Andrew's '93 NA6 - KL V6 swap

[NitroDann]

A proper bead roller is one of my next investments, Id find it hard to put a exhaust clamp/pliers bead on a pipe and then charge someone for it.

Dann

[mitch_f1]

it's going to be unique and (I hope) one of the best sounding MX-5 around.

Not wrong there!! To date one of my favourite sounding cars!!

[rxmx]

Dann, probably not for large scale use but would be handy to have in the garage until the need arose to go out and buy one.


Engine sounds nice

[stb]

May only have 100rwkw, but will have excellent torque in the light body. It will feel like a totally different car. Great conversion.

[Beelzeboss]

It sure is going to sound epic. With unequal length headers it has a real rumble to it when idling.



I guess a bead roller would be necessary if you were selling the parts, but for DIY on your own the car the clamped ones are fine, it's not like you can see them when the car's together.

I finished the aluminium pipework on the car. The top pipe is a sort of pressure equalizer between the two valve covers. I also made a couple of brackets to hold the pipes in alignment. The pipes are only held in place by the rubber couplers so I hope that will isolate them from any vibration which could cause them to eventually crack.
I'm not very happy with how they turned out, they look pretty dodgy IMO. They'll be fine for rego but I don't really like the look of them.







I also did some more on the exhaust. All that's left to do is to weld an O2 bung just in front of the catalytic convertor.
This piece joins the stainless front exhaust to the stock mild steel MX-6 exhaust (modified to fit) at the back.

[Beelzeboss]

A case of 'if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all'? Are they really that bad?

Here's the finished exhaust, only 3 cuts and welds were needed to adapt the MX-6 exhaust to the MX-5



O2 sensor bung welded in



I made a new cam for the throttle body



I realise this will be very sensitive at low engine speeds, but who honestly drives below 3,000 rpm anyway?

I just need to make a bracket to hold the throttle cable and then I can assemble everything.

[NitroDann]

Do you have the tools to make a cam shaped one?

Dann

[Beelzeboss]

Do you have the tools to make a cam shaped one?

Dann

Not really, no. I could make another like the one on it and drill the hole offset from the centre which would make it a bit less sensitive at idle. I'll see how it goes first, hopefully it will be OK.

[NitroDann]

Thats what I would do.

Offset hole.

Dann

[Bizi]

Thanks again for the updates, Andrew. I'm sure you've had a ton of views.

It's all progress toward getting it on the road.

What do you have in mind from here? Spraying those pipes might make them less obvious!

[Beelzeboss]

Thanks again for the updates, Andrew. I'm sure you've had a ton of views.

It's all progress toward getting it on the road.

What do you have in mind from here? Spraying those pipes might make them less obvious!

I might spray the pipes though they'll still be an eyesore. Basically from here it's just the throttle cable bracket, a bit of tidying up the wiring, brackets for the coil pack and the EGR solenoids, change the clutch hardlines a bit and make the intake piping. I've worked out how everything goes together and it all looks pretty simple, I hope to have it all done by the end of this weekend.

Tomorrow I'm going to get the clutch lines flared and pick up the aluminium for the intake. Hopefully I'll also have time to make the throttle cable bracket. Friday should be making the intake piping and possibly finishing off the coil bracket. Saturday I'll do the EGR bracket and then it's just a matter of assembling it all and tuning. I'm really looking forward to tuning, it looks like great fun. I'm going to make a set of det cans and I already have the wideband wired in.

[gobsmax]

What happened at the end of this vid?

[Beelzeboss]

What happened at the end of this vid?

The intake manifold wasn't clamped on at all, just held by vacuum and the friction in the couplers. Also in the ECU the MAP Prediction table was just full of 0's so as soon as I moved the throttle it thought it was at 0 kPa and shut off. I guess when it was nearly stopped the throttle was back to 0% so it tried to fire but it backfired through the intake.
If you play it in slow motion you can see the flame shoot out of cylinder 1 as it pops off.

[bruce]

Then engine has braces!
Can some of the pipes be routed around the back of the motor and/or downwards, out of sight?

[Beelzeboss]

Then engine has braces!
Can some of the pipes be routed around the back of the motor and/or downwards, out of sight?

It does look a bit like that, doesn't it
I would route them round the back if there was room but there's a huge wiring loom, the throttle body, intake piping and the clutch line. It's really crowded back there.

Today I made the bracket which holds the throttle cable





I also shortened the throttle cable and put a new end on it.



After looking some more at where the throttle cable is there isn't enough room to easily put a cam on it. The end of the throttle outer cable has to be held so close to the cam that it wouldn't be able to handle the changing angle of a progressive cam.

Tomorrow I'm going to have the new clutch lines flared and buy the tubing for the intake. My local supplier only has 60mm tube and I'd prefer 2.5" (63.5mm) to match the silicone coupler I have. With any luck I'll also finish making the intake pipe as it's fairly simple. Once that's done I can assemble it and see if it drives