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You know? I don't think the starter is the problem. Check this out from back in 2017
Originally Posted by EO2K
I'm not sure if I mentioned it here or not, but the Miata got a new battery. My 3/11 production date Optima Red Top had finally given up the ghost, so on @codrus recommendation I picked up a Optima Yellow Top D51R. It's taller but much narrower than the Group 35/75 it replaced, and also much much lighter. I've been struggling with what I thought was a failing starter for a while now, but it turns out it was the battery. With the new battery it's almost like the Hand Of God has come down and grabbed that starter and given it a twist. Amazing. I know you guys will want to see fitment so I'll try to remember to get a pic tonight.
Emphasis added by me. This explains why I never got around to installing the starter. Looks like I got 6 years out of the red top.
Funny enough, that red top that wasn't cutting it in the NB back in 2017 ended up in my 04 WRX. It was being daily driven, which means daily charged, and it did OK as long as you didn't let it sit for too long. Then I pulled it out of the Subaru because I didn't want to strand the new owner so the WRX got a much newer batter and the red top continues to live on in my terrible black NA8 project. It'll go from full charge to just barely able to start the car after 48hrs of sitting disconnected from the car. Maybe this stupid yellow top can go live in the NA and I can finally put the red top for bench top 12v duty. Or 11.5v duty, as the case may be.
I'm open to recommendations for a battery, though not looking for excessively tiny, expensive racecar battery. Odyssey PC925 is about as small as I'm comfortable with at the moment.
...From what I've been able to suss out, the NB "Mk2" (98-00) downpipe should be a direct bolt-on for that manifold. It matches the length of the "shorter" US downpipe assembly and should bolt up to a standard US NB1/NB2 midpipe. I believe the "Mk2.5" or NBFL (01-05) is the one with the cat, and that one won't bolt up to a US midpipe as its significantly longer. Speculation is that it'll bolt up to the shorter US spec MazdaSpeed Miata (factory turbo) midpipe, which also has a cat in it, which is probably why nobody has bothered to figure out if it actually works or not.
Then things get even more complicated with the Japanese mainland cars as the o2 sensors got moved around...
I could use either of these to be honest. Off road, for racecar use only, on a vehicle which is never driven on public streets. Nothing illegal about swapping exhaust for trackdays, Shoot me a PM if something comes up.
It's nice to be able to share some. Unfortunately its damn near full dark here at 5pm and our temps are dropping into the upper 30s at night (36~38°F / 2~3°C) at night, so its been a bit chilly to work on stuff in the driveway. Neither the NA or the NB are getting much love right now.
Hey Gordon, If you ever decide to sell one of those downpipes, I'd be very interested. I picked up a header when I ordered an engine from UK spares a while back. It would be a great replacement for the cast iron boat anchor in the daily.
Hey Gordon, If you ever decide to sell one of those downpipes, I'd be very interested. I picked up a header when I ordered an engine from UK spares a while back. It would be a great replacement for the cast iron boat anchor in the daily.
I don't actually have either of those downpipes, I stole that pic off the interwebs. Maybe @HarryB can hook us both up? I'm still willing to try it.
Honestly, the 01-05 BP6D USDM manifold is a huge improvement over either of the NB1 iron giants and much, much easier to find. They bolt right up to the NB1 downpipe and can be had for well under $100 shipped with the EGR tube and heat shields if you keep your eyes open for dealz. The oddball split J/EUDM downpipe to match the oddball J/EUDM manifold is going to run you around pretty close to that money anyway after Yahoo! Japan auction fees, middle man shenanigans and shipping. This is the primary reason I haven't done it. Would I like to try it out just to see? Of course I would. Do I think its going to be dramatically better than a BP6D manifold in the context of a street car? Probably not.
It might be fun to log a baseline run with the Megasquirt and the 6D manifold, swap to the J/EUMD y0 manifold and downpipe, then do another run and see if the AFRs change at all. Virtual dyno notwithstanding, that would at least tell you if there is a change, and in which direction.
FWIW I snagged a used Racing Beat NB2 header for ~$150 a while back. Its been wrapped and its ugly, but it still flows exhaust just find. If I wasn't "equipment restricted" I'd run it on the car permanently.
I could possibly source a couple here. The issue is that stock EUDM NB2 downpipes had the cat integrated on them, so it will either be awfully expensive or with the cat chopped off. Will see what I can find.
Some darn fools ( @gesso & @afm ) convinced me to do a trackday, so back to circle-of-life spec:
Disregard pile of broken F-350 in the background, it belongs to a friend.
Goals for today are:
Racing Beat 4-1 NB1 Header
Racing Beat Race Connecting Pipe (midpipe)
V8R Modular B I L L E T Motor Mounts w/62A "Cadillac" poly bushings
Suspension, brake and chassis bolt check
This was a race to see if I could get this done before heat stroke kicked in.
With the boat anchor iron manifold out, it was the obvious time to install the drivers side mount.
With the correct combination of extensions, you can get to the bolts from the wheel well
But it's much easier to come in from the top. You can even get a torque wrench in there. Fasteners were of course installed with blue Loctite.
Passenger side can slip in from the wheel well between the subframe and frame rail, or you can sneak it in from the front. Again, installed with blue Loctite and torqued to spec when possible.
As I got these second hand there were no instructions, so I just snugged up the crossbolt until the poly just started to deform. The nuts look like they might maybe be elliptical offset distorted thread lock nuts? I'll have to keep an eye on them to make sure my paint shaker doesn't knock them loose.
Header dropped in with only a minimal amount of profanity.
As did the midpipe. Lisle 38350 Exhaust Hangar Removal Tool is still one of my favorites.
Only the one hangar today but still totally worth it.
Racing Beat Power Pulse Single lives under the car year round so no need to wrestle with it this time. Gotta love that "all stainless steel construction"
Front O² sensor is in, but I'm waiting for parts so in an reinstall the rear one. Good thing this is an off highway vehicle that will never be operating on public roads. (¡Hola EPA!)
And as always, I'm waiting for gaskets for the Racing Beat header to midpipe and midpipe to muffler joints. I think I'm going to put some concerted effort into finding an interchange part number for these damn things, buying them from Racing Beat every time I swap exhaust is tiresome. There HAS TO BE a FelPro part that'll fit, I just need to find it.
As my previous one was a M2005, I figured it was time to splash out and buy a new brain bucket. Quick trip to Sonoma and I scored this:
I did not intend to buy an "aero" helmet, but this was the best fit for my oddly mishaped head, so I went with it. SA2020 should be good for a while. I'd like to pick up a basic HNRS like a Necksgen Rev but it's not in the cards right now. If someone out there had a used one they want to part with please shoot me a PM. Expired is fine too, as long as it can be recertified.
100°F in the shade so I said fuckit, packed it in. Good progress so far.
Last edited by EO2K; 07-05-2021 at 11:52 PM.
Reason: Spelling is hard
which track day are ya going to? I’ll be at Thunder Hill on the 17th with Golden Gate Lotus.
WOOOO! Get ready to be sweaty! I'm signed up with GGLC as well so I'll see you there! No more spots in Intermediate so I signed up in Novice. It's been a LOOOOONG time so I figured that would be safe.
WOOOO! Get ready to be sweaty! I'm signed up with GGLC as well so I'll see you there! No more spots in Intermediate so I signed up in Novice. It's been a LOOOOONG time so I figured that would be safe.
Ugh, Thunderhill in July. I'll be at Sonoma on Thursday, supposed to be 94 there, that's plenty hot enough.
Racing Beat was kind enough to list an interchange on their product page for the Racing Beat 56301 header to midpipe gasket: Mazda PN LF45-40-305. Dimensions are listed as 74mm OD x 62mm ID x 5mm thick. I actually have a used one of these and the dimensions match up to the listed pretty well. Source vehicle is a 2006-2014 Miata so FEL-PRO 61593 should work great. I can get one for $4.39 from RockAuto at the moment.
(This gasket is a different size than the similar appearing gasket for the Racing Beat header - these gaskets are not interchangeable.)
but they do have dimensions: 70mm OD x 55mm ID x 5mm Thicc. That's about 2.75" OD and about 2" ID? The midpipe is supposed to be 2.375"/60mm OD so 55mm just does not seem right. Also, that's 0.375" wall on that gasket. I don't remember the RB gasket being so beefy. I smell bullshit.
Horror of horrors I actually measured the midpipe outlet and thanks to the little step in the bore, the minimum ID limit is 60.5mm, maximum allowable OD is 77mm. Exactly the same dimensions I got off the header outlet flange. In fact, both the header outlet flange and the midpipe outlet flange carry the same component PN:
Header outlet flange
Midpipe outlet flange
LOOOOOOOOOL. No wonder the dimensions are identical. Bullshit confirmed.
I chucked my used 56301 between the midpipe and muffler and it seems like it'll be fine. I'm guessing the 56302 Muffler Gasket is designed to work with the stock midpipe? Meh. Rock Auto seems to think its going to cost $10 to ship me a pair of gaskets and hopefully they land some time next week. Yeah, nah. I ordered a pair of the FEL-PRO 61593 from the local Napa $5.99 ea. They should arrive at the store on Wednesday, which would be the day after tomorrow. Lol. Rock Auto be slippin' I guess we'll see on Wednesday if I got this wrong or not.
I can SMELL coolant under the hood of the NB, but I can't tell where it's coming from >:(
Even with the enormous TSE radiator the cooling system capacity is still under 2 gallons. When I do a coolant swap, I usually do a full gallon of distilled water, half a bottle of Redline Water Wetter and then top off with plain green 50/50 premix, which usually comes out to around 1/4 of the gallon jug. Its just enough antifreeze to keep the corrosion down but still give you the olfactory warning should you have a leak, and won't ruin everyone's day at the track if you puke your cooling system. (I learned this one from the folks at 949/Supermiata) The system is not loosing coolant and it's holding pressure for DAYS after shutdown, so I'm not entirely sure why I'm smelling coolant. I'll probably pressure wash everything under the hood and maybe throw some tracer dye in there and see what develops.
Thunderhill in July is going to be quite the test on the cooling system in the car and I want to make sure it's bulletproof. I've got a couple small modifications I want to do to the ductwork, but other than the smell I think it's ready to go.
Bolt check went fine, they tend not to back out if you don't drive your car ever. Lol. I need to make a decision on the battery and maybe get the car aligned as it's been, quite literally, years since it was last done.
I'd like to pick up a basic HNRS like a Necksgen Rev but it's not in the cards right now. If someone out there had a used one they want to part with please shoot me a PM. Expired is fine too, as long as it can be recertified.
FWIW, we usually stock all the RB gaskets. But $6 at Napa is better lol
Yeps! I've definitely purchased them from you guys in the past and I really appreciate that you usually keep them in stock. If I was buying other stuff from you guys I'd definitely add 2-3 to my order, because I'm incalculably lazy, but its not really worth making a stand alone order for gaskets.
Ooo! Have you guys played with the Racing Beat 56463 "Race Muffler" for the 99-05? I've not seen it talked about much as yet.
Originally Posted by turbofan
track day sounds like fun. I oughta do one of those sometime.
I think MRLS 2018 was my last one? Its embarrassing. But yes, go drive something in anger, it's therapeutic
Well, in as much anger as one can reasonably generate from a stock NB at an HPDE anyway
Yeah, we did play with that muffler. Dan also put one on Button, I think he's still running it.
In fact, You commented on the videos I posted on my youtube channel haha
If I was smart I'd take your advice and post them as one video
Well, dam sun! If there was any sort of description I'd have know that, and probably have purchased one by now. I'm glad I asked!
I think it's one of the few mufflers that RB still has in stock, damn near everything else is sold out.
12-09-2020, 07:51 PM
Maybe this stupid yellow top can go live in the NA and I can finally put the red top for bench top 12v duty. Or 11.5v duty, as the case may be.
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No more spots in Intermediate so I signed up in Novice. It's been a LOOOOONG time so I figured that would be safe.
