jj_warhorse

I made a few updates to the website, most notably the addition of a blog. Its mostly the same stuff in these threads with a few more pictures.

jj_warhorse

Cross posting a requested update from CR:
Please excuse me if I'm repeating anything. The first production exterior shell and hatch are done, but its taking a little longer then our last estimate to finish the interior. We understand there will always be varying opinions on the styling and people asking "what is the point"? There will always be someone who say the 1/4 windows dont look right or the back end is too high. Thats fine, we can't control that. What we can control is the value costumers will get for their money. We've done a few things that we decided could be improved upon and gone back to do them over. This means there is very little on this top that hasent been designed from scratch other then 2 things... the basic shape and curve of the crown of roof up to about where a rollbar would go, and where the hatch seals to the trunk and latch. We've created a complete liner that gives about 1.5-2in more headroom/rollbar clearance then the OEM top. The production mold for the liner should be done today or tomorrow. We have also built in practical drain channels with the rear hatch weatherstrip mounting rails. We've designed a very simple but effective weatherstripping system for the side windows that does not require expensive OEM miata seals, which is beneficial to both us and our customers. The side mounting brackets will be a little different as they will be built directly into the top and mount to the car with 2 bolts and a spacer for more finished look. This is another detail that required scrapping progress we made and starting over. We've made sure the deck is adequately reinforced for mounting an APR wing, but we have stopped doing much work on the ducktail until the rest of the top is complete. The gas cap cover is done and is very simple and will not touch the actual fuel filler system. You will bolt our cap in place of the oem cap. Half of the cap will be integrated with the fender/metal surface of the car, the other half will be blended into the top. It will pop open with the stock release lever.
Everything is going very well and our most experienced guy is working 6-10 hrs a day, 6-7 days a week on this project. Frankly, he's a bit obsessed with it. The time investment in this project is huge and we've been taking lots of extra steps. We built an entire rear form off of my car that each production top will be bolted on to be test fit, allowed additional cure time, and assembled after all the pieces are pulled from the mold (bonding in the liner, hinges etc). This form is also the first step in making the NA version, which I'm sure many of you will be happy to hear. At this point I can only say we are close and it will be done when its "right" and we are ready to start taking orders and delivering. First we will send 2-3 out there for some feedback and see how that goes, but all things considered this phase should go quickly and smoothly.
If our customers are going to be buying a top that cost as much as a decent NA, we want people who are on the fence or think thats too much $ to spend on a top to take a closer look and one and say "wow, thats actually pretty damn nice, I understand now" whether they can justify buying one for themselves or not. Right now we're still working on getting the tangible proof out there and letting the product speak for itself... not just crappy prototype plug pics and my ramblings.
We are starting to clean up my car for better photo's (its a real mess) and I hope to have some by early next week. Other then that we are just a few weeks away from having the first one done so I can dive head first into documenting the details for the website. Thanks for your patience... we are _extremely_ anxious to get these out there ourselves, but we're not going to rush anything.
Any questions are welcome...

swimming108

iTrader: (3)

Haven't heard any updates on this project in a while. I hope that the concept didn't die out.

Where you able to make any semi-production examples?
Did you get any test results or feedback?

Cheers,
-Jared-

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

Updates were posted on CR recently. It's still being worked on

Jesse- I've been keeping an eye out...figured you'd update me as needed.

jj_warhorse

Thanks Dopp.
Nope, we are still going strong. Finishing the last 5% and getting all the production tweaks and assembly jigs done has been a long slow process and they have been some things things that came up and took us off the project for a few weeks. We've gone back and changed a few things as well as turned the 1 piece outer shell mold into a 3 piece mold and incorporated the rear rain gutters into it instead of having them as separately molded pieces to be bonded on. We're close, but I'm not comfortable putting an ETA on it considering I thought it was going to be done by april.

Here is the 3"x2" serial tag plate. Production tag will be bare aluminum in the center stamping section instead of grey.

viperormiata

iTrader: (24)

Please do not update CR only, some of us are IP banned

jj_warhorse

No problem. I haven't been updating here lately because there hasn't been much to say.

All the updates get posted to www.warhorseperformance.com/blog.html

afc2112

Interesting...I would like to see more NA chops (perhaps HBC can take a stab at it).

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

my chops are teh best. fu.

afc2112

Can you do one from the rear or 3/4 shots using the pre-production bucks? Pretty please?

PS - I never see you on CR anymore, you banned?

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

im on CR like every day. in fact i posted there today at 9:40am.

jj_warhorse

Have you seen this one?

afc2112

Of course, I've seen it. You posted that on CR as a response to one of my posts about visualizing it on an NA.

I have a red car, so it's easier to visualize it with Braineack's chop.

EDIT - I'm looking through your blog again and I LOVE the view from the back. Very 928/911-ish (I'm a Porschephile so that's a BIG compliment).

jj_warhorse

Yes, we were going for a nice rounded organic shape and I definitely see 911... lots of people seem to. Thanks, I do take it as a compliment.
The bump above the 3rd brake light will be much more subtle and better suited to the NA's lines on the NA version. Because of this the NA top might look a little lower in the back edge, but we havent decided yet. We won't really know until we mock up a NB shell on my NA and start shaping it.

jj_warhorse

Here is an update. We've been going at it hard and and the latest estimate is the first real top will be done in 2 weeks, but as usual take that with a grain of salt.
We've make a pretty big change to the hatch door structure to save weight, increase strength, improve fit and reduce complexity.
As per the image below the new hatch will open along the red line, not all the way down to the blue line as we originally hoped. The only real drawback to this is if your putting a cooler etc in the back of your car you will have to lift it a few inches higher, but we all know how low the car is anyway. The hatch will still open with the trunk release mechanism. We didnt want to make this compromise, but there were too many advantages with this configuration not to make the change. To name a few:
-much more flexibility in designing the rear lip spoiler ( roughly traced in green)
-much much more rigid for improved mounting of top to car and mounting of spoilers or wing (1st major reason for the change)
-much more consistent fit of production tops (2nd major reason for the change)
-reduced complexity and weight of internal structure of top and hatch in this area
-greatly simplified mounting and wiring of third brake light without changing wiring harness

We've also decided that we are definitely going to make a stripped down lightweight more "racer" oriented version of the top for significantly less $. With all the development so far it would be stupid not to since there will obviously be people who would like the full version but would gladly sacrifice the day to day practicality of the full hatch to save $ and/or weight.
It will not have any interior liner and will just have studs for mounting with spec miata brackets. It also will not have a hatch that opens, just a small door in back roughly like the orange rectangle that will fit between APR wing mount bases.
Both versions will be available for NA and NB. Unfortunately this will probably push back the NC top quite a bit as we will have our hands full.

ZX-Tex

iTrader: (15)

Looking at this from the perspective of a NA track car with a rear wing that all looks like a win to me. Any idea on the pricing for the 'race' version, or is it too soon to tell?

I think a LS1 Miata track car with a fastback and aero (mine) would be very, very sexy indeed.

jj_warhorse

Yes, its too early to know on pricing for the "race" version, but I'd like to see it at or under 2.4k, seals and lexan included. Wild *** guess... also depends on if we actually add or change some specific features instead of just taking features away.

jj_warhorse

Yes, very very sexy.
My personal NB "company car" is going to get a Ford Coyote 5.0 swap. Considering I'll be widening the engine bay about 1.5in on each side to do it, I don't think we'll see too many of those swaps. However, I'll be doing it with the intention of making some parts for the other 2-3 people out there misguided enough to do the same swap haha.

jj_warhorse

We just talks a bit more about the lightweight stripped down "race" version. $2k doesnt seem unrealistic. Access to the trunk will be pretty limited though. I would think the most important thing would be access to the battery. What do you guys think?

elbeezy

how about using the same type of plastic on the vinyl tops instead of glass? Just make it replaceable. It'll be cheaper and lighter