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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.
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.
Nice car. How does the room compare to your NA? I haven't driven one but when I checked them out at a show it felt claustrophobic compared to my NA (at least to me).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
05-23-2019, 02:09 PM
Look but don't touch: Wackbards tries in vain to keep a ND OEM
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