lol, I deserved that.

I'll go visit the boys at Napa on Monday and see if they have something in stock. It the low pressure side so I won't worry about it too much.

The tire trailer has a home
 

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1335388570

Still have to choose and implement the tire retainment strategy, and the toolbox. Toolbox will come off the trailer during storage.

Nice! Storage is always seems to be an issue with these things.

HF 40.5"x48" w/12" wheels? http://www.harborfreight.com/1090-lb...res-90153.html

Yes and no. I got mine from Northern Tool, but it's the same Haulmaster trailer.

Note that Harbor Freight lists the assembled width as 52.5". This is incorrect; the grease caps on the hubs make the total width for clearance purposes 54".

lol that is pretty sweet:)

Mobius, it would be interesting to compare dynes once we both have our cars running well, I am just about finished a DIY FMII with TDR intercooler install. My miata is also an '01 LS.

It'd be interesting to see the comparison as we both started with the same base car.

Jim J

That will be an interesting comparison. I have not been able to get back to the dyno - maybe third week of May I will be able to. I'm guessing I'm at 200whp.

Still haven't been to the dyno but had a track day yesterday. Car ran well. Pig rich at all points out of closed loop, but I can fix that. The ducted brakes were win and garnered some interest.

There was one other Miata, driven by an instructor. He was turbo'ed at 15psi. I didn't get a chance to do any comparisons as he pulled it out of the event at lunchtime due to increasing amounts of blue smoke exiting his tailpipe at WOT. His car was nicely put together - fully stripped and caged, wilwood brakes, clean and tidy engine compartment. Engine only had 1500 miles on it so he was rather bummed. He knew of mt.net (now he knows more) but wasn't a very active user. I didn't catch his screen name.

As for the rest of the field, I was the lowest HP car there except for several Exige's. Their weight advantage of ~600 lbs made up for that though, and they were all on better rubber than my lightly-used but nevertheless 4 year old RS2's. I was only a hair slower than them in a straight line. The Exige S's, however, were another story.

My "Flatout" moment of the day came during lunch, as the guy across from me at the table waxed enthusiasticly about the low cost of components for his brand new ZR-1. "Even if I have to replace the entire braking system, it's only $10k! That's pretty cheap for that kind of fun!" He had 500 miles on the car. Now, to be fair, he wasn't really being an ass and trying to impress anyone with the cost of his car and the budget he could blow on having fun. Later in the conversation he mentioned that he had previously raced Porsche's, and that the replacement cost for the same components on that car would have been over $20k. So from that frame of reference, it was cheaper for him.

I think my father-n-law put it best - everybody's toy budget is different.

Anyway, back to my car. I think I can pretty much say everything is on target at this point. Coolant temps were fine, and the overall handling was very stable and predictable. In the corner I can get it to push or tuck in with more/less throttle, like I want. I guesstimated on the shocks and had both front and reat set at 8, the midpoint. A very experienced local driver who owns/operates a well known performance shop drove it for three laps said "it does everything a miata should, only better, sharper, and faster." Mission goals achieved.

Next on the list for the car - TSE big brake kit, so I can stop with the same relaxed-sphincter confidence Trey and Andrew enjoy, and seats+harnesses. I am doing way too much bracing in the car. Oh, and switching to an 80mm pulley instead of the 88 for a wee bit more gusto.

Next on the list for me: downshifting under braking. Holy #*&$ am I incompetent at that. Towards the end of the day I changed how I was trying to do it, and had limited success. Now I just need to practice it until it's natural, like with riding a bike, or a flip turn in swimming, or a golf swing.

Edit: car list.

a) lots C5/C6 Vette's. Some Z06's, and the ZR-1.
b) several Porsche's. 996s, Caymans, couple of older turbo 911's. Whale tail ftw!
c) 3 late-model mustangs. At least one had the Eaton blower on it. I am not up to speed on current mustangs but these were all high horsepower cars.
d) numerous Exige and Exige S's.
e) open cockpit cars - spec ford, Ariel atom, couple of others.
f) a sweet 93 RX-7 turbo with some japanese body kit on it and the purple/yellow/green polychrome paint. Owner had just converted it to single turbo. ~400rwhp.

I have failed at getting this done. This week and next week are out but I will try to get to a dyno later in the month. My fueling map is now solid (was pulling 9.x afr's at the first track event, lol) and everything's running well.

New parts.
 

Installed my TSE BBK yesterday. Since the carbotech XP8's in my sport brakes were still getting the job done and still had lots of life after 5 track days and 8k miles, I stayed with the XP8's for the Wilwoods.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1345827943

The Motive power bleeder is the bomb. I'll never put speed bleeders on my brakes again. Bleeding the BBK from dry takes about half of the master cylinder.
Before:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1345827943
After:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1345827943

New gas pedal extension. This one is the bigfoot from Rennenmetal. Compare to FM's smaller extension in the second picture. The FM piece, at least in my case, left enough space that sometimes my foot would go between the pedals if I tried to roll over onto the gas. You look skilled and stylish to the turn workers when this happens.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1345827943
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1345827943

And, new muffler. Stock exhaust is too quiet to be heard over wind noise at speed, making it impossible to reference engine RPM by ear. This is the Enthuza NB XR Lightweight. Sounds awesome. I swap the stock muffler back on for daily driving to keep the stealth factor of my car.

Stock:


Enthuza NB XR Lightweight:

I love how I keep coming back here so I can see how wrong I'm doing things :bang:

What is the diameter on the Enthuza? I didn't see it listed on his site. That thing looks small enough that you could probably stash it on the trailer and swap it out at the track with your tires.

It's not very large.
Edit: It would be easy to transport. You would want to package it somewhat carefully to keep from crushing the can, it's not very thick. The OEM muffler is a tank in comparison.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1353006809

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1353006809

Looks good. Thanks for the pics.

Replaced intake and exhaust cam seals. Spent 4 hours with paper towels and a toothbrush cleaning the mess left by the old ones. Got to use my cam ninja tool. :bigtu:


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1359085141

So the winter plan is to do the following:

• replace cam seals Done
• replace timing belt w/fancy baller blue Gates belt Done
• clean the grimy sh*t from the old leaky cam seals Done
• replace 88mm Rotrex pulley with 80mm Rotrex pulley Done
• sell Tein Flex setup Done
• acquire 949 Racing Big Grip combo Done
• replace control arm bushings (poly) In Progress
• replace diff bushings (stiffer mazda rubber)
• install Touge Run air dam
• remove FM's stage 2 airflow shroud & fans, mount single biggest spal fan
• ducting around heat exchangers to prevent air escapage

To get the control arms out I had to borrow a friend's "persuader" - 2ft of bar permanently attached to a 1/2" ratchet. Neither of my impact wrenches were up to the task of getting the long bolts loose, but the persuader was persuasive. And we have no salt here - you East Coast guys must need 4ft of bar on the wrench.

I have had no issues so far with getting bushings out of the arms, once I figured out how to get the harbor freight clamp oriented right with the bushing in question. No need for fire or anything like that. They yield once the tool is oriented correctly and you can start torquing on it.

Couple of pics of the left UCA bushings submitting to my will!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1359258812
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1359258812

Nice. I want the poly bushings, my blown suspension needs to change first. What time are you doing something tomorrow? I'm sleeping most of the day away, but I heard something about a kegerator?

Sorry, didn't check the forums until this evening. We tried to put the hurt onto the diff bushings without much luck for about 3 hours. I'm lazy and don't want to completely remove the diff and as a result I'm working hard. Well, lazy, and we spent some time trying to get the PPF separated without much luck either.

Tomorrow I'm going to remove the left control arms, which will allow me to get the axle out from directly under the diff bushing, which will allow me to get Soviet's HF Frankenpuller into action on the diff bushing and push the remainders of its carcass out.

Yes, I am equipped with kegerator, and garage bishes get free use of it. Currently on tap - Bridgeport IPA and Bridgeport Dark Rain.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...eerfridge1-jpg

I have an easy trick to get the diff out fairly easily. And I'm free starting at noonish. Interested?

Curse you and your multiple stout faucets. Make me cry and tell me your running nitro or 25/75.