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Hi guys! New Miata converter here. I've got plenty of experience with the older NA & NB Miatas, racing and building cars to run with the SCCA club racing, but this is my first V8 swap. The idea is to build it as a track day car, while still being somewhat streetable.
The car: 2006 Miata, base model, flood damage (thanks to hurricane Matthew). Picked it up from my local salvage yard that sells a ton of rebuildables.
The drivetrain: 2006 LS2 out of a GTO, complete with matching T56 and the engine harness & ECM. 42k miles. Camaro SS rear diff
To be honest, the ONLY part that worried me about this build is the wiring! Any help is appreciated as I go thru this project!
Currently, we have removed the engine, trans, and rear diff from the Miata and steam cleaned it. We have also pulled the motor, trans, and harness from the GTO.
This is going to be awesome. I've thought for a long time that the NC would be the ideal V8M. The chassis benefits from improved computer-aided design and reduced NHV than our early cars.
I don't know the NC wiring very well either, but my suggestion would be to consider eliminating stock gauges and use Speedhut CAN-bus gauges that will simply read off your OBD-II port (and give you OBD codes in the digital odometer). Very friendly to install too. You have the E40 ECM which has worked flawlessly so far in my car.
Not sure if your PW, exterior lights, etc works through a body control module or not.
Where in VA? Would like to possibly check in with you one day...
Yea, I've seen the Speedhut setups and they are sweet...most likely I will go that route or a Motec. Supposedly the NCs have an existing can-bus setup that a lot of folks get rid of...but I'm still in the infancy of learning the electronics on these cars.
I'm located around Lynchburg, VA...about an hour from the VA-NC border. Judging by your sig, you're from around the Shearon Harris Nuclear plant...I've spent some time there with my job. We are consistently visit my sister-in-law in Wake Forest, and I'd love to check out your car.
You bet - always willing to meet up with a fellow V8Miata enthusiast for coffee or cold, frosty beverage. PM me sometime and we'll exchange text numbers or whatever. I'm impressed that you know of Fuquay... Happy New Year and wish you much success with the project! Didn't think about Motec dash, but that's probably even better for your track events.
...Seriously! And his is a 4wd J Deere that'll do even more awesome stuff. I think I spied a tire machine near the parts washer. 2 post lift and tire-wheel equipment is what I want next. Not certain what the swing is all about & afraid to ask..!
Haha ya'll are very observant. That day instead of getting the manual engine hoist out, we decided to use the one with 83 HP and 2800 lbs of lift. We do have tire changing equipment, the changer you see and a wheel balancer. The seat is for my little nephew who is 7 months old. Please, don't call child services on my brother, its safe...I promise
Is that car from East Coast Auto Source? It looked like a decent buy depending on how high the water came up. I'm looking forward to seeing another NC build here!
Is that car from East Coast Auto Source? It looked like a decent buy depending on how high the water came up. I'm looking forward to seeing another NC build here!
Because of this build thread, I've lost 30 min of my life going through their huge number of offerings such as their German cars, Mazdas, Vettes.... wonder if they'll let you walk around and closely inspect whatever peaks your interest? Also curious if NC will let us title & register a wet car easily or not? Wouldn't be worried about a branded title if the project car is bought right & I can make it worry free...
yea, the car did come from east coast. It was hard to tell how high the flood came up, but the car didn't run. The PCM was obviously wet, and being mounted so low in the front of the car didn't help things. After steam cleaning the entire underside, and going thru the interior, I'm happy with it.
East Coast will definitely let you take as long as you want to look the cars over. George, the owner, is good to work with, and this is the 5th car we have bought from them, this being the second flood. I always see guys from NC buying cars there, so it must not be too hard to get the titled.
Some cars are deals at East Coast, and some seem way overpriced...it all comes down to what they pay for the car. I think the best deals are some of the hail damage ones...they have a BMW 740 with hail damage for like 16...shoot a new hood, trunk, and get a dent wizard to work the rest out, and you've got yourself a sweet ride.
Snowed in, so did some painting today. Painted the intake manifold, starter, throttle body, and some brackets. Going with some black billet fuel rails and a coil relocation setup...undecided on the color of the valve covers, but leaning towards orange.
Snowed in, so did some painting today. Painted the intake manifold, starter, throttle body, and some brackets. Going with some black billet fuel rails and a coil relocation setup...undecided on the color of the valve covers, but leaning towards orange.
Wow, did you do alot of prep on that or wet sanding? Silver wouldn't be my thing, but I like the finish. I hit mine with some Forever Black to take it back to OEM.
Nah, no special prep. Just cleaned with steel wool and brake cleaner, blowdown, then wiped with lint free and alcohol. 2 coats primer, two coats paint, then 4-5 coats of clear. I was shooting for the aluminum look.
After a long hiatus, I have finally been able to resume the LS2 NC build. Finally pulled the car out of the barn and moved it to another shop for a little more room. It’s a little dusty from a year in the barn.
The engine is in, the V8R subframe was a piece of cake. I swapped out all bushings in the front with urethane. I’ll show pictures of that stuff a little later once I get the engine bay cleaned up.
I pulled the rear subframe off to start prepping it. I wanted to pull all the control arms off, clean and paint them, and gusset the rear subframe in prep for the AAM diff out of a Camaro.
Filthy
A little cleaner Stripped bare All 10 links and the couple braces
Mazda sells just the boots for the control arms, so instead of getting new control arms to fix a torn boot, I’ve opted to replace all the boots and re-grease all the joints. I recommend the needle attachment for a grease gun to reach under the boots without making too much of a mess.
Painting the wind chimes Mocking up the diff in the subframe...this thing is huge compared to the little Miata frame
I disassembled the rear hubs and replaced the bearings with the SKF units from Rock Auto. I powder coated the uprights “silver” but it turned out a lot shinier than I thought. I also installed long wheel studs from Moser Engineering, p/n MSR-8255. They are the F-body studs, grade 8, 2.5” long...they are half price of the ARP studs and I got them from Summit.
Here is something that I am experimenting with...spherical bushings. I am making a couple sets for the rear lateral links (the big links of the control arms). I made a two piece design with a stainless steel spherical bearing that reuses the OEM cam bolts. I haven’t seen many options for spherical bearings for the NC, so I made my own. Maybe people will want to buy a few sets after I test them out to help offset the costs of this project
Same here! Glad the NC V8 project is back on the front burner. Your do some nice work - that’s obvious with the attention to detail on the rear suspension & all those pretty wind chimes!
I’m undecided on what to do with the rear brakes, so for the time being I’m just going to rebuild the stock calipers. The NC brakes aren’t bad, and I’ve always loved the rear brakes on Miatas, dating back to when I raced Spec Miata. I love the simplicity, reliability, and the parking brake mechanism. Keep in mind this car was a flood, so I wanted to make sure the brakes were free from corrosion and water. I ordered rebuild kits from Mazda for literally ten bucks...yes, I could have ordered new rebuilt calipers from the local auto parts store, but where’s the fun in that? Plus, how am I supposed to show my 9 year old son how to rebuild a caliper if I just bought new ones?
Note: the caliper rebuild kit comes with the parts to rebuild two calipers — i accidently ordered two kits. The kit only came with the outer dust boot, the big inner seal, and the pin boots. It did not come with the small o-ring and plunger seal for the parking brake parts. Mine were in ok shape, so I’ll clean and lube them and reuse em.
Rough shape before disassembly Disassembly All the guts The little o-rings the kit does not come with The new parts and some cute little packs of grease Wire brush wheel and ready for paint!
If its just a street car then the oem Miata brakes are plenty. A lot of people(myself included because I got a good deal) add aftermarket brake setups and there is nothing wrong with that, but it just generally isn't needed unless you are really abusing them on the track. A good set of pads will do works for the factory setups
If its just a street car then the oem Miata brakes are plenty. A lot of people(myself included because I got a good deal) add aftermarket brake setups and there is nothing wrong with that, but it just generally isn't needed unless you are really abusing them on the track. A good set of pads will do works for the factory setups
lol, I have rear drums from a Jeep Cherokee. If they work I won’t be changing them.
Made some more progress on the rear suspension today. I removed all the old boots from the ball joint ends on the control arms. Mazda sells just the boots for about 5-6 bucks each, while a new CA with a new ball joint will run you $60-80 depending on which one you get. The boots are installed on there very tightly, but some vise grips and strong wire cutters will get them off. Just cut the upper ring that seats with the wire cutters and pull that part with the vise grips and it’ll come right off. I wiped out the old grease and inspected the joints to make sure there was no slop. I then greased the lips of the new boots and installed them two ways: the vise, using the jaws to support the edges of the boot and push them on there; or with a big box end wrench that fit around the boot and caught on the edge...this method works for the smaller ones, using an 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 wrenches. The vise method worked well with the larger ones.
I then filled the boots with grease using a needle attachment that fits the end of a grease gun. Just a warning, this thing is messy, as lots of grease escapes the fitting when you are pumping. CAUTION; you can put too much grease in the boot. The new boots are strong and will hold enough grease, and pressure, to prevent the ball joint from moving in all directions. When the ball joint does finally move, tons of grease escapes the edges of the boots making a mess. I found that if you pumped it until you started to see the boot swell, that was enough. The grease happily stayed in the boot and still allowed for full range of motion.
Prying the old boot off Boot removed Needle grease fitting Grease up the new boots, both ends The wrench method to install the boots, worked on the small ones The vise method to install the boots, good for the bigger ones
Per V8R recommendations, I reinforced the rear subframe, specifically around the control arms. I basically boxed in all the control arm mounts, and added gussets to the differential mounts. My brother bought a 4x4 CNC Plasma Table, so we have been playing around with that. I templated the locations, drew them up in Solidworks, and then he cut them them out some 14 gauge. The braces have been welded in place, and the subframe was primed with some self-etching primer.
Forgot to mention, if anyone needs bracing for the NC rear subframe, I’ll gladly cut you a set, they are very easy to ship. Or if you want bracing for an NA or NB, I’ll try to help you out too...just gotta get my hands on the subframe unless you have the dimensions.
12-31-2016 | 05:18 PM
Jcocke's NC LS2 Build
