That muffler being by the cooler might not be helping? Could look into the aluminum/fiberglass tunnel shields on the muffler. Pusher fan might work better there too? Just thoughts..

 

Hell yes it’s the stock head unit and hell no, I haven’t played a single tape since I was a kid An updated head unit is on the to do list but I’ve been so absorbed in go-fast projects that it’s fallen by the wayside. A little higher in this thread, some of the guys discussed bluetooth amps. Once I have some more time, I may look into one of those.

Etsy has a surprising number of Miata parts, eh? I got my old master cylinder brace from there, strangely enough. Thanks for the heads up!

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking initially. However, after driving on the freeway for a half hour with the pump off, the cooler is cool to the touch. That might just mean there’s almost absolutely zero airflow in the area, though. I haven’t done the same “test” after a track session so maybe I’ll give that a go this weekend as well.

I didn’t realize push vs pull fans worked better in certain scenarios. That’s a thing? Guess I have some homework to do.

 

Pull fans are better.

Maybe duct that cooler to the bumper hole and see if it doesn't take advantage of the pressure differential. There is none or little between the two sides of the cooler in the current location.

 

Ducting will be utilized after this weekend, then. Maybe I'll open up the bumper hole a little more as well.

The good news for now is that I'm not getting the trans temps into dangerous territory with my current power level. Haven't seen them get above 196* on track. It's nice that I have time to figure this out before bumping into the next power level.

 

Hey Z, I was just going back through the build and was curious about how the ES Bushings were holding up for you? You didn't do any of the bronze retrofits, did you? Just the standard ES kit?

My roommate/landlord told me that I'm not allowed to install poly bushings without bronze sleeves in his garage (he's just looking out for me). With 949 not selling their kit anymore and Sadfab seeming to be pretty backlogged I'm not sure when I'd be able to get any.

 

Yo! Yeah I’m running the ES bushing all around and haven’t had an issue with em yet. Per the advice of a coworker, I wrapped all of my inner bushings in Teflon tape before installing. They’ve been in for 18 months and the rears are JUST starting to squeak a bit over big bumps. I assume they’re squeaking all the time, but I can only hear the noise if I hit a speedbump hard at parking lot speeds.

I want to say that when I went to upgrade my bushings, nobody had bronze ones in stock either. Knowing what I do now, I should’ve waited for bronze ones before pulling the trigger.

I haven’t installed zerk fittings or added grease at all since installing, but probably should at this point. Thanks for the reminder.

Tough predicament you’re in. I’d definitely rather have gone bronze right out the gate and be done with it. Pulling all my control arms a second time doesn’t sound like fun

 

Well shoot, I know mine are pretty shot, but also don't want to do that job twice.

Maybe I'll reach out to 949. We've got ~1/2 a set of their bushings in the garage (picked apart for various cars) and I know they have some spares for sale. Maybe I can piece a full set together.

 

I haven't re-read the megathread from the start for quite a while, but what does it say about DIY? I remember there are all the dimensions in there, and if you are using the right poly ...

 

I'll have to go back and look through it. I'm not sure where to source the steel pins and bronze sleeves, but somebody's got to make generic pieces that could be cut down I'd think. We'll see if/when I find any spare time to do that though.

 

Thought I was just gonna be packing for Willow Springs tonight. Unfortunately the car murdered an O2 sensor a block away on the drive home. Luckily I have a bunch of spares from work (any wideband O2 sensor out of a Ford will work in place of a Bosch 4.9, or maybe they’re all Bosch 4.9’s) but damn it’s always something lol.

 

oh shoot. That sucks man. Godspeed and have fun tomorrow!

 

If I were doing bushings again, I'd be looking hard at the spherical kits Flyin Miata is now offering. Especially with how the rest of your car is built. I'm pretty sure they're made by VU Development, the same people who brought you the Vitour tire drama. Not sure if that impacts your thinking but I usually take the FM stamp of approval as a great sign of a products quality.

I made my bronze setup custom after SadFAB and Supermiata both were unable to get me parts on my schedule. I wish I had waited for the Supermiata parts, they are very high quality centerless ground and plated items rather than lathed. I have had issues with the steel I used rusting from water ingress, even though I was fairly good about greasing the sleeves every so often. That'll probably be less of an issue in SoCal, so long as you don't drive during the monsoons that you're getting lately. If you decide the bronze is the right setup for you, I'd ignore some older advice to seal the bronze sleeves in the bushing with silicone or anything. It takes forever to set, it has pushed out of some sleeves, and on the ones it has held have a lot of resistance to taking new grease. Better to have the grease flow past the bushing and push out dirt/water than simply pressurize the inside and leak out slowly from wherever. It just doesn't seem to push the grease through the sleeve to bronze interface like I was hoping.

 

Thanks man, car's back up and running now. Did I mention I had spares?



Is there a general life expectancy timeframe for the spherical bearing kits under hard track use? I know some guys out there have been running them on our cars but I haven't seen many comments on longevity. Just curious if they're an item that'll require replacement every couple years, or if it's generally just install and lube every so often like with poly bushings. A quick google search shows a trend of sphericals lasting well on street cars, but I couldn't find much regarding track use. Maybe my question is a moot point or I gotta search harder.

Given everything that's been talked about, I will likely go spherical bearings on my car before upgrading to Xidas later this year.

 

I found that Corvette forums have much more feedback on this topic than Miatas for street/track cars. I have yet to come across someone complaining about short spherical bearing life on a dual duty car, assuming it is sealed and greased. The Jeep guys running cheap steering kits with unsealed heims have to replace them fairly regularly. I have the old SadFAB RUCA-O spherical kit I've been contemplating installing, but haven't yet until I can find or make a better seal than what was included.

A few guys out there on the Facebook groups dedicated to Miata track prep found Mercedes and Ford OEM sphericals that have the appropriate OD for many locations (40mm IIRC) and are fairly inexpensive. Unfortunately for anyone looking to lurk, that's much harder to search than a forum.

 

Interesting lead on the OEM spherical. I'll be looking around for info on that soon.

Searching FB led me to do some writeups over here after figuring something out. It's like playing detective trying to follow all of the threads and comments.

 

Copy that. Yeah, the Corvette and Mustang forums do generally seem to have good info on this type of stuff. The track-oriented ones at least.

Can't imagine running unsealed heims on something meant for offroad use, that's brilliant.

That's interesting about the OEM sphericals. Maybe if I get some time, I can try to find a part number for the 40mm OD ones and see how much they'd be through work. That being said, I forsee myself likely going the lazier route and just grabbing the FM or VU kit.

Edit: Probably the VU kit as FM is sold out ATM...

 

I'll see if I can dig up the part number or comment itself. I've bought one for investigative purposes, but apparently the Rockauto receipt did not survive my email inbox purge a few months back. It'll be Sunday evening at the earliest though, I've got a full weekend of tracktivities at VIR that I'm heading out for tonight and I'm still not ready after weeks of prep.

 

I feel you there, man. The cars are never really FULLY prepped. The more time you have, you just keep finding more and more things that need attention or could be touched up. Good luck at VIR! I'll shoot you a message regarding the part # if I still have two brain cells to rub together at the end of the weekend.

 

Ha, always something! I've eaten an o2 on my car before, but the most recent one is still going strong like 5 years later.

You ride motos too?

 

Dang, that's pretty good! I killed two O2 sensors in a month and then got a little over a year out of this one. I made a post about it and I think Gee commented saying he surmised that moisture was killing the sensors, and that waiting 15 or so seconds to turn his O2 sensor on after starting the car solved his issues, as it allowed moisture collecting the exhaust to evacuate before sensor the heater had time to get the sensor hot and vaporize it.

Or something like that... I followed his advice and stopped killing O2 sensors for a while thereafter. Haven't been using the technique recently so maybe that's why this one went out. Or maybe it's all placebo effect. I'm gonna stop this tangent before I start sounding insane.

The Harley and old Honda are my roommate's haha. I grew up riding dirtbikes and had a bone stock 2013 KX450 until right before I bought the Miata. Absolutely loved it but South OC is one of the worst places to live if you want to ride motos. Closest track is a little over an hour away and desert/mountain trail riding is an hour and a half with no traffic.