Nice, I'll try to say hi!

Re: Bars, I'm definitely not going to be setting it to full stiff as the setup is pretty understeery at almost all speeds, even with the wing at effectively 0deg AoA so I'm pretty sure there's just way too much front roll stiffness. I was talking to @icantlearn and he was mentioning that a smaller front bar was what he landed on setup-wise also.

 

Those shocks don't look healthy at all! Normal? I have heard of the NB strengthening plate problem (and have trimmed mine), but this is a new one on me. Are you using NB bars on an NA, or is it an NA bar? Are the shocks a larger diameter? If it is a product of an ultra low ride height, maybe a set of drop spindles?

I think I would be replacing those shocks before tracking it again, one of those gouges looks pretty deep, but you need to address the cause of the rubbing problem or it will just happen again.

 

Probably should have said this earlier, but that rubbing is pretty typical on NB bars mounted in NBs. I've seen it a lot and personally wouldn't be concerned about the damage to the shock. It'll never shear the entire shock off, worse case it leaks some oil, makes a mess, and obviously ruins your dampening, but in my experience you're miles away from that being a problem.

 

Yep, thats what I've been seeing/hearing as well. If the FM bar doesn't solve it or it gets much worse, I'll look into modifying the AWR mounts to move the bar a bit forwards.

 

Is it the AWR mounts, or is this happening with stock mounts? As said above, this was new to me, but then I run an NB so NA-specific issues might have gone through to the keeper.

Yeah, catastrophic collapse was not my concern, just the leaking/mess/ruined day - its going to be done leaking a long while before it gets bad enough to fail the structure, if ever.

 

I think the bar rubs with both OEM and AWR mounts, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

Track photo dump from the last weekend.

 

It's glorious! Only thing I'd add is some sideskirts to the mix, visually, but man what a good looking racecar!

 

Yeah, I definitely want side skirts one day, I just need to find some.

 

I like so much on this car. Killer work man!

 

I think it's the lack of lateral locks on Miata front sway bars. I added shaft collars after the fact, but can't be 100% certain it's fixed.

 

Miata Reunion Prep

Offset front upper bushings and extended lower ball joints meant my minimum amount of camber was ~4.7 deg, way way way too much. Replaced all bushings with Vu suspension sealed sphericals. Install wasn't difficult, just took forever.







Wanted to get rid of the ugly filter on the valve cover, so I replaced it with a cheap catch can.


Didn't like the NB2 ABS so I replaced with non-ABS until I can get a MK60 unit in the car.



Installed Alethia Motorsports Harness Collars to clean up the interior a bit.


Installed OMP HTE-400 as passenger seat.


Installed a Recaro Pro Racer as a drivers seat.

 

Unloaded at Sonoma for Miata Reunion. Glad we had the Supertech canopy.


Fuel pump died on the way to the hot pits in the first session. Took a while to source a replacement, but stole one out of @icantlearn Mazdaspeed that he has for sale, and got the show back on the road for the last 2 sessions. Replaced the fuel pump in his car with a like pump by the end of the day though.


Photo dump with photos from IG user @bon.komera
twinsies w/ @_slowboi

 

The rain at Sonoma really highlighted how sketchy the car was with the exposed PCB for the AutoRod Connections ARC-8000 relay board in the car with zero weather sealing, so I replaced that switch panel with a regular switch panel from Longacre. I've also been told that Micro280 relays aren't super reliable in critical applications since they tend to overheat with continuous use near their amperage limits. I did notice that my relays were getting really hot when I checked them, so I don't doubt this failure mode at all. I replaced the bussman Micro280 fuse boxes with a Mini ISO and ATC/ATO fuse box from TrueMods and a Hella Fuse holder. Another thing I didn't like was the ~3s delay from hitting the killswitch button to the Littlefuse HD relay actually shutting off, so I replaced that with a 4-post Longacre battery disconnect.




One thing I saw online and wanted to try was the Sumitomo stacking lugs, PN 8100-2006, so I got a couple of them from Corsa Technic and used them on the new bus bar.


Finished install before cleaning up the interior and labeling. I had also misinterpreted the PO's alternator wiring schematic so I had the field wire not hooked up to anything and had fried 2 antigravity batteries, so I fixed that and wired it into the Race Technologies Dash2Pro alternator warning circuit with the build in resistor correctly this time around.


Labeled switch panel with the ignition switch cover changed out for a black cover because the stock red one was too visually loud. If you can't figure out that a switch covered switch labeled "IGNITION" is for ignition, idk what to tell you.


Also replaced the fuse box in the rear with a sealed Mini ISO relays and a Hella fuse box. I'll be printing a battery tray in the future.


Finished install with pretty much everything tidied up.




No pictures, but I also installed a Flying Miata rear sway bar to try and combat some of the terrible understeer I'm dealing with.

 

First day at Buttonwillow CW13 with this car. Started off the day great by almost getting the tow rig stuck in the peanut butter in the pits. Pretty embarrassing to pull up and immediately almost get stranded before even getting on track.


Dash GPS wasn't working properly so I didn't have any speed readings, nor did I have any datalogs from the dash. Accidentally configured the dash alarm to go off when Oil Pressure > 20psi without the ability to clear the alarm, so my dash was going nuts and I didn't have my shift lights.
SpeedSF transponder timing reported at 1:59.940, manual lap timing based on video is a 1:59.943, close enough.
Looking back at the video, I need to shift way more, trail brake better, and figure out the understeer situation.

Pic of me in hot pits chatting with Joe waiting for the SpeedSF challenge session.


Lost an exhaust bolt 2nd to last session of the day and just called it because it was tired and wanted to go home.

 

Did you type that wrong, or is your oil pressure actually getting below 20 PSI?

 

Yeah, I typed that wrong. Just fixed the post.

I set up the alarm incorrectly. The alarm was going off when oil pressure was ABOVE 20 psi. I was watching the oil pressure alarm go off when it was displaying 67psi so I just ignored it for that session and fixed as soon as I pulled back into the pits.

 

Gotcha, that's what I figured but wasn't sure. Car's looking great by the way. Really tidy work.

 

Thanks! Setup still needs a lot of work as I feel like its several seconds off pace of what the car should be able to do, but I've only had 4 events on this chassis so it'll probably come around eventually.

 

Put some hooks up in the garage to have somewhere to store the wing when the car is in the garage so I don't accidentally smoke it walking by it


(its not stock)



Exhaust gasket remains



Some blockoff plates for the bumper opening because its massive.



USB outlet in the rear panel by the trunk release so I can have the gopro plugged in and not have to worry about battery


Passenger seat installed





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