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On Tuesday afternoon last week, I checked MotorsportReg and realized that there was a Track Night in America event the very next day at Charlotte. So naturally, I signed up with 24 hours to go time.
This is the only picture I have of my car at the event.
As one does, I talked to a few different people at the track day. I ran across the cleanest K24 swap I've ever seen.
He even put the i-VTEC sticker in the right spot!
Not the best angle to show what I'm talking about, but this car had lots of little touches that took it to the next level. Turns out the owner was an engineer for Fox Suspension working in their aftermarket division. That's basically my dream job!
I asked him how the swap went, and like most of the people I've talked with lately, he said he probably would not do it again due to the high number of issues he encountered. He had to remachine the adapter plate to prevent contact with the flywheel (!!!), remachine the Kpower intake manifold because the bolt flange surfaces were not machined true to the head sealing surface and the bolts were coming loose, repin the entire harness due to intermittent contact issues, and other things he couldn't recall in the moment. It's a shame as I was really interested in doing this swap. KPower just does not seem to have sufficient QC measures in place.
The day finished off with a nice sunset. That Cobra R replica had a 351 Windsor under the hood, of all things. I spent a while talking to that guy too.
I had no issues with the car, drove home, changed tires, and drove to work the next day. This is starting to feel a bit too routine, like I should be doing a more intensive service and inspection to the car between events. My usual prep for an event mid-season is to do a torque check on brake caliper bracket bolts, suspension bolts, and the rear axle nuts. A fluid check and general underhood ocular pat down rounds out track day car prep. Pack it full of stuff and off I go. Is it really supposed to be this drama free?
Last weekend, I went to the junkyard to help my buddy find some OEM parts swaps for his RSX. I finally found a AC charge port cap that fits my NB2! No more foil tape!
Looking ahead, I'm seriously close to putting down the cash for a new part. The RGR spats (wickers, if you're Johnny C from 9LR) are a great value, but the aesthetic is... bleh. I liked them at first, but then novelty has worn off enough for me to see just how tacked on they look.
A friend of mine knew I was looking to find or design something like this and forwarded an instagram post along it to me. A week later, the creator (DCBE Tech) has listed them for sale. I think they'd look pretty spiffy after some body filler and a paint match. I'm just waiting on them to share how they mount. I think these plus a spoiler would look pretty close to a factory GT4 or Club Racer special edition type of car.
The RGR ones are easy enough to remove and install for a track day, but I've had them on for months now as I figured I'd get some fuel economy benefit as well.
Nice, dude! On the spot (I'd call 24 hours on the spot) track day signups don't always go off so smoothly! Stoked you got out this weekend as well. TNIA is a great organizer. They don't come around here much anymore since AAA speedway closed, but their events there were sweet. They were the only organization to run the infield only course and they'd rent out all the garages so they were free for drivers. I miss going to their events.
Originally Posted by OptionXIII
Is it really supposed to be this drama free?
Knock on wood and don't tempt the racing gods Stoked to see the car's running so well, though.
How're you doing with adapting to the pad knockback?
Yeah Track Night in America is awesome when you've got a local track! They've got like three more events at Charlotte this summer so I'm stoked to get better at this track. I wish I could swing it for a few other tracks further away.
Honestly, I haven't had an issue with knockback at any track but VIR. At both Carolina Motorsports Park and Charlotte I didn't even think about it. I think the problem areas at VIR are the uphill esses, where you have a big back and forth at high speed and high Gs, and the Pigpen corner onto the front straight where you're really loading it up with a lot of suspension compression and cornering at the same time. On more regular corners at VIR, I didn't have to tap the brakes beforehand either.
Long time no talk! But also no real updates, which is kind of the point of a build thread. I'll make some mountains out of molehills.
This:
Leads to doing this:
"Didn't you just align the car like last month?" - Girlfriend
"No, that was that was a whole two months ago. Now, please get in the car and hold the steering wheel dead straight." - Me
Given how common alignment slip is on Miatae, I bought the new Supermiata HD alignment bolts to get the higher clamp load. For now I only replaced the two FLCA-F bolts as I've not had obvious and instantaneous bolt slip events anywhere else, or even really heard of it. Whenever I decide to replace all the bolts again, they'll all get upgraded.
I've seen a few fragments of the silicone I used to seal the 863 sleeves to the poly bushings, but pulling the bolts out meant much larger chunks of silicone came with it.
For that one guy who has an 863 kit not installed and bothers to read my build thread, I really recommend you don't use silicone as some early install guides from the SADFab era recommend. It just doesn't work well. I think it's better to simply let the grease work its way into the bushing, and mostly use it to keep dirt and water out.
Despite spending way too much money on new brass bleeders and retorquing them even tighter, I still have weeping out of the bleed ports. This is frustrating!
Somewhere along the way I lost two exhaust manifold heat shield bolts. Thankfully I have a supply of M6x1 stainless bolts on hand for stuff like this. I smothered them in red Loctite 271 knowing that it'll likely be completely deactivated by the first hard drive, but I figure anything extra in the threads could put a bit more friction in there and maybe prevent them from backing out all the way.
For a while now I've been tired of this car's janky aesthetic. I've successfully avoided the temptation to buy a nice, new car for years. If I'm going to be dedicated to this lifestyle of cars that are soon to be eligable for classic plates, they may as well look decent.
I've been looking for the right place to get my hardtop painted. Maaco wants $375, and the manager all but ignored my efforts to say "I'd like for you to charge me more and do a better prep job". The biggest family owned shop nearby wanted $2,200. No thank you. Another shop, $1,400. I could never catch a professional one man shop when it was open, and he never picked up the phone. I stopped by a fourth place on Friday and they were enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the SMC fiberglass Miata hardtops are made of, but it was the end of the day so they turned me away for a quote and said to come back after the holiday weekend.
I went to work on Tuesday and got some fantastic news! One of my coworkers restores classic muscle on the side. I'd been pestering him to ask his paint guy to work me in, but he's been busy for months. No longer! I'll be dropping my hardtop off in the next few days.
I went ahead and bought the DCBE front tire wickers. They're expensive, but exactly the kind of thing I wanted to design but don't have the capabilities for. The fit is fantastic! The small gap you see is likely due to a support tab for the lip that I didn't remove for test fitting. I'm sure it'll be flush once that is removed. They give full coverage of my street tire setup, and they should look amazing with the track Konegeki setup.
My current plan is to glue the two halves together, give them an acetone vapor bath (they're printed out of ASA plastic) for a smoother finish and improved strength, then apply high fill primer and bondo. Then I'll have them painted as well. I'll also probably apply some kind of PPF to help protect them from damage as the front bumper is sort of a nasty place to be.
The eBay lip will be cut to fit the spats, I'm not modifying custom parts to fit something much more easily replaced! Ideally I'll work in a way to cut the lip so that the portions in front of the tire are easily removed for loading onto a trailer or driving onto ramps.
And last but not least:
I've got a shipment from Carbonmiata on the way!
Last edited by OptionXIII; 05-29-2024 at 12:06 PM.
If your brake bleeders are crying you should try being nicer to them. Someday they might have a complete mental breakdown from the lack of compassion. /s
Those alignment bolts look awesome. Having just pulled my crusty old ones out you're making me want to spend more money.
LOL at $2200 to paint a hard top. Might as well just buy a silver hardtop at that point.
Cats given for the above memes. Easily makes up for any lack of deep content lol.
Car's looking good! Feel you on the alignment front. Before swapping to the SM eccentrics, I was realigning my car every 2nd or 3rd track day. Hoping the upgraded bolts will extend that interval a bit.
That's annoying about the bleeder screws still weeping. Wonder if anyone's successfully used thread sealant tape or something similar on leaky bleed ports? Seems like temps would be too high for any sort of sealant and you wouldn't want anything of the sort in/near your brakes' hydraulic components anyway...
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't another user have the same issue with their F88's? Maybe I'm just remembering Nate's leaky piston seal on his.
Nope, it was me. Mine were weeping pretty bad, but I think I finally got them torqued enough to seal. Still on the stock bleeders though, I was considering something I could use a sealant on that has their own smaller bleeders on them. I'm not looking forward to bleeding the brakes this weekend but I'll update my thread with how it goes.
OP, great updates. I love those spats, I wish someone made something like that for an NA.
Well, Afco stopped selling these due to the manufacturer (Stoptech) going bankrupt and really paring back their offerings. So while I can complain to people that will listen (you all!), unfortunately no one's going to make it better for me.
I've been working on a side project to put a set of Wilwood Superlites on my buddies RSX so that he can stop burning up brakes at the track. He resisted my urging to buy a set of the Afcos when they were $45 before the stock dried up. The Afco F88s were designed as a drop in replacement for the Superlite, so they're extremely similar calipers. After handling both, I feel like the Afcos got a better reputation than they deserved. I prefer the Afco body shape, metric design where applicable, and larger diameter clamping bolts. In contrast, the Wilwood feels like a design that's less elegant on paper, but better executed in the real world. The Wilwood has more durable stainless pistons, the bolts are zinc flake coated instead of black oxide, the bridge bolt nut is castellated instead of crimped and so far hasn't twisted the bolt in two, and the pad abutment plates are thicker, more substantial, and hold the pad much tighter than the Afcos do. And while I don't like the idea of two piece NPT bleeders, they probably won't leak. I tried swapping the pad clips between the two calipers and was disappointed to find that they were not interchangeable. I hope the Afco clips are the same as the Stoptech items for future service, but it would have been a lot nicer if they had kept it the same as the far more common Wilwood that literally set the standard. Making things different doesn't make them better.
I'm actually running two different styles of bleeder. On the inside bleeder, I have a standard style unit, just made out of brass. On the outside, I have an Earls speed bleeder that uses a brass check valve instead of the usual thread sealant. Given that the Earls are leaking worse than the originals ever did, I don't want to put the blame solely on the Afco/Stoptech caliper body. Maybe more bleed cycles with the standard steel unit would burnish the taper seal a bit? I don't know. But I feel stupid for spending as much on four bleeder screws as I did for an entire caliper.
Wilwood does sell a drop in two piece bleeder for the M10 threads the Afcos have.
Last edited by OptionXIII; 05-31-2024 at 12:46 AM.
It sounds like either the taper of the bleeder/housing are different, or it is just shitty metallurgy. Either way your options are limited, but those two-piece bleeders would be worth a go.
I'm still gobsmacked than anything other than the original US AN fittings exists today.
The US Army and Navy standardised on these fittings in WWII (hence the "AN" name in the standard) so were manufactured in massive quantities, they're tapered fittings so over-tightening is harder and seals better, and they're suitable for use in the most rugged environments - how and why did other new standards get any traction?
Were they trade-marked or too expensive?
Creating a new metric thread pitch AN version just for the sake of having a metric version seem pointless.
Surely coming up with new standards must have been expensive and hard to gain acceptance.
OP, great updates. I love those spats, I wish someone made something like that for an NA.
Thank you! I'm really glad I got back into posting. It's nice to see the kind of rapid fire comments that used to be so common on forums. This is such a great place to exchange ideas and talk shop!
The designer (DCBE Tech) says he's working on designs for the NB1 and NA bumpers. After having handled them for a bit, I'd ask if he could make the walls a bit thicker and maybe add some internal webbing. I'm going to look into ways to strengthen reinforce these things, maybe a foam fill prior to gluing them together? Maybe fiberglass on the outside, or inside? I don't think they will hold up to a cone strike at autocross as they are now. Not that I do that often anymore, but I don't want to be held back by a fragile bumper.
Well, I could make another thread for this but it's tangentially related to my Miata, so lets do it here.
My new job is way less interesting than my old gig, which put me in daily contact with OEM prototype cars. The one bright spot is that one of my new coworkers has become a great friend, and we often go to the track together. He's got an RSX Type S with a K24 swap, limited slip, roll bar and partially stripped interior. Unfortunately, at some tracks he just could not get the brakes to survive and wasn't willing to try the more ridiculous Carbotech pad compounds. As I said a few posts back, last spring I pushed him to grab some Afco F88s when they were cheap. At the time he'd only burned up the brakes once and stepped up to a more aggressive pad after that. He said there's not a real need and hopefully more aggressive pads would fix it.
Well, the need arose again.
I've had to go to my last few track days without a good friend, which was getting old. You always make new friends at the track, but I don't like leaving anyone behind.
He looked into a few options as the events rolled by without him, but there's surprisingly little support for the RSX these days. Most builds still happening are for show, not go. The BBKs that would give him a real upgrade on track were absurdly priced. The parts to swap in an Acura RL caliper and 350Z rotor are much more affordable, but the pistons are too big and would give terrible brake bias. But it got us thinking, as the 350Z rotor is just under 1.20" thick and that's close enough to the 1.25" rotor the larger Superlite pattern calipers are designed for.
Since the F88s I had bought would be a good substitute for a Wilwood Superlite but had pistons that were too small to suit the RSX, I loaned him an F88 for test fitting. We progressively got closer to the final design, from zip ties...
... to iterating 3d printed parts.
A few weeks after the design was finalized, my machinist friend sent me these. To ensure the caliper never moved we matched the expected SAE 7/16-20 threads at the Superlite caliper, and the M12 threads on the RSX side, whereas I used M10 bolts as per the stock Miata design. All bolt locations were helicoiled from the get go.
He was even able to reuse his stock replacement stainless steel brake lines using an NPT to metric adapter. I told him I'm not really a fan of how far the brake line is held out from the caliper, but he's heard my concern and it's his car. If we could find a banjo bolt threaded with the equivalent to NPT threads, without the taper, it'd be perfect. Or he could just buy a set of generic aftermarket brake lines.
You can just barely see the lockout tab hiding under the strut bolt head.
He was able to get all the parts installed and bedded in over the weekend, and today he drove it to work on the new setup - Brembo spec 350Z rotors, Wilwood Superlite 1.25" rotor 3.00 in^2 calipers, and Carbotech XP10 pads. It clears his street wheels taken from some other Acura, so it's a dual duty ready setup.
As I said previously, he's really happy with the Wilwoods vs my experience so far with the Afcos, so it all worked out fantastic!
I'm going to design some spacer soon, so that when we're near the end of our pad life we can simply slide in a 7420 shaped puck of metal and avoid having the brake pistons be so far out of their bores. That's probably more important for him with the thinner rotor than the calipers are meant for.
And now we've got two cars parked at work ready to hit the track at a moments notice. Both are running big brake kits I designed, which I'm pretty proud of. I can't wait until the next TNIA event at Charlotte on June 26!
Last edited by OptionXIII; 06-04-2024 at 04:00 PM.
Very nice! It's surprising to me that there isn't more support for certain RSX track parts. I've been seeing more and more outfitted for track use out here and front BBKs are kinda a big need for anything like that getting tracked!
04-30-2024, 04:56 PM
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Stoked to see the car's running so well, though. 
