It's mounted at the rear where the stock under-tray bolts go in. You can barely make out the holes outboard of the cut-outs at the rear which are to clear the plastic scoops. The front is supported by 2 drop rods, passed thru the frame rails on either side of the radiator, that go into the t-nuts just outboard of the Tig-welded "X". The brace needs to be redone as it is nowehere near as stiff as I had planned. Gotta road test it first though...

Looks good. I've been tossing around an idea like this as well to work with my RB front bumper because my car sees more time on the street than the track. Thanks for the information.

Yeah this week... anyway here they are :


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1454009825


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1454009825


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1454009825



And I use the same support as most of you in the back.

Works really good, balance with GTC-200 and Singular plates is near perfect. It does hit the ground sometimes and I know what you guys did + I can raise it a bit if I need to. Need to do my homework on ducting better now...

Total fiberglass newb here. When people are fiberglassing the top of the splitter are you laying down the strips and whatnot, or just a layer of resin?

Picked up some birch the other day and need to figure out the best way to protect it. (my junk leaks a lot :) )

You have to use some cloth, one or two layers at least. You can find big sheets, and trim to your liking. Strips will get messy and ugly, fast .Resin alone, does not offer any measurable strength. IMO.

I'm not after strength. Just oil/fluid resistance.

1 layer

:bigtu: off to youtube to learn myself some fiberglassing

Weight of the fabric is also a big factor. Home Depot won't have Manchester choices though, making it much easier.

When I used to make longboards, I would lay a strip of glass in the resin mixed up in a paint roller tray. Pick it up and lay it down direct on the ply.

It beat dabbing the resin on and messing the glass up, and I got sooo many less bubbles and wasted resin from not working fast enough. Use a little foam roller to press it out and make it even.

I did some pretty long strips, too. Longboard length, at least.

Cool, i like that idea.

Big sheets are available by the yard if you can find a local composites supplier. Down here there's a place I go that has everything in 60" wide by the yard; all the different CF weaves, glass types, etc. You just want one layer of simple and lightweight standard glass.

Wet the top of the birch with resin first or you'll spend forever trying to saturate the wood below the glass fully. Use one sheet of glass large enough to cover the whole thing - any folds or overlaps of multiple pieces just looks like crap. Then brush on the resin. This is a "wet layup" and if you stop here it will have at least a couple extra pounds of excess resin on it, and the surface will dry with lots of irregularities from the brush (unless you're using fancy self-leveling resin).

Last step is to take a simple plastic squeegee blade - like the Bondo brand ones they sell everywhere - and squeegee all the excess resin off and wipe that off into a throw-away bucket. You're left with a very evenly saturated layer of glass with a very uniform finish to lay paint on once it dries, and it's as light as it can get without vacuum bagging it.

Ok, I'll have to do some local searching.

Do you cut the sheet to size first? Or lay it down then cut it?

Before laying it on, you just cut the piece down to slightly larger than the splitter dimensions. All the trimming is done after it's hardened. A small dremel does a good job of trimming it to close to the splitter then clean it up with a sander.

I assume its kinda hard to wrap it around the front lip without getting wrinkles?

Fiberglass supply exists down in the northwest warehouse district on the western shore of the river.
They also have a decent (but marked up) selection of resins.
Crosscut hardwoods is on the way and has all the baltic birch ply you can afford

If you're using light woven cloth you can wrap edges without wrinkles. It might be hard to get it to stick as you envision it without a press.
It will wet out pretty translucent so there's a good chance you wouldn't see anything glass related in the end product.

1. cut a piece larger than your splitter (3ish inches overlap)
2. mix your batch (not too much, it'll catch fire, read instructions)
3. wet out the board (plywood/etc)
4. put the glass on your board
5. pour batch of epoxy on a section, work it into the glass with your fingers (my preferred method, rollers/etc make it hard to determine glass to resin ratio)
6. use your hand to squeegee excess
7. level the thing out and let the resin smooth over.

Wear gloves and fight the temptation to touch your face. I always wear safety glasses as well.

(Experience from my other ski building hobby ;) )

If you want to get serious, build a vacuum table and start pressing...
If you want to get srsly srs build an autoclave

Mine has been on for 3 yrs now with nothing but a primer coat of krylon and a couple coats of semi gloss black. Mine has had oil and water [running in the rain] and have had no issues. Oil based enamel sinks in and protects very good and dripping oil won't do anything but help preserve it. If you must glass it use what they call finish cloth and do as Ryan suggested. Save your money for other needs.

I just coated mine with West System Epoxy, no glass fabric.

Well that's the expensive and time consuming aproach, just to make it waterproof.

It's usually tough to mix epoxy more than 8 ounces at a time, without starting a fire. Poly fiberglass resin however, can be mixed by the gallon.

I just sprayed mine with polyester based gelcoat in the $14 HF gun and threw it away.

As much as I hate telling you that your idea is great, it is.

I won't know until its warmer here and I drive the car but I'll find out how exterior urethane and gloss rustoleum hold up in the elements.

It holds up great.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1454037923

I've done two fulls day in the rain now, and no warping, sogginess or apparent absorption.

I use West epoxy for anything CF (including the CF on my splitter) but if you're just doing the standard 'glass (or simply a coat of resin without glass) baller epoxy is wasted there, poly will do just fine.

If all you want to do is waterproof it you're wasting your time with wet layed reinforcing cloth. I would put a coat of Kilz on both sides of your plywood, and rattle can it the color of your choice on the bits you can see. If you want to get fancy, you could try a two part flooring epoxy. I bet your local Sherwin Williams would give you a sample of it big enough to do your splitter for free.

I have also used polyethylene rub blocks on really low cars before by countersinking the PE, pre-drilling the holes, and cutting off stainless self-tapping screws to ~1/8" short of punching through the plywood. You can get PE strips from McMaster or US Plastics, or slice up white plastic cutting boards.

What is kilz? Just googled. Cheap and looks to be effective. Got a 12x12 .375" HDPE sheet of amazon for $10.

Doward, link to the stuff you used?

I painted the whole car with this stuff :p

Shop Rust-Oleum Professional High Performance Gray Gloss Oil-Based Enamel Interior/Exterior Paint (Actual Net Contents: 128-fl oz) at Lowes.com

It's far from a specialized solution, but has worked long enough to outlast the splitter itself. I've damaged it enough to need a to cut a new one. I'll be painting it the same way again.

Hey gents,just looking for some opinions on whether or not how I've mounted my splitter should be sufficient. The front supports are bolted to existing holes in the bumper beam,the brackets I made are supporting the outer edges and the rear is held on with flat brackets and the small bolts that hold on the rear of the splash shield. I've been thinking about adding a few more to the center. (This is an old picture as well,its since been urethane'd and painted gloss black) Thanks!



https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1455156556

looks like it should hold fine.

It ain't DIY, but I thought you'd want to see what DG Motorsports has just made. Dave Green builds the tops that are sold through Mazda, and he also sells through 949, Goodwin, FM and direct.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459188737


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459188737


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Ummm, those are the first pics i've seen of one. When did that come out?

This morning. :) Best standard MX5 top I've ever seen. Fargin' gorgeous.

No pricing yet.

Pretty sure those are the first pics out haha. I haven't seen news of that anywhere else.

Pretty sure I wasn't even supposed to show anyone. :) It's just too freaking beautiful. If I bought an ND, i'd buy that hard top too, just because.

Other way around here: now I want an ND just for that top if it clears the Blackbird GT3 bar :)

Can't blame ya ;)
But my eyechrometer says this won't clear our ND GT3 roll bar.

It was designed around the GT3 dimensions, so you'd hope it fits... it clears the RZ bar with inches to spare.

Oh I DO hope, I think it'll greatly boost the sales of the ND GT3 :)
It just seems to me like the peak might be a bit too far forward, but I'd love to be wrong!
I'd expect it to clear the RZ by a good margin, but the GT3 is much bigger.

BFW ND GT3
 

It's not just that the GT3 is bigger, it has a slight tilt back to give taller drivers more room (can you guess why? ;) ) -
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459207113

A hardtop that clears the GT3?? :eek3:

Dave assures us this top was designed based on measurements provided by Emilio straight off the GT3. We don't have the GT3 to confirm, but I'm very hopeful based on that. :likecat:

6'2" Brian Goodwin said that he had about 3" from the top of his head to the ceiling of the hard top. That's great for helmet room.

I also know that Dave NEEDS a car for at least two days for final fitment, and I'm sure if someone in San Diego can give up their car for a couple of days or a weekend, Dave would be offering a significant discount on any of his Miata stuff.

Yes, Emilio and I spent a couple minutes on the phone today chit chatting ND things, Miata Challenge and Morpheus related stuff.. I'll be the happiest guy out there to see that top sitting on Emilio's car.

Cord, helmet room is only half the puzzle.
It's the roll bar that plays the other half, and we have a great one for the the ND guys that are ready to ditch the soft top in favor of a hard top -

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459225112

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459225112

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459225112

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https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459225112

And that's the issue. Dave essentially did 90% of the top without a donor car sitting there to test-fit. It HAS been on a Miata with a roll bar -- and it cleared it easily. Doing the eyeball test makes me think that it will clear with no problems at all, but no one will know until the top makes it up to Emilio's shop. Soon, I hope.

I know it cleared the RZ bar by inches, I designed both bars ;)

Speculation based on a couple pics is just getting ahead of ourselves on this one. We probably wouldn't have posted anything until confirmation of fitment with the GT3 bar as well.. but cat's out of the bag. All anyone can say for the moment is the top was designed directly off measurements of the GT3 bar - more than that in fact, Dave said he took all of Emilio's measurements and added an inch. So, let's wait and see once there's a chance to test fit it on the 949 car.

I'm impressed with what DG put together, and I think it looks great. I'm further impressed considering the scarcity of cars they had to work with - for sure they'd have preferred to have a car on hand through the whole process, ideally the GT3-equipped ND, but this stuff takes time and none of those with NDs are able to leave our R&D platform with a shop for months.

The top in the pics is the race version in fiberglass. Carbon will also be available. We're giving DG input on fit and finish details for the street version of the top, but those details aren't solidified yet. Unfortunately we weren't able to leave our ND there for the couple days he needs one to do final work, but it's a moot point as DG is now shipping that prototype off to another location for other testing. So, we'll have to patiently wait for the final verdict on GT3 bar compatibility for a bit.

This looks mighty tight, crossing fingers -
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459234823

Mods, can we start a new thread for "ND hard tops" This is not a DIY aero discussion but merits it's own ongoing thread.

Ugh. more work! can do.

Is ANYONE using Alumalite, or has everyone gone to wood? This is in regards to front splitters

I've gone back to Tegris up front, but will be using alumalite or sheet aluminum for the undertray from the splitter back. The Tegris and bracket I built is strong enough that I don't need any struts or cables out front, and that's what sold me.

So I take it people are doing this instead of the plastic undertray, and not combined with it.

The one limitation I have is that my FM oil cooler location is a bit low, so either I bend the brackets, or need a cutout in my splitter to accomodate it. Not really building that yet as I'm not prepared to spend the money on it to do right, and don't want a POS. My buddy did make one from Alumalite and was able to stand on it though.

I have used alumalite type product for a few years now with good success

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459639477

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459639477

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1459639477

Will someone PLEASE try bamboo sheet? There's 5-ply stuff in 1/4" and 3/8", and I think it would be perfect for splitters. This stuff is nature's answer to carbon fiber. It's got super-strong strands that are lightweight, but can also be flexible.

https://www.ambientbp.com/products/g...-plywood-sheet

32 lbs for 4'x8' of 1/4" sound a little heavy, but other than that it looks good.

My first splitter was alumalite. Worked fairly well but needs quite a bit of support to keep flex down on the area extending beyond the bumper. I never was very confident putting my full body weight on it, and only would do so with my feet right next to where the supports mounted.

Eventually it got torn up on the underside, so when I made another one I moved on to a new material. At ~$100/sheet it's not bad but $30/sheet birch ply certainly wins the cost contest. Birch is a LOT more durable to boot.

I was putting the kids to bed so I linked to the first bamboo site I found.

This link shows essentially crossply bamboo, which is how you'd set up a strong carbon fiber layup; 0 degree then 90 degree and so on.

Dimensional Bamboo Lumber, Bamboo Plywood and Bamboo Veneers

The five ply "multi-ply" would be my choice.

Hmm I retract my previous statement.. the splitters I'm making these days are large enough that you can only do one splitter per 4'x8' sheet, so in my head last night I'm thinking "32 lbs would be a really heavy splitter!" but really you don't use a large portion of the sheet, it's just that they're large enough that you can't quite nest a second splitter into the same space.

Did some googling and looks like 4'x8' of standard plywood is roughly 25 lbs, so bamboo is roughly 30% heavier (makes sense, much denser). But, you're never making a splitter from 1/4" birch because it's not rigid enough (I did to shave weight, but double-layered all of the outer extension portion and skinned with lots of carbon fiber... not exactly your "easy method"). Comparing apples to apples, for a simple flat splitter we commonly use 5/8" birch which maths out to roughly 62lbs per sheet.

The jury is still out on whether 1/4" bamboo is rigid enough.. IF it is, that would be considerably lighter.

What is the cost of that bamboo?

Lost my GV lip to an off yesterday, and want a splitter to support it so that it will stop coming off.

Ryan you said you have gone off with your splitter solid mounted correct? I don't expect it to last a really good hit but maybe something like my off posted in the bad track driving thread.

That bamboo link I posted has a warehouse in Portland. You ought to give them a call Monday.