I got the new brake lines from TSE and finished the BBK install. Everything feels really good. After taking a drive, I checked everything over. One of the rears (1.6 calipers, 1.8 brackets, TSE relocation brackets, Sport rotors) looks like I expected, the other one looks like this:


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a0ff319f2.jpeg

The pads only grab on the outside inch of the rotors. I probably need to pull the wheel and check my install again, although I can’t imagine what I might have messed up. There’s really only one way to put these things on. Like I said above, everything feels normal.

I took off the turbo to replace the stretchy studs with inconel, and stage 8 locking hardware. This is what was left of the metal gasket that came with my churbo:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...815d827f5.jpeg
Which means I had a nice exhaust leak. Think I found the reason that the car was feeling down on power a bit.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b6dbd25c5.jpeg

I cleaned up the surfaces and checked flatness, both were flat to within 0.001”. I will go with the MT.net-approved method of smearing a bit of grease on the flanges prior to reassembly. It also occurs to me that the SS studs may have been perfectly fine, and the gasket was the root cause of my issue. However, I already have the inconel studs so I might as well do things properly this time.

That’s a good idea. I appreciate your help on this; it’s nice to know other people’s issues so I (hopefully) don’t repeat them.

Track day at AMP today. 55 degrees and cloudy in the morning, torrential downpours in the afternoon. Car report:

- The brakes. Oh, the brakes. I had no idea what I was missing all this time. The new setup (TSE Dynalite BBK front, relocation bracket + sport rotors back, PFC 97 pads all around) was delicious. It’s almost like driving a real sports car. I had too much rear brake dialed in for the first session; that is an interesting experience I’d like to not repeat. Once I got the balance right, I was braking 20-30 feet later than the old brake setup with full confidence. The modulation and pedal feel is wonderful. As Andrew predicted above, once the rear pads broke in they started picking up most of the rotor.

- The fixed exhaust leak around the turbo. Wow, that gave me a shocking amount of power. I’m guessing 15-20 hp, although the cooler weather probably helped. Pulled just as hard as a Focus RS, a Civic Type R and an S2000 in the straights. The GT-R... well, those are really fast.

- The heat shielding. No issues all day; no boiling brake fluid, no overheating.

- The tires. RE-71’s have a surprising amount of grip in the rain. My best dry lap today was 1:43.67 which is almost two full seconds faster than a month ago. The SM record lap is 1:42.69, I know I can do better than that the next time. My rainy laps were 1:48, and it was dumping.

Overall, the car is running magnificently. Can’t wait until my next event.

Great to hear.

Doh... you’re right. I googled “Atlanta Motorsports Park spec miata lap times”, and the link I clicked actually took me to the record lap for Road Atlanta. So I have no idea what a good SM lap time would be there. You’re right, that would be a tough track for actual racing.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4b94f3874.jpeg

With temperatures dropping into the 30’s, I wanted to get the RE-71’s in out of the cold. Took advantage of Goodwin’s sale and got some Storm S1’s for less than $500 shipped, and some Hankook Ventus V2 all-seasons from Discount Tire Direct for $260 shipped.

Does it ever make sense to buy used wheels? The only thing available around here was a set of beat-up 6UL’s with two year old RC-1 on them, the guy wanted $1200. I did this whole setup for around $750, and don’t have to worry about the wheels being bent up. I almost broke even on the deal, as I previously sold the BBS 15” M Edition wheels that would no longer fit over my brakes for $650.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e257ecfa2.jpeg

RAWR. Was digging through a drawer and found this. Put it on just for Lars.