MasterC17's HPDE/Time Attack Track Car (Re)Build

[jhatch]

Oh yeah, close those holes off where the OE hood latch went. You'll get a bunch of airflow through that instead of the radiator and intake. I just aluminum HVAC tape.

Would not have thought of that. Good Call, Thank you

[MasterC17]

jhatch get's a lot of credit, the car would not be where it is without him! Or running at all lol!

Finally had a chance to weigh the car, and with ~10-12 gallons of fuel we're looking at just about 2,600lbs without. It's a bit more than I expected, candidly, but still pretty light! We have added some weight (fire system, lights, etc).

[jhatch]

Installed Roll Cage Padding, New Shift Knob, New Steering Wheel, and Quick Release.

Also Painted the Battery tray and made some proper brackets for the battery.

[jhatch]

I tried to do the coding for the MK60 Swap, but was running into an error.



I'm going to try doing a fresh install of NCS expert and see if that changes anything.

INPA connects fine and seems to function fully.

The DME was swapped with an MSS54HP, as well as the Mk20 -> MK60. Those are the only two factory modules left, and neither are original to the car. EWS is gone. No factory instrument cluster, I saw someone mentioning this could have an impact but not sure.

[jhatch]

More Updates:

1. MK60 Coding

Big thank you to bmwfnatic for responding to my thread in the e46 coding section about the NCS issue. NCS cannot connect as it needs to read the VO from either the LWS or The instrument Cluster, neither of which we have.
We can follow the guides that explain how to connect to NCS when doing MK60 swaps to non BMW's. This would only need to be done to enable M track mode, which we likely will in the future but not a priority atm.

After more research, I realized of our 4 ABS codes, only 1 meant anything.

The first code for vin not initialized, is to the LWS, which we dont have and wont effect ABS.
The second Code was Can Timeout for EGS, again which we dont have.
The third code was Can timeout for Instrument Cluster, Which again, we dont have.

None of these should effect ABS and are all present on Mk60 swaps on non BMWs (from what I have read).

The last code was for the right rear wheel speed sensor. This was due to the pins for voltage supply and signal being in the wrong order on the MK60 Connector. Opted to swap at the wheel speed sensor end as that is much easier.

So, In theory ABS should be fully functional and happy. Next task is figure out Traction. I would like to have M Track mode. Believe we will need to add a DSC button by running a wire to MK60, fuse box, and a ground, and that should be it. The question right now, is whether or not tracking control is currently enabled?


2. Tow Hooks

Small thing but mentioning incase anyone has a better solution.

I love the look of the sparco tow straps and like that they are not metal so less likely to destroy the paint / bumper when in use / moving around.
However, this meant we needed a bolt for them, as they are universal fit.

For the life of me I couldn't find a Bolt that has the tow hook threads, even after finding the correct Thread size.

So, I opted to cut down two Factory tow Hooks to turn them into bolts. For now I left plenty of room to get Vice grips on them to tighten/Loosen, may make them smaller at some point if there are no better solutions.

3. Driver Floor Panel

Also installed the Carbon Floor panel from CarbonTec.

This was a bit of a challenge as the floor pan is uneven with the left side being significantly lower.

My solution was Aluminum brackets and Riv Nuts.

The bolts/riv nuts on the right side were extremely close to the Fuel filter. I dont have a picture but it worked out perfectly, with the fuel filter being directly in between the two bolts on the right side.

Also you can see the $5 Clutch stop from Lowes. Elevator Bolt + Felt pad. Feels amazing. Found this over on the e46 Fanatics forum.

Note this was prior to wiping away sharpie and filing down the edges to clean up the cuts. Also prior to adding the Riv Nuts

The C shaped mount is stronger but the S shaped mount was needed as there wasnt much option for mounting location.


4. First Street Test drive!

Took the car out for about 25 Minutes, Ran perfectly, no Leaks, No heat issues, All seemed well.

Unfortunately we thought we had 7 days after registration to drive the car inspection free, but looking into it further, it is 7 days from purchase date, not registration date. So we are behind on that by about 10 years.

Because of this I didnt want to push my luck and only drove close to home on backroads. Would have loved to get it on the highway for some proper break in and testing, but that likely wont end well.

[heinzboehmer]

Nice work!

You should be able to read the VIN out from the MK60 and use that to get NCS to talk to it. This post has some good info: https://www.miataturbo.net/suspensio...9/#post1629234

Once you've got them communicating, just follow the regular M track mode instructions

[jhatch]

Nice work!

You should be able to read the VIN out from the MK60 and use that to get NCS to talk to it. This post has some good info: https://www.miataturbo.net/suspensio...9/#post1629234

Once you've got them communicating, just follow the regular M track mode instructions

Thank you! That is a great thread

[nickpiper12]

So, In theory ABS should be fully functional and happy. Next task is figure out Traction. I would like to have M Track mode. Believe we will need to add a DSC button by running a wire to MK60, fuse box, and a ground, and that should be it. The question right now, is whether or not tracking control is currently enabled?

Unfortunately you won't be able to tell if DSC or MDM is enabled/disabled, as without the IKE in place the MK60 will no longer stream its data over CAN.

You are running the MK60 in more of a “hybrid” configuration (MSS54HP, no IKE, AIM display).

[MasterC17]

Here's video of some parking lot testing that was done!

[MasterC17]

First real shakedown! More details to come.

[MasterC17]

Well the first track test went really well! We spent the first four sessions driving the car gingerly, and only revving it up to about 4,500RPM. At lunch, we changed the oil and filled with Redline 15W-50. Then, we took it out for some more aggressive sessions, keeping the RPM's below ~6,000.

The car handled extremely well - for having just some basic setup done I was pretty happy with how it felt. You can feel the car start to really pickup power around 4,500RPM, so I am excited to be able to really rev it up in the future. For this day, we were just trying to protect the motor during its break-in phase. We'll change the oil and send a sample to Blackstone.

One thing I've learned - a loud exhaust is super annoying. Not only is it overly loud, causing issues at a lot of tracks around here due to dB limits, it also means I can't hear anything else the car is doing! Having driven an EV for years now, I would get tons of feedback from the tires - you can tell what each individual tire is doing at any given time. Driving this, I couldn't hear any of the tires at all. So, quieting down the exhaust is definitely going to be a to-do item.

Nonetheless, my fast lap at limited RPM's was a 1:04.13. Best I managed in the Model 3 was a 1:02.3. So, I would say they're likely comparable once I can rev this thing out. Anyway, it was really fun and enjoyable to drive, and I am so excited that the first real test went so well! Onboard video below.

[bigjae46]

Nice!

It took awhile to get used to the noise. Rattle here, noise there…I was having a panic attack because I’d hear 100 different noises per lap. Now I just ignore it. 🤣

[MasterC17]

Nice!

It took awhile to get used to the noise. Rattle here, noise there…I was having a panic attack because I’d hear 100 different noises per lap. Now I just ignore it. 🤣

Haha I couldn't hear nearly anything over the sound of the exhaust. 20-year-old-me who thought a side exit was super cool is now clashing with 30-year-old-me who doesn't think it's so cool! I just need to get it maybe 25% less loud and I'll be happy.

[MasterC17]

We've got a pretty good list to get through over the winter, but the car made it out to two events and (for the most part) was great!

[bigjae46]

Unfortunately you won't be able to tell if DSC or MDM is enabled/disabled, as without the IKE in place the MK60 will no longer stream its data over CAN.

You are running the MK60 in more of a “hybrid” configuration (MSS54HP, no IKE, AIM display).

Is there a way to pull the data into the AIM display without the cluster?