[Sylencer_Sy]

All right. I have a dream. One day I will own a circa-'95 Ford 302 engine, and it will rock my Miata. Right now I'm in the theory phase, trying to collect as much info as I can before sinking a sizeable chunk of change into it. And as such, I'll ask those who might have experience to help.

First question: Does anyone know where I can get some CAD software to build the engine virtually, being able to see estimated flow rates, and customizing things such as camshafts, crankshafts, etc.? This would help me immensely.

Now. Basic engine build theory so far: Boss 302 engine, bored out, but stroke reduced to help the engine rev high. Now, the most drastic change to the engine that I'll be attempting is the firing order.

Original firing order:
7 | 8
2 | 3
4 | 5
1 | 6

New firing order:
1 | 4
3 | 2
1 | 4
3 | 2

And yes, you saw that right. Two cylinders will be firing at the same time. To accomplish this I'll need to draft out a custom crankshaft and camshafts, and have a custom ECU as well. Now you see the need for a CAD program, if for nothing but drawing up the specs for custom crank/camshaft builders to work off of. In theory that'll take the 5.0 8-cylinder and turn it into a 5.0 4-cylinder, but with better fuel burn times (the flame only had to travel 1/2 the distance it would on a same-displacement, conventional 4-cylinder), and it also spreads out the force on the crankshaft as well. But what little searching I've done to try to find support on this has come without results. (Apparently searching for "turning a v-8 into a v-4" doesn't come up with much results...)

The engine is my main hurdle. But once I've got that spec'd out then I'll be twin-turboing it, creating a custom intake manifold (trying to go from one turbo to only 4 of the cylinders, with a crossover bar and a MAP sensor), a "boost button" system (my own idea: basically a small air compressor runs off the electrical system, pumping up a compressed air bottle. When a button is pressed it'll blow into the intake manifold via the crossover bar, one-way valves will close off the non-spooled turbos, and you'll have a little boost at any RPM, good for getting the RPM's high enough for the turbos to function), a 6-speed tranny with gearing to maximize on the engine's power band, stiffened body, tweaked suspentsion, etc...Yeah. It'll take forever to build. BUT my main hurdle's the engine. Ideas? Toss me a line. The e-mail link works, and I check that a bit more often (read: a lot more often) than forums. Now, back to the drawing board, where I'm still stuck at...LoL.

-Sylencer

[Sylencer_Sy]

Oh. Some more (fairly minor) aspects of the concept Miata: Widebody kit in the rear that allows airflow through it, similar in appearance to a jet's intake. Inside of each side are mounted a small radiator, similar to what's on larger motorcycles, and a fan. Engine coolant is routed from the engine through rubber radiator hoses to aluminum pipes that travel the length of the car, and in between the two radiators. At each junction there's a small chunk of rubber hose, as well, not only for vibration, but also for ease of assembly and repair. And by doing that it'll leave a.) room in the front of the car for two intercoolers, and b.) significantly lower under-hood temperatures, which will help the induction system get a cooler charge as well. Oh, and the extra water weight in the rear will help weight distribution slightly, as well. Bonus!

And this Miata will have several body mods to be very reminiscient to those 'Stangs out there. Specifically I'm looking at the slanted rectangular tail lights, and more lines in the body, more like what would be on a Roush Mustang. I'll probably aim toward a dual-scoop hood, though, that will hopefully direct cooler air right over the turbo intakes.

I'll probably try to get a custom emblem. I'm thinking "Miatastang," then underneath "5.0TT." Seeing as how maybe 1/3 of it's going to be Mazda, 1/3's going to be Ford, and 1/3's going to be custom fab'd, I really wouldn't know what company logo to put on it, though...

Right before the turbos I'm going to experiment with a smog pump. The theory there is that it takes power from the engine to push air into the exhaust lines, therefore introducing oxygen into the super-hot vapors, thus igniting any remaining fuel that's left unburned. Now, putting one of those right before a turbo would (in theory) help the turbo spool faster by giving it a little extra backpressure. Whether it'll actually gain or lose power I don't know yet, though...But even if it's net zero, I'll probably do it for environmental reasons. It's already going to be burning through twice the fuel, firing two cylinders at a time. Why tick off the environmentalists even more?

After the turbos, instead of normal exhaust pipes, I'll be using as many glasspack mufflers as I can. It'll be as straight-through as exhaust pipes, with a little bit of sound muffling all the way back. And I'll be keeping the cats, too. I might put a "y" on each side and drop an extra cat parallel to the flow (4 cats total, two per side), and that should minimize any reduction in flow, while keeping the car really clean for a racer, and hopefully a lot quieter, to boot. A semi-sleeper, maybe. Heh. And another "hmm" came to mind: Out of the turbo, to a "y," then each branch going to its own cat, and instead of joining up again, just keeping it separated, with glasspacks all the way back. It'd give it a functioning 4-pipe exhaust system. Heh. It'd at least look nice and symmetrical when viewed from underneath...

[G.T. Rags]

is this a thread saying "if i ever have the money this is what i would buy and this is what i would do?"

[Sylencer_Sy]

More like a framework of what I'm planning on doing over the span of several years, collecting everything piece by piece. But yeah.

I'm going to be attempting to get into the automotive design industry, creating new systems for vehicles, new configurations of existing systems, and new ways of using old tech for added benefits. Some time this year I'll be going to school for automotive mechanics, so I'll have some hands-on experience working on cars, and finding out where the current engineers really stuck their heads where they don't belong, so that when I'm one myself, I won't make the same mistakes. Hopefully this build (whenever I'm able to start it) will help me in my endeavors.

And seriously, Chrystler. Dropping the friggin' fuel tank to replace a relatively small (read: clogs relatively quickly) fuel filter?