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Look but don't touch: Wackbards tries in vain to keep a ND OEM
Well, spinning a bearing on my new built motor was the last straw, and I gave up on my '91. It was a fun project, and I swapped 5 motors on that old bucket of bolts over the course of 5 years. Now that I have a kid, I have almost no time to wrench. I decided to go big and get a new 2019 ND. My hope was that I could avoid the mod sickness, and just enjoy and drive it (yeah right). I went with the club version because it seemed like I could live with it in it's OEM form the easiest. After a couple months of driving it, there are a few things that just have to get sorted out:
1) sway bars. I forgot how lame it is banging off the bump stops all the time. I have a set of GWR bars ready to go in. 2) muffler. Seriously, you can't hear the exhaust unless the top is up. 3) wheels. Having two sets for seasonal tires is the only way to do it, and there is weight to be saved here. I went with a 13 lb set of advantis S1's in 16x7.5. I'll be putting 195/50/16 Conti ECS in these wheels as soon as they are back in stock. Total weight savings will be 26 lbs. 4) sound tube delete. This is just stupid crap. I replaced it with OEM intake parts from a sport trim. 5) shark fin. Same as above. Covered the hole in the hood with a NC club badge. 6) antenna bugged me, so I put a stubby on. 7) I added the GT door sill scuff plates. The plastic here is haggard after only 1500 miles. So, yeah, the struggle is real. I'm trying with limited success to just drive it and not mod it. The car is good though. I keep driving past spots where my old Miata died. It's been nice not to have to think about reliability. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b4c6073749.jpg |
Originally Posted by wackbards
(Post 1536023)
Well, spinning a bearing on my new built motor was the last straw, and I gave up on my '91. It was a fun project, and I swapped 5 motors on that old bucket of bolts over the course of 5 years. Now that I have a kid, I have almost no time to wrench. I decided to go big and get a new 2019 ND. My hope was that I could avoid the mod sickness, and just enjoy and drive it (yeah right). I went with the club version because it seemed like I could live with it in it's OEM form the easiest. After a couple months of driving it, there are a few things that just have to get sorted out:
1) sway bars. I forgot how lame it is banging off the bump stops all the time. I have a set of GWR bars ready to go in. 2) muffler. Seriously, you can't hear the exhaust unless the top is up. 3) wheels. Having two sets for seasonal tires is the only way to do it, and there is weight to be saved here. I went with a 13 lb set of advantis S1's in 16x7.5. I'll be putting 195/50/16 Conti ECS in these wheels as soon as they are back in stock. Total weight savings will be 26 lbs. 4) sound tube delete. This is just stupid crap. I replaced it with OEM intake parts from a sport trim. 5) shark fin. Same as above. Covered the hole in the hood with a NC club badge. 6) antenna bugged me, so I put a stubby on. 7) I added the GT door sill scuff plates. The plastic here is haggard after only 1500 miles. So, yeah, the struggle is real. I'm trying with limited success to just drive it and not mod it. The car is good though. I keep driving past spots where my old Miata died. It's been nice not to have to think about reliability. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b4c6073749.jpg |
Room-wise... Well, the actual driver's position is better. My NA was like driving a go-kart. My steering wheel was jammed between my knees. The ND2 is pretty easy to make seating comfortable. I did have to add a little piece of UHMW tape to the plastic on the roll bar so my seat wouldn't squeak against it. But the overall vibe of the cabin is more intimate. Doing yoga to get in to the glove box feels kind of like being in an economy seat on a 737 or something.
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Thank God it doesn't fit ND2... Yet.
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That fits the 19 friend!
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From the link: "Version for the 2019+ is in development."
Seriously though. No. I'm trying to maintain the illusion of adult behavior. |
Also forgot to mention that I put a GWR super street single tip muffler on. I added the glass pack insert. Sounds great. Quiet but with character. Also ~9lbs lighter than the ND2 muffler.
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https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2be1d40a85.jpg
That black oval plate with 2 bolts in the upper right is just a dust cover instead of the active hood system that EUDM cars get. I tossed the plates and bolts and covered the holes with speed tape. |
Swapped in a set of GWR sway bars today. The front bar is a pain. I unpinned the rack to make room. I'm pretty sure I got the steering wheel back on off by one tooth. Ehhh.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4bd66bf092.jpg |
Think I need to tweak my sway bar setup. I'm running center hole on both F&R bars. I've noticed a reduction in rear grip under hard cornering as compared to the OEM bars and it feels a bit squirrelly. I'll try softening up the rear and see how that do.
I also picked up a set of the Paco seat rails. Hopefully it improves seating position. Not that it's terrible stock, but an extra inch would be great. |
Setting the sways to medium on the front and full soft in the rear seems to be the ticket. This is with 100% stock everything else including tires and alignment. I was setting off the traction control and making tire noises all over with both ends set to medium. Snap oversteer isn't super cool.
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Scored a local set of ultra low miles BBS take-offs.
Potato picture https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1496467d55.jpg |
Originally Posted by wackbards
(Post 1536037)
From the link: "Version for the 2019+ is in development."
Seriously though. No. I'm trying to maintain the illusion of adult behavior. https://bbrgti.com/collections/mazda...2019-on-184-ps |
An EFR twin scroll on an ND would be neat.
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Oh you's guys.
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Watching with great interest. Have you tracked the car yet?
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No, not tracking it. USAA is very prickly about it, and I can't afford to buy another one if I munch it.
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I am contemplating going with a set of 2 piece front rotors and some wee FM LBBK front calipers with G-loc GS-1 pads. It saves almost 20 lbs unsprung, and 9 of it is rotating. The way I drive, brakes last years and years.
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You can have 500hp and not track a car. Just a wild daily driver to the Boeing plant with big brakes and a twin scroll.
I have seen that parking lot i know you can have some fun there |
I would never do such a thing officer.
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Originally Posted by wackbards
(Post 1539216)
No, not tracking it. USAA is very prickly about it, and I can't afford to buy another one if I munch it.
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Got the Paco seat lowering kit in. It's a little annoying, but not hard. Seat position is good! Kind of reminds me of doing a foamectomy except I got better leg room. Before, my left knee kept hitting the blank accessory panel. Now there's about 2" clearance.
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I bit the bullet on the brake project. I ordered 2 piece 11" wilwood front rotors that save 9 lbs rotating mass, and the FM LBBK front calipers that save 11 lbs unsprung mass. I ordered up a set of front g-loc GS-1 pads too. The rear brakes are just too hard to justify. $$$/lb is poor, and there is a big loss of functionality with the ebrake.
Part swapping on this car has netted some good gains while keeping it 100% streetable. The only weight gain has been ~4 lbs in sway bars. Once my tires come in, the weight reduction will be: 15 lbs sprung mass 11 lbs unsprung mass 35 lbs unsprung rotating mass |
Thats a lot a weight drop
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Sounds completely stock.
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Originally Posted by sixshooter
(Post 1539655)
Sounds completely stock.
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The 195/50/16 ECS are out of stock presumably for the entire summer, so I decided to get 205/45/16 ECS. Each tire is .8 lbs heavier than the 195/50, but they're .4 inches wider. They are significantly shorter than OEM though: to compensate for the 1" tire diameter drop, I ordered up a set of progress springs. These aren't really much of a rate bump (156->185/100->115), but they should help with the 4x4 look caused by the short tires. I had a little dialogue with Andy Hollis on mnet, and it turns out he's running the same wheel/tire size combo, and the change in final drive ratio makes for a nice little acceleration bump. I have next week off, so all this should make for a fun little project.
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I made the wheel switch. I dropped in a set of progress springs and put in the 16" wheels. The progress springs add 4.8 lbs to the car. Still fiddling with alignment. I gotta get alignment settled before I move on to the brakes.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0b6e57f45b.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1e82f82a5f.jpg |
Rotors and calipers are in. It really feels good in terms of weight loss- like going from steel toed boots to running shoes. Pedal feel is a bit mushy though. I bled all four corners with a power bleeder, but it might need a second round here after a bit of driving.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...17140c9408.jpg |
2nd bleed was the ticket. Everything feels pretty damn good now. The factory brake fluid was actually pretty gross. There's a bit of chatter feedback in the brake pedal, and I'm curious whether it's just wearing in, or if this is how it's gonna be now. I'm pretty happy with this setup. I've got to scrub the new tire crap off before I give it the beans, but it already feels way better than stock.
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What brake pads did you use? Some brands are a PITA to bed.
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They're G-loc GS-1 street pads. This is the first time I've used them, but I think they are supposed to be extra easy to bed. I just haven't even really warmed them up yet.
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Li'l touch of MT pink grip tape. OE pedal rubber kept grabbing my shoes a lot in a bad way. We'll see if this is better.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b4abef76a1.jpg |
Lowering springs on stock shocks is just too deep in the land of bump stops. I'm having a set of coilovers built around 6kg/4kg springs. I'll run them with the front roadster sport bar on half hard/med setting, and the OE rear bar. I've been tinkering with the FCM calculator. Here's how the OEM configuration compares to my current and future setups. Don't worry, I'm not getting a FCM suspension. Just using this handy calculator.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eac7d3f433.png |
Not much to declare here. 1st oil change. Running the coilovers described above. Continuing to pull weight. I'm about 80 lbs down from stock with factory seats, top and stereo. I mounted up a set of pirelli sottozero 3 tires on the OE 17" boat anchors for snow tires, and I'll probably make the switch this weekend. Running the GWR street alignment. With roll stiffness roughly doubled, I haven't bashed off the bumps yet. I also added a couple JBR parts that are nicely made and worth the money: the diff mount and the short shifter.
Here's what my coilovers look like on paper. Almost as comfortable as stock. This is my first set of adjustables, so I'm bumbling through it a bit. I've found this setup is susceptible to some resonant weirdness at low speeds, and I've had to be specific about the settings to get it to play nice. PM if you want details. Otherwise, I'm mostly just loving it. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6a6503e0f3.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...065f3a5be8.jpg |
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b87aa2e79b.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...167fa05495.jpg Bling blang. Revlimiter gauges, steering wheel, shift knob/boots. |
Going with an ecu tune. I'm on a fab9/VT N1 map now, getting ready for an ethanol map that should put me at about 200whp. Installed a full GWR exhaust. The SQHV muffler is good at controlling drone & rasp. The car is sitting at just about 2250 lbs.
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Nice addition, fits in well
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