Alright so a few months back I took over Fab9Tuning.com full time. Fab9 had originally started with a couple of gentlemen who weren't so business minded or very well versed in Miata performance, but wanted to start and knew I could help... A few months into things I quit my full time position and decided that Fab9 could turn into something with serious potential.

It's been a VERY busy start with the recent sponsorship of MT and a number of other forums plus the huge success of our Coil On Plug conversion kit and Intercoolers.

At any rate it has left me with nearly ZERO time to work on my own vehicle. I spend 60% of my day producing wiring harnesses and the rest fulfilling web orders/welding intercoolers.

At the end of last season I finished things off with a transmission that was acting up and two completely destroyed engine mounts. The engine however, completely happy. So this past weekend I told myself I'm going to dedicate an entire day to the car.

First things on the list:

1. Wilwood 6 Piston Brake Kit
2. Engine Mounts
3. and.... rear mount KOYO rad...
4. New 6 Speed trans - From a Mazdaspeed
5. Yes I did say rear mount radiator

 

Interdasting. What is the reasoning behind the rear mount rad. I think I've seen it once on a LSx drift car

 

Hell, just post pics.

 

Let's start with the rear mount situation. Why rear mount? Because I can and frankly I've run out of modifications that challenge me with this car.

I've been working closely with an aerodynamics engineer from GM on the execution of this project and he surprisingly didn't even attempt to talk me out of it. We're going to be venting up through the deck lid because it's a low pressure zone. I'll use two high CFM puller fans to aid in the cooling and AN lines to route the coolant to the rear.

A couple of beneficial factors come into play - It will clean up the bay quite a bit and lower under hood temps. This will also increase coolant volume to aid in cooling, restore some of the weight distribution to more useful areas of the car. But primarily it's just cool. The car is already pretty good at making people tilt their head and ask "WTF is in there?", this should take things up a notch.

I first needed to find a good spot for the radiator and keep one big thing in mind - Bleeding the system is going to be a whole new bag of worms.

To help with this, I've picked up a radiator with no fill neck and produced this little guy. It will sit at the highest point in the system and I'll fabricate an overflow in the trunk.


Next I mocked up positions for the KOYO and welded my AN fittings on.


At that point I jumped right into cutting out my trunk... This is a pretty rad feeling, (no pun intended) to just start chopping your spare tire area out of the car. After that was complete I needed a shroud that I'll bolt or weld into place.



Everything is looking solid, I'm happy with the position, happy with the routing. To add some variety to my day I jumped over to the deck lid. This hot air is going to need to vent near the center of my deck lid for the best exit into a low pressure area. My aero guy believes that the air exiting here will also aid in aerodynamics because it will help fill the low pressure pocket, giving the rear of the car the desired "tear drop" shape.

Cutting things that you only get one shot with is kind of my specialty. I usually don't measure twice because it psyches me out by over-thinking things. I mocked up these to get the shape correct.


According to my from the hip measurement, here is about where these will sit. Looks fine to me I suppose.


To get me started with the air saw and to help in corners I drilled some holes. I also applied masking tape to the other side so I didn't destroy the fiberglass by chipping.


Chopped them out and mocked it up. Looks alright to me. Now I needed to put some mesh in here. I can just imagine the next car show I go to, some kid decides to drop his burger into my trunk and my cooling fans act as a food processor..


I went with an aluminum mesh that's powdercoated. As expected, it came out great.


I also removed my latch and hinge system completely. I did this for a number of reasons. 1, my previously useless trunk space was not completely useless for storage so I won't be opening it as frequently. 2, the hinge system was jacked, the previous owner drilled new holes for the striker and nothing lined up properly.

I went with the same latching system I used for my front bumper.


Quik latch by fab9tuning, on Flickr

Here you can see the strikers and the piece of aluminum up top. Basically it functions by first sliding the back into the piece of aluminum and then closing the deck lid as it originally functioned but instead it locks into place with the latches.


Later this week the car is being dropped off for paint. I'd do it but I simply don't have time.

 

welp


that's pretty crazy, but in a good way. Very nice work

 

I'm surprised no swirl pot to help with bleeding.

This ought to make it easier to duct the bumper opening to the hood.

 

Sounds like you've made the jump to do something you love everyday - it's a great feeling when you get the balance right :-)

You have an incoming pm btw

 

Holy *********, it's been a while since your last update.. but this is crazy. Worth the wait, can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

Props for pics! That's pretty nuts actually, I've honestly never seen this before.

Is there going to be ducting from the radiator to the decklid or are you just going to seal up the entire trunkspace à la SpecMiata style blockoff plates? Any worry about adding heat to the gas tank with this configuration? Or seeing as you are now sourcing air for the rad from under the trunk, any worries about pulling hot air off the exhaust?

Sorry for all the questions

 

I've considered this. Still potentially a move I could make.

There will be ducting. It will seat with the bottom side of the deck lid and seal directly around the radiator fan shroud I make. This will keep weather and everything else outside of the trunk area.

I'm not concerned about the fuel tank, the fuel tank is not actually what you're looking at in the trunk, it's on the bottom side of the car separated by sheet metal. Plus it won't get anywhere near hot enough to cause problems.

As for exhaust heat - the plan is to incorporate an RX-7 diffuser to channel air properly, but otherwise I don't foresee it being problematic.

Also a project I started - A customer ordered a Wilwood 6 Piston kit for his car and it looked so pretty I decided to order a set for myself.



Mocked them up with my track wheels. My dirty dirty track wheels. Looks like just enough clearance! 6 Pistons look seriously mean.

 

 

And I see you've sourced your motor mount solution.

 

Indeed. I keep 5-10 sets of them in stock at any point so it's helpful... Since it's inventory I already paid for it somehow feels free.. Dangerous train of thought.

Product LINK



We've been selling a good number of these mounts.

 

Amazing... I am kind of sad though. I also am doing a rear mount radiator in my white car. Mainly because I want to keep the front open as much as possible for v8 and turbo. The reason it makes me sad is because mine will never be as baller as yours :( lol

I would like to pick your brain a bit on the radiator. I will be exiting mine through the trunk floor, of course with some SPAL fans to pull the air, do you think there will be enough air flow while driving if the fans are off?

Also, are you using the stock water pump or will you be going with an electric pump?

 

Those are 11" brakes, right?

 

Bryan spotted.

 

does look like a sleeper. Sick little car.

 

DUDE love your miata! and glad your in MI too !

 

Plan to arrange a little sucky sucky?

 

The same place I took those two pictures above I also took this picture.