how about this: you send me what I need to build one, I'll put it together, test it out, and ill let you know if I want to pay for it or not after my 5 year trial.

Your friend must be using Detroit Speed parts or equivalent.

:burncash:

First off, let me tell you, crow is pretty tasty with proper seasoning. I just finished a portion.

Props to you for bringing this to market at that price. You will be very busy.

I'd love to see parts being able to be purchased for example just the frame.

Let me guess; you work for the government, soliciting bids from military contractors. ;)

Purchase the frame for $13,900 and I'll throw in the rest of the kit for free. :) You haven't been the first person to bring this up, even this week.

Seriously, it doesn't seem to be a business model that any other company has followed--be it FFR or Superformance or anyone else, as it undercuts your core product.

Reality is everyone can rig a frame body of some sort whatever is by taking parts off the donor miata or another car and making them fit or adding random sheet metal. Anyhow the body can be made however the frame on the other hand, you make that wrong you got issues.

My issue is that anything that goes on top of a Catfish frame becomes associated with the company. So if it's duct tape, cardboard and some chicken wire, that's a Catfish. Don't want that...

So, who is going to be the first to slam a catfish on 12" wheels with 30° negative camber, huge wheel spacers, and under-body neon?

....Hating you right now Joe...:vash:

cord, any pro tips on free suspension design software other than suspension calc?

Oh, and I forgot about the stickers. Since there's no glass, they'll have to go directly on the body.

A couple of these:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1361314505

Couple of these:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1361314522

You've gotta have a big one of these on the hood:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1361314569

And then this little fella on the fuel-filler:

http://www.inkace.com/media/catalog/...dm-sticker.jpg


I think they'll work swimmingly well on the pearlescent color-shifting (purple / orange) paint job.

I can imagine so. I drool over Detroit Speed's Aluma-Frame front and Quadra-Link rear suspension for Mustangs and they are $9500 before options and shipping.

Hi Brad, I've seen some freeware stuff that has been put out by FSAE teams. They make use of Excel and so forth, but it was essentially a computer copy of the "old school" graph paper with a scaled copy of the suspension. Here's one I found on a quick Google search:

racing aspirations » Suspension Geometry Calculator

When you're dealing with stock suspension, the best thing you can do is take out the spring and cycle the suspension, full droop to full compression. You can do the same w/o the shock too, as it can help determine the proper shock body size.

If you cycle the suspension, you can see where your shock is working in relation to the travel, if your shock piston is properly located in the stroke, and if you're having issues with premature bump (for example). You can also figure out the leverage ratio of the shock to the suspension travel, which helps in choosing the proper spring rates. But you know all this junk.

My kids love stickers Joe...I just don't love trying to explain some of the ones you've chosen...

:) :) :) :)

:vash2:


sorta.

I saw that in my googling as well. I guess i need to dust off what i used for FSAE back in the day and see if i can get it to grumble to life.

I really need to model the springs in my car... I suspect that I'm coil binding. But i may just need softer front springs.


Exciting pricing on your car. I think at that price point your going to kill a lot of Miatas!

Thanks Brad, I'm hoping that as the summer rolls along we'll see some new Catfish on these pages. :)

One other thing--and again I know you know this--a digital angle finder is a lifesaver. I used the Smart Level for years, and use a Sears model now. I also picked up a mini angle finder from Harbor Freight that's used for measuring table saw blades. It's good for tight spaces. The last, most-used tool is my "magic string", which is really just a ball of twine and a plumb bob. I've gotten sneaky with cheap-o laser pointers too, but you end up needing to make custom tools for those so old school is usually easier.

long time no post...
 

Well, in order to kick my own butt I've decided to sign up for the Miatas at Mazda Raceway event on April 27-28. And again--as usual--the car is scattered to four corners of SoCal. Before I can get it up to the track, it needs:

--passenger roll hoop
--amended driver roll hoop
--all the SEMA bodywork needs to have the production molds made from them, get pulled from the mold, cleaned up, repainted and re-assembled
--the changes to the car mean that the interior no longer fits. New interior, please.
--harnesses harnessed
--either stock seats will be used (per SEMA), or new seat brackets and new racing seats will need to be mounted
--a motor swap is in order. A freshened 1.6 short nose is waiting
--the 5 lug hubs aren't yet tested, and we're not taking any chances at the track. Therefore a full hub/rotor/wheel swap at all four corners is required. Anyone know a company that makes 15x9 and 15x10 rims with 4x100 spacing? :)
--other. There's always "other", and it usually takes more time than everything else. I know we'll need to allow for the new roll bars (bodywork holes), paint or wrap, gauges, and a dozen other small items.

Here's the event link:

http://www.miatasatmazdaraceway.com/

--and now my five year old wants to see what happens when I put a bunch of emoticons at the bottom of the page:

:crx::crx::crx::hustler::noob::giggle::makeout::va sh::bowrofl::idea::vash2::crx:;):makeout::brain:

949

air tools
 

I'm heading down to the Catfish bodywork tomorrow, and I'm bringing some tools. :)

L to R

--Milton universal-use blower.

--In-line blower--use with grinder to instantly clean off your project, without having to stop and change tools. It's got a quick-disconnect on top (grinder on top) and a 1/4" male connector below for hose connection.

--soft tip--great for extracting composite parts from molds without damage.

About a month until Miatas at Mazda Raceway
 

I've got a lot on my plate in order to have a complete car at Miatas at Mazda Raceway.

Roll hoops can be crossed off the list. They're meant as "placeholders" until we get back, but are more than enough for a track day. Roman is the guinea pig, and at 6+ feet tall, he easily clears the broomstick.

We decided to install a 1.8 instead of a hotted up 1.6, mainly because this car will be going to the DMV (hopefully) soon after Laguna Seca, and the 1.6 in the shop is race-only. The 1.8 will be nothing fancy; no FI (yet) or billet internals, but it should be about 40 ponies more than our stock little 1.6 that we used in first testing.

Sooo, engine swap, all new wiring, transmission(?), hubs/brakes/wheels, tuning, and re-fitting/re-painting/re-re-fitting the bodywork are in our future. This month.

OH, and since the officials at Laguna Seca likes their horsepower quiet, a new exhaust design may be in order...

Interior changes
 

The main changes being made to the body are to make the one-off design production-ready. All the bodywork needed to be turned into something that we could make more than once.

Aside from that, the big difference is the size of the cockpit. The sides and rear deck were pushed out in order to offer more room for racing seats with shoulder "wings". This is a normal complaint with Miatas, as entire racing cages need to be bulged around the driver seat.

This bodywork change also necessitated moving the upper frame bars out, which will have the added effect of a stiffer frame and will allow the bodywork to nest with the frame right at the cockpit. Any type of "Dukes of Hazzard" antics will be performed on bodywork that is fully supported by a steel tube.

If you look closely at the included pictures, you'll note that the interior aluminum comes up and out to meet the bodywork. In the new version it comes up flush with the bodywork, giving more elbow room. Behind the driver, the body has been removed back to the roll hoop. This will give more seat recline space, and allow the rear trunk to more easily be removed.

I like the GT6 in the background of your first picture!

Good eye! That's owned by Jean-Louis Schlesser, racer extraordinaire. :)

Jean-Louis Schlesser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are a few rats that are currently claiming ownership, but I'm confident that the car will get a proper race-restoration...

SEMA to Track
 

The first Catfish with a body is a great car, and it keeps on giving! We're stripping it in order to update some parts for the Miatas at Mazda Raceway event, and for further customization later.

Updates include:

--Four point roll hoops (temporary mounting system just for Laguna)
--1.6 swapped for 1999 1.8
--MSPNP2
--17 x 9 Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.3 rims
--5 speed swapped for 6 speed
--5 lug prototype hubs swapped for 4 lug standard
--Exhaust modifications to make us quiet enough for Laguna Seca
--Seats--still haven't figured this one out
--5 point safety harnesses
--Clean up paint
--other...

I'm really looking forward to the weekend, and to actually being able to drive my own car! We'll plaster the car with GoPro cameras, so any off-track excursions are sure to be immortalized.

raondom installation pictures
 

Here are a few pictures from today. We started with a bare frame with suspension. Only the brake lines remained. We ended up with the engine/trans/driveline installed, and a plan to put everything else together and test prior to Laguna Seca. Funny thing about the driveline--it installed from the top. :)

This is only a little bit of a franken-build. The short-nose is mated to a six speed transmission and a Torsen differential, and AWR motor mounts complete the install.

No reroute booooooo.

I'm assuming there's plenty of room for one though?

Good LORD! We just got the engine installed! The car will very definitely have a coolant reroute. We discussed that at length on Friday, and have come up with an option that I haven't seen used before. Now, my first inclination is to think that doing something differently on an engine that's been around for 23 years is dumb--all the big brains have already figured out the best way to re-route. We'll see...spare your scorn and derision until after you see it...

Holy grail reroute? :giggle:

Well, it uses plugs and hoses and it reroutes the water, so it's not that revolutionary.... :)

where is the turbo?

cordy you should post some pictures from your epic MRLS weekend!

Miatas at Mazda Raceway assorted pictures w/o comment
 

Attachment 75213

Attachment 75214

Attachment 75215

Attachment 75216

Attachment 75217

I like pics so props on that.

You didnt tape the event by any chance did you?

WTF is the pic of that round thing by your feet?

Nice to see that it still runs after I was down there hacking up your nice, retro Motec harness. :D

Someday I hope to be in the same location as the car at a time when it actually has a seat and a steering wheel installed in it.

That's a picture of the baffle we made just for Laguna Seca. They have some rich neighbors there who have been trying to close down the track since 1978. Really. So you've got a track that generates tens of millions of dollars for the local economy, allowing them to offer services to everyone, and a couple of jackasses with AlGore complex want to ruin it for the rest of us...:crx:

After all your work Joe, the data acquisition didn't. Could be the TPS, could be the MSD box, could be that little green gremlin I saw skulking behind the car...

Well that's weird. I did test the TPS (at the yellow wire hanging out of the Motec connector) with the key on, and got a nice, linear signal out of it. I have the data written down at home, but I think it produced something like 0.5v to 3.9v (this is before the divider) which is a pretty normal range.

So I know that the TPS itself is working, and that it's wired properly at least as far as that bullet connector. I didn't have a chance to test the signal all the way through to the 10 pin connector (for the new box) by the time we had to wrap up and vacate, but that's a pretty simple connection.

As we left the track, we were silently swearing MSD...

What sort of trouble was it giving you?

I could hardly believe it when I saw that box sitting there for the first time, but there's no way in hell I'm going to start digging deep into that undocumented maze.

Catfish needs some new hotness in its life:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1367357719

100% agree. The main reason why we went to the 1.6 short nose is that we had a ready and waiting Motec wiring harness made for a 1.6 engine. Had we gone from 1.6 to 1.8 (in a week), it would have meant adapting a stock wiring harness (in a week) in addition to everything else we were doing (in a week). It seemed like the "smart" thing to do at the time.

I've got a MegaSquirt in my office now, and it will be going on a nice clean 1.8 engine. In fact, it will be going into the first production frame for the Catfish, so in essence I've been saving the MSPnP for the real thing...Attachment 75243

MSPnP2, eh? Nice unit.

So I assume that for the production cars you are planning to retain a significant portion of the OEM harness from the donor?

Give me addresses, a ski mask, a sharp stick, a roll of duct tape, trash bags, and a shovel. Oh, and a catfish with a trunk to carry...things...

Same shit at Lime Rock. The local church has been trying to close it since day 1 (in all fairness they were there first). No racing on sunday & strict sound limits almost every day. My miata BARELY passes and I don't even consider it that loud.

If God wasn't a fan of loud, he wouldn't have started the universe with the big bang.

Protip: he didn't ;)

Protip 1.) Second Law of Thermodynaics says that the likelihood of an organizing event like the creation of the universe happening on it's own without outside intervention is approximately 0%


Protip 2.) It's rude to push atheism in some dude's build thread.

Yep :)

*edit: just to be clear, I was implying that God created it, but without the big bang.

ok ok back on topic lol

Ok, ignoring the big bang theory (show included). If He wasn't a fan of loud, he wouldn't have the option of ripping a planet's atmosphere off at the speed of light from a star going supernova. As sound is a function of pressure, it's the highest theoretical "sound" that could exist. At least at standard temp/pressure.

Pretty sure any of the above would violate both MRLS and Lime Rock's sound limits. :D

We'll all be racing to the whine of electric motors in a few years anyway, and will only be able to hear the wail of a rotary or the massive sound of a Can Am car in fuzzy recordings on the History Channel.

At least with electric we'll have torque. :)

This is not an entirely bad thing. Have you ever witnessed the driver of a Tesla Roadster punching it off the line from a stoplight?

It is impressive.

And right now, we're still in the Model T era of high-capacity battery technology and polyphase electric drivetrains.

Luvs me some torque, but add to it the chest-thumping sound of combustion and it's intoxicating. Can't wait to go back to Laguna Seca in July for the MotoGP race. :)

According to BMW (among others), that's what speakers are for. :facepalm:

While it would make me sad for gas engines to disappear in my life, its really the way to go for the masses.

Like the indy 500 needs to do something drastic to be relivant again. Electric/hybrid is the answer. go 500 miles on x amount of fuel, as fast as you can. no rules, whoever has the best system will win. Make the tech to where it can trickle down to road cars again.

the Austin race was good :)

Yeah, that's one bad thing.

The demonic whine of a massive PWM-based inverter driving a really high RPM brushless motor into a gear-reduction box when you really hammer on it ain't bad, though.

I am picturing you with white tape holding your glasses together. :)

spot on.