Scorpius's NB8B Franken SP Project

[Scorpius2501]

Now to mount and wire up the COPS. This was a pain in the arse as I had already bought the COPs plate from OMGPHAM, but didn't know that they dont fit the NB8B, still I didn't want it to go to waste as I thought that it was possible to hack it up so that i can fit within the gooves and valleys of the cam cover.

So I took a piece of cardboard and drew out a simple template.



Then I got the Jigsaw out and chopped up the OMGPHAM cops mount according to the template and fit the bits onto the cam cover, some additional nuts, bolts and brackets were needed to fasten them to the stock threaded holes but thats easy.

I spent the good part of an afternoon doing the wiring and making them nice and need on the cam cover:


A quick bit of insight at this point, the fab9 COPS kit is actually very good value as I spent about the same amount of money with my DIY solution. So if you want to spare yourself the trauma and headache of trying a engineer your own solution using a misfit collection of random parts - get the premade it. The special automotive connectors alone for the the cops plugs and the ingition module cost me about 100 bucks from Mouser electroncs, and the shipping from those guys weren't cheap at all, from memory it cost about 50 bucks to ship a handful of plastic plugs.

I was so stocked when I turned the key and the engine started instantly! The solution that I designed works!
Better yet the cranking when starting the engine is much quicker, engine revs more responsively, better idle and it purrs!
Definately recommend this mod to anyone who is keen, very rewarding.

[Scorpius2501]

Took off the stock muffler, mid pipe and exhaust manifold. Used a thick piece of aluminium plate to block off the EGR port and then deleted the EGR pipe as well to make things nice and neat. The end results is that now I have a big space in the engine bay waiting for the turbo assembly to go in.



After about an hour muttering and cursing I got the turbo in, the fitment is very tight, ended up having to jack the engine on the hot side to rotate it and make an extra 1cm clearance so that the turbo compressor housing can slip through. The nuts were a pain to get to, basically had to tighten the nuts on the underside of the exhaust manifold from underneath the car, with my left arm going through the space created by taking off the front left wheel, and using my right eyeball for line of site to the nut - bit of a twister game but its worth it.



Got some of these shiny new lines for the water:

[Scorpius2501]

Gotta be real careful when drilling and tapping the oil pan as I have made a mistake here. First I took off the Air Con Compressor and lifted it up and forward to make some space below it. Then I removed the AC bracket and I thought "cool now there's plenty of space for me to drill and tap the sump". It wasn't until afterwards when I already got the aircon reinstalled that I realised that the oil return line had no way to get to the port as the aircon braket is in the way. Bummer.

I ended up just plugging the hole up and drilling again, this time further aft and well clear of the AC bracket. The position that worked for me with an NB8B with the lower aircon mounting position is like this, marked with the yellow dot. On the sump itself the drilling location is just behind one of the grooves on the oil pan.

[Scorpius2501]

By this point I'm done, for someone who's never even done an oil change on a car I've gotten pretty far. It's been pretty hard work for someone who normally has a desk job lifting pens and pushing paper.

Got an Excedy HD cushion button clutch which should be good for 200kW of power, just in case I wanna go and do the second phase of the project and get forged internals further down the track.
I'll get Dann to install this for me along with the rear main seal.



Standard MAC valve for the boost control as recommended with the Adaptronic ECU, took me a while to get the right fittings for it as the threads were BSP instead of NPT. Now I have a bunch of NPT brass barbs for the vacuum lines I can't use - so if you want them send me a PM.

[bear2230]

Its looking Good Jack. I have nearly the same clutch in Snowie. Same feel as stock but you need to be just a little more revvy to be nice and smooth.
I don't mind it because I love Dann's exhaust even at 1500 rmp it has a great sound. At 7000 rpm its friggin insane.

Richard.

[Scorpius2501]

Thanks Richard, this is the last stretch, can't wait to get behind the wheel once it starts making boost. I saw some of Dann's exhausts in the workshop, they are works of automotive art, we're lucky to have a prodigy in our community.

[Scorpius2501]

Last week took a trip up to Dann's. Was a long but very entertaining day, got to check out other modified 5's and meet other enthusiasts such as Alex and Emily. And of course the man himself - NitroDann.

Meet Alex'x NB in Midnight Blue, one of the cleanest NB's I've seen, big fan of the Garage Vary front lip.


It was having the Racing Beat Extractors and a NitroDann exhaust installed, finished product sounded very nice with a trumpet tone in the higher revs. Braahp!

[Scorpius2501]

Last but not least, my ride! In her boosted glory





Engine bay:



Any you wouldn't believe how much power it now makes, exceeded both our expectations on just a set of RX8 injectors and stock fueling system.


That's 185kW you're looking at.

[Joshhh]

Decent read, good power!

[IanR]

Great stuff!

[Scorpius2501]

My car broke down in the rain today, not happy Jan!

I heard a Kaplunk while driving and the engine stall immediately after - not good. So i pulled over on the side of the road and opened the bonnet. There I saw the crank pulley lying on the undertray and both of the accessory belts have come off. It appears all 4 of the bolts that held the crank pulley onto the boss had broken so I towed the car home and had a look.


Here you can see the bolts are still threaded into the boss, lucky there's still substantial thread exposed so I was able to remove it with a pair of vise grips.


Found on of the heads too, by the looks of the shear pattern it might be metal fatigue or Shear Strength failure?

The crank pulley must have hit something on the way out as it had a small dent in it, not in a place that made contact with the belts but I thought it'll be safer to replace it than be sorry. I inspected the belts and one of them had to be replaced too as it was cracked. Snap a pic of the part number and did some calling around.


None of the Mazda wreckers had the part but Mania did, so I jumped on the bike to pick up the parts.

[Scorpius2501]

Doing some browsing on possible replacement bolts.

Bunnings has M6 "high tensile" bolts rated at 800MPA

Then there are these:

8740 CHROME MOLY: Until the development of today’s modern alloys, chrome moly was popularly considered a high strength material. Now viewed as only moderate strength, 8740 chrome moly is seen as a good tough steel, with adequate fatigue properties for most racing applications, but only if the threads are rolled after heat-treatment, as is the standard ARP production practice. Typically, chrome moly is classified as a quench and temper steel, that can be heat-treated to deliver tensile strengths between 180,000 and 210,000 psi.

Given that they were about $30 a set and reasonably affordable I ordered the ARP bolts to give it some extra street cred.