B6 DOHC for Racing

[SeanSpooky]

So I've search here like mad to get a straight answer or even better find someone who has done it before and no hope (at least I couldn't find one- plz throw me in the right direction if this has been asked before).

I've a 97 UK spec B6 DOHC sitting in my driveway and I really want to race it in the Irish Touring Car Championship (ITCC). Everyone races Integras and its easy to mix it with everyone running the same setup, but I'm a 3rd year Aeronautical Engineering student and the engineer in me whats do something that people don't do.

Now From a handling side of things I believe the mx3 is the job. Our tracks (2 of) in Ireland are pretty tight and not much in the way of straights so fwd will help there and the nature of the mx3 will be awesome is (imo).
The series winning car is a E86 M3. 1100kg, & 330 bhp. the idea is to match power to weight (0.3). 900kg is the minimum.
That means i need to control to 270 ponies... not possible imo.

What are peoples thoughts on what power i can really get with out sending my pistons into space?
Thought (just engine wise-I understand that control is key in most cases and fully understand that area and we blow the bucks on that) was turbo (some rate one can get upto 190bhp with just a turbo... really??), intake ,exhaust, fueling, ecu and cooling job. plus pulling off anything attach to the engine that doesn't make her go (ie run an electric water pump,& alternator off - but run a massive battery to give her juice- i did this on motorbikes that I use to race, but need to recharge between races)

The question is what can/ has someone gotten out of a 1.6 DOHC
thanks for your time.

[youdirtyfox]

Cool racing the 1600 sounds like a blast! Will you not be put in a different class if you use a Turbo?

Alot of people do just bypass turboing the 1600 and go for the 1800 323 engine & gearbox which will produce 300 ponies
but as you say getting that power down FWD is going to take some bucks on LSD, traction control, electronic boost control, straight cut box? Not to say the 1600 wont get to 240 on standard internals though because that has been done on here namely Josh and probably a few others too, check the worklogs section on here, above that you are going to want new rods I am guessing

[Josh]

So there are a lot of things you can do to the 1.6L. Mine boosted was 232WHP. Though I did quite a bit to it.

The B6DE which is what we have has a lot more potential than many give it credit for. You can build a turbo motor for cheep. We have a strong crank so if you can find B6T, BPT, or GTR rods they are good to about 27PSI on a turbo application until you throw one through the block and you can usually find a good used set for under 200 bucks. You can get your B6 to about 230-250 WHP pretty reliably on them. One benefit this motor has over it than the 323 1.6L is the head, the ports are about 1" bigger intake and exhaust over the 323 1.6. If you can find a 323 1.6L GTX turbo and manifold just bolting that on will get you to about 170WHP, I do recommend port matching the manifold or you can buy an aftermarket turbo manifold for a Miata.

There are other things you can do like an exhaust cam swap. This is common in NA BP motors, and gives you benefits boosted as well. You would need to find an exhaust cam from another B6 and you have the timing portion cut off the camshaft, and have the cam gear pin redrilled and placed to run a matching set of cams. there is more detail in Club Protege . com and you would do it the same way as the BP. This is good for like 5-10 hp and cheep. Also if you do some digging around I believe there was a 1.6L miata motor like the B6ZE that ran 10:1 or 9.8:1 somewhere in there. those pistons can swap over. There are titanium valve springs out there for it as well this would be very crucial if you are racing it.

The sock intake flows rather well, though if you are boosting the VICS system can be annoying. I strapped mine open, other just remove them.

I would recommend changing your gearbox out for the G series gear box. I went through 3 F series boxes in a matter of months after I decided to upgrade and never had an issue after that. There are also more LSD options for the G series box as well.

Hope that gives you some ideas, visit http://www.solomiata.com/Mx5Engine.html lots of really good information here.

[SuperK]

Here is a list from one of my favorite NA BP builds on a Miata:

2002 Block 10:1 compression
Cams are 264 / 264 10mm Lift Maruha's
Supertech Single Valve Springs
Supertech Titanium Retainers
Mazdaspeed SUBS
Toda Adjustable Cam Gears
New OEM Valve Seals
OEM Head Gasket
TWM 45mm Individual Throttle Bodies
36 lb Fuel Injectors
ITG Sausage filter and backing plate
Hondata Intake Manifold Gasket
Adaptronics Standalone ECU
Maruha VP Race Header
Racing Beat Resonated Race Pipe 2.375"
Jet's Integral Kobe Muffler 2.375"
Garage Star Alternator and Waterpump Pulleys
6.2 lb Spec Billet Pressure Plate
7.1 lb Fidanza Flywheel
1.3 lb Clutchnet Unsprung Street Disk
Golden Eagle Vacuum Manifold
Chikara Motorsports Oil Catch Can
Koyo 52mm Radiator
Koyo 1.3 Bar Radiator Cap
Mishimoto Slim Fan
Samco Radiator Hoses
Flyin Miata Oil Cooler Kit
Beatrush Radiator Cooling Panel

He pegged 172HP on a naturally aspirated BP. That's WHP. That's a ZE in a BP. That's crazy. I love it.


Anyways, you could do a more "budget" approach and get decent results.

B6 Aggressive cams (from a Miata)
Adjustable cam pulleys
Individual throttle bodies
engine management
shave the head ~ .80
Of course this will convert your engine to an interference engine. the numbers are approximate given what Miata owners can do with their BPs. however the B6 is similar enough you could probably get away with it.
All you'd need to do to verify is put some putty on the valve relief on the piston, and you can check the clearances, make sure you're still within safe range.

But all in all, if you went all out, you could possibly be in the ~140whp in a freaking B6DE which would be a laughattack.
You can imagine this would be expensive though.

So... how's that turboing looking like so far?

[crazycanadian]

So I've search here like mad to get a straight answer or even better find someone who has done it before and no hope (at least I couldn't find one- plz throw me in the right direction if this has been asked before).

I've a 97 UK spec B6 DOHC sitting in my driveway and I really want to race it in the Irish Touring Car Championship (ITCC). Everyone races Integras and its easy to mix it with everyone running the same setup, but I'm a 3rd year Aeronautical Engineering student and the engineer in me whats do something that people don't do.

Now From a handling side of things I believe the mx3 is the job. Our tracks (2 of) in Ireland are pretty tight and not much in the way of straights so fwd will help there and the nature of the mx3 will be awesome is (imo).
The series winning car is a E86 M3. 1100kg, & 330 bhp. the idea is to match power to weight (0.3). 900kg is the minimum.
That means i need to control to 270 ponies... not possible imo.

What are peoples thoughts on what power i can really get with out sending my pistons into space?
Thought (just engine wise-I understand that control is key in most cases and fully understand that area and we blow the bucks on that) was turbo (some rate one can get upto 190bhp with just a turbo... really??), intake ,exhaust, fueling, ecu and cooling job. plus pulling off anything attach to the engine that doesn't make her go (ie run an electric water pump,& alternator off - but run a massive battery to give her juice- i did this on motorbikes that I use to race, but need to recharge between races)

The question is what can/ has someone gotten out of a 1.6 DOHC
thanks for your time.

The biggest question is what are your rules?? and what are you limited to modification wise??/

The hondas are really hard to beat in road racing.. Better designed suspension, LSD from the factory, better power/torque from the factory...

Its not just power you need to worry about, but more how are you going to control it....