Dyladjent

Today I got around to installing the ac delete tube.
The relevant part numbers are
Firewall Plugs
1708-61-031 (36mm)
0187-53-134 (26mm)
0118-56-241 (20mm)
AC delete Tube
NA01-61-150A

They were all available new from MedCenter Mazda for less than 50$


The firewall grommets are self explanatory but the lower drain tube in the footwell would be easy to over look.

The clamps holding the two sides of the tube to the fan and the hvac unit under the dash were a bit tough to work with. The OD of the sides of the tube is a bit different than the condenser box and its much more malleable making the sides squish and fold rather than seat. After a bit of struggling wedged into the floorboard I got it to seat and the blower seems to work much better.

After I finished with the a/c stuff I started disassembling the interior to insulate the trans tunnel/footwell area from the inside. My dei trans shield for the outside should be shipping tomorrow.I've also ordered an Element fire stick to keep in the car. I'm just going to zip tie a couple of the mounting clips to one of the diagonals on my rollbar for the time being.

Hopefully this week I can get the insulation, rear uprights and axles finished so I can put some miles on the car before driving out to the gap.

Dyladjent

Got the footwell insulation done on both sides of the car and put the interior put back together.





While I had the interior out I also adjusted the heater flapper as detailed here. It works pretty much the same way for NA's. I don't think it will do much if anything at all but I thought it couldn't hurt to try. Anything to avoid the fiery death that happens after everything heatsoaks. I'm also going to try replacing or repairing the rubber strip that isolates the windshield cowl from the engine bay. I've read that that will help cool the air coming into the cabin a bit.

Earlier this week I removed the rear uprights from the NB and discovered that the rear passenger side wheel bearing had a bit more play than I was comfortable with. So I did what any rational car enthusiast would do and bought a press. Along with the press I got the Maddox Bearing Race and Seal Driver Set from Harbor Freight. It comes with every size needed for bushings/bearings on the whole car. I figured it would come in handy when I go to press the old bushings out when I swap to the NB subframes.



After I removed the hub from the upright and found out that I don't have snap ring pliers big enough to remove the ring holding the bearing in. I'll have to go grab a pair later this week to finish that up.




I still need to cut the inner race off of the hub and press everything back together.

As of now the to do list to finish before MATG is.
1. Finish switching over the rear uprights and axles.
2. Install heat shield on trans side.
3. Cut LRB speed undertray sides to fit charge pipes.
4.Install Spiked Performance hood vents (scheduled to deliver wednesday)
5. Get an alignment.
6. Flush the cooling system and fill with distilled water and water wetter.
7. Clean everything haha.

My brother also just bought new wheels and tires for his NC. They are 17x9+40 RPF1s and 225/45/17 RT660s. Tire rack was out of 235s and 245s were overkill for stock power imo. Hopefully the 225s work out. If he likes them I think thats going to be my next set of tires in 225/45/15. I think he's going to need a slight roll to prevent any kind of rubbing before we head out to the gap. So there's still a ton of stuff to get done but it's getting there I'm really trying to get everything done before my wife and I go camping at the beach Friday. I'd really like to get a test trip done before the 6ish hour drive to NC. If I have time I would love to fab up a bit more ducting and a radiator cowl panel before our trip but I may not have time. The car never sees more than 205-210 after repeated hard pulls and cruises on the interstate fine at 185-190 but I'd like to make everything as efficient as possible.

Dyladjent

At this point everything except cutting the sides of the undertray to fit the charge pipes is finished. I got the hood vents installed and the heat shielding on the inside of the tunnel finished in time to take a test trip a couple hundred miles to the beach. The hood vents weren't hard. They were easy to line up and measure and the vinyl that Spiked Performance sent matched up perfectly. The only rough part was cutting the bracing on the underside of the hood. I had to keep cutting and test fitting to get the louvers clear on the bottom.







The car is still relatively uncomfortable in the 100 degree heat after it has had time to heatsoak. I'm going to go back and add more insulation above the trans tunnel eventually and maybe get my hot side parts and downpipe jethot/ceramic coated. However as long as its not blazing hot outside the inside of the car stays very livable.

With the hood vents the car cruises at highway speeds between 185-190 degrees even in 100+ degree heat. I did have to turn my air filter down where it sits below the turbo due to it being directly under the drivers side hood vent. I didn't want water collecting inside the filter when it was raining and I wasn't driving.



(Yes that is an old license plate riveted to my heat shield. I was able to bend it to follow the curvature of the downpipe and make a nice shield between it and the heater core hoses.)

I moved the wastegate reference back to the compressor housing. I'm trying to keep the boost down until I can schedule a couple of dyno pulls. I also have two bovs connected. The integrated one on the turbo is really annoying. It cracks open cruising at highway speeds/partial throttle and is just rather loose in general but I don't have time to make a block off plate or order a new one before the gap. I just have my original valve located under the throttle body adjusted to full stiff and a t coming from the manifold reference to the integrated bov on the turbo. It's not ideal but it's getting me by for the time being.

Other than that the car is running great. The hood vents helped tremendously with keeping underhood temps in check. I haven't had any more serious injector heatsoak issues since the install although I haven't had time to do much serious testing because this is what my driveway looks like during peak Miata season haha. Being the local guy with all the tools and stuff is exhausting.





During this time I also managed to help get my brothers NC ready. His car is dumb low so getting even the 225s to fit required some rolling and trimming.

I'm still planning on heading over to the gap Friday afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing some of you guys there.

Dyladjent

I've got a ton to update including a big change to my suspension and hot side setup. I'll post my bi yearly (lol) update sometime soon. But here's a picture of the Paco Motorsports hubstands for @doward and a sample of what's going on my car when I get a shipment from a certain Bulgarian company across the pond.