Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Miata Parts, Intakes, Superchargers, Headers, Exhausts, Shocks, Springs, Sway Bars, Brake Kits, Autocross and track mods.
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Brian
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Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

Time to start ANOTHER NC Project!

THE CHALLENGE: Now that NC1 are often trading hands in decent shape for just $5000, can we buy one for 5k and for another 5k of bolt in bits make it WINNER a local autocross and track events? And along the way develop a bunch of new cool parts?

Welcome our new: 'Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project.'

Got a bunch of projects for which we needed a stock NC again anyway, so this NC will be the development vehicle. Looking at doing new oil cooler setup, more choices in sways, springs, got some new muffler ideas, and much more.

AND our friends from Grassroots MotorSports Magazine will be here in late January for 2.5 swap. So we looked around and found an NC that is in great shape, purchase price exactly $5000, mileage 126K, with new top. No accidents, straight car, paint in decent shape. These cars are available in this price range commonly now, we have seen them sell with busted motors for $1400 and less but we needed one with good working condition so we could do a good before and after impressions, dyno, etc.

What else should we do with it....that we have not already done to an NC before (Project Blue, Supercharged 2007, NC LIGHT Project, etc).
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Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
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LateNights
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by LateNights »

I know its been done, but I'm sure a new forced induction kit would interest people - maybe something similar to the Toyota ITB set-up folks were adapting to the Na/Nb - i.e use readily available parts so it can't be taken off the market, if that's possible?

Or you could just do an ITB set-up :)

Or nitrous :D

Actually, one other thing that I found interesting was the different coatings that can be applied to different parts of the engine - if you're thinking of a rebuild / refresh...
Chuck H
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Chuck H »

Some different NC exhaust configurations would be cool. I know you folks already have quite a few options, but it seems like there's still room for a few different configurations.

One that I'd love to see would be more of a Max midpipe with a bit bigger traditional glasspack type resonator in the midpipe (4-1/2 or 5 inch diameter and as long as will fit in the tunnel) and then a Helmholtz muffler that's more like your ND RS Race or SuperStreet. Kill most of the rasp with the midpipe resonator and kill the drone with the HH muffler.

Another one would be a center exit muffler and matching rear valence.

Off to a meeting now, but will post more as ideas come to mind. :mrgreen:
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Brian
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

Chuck H wrote:Some different NC exhaust configurations would be cool. I know you folks already have quite a few options, but it seems like there's still room for a few different configurations.

One that I'd love to see would be more of a Max midpipe with a bit bigger traditional glasspack type resonator in the midpipe (4-1/2 or 5 inch diameter and as long as will fit in the tunnel) and then a Helmholtz muffler that's more like your ND RS Race or SuperStreet. Kill most of the rasp with the midpipe resonator and kill the drone with the HH muffler.

Another one would be a center exit muffler and matching rear valence.

Off to a meeting now, but will post more as ideas come to mind. :mrgreen:
Similar thoughts here Chuck. Team has decided to look at doing a MaxMidpipe for NC much like we have for ND, 5 inch body converter is 60 percent more flow than all the current 4 inch efforts, and biggest Magnaflow non-fiberglass resonator we can stuff in the space and match that with at least one new muffler that has the Helmholtz at the rear. Center exit is a small niche we likely will avoid, despite fact I like the look, just too small a niche when batch size for us is usually at least 100.
Brian Goodwin
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www.good-win-racing.com
Brian
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

LateNights wrote:I know its been done, but I'm sure a new forced induction kit would interest people - maybe something similar to the Toyota ITB set-up folks were adapting to the Na/Nb - i.e use readily available parts so it can't be taken off the market, if that's possible?

Or you could just do an ITB set-up :)

Or nitrous :D

Actually, one other thing that I found interesting was the different coatings that can be applied to different parts of the engine - if you're thinking of a rebuild / refresh...

We have been looking at trying to get a TVS1320 under the hood, done some initial CAD work. But I really just don't know if the NC market will buy blower kits that cost $5000 given that a cheap NC can be $5000 for entire car. It may just be that this market won't pay what it takes to get a TVS under the hood. I still love my MP62 kit 2007 but the last two of those kits sat on the shelf here for many months and only AFTER they finally sold did 100 NC owners suddenly tell me they were ready to buy those great extremely well sorted reliable big power capable kits.

As for ITB, that market might be 5 hardcore track users per year, niche is just too small. We did the first Cosworth Roller Throttle Body NC with our NCLIGHT project, it was all about proving to the world and the Miata community in particular that the NC had potential to be really fast. I still have a complete roller throttle body setup here and I do miss the sound and throttle resolution/response, but not practical.

I share your interest in the coatings, our friends at 949 have raved about the coatings. But this is a budget project and it seems a full motor build is getting beyond the scope of the project (we don't need to just redo the Project Blue 2.5 dual purpose car we had a few years back, though I loved that car).
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
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DanielS172
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by DanielS172 »

Considering all of your track NC projects ran Ohlins, maybe change it up with with a different suspension setup? Not that I have anything against Ohlins, but I'd love to see how capable an NC can be with suspension that doesn't cost $2k+. But since this is a budget build, maybe you were already thinking that too.
2014 Club | OEM hardtop | GWR HH mid, FM muffler | ZetaCRD | Wilwood LBBK | Blackbird Fabworx GT3 roll bar | TRMotorsports FF10s
Brian
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

DanielS172 wrote:Considering all of your track NC projects ran Ohlins, maybe change it up with with a different suspension setup? Not that I have anything against Ohlins, but I'd love to see how capable an NC can be with suspension that doesn't cost $2k+. But since this is a budget build, maybe you were already thinking that too.
YES! The Team here agrees 100% with you. I keep trying to sneak the Ohlins back into the project and Ryan and the rest of the crew keep telling me all the same thing, it's a BUDGET BUILD. With that in mind what we have done so far is reach out to friends at Progress about building us a proto set of RoadsterSport Springs for NC. Rather like our ND RoadsterSport springs these would be MUCH higher rate, something that can do street/track/autocross and only cost a bit over $200 for a full set of four springs. Rates? Add your thoughts on rates folks! My starting idea is 400 pound front and 275 pound rear, about the max that will neatly match to KONI SPORT shocks.
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
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DanielS172
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by DanielS172 »

Rates? Add your thoughts on rates folks! My starting idea is 400 pound front and 275 pound rear, about the max that will neatly match to KONI SPORT shocks.
400/275 is approximately 7kg/5kg, is that right? I think that'd be perfect. I see that ratio quite often in coilover setups that are geared toward a street/track split. And if those could be around the price you mentioned paired with Koni shocks, I think that'd be a killer alternative to coilovers.
2014 Club | OEM hardtop | GWR HH mid, FM muffler | ZetaCRD | Wilwood LBBK | Blackbird Fabworx GT3 roll bar | TRMotorsports FF10s
shzhong
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Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:05 pm

Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by shzhong »

I wish something like bolt on door bar can help chassis stiffness. A stiffer chassis provide driving confidence and comfort. Maybe a frame rail kit? or injecting epoxy into oem frame? I think door opening is the biggest weak point.
VernonA420
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by VernonA420 »

What about some off-the-shelf coilovers that are more budget-oriented than the Ohlins? Tein Monosports, for example.
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