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another 2 month update... not much going on with the kmiata but a lot going on with life as one could expect.
Nursery is done
Baby shower is done
Multiple weddings to attend/stand up in are done
Fence is done
Shed project is done
did make some time to enjoy the more simple things in life in the car world, like talking to rich old guys with Porsches at local cars and coffee events. Parked between these two guys, with two drool worthy setups
....and it didn't take long for them to clear out once I parked this home brewed Honda powered monstrosity there which garnered more attention to the crowd than their showroom fresh models. It's a kmiata thing that I'll never understand... Only ended up taking a photo of my own car right before I left for the day
A couple weeks later, I went to another local C&C in Milwaukee with a friend of mine in his S7. Came to the realization that we enjoy similar colors as my vinyl wrap and wheel color damn near mimic his car, but whatever. Again, a lot of feedback on the kmiata. People just generally are fascinated by this swap for reasons I don't necessarily understand, but it's cool to see the interest.
I was personally most interested in this Honda swapped beast
end of September came before I knew it, and I was stuck down in Phoenix for a week for work validating more bikes. In between the 12+hr days, the poolside perks didn't suck.
Upon returning from Phoenix, a local MT member that lurks here needed some help finishing his garage space, so we began demoing the existing paneling out of it and started insulating, drywalling, etc to give him a warm spot to work in for the winter months. On the first trip to the dump with scrap materials, I spotted a barbie pink Cadillac power wheels on top of a dumpster. I figured it was likely that the battery or motor were shot, because these things retail for like $400 new, but to my surprise, the battery was in it, forward drive worked, reverse drive worked, and even the built-in FM radio worked.
.....so in preparation for continuing my "cool dad" status, check out this new power wheels project that I picked up for FREE.99. It'll be a while before the twins can be of proper driving age, but this will be a fun project to teach electrical/mechanical basics on with my 9yo. I built him a 24V power wheels (powered by 2 powersports batteries) with functional LED running, head, and tail lights when he was 4yo, but he outgrew it and I sold it to a friend of mine with kids of proper size/age. I need to out-do the Jeep build with the Escalade now. I'm thinking it will be possible to retrofit a Milwaukee non-fuel M18 brushed drill motor in replacement to the factory motor/gearbox, and then possible (and unnecessary) to run 2 M18 batteries in series for a 36V setup to that motor. The drill already has a variable throttle/trigger switch, which could be retrofit to the existing on/off switch gas pedal assembly that the Escalade has. The drill also has two speeds by default, so it would seem logical you could have a low/high range in conjunction with 18v and 36v options for as the kid's grow and become more confident... I'm sure I'll break something with this one given the power increase I want to put through it, but I just don't know what part will fail first.
....and that pretty much covers it. The twins are due anytime pretty much between now and Thanksgiving, so my next update I'll likely be reporting back as a new, incredibly tired (and caffeinated) father.
No kids yet, but in consulting a friend of mine who is trying to start an automotive parts side gig, I found some pre-fatherhood motivation to start working on a simple project that I've been just putting off for way too long.
As most of you know, the louvered fender vents on my car were an original idea that started in this thread nearly 5 years ago (link here to that post). The louvered fender vent design to mimic pre-existing hood vent design took a turn that I don't think I could have really predicted. I had a couple group buys here, met a lot of awesome people, and that turned into wholesaling them with FM (which you can still buy here). I've now sold hundreds of them, but the publicity didn't come without a downside. That downside is competition. Many other big name aero/venting companies caught wind of what I did and had a lot more bandwidth than me as a one-man show to design their own fender vents for just about any car you can think of. Some companies, which I'll keep nameless, purely just ripped off my design but that was to be expected. As a result, sales for this niche product have begun to taper off. It was/is bound to happen and I'm not upset about it, but that brings me to this post.
Part of what I pride myself on for this car is that I had parts that always have been uniquely mine. "Function over form, but why not have both" being the mentality. The louvered vents work really well for a majority of people with off-the-shelf track miata wheel/tire/suspension fitments, but my car is a little different than the majority in one area. I have these monster side skirts and they are being underutilized as a design feature of the car.The louvered vents duct out air, but why can't I give the air an even easier escape path? Can I have a fender that doesn't act as a gravel trap and need routine maintenance to clean out? I can fit 10's in front with light fender contact, but what about when I want more? I don't want to give up on OEM fender fitment and hacking off a chunk of the car to just be left bare is not acceptable. I've had honestly years of thinking about a change that fits the constraints I'm happy with, so let's getting going on fender venting round 2!!
Every good DIY design starts off with a thought, a utility knife, a beer, and a chunk of cardboard, so that's where I started here too. The main concept is to tie the fender venting into the already existing side skirts that I have on the car, much like you commonly see on time attack competition vehicles.
First concept looked too big/bulky/ugly... Didn't give me the proportions I was chasing in my head.. so another sip and some cutting got me here:
The height of it all now looked right, but what's going on with that thin trailing section? It's very out of place, so let's cut that off and stylize it a bit.
Much better. This was passing my visual "squint" check... so okay, I made a really nicely carved sheet of cardboard.. What's next Matt? Well.. I had a friend of mine parting out an NB. It was pretty rotted/rusted but the fenders were perfect for what I wanted them for, so he gave them to me for free. In an effort to make install (panel modification) as easy as possible without the need for templates or measurement devices, my new design references the chip guard body line in the fender
With a steady hand, my favorite miata tool (the angle grinder) converted some previously unwanted garbage parts and made them into MY garbage by cutting off the rusty part along that chip guard line.
So when you combine the now-rust-free fender with my hand-cut dried paper pulp, you get this thing of beauty.
Hell yes.... You can probably all see where this is headed now, so I'll spare the words. I immediately ran to my laptop and reverse engineered that cardboard into a DXF file along with drawing up appropriate backing/mounting plates to install the new fill panel to the car. One quick submission to SendCutSend with the swipe of a credit card later and I'll have prototype parts to my door by this weekend. so now, we wait.......
Looks similar to the fenders on Darby Jean's time attack car, but I'm sure there are other Miatas out there with a similar setup. It really is a good clean look.
Looks similar to the fenders on Darby Jean's time attack car, but I'm sure there are other Miatas out there with a similar setup. It really is a good clean look.
Any plans to vent the top of the fenders?
You aren't wrong. It is similar to her car. I'm in no way claiming to be the first with this type of layout, but I may be the first willing to sell a quick kit for anyone that wants to easily replicate it on the NB. Quotes on all the needed parts are coming back pretty reasonable... we'll see if it's worth my time/energy.
As far as upper venting, yes, I'll have that taken care of too. I have a set of Singular fender vents from Ryan waiting to go on these chopped fenders.
Parts came in from SCS last night. Can't say enough good things about how nice it is to be able to upload a file, get an instant quote, and have parts at your door within a week. If you haven't used them, just do it next time.
Now was the best time as any to make them look pretty. I had a pile of vinyl wrap laying around the house, so I could really pick between black, carbon, or body color gray. The side skirts are carbon wrapped, so I figured I'd start by wrapping these to match for ultimate fast and furious points.
On the back side, you can see the cut and formed rivet backing brackets that SCS made as well. I was trying to keep them as light as possible by the profile you see them cut at, but the price of 1/8" thick material was the same as thinner material so I figured it's not the end of the world to use the thicker stuff and know it'll be rigid.
I have some more cleanup work to do on the fenders. I have to trim/roll/cut them, have the singular upper vents to put on, and have to re-wrap them with body color vinyl, but here you get the idea of what I'm going for.
This is awesome and along the lines of what I'd like to do with mine. I did a pretty aggressive fender cut, but the unfinished look of the uncovered portion is slowly eating away at me. I've got about 2 directions I'm thinking, and you did the second direction awesomely. I need some side skirts though to make that work.
Very nice build! I started reading this thread but it's long and will take some time to read all of it! Best of luck with the new kiddos. Twins? Wow. I'm guessing your Miata will be doing a lot of sitting the next couple years.
I've got something brewing for you for this issue.... you'll see them here first...
Originally Posted by SlowTeg
Very nice build! I started reading this thread but it's long and will take some time to read all of it! Best of luck with the new kiddos. Twins? Wow. I'm guessing your Miata will be doing a lot of sitting the next couple years.
To be honest, the miata has done a lot of sitting in the last year just because my wedding diverted a lot of "track day" funds over to that instead... now the twins will understandably take some of the time (and money) away again, but I'm not upset about it. Life has been exciting and taking a breather from dumping thousands into a car to spend on other enjoyable things is a healthy thing to do for me mentally. Build progress and event attendance will be slowed in the immediate term, but even my wife agrees that the thought of me getting rid of it is stupid as she'll know I'll just want something similar or more expensive again anyways... I really want to see this car through to the end of my build vision, and it's only part of the way there right now.
I've got something brewing for you for this issue.... you'll see them here first...
To be honest, the miata has done a lot of sitting in the last year just because my wedding diverted a lot of "track day" funds over to that instead... now the twins will understandably take some of the time (and money) away again, but I'm not upset about it. Life has been exciting and taking a breather from dumping thousands into a car to spend on other enjoyable things is a healthy thing to do for me mentally. Build progress and event attendance will be slowed in the immediate term, but even my wife agrees that the thought of me getting rid of it is stupid as she'll know I'll just want something similar or more expensive again anyways... I really want to see this car through to the end of my build vision, and it's only part of the way there right now.
She's right. I've got 2 of my own. Youngest is soon to be 5. An impractical car with a sunk coat has been great for us especially during date nights, where we can have a simple impractical escape. Enjoy it all. It's cliche but the saying is true - it goes by in a flash. And within all that time, I've enjoyed tinkering with the miata. Soon to be going on 10 years of ownership! We're already practical and responsible in almost all aspects of our life #parenting. The miata has been the perfect impraticality.
To be honest, the miata has done a lot of sitting in the last year just because my wedding diverted a lot of "track day" funds over to that instead... now the twins will understandably take some of the time (and money) away again, but I'm not upset about it. Life has been exciting and taking a breather from dumping thousands into a car to spend on other enjoyable things is a healthy thing to do for me mentally. Build progress and event attendance will be slowed in the immediate term, but even my wife agrees that the thought of me getting rid of it is stupid as she'll know I'll just want something similar or more expensive again anyways... I really want to see this car through to the end of my build vision, and it's only part of the way there right now.
For sure, that is the right approach. There will be more and less time for hobbies at different times in life but you will come back around to it when you have time for it again. You will most certainly never find another car like yours available down the road so it doesn't make sense to sell it. I was just teasing as I went through that period myself (still not out of it). I have 3 kids, 9, 8, and 4, and am looking forward to getting a little more time back to myself. Hobbies are fun but taking care of the family and kids are obviously the #1 priority.
For sure, that is the right approach. There will be more and less time for hobbies at different times in life but you will come back around to it when you have time for it again. You will most certainly never find another car like yours available down the road so it doesn't make sense to sell it. I was just teasing as I went through that period myself (still not out of it). I have 3 kids, 9, 8, and 4, and am looking forward to getting a little more time back to myself. Hobbies are fun but taking care of the family and kids are obviously the #1 priority.
Stages of life!
I was ~50 when I got mine, and few years before I got into tracking/modifying it and now 20+ years later still at it. Before that there was no way I could do it, it was work/family first, second, third, have to go back to my teens/early 20ies when I had a couple of Sprites. But in the dry days in between I knew I wanted to do it, just had to be patient. As soon as it became possible, I was off again!
The twins arrived on November 21st! All are doing well and so far so good as far as my sanity goes. They wake up every 2-3hrs and either need a butt cleaned and/or mouth fed. I normally didn't get much more than 6hrs of sleep a night before they arrived, so I'm relatively unaffected as far as my tiredness goes. Other than the obvious schedule adjustments, they have been pretty easy to keep on the same eating/changing schedule and pretty straightforward kids to manage. Let's hope it stays that way and that I'm not jinxing myself.
I took 3wks of vacation time from work to spend with wife/kids. Being the busy brain that I am, I naturally can't just sit around doing nothing, so as long as house/dishes/laundry have been clean and the kids are sleeping, I've been tinkering with projects that have been long overdue. The fender extensions I finished in my previous posts are pretty much ready to go on, but I just need to make some time to drill the large holes in the fenders for the upper vents that have yet to be installed. I also need to vinyl wrap the fenders to match the rest of the car before riveting anything on. Spent more time organizing the garage and shuffling things around for winter storage than anything #northernerproblems
Some exciting stuff started though, so here's the sneak peek to the next Left Lane project... For those who know what these are, you should be excited.
In order to do prototypes like this, you realistically could really take advantage of a 3D printer. Lucky for me, I had a Creality Ender 5 Plus sitting in my basement collecting dust waiting for a project just like this. I picked it up on Black Friday like 2 years ago and never really had the motivation or right project to really get to using it. It's got a massive print bed (350mm x 350mm x 410mm), so options are relatively limitless for most car part concepts with this. With recommendation on settings from a close friend of mine, we got the think printing damn near perfectly on the first print. Prototypes for the above concept worked out quite well overall, so I ordered metal parts from SendCutSend and they are due to arrive sometime near the end of the month.
Running it relatively fast (120+mm/s) still yielded some pretty darn nice results even on the 5% infill regions of the prints.
From idea/sketch to model to concept in a total of about 3hrs... It's been really nice having this tool added to the arsenal. Stay tuned for what this one turns into...
Another very close friend of mine stopped by on his way back from PRI. Him and his dad are kicking off the first dealer in the midwest for the Rush SR's, so he swung over with one that he has taking from PRI to their shop to add to their demo fleet for tracks at Road America, Blackhawk, Autobahn, etc this upcoming year. Having been my first time seeing them up close and personal, I have to admit, if I wanted a track-only vehicle, screw a kmiata or any varient of modified miata. I'd be on this chassis in a heartbeat. A few cost cutting compromises were made with auxiliary items like aero, but pretty easy to remedy with aftermarket goodies. A high revving, super lightweight, dirt cheap consumable, single seater track toy for the dollar amount that it sells for is hard to ignore and this friend (an ex-SM and TA2 racer) has had nothing but positive remarks after hours of seat time in them thus far (hence the dealer ordeal). Plus, it fits on a small utility trailer!
Last edited by Padlock; 12-12-2023 at 02:32 PM.
Reason: image fixes
Be careful with those Rushes. There are a bunch of them running with us at NASA in NorCal, and they do not like sliding sideways across curbs. Watch my rearview mirror in turn 7 here...
OK, I can't figure out how to do youtube embeds w/ a time code -- go about 24 minutes into this.
Personally I wouldn't buy one as a track day toy for much the same reason as a Radical (too small, too fragile, too easily crushed by people driving 4000 pound cars who don't see you on track). Racing them in a group of their own or mixed with other sports racers/open wheel cars should be fine though.
WTF did I just watch codrus? That looked like mayhem in your rear view mirror.
+1 for no single seater track cars. I've never been impressed with one, the biggest issue is they're mostly for track days. Quite frankly I don't like track days. IMO it should be a stepping stone to racing, or every once in a while you take your GT3/turbo miata/etc to the track. Most of those single seater kit cars you can't take proper w2w racing.
WTF did I just watch codrus? That looked like mayhem in your rear view mirror.
Last lap of the race, the guy in the Rush got impatient and tried to make a super late pass on me going into T7. I saw it and left room, but from what I can tell (I've seen video from the guy behind him) he locked up the brakes (no ABS on those things) and slid it sideways into the dirt on the inside. T7 is a pair of fairly tight right handers, so his trajectory carried him sideways over the back side of the part of the curb after the apex and it just launched him 3 or 4 feet into the air and he barrel-rolled 2 or 3 times across the pavement. My spotter was shouting at me on the radio "go wide, go wide!", and he just barely missed hitting my wing.
Reportedly the driver walked away from it, so score one for the safety gear on the little car.
10-26-2023, 01:34 AM
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