Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

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

Post by Brian »

Fun day at the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. Will write up the details as time permits this week. In brief, setup that was perfect for rough local autocross lot is a bit soft for this smooth track, will add more roll resistance for next event end of this month.

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

Post by Brian »

Had a few more days to digest results from the weekend and what comes next. First step is we need a bump in spring rates, car was just too soft for our grip package on the smooth surface of this track, going to jump to something like 12kg or 13kg front, perhaps 8kg rear. Reaching out to Meister first on whether valving already in these coilovers will handle the rate jump. Also going to make some changes to the prototype sways and test those some more.

Car was fun but a bit squishy, driver had to be really precise and careful with inputs. I didn't put the right lap together the entire day, fortunately our Ryan Passey (holder of current production car record at Chuckwalla) was able to get the 2:03 lap we figured the car was worth in current mild tune for suspension and power.

What comes next for this project? Original goal was build what we needed on a budget to show up to local events and do well, and we beat everything with doors at first autocross, we did well at first track event but not as dominating as the car was at autocross because we simply had it a bit too soft for the very smooth Chuckwalla Raceway surface. So, will add more spring rate and try next track event and after that will use this project to finish up a lot of NC product testing that includes new light battery kit, new springs to match with KONI shocks, new lower cost big brakes, and more.

We had stock size brakes on the car for Chuckwalla with R4 track pads, and Ryan and I were both disappointed with the brakes. This is not a brake intensive track at all yet we left with scorched rotors showing a lot of blue heat marks, we were surprised at how poorly the brakes did given lap time of just 2:03 (for perspective my NCLIGHT project was about 7 seconds faster, Ryan's best over ten seconds faster in HyperMiata). So, we need help on the brakes, brake ducts would help. Will work next on some brake ducts and bigger thermal sink (bigger rotors). The easy 'budget' answer for NC brakes has always been to bolt up RX8 brakes but the idea of adding even more weight is an idea I just hate, because weight is the enemy! And yet our 12.88 kit front and rear, the ULTIMATE NC BRAKES that we developed for our big dollar NC projects is just more than we want to spend on this budget project. So, looking at doing new front big brakes that are not as big and costly as our 12.88 kit, likely use 12.19 rotors like our ND mid level kit because that will keep costs low and replacement friction rings are really affordable in that 12.19 size. The harder question is how we balance that at the rear, likely use an RX8 caliper at the rear for parking brake and easy of install and match that to two-piece rotor at the rear so weight for the rear is a push while the front setup will drop some pounds.

OIL COOLER. We had the oil cooler hooked up for track use, we don't track an NC without oil cooler because we have toasted enough NC motors and bearing failure comes quick on high speed high G tracks without good oil cooling. The issue with all the current units is that they mount the cooler too high. You can overfill oil to compensate except that NC in high G use will blow out the extra oil and you obviously don't want to take the chance of sucking air. Back in the days of our more high dollar extreme NC we dealt with this using very expensive dry sump setups, but we need a solution that works for budget NC builds. Thus, working on new setup that mounts the cooler really low in front of the radiator so that dip stick is always accurate and yet you have a real 5+ quart capacity NC. My guess is a few months before we get that complete.
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fbirch
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by fbirch »

Interesting thread! How does the 2.0L Duratec perform with respect to oil starvation if the cooler is mounted low? Does the 2.5L fare the same in that regard? I'm looking at some form of a 2.5L upgrade at some point, but would like to avoid a dry sump conversion if possible.
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

fbirch wrote:Interesting thread! How does the 2.0L Duratec perform with respect to oil starvation if the cooler is mounted low? Does the 2.5L fare the same in that regard? I'm looking at some form of a 2.5L upgrade at some point, but would like to avoid a dry sump conversion if possible.
If the cooler is not mounted low then you have choice to mount it so it won't gravity drain, that helps avoid the potential oil starvation issue but that also means you never really change your oil unless you put separate drain at the cooler. Or you have the cooler set to drain itself with gravity back to sump but that means you need to overfill the sump so you can fill that cooler and still have a full oil sump. On the other hand, if you mount oil cooler even with the sump then oil dip stick stays accurate and you simply have a bigger capacity sump.
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LateNights
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by LateNights »

I'd be very surprised if the crew at Meister shy away from the challenge - he always seems keen to know how & why people are using the set-up so I'm sure they'll jump at the chance to meet a Goodwin track challenge.

Love the "one size fits all" approach to brakes - that's the exact kind of thing that'll give this set-up legs long term (imo anyway), and the tragic hipster in me can't help but envision the oil cooler looking all "JDM style" :lol: - very cool to hear about the work towards optimal performance with regards to proper placement & engineering etc, etc, etc!

That said - I've gotta deduct some style points for not going full carbon on the front lip - especially with all that wing hanging off the back :mrgreen:
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

This project has given birth to our first new NC Muffler in many years, welcome to the new RoadsterSport Helmholtz Race Muffler!

Production picture and listing is up for NEW NC Helmholtz Race Muffler!

Notice the connections for bolt on extra hanger that we include, we found in racing it that it needs that extra hanger to support it from the driver's side. That makes it more complicated than we originally wanted it, but the sound is SO MUCH FUN. Will be interesting to watch what happens. But price is exactly the same as RoadsterSport II Duals, which is super popular here, so I expect many will prefer that choice for dual tips, etc.

It is marked 'Prepay' because likely about a week before production units can ship to customers. We will get some videos done when time permits. It's exotic sounding, more mild and less raw than RoadsterSport Race or RoadsterSport Street Single, which are both significantly less cost. The Helmholtz chamber is very similar in spec to our Helmholtz Midpipe and does over 46 db of drone reduction in the critical 120 to 130 hertz range. All the fun, without the drone!


CLICK THE LINK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS!
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

RaceHelmNC.jpg
Installed....

Videos soon. :D
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by VernonA420 »

I can't wait to hear the sound files for this new muffler!

"... more mild and less raw than RoadsterSport Race or RoadsterSport Street Single"

I already have the Race Single on my 2013, along with the ceramic coated Max-Power 1.6 header and High Flow catted midpipe. It is LOUD, but I'm thrilled with it, given that I use the car only for track and autocross.

I'm hoping this new "... more mild and less raw ..." Helmholtz Race Single will be a good fit for my 2015 PRHT DD, which has the Racing Beat catless header and OEM mid-pipe. I just want more sound than I get with the (heavy) RB dual exhaust I have on there now. Loud is OK, but I don't want it to be as loud as my 2013.

Weight is important to me. I think you said before that this new muffler would be in the vicinity of 14 pounds? If so and if I think it'll work for me on my DD, I won't mind a price comparable to the RS II.
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

VernonA420 wrote:I can't wait to hear the sound files for this new muffler!

"... more mild and less raw than RoadsterSport Race or RoadsterSport Street Single"

I already have the Race Single on my 2013, along with the ceramic coated Max-Power 1.6 header and High Flow catted midpipe. It is LOUD, but I'm thrilled with it, given that I use the car only for track and autocross.

I'm hoping this new "... more mild and less raw ..." Helmholtz Race Single will be a good fit for my 2015 PRHT DD, which has the Racing Beat catless header and OEM mid-pipe. I just want more sound than I get with the (heavy) RB dual exhaust I have on there now. Loud is OK, but I don't want it to be as loud as my 2013.

Weight is important to me. I think you said before that this new muffler would be in the vicinity of 14 pounds? If so and if I think it'll work for me on my DD, I won't mind a price comparable to the RS II.
Sorry, I cannot suggest any of our singles for PRHT with catless header. PRHT is an echo chamber. Your 2013 has 1.6 inch primary header, your Racing Beat header on the PRHT is bigger 1.75 pipe and that means even more sound releases from the end of it. For these reasons cannot suggest any single.
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VernonA420
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by VernonA420 »

I understand perfectly well where you're coming from on that, Brian, given that I know what my '13 sounds like with the Race Single. Probably your new single will be too loud for my taste in a DD with the RB header, which is why I won't be the first to try it out. But some other brave soul doubtless will, sooner or later, and will record a sound clip that will satisfy my curiosity. :)

Though I gotta say, sound clips don't capture the full impact of the sound as well as a live audition. If I could hear a Super Q with catless header in person, I might well find it satisfying. My RB muffler is definitely too muted, even under hard acceleration.
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