Checking in from Oklahoma
12-19-2017, 05:22 PM
#1
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Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Posts: 196
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Checking in from Oklahoma
New member just checking in from Oklahoma.
My Miata is a 2000 SE that got a conversion to V8 power earlier this year.
The reason I am on here is that the bulk of any performance Miata is suspension setup and I am trying to learn options to set my car up to be a fun and well handling car.
My car is 99% factory original if you get beyond the LS1 engine and T56 manual transmission and Getrag rear differential.
It does have Flyin Miata Maxx coil overs but other than that is all factory stuff (sway bars, brakes, tires & wheels).
My goal is to beef up the handling to keep the package a well balanced car.
To that end I am on here because my feeling is that following the same setup as turbocharged and/or supercharged cars should work out well.
Hello to all.
Bruce Gordon
My Miata is a 2000 SE that got a conversion to V8 power earlier this year.
The reason I am on here is that the bulk of any performance Miata is suspension setup and I am trying to learn options to set my car up to be a fun and well handling car.
My car is 99% factory original if you get beyond the LS1 engine and T56 manual transmission and Getrag rear differential.
It does have Flyin Miata Maxx coil overs but other than that is all factory stuff (sway bars, brakes, tires & wheels).
My goal is to beef up the handling to keep the package a well balanced car.
To that end I am on here because my feeling is that following the same setup as turbocharged and/or supercharged cars should work out well.
Hello to all.
Bruce Gordon
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12-19-2017, 10:14 PM
#3
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Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
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The car presently looks completely stock till you raise the hood so pictures are pretty boring.
Interior does not give any clues since the shifter is in the stock location and I am keeping the factory wooden ****.
At some point in the future I intend to do a set of wider tires & wheels and a roll bar but don’t even have those at the moment.
Got to give the saving account some time to rebuild after spending $22,000 on the car and swap.
Last edited by BGordon; 12-20-2017 at 12:33 PM.
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12-20-2017, 02:57 PM
#7
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Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
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Well, maybe 99% is a bit off.
I do have aftermarket hood latches due to the cold air intake using the real estate that used to house the hood latch.
How about 48% factory original with the drive train counting for 50% and the rest counting for the other 50%?
You gotta admit it does look stock.
I do have aftermarket hood latches due to the cold air intake using the real estate that used to house the hood latch.
How about 48% factory original with the drive train counting for 50% and the rest counting for the other 50%?
You gotta admit it does look stock.
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12-22-2017, 11:38 PM
#9
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Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
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Been giving some thought on what to do with the car and have a couple of ideas but your question is similar to what has been rolling around in my head.
What is the car good for?
As you mentioned, at the Hallett Road Race course they will demand a real roll bar and I am not real big as I feel it kills the stealth look.
As you mentioned, at the Hallett Road Race course they will demand a real roll bar and I am not real big as I feel it kills the stealth look.
At the same time the added safety aspect is important so I will probably end up installing a Hard Dog double diagonal model that will still let me utilize the soft top. For Hallett my guess is that the stock brakes would absolutely require upgrading with a big brake kit as well as high performance tires. There is no way I would feel comfortable with using my present tires and brakes for the high speed aspects of the road course.
A realistic thing that I will probably do is to start doing Autocross next year. I asked them about a roll bar and they assured me that I don’t need one to do local competitions. If I go that route I will need to get a set of wider tires and wheels. Because of the low speeds I am hoping I could get by with stock brakes and upgraded pads.Several people have been hounding me to do a few 1/4 mile passes to see how it will do but I am not real big on buying a couple of sticky tires just for that purpose. If I end up buying a set of sticky tires specifically for Autocross or Hallett I might give it a try and see if the would do double duty.
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12-23-2017, 09:09 PM
#10
It seems the common denominator is wider wheels and tires. However, as soon as you do that, that means your brakes will fail even sooner lol. I agree with trying autocross and seeing where it goes from there. I put rollbars in all of my miatas, though. I do not feel safe with the complete lack of rollover protection in the case of NA/NB's and the flimsy aluminum hoops in the NC/ND's.
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01-02-2018, 12:18 PM
#12
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Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
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I decided to tear the car apart over the long weekend and work on it over the Winter.
The biggest two items to address while it is apart are that the rear of the engine leaks about 3 drops a day, presumably from the rear seal and the 4th gear syncro went out on the transmission.
Guess it is no surprise as the stupid CAGS thing that was on the 1998 to 2002 Camaro's forced a person to shift from 1st to 4th when just driving around normal. All in the name of fuel economy. My drive train was so stock that nobody ever bothered to spend 5 minutes and $20 to insert a CAGS eliminator when the car was new, which put a bunch of extra wear on the 4th gear syncro.
While it is apart I will go ahead and have the transmission rebuilt and upgraded to handle more HP in case I want to bump up the performance another 150 HP in the future.
As part of the stuff while it is down I will replace all the gaskets and seals just to make sure nothing leaks.
Originally I wanted to keep just enough patina on the engine to make it look like a well maintained 100k engine so the car would look as close to stock as possible.
After getting it all together that look does not work because so much of the under hood stuff is brand new.
Based on that I will go ahead and clean up the engine to match all the rest of the new stuff.
The exterior will still stay stock looking to maintain the sleeper look as much as possible.
Because I have an LS V8 engine under the hood 300 HP is the bottom end of the performance potential, unlike if I had done a supercharger install onto the original 4 cylinder.
One thing I am also considering is changing out the cam and intake to supposedly gain 80-90 HP, which would put me close to 400 at the rear wheels.
The car feels wicked fast to my seat of the pants there is no way the car needs it but it is one of those things that comes under the category of "Might as well while it is apart".
The biggest two items to address while it is apart are that the rear of the engine leaks about 3 drops a day, presumably from the rear seal and the 4th gear syncro went out on the transmission.
Guess it is no surprise as the stupid CAGS thing that was on the 1998 to 2002 Camaro's forced a person to shift from 1st to 4th when just driving around normal. All in the name of fuel economy. My drive train was so stock that nobody ever bothered to spend 5 minutes and $20 to insert a CAGS eliminator when the car was new, which put a bunch of extra wear on the 4th gear syncro.
While it is apart I will go ahead and have the transmission rebuilt and upgraded to handle more HP in case I want to bump up the performance another 150 HP in the future.
As part of the stuff while it is down I will replace all the gaskets and seals just to make sure nothing leaks.
Originally I wanted to keep just enough patina on the engine to make it look like a well maintained 100k engine so the car would look as close to stock as possible.
After getting it all together that look does not work because so much of the under hood stuff is brand new.
Based on that I will go ahead and clean up the engine to match all the rest of the new stuff.
The exterior will still stay stock looking to maintain the sleeper look as much as possible.
Because I have an LS V8 engine under the hood 300 HP is the bottom end of the performance potential, unlike if I had done a supercharger install onto the original 4 cylinder.
One thing I am also considering is changing out the cam and intake to supposedly gain 80-90 HP, which would put me close to 400 at the rear wheels.
The car feels wicked fast to my seat of the pants there is no way the car needs it but it is one of those things that comes under the category of "Might as well while it is apart".
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