Originally Posted by Stock

My friend's SM went up for sale since his wife is only letting him have one car and he chose to track/DD his '08 Sti instead of his SM, crazy huh?

I had a Civic hatch that I was trying to make track-worthy but I kept running into BS problems because the car was pretty abused by previous owners (ricers). I liked the Civic but I just got tired of fixing it. It wasn't a huge pain in the *** or anything but I only drove it at the track so I only broke things at the track and I just want to drive.





The Miata was proven, sorted, reliable, and for the price a no-brainer.So I pulled the wheels/tires, seat and steering wheel off the hatch and sold the rest of the car for $2000 to get the ball rolling on Miata funds.

I really want to make it look cool but I know I need to learn to drive better before I start throwing parts at it so that's the plan. I'm sure I'll have purchased something stupid in the next 6 months but at this point in time, my intentions are pure. That being said, I have zero intentions of ever racing in a SM event and I want to lower it another half inch or so (as long as the suspension doesn't suffer), get some flares, a GV lip, stupid-tall GT wing and some other tidbits here and there and I'll be gayer than gay.

Some pics of it pre-ownership:











Then I picked up these from another friend who was selling his K20R'd EG for an Sti... :whistle:



got the car home and swapped wheels:



Then, at home on a sickday, bored, I ended up taking the top off just to do it and then spontaneously started painting cage... I'm going to finish it this weekend when we're taking the Kirkey out to mount my SPG so it'll be seatless for a bit.

Took it down the street for some sweet dead-end shots. I can't go any further than that because it has no plate.

Originally Posted by Stock

We modified the Springfield Dyno SM exhaust. It used to just dump behind the diff now it exits the stock location through my little 2.5" Blox muffler that I originally bought for the wagon. It really doesn't muffle very well but I dig the way it looks and since I don't plan on cruising this thing too much but I figure worst case scenario if I want it to quiet down some I'll just get some v-band clamps, pick up an in-line muffler and swap it out between the resonator that's already on it.









Also pulled the Kirkey and installed my SPG, I think that I'm actually sitting a pit higher now, despite our best efforts of cutting out the stock seat brackets and essentially mounting the Recaro to the floor. We'll see how this works out, I really don't want to sell the SPG but if a Kirkey is what I need then I'll have to buy one that fits me better than the one that was in it.

Originally Posted by Stock

So the vented 3/4 window I ordered April 17th showed up today. That was pretty cool. Come ~50MPH its getting me pretty good, wonder what it's gonna feel like with hotter air.

Originally Posted by Stock

Forgot I haven't posted here in a while... My buddy didn't want it anymore and I like GT wings, sue me.







Obviously we've got to figure out a mounting solution but I refuse to run this without flares and some form of lip/Splitter/both so I'm not really worried about it until then.

Originally Posted by Stock

--So my update from Inde (originally posted 5/11/11)--

So Inde was ------- awesome.

It was a whole different vibe than the ASR Super Laps that we do and it was cool to see how the event was handled by Tage and his team, I think we all took something away from it that's going to help ASR Super Laps get better.


I started out in HPDE2 and got bumped up to 3 on Sunday. HPDE2 was great to start in as I was nervous about the track and the car since it was my first event in it, first time on R-compounds, RWD, etc... Our first 2 sessions were pretty much just to learn the track. Lot's of traffic, lots of waiting and lots of point-by's.

When the third session rolled around I got sent out first so I could start my hot lap immediately and try to get some room between myself and the faster cars in the group since they'd slaughter me on the straight but (sometimes) hold me up in the back. It was a nice ego boost being moved to the front of the grip because they acknowledged that I was going faster than some of them in the technical section, kinda made my day.

I asked about a check ride into HPDE3 at the end of Saturday but my instructor was busy so it was scheduled for the first session on Sunday. I went out with the 3 guys and tangled up with them pretty well. I could tell I was in a different class immediately, there was a feeling of more "competence" from the other drivers. I still had to watch my mirrors like crazy but being able to point-by anywhere on the track (HPDE2 is passing on the straight only) helped a lot! I felt more at home in 3, it was like running at ASR. I even got compliments on my point-by's in the HPDE3 downloads (run group meets and talks/dissects after your session), I guess that means I'm really good at being in the way?

I didn't bother to try and time any laps on Saturday, I figured most of the crowd would be leaving for Mother's Day and I'd be more familiar with the course on Sunday so I'd see more consistent times. I started off Sunday in the 2:22-2:24 range and even though I knew it was slow, I was pleased. I was having issues with finding lines and feeling the car out so I knew I was leaving quite a bit on the table. Second session out was more of the same, I did some 2:21's and was feeling pretty good. Third session was my fastest, with several 2:20's and two 2:19's with my fasted timed lap of the weekend being a 2:19.1. I was stoked to have found ~3 seconds in three sessions!

I did have an issue though, on the last hotlap of my third session I got locked out of my transmission. I'd been hearing noises for part of the day and Nick and I bled the clutch after my second session and it felt great in the third but apparently it was just a band-aid. My TOB took a massive ---- on my and cut my weekend short (I missed my last 2 sessions.)

No bad feelings here, I had a great time! It's 140,XXX mile clutch so no big deal, right? Just ordered an Exedy OEM replacement from Amazon with $3.99 next day shipping. God I love that site.



Pics:









--Update after the 2 day event at ASR, my home track (originally posted 3/30/11)--

So the Miata did great this weekend! Took 2nd place in Sub-A both days. I definitely need more laps in it. I ran a best of 1:25.9 CW and 1:24.9 CCW but I was being a little conservative. Next time out I'm going to try to have more offs, I need to push a little harder so that I can find the limit. I think like the car so much I'm being a tad too careful in it, I think.

Ari is fast, I'm going to have to step it up if I plan on seriously competing with him this season. I think aside from the obvious experience and skill he posses over me, his suspension is more "composed" than mine and he can run the lines more effectively than I can because I'm bouncing all over the place. That being said, my suspension is great. It's softer than his but by no means is it holding me back, so I have no plans to replace it.

I'm not sure than my fans are kicking on. Fuses look good but the car boils over (not to the point of spilling out unless Nick does 12 laps of counter-steering madness) pretty regularly. I'm going to replace the radiator cap and double check the fan's electrical stuff and see what that does. I have no undertray so there's room for improvement there for sure. I think We're going to shoot for a splitter here soon because if I'm trying to cover the bottom up it makes sense to just knock that out rather than spending ~$200+ on the stock plastics.

Along with that we need to remake the exhaust because it's kind of a mix-n-match right now so I'm going to pick up the pipe and let Nick make a complete one. He also wants to make a header so why not do it all at once, right?

So: Seat time, *****, cooling, splitter, header, exhaust.

--Video from the ASR event--

[YOUTUBE]Ml9Rq75LMPM[/YOUTUBE]

Can't edit videos or else I'd trim some fat. 13 minutes of Miata laps is a lifetime, I know.

This is from Sunday, James threw his GoPro on the blue stallion for one of my sessions. I'm alright with my lines for the most part, just need consistency and whatnot.

--Bought a TR lip--

Phat lip.







AAAAAAAAAND today I paid for my Sideskirts from the Planet Miata group buy. This Saturday we're going to try and rip as much extra weight out of the car as possible (pass. door still has power window, heater core, WHATEVER we can find), cut my rear bumper in preparation of another exhaust reroute, start on the front splitter (birch)and once the skirts arrive work on a flat bottom + rear diffuser (sheetmetal.)



:fab:

Originally Posted by Stock

Cut the bumper. Most everything else has to wait until Nick has some free time, lots of fabbing to do. We still need to cut off the mounts for the old, massive rear support and come up with a way to mount the rear bumper but that shouldn't be too hard.

I think we came up with a pretty concrete splitter mounting plan, but we've got to cut the old, bulky front bumper support off and weld in some pipe to replace it. That's probably worth a few pound plus it opens the door for better mounting solutions.

Originally Posted by Stock

I hit a house. (Ran into my sister's house trying to get in her garage. I overestimated the amount of room I had and bumped into the corner. In my defense, I was still asleep and it was waaay too early to be in a tuner car.)







And my fogs came in for our night events. Going to make a removable setup that tucks behind the front bumper.

Originally Posted by Stock

Got the bracket made, went and did some racing. Took second in the night Time Attack to my Miata buddy (who's never lost his class) by .200. I'm learning the Miata more and dropping time every event and I will dethrone him this season and take a 1st place finish from him before he goes boost and leaves my class.



More pics/vids later, I know everyone is on the edge or their seat waiting for updates.

Originally Posted by Stock

Originally Posted by Stock

Originally Posted by Stock

Thanks man.

Here's my and my friend trying to drift the Miata (I didn't have to pay to run so I figured why the hell not)

I'm the white helmet.

[YOUTUBE]xGGCG9-u9BM[/YOUTUBE]

Black helmet is Nick, my friend who does all of our fabrication. Here's his home-brewed LS1 240SX. He didn't buy a single swap part for this setup, hand made everything.

[YOUTUBE]EXYgLZm2yKQ[/YOUTUBE]

Originally Posted by Stock

Washed everything but the wheels.

Originally Posted by Stock

Originally Posted by Stock

Sideskirts arrived. Quick phone pics:







A little thinner than I expected but whatevs, right?

Originally Posted by Stock

Better-ish pics...

Originally Posted by Stock

Sooooooooooooooo........................

Made a new, better exhaust today. Half SS, half aluminum, 3lbs lighter than what came off of it. Much quieter inside the car and about the same outside. Way cool.









I'll get pics of the actual exhaust tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Stock

Cannot explain what happened to the blues in these pics, sorry.

Originally Posted by Stock

Also, I'm so glad I cut the bumper supports off, looks so much cleaner without those things hanging down.

Before:



After:

Originally Posted by Stock

Now with less stickers.

Originally Posted by Stock

So Murderface Murphy and I went for a cruise tonight, just getting out of the house and killing time. Turns out he ------- loves him some NACA duct. It's like a giant smell funnel of awesome.

Originally Posted by Stock

Although I had planned on having new rubber, removing some of the cage and a few other minor mods before this past event but things didn't pan out so I really only took the car out for some seat time/stress relief. ----, I haven't even rotated the tires or flushed the brakes since the last even in August. :lol:

My best time was a 1:24.9 before yesterday. I played around with my tire pressure (something I'm still learning) and dialed it in pretty good on the cold-ish morning track, as the day warmed up it just kept feeling better (for ~6 laps at a time.) I ended up with a 1:24.3 going into the time attack portion of the afternoon, putting me "3rd" because Ari had run a 1:22.5 and Keith had posted a 1:24.0 thanks, in part, to some new RS3s. I'm usually faster than Keith by a hair so his fresh rubber and his ever-improving driving abilities already had me accepting a 3rd place finish. Bummer, but I really just came to drive, right?

In the time attack Ari backed up his 1:22.5 on his second (?) hot lap, and Keith put down a couple 1:25's. I didn't know what either of them had run when I went out, just knew I had to get a clean lap in. Of course I put down a pretty sloppy first lap and knew it, so I had to get my ---- together for the second run... Miraculously pulled out a 1:23.0! Even though I'd been bad mouthing my Kumho XSs all morning I ended up putting down a solid SM lap time (I think that's what Tim said...) on almost dead street tires so I felt really good about that, along with finally putting it down a fast lap when it mattered.

Originally Posted by Stock

My battery is done, left my parking lights on for ~5 minutes filling up for the Super Lap last weekend and the car wouldn't start.



At ASR, looking fresh:



Making plans for next year. Looking to get the car down to a realistic 1950lbs without driver. Started at a healthy 2194lbs.



Awesome cross weights:





How we started:





How we finished:





Lost 76lbs tonight. :wiggle:

Originally Posted by Stock

Went to the barn today and hung out.







Still losing weight...





Everything gone from under the dash.









Resulting in:



The dash will go back in, I'm pretty sure. I don't like "race cars" as much as Nick does so I'm a fan of a dash, even if it's just a skin. Other than that, I'm happy with where the car is right now.

:blue:

Originally Posted by Stock

Everyone loves pics.

Originally Posted by Stock

^ What he said.

Originally Posted by Stock

Drag queens

Originally Posted by Stock

:wiggle:

Originally Posted by Stock

I went drift racing yesterday. Here's a vid.

Originally Posted by Stock

So Nick and I got drunk and installed a "Sneaky Pete" NOS setup the night before the AZ rides trackday. That's it. We touched nothing else, we just installed nitrous... I used it a couple times at the AZ Rides day, it was kinda neat but it made me nervous because I was sober and thinking semi-clearly.





Rolling with Evan in his DD RSX (Tim's tooner) and Tim.

I went out pretty early on to start scrubbing my R888's and at some point went 1:21.6X! Spent the rest of the day dicking around in and out of traffic and playing with the nitrous and not really paying attention to lap times (meaning not shooting for gold but not going faster than my 1:21.6 either) until eventually I noticed the car getting slower.......

It seems that 7 or 8 hits of drunkenly installed, completely unsupported nitrous on otherwise stock Miata is a pretty stupid idea. Car either got real hot or we fucked something up because my afternoon ended with it losing most power, not idling and smoking for a while. Left it at ASR, will retrieve soon and fix.



Tim has my GoPro footage, maybe he'll post something cool.

Originally Posted by Stock

Originally Posted by Stock

Painted the interior to TF spec, started my new switch panel and picked up the new shortblock today.

















I was good and drunk by the time I started drilling... Will fix later.



Tomorrow I'll start pulling the old longblock apart and getting everything read to drop in.

:angel:

Originally Posted by Stock

So per usual, Nick and I got really drunk and worked on the Miata this weekend.

Jammin' Jimmy Ray and Louie worked on the real racecars on Friday, something about a "carburetor?", whatever that is...



I worked on the wiring for a little while. Really I just stared at it for a while because I suck at wiring, nothing happened aside from me de-looming the ECU harness so that I can hopefully mount it under the dash until a more permanent solution appears.







Nick's obsession with shaving weight seems to have taken a backseat to his idea that I should be able to flat-foot the carousel going CCW at ASR. I know...

So aero is happening now it seems. 3/8" aluminum sheets are expensive so Nick rustled up some scrap semi truck stairs or some ---- and did this:









And of course...



We'll be making new endplates soon...

As far as the motor rebuild goes, dropped the head off with Dennis Hobbs on Friday to be milled. Talked about porting possibilities but due to my time frame, and funds, I might have to leave that as a future project since I need to run on the 28th at ASR and I reeaally want to try and make Inde on the 5th & 6th of May.

Nick and I (mainly Nick) did manage to get the shortblock and trans back in the car so that when the head is done we can knock it out real quick-like.





So aside from waiting on the head, we need to fab a splitter and I need to finish the oil cooler plumbing and wiring inside the car. I think Nick is going to try and remove all the ABS ----, he really really hates that it's there in a very strange way...

Originally Posted by Stock

My NA head ended up being warped .016" and I remember seeing a spare NB head at Ari's house so I made the call and we worked out a deal for it the same day which saved me a ton of time by not having to deal with online purchasing and shipping and all that BS.





Block-off plate until a re-route.



SERIOUSLY considering possibly cleaning the bay, maybe.





AND THEN.... Work began on the long-tube header.















Kinda boring, I know.

Originally Posted by Stock

Thanks for the cam info guys, appreciated.

Let me start out by thanking Nick, Ari, Tim, Ryan, Nick and whoever else chimed in that I forgot about for helping track down my no-start issue because I know I would have never been able to figure it out in time...

Did some research and found that NB injectors don't flow as well as NAs at my stock fuel pressure so I had to put my old ones back so and I painted the plenum to match the valvecover...



Nick melting my header together.



Yap.



Finally received the rest of my oil cooler ---- so I knocked that out.





And the reason progress has sucked... Been trying to figure out how I messed up my harness when I pulled it to paint the interior for 3 days now. Thanks to a last minute text to Kent, Ryan and I went and cannibalized his CAS and ECU (just in case, since Ryan was worried we fried mine when we goofed on the coil and CAS plugs...) ECU didn't help, swapped out the CAS and it fired right up...



So.............. Next week is all about new wing mounts/stantions, splitter and intake, then I'll be ready to roll.

:blue:

Originally Posted by Stock

Hey, neat!

Originally Posted by Stock

So much awesome.

New motor feels like the 35 shot did all the way through the powerband, air filter is in the bumper opening, long tubes sound ------- gnarly, new exhaust dumps behind me (per NASA ruling), new motor mounts are awesome, we got real drunk, etc...

More pics Wed/Thurs.

Originally Posted by Stock

Still some cleaning up to do but It's in my garage now. hillyb:

Originally Posted by Stock

Worshed up.

Originally Posted by Stock

Well, decided to **** off my neighbors and take the car out for a bit today. No visible leaks, strong smell of fuel under the hood so we need to check that out... Car is too loud to lay into on pretty much every public road but I did notice that below ~3.5k and above ~5.5k the car feels a little fat. I really need to get a MS in here so I can take advantage of my new airflow and get it running cherry with the missing sensors... :(

I need money.

Anyways, idle vid! Stupid lopey, gonna recheck the timing this week.

Originally Posted by chpmnsws6

Looks great! Keep up the good work and PLEASE do not put flares on it. I've regretted that choice since a few minutes after the first cut.

Originally Posted by mgeoffriau

Ole Miss Rebel living in New Mexico?

Originally Posted by y8s

just a friendly reminder, please dont put your dick in thread titles.

Originally Posted by Faeflora

Wow. Great thread.

Few comments:

1. More pics of fat guy please
2. Stickers. It looks like you have new stickers in every single picture. And others disappear. Do you own a sticker factory?
3. Please install a turbo. Guys like you would make an awesome setup in like 1 hour.

Originally Posted by Business

Goddamn that idle is sweet!

And more pics of the Corgy on the car, lol

Originally Posted by Braineack

car sounds annoying now. are you certian you put timing belt on correctly?