ofspunk7

Good Morning

ofspunk7

I also was happy to find that my switches were indeed bad. The $35 replacement from Planet Miata did the trick. The windows roll up and down now when I push the button. What a great feature. Maybe now I can enjoy my rebuild of the window sliders.... vs swearing when it takes 15 tries to put up the window... or wondering if I can park my car downtown because my driver's window doesn't want to roll up. I wish I would have done this earlier!



Also ordered a new gauge hood from Bill @ Miata Roadster. Bill is a great guy to work with. Always happy to give him my business.

ofspunk7

We had some fun on Saturday. Myself and my buddy who owns NF Performance, took out our instructors and workers for our track days this season for some karting.

Rain + Slicks = Greatness

ofspunk7

Well, I do have a MN Time Attack Event tonight. However, the Miata needs some love on the brakes. I wasn't able to lock them up at the track last Thursday. So until I can get wrenching (I am hoping Sunday) the car will not be used. I like being able to stop at my full potential!

Anyways, got this in the mail earlier this week. I still plan to try it out tonight with the SUV. I just want to see how it works with the GoPro, also new toys!


It is a 10Hz Sending Unit I picked up from a member of MT.net
(forgive the loose screws, I tightened them post pics)








The name is awesome!

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

<p>Lookin great.</p>

ofspunk7

So, I did some stuff this weekend. I installed and broke things all at the same time!

First up. OG Racing hooked me up with some foam. I wanted to reduce the chances of death if my head come in contact with my roll bar. Step #1 was to install some foam to take some of the impact. So I got some SFI Rated low profile padding.



Brian @ OG Racing suggest using zipties to secure the foam vs the adhesive that comes with the padding. This way I can remove the foam without destroying it if I need to. My buddy gave me some giant *** zipties when I helped him do some car stuff on his WRX. I figured I would give them a go with this foam.



So the OCD side of me, which some Dr's say the scientific name for is "Jeff Buck Disease" wouldn't let me leave the garage with white zip ties.
I actually think that I am going to add a few more zipties. The foam doesn't quite stay put when pressure is added to it. Worst case I will just use the adheasive and zipties. We will see. For now this is how it sits.


Next up was to replace my busted cluster hood. Bill @ Miata Roadster hooked me up.



Look everyone! All 3 clips.... the OEM one had zero clips.


Looking good!

ofspunk7

While doing research via Google I came across a thread on MiataTurbo.net that suggested taking the driver's seat out to work on the Brake Booster. I wish I would have copied the thread so I could give proper thanks. Whoever you are.... you are wise in your ways!
Seat out.


Well, first snag in the weekend of projects. Someone previous to me either doesn't know how to use a wrench or decided to reuse a rounded bolt.... or rounded it installing..... or just really wanted to **** me off. Here are my tools of choice for removing this bolt.


Yep.... garbage. Looks like Ace Hardware Racing is going to be selling me some new stainless hardware tomorrow morning.


After my last track day I notice the first signs of brake issues with my Master / Brake Booster setup. When I picked up the car I noticed the rust on the brake booster. However, it wasn't until I logged some good track time in Aug that I started to see signs of the problem. Up until this track day there were no signs of a leak (besides the rust on the BB). I had the replacement parts, but wasn't sure if anything needed to be replaced or if the PO had already done the job. Well, the brake fuild in my engine bay was the only sign I needed. My race day ended after I saw this. I attempted to snap a pic of the stain from the fluid.


Oh and since I am going to work on my brakes.... lets fix this line so it looks correct.
Before


After


Master is out, check out that ugly booster


The guys at Planet Miata were nice enough to help me out with a clean brake booster.


Rosenthal Miata suppiled a reman'd OEM Master. I seemed to have missed the fact that they also supplied a bench bleeder kit when I got the package in March. I was very happy to see the kit when I opened the box for this project.

ofspunk7

Did I mention that I broke some things??? Yeah these boxes didn't last my removal of the brake booster. The large one fell out as I was under the Driver's side dash. I did some reading and realized they are for the airbag stuff. Which is already out of my car. So I removed both boxes. This made the booster removal and install a lot easier.


My master all setup and read to bench bleed.


So.... what I didn't take a picture of. The thread for the hardline on the passenger side of the master was not accepting the hardline screw. Which resulted in me attempting to screw it in while everything in the master dumped onto my rags. Needless to say I used a crap load of rags and lost a lot of fluid. I bet I worked on this stupid hardline for 40 mins. Yeah, just one side due to the threading. I attempted trying to screw it in from both sides of the car and all different positions to get it to bite. In the end I uninstalled the whole thing, found a bolt with the same thread. Threaded it on the bench, threaded it on the hardline before it was installed to the booster. Removed the line, installed on the booster and secured the hardline. It was a crap load of work and it was a crappy time for it to all go down. I mean it was the last damn bolt I had to do before the install was complete, and it really took way too long. Honestly, I bet this stupid thread was more of a PITA than the 4 bolts to remove the booster. Maybe that was just because I knew the booster was going to be a bitch.

However, here is a picture of it installed as if everything went flawlessly.



Brake Fluid and turkey basters don't like eachother.


Oh, I thought this was funny. Notice the logo on my box.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

LOL'd @ most disease
LOL'd @ jeffbuck disease

nice progress

ofspunk7

Granted my case of JeffBuck Disease is minor. I am still able to reinstall parts without steam cleaning them. However, part of me wishes I was steam cleaning them. The goal is to put a heater in the garage this fall + my portable heater I have used in the past. That should allow me to paint parts in the garage this winter and bring my car to the next level of JeffBuck-ism.

ofspunk7

So I am amazed at how noticable this mod is. I know a lot of people really rave about them, but you never really know until you try it yourself. I was able to notice a huge difference just on the drive home last night on the highway. I can't wait to test it on on the track on Sunday. Install was easy because my cousin was nice enough to pull his Miata off the lift and allow this install to be stress free. I have to say, doing this job without a lift would have been a much bigger PITA. Sorry not a lot of pics due to our timeframe last night.


Flyin Miata Frame Rails.

ofspunk7

So I had one more part to throw on the car before the track day tomorrow. Door bushings.... I think due to the fact that I just did Frame Rails, the car just drives better. However, I think that the difference they made takes away from the improvement of the door bushings. If I would have let some time between the installs, maybe I would notice a difference. Right now, it seems too similar to the way the car drove with the Frame Rails. I guess that is the downside to only putting 20 miles on the frame rail install. Tomorrow's track time will be fun either way.







Look at the difference when I squeeze these bad boys



Nothing here, really trying to squeeze them

ofspunk7

Well yesterday was a blast. We did a 12 hour of Test and Tune event. Some open lapping and some standing start timed runs. We ran two different layouts for the course. The timed runs I did run, were a lot of fun. I ended up shaving time off every lap I ran. I think my events next season will run more timing lights, our last few events this year have really been a hit with the local community.


Here are two shots from early morning when I showed up to setup the first track layout.




The benefit of being the host, I took 4 standing start runs in a row. No lines, hot tires..... hot turbo! This was after my 4th run and a 1 mile cool down lap for my brakes on the frontage road @ 30 MPH. I popped the hood to let it idle and noticed the turbo was glowing. I wish I would have taken a photo right away, this was after a min or two of idle.


Then I decided to smoke (because I can't seem to be at the track and not smoke... I hate it)... anyways, no one had a lighter.

ofspunk7

Hey all, it has been a while. Life decided to get in the way of Miata stuff this winter/spring. After an extended slumber the Miata has been woken from its sleep.



So I had some brake fluid in my engine bay. I was able to trace it down to these bushings. I am not sure if the winter temps shrunk the rubber… or more likely, I had a bad seal on them when I put the master in last summer. Either way, my cousin suggested just buying new bushings. So $15 later I replaced the rubber grommets on my master.



New brake fluid, and got back out on the road.



Oh and I am slightly salty about neglecting my car in storage this winter. I found rust spots on my newly painted engine bay. Looks like I need to get the wire brush out and reapply some paint.



Then I ran into some issues with the battery. It was on a Battery Tender all winter long, but I had suspected it was going back late last fall. There were a few times that I went out to the garage to find a dead car. I did some research, decided to step away from the OEM battery with my forum findings. Went with a NAPA battery, part# MIATA.

I also picked up a new negative terminal. I replaced the positive one last year when I added in the new fuse box.



Went for a nice drive, killed some bug…. Didn’t have washer fluid. Whoops, still forgot to fill that up since the engine swap almost a year and a half ago. Let’s check that off the list today.



Went for a short drive, came back…. Found wet cardboard under my car….




So, I need to address my hole… or busted hose…. Or giant leak in my washer fluid system. Filled it to the brim and it all ended up on my garage floor.



Shot from last night at a friend’s house.

ofspunk7

Let the fun begin! I was lucky enough to take care of a few things last night and also got some really cool new shoes for the car.

First off the actual working part of last night. My cousin was nice enough to lend me a hand as I have never done anything with the tie rods before. My inner boots were torn and needed to be replaced. Since the lift was occupied by his Miata V8 build (and the garage was blocked by the short bus) we did some old school driveway mechanic stuff….. ok, pretty much anything I do in my garage is on the floor. I am just spoiled by his lift when I do have the opportunity to use it.

The boots looked bad





I ended up going through Bill @ Miata Roadster for parts. I was going to go OEM, but the Track Dog Racing boots looked nice and were less than 1/2 the price. I decided it was worth the risk and I would take a loss and buy OEM if they didn’t fit well. I am happy I did, they fit great! They made me work to get it to set in the inside groove and the outside groove slid in perfect. The fit on both ends was perfect. I did reuse the outside spring clamp on both sides from the OEM boot. One of the boxes was missing the outside zip tie, but we happen to have a few hundred lying around.



OEM Vs Track Dog



Oh, and my skills to detect a bad tie rod end need some work. Lucky for me my cousin had a brand new Type R end sitting in the garage. It was one of those moments… “Oh, I think I have one in my garage” … “you have a new tie rod end sitting in your garage?” …. “Yeah this is a Type R end” …. I was pretty stoked to see that he had the one I would have ended up buying. If my skills were better I would have ordered two when I got my boots. However, I did the shake test and could not detect the movement on my own. I now know what to look for. So looks like I will be buying one more Type R end for him and one for my driver’s side (will put on this winter).













This was the removal of the old end….. It came out with a small fight. If I was trying to remove it, well it would have been a lot longer project. Lucky for me my cousin is a PROFESSIONAL…. And has muscles. So he made it look easy.





Ok and now for the eye candy! So these wheels have been in the family for a very long time. I always told my cousin I wanted them if he ever ended up selling them. Well, I guess when you Turbo a V8 you need the appropriate rubber to ensure you don’t leave the gravitational pull of Earth. So I was actually researching painting my car and other projects I could do with the money I saved up from snowboard season. Then he called, and well… my money was repurposed.

Work Nezart Spoke 1 - 16x8

As far as I know Work never sold this rim in 16x8 so the theory is that they were 1-off custom size wheels. Pretty awesome stuff!

Some of these pics are before I washed them… They had some storage dust on them.

































Here are my Track Wheels



Here are my Sex Wheels

ofspunk7

Edit Dupl Post

ofspunk7

I also took a few photos of my track wheels vs my super fabulous hairdresser shoes.









Also, I was laying under the car and enjoying the view. Thought I would share.




Oh, and who doesn't enjoy a nice pair of sweaty gloves after detailing the car!!!

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

Sex spec wheels are pretty awful, especially considering the likely cost but to each his own (to an extent...).

Underbody of your car is fabulously clean and rust free for a MN car, I'm surprised.

ofspunk7

Hey, thanks for taking the time to type that out. We were all very concerned about your opinion. I guess I should buy what everyone else has. PM me, so I can sell these and pick a better option for you. Pro Tip- no one gives a **** if you dislike something. Just look and keep moving. No need to waste our time with your need to voice your opinion on fashion.

The cost of these was family discount, deep family discount. However, I pick them up because they are beautiful and rare.

My track wheels are your standard 15x8 with potenza re71r's. Which get put on monthly as I have the benefit of hosting track events here.

The car is and has always been garage kept. It doesn't see winter. The state is not the cause of rust, plenty of miata's in better shape than mine in the Twin Cities.

ofspunk7

So, yesterday I had some fun in the heat. Was taking the Miata out for the first time in a week and the Wife and I were kidless. We were going to enjoy a movie and some dinner. We pull into the mall parking lot and out of no where a rotational noise appears. I am very happy I was already in the parking lot. Got out, couldn't see anything. Was thinking maybe something go caught in my rotor and dust guard. Turned the wheel, checked, turned the other way... couldn't see anything. I decided to find an open parking spot since I could not tell with the car on the ground. Wife and I got a beer, called my dad who was watching the kids, had him bring some tools. Figured I would take a look in the parking lot and call for a tow if needed.



Oh, notice the cardboard. Glad I asked for it, the first time I attempted to lift the car my jack sunk in.




Looks like 3 bolts backed out of my Wilwood rotor kit. Notice they do not have the wires to lock them in place that I noticed some Wilwood kits come with. I am going to talk to 949 to see what they suggest.... loc-tite??? Not sure on what heat it can take.







Damage was very limited, glad I wasn't going 70 MPH or on the track when this happened. The thread at the start of one hole was slightly destroyed. I was able to thread with very little effort to get that bolt back in. I was concerned about cross threading it, but I also wanted to get home. I figured I could buy a new piece if it was destroyed or retap it. However, since I had to drive a very short distance to park. I think I limited the damage. I guess we will see what 949 suggests. I have a track even on Friday that I am hosting and hope to run as well.