Yeah, we're all at different points in the cycle. Mine is running, Ryan's is mostly stock, and Troy's is all apart. And this time last year mine was running, Ryan's was mostly stock, and Troy's was all apart. And the year before that mine was running, Ryan's was mostly stock, and Troy's was all apart.


EDIT: And our street hero, Pdexta, is naturally aspirated, boohoohoo!

Awesome build thread. I noticed you're using FM sways (unless I missed something). Is there any particular reason why you went with that setup over the Racing Beat bar? I've been researching sways and people seem to favor the RB, but it doesn't seem like those people spend as much time on the track as you.

I am using the FM sways. I got them because they were for sale used locally. They are adjustable with two mounting holes in the front and three in the rear, which is nice for fine tuning the car's balance. The RBs are also adjustable.

Because the FM rear bar is a little thicker than others, you use a slightly softer rear coils or stronger fronts to achieve the same cornering balance, since the coils and sways are a system that works together. If the front to rear relationship is off the car will either be prone to plow or spin. My car is balanced with two people and a full tank but a little tail happy with just me and less than half a tank. I need to change from my 550/350 springs to 600/350 (more strength in front) or 550/325 (less strength in rear) for best balance to compensate when the rear of the car is light. It is all about balance. If I had a stronger front bar or weaker rear bar it would also accomplish the same shift in balance (the front is in the full stiff position and the rear is currently in the full soft position as I have it balanced for now).

TL;DR
You can use any sway bar combination you want but you need to scale your coil springs to give you the proper balance for whatever you use.

I like the ISC Racing sway bar and mounts for all out baller status. It puts the RB and FM bars on the nightshift.

Wow, thanks for the info!

I smoked the standard Wilwood BP10 pads in about half a weekend. I'm getting the Cobalt XR2 pads in for them now.

I am also upgrading to ARP lug studs because of their extended length and increased strength. And I'll be repacking the wheel bearings while it's apart.

Two scoops!


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Info on scoops please! where did you purchase them & how are they held in?

2012 WRX side bumper extractors bought from the local dealership for about $23 apiece.

I measured and measured again then used masking tape to make guide lines. I used a cut off wheel and a big air compressor. I trimmed a small plastic riser off the trailing edge of the bottom side so it would lay flat back there, but the front and sides hook in securely. I then used adhesive to hold the mating edges flush on the sides and rear.

what's the line that runs across your hood there (in front of your new extractors)?

I'm guessing that's the template tape line that pulled up some oxidized clear coat. Looking at the rest of the hood, seems to need a new coat of paint/clear!

That line is from a bra sitting on the car while it sat in the sun.

Very nice, not goofy looking like the Mini vent but not ginormous like the GT500 vent. Do you plan on keeping the mesh in there?

In for quantifiable results! I mean, I assume you will have before and after data?

Yes, the paint was rubbed by the previous owner's car bra. And the clearcoat is junk.

I'm keeping the mesh because we have an oak tree problem and usually harvest 50 large bags of leaves each autumn. It's hell keeping them out of the back corners of the front fenders.

Data:
HOLES IN HOOD-
Prior to vent installation - 0
Post vent installation - 2

dick :laugh:

The grilles snap in and out of the vents so they could easily be removed for track days.

Steve, how floppy do thoes cutouts make The hood.Do you still like them as much as you did before the install. Would you use same ones again?...Sorry , got to know have a set in the floor. Did they help keep temperatures down? Thanks for letting a newb ask a thousand questions

I could not perceive and difference in the strength of the hood at all. The hood was 3 layers thick in many of the places I cut and there is way too much structure in the hood from the factory. I contemplated removing more structure just for weight because it is overkill.

Air certainly moves through the ducts, that's for sure, but I have done no empirical testing. Track days are miserable in the middle of the summer here and are, frankly, too tough on me to be fun. My next outing will be at Sebring on the first weekend in October and we'll see then. It is still really hot here then.

Sebring October 2014, HPDE4 on Saturday just a little while after the rain.

Steve, you wouldn't happen to be going to Sebring this weekend are you? We're doing a group drive out there on Saturday so I'll keep an eye out for you if you're going to be there.

I'm coming back!

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Aw shit son! We need more regular track buddoes for the group. Get on it.

Wait! What turbo is that?

I was at Sebring two weekends ago. Daytona November 1&2.

I've almost finished destroying the Chinese turbo I had damaged and rebuilt. So I'm going to use the damaged GTX2867 I bought from you for the track day. It's still got a damaged turbine wheel.

It's a GTX2860. After I spent +$1000 buying that damaged used turbo I was a little reluctant to buy used again and since I already had the turbine housing there wasn't much difference in the GTX vs GT series.

That 2867 always worked fine for me aside from spooling slow. I datalogged a bunch of +300whp pulls. This will give you an idea how it spooled for me, it'd hit 13psi by 4000rpms on the wastegate:

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Scott,

I studied that exact graph when I was deciding what to do next. I figured that if it held together without exploding then it would be good enough for now. The bastardos at Garrett won't do an exchange CHRA if there is any damage to the turbine wheel at all on a ball bearing unit. I would have to buy a completely new CHRA at full price. So that makes the whole thing an expensive paperweight if I don't use it. I guess the compressor wheel and housing would still be worth something as spare/upgrade parts for someone, but meh. I'll see how far it takes me. If I hadn't had it in the garage I'd be scrambling to buy something right now.

3 inch V-band adapter has been welded to the exhaust housing of the GTX2867R by a pro welder. Time to install on manifold and see if exhaust still fits. It looks to be over very slightly from the Chinese 2870.

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Say "Aaaahhhhh!"

/doctor

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The bolts and screw were just to hold it until it was welded.

Well, I'm here at Daytona. After the first session of the weekend I can report that I need a taller rear end gear if I ever plan to run this track seriously. Using the factory 4.10 gear and only on wastegate 8psi with the EBC turned off, the car is on the revlimiter long before it runs out of front straightaway. 143+ mph indicated (didn't have the GPS running).

Confirmed rev limited at 143.7 on the GPS.

Is that on a 6 speed or 5 speed?

How's the car feel at those speeds? I've always felt like anything past 120 was awfully uncomfortable in a miata.

Five speed, but the top gear ratio in the six is almost exactly the same.

Megasquirt has begun doing resets while on track and I don't know why. I don't get a signal for my laptop here so I can't easily look up causes. Advice would be great if anyone has dealt with this previously.

I was also hitting the top of 6th. With my 4.1 rear end that should put me at 140mph at 7200 rpm. It was actually incredibly stable on the track. Even when you transitioned off of the high banks onto the flat straights

Steve, have you talked to puddymod? He's big in the s2000 community with rearends, he's local, and I know he's done several miatas. I remember seeing a 6 speed in the back of your truck... pairing that transmission with a 3.30 or 3.63 would work out real nice.

I think poor Ryan has blown his engine. He says he possibly missed a shift and zinged it.

And my megasquirt continues to reset more and more frequently. It is barely driveable.
:(

Other than that, it was a pretty good weekend.

Ryan dropped his car off at my shop last night. Engine swap party anyone?

What do you think is going on with your ECU?

Not sure on the ECU. Voltage looks good and so do most of the sensor readings.

Of course I'll help with the engine swap. I'm guessing Ryan is just happy he didn't have to drive my car back from the track with it sputtering and jerking. I was prepared to let him do it but he got a better offer :)

The last thing we need are 2 blown engines.

Is the MS resetting or is power dropping out for a short amoutn of time with the ecu still powered? The first one is almost certainly a loose connection to or inside the ecu, the second is something I struggled with before, it felt like fuel starve, it looked like fuel starve, it was a bad cam sensor/cam sensor wiring.

The tach dropping to zero momentarily causes me to think it is either a connection or cam sensor.

If the tach drops out then it would be either the ecu shutting off or the crank sensor. When My cam sensor shit the bed it was just like the car would stall, the tach didnt drop out but it had no power and the wideband went full lean.

Video from Daytona on Sunday morning (before the resets got too frequent).

As far as fun, how does that track compare to Sebring?

It is much more a horsepower track. It is fun if you have power on the superspeedway section or I think it would be frustrating there. The cars with superior handling and braking can take advantage of the two big braking zones and the infield section. Every track has a personality. This one is pretty fun. At least it was for me.

I thought it was a fun track once you get the hang of it but I still like Sebring more.

Exactly. @daytona everyone i talk to... >130mph in the banking say the is "meh.." or "boring". Everyone with a fast car that is <130 in the banking get out of the car shaking saying "oh my god!!"

Published another short video. Spun silver Silvia is evident inside the second hairpin.

Was that a slip at 1:33? Looks like a Daytona DE brings out all the high power rolling road blocks. Probably makes a much better race track than DE track since it's all about braking. But no arguing tracking Daytona has a high cool factor.

Yeah, I saw the spun out Silvia and tapped the brakes instinctively, but the car was still loaded up coming out of the bend. It made the tail ease out for a moment. It doesn't take much when you are on the edge. Good eye!

how fast are you hitting that kink?

IDK. I only ran RaceChrono once during the weekend and that was the second session on Saturday when I was still learning the track. It says 103.2mph through the middle of the bend then, but I was getting braver as I got more sessions in. RaceChrono isn't much fun if you are revlimiting on the back and front stretches. You can't enjoy trying to get faster times.

when i ran at daytona i was terrified of that kink. It's allot faster then it looks. i can run flat out thew the kink at cmp no problem. but daytona's kink is terrifying to me for some reason.

I kept pushing my student to use the whole track out area to the rumble strips instead of binding it up after the kink. He only wanted to go mid way across and then tuck back to the left edge.

There is plenty of room if you overshoot it and go straight off to the right, but you have to have a little talk with yourself about not trying too hard to save it and looping it to the left. Bad things happen to the left.

It freaked me out a little the first few times but by the end of the weekend I was flatout through it until the braking zone just before the decreasing radius right hander.

The kink is a text book turn (rovals) found at loads of tracks and usually yields quicker lap times to give it all up for speed through and sacrifice your entry in the following turn (with a focus on braking.) Similar to t3 at roebling also- where you can stay in it longer, deeper and sacrifice t4 entry.

i just reviewed my aim data. looks like i was entering it at about 90 mph and lifting. might be able to go flat threw there.

For reference, I was on gently used SM7's in a full weight '96.

Ls2 coils mounted and wired. Need to sleeve wires and put proper ends on spark plug wires where they meet the coils. I ordered the Taylor ends from Slummit Racing recommended in the other thread. Changed dwell to 5 and cranking to 6 and it fired up. I also need to open the gap on the plugs.

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Bracket looks familiar, is that one of Harolds units?

Yes, HHammerly.

We bracket bros! I have one as well. I need to make some spacers for the backside bolts but other than that, its a nice clean setup. Are you going to re-boot the NGKs?

I'm putting new ends on the stock type wires on the coil end and trimming the length a bit. I'm not a fan of the wires that let garbage down in the plug holes.