speedo, easy...
water temp, easy...
oil pressure/temp, easy...
fuel level, not so easy, the ohm range is not like anything aftermarket... i guess changing the fuel sender unit or measuring the ohm readout and making a control box for it will be in order...

afr + egt, haven't seen a production car to ever have those... those are tuning tools only (wouldn't expect a factory car to go out of tune and expect the customer to tune it).

speaking of aluminum blocks, those yes all have aluminum pistons ? this is my first car with a aluminum block but my previous iron block cars had cast steel pistons ... how were the iron blocked first generation miatas ?

are we talking about finding a theft recovery or something so you don't hack apart a new car ?

either way, good luck, you're the first person to come across this place that has mentioned doing this that i do not fear for. :-P you have a shop and the time and experience to do it ...

 

What I am looking for is any Diamler/Chrysler product with the 3.2 V6 and "Kompressor" - so it could be either an SRT6 or some MB. All I want is the blower & ancillaries, but recognize I would probably have to buy the engine to get all the mechanical bits one needs. Best of all worlds would be a vehicle that has been rolled with no heavy front end damage.

Henry - who just bent two of his wheels yesterday.

 

I would suggest calling Mike at Metric Motors 800.622.6867 as a starting point. He owns a company in CA that is probably the largest MB engine rebuilder in the US. Though he only manufactures rebuilt blocks, heads, etc., he may have a few resources for the other bits you are looking for.

Bare in mind, you are going to be opening-up a can of worms with the electronics and there are very few resources to find answers and the equipment needed to turn a NA 3.2L into a SC 3.2 from the factory equipment, unless you are a MB master mechanic.

Some of us on this forum have done extensive research on this subject and have come to the conclusion that it would cost about 8K more to DIY than it would to buy a SRT6. Somewhere in the range of $18,000 not including your labor and headaches.

It would be much cheaper and easier to have a custom TC or SC built for the car than to retrofit the OEM equipment from an AMG 3.2L engine...

I would love to see someone prove us wrong, but as you can probably tell from the member who originally posted photos of their custom dual TC build that as far as I know, they never got it working and disappeared from the forum... My assumption is because of the freaky electronics in this car that put a serious KIBOSH on their project...

 

My experience has been that it is more difficult to fabricate (properly done, oem quality) brackets etc than to modify engine controls. Admittedly, I haven't done a MB yet - but what the heck. My approach has always been to perform modifications that can be readily undone. If we can't use the FI ecu from the crossfire, than an ancillary control unit to handle fueling (secondary injectors with their own boost linked mapping?) and ignition are one option.

Thanks for the tip on the parts sources - when I get going on this I will keep everyone informed of progress. Good thing is the xfire is a just for fun thing, and it can sit in my shop for a while. With six bays, the shop has room for an extra visitor - especially a good looking one. While it does look a bit out of place surrounded by a gaggle of Miatas, it draws a lot of attention.

Henry

 

Let's see some photos of that shop Henry... Especially with the Crossfire amongst the gaggle of Miata's.

 

Glad to, if you would only be so kind as to tell me how it is done. Most of the problems I've had are downsizing the pictures so that the website will accept them. Another minor issue, my pc connection is only dial up - no cable or dsl available (have a four lane highway, 3 phase power, city water & sewer and natural gas - but no sinking high speed connection ) so my bandwidth is extremely limited.

Anyway, if you can explain how to do it, I will give it a shot.

Henry - who currently has 9 Miata's, 2 RX7 Turbo II's, 1 SHO, 1 300 ZX and last but not least, 1 GLX Beetle in the shop.

 

You must be running spec miata series with all those things...

To upload photos, click on the new reply button, then you'll see the empty text screen. Scroll down further on the page and you see another button that says manage attachments, click on it and another window will appear that is self explanatory. Any photos you upload will appear in your post in the text box above when you submit the post.

 

Like I said - I've never had ANY luck managing pictures.

When I click on the "manage attachments" icon, I get an error message - "Error on Page".

Yes, we do have Spec Miatas in the shop - although I've quit running them more or less. My current car is an F Production Miata - FP lets me tinker a lot more than you can in SM.

What the heck is it with the pictures? Any alternate ideas?

Henry

 

Well, this time the error message didn't come up so here are a couple of shots. The gentleman standing in the corner is Edwin McCain - ( the singer for you old geezers). The shop picture is some of the Miatas we've got going on at the moment - close up of partial cage install. The crossfire shot is yours truly on the Blue Ridge Parkway with Mt. Mitchell in the background. Obviously, the wheel is what ruined the end of that trip. Notice the crack in the middle of the dent, and the tell tale fix a flat traces on the sidewall of the tire.

Henry

 

go to photobucket.com and set up an account. save the files there, copy and paste the links that appear under the pictures here.

 

is that a white RX-7 i spot ?

 

~ i would say yes... it is.

 

Looks like Spec Miata heaven. Sorry to see your wheel all tweaked, that's a bad one. FYI, I got the Crossfire classed in T3 at the end of last year, so we have a class now. I'm going to forewarn you about doing mods to the Crossfire, any of the parts (limited at best) are ridiculously expensive and the computer system is a freakin nightmare, can't even get a decent dyno run without cut-out at 5,000 rpm.

Woody is working on some things that should help in the future, but even boosting this car would be a waste of time and money. Best recommendations I can make at this point is cleaning-up the exhaust flow, installing Schrick cams and finding someone who can custom tune the ECU (not the off the shelf version). Other than that you're looking at some stupid money for the Renntech & Kleeman stuff. And if you decide on a custom blower the damned ECU is going to throw a monkey wrench into things.

 

Yes it is, my sharp eyed friends. Actually, a 1989 Turbo II 5 speed.

Ya'll aren't supposed to look at the oddballs there - this is a Miata shop after all. OK, it is at least a Mazda.

HDDP - never done any NASA racing yet - although I did join last week. Primarily because Edwin and John (two of my Spec Miata customers) can't get time into their schedule to attend an SCCA drivers school. NASA has a lot of HPDE events built into their schedule. An unresolved issue is the need for a "ride along" instructor as my SM cars have a Petty bar right through the passenger seat area. Have you seen any NASA students doing HPDE events in one seat race cars and therefore no instructor on board?

I recognize the complexity of the DC ecu in the xfire - but keep thinking there is a way around it. Like I said, I do not plan on building a complete grounds up supercharger system. The plan is to use the SRT6 supercharger system, which should bolt right onto the engine, and then tackle the fueling/timing issues second. There are many approaches to take, but since I don't have the blower at this time, the rest is on the back burner. Right now, I am still looking for two cosmetically perfect right side wheels.

I'll do a group shot of the Miatas and the Crossfire when I get it back over to the shop.

Cheers,

Henry

 

If you have a decent amount of track time / experience you can speak to the HPDE coordinator and skip HPDE1+2 and go directly into HPDE 3. Because of my years of competition, I skipped HPDE all together and got my Time Trials license and am running the car in TTD (due to the mods).

I'd like to see you tackle the installation of the SRT6 blower and plumbing so you can be the guinea pig. I started a thread about 9 months ago on this exact subject and did quite a bit of research on it. If you find the post, you will see a large list of parts needed for the job. Bare in mind there are differences in the engine internals (cam & pistons) as well as the computer, fueling & air. Total cost for parts (new) is going to run you around $12k And still will run into issues with the ECU and I don't know if you can flash that chip with the engine management software for the SRT6.

Good luck.

 

HDDP so are you saying the ECU upgrade from Kleeman is a waste? Its $1,000.

They send me a dyno sheet showing 13 hp gain, but at the crank.

 

I don't know where I said that. But at least they are quoting #'s that appear to be real world, instead of what some of the other companies are claiming. You have to judge for yourself if a 13 hp gain is worth a $1,000 investment. I would guestimate that turns into 7 hp at the wheel.

Don't get me wrong, I spent $650 on a Powerchip without dyno results from that company. Can you post the dyno they sent you ?

 

Edwin has one commercial school (Panoz at Road Atlanta), John has no competition driving experience. I currently hold an SCCA National Lisc and am a certified SCCA Competition Instructor. Guess we'll just have to ask the NASA folks and see what they say. BTW, what class would something like an SCCA FP Miata run in NASA?

I have indeed read all of the posts (that I could find) on the subject. My approach is absolutely NOT to get all the bits and pieces individually, but to find a totaled donor car, and transfer what is needed from it. Obviously, this depends on the availability and price of the donor. A second alternative is buy the complete engine from a junkyard.

I recognize the internals are different - the price for engines in mopar parts shows that - but I am also certain that the engine will tolerate a certain amount of abuse. If we can increase the HP on a Miata 150% on a stock motor, shouldn't the MB engine hold up to say 40%?

This won't be a top priority project, but since this is my personal car, I am interested in seeing it through. Input from people such as yourself and others on this forum will be a vital asset.

Cheers

Henry

 

With that kind of track experience you can just get your TT license, considering they usually lump-in HPDE4 cars in with TT, you're good to go. I don't know where the Mazda would run, you can look it up on the NASA site.

You're concept is valid and should in theory work providing you can figure out the ECU issues. This is the only thing holding me back from doing the same thing. It seems after two years of searching, nobody has the expertise to modify our ECU's. The only thing that I have found would be a custom piggy back MOTEC system which would run about $4,000.

 

why don't we just find out what kleeman does with the ecu when they supercharge. its like 7 grand for the low pressure supercharger, so i doubt it comes with a standalone. all we have to do is emulate what they do to the ecu if we want to boost.