagging issue with the E11v2 where it would read 400 km/h until you moved for the first time. This would really screw with my trip and main odometers, which was the reason for the MXL in the first place, so I ended up wiring the module to the MXL directly and everything works perfectly. And damn do I love the MXL...one of the best investments for the car so far. It connects to the Haltech via the CAN bus and shows all of the sensors that the Haltech sees. You can configure 6 sensors to view in the MXL, 2 of which are displayed all the time while the other 4 are paired up and can quickly be toggled by pressing a button on the unit. It also has 6 warning lights that can be assigned to any sensor, customizable shift lights, current gear, rpm, and speed. I gutted the stock gauges, leaving only the fuel gauge, and used a piece of aluminum to mount the MXL to. I screwed up on the hole for the fuel gauge and had to drill two so the whole gauge was visible. :( Version 2 of the cluster will be done in painted lexan with the "hole" over the fuel gauge left unpainted, along with a plastic ring placed between the gauge and lexan for a "stock" appearance. I'll also set up turn signal, high beam and warning lights. http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/dash2.jpg http://www.illicitperformance.com/im...ine2/dash3.jpg |
The build was done 3 weeks ago, the engine is broken in and street tuned. Still need to get it to the dyno for fine tuning and to set up a race gas-only map. The car is much faster than before. Here's a shitty cell phone video I made driving the car the other night.
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Makes me feel like my rotary is super reliable. :rofl:
Nice build though. I'm sure that thing is ridiculously fast... |
Nice project man, thanks for posting it.
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Thanks! I haven't dyno'd it with the stroked LS3 but I'd guess its in the 450s. Its dead even with my friend's boosted C5 Z06 that makes 703 at the wheels. I've pulled a lot of timing because of the comp ratio to be safe. It'll get turned back up on the dyno. I'm hoping for 500 on race gas with the shitty headers I've got. Quote:
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That's a nice LSX project you got here Glenn. ;)
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Nice build man! I cant imagine how fast a miata feels with a LSx. My FC with a cammed 2004 LS1 made 425rwhp & 417 rwtrq(corrected) and it is a fucking rocket.
So did you ever figure out what causd your #7 rod failure on your 2nd motor? Those were aftermarket rods and pistons with that stroker kit right? |
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You are lucky you got away with it a couple of times. I feel you on the shifter....the damn shift gates on the T-56 are DAMN close....too close for comfort if you are required to shift/downshift with urgency and percision:o You ever install an accusump or did you mod the pan? Anyway, good job man...I wish I was near you. I would love a ride in that thing. :sifone: |
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