Sounds like a solid day's work! So much gelatin.

Front end swap was a success on most fronts.

Street driving impressions

Bear in mind this is still on an eyeball alignment.

Surprisingly, the front end feels more plush with the Xidas on the soft setting. I was concerned the bushings would increase harshness, but it sure doesn't feel that way to me. Turn in feels great, really happy with the decision to run the bushings.

It may be placebo effect, but it sure feels like the bump steer has been reduced with the NB parts.

The NB manual rack is really, really sweet driving. I picked this one up for $100 bucks which is apparently dirt cheap since they are kinda hard to find. I can't speak to how much effect the Miataroadster delrin rack bushings make, but there is zero slop in the steering.

AWR sway bar mounts took a little persuasion to install (maybe this car took a light front end hit at some point) but they are worth it just to ditch those god damn brace blocks.

Bad news

Interference issues with the 11.75" brakes and the tie rod ends continues. The NB knuckles actually made it worse, I think the NB geometry changes had the same effect as making the tie rods end taller, pushing the bottom of the rod end further into the brake rotors. We tried 3 different tie rod ends (LE, TRW, Moog) and 2 different wheel bearings all with the same outcome. Ended up having to grind the tie rod end for clearance. I am out of ideas other than replacement. :facepalm:

Just going to have to wait for V2 Trackspeed kit to come out and swap out the hats and brackets.

Next project will be installing the Megasquirt and shoring up all the safety gear so I can run some more track days. Emailed TC Designs last week, i'm planning on having them fab up some custom mounts for my new Racetech seats at the end of the month.

Then its motor time.

NB front subframe has higher roll center. Less adverse affected by lowering. NB knuckles also have a bit less bump steer at bottom of curve than NA. Add in NB outer tie rod ends and the overall change on a lowered Miata is significant.

Urethane bushings, when installed correctly, actually improve compliance over big hits. More road texture comes through though but that's a bonus for performance driving where you need to feel the load at the tread more finitely.

Nothing like an instant explanation for what my impressions were! Thanks Emilio!

Any ideas on the brake rotor interference issue? I know Dcamp2 on this forum has had the same issues with his 11.75s but it sounds like its really uncommon.

They hit sometimes. Grind casting flash off rode end to suit. None of our cars have ever had interference but it's darn close. I can't imagine anyone would need to file of more than .060 worth of casting flash.

Work has been keeping me stupid busy lately but I have had a few new gadgets show up to play with.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1430483166

Can't help but find it ironic I paid more for the shifter than I did for the 6 speed! Install was really easy. I decided to insulate my little shifter plate and painted it body color with some fancy little fasteners.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1430483166

Man does this shifter improve the 6 speed. It felt pretty good before, but now any notchiness it had is gone, shifts seem a bit more accurate. 10/10 this thing is as good as people say it is.

Took the car out for a nice drive out to the coast and ended up stuck in a 4 hour traffic jam from a huge air/car show. Clutch is broken in. My GF and I pulled off and stopped to grab some lunch in Half Moon Bay as a respite from the traffic. found these 2 guys parked next to me when I left.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1430483166

Kinda cool!

Loving the clean build, jealous of the cars you get to pick from rust free in California. I've been skeptical about those shifters, but may need to get one now for my street MSM.

Comment/question, I've had leaks at the cat/downpipe connection that would make me hesitant to put a wideband in the cat. Are you running the OEM sensor still in the stock location?

I'm just 45 minutes north of you and i'm installing mine this weekend. When the car is buttoned up otherwise, you're more than welcome to give it a try just to reinforce that it's worth the money. :)

I am running the OEM sensor, and I have been fighting the exact issues your talking about.

Wideband readings have been pretty inconsistent, I am planning on moving the WBo2 sensor up into the stock location when I install my MS in the coming weeks.

I just wanted to try out the cat location on the stock ECU to make it really easy to swap things around for emissions compliance.

You're going to love it! I was skeptical too, its effing awesome.

Cant wait to get my 4.3 with Delrin bushings in. Thats should make it even better.

Sounds good to me Ben, I may make it up to the Indy region for some autocross between races since the local Columbus region was shutdown (lost our site). Do you do any events with them?

Yep, i'll be trying to hit all of them once i get the car sorted. Biggest issues right now are that i don't have seats or harnesses installed, and the brakes need some sorting. Will need an alignment after the suspension is installed as well. Should come together quickly now, though. Figure 2 weeks.

Well after 149,993 miles the motor finally gave up.:dealwithit:

I took the car down to a friends bachelor party in San Louis Obispo about 3-4 hours south last weekend. Everything was good until I got off the freeway on the way home. Pulled up to a stoplight and noticed the OP dummy gauge dropped to zero at idle. I was only 3 minutes from home so I headed there and parked it.

On Monday I checked the oil, the trip home had eaten up a bit, so I topped it off and fired it up. Motor seized in about 10 seconds. Pulled the plugs to double check, car won't budge in gear. At least it blew up in the garage! :giggle:

So that's the bad news. The good news is that I have been collecting parts for new heart for awhile now and assembly has already commenced. Pumped to get it together.

I wanted to build something that will easily reach MBT on crappy CA 91 and something I could slap a Rotrex on in the future. I left some NA on the power on the table. It's gonna make what it makes but it should be fun.

84mm 9:5.1 Supertechs w/wiseco XX rings - Coated (Final comp around 10:1)
Carrillo A-beams
ACL bearings
Boundary Street/Strip
949 Dampener (thinking about getting the 36-1 wheel since it sounds like support is coming for it)

Fully "built" BP4W head
+1 SS Supetech intake valves
+1 Inconel Supertech exhaust valves
252*/256* Tomeis
SUBS
Supertech light doubles
M-Tuned reroute
Cam gears (Maruha or Toda, can't decide)

2.75" Hytech exhaust - Need to add a muffler to it
MSPNP2

Block went to the machine shop yesterday, and the head is already ported and waiting. Stay tuned for photos of parts fondling as they arrive!

Get it up and running quick. You have a package coming that is begging to be tested on the track.

When you say MBT on 91 you mean N/A right?

Yeah, if I end up adding a rotrex later it'll be with the help of corn juice.

I didn't want to push my luck N/A with 10.5:1, I will gladly sacrifice a few HP to keep the motor happy on CA pump.

Thanks Aidan! Should be back in action for MMRLS hopefully.

If that car isn't ready by October then.... You'll be better off stripping it and setting the chassis on fire.

You know what I'm talking about.

Got 2 packages yesterday, one from Aidan and one from Japan....

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1431449508

Well I have been working on tearing the motor out of the purple car, and very much missing driving a Miata. So I did what anyone on MT does when they are deep into one project. Buy another!

I made a bit of an impulse buy and picked up this 95 from Club Roadster to rescue from the stancenation. Its a tiny bit rough around the edges but I think with a little work this will do nicely as a stand in beater track car for a bit.

Meet Ruprecht.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1432477463

95 Montego Blue with an auto to manual swap. 147k. The PO REALLY did a number on what was likely a very clean car. Parts haul below.

6 speed
4.30 Torsen
949 organic twin disc
MSPNP2
LC2 WBO2
Jenvey IRTBs
Carbon air horns
MSM bilsteins
Goodwin V4 11" front brakes
Crappy Bride replica
M2 Fuel lid
Beatrush cooling panel
BFW GT3 6 point welded in
FM Butterfly brace
Goodwin RS3 cat back
JR header
AEM FPR
Mishimoto rad/fan set up
M-tuned reroute
Garagestar pullies
Morimoto HID kit
Moors catch can
All the factory parts he pulled off

New thread for this car once I make some headway on it!