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Good show in Huntington Beach yesterday. There was some head-scratchin' going on with the Cobra guys when I arrived.
I had my new seats in the car and the damn thing looked pretty good, despite the nicks and cuts and stuff that hopefully only I noticed. The Catfish didn't look to out of place next to the Cobras. The windshield were a little straighter and there was a bit more chrome, but otherwise there seemed to be a family resemblance. Factory Five was really cool to let me crash their party.
My favorite part of the day--meeting Peter Brock and discussing the aerodynamics of his Daytona Coupe! He actually stopped by the Catfish and complimented me on the car. I probably got a red face when he said that.
Around 2:30 the rains started to come down on all these well prepared cars...with no roofs. Then it POURED. I took the car home during the worst of the weather, wondering how my NEWLY UPHOLSTERED SEATS would hold up. Very well! The new Synergy Suede took the weather in stride, and looked absolutely new this morning. I've been putting this material in most of the cars lately, and I'm damn glad I put it in mine as well.
Robert W is really moving fast with his build. These two pictures represent essentially two afternoon's worth of work on the car, but he must be on a stopwatch or something because he's making LOTS of progress. Get ready for RED:
Epic day today. I drove my car up to Shawn Church's shop and had a nice, quick, short, uneventful dyno session. That's it! WIN!!!! I'm now officially done messing with this particular engine. It's all forged, 2560 Churbo, 700cc injectors, and a very conservative 9psi worth of boost. Shawn tuned it slightly on the rich side...again, just for safety.
Still there's no discernible turbo lag, and the swap to a Flyin' Miata Happy Meal clutch & flywheel even seem to make the shifts smoother. It's counter-intuitive, but the Happy Meal flywheel is easier to match revs on downshift than the 8lb flywheel with race clutch setup. All in all, very happy day.
Epic day today. I drove my car up to Shawn Church's shop and had a nice, quick, short, uneventful dyno session. That's it! WIN!!!! I'm now officially done messing with this particular engine. It's all forged, 2560 Churbo, 700cc injectors, and a very conservative 9psi worth of boost. Shawn tuned it slightly on the rich side...again, just for safety.
Still there's no discernible turbo lag, and the swap to a Flyin' Miata Happy Meal clutch & flywheel even seem to make the shifts smoother. It's counter-intuitive, but the Happy Meal flywheel is easier to match revs on downshift than the 8lb flywheel with race clutch setup. All in all, very happy day.
It's alive again! nice. Let me know when you plan on heading out to some track days.
Bruce's car is essentially done. It needs a touch up here and there, but it otherwise drives like a go cart and sounds like a snarling beast.
Speaking of beast, I picked up a not too subtle 2014 Sierra Quad Cab as a Catfish hauler. I'm still getting used to its size, and being "that dude with the big red pickup". Anyone have an extra can of Skoal?
If you're in the area, check out High End Audio Show - THE Show Newport 2015, which is a very high end audio show at the Hotel Irvine off Jamboree and the 405 this weekend.
Haha, roof would likely require working doors, which won't happen. I'm still trying to justify owning an open car in a part of the country that isn't a desert. Thunderstorms late every summer afternoon here make something open to the sky a bit tougher to use. But it's certainly pretty.
Speaking of beast, I picked up a not too subtle 2014 Sierra Quad Cab as a Catfish hauler. I'm still getting used to its size, and being "that dude with the big red pickup". Anyone have an extra can of Skoal?
Haha, roof would likely require working doors, which won't happen. I'm still trying to justify owning an open car in a part of the country that isn't a desert. Thunderstorms late every summer afternoon here make something open to the sky a bit tougher to use. But it's certainly pretty.
My main problem is that I've got two hands and limited funds. We're working on the racing bodywork now--hopefully for a SEMA debut--and need to find some time for a bikini top and soft tonneau. Soon.
Boy it's been a while since updating this thread! I figured since the engine "dun blowed up" at Streets of Willow and was just put back together, it would be a good time to catch up. Believe it or not the original Catfish -- now dubbed "Whiskers" just like Flyin' Miata's Cat -- was born at the 2012 SEMA show. It took over two years after that debut to actually make all the parts needed to offer these cars for sale. Boy was that a lot of work...
Now we mainly enjoy the car, and use it for testing and updates. Since the engine went boom, I decided to do some upgrades to help it not grenade. Again. The upgrades include:
Completely new engine rebuild:
--polished crank with new bearings
--new con rod bearings
--new +1 SuperTech pistons with a lower compression. This allows a wider tuning window for the turbo
--new valve seals & gaskets
--decked case & head to ensure a flat surface
...and to ensure safety
--Innovate wide band O2 sensor with gauge
--new Flex fuel sensor wired into the MSPNP2 so we can run cooler E85 at the track
--new (old) temp sensor in the Mazda gauge that actually reads temperature--it's not a dummy gauge
--new (old) knock sensor mounted onto the 1997 block
--new custom coolant reroute with swirl pot. This will add more water volume as well as take help take the air out of the system. I'm really happy with this setup.
While the car was on block, the interior came out and was cleaned, and the one-way ball valve found on stock Miata fuel inlets was retrofitted to the Catfish. We've had too many problems with fuel spilling out the gas cap, so hopefully this will solve our issue.
What else? Well the car now runs on Ohlins suspension and the headlights have been upgraded to LED units. A custom Infrared tire temp sensor system was also installed. It reads the tire temperatures at the outside, center and inside of each tire. Testing this is next on the list. A master cutoff switch was added, as were USB 2.0A charging units, for phones and "stuff".
Our own adjustable cam gears and some new Bosch 1000cc injectors were also added, just because. If you haven't seen the car lately, front canards were added (hence the name Whiskers) as well as our own design stainless steel hood vents.
All in all, the car has never been in better shape. Next up may just be a new rear wing setup.
Until then, here are some recent pictures of the changes.
1000cc Bosch injectors will help with the larger volume of fuel that will be used once the car is tuned for E85. Properly installed, after being installed backwards on the first try. That's the stock ball valve that is on all Miatas. It's hiding in the galvanized steel gas inlet elbow. Whiskers! Carbon canards help manage the air up front. Heat and air pressure get sucked out of the vents at speed Fun but dusty Qualcomm. The NA8 engine uses dual adjustable cam gears. The new gears in stock have the sensors needed for the NB8. The Swirl Pot is the highest point of the engine. It's where air bubbles go to die. Hot water from the back of the block flows down to the radiator.
04-25-2015, 12:06 AM
New Seat Covers
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