As some of you read my intro post, I'm currently building my project MX3 Drag car . So where should i begin.....
Early 2015 I started wondering how good of a base car my MX3 would be if i wanted to build a drag car out of it.
I started searching what could be done engine wise, tranny wise, body wise etc etc.
Since 4 years before i had bought a KLDE with gearbox, so i could replace the broken one in my K8 MX3. So i had the DE laying around for quite a while.
Now that i had the engine sorted, i kinda wanted to do things differently than most here. I wanted to go to the "As light as possible, power to weight ratio" route.
So me and my brother stripped the car to a shell.
After this, the next step was putting in a rolcage. I bought a Chromoly 6point roll bar kit from Applied Racing and Technologies. Cost about $500 shipped. I had a buddy of mine weld it in, and he did an awesome job.
After that i parked the car in my garage and stripped everything from underneath the car and strip out the engine bay. Some parts will come back on it, some i have sold/traded.
About the engine, I'm going with the bone stock KL-DE out of 94 Probe GT. I will be running it without any accesories (no PS, no Alternator, no mechanical waterpump). I will also be running the engine on M1 fuel (methanol). The engine has been overhauled with new OEM rings and bearings. I will have another friend of mine make a custom intake manifold. I also have thermal intake spacers being made, and my friends at Paradise Racing will send it to me. I will use the System1 racing oil filter. The ones you can reopen to clean out.
Drivetrain will be the same Probe GT gearbox, with a Fidanza flywheel (wich i have to order a new one), Competition Clutch Stage4 sprung disc. I will use the Magnus Motorsports clutch release valve. I'm gonna experiment a bit with the 5th gear to see if i can delete it, without using the block off plate i saw someone wass selling and installing. And in the future i will buy 1-4 straight cut dog gears and billet final drive from PAR. (Hoping to land a good sponsor while the car starts racing). But for now it will remain stock. As for driveshafts, i bought a donor MX6 and took out thr engine (so now i have a spare engine) and took the front and rear spindles. These are 5 bolts and hold a much beefier shaft than the MX3 shafts. So yeah, the car will use 5 lug wheels.
Rear spindle assembly, stock for now, but in future will change for either Strange Spindle Struts or something similar that most FWD drag cars use.
Fueling, i decided to use M1 (methanol), because it's cheap, it makes more power than racing fuel and keeps engine cooler. For that I'm using the Bosch 044 external pump, System1 racing fuel filter, Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator, Ford Racing 1600cc injectors and custom fuel rails. And a 1Gallon fuell cell which will be mounted in front of left front wheel.
Cooling the engine, i decided to use an electrical waterpump. Since i will only be drag racing, it's more effective way to cool the engine down after each pass, without having the engine running. For that i boight the Meziere WP136S. For that I'll have to cnc cut a plate to fit the existing WP shape, and have a nozzle welded to it. I also bought a Honda Del Sol aluminum radiator with 12" fan. These radiators are smaller in size and should be just what i need.
Stopping the car, I eleminited the booster and original brake master cylinder. I'll use Wilwood racing Brake master cylinder kit, that comes with an extra remote reservoir that i will use for the original clutch master cylinder.
For the rear, i have an Ebay drifting handbrake, which i will use only for burnouts and when staging. I will use a Line-lock on it, which makes it easier to operate when staging.
Electrical and EMS, I bought the XS XP1000 16V battery with charger, since i will be eliminating the alternator. It will be mounted in front of the front right wheel. As for engine management, I'll use the new Haltech Elite 750 ecu and i will display everything with the Racepak IQ3 digital display dash.
Oh and i almost forgot. About the "As light as possible" part. We are going with all Lexan windows. I also started to mess around with fiberglass and i did manage to make molds of the doors, which i made one door off. It was pretty time consuming since i never did this before, but it ended up pretty neat! The orignal doors, weights about 70lbs each, i think the fiberglass one will weigh less than 15. Since i have the molds already made, we wanna experiment with carbon fiber next and see how that goes. The plan is to make a one piece front, CF doors, CF back hatch, and CF rear bumper.
Oh waw, enough ranting for now, haha. If there is more interest in this project i will keep you guys updated.
Thanks for reading!!
Early 2015 I started wondering how good of a base car my MX3 would be if i wanted to build a drag car out of it.
I started searching what could be done engine wise, tranny wise, body wise etc etc.
Since 4 years before i had bought a KLDE with gearbox, so i could replace the broken one in my K8 MX3. So i had the DE laying around for quite a while.
Now that i had the engine sorted, i kinda wanted to do things differently than most here. I wanted to go to the "As light as possible, power to weight ratio" route.
So me and my brother stripped the car to a shell.
After this, the next step was putting in a rolcage. I bought a Chromoly 6point roll bar kit from Applied Racing and Technologies. Cost about $500 shipped. I had a buddy of mine weld it in, and he did an awesome job.
After that i parked the car in my garage and stripped everything from underneath the car and strip out the engine bay. Some parts will come back on it, some i have sold/traded.
About the engine, I'm going with the bone stock KL-DE out of 94 Probe GT. I will be running it without any accesories (no PS, no Alternator, no mechanical waterpump). I will also be running the engine on M1 fuel (methanol). The engine has been overhauled with new OEM rings and bearings. I will have another friend of mine make a custom intake manifold. I also have thermal intake spacers being made, and my friends at Paradise Racing will send it to me. I will use the System1 racing oil filter. The ones you can reopen to clean out.
Drivetrain will be the same Probe GT gearbox, with a Fidanza flywheel (wich i have to order a new one), Competition Clutch Stage4 sprung disc. I will use the Magnus Motorsports clutch release valve. I'm gonna experiment a bit with the 5th gear to see if i can delete it, without using the block off plate i saw someone wass selling and installing. And in the future i will buy 1-4 straight cut dog gears and billet final drive from PAR. (Hoping to land a good sponsor while the car starts racing). But for now it will remain stock. As for driveshafts, i bought a donor MX6 and took out thr engine (so now i have a spare engine) and took the front and rear spindles. These are 5 bolts and hold a much beefier shaft than the MX3 shafts. So yeah, the car will use 5 lug wheels.
Rear spindle assembly, stock for now, but in future will change for either Strange Spindle Struts or something similar that most FWD drag cars use.
Fueling, i decided to use M1 (methanol), because it's cheap, it makes more power than racing fuel and keeps engine cooler. For that I'm using the Bosch 044 external pump, System1 racing fuel filter, Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator, Ford Racing 1600cc injectors and custom fuel rails. And a 1Gallon fuell cell which will be mounted in front of left front wheel.
Cooling the engine, i decided to use an electrical waterpump. Since i will only be drag racing, it's more effective way to cool the engine down after each pass, without having the engine running. For that i boight the Meziere WP136S. For that I'll have to cnc cut a plate to fit the existing WP shape, and have a nozzle welded to it. I also bought a Honda Del Sol aluminum radiator with 12" fan. These radiators are smaller in size and should be just what i need.
Stopping the car, I eleminited the booster and original brake master cylinder. I'll use Wilwood racing Brake master cylinder kit, that comes with an extra remote reservoir that i will use for the original clutch master cylinder.
For the rear, i have an Ebay drifting handbrake, which i will use only for burnouts and when staging. I will use a Line-lock on it, which makes it easier to operate when staging.
Electrical and EMS, I bought the XS XP1000 16V battery with charger, since i will be eliminating the alternator. It will be mounted in front of the front right wheel. As for engine management, I'll use the new Haltech Elite 750 ecu and i will display everything with the Racepak IQ3 digital display dash.
Oh and i almost forgot. About the "As light as possible" part. We are going with all Lexan windows. I also started to mess around with fiberglass and i did manage to make molds of the doors, which i made one door off. It was pretty time consuming since i never did this before, but it ended up pretty neat! The orignal doors, weights about 70lbs each, i think the fiberglass one will weigh less than 15. Since i have the molds already made, we wanna experiment with carbon fiber next and see how that goes. The plan is to make a one piece front, CF doors, CF back hatch, and CF rear bumper.
Oh waw, enough ranting for now, haha. If there is more interest in this project i will keep you guys updated.
Thanks for reading!!
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