unevolved

I'm an engineering student at Texas A&M. I'm involved with our local chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and we're building a car for the $2011 (originally 2010, but eh, such is life) Grassroots Challenge.

Here's what we started with: A '92 Miata shell. Most of the suspension, and a few misc. interior pieces.



We stripped it down, cleaned it up, and began to figure out where this engine was going to go.



This is a lot of engine for a Miata. At this point we realize exhaust and intake manifolds are going to be custom.



We're running a 7" Viscous LSD out of an FC 'vert.



Here's a picture of the good engine sitting in the bay with all its parts still attached. Space is going to be at a premium.



Engine mounts shouldn't be insane, though.



Combined with the VG30DETT transmission, this is going to be quite a lot of powertrain for this car.



Hardpoints added in the tunnel for transmission mount:



Suspension is some old KYB AGXs with GCs. Those aren't our final springs.



Fairly large intercooler to help keep the Turbonetics T3/T04E in check, required replacing the crash bar with a length of tubing.



We're running an aluminum CRV radiator directly behind that bar, about an inch forward of the OEM location. Everything fits in the stock bumper with very minor modifications.



Our exhaust primaries are going to be made out of galvanized fence pipe, cut into pie sections and acid-dipped in pool acid to remove the galvanizing. Flanges and a few miscellaneous bends came from a VG30DE header.



Our good engine is currently apart and awaiting new rings and a good cleaning.



The best part about all of this is we're all undergraduate engineering students, and we're doing this for less than $2011.

$hane

epic!

I need to get my subscription renewed lol

more pix/vids the better for this thread Good luck next year!

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iRoadster

Holy shit! If that gets completed on time for the Challenge it looks like it'll be a serious contender. Good luck.

TheJollieRoger

Very interesting project. I'll be watching for sure!

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phillyb™

that's awesome.

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freedomgli

I love V6 swaps. I prefer the KLZE (keeping it in the family allows you to run SCCA SM) but that Nissan motor should be fun for GRM Challenge. I think the VQ is even better but is undoubtedly out of your price range. In N/A form the VG shouldn't be too much trouble to work on. Good luck!

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unevolved

Thanks. Our website is saeintl.tamu.edu and I keep a somewhat current build log up there for the car. Have a few things from the past month I need to post, though.

Thanks. Interestingly enough, going into this build we didn't want to do a Miata. Everyone and their brother had already entered a Miata in the GRM Challenge. But we all agreed a strong competitor was our top priority. So we laid out some criteria like good suspension architecture, rear wheel drive, small, light, strong aftermarket support, etc. We just sat there, looked at each other, and were like, "dammit, we're doing a Miata, aren't we?"

We looked into doing a KL-DE, actually, but the engine management situation really leaned in the VG's favor. With GRM rules, we only have to budget whatever's on the car at time of competition, so we can use all kinds of daughterboards, widebands, etc, so long as the car doesn't require them to run. We can burn a tune to a 28-pin EPROM and swap it in the VG30E ECU, and take a $5 hit to our budget for the chip.

That's the same reason we didn't go with a VQ. The aluminum block would have been nice, but the EMS options were too expensive when stacked up to the rock-bottom prices of the VG30E. That, and the VG30DE and VQ35DE have massive DOHC heads. If you look at the pictures, there's not much room even with the small SOHC 12V heads. No way we could fit two more cams in there WITH a turbo manifold.

Kolbotn

Damn! Subscribed, this is gonna be sweet!

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1vicissitude

Awesome. As a student who plans on getting into engineering this really excites me. I am looking forward to seeing this project through. Projects like this are my inspiration to get through school.

XDEEDUBBX

nice engine choice!

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XCLR8TN

in for updates!

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_Jess_
1991 White Mazda Miata DD
1991 BRG Mazda Miata

LS6 swap coming soon (getting close!)
http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/89-roadster-projects/33687-91-brg-ls6-build.html

Verwah

wow. This is a neat project. With all that power and Iron block, are you considering ballast weight? This is thinking pretty far ahead, but given the power potential, ballast weight in the trunk might be useful.

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NAautoxer

i see the white civic from last year lurking in the background. good luck.

TurboTyla

if i was not such a chevy guy and lsx fan i would do something similar. Acually my buddy has a vq35 sitting in his garage with 30k on it. I have thought of this many times.

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JC-MX5

Welcome aboard! I like this project!

unevolved

It's definitely something to consider when we get to that point. We'll throw it on some scales and see how it's distributed, and unless it's completely atrocious F/R and I can still get crossweights to 50/50, I probably won't add weight. We'll have a lot of tire under this thing, but adding weight when you don't have to goes against every vehicle dynamics book I've ever read. We'll probably get creative with component placement, etc. I'm not too incredibly worried, though, as the transmission and diff are a bit heavier than the Miata pieces, and the motor's actually not that much heavier than the iron block BP.

Yeah... About that.



Detonated at 25psi and 5.5K RPM and we didn't even have time to react; that was all she wrote. That's racing, I guess.

I'm not sure what will come of this project as far as making Nissan V6s in Miatas more commercially viable (I'm not against working with a company), but there aren't many ways you could make this a bolt-in affair. Both subframes are pretty substantially modified, as well as the hardpoints added to the tunnel.

Thanks. We love it too. We better, as much time as it takes.

JSC Speed

Awesome!

Sweets

Hell yeah! VG30 is one of my all time favorite engines.

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Diamond Dave

Note the snail hiding in the 3rd picture and the large intercooler on picture 10

unevolved

Bingo. That's a Turbonetics T3/T04E with a 11"x17"x2.5" intercooler. Based on the compressor map I found (60 trim), that turbo is capable of flowing over 1000CFM at 25 psi and still be 78% thermally efficient. Based on previous VG30 builds by Maxima and Z31 guys, 400hp with a stock bottom end and stock cams is not unreasonable. There's a guy with his dyno sheet on redz31.net who hit 450hp/485lb.ft with a slightly reground cam, everything else identical to our build.

This thing's gonna boogie.

Bryan

My Aggie wife would approve

Very cool project!

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Mazduh

Wait, maybe I dunno how the contest works. But how are you only doing all this for $2011?

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Longbow

work is free. miatas are dirt cheap. VG blocks are dirt cheap. thats 90% of it there.

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unevolved

Exactly. The tires are road-race throwaways. Not near as sticky as autocross tires, but stickier than street tires and a lot wider. Last maybe 2 months in an autocross environment. Lots of Craigslist bartering and lowballing with "I'll give you cash tonight." Lots of making stuff from scrap metal. Lots of creativity.

brianc555

Do yourself a favor and keep tabs on all your mock-ups. You might even want to patent any custom made pieces like mounts. If the project is successful, others will likely be interested in the parts to make it work down the road. Good luck. I can't wait to see this thing finished.

unevolved

Thanks. There are a few companies that have offered some advice I would love to work with after the fact to improve this setup and make it more marketable.

I know the car's not done yet, but even this far along, I still fail to see any reasons why this wouldn't be a viable swap for more "normal" purposes. The NVH and livability would have to be addressed, but it's something I'd LOVE to consider post-graduation.

LostSoulMiata

Don't you also get to sell stuff from the car to make the figures even out as well?

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capitalcrew

Do you know a kid named Corbin Maginot? He goes to the same school as you, is way into miatas, and works on a ton of them for friends and stuff down there. This seems like something he'd be involved with.

unevolved

Yeah, you can recover up to $1000.

Yes, Mr. Prescott, actually, he's my roommate. I'm the reason he's into Miatas.

saedrin

This is awesome. Mostly as I'm an engineering student at University of Illinois at Chicago and I do this kind of stuff at school too.

Kick some ass.

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Turbo'd/r-comp'd NB1.
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