Thanks!

Not to derail the thread, but I've considered going for my MBA.. My employer does a tuition reimbursement program where they would cover $5000/year. In a way you can look at that as "free money" to take advantage of. The drawback to that deal is for every reimbursement I take, I'm contracted in that money for 3 years of employment. That would mean if my MBA takes 3-4 years to complete, I'm contracted in some level of money for 6-7 years with my employer. The other drawback is, I'd still being going into debt even with the reimbursement and I don't see the payoff for an MBA to be as worth my time as my BS was from a salary standpoint. It's not like you get an MBA and then automatically get a raise at your job.. I'd be giving up a lot of free time for the next 3-4 years... there's definitely an opportunity cost there where I could be doing much more enjoyable things (like racing a Miata) for a potential salary increase that may only be marginal at best.

TLDR: I feel like spending my free time in getting more in-depth business world experience at work, hands-on fabrication experience (future Miata projects *hint hint*), and pushing myself up the ladder in my current career path with a BS has a better long term payoff than running myself into the ground to get another piece of fancy paper and more unsecured debt.

This is a difficult conundrum many people face. In my industry an MBA is valuable, but only after credentials have been successfully obtained regarding one's particular area of expertise. Presumably an MBA would pay for itself over your life's career if it provides leverage for compensation discussion in your next positions (read: either promotions or new positions outside this company).

It's definitely not an straight forward situation to balance out. Let's say for example sake my MBA costs $40k and it takes 4 years to comfortably complete while working full time. for my case, that would be $20k out of pocket (so presumably $5k/year) and I'd be contracted in $15k for 3 years after I get the degree (with $5k being "forgiven" each year after).

There are plenty of management level people at my company who do not have an MBA and have proven themselves to get where they are... then again there are a number (albeit smaller) that have the MBA... In a nutshell, an MBA never hurts you, but it doesn't necessarily help you if you're good at what you do (at least where I am).. so that's where I sit.. as a whole, i really dislike our secondary education system and am rather disappointed with how poorly they truly set you up for the "real world". I don't have any sort of higher expectation for me to gain any more real world knowledge in an MBA classroom program, but maybe that's a naive statement to make?

just been commuting back and forth to work with the miata and the slave cylinder decided to rage quit at life today.. that made for an interesting limp back home through traffic for 45 minutes (rev matching all the things FTW). Trans actually shifts smoother than I'd expect with no clutch as long as you hit your rev match on the money. car is sitting in my garage now as I contemplate what I'm going to upgrade to "as long as I'm fixing things".

Leaning towards this setup with ATE replacing RBF.
Miata MX5 clutch HOK

....just when I'm verifying the order on the saved parts I've had in the shopping cart
https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/...5/59959985.jpg


Lead time is looking like ~90 days.. welp, there goes this season of racing boys! :vash:

These parts are pretty available, I'm sure you can find some if you shop around.

I'm bored, so here you go...
Ask them if they would bundle the longer clutch line with this kit for a discount.
Clutch Hydraulics Combo for Miata

You want this one anyways...
Techna Fit Complete Replacement Stainless Steel Clutch Line for Miata 1990-2005

I should've clarified...

clutch parts are all ordered and in transit right now without issues..

The bigger cause for concern which i'm referring to is the wheels that I want which are on back order. Unless someone can find 4x Beryllium 15x10 6UL's hidden somewhere in the depths of the internet?? 949 is saying a 90 day lead time (they are completely exhausted of 10" inventory).. FM doesnt sell 10's from what I can see.. Good-Win has Charcoal and Tungsten in stock as long as their website is up to date, but I was pretty set on Beryllium. It looks sexy as hell on a black car and appearance matters.. The mirror finish of the tungsten is something I don't really care to pay any extra for over the beryllium finish, but I suppose that compromise may have to happen..

currently the tires on the car are VERY dry rotted.. I'll casually DD on them, but i refuse to load the sidewalls heavily in any sort of competitive environment

Installed new slave cylinder, master cylinder, and replaced the 3 piece factory clutch hydraulic lines with a braided stainless single piece line. Car runs and drives again. Woot!

Spent my entire weekend moving this last week. Commute to work went from a 50 min one-way to a 10 min one-way so that means more racecar time!. Feels awesome having another 1+hr to my day. Important decisions were also made last week, so multiple shipments coming in between wednesday and thursday has me like this dog


http://buickturboregal.com/wp-conten...-car-parts.jpg

took a final "BEFORE" shot before the teardown began tonight to get an idea on ride height. Last pinch weld measurement was 6.25" F / 5.25" R on my very blown suspension. The new garage is an awesome work space.
Attachment 180770


Hover-mode engaged
Attachment 180771
Attachment 180772


Front bushings dont appear to be the worst, but they are binding up pretty badly. Front upper control arms took quite a bit of body weight to move up and down. I'll get to fixing all this later
Attachment 180773


No huge rush on tearing it down as I'll be waiting on a tire back order regardless. Fun parts finally coming in hot tomorrow.

Turns out my drivers side tie rod end boot is shot as well. I have spent very little time researching if there is a "upgraded" tie rod end option to get for an NB rack. Does anyone have any insight to this?

Ummm... The stock busnings are rubber and are always "bound". The rubber is moulded around the steel sleeve and it moves by flexing....

^yep.

Stock bushings essentially add to the spring rate, because the arms only move by twisting the rubber.

They also subtract from the spring rate in droop since they are supposed to be clamped when the car isnat right height.

true.

I stand corrected on my late night post... read too many poly bushing binding threads apparently.. good thing I went to bed not long after.

the front suspension is pretty tight overall, but the rear suspension is a mess. Hoping to get to that tonight, along with dropping the diff if all goes well.

So many happinesses arrived at my door this afternoon!!! :party:
Attachment 180761

15x10 Jongbloed's. 6UL's were out of stock and the earliest estimate was late August for when I could order. I decided to take the 1.5 lb weight penalty and get a wheel I like the design of better anyways. The concavity looks awesome. Beryllium 15x10 6UL's were my primary choice, but after seeing these in person I'm happy I went this route.
Xidas 800/500 with helpers and coaxial tophats
ELBJ's
949 Racing sway bar kit with endlinks
949 Racing SS brake lines
"Supermiata" windshield banner to make the car wayyyy faster ;)

Doing some test fits prior to ripping the car completely apart to get an idea what I'm working with. The car looks so much meaner already with these wheels. Can't wait to see how it rides once this is all on
Attachment 180762
Attachment 180763
Attachment 180764
Attachment 180765

I luvs me my Xidas on my MSM. Same spring rate as yours and I'm just amazed at how nicely it rides, even on our bombshell-pocked roads.

You are gonna love the Xida. I just put my 700/400 ones on a few weeks ago and the car rides amazingly.

You don't need the elbj unless you can't hit your camber targets. They skyrocket your caster, and put a lot of strain on your power steering pump, or if you have a manual rack, they create immense steering effort. (I couldnt get lower than 8* caster with the elbjs)

I wasn't that low (5in pinch weld height) and I could easily get -3.4 front -2.8 rear camber, which gave a perfect temperature spread across the 205 RE71Rs I was using.

just fyi.

Well that explains my massive steering effort lol, didn't realize the ELBJ did that.

Nice selection of parts, you're gonna love the xidas

-3.4deg at 5" is impressive. Matched on both sides?

I understand the compromise. I have a depowered rack. I'm initially going to use 949's race alignment guidelines (see their website) to fit these 10's in the wheel wells. Likely setting up pinch weld height at ~4.25" F/R and going from there. The guys at 949 have been my main reference for a lot of this purchase and they recommended the ELBJ for my setup I described. Not trying to come off as a nut-swinger, but I've done a lot of research online prior to this and feel like Emillio's team has no reason to lead me wrong. They definitely have more competitive Miata experience than I do, especially with something this aggressive. Some forum users say I'd need them, some say I won't. I'd like to mention that your comment of hitting -3.4deg at 5" is in the minority of things I've read. Better safe than sorry in my opinion. If the steering is more difficult, so be it. New joints is never a bad thing, and knowing I can hit alignment targets is nice.

Should clarify, I'm saying hitting -3.4 at a ride height of 5" without the use of ELBJ or offset bushings is impressive to me.

^agreed

https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...1/#post1318188

No problem getting below 5* here with ELBJ.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bd9b5e4133.png

949 states on their website that the ELBJ's simply add 1.2deg of camber to whatever you have now if all eccentric bolt settings went unchanged and that 4deg caster is possible soooo... yeah... aiden's results seem typical which is why i went the ELBJ route

Damnit, I'm back to no excuses for my steering effort other than I'm weak haha

It'd be better if Thumpetto didn't speak in absolutes. His experience, as usual, was exceptionally bad haha

I can't get below 5.5* caster with offset lower bushings (3* camber), but 5.5* feels great to me.

Offset lower bushings do not affect caster in the same way that ELBJ do.

Suspension is confusing. Lots of misinformation going on here.

Well, that'd certainly be worth discussing. The offset lower bushing will affect the geometry of the entire arm, while the ELBJ doesn't. Which one will affect caster more? Please do clear up the misinformation if you can!

I struggle to explain it in text but I will give it a shot.

ELBJ:

The control arm with a normal ball joint and adjusted for say 3* of camber. will have some caster range. Caster is adjusted by moving the rear cam bolt, once desired camber is reached (with the front cam bolt). Most likely the cam bolts will be in different locations, meaning the arm is pointing out from the car at "an angle". Then when you add an ELBJ it moves the bottom of the upright out, at the angle that the arm is pointed. This adds camber, (and a small amount of caster), probably more camber than you need.

But your caster should stay pretty much the same. Now you have 4+* of camber though, and you need to pull some out (by moving the front cam bolt in). This means more caster (because the bj is moving in an arc, and towards the front of the car). So now that you have had to bring the front cam bolt in, your caster has increased, and the smallest amount of caster you can get has increased.

Offset front lower control arm bushing:

The control arm with a normal ball joint and adjusted for say 3* of camber. will have some caster range. Caster is adjusted by moving the rear cam bolt, once desired camber is reached (with the front cam bolt). Most likely the cam bolts will be in different locations, meaning the arm is pointing out from the car at "an angle". When you add an offset lower bushing, it moves the front of the control arm away from the body. Which moves the lower ball joint "back" (because its traveling in an arc). By moving it back, you get less caster, while still increasing camber.

Now you can add more caster in, by moving the rear cam bolt out.

What it all boils down to, is you shouldn't be willy nilly installing parts. Get an alignment, find out what max camber you can hit. If you can't hit what you want then look at your options. If thumpetto can hit 3.5* camber at 5* ride height then he obviously didn't need ELBJ. But most people can't do that. His car might just be bent.

Not sure that helps anyone. Its hard to explain without waving my hands around.

No, that makes sense to me. So you're saying the ELBJ will increase minimum caster more than offset bushings will, correct?

That's consistent with what Marcello and I experienced with our cars, but not with what you and I experienced. You have lower minimum caster than I do, while utilizing ELBJ's.

@Padlock Let me know if you want us to take this conversation to another thread.

NA vs NB. Also no idea on the history of my car. Its been in at least 1 accident when I didn't own it. And been airborne a few times since I bought it.

aren't you running NB front subframe/suspension bits?

Also, mine is a 200k mile chassis :hahano:

Nope. NA

Ah. Not directly comparable, then.

We can keep this discussion rolling here. I like learning

I think it's over. :dunno:

Havent updated in a few days.... so here we go...

As of Friday it looked like a scattered dirty miata disaster. I had everything necessary pulled off the chassis though, so that was nice.
Attachment 180729

Planning for the future, I picked up a fender ruining mechanism
Attachment 180730

I made the executive decision that this was optional equipment on a car with a cat and resonator #weightreduction
Attachment 180731

I burned diff bushings out when it was 95 degrees outside on Monday, which is as awful as it sounds. Got Poly's installed and shot it with a nice coat of paint to pretty it up while I'm at it
Attachment 180732

Currently in progress of removing surface rust from control arms, painting them, installing ELBJ, installing zerks, and installing NASA package Sadfab delrin kit. Here are 2 finished pieces
Attachment 180733
Attachment 180734

I'd just like to point out my inner unknown genius by painting control arms the color of anti-seize. Given its nature to get everywhere upon application, I bet you cant even tell where I made a mess.

And lastly, tonight I got the diff put back home which is a really fun task to do by yourself. Started bolting on orange things as well.
Attachment 180735

you need to do a gauge reset. I usually clean everything up and reset the garage after one "checkpoint" is passed. Yours being diff installed.

Nahh, I currently have organized chaos.. All the hardware is in a pile next to where it was removed.. I'll clean the garage when its done :)

Status update:

• Painted rear tow hooks because racecar
• Painted front calipers orange because 949 says orange is faster
• Painted rotor hats because screw surface rusted hats with everything else looking minty
• Got the 7/8" bit in from the mail to ream out the delrin bushings after being pressed in.

Waiting on the following things in the snail mail

• Replacement front upper ball joint boots. (Pickle fork destroyed my old ones. Joints are still stiff.)
• Tie rod ends.
• Redline 75W90 diff fluid
• 949 Valve Stems
• 245/40/15 Hankook RS4's (backordered until end of the month currently)

Need to do:

• Install new tie rod ends
• Grind off and plug all threaded bosses on the steering rack tube
• Paint steering rack
• Paint rear calipers to be just as fast as the fronts
• Finish pressing in and installing delrin bushings in the RLCA's and FUCA's
• Paint RLCA's and FUCA's
• Bolt everything together (control arms, rack, coils, sways, endlinks)
• Add fluid to diff (I'm told this is important?)
• Buy proper fluid (motul most likely?) and bleed the whole brake system manually
• Mount / Balance tires/wheels when the tires arrive
• Roll/Pull/Destroy Fenders to fit 10"/245 combo
• Corner balance and align

Status update:

• ALL THE PARTS ARE IN!
• Tires/Wheels mounted.
• Rack Properly Depowered (Large end nut did NOT want to come out which made for a bunch of scary thoughts thinking I destroyed the rack tube threads, but all ended up ok)
• Front Upper ball joint boot replaced.

Need to do:

• Install new tie rod ends
• Add diff fluid
• Paint steering rack
• Paint rear calipers to be just as fast as the fronts
• Finish pressing in and installing delrin bushings in the RLCA's and FUCA's
• Paint RLCA's and FUCA's
• Bolt everything together (control arms, rack, coils, sways, endlinks)
• Buy proper fluid (motul most likely?) and bleed the whole brake system manually
• Roll/Pull/Destroy Fenders to fit 10"/245 combo
• Corner balance and align

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9014e8255a.jpgJust a bit more width than what i had
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c60ef8aa03.jpgNom nom nom

those look so good...

Yeah, in hindsight I'm so happy I ended up with these over 6ul's. Although both look good, the concavity on these is much more my style

Tonight I was having issues getting the rlca-o's pressed in place. So after some thought, i got creative with a 5/8" threaded rod, some washers, and some nuts. The bushings pressed right into place afterwords with some simple wrench action. $5 well spent
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bfb5eac555.jpg

After finishing pressing bushings in (which addmittedly took long than it should have without ideal tools), I got zerks installed, masked them off, and got the last of the control arms painted up after removing surface rust
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...aeeac00e63.jpg

hoping to have the car on the ground by friday as I would like to take it on a cabin trip for the weekend of the 4th. Likely will just run the old tire setup however as I don't want to rush myself on the fender job. I'll save that for next week.

Had a friend stop over and give me a hand which made progress a lot faster.

Depowered rack painted up then installed with new tie rod ends.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8df3f53c9b.jpg

xidas installed
All control arms greased/installed
ball joints and tie rods tightened

I got antsy and wanted to see how the wheels would look. :drool:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...76bd98e204.jpg


taking a half day at work tomorrow to finish up what's left:
Paint rear calipers
Install all calipers
install sway bars and endlinks
fill diff with fluid
bleed brakes
tighten down all bolts
set ride height
Eyeball alignment then toss on old tires for the weekend shakedown driving

next week after vacation I'll focus on rolling fenders and getting the car properly aligned and corner balanced with the jongbloeds on. Can't wait!

Got my goal done for today.

car is all bolted together with an eyeballed alignment on the old tires/wheels. That said, I took the car for a drive down a rough section of road with the xidas and sways on full soft. I don't know how, but I think it rides smoother than it did before all oem even with the sadfab delrin kit. Can't freaking wait to get an actual alignment on it with the rs4s, but that'll be next week

I have the pinch welds set at 4.5" all around.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...72a954760a.jpg

And just because I wanted to see how it looked on the 10's while messing with it... the orange calipers are a bit brighter than I was hoping for, but once they get a little dirty they should tame down a bit. They look a bit darker while hidden behind the wide wheels. Glad I didn't go standard red..
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3ba581dd75.jpg

Looks great. I still have to roll my fronts but the rears came out great. Take your time and don't skimp on the heat. I probably had them to about 130 degrees, I couldn't hold my hand on the paint. This allowed the paint to be flexable and not crack. Good luck.

Xidas are amazing, I have 900/500 and I hit a section of the highway that's a spine breaker in my stock daily a few time and it's way more comfortable. That's not even on their full soft setting. And agreed on the heat, give it lots so it doesn't crack

Thanks for the tips. It'll be my first time rolling fenders so I'm going to be referencing the college of YouTube prior to tackling it. The eastwood roller also came with a programmable heat gun with temperature control. If I recall correctly it said to shoot for 120 degrees or so to keep paint pliable. Hoping it shouldn't be too bad.

So break-in weekend on the suspension went pretty well overall. Got about 350 miles on the car without a major hiccup or rattle to track down, so yay for nailing that all down the first go. A couple notes:

1. The upper heim on the front driver side sway bar endlink made contact with my coilover body, thus flattening the threads on the body pretty good. Not exactly happy about that, but it is what it is at this point. I have since adjusted my sway bar to the stiffer setting in the front to move the heim away from body. Hopefully this fixes the issue.
2. Stopped at a friend who races spec Miata and got the suspension all sorted with a string alignment. For the sake of my documentation here's the specs.
   1. Specs I set up:
      1. Front
         1. Camber: -3.3 degrees
         2. Caster: MAX (didn't have the tool to measure on hand). Steering effort isn't bad at all FWIW
         3. Toe: 1/32" OUT
      2. Rear
         1. Camber: -2.9 degrees
         2. Toe: 1/16" IN
      3. Ride Height
         1. 4.5" at the pinch welds with me in the car.
      4. Corner Weights (with me in the car)
         1. LF: 631 lbs
         2. RF: 597 lbs
         3. LR: 611 lbs
         4. RR: 576 lbs
         5. Cross Weight: 1208 lbs (50.0%)
         6. Total Weight: 2415 lbs
         7. Curb Weight (without me in the car): 2240 lbs

Overall the car drives fantastic as-is prior to before, but I'm VERY tire limited on the old tires that are on the car now. Will begin the fender rolling process tonight to get the RS4's fitted. Started out the weekend with the xidas set at click 0 all around and have since moved up to 8 Front and 6 Rear. Still more playing around to do there, but overall made a lot of progress over the holiday weekend.

I'll let the pictures do the talking. Fenders rolled and pulled. No rubbing noticed so far

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d12885ef5d.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ca2f087670.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1176d26d9b.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...708bf33e22.jpg

Lookin' good.

Your car looks awesome! Now drive it awesome.

I love the way it is sitting. Congrats!

I didn't know a pull was necessary. I might have to go back to get that done

Thanks guys

The rear DEFINITELY needs a pull. I have 2.9 degrees of camber in the rear and it just clears. the front could get away with a flat roll although I did a mild pull on those as well to be safe