The V8 NC Project

Atomic Betty has been busy.

Thu, 09 May 2013 17:57:45 -0400

Since the recent track test, she traveled to Atlanta for the annual Walter Mitty Challenge. A few journalists got their hands on the car - one of them proclaimed it to be "the best car I've ever driven". We're not going to argue, Betty is stealing hearts at FM.

Time to hit the track.

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:23:05 -0400

Does Brandon look excited or apprehensive in the passenger's seat? Keith doesn't seem to have any doubts.
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There's more to this conversion than just a drivetrain.

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:22:51 -0400

Modern cars with CAN bus electronics have all sorts of inter-related systems. For example, the power hardtop gets several signals from the stock ECU to make sure it's safe to run up and down. And with the stock ECU gone, those signals are also gone. So we've been working with some electrical engineers to develop a magic box that will pull those same signals from the GM computer. Finally, success! The top goes up and down. This box will also unlock a few other features on the car if all goes according to plan.
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The noise from the rear end has finally been figured out.

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:14:58 -0400

After numerous dead ends with bushings and isolation, we took a closer look at rear end geometry. Turns out the mount put the diff at the wrong angle, leading to lots of vibration and nastiness. V8Roadsters shipped us a new mount with better geometry and the noise is cured! Excellent, now we can drive the car without feeling as if there's someone with a chainsaw trying to cut it in half.

We haven't stopped working on the car.

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:57:32 -0500

Now that it's running, we're in troubleshooting mode. And one of the problems is a massive amount of noise from the Ford 8.8 rear end on deceleration. So we're pulling it out to investigate.

We're testing out a few things on this car.

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:32:05 -0500

Other than the V8 engine, we're also trying out a new big brake kit for the NC. The verdict's still out, we have to sort out the rest of the car before we really give them a workout.
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Drive time!

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:46:09 -0500

After so much time on the lift, we've all been a bit surprised at just how the car looks on the ground. It's a good looking car. But never mind that, how does it drive?
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Time for a weigh-in.

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:13:35 -0500

Betty's not the lightest car we've built. The heaviest, actually. Power seats, power hardtop, big fat wheels and tires, Ford diff - it all adds up. Mazda says Betty weighed 2619 lbs in stock form, so again we're looking at about a 200 lb gain. The F:R weight distribution isn't far off stock either - Mazda claims 52:48, so our 52.7:47.3 seems pretty reasonable.

We're sorting out a number of little problems on the car, which are to be expected.

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:06:20 -0500

We've also decided to change the steering wheel. Betty started as an automatic, so the original wheel (left) has paddle shifters. Our T56 6-speed does not, so we're going to install a wheel from a manual trans car (right).

First drive!

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:24:03 -0500

And unfortunately, not a fully successful one. The good news is that the exhaust sounds great. But it became obvious pretty quickly that something was amiss underneath. It turns out the driveshaft was made to incorrect dimensions, so it's bottoming out the slip joint under closed throttle deceleration. There's no easy way to fix that, so we're waiting for a fixed driveshaft. Sigh.

Another shot of the gauges.

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:21:26 -0500

We need to park this car in a brighter place!

Artsy (AKA "bad") shot of the new gauges in Betty.

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:35:11 -0500

Betty got a little wider.

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 23:08:52 -0500

It's hard to fit 255/40-17 tires under stock fenders. You can do it with some stretching, but it's impossible to keep the fenders from looking a bit modified. So we put on a set of Super20 flares (available at Flyin' Miata!). Voila, a set of very full fenders.

Almost there.

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:53:46 -0500

We're doing some final clearance testing on the hood fit, then it's time for the first drive on stock wheels and tires. We'll have to modify the fenders to fit the big rubber, and we'll do that soon. Hood prop by Snap-On, it's a bit expensive...

Touchdown!

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:52:29 -0500

The car's on the hub stands for alignment and final suspension assembly. We're starting off with our normal FM Stage 2 suspension for the first drive until we get an idea of just what the car needs. So far, it's sitting properly on the springs so that's a good sign.

Brandon at work on the prototype exhaust system.

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:47:46 -0500

It's cobbled together out of various random parts, but it'll do for now. We're going to have the car at Thermal R&D shortly to have a proper exhaust system built, and they'll do the CAD work and build jigs at that time so we'll be able to offer them for sale.
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Have you ever had a look at the air ducting in the nose of an NC?

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:32:47 -0500

Mazda's done a great job of sealing in the radiator. Of course, the air has nowhere to go once it passes through the rad, but it's a good start!

Big fat boots.

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:19:07 -0500

That's a set of TRM C3 17x9 wheels wrapped in the newest Dunlop Direzza ZII - the successor to the excellent Star Spec. The tires are a 255/45-17. Yes, that's a lot of rubber. Thanks to Tire Rack and Dunlop for providing these.

It's alive!

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:16:48 -0500

We've been working on the car but not taking pictures. We've got an event coming up that Betty must attend, so it's been busy around her lift of late. Here, Bill's doing some electrical testing.

The radiator for this car is a prototype.

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:21:59 -0500

It started as one of our bolt-in race radiators for the 2006 and later cars, then we modified it to match the V8 cooling layout including a conversion to dual-pass flow. The shroud is designed to hold two high-torque SPAL fans as well as a number of bypass flaps that will open up under high airflow conditions.