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I don't mind the camera angle, but way too much noise is transmitted through the roll bar currently. I have some rubber gasket material on part of the mount to try to isolate it a bit, but I guess I need to add some to the other side as well. The old Hero 3+ also doesn't have HDR, which becomes very apparent with the top up.
I recently upgraded from a Hero 3+ to a used Hero 9 Black off eBay and I'm pretty happy with it. Much better video and audio. Have you tried a mount like
? I've been using it to mount my camera to the roll bar. I never even take it out of the car. When not in use, I just rotate it towards the back of the car so it's no longer in my line of sight.
Never seen a mount like that. Does it grip well? It seems like it would struggle to stay in place on a roll bar.
I'm going to try again with the mount that I've got. I'm pretty sure I can make it work better than last weekend. It's a tight fit with the hardtop, but clears the soft top pretty easily which should give me room for the rubber gasket/isolator.
I've had this 3+ forever but hardly use it anymore. If I keep recording autocross stuff I think I'll try to pickup something with HDR capability and possibly an external mic.
Never seen a mount like that. Does it grip well? It seems like it would struggle to stay in place on a roll bar.
I'm going to try again with the mount that I've got. I'm pretty sure I can make it work better than last weekend. It's a tight fit with the hardtop, but clears the soft top pretty easily which should give me room for the rubber gasket/isolator.
I've had this 3+ forever but hardly use it anymore. If I keep recording autocross stuff I think I'll try to pickup something with HDR capability and possibly an external mic.
Grips pretty tight . I do have the padding/vinyl cover over my roll bar, so that helps. But the mounts material is slightly elastic, so I just wrapped it as tight as possible. Never had it move so far.
Besides the improved audio/video of the newer cameras, the GPS data is a nice feature to have. You can then import the video/data into a third party software (or you can use the gopro app, but I'm not a big fan) and overlay the course, speed, and accelerometer and whatnot. None of it is necessary, obviously. But I figured all that out after I upgraded and was pleasantly surprised by it.
Edit: Apparently the GoPro 12 does not have GPS... so avoid the 12 if you plan to use GPS.
Last edited by HalalBuilt; 05-24-2024 at 01:14 PM.
Well you use a fluid pressure sensor, not MAP I guess. But MAP sensors just read vacuum to 60ish psi of pressure. Pressure sensors start at 0 and typically read 50, 100, 150+psi. Not sure there internals are physically different than a MAP sensor.
These are the pressure sensors I use, and from the description, is certainly sounds like the MAP pressure sensors are the same as fluid pressure sensors:
MAP: https://www.aemelectronics.com/produ...8aAmzcEALw_wcB
Fluid: https://www.aemelectronics.com/produ...oaAgoiEALw_wcB
Originally Posted by Gee Emm
Curly, thanks for those links, I was having trouble finding one at or around 15-20psi, trawling the products there I notice they 'boast' of a 15psi pressure sensor, but not listed in the products available. I will contact them to see what the availability is for that.
I contacted AEM, and after some to-ing and fro-ing I have ordered a 1bar stainless MAP sensor. AEM confirmed these MAP sensors are equally suitable for fluid, they are not cheap though..
Probably a bit too far on the cheap end of things, but I'd imagine there are cheaper options than AEM. FWIW I'm using a generic Amazon sensor with my AEM oil pressure gauge and the values I get are right around what I'd expect.
I drilled out my valve cover over the past couple of days. Nothing revolutionary about this one, I followed the guides on here. I opted for a 3/8 NPT -> 5/8 Barb fitting and, for now, have only drilled out the exhaust side. I plan to leave the PCV side as is and will open it up if it seems needed.
I haven't tried it out yet, so we'll see how effective it is, and if crankcase pressure was what was causing my oil cap to leak. Size Comparison Drilled out to just over 9mm. Don't remember the drill bit size Drilled out to 9/16" Threaded almost flush with a tiny bit of Ultra Grey
A while back someone said that the Blender Bottle breather would be the most popular part of the car. They weren't wrong. Whenever the hood is popped between runs at autocross I get numerous people coming by and commenting on it.
Turbo? Rebuilt Engine? Wacky Paint Job? Nope, all they care about is the blender bottle.
I needed to modify it a bit, as the larger 5/8 hose took up the entire mouth of the bottle. I drilled some holes under the cap flap to allow air to escape. I added another kitchen scrubber around the hose as well. There was a bit of contamination that had been caught so far. Not much though. I figure the flap will fold over and stop any crud that makes it through the bottle, although I doubt anything will.
I'm pretty happy with the finished product. If nothing else it gives me some peace of mind.
Couldn't you use something like this? Cheap pressure sensor
Probably a bit too far on the cheap end of things, but I'd imagine there are cheaper options than AEM. FWIW I'm using a generic Amazon sensor with my AEM oil pressure gauge and the values I get are right around what I'd expect.
Clearly my googlefu was making a pitstop when I was looking for something like that - just what I want, and waaaay cheaper than what I ordered. I'll have to look at the returns policy of the vendor, and see if I can return for a refund. Have a cat!
I started in on bushings this weekend. I spent Sunday afternoon and all of Memorial Day out in the garage. I decided to go with the Whiteline Poly kit that SuperMiata started offering recently.
So far it's gone pretty well. I was able to get the rear nearly done yesterday. Thankfully we have a press in the garage. It took a few bushings to figure it out, but by the end of the second side I had it down pretty well. I used a long bolt with a nut threaded about halfway up to press on the metal cylinder of the old bushings. That seemed to work quite well, as it easily fit within the control arm cylinder. The bolt extends down into the metal sleeve pretty far. This seemed to work pretty well as it easily fit into the control arm bores. Definitely takes a bit of fiddling to find the best position for the arm. Just a few tools are involved in getting the control arms removed.
So far it hasn't been too bad. I'm installing without grease fittings. I've been doing research and talking to some people I autocross with and have heard arguments for and against grease fittings. I have no experience here, so I'm going to see how they hold up without being regreased.
One of the things I wasn't super impressed with is that some of the bushings leave a gap where the hold in the control arm goes, but some don't. If these were designed for grease fittings I'd expect a gap to exist in all the bushings, but some sit flush. I also reached out to SuperMiata and Whiteline and both said grease fittings were optional. I think I'll throw some aluminum tape over the holes in an attempt to keep contaminants out. Hard to see, but the steel sleeve is completely exposed. The bushings do not meet end to end here.
Here, the bushings butt together
One issue I still need to figure out is the dust boots for the front. I popped off one of the tie rod end boots that was cracked, thinking that the energy suspension boots I ordered would work. Well the ES boots don't have the internal metal ring, so they sit on there, but fall off as soon as the joint is articulated. Someone on Amazon said they fit, but that isn't my experience. All of the boots are cracked (ball joints and tie rod ends) on the passenger side, which I disassembled before moving to the rears. I'm not sure what I'll do about it. I'd rather not spend $100 on dust boots (6 boots @ $15 each), but that's probably the best option.
Last edited by SimBa; 05-28-2024 at 12:10 PM.
Reason: Fixed Typo
Might be a little late for this, but whatever lol. When I was doing my poly bushings, I came across a couple posts online where guys were recommending wrapping the steel inserts in teflon tape. I ended up wrapping all of my rears in teflon tape as the fronts were already done when I read the post. Now my fronts squeak a bit but my rears are quiet. I've had the bushings installed for over a year and a half and have yet to regrease them. I still plan to add zerk fittings to all four corners eventually, though.
I've heard of that as well, although the tolerances were tight enough that teflon tape didn't seem like it would fit. For now I'm just going to install them as specified by the manufacturer and see if they're as bad/squeaky as everyone says.
I also found grease gun fittings that are like needles. I figure if I need to regrease them at some point I'll just try shoving one of those where the 2 bushings meet up.
I'd be surprised if you could get them in with tape, worried in fact because it suggests loosness, which in turn suggests the poly bush rotating as a whole within its housing. Oh, wait ... that is what happened to my Superpros, some of them anyway.
My poly/bronze bushings are tapped for zerks, you can use 8mm (I think) zerks in the existing holes. They also secure the bushes against rotation.
Needle-tip grease gun sounds like magic. Never thought of looking up something like that. Maybe I'll grab one off Amazon and give it a go. Props for that find.
In reference to the teflon tape, I expected the same thing. My sleeves fit into the bushings seriously tight without the tape. I thought the tape would immediately come off like wrapping paper on the sleeves I wrapped, but it slid right in. Not a single bit of it didn't stay adhered, super surprising. For clarity, I wrapped the sleeves with tape and then liberally covered them with heavy dielectric grease. As usual, not claiming its THE way to do it, but figured it was worth sharing as a datapoint.
I appreciate it for sure and have heard good things about it. I just have no experience with poly so far so I want to get some experience with them.
I also realized that I didn't grease the sides/faces of the bushings in the rear so I will pull those back off and regrease them. Nothing is torqued down yet, so not too big of a pain
It takes a while, age slows the brain functioning.
Just why are you guys wrapping the bushings in teflon - is this for installation ease - I am presuming so. That is a big no-no.
One of the nasty habits of poly bushing is that the lube between the sleeve and the poly dries out, and poly's naturally high stiction means that the sleeve is being hit by two forces - rotational force from suspension movement, and (increasing with age/time) resistance to the pin's rotation by the poly. This in turn is resulting in a rotational force on the poly bushing, which if you have a teflon tape lined housing means the bushing will (eventually) rotate with the sleeve, not as intended around the sleeve. Now that may be (hush, don't let the children hear) an improvement, but that teflon tape is not going to last, and you will be back to poly-on-metal stiction/friction.
Teflon on the outer surface of the sleeve, much better, but the pressures at that location will probably kill the teflon quicker than at the housing.
I may be underestimating the resilience of teflon in this application, but I would urge caution.
FFS, just use delrin, and call it job done.
Oh, and how about reading the suspension megathread, aka The Bushing Bible. If teflon is the answer to life, the universe and the evils of poly, it should be written up in there for all to see and learn.
I have read the bushing megathread (at least the main post). I don't believe I've seen Teflon mentioned there, but I have seen it mentioned on YouTube and other forums at least a handful of times.
To be clear, I am NOT using Teflon for this install. I have heard good things about it though. Most bushing greases I've come across are impregnated with PTFE (IE Teflon), which I'm guessing is where the idea originated.
The idea is to wrap the steel sleeve in Teflon and then coat it with grease, not to put Teflon between the bushing and the control arm. I assume the Teflon tape would break apart, but the small bits of it would mix into the grease to some extent and maybe help keep it from seeping out of the bushing. Again, I have no experience with any of this, so I'm just trying to see how the base product performs. If it sucks then I'll explore other options later.
So... My alignment bolt hole on the passenger front is fucked. No idea how/when that happened, as this is my first time taking the control arm off since I purchased the car.
Not sure what I'll do about this. Realistically I think that's a subframe replacement or welding on a new ear. Neither of which I'm ready to do right now.
I'd probably do the same, but I understand why you'd be hesitant to do so. Plus, you could weld in the FLCA-F reinforcement gussets at the same time. That's likely unneeded for anything but a dedicated race car, but I figure they make a good improvement to camber stiffness as well, if they're eventually fatiguing off race cars.
That said, I've seen several NB subframes for sale near me for less than $75 in the recent past. Might be the easier option if your local Miata market is active.
05-21-2024, 02:04 PM
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. I do have the padding/vinyl cover over my roll bar, so that helps. But the mounts material is slightly elastic, so I just wrapped it as tight as possible. Never had it move so far.
