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Oh that wing is making less downforce than I assumed and certainly isnt a mega downforce wing like mine was, I was more like 300 pounds at 70mph and the style 4 lip but extended to the style 6 length forward, it wasn’t even close. And remember what’s not shown in the downforce data is the straightening effect from the end plates and those wide section mounts.
You could always revalve your billies at home with restackor. I’vebeen doing that with my mtb stuff and it’s the same concept.
Good point about the endplates, I read somewhere that this wing setup produces around ~200lbs of downforce on the car, but I'm not sure at which MPH. The idea is that I'll be able to aero balance this thing without a huge splitter, which would make driving the car down dirt roads and around my rural town pretty tricky. I may do a small splitter eventually though, depending on how the balance feels, but really I'm just playing around and thought this wing would be a nice compromise vs. no rear aero.
What can you tell me about Restackor? Is that the software to calculate shim/valves, I googled it and that's what I gathered. I did find a company that will revalve the billies at $100 per corner, so that seems to be a good option as well. But for now I'm gonna try it with stock valving and see what happens.
Yeah restackor, you basically just measure the piston and shims currently in your shock to model what the damping curve looks like generally. Then it has different utilities where you can create a target damping curve based off your old damping for a change in spring rate then you kind of just guess and check with shim combos until you make the calculated line match the target line. You can also use it comparatively, like if you want more low speed damping but not change your high speed, you can set your current damping as the target line and then screw around with the shim stack to get a graph where the new line has the changes to the old one. Its not absolute like it would be doing this with a shock dyno, but you can get good relative results.
Recent happenings. Got the new springs in, 800f /450r. So far the billies feel like they are handling them quite well, no bouncing or anything weird like that. The car is as planted as ever, even through hard corners with big dips. Feels like an upgrade all around for where the car is at, definitely too stiff for a true street car but so are a lot of things about this car at this point. But still absolutely streetable!
Set bump travel properly by strapping the suspension without any springs (only bumps in place). Before rear bump travel (terrible!), there was likely an issue here with the car using the bumpstops on track.
And after trimming the bumps for max travel, no wheel contact into the well, still a bit of room in there. Should be good.
Fronts were near perfect, no trimming was required:
There's clearance in there. It's close, but good, even under turning full compression.
My co worker 3d printed me up some brake ducts, which sparked another project.
Messing with some aero ideas for the front. Absolutely did not want a splitter sticking out in front of that lip. The poor lip already takes a beating just getting down my dirt road, and around town. I do street drive this car afterall to get it to and from the track, and for weekend fun, or the occasional work commute.
I had the Gen1 Supermiata bronze bearing poly bushing setup on the car. Apparently they failed, it certainly wasn't this loose when I put it together. I'm hoping this explains much of terminal oversteer issues I was having, we'll see. Either way, 2 bushing swaps in 2 years sucks and I don't wish it upon anyone. Glad to be done. These black ones went together MUCH tighter, and were much more of a PITA to install. Tolerances were super tight. I'm hoping this is a good sign. Car is back on the road and feels GREAT with the refreshed bushings and spring upgrades.
I also ended up picking up an NB and it's my new favorite thing. It belonged to a friend of mine before he passed and has been neglected ever since.
It's going to stay mostly stock, or OEM +, and probably spend a little bit of time as a lower power track car with all the amenities. 78k miles, ice cold AC, drives way too nicely to **** it up with race car parts. I've been dailying it on nice days and it feels great to be in a miata more regularly again. This one goes down the dirt road almost as nicely as a 90's subaru (I.E. not bad!) No knocks or rattles.
When I picked it up:
It probably took me a solid 8-10 hours of cleaning before it felt sanitary enough to drive it to work and take it to the MVD. However, it did clean up nicely. Still lots more work to do, only got this one a few weeks ago.
So far I've done to the NB:
Cleaned the **** out of it. Needs more still.
Fixed stuck rear caliper.
Replaced broken mirror.
Ditched dying brown radiator for $110 ebay special.
Cleaned the intake.
Oil change.
Cleaned MAF
New plugs/wires
Alignment. I was only able to get -.5* camber on drivers side front. Is something bent? It went off the road on that side as you can see. Will address later, alignment guy got it symmetrical and it handles great.
Fixed windows "zip tie" fix, both would only roll down like 2", easy fix.
Still to do:
New top. Going to keep it 10AE blue.
Windshield
Paint detailing. The paint is certainly already gone in a few places but it's like 80% nice. Gonna try to keep it looking spiffy for now.
Exhaust. Leaning towards roadstersport. And maybe the midpipe too. Probably keep the stock header. Not trying to make this thing too loud at all, but with the RB intake it's unbalanced and needs some growl.
Suspension, maybe FM springs? Wanna keep it super mild here but still track capable. Really don't want to ruin how nicely it rides, cuz I'ma daily this thing.
This thing runs great and it's a hoot! I forget how forgiving a stock miata is, and they are hilarious to slide around with skinny low traction tires. Even stock, a miata, is a great handling car!
Got 2nd in class in the most recent time attack event. Finally sub 1:30'd, with a 1:29.7. Lots more time on the table I was driving the car easy and feeling things out. It's finally near where I want it to be, infinitely more stable. I have no idea how much the aero is helping, because of the bushing issue which I'm sure was causing most of my stability issues. However that said the car is stable as a ******* rock now and really feels like I can finally push it without being scared. Did some 1:31's in the morning with my wife in the car as well, on a new set of tires purposely not trying to scuff them too hard by overdriving (in fact not overdriving is my new goal as a driver in general). The car is definitely another good step ahead of where it was.
More cool upgrades to come. Got some sweet NB1 aluminum door cards from my buddy Ricardo, so going to adapt NB1 interior handles into the car to fit those. Wasn't exactly my plan but he hooked me up with a good price on them so definitely worth the change.
Miata stuff from the last few months. Last trackday went well with more 1:29's, the car is feeling fast and consistent so I'm not going to change anything on it and just keep driving it. There's lots of times in braking zones because I'm a wuss.
Remounted the wing approximately 1.25" further forward. As far forward as I could get it without trunk contact. This is different than 9LR says to install it, but to me it looks better and I doubt it changes much performance wise. I set it at 6* max AOA, and the element is adjustable.
I have also been doing lots of street tuning with my buddy (and mt.net member) @redursidae who I met at the track. He's done a great job with the attention to detail that I don't have the skill/patience for. He was able to get the idle and driveability oem-like, far better than anyone else that has touched the car has, and we've fully re-tuned 91 and e85 fuel tables. The timing was dialed in previously on the dyno so we left that untouched. Really stoked on the car right now. I'm working on some boost control tuning now with ms3x 1.4.1 closed loop. I've setup boost table switching so that instead of flex controlling boost levels it's on a switch. This way I can have high and low boost e85 settings, wastegate is feeling a little soft on the track and I'd like the better spool up of the EBC. Targets are 160kpa track 205kpa street. It's downright ripping on 205KPA, definitely 300+, and it's a hoot. I'll get some logs and some virtual dynos soon of both boost settings once I finish dialing it in.
Oh how I miss Sandia or Napa Speedway, I would love to go back out there with my current car and see what lap time I could do. But I did download the Track for Assetto Corsa, the track file could get some updating.
Oh how I miss Sandia or Napa Speedway, I would love to go back out there with my current car and see what lap time I could do. But I did download the Track for Assetto Corsa, the track file could get some updating.
I totally remember you being an ABQ dude back in the day. Did you run laps out there in the past? What did you run, or what did you see others run?
Just curious, I've only been going to that track the last 3 years or so, the current word is that the record is held by an ACR viper that did 1:26's, but I've never seen that. The fastest I've seen is a 2022 supra GR with all the goodies (big turbo, aero, suspension, wheels/tires) setup for time attack, he does 1:28's, and I've heard rumors of a z06 that did some 1:27's. Spec miata record is 1:33's, AFAIK. The white miata in my pics just broke into 1:28's as well.
Spec miata record is 1:33's, AFAIK. The white miata in my pics just broke into 1:28's as well.
Miata’s are hurting feelings at Sandia 😆.
The fastest spec Miata I've seen is a 1:32.326 in Qualy and 1:32.452 in the race on 02-22-2022. There were 2 drivers running 1:32s that day. Someone did a 1:31.948 during a race I missed and that’s the spec record I know of.
I’ve also heard rumors of one of the local pro racers running 1:25 in a modified C4 or C5 Corvette. He’s one of the spec guys running 1:32s.
I totally remember you being an ABQ dude back in the day. Did you run laps out there in the past? What did you run, or what did you see others run?
Just curious, I've only been going to that track the last 3 years or so, the current word is that the record is held by an ACR viper that did 1:26's, but I've never seen that. The fastest I've seen is a 2022 supra GR with all the goodies (big turbo, aero, suspension, wheels/tires) setup for time attack, he does 1:28's, and I've heard rumors of a z06 that did some 1:27's. Spec miata record is 1:33's, AFAIK. The white miata in my pics just broke into 1:28's as well.
I started with a stock 1993 and eventually ended up with a cage, seat, Nitto NT01 and sway bars. 1.6 engine still stock with no aero at the time and my fastest lap of 1:37.6 if I remember correctly. I think my stock 1.8 vvt Exocet with Aero should be around a 1:30 or so
The car is still ripping. I've been tuning the EBC and have a nice 10psi track setting, and an "allofit" setting targeting 19psi. The allofit setting rips, though I'm a bit afraid for my transmission. It's definitely 300+, I think I was only making 16 - 17psi when I laid the 308whp (corrected) down on the dnyo. She quick.
Finally re-did my admittedly bad hot air intake setup for an intake box (FM), modified to fit the Kraken setup. The shorter intake path makes a great noise, I'm loving it. The filter is definitely smaller, but according to FM this same intake was used to make 400+ WHP so hopefully not a restriction. The car feels as fast as ever so I'm going to say it's a non-issue going with the smaller filter.
Some pics, been driving it to work at least 1-2 times a week, so it's still very much "dual duty". Next Time Attack event is this weekend.
The track day went alright, though I corded my tires in practice and couldn't get a fast lap down in competition. Oops. First time using these tires and wasn't sure when they'd cord. Now I know. Fortunately my buddy lent me some hot Boi wheels so I could safely drive home. No issues with the car, so this is a win.
The car is still ripping. I've been tuning the EBC and have a nice 10psi track setting, and an "allofit" setting targeting 19psi. The allofit setting rips, though I'm a bit afraid for my transmission. It's definitely 300+, I think I was only making 16 - 17psi when I laid the 308whp (corrected) down on the dnyo. She quick.
Finally re-did my admittedly bad hot air intake setup for an intake box (FM), modified to fit the Kraken setup. The shorter intake path makes a great noise, I'm loving it. The filter is definitely smaller, but according to FM this same intake was used to make 400+ WHP so hopefully not a restriction. The car feels as fast as ever so I'm going to say it's a non-issue going with the smaller filter.
Thanks for the update. Curious about the air supply to the filter 'box'. NB8Bs have a big hole behind the headlight, NAs have the gap around the headlight cover, is that enough? Or is there something else helping the cool air getting in?
Any interest from the law using that big wing on the street?
Always good to see a quick track car used on the road.
02-24-2023, 12:21 PM
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