Hello from a Texas noob
 

Hey guys. I’ve been lurking
the forums for quite a while and just picked up an 01 NB with mk turbo kit and MS3 Pro PNP. My first ever hpde event is September 7th. Looking forward to any advice you guys have for me as I’m so new to the platform. Car has hard dog roll bar, sprint seat and 6 point harness in the driver side. I will be installing the matching seat and harnesses for the passenger this week. I put fresh re71-R’s on about a month ago and I plan on doing new centric rotors and HP+ pads this week at some point. I will also be adding coolant temp, oil pressure and temp gauges. Im ready to get the car out on the track, I just want to do my best to make sure everything is sound mechanically.
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Welcome to the forum.

Skip the HP+ and get Performance Friction's 01 or 11 compound pad. It will be better in every way on track and street and will dust less.

I will do that. Thank you for the recommendation. Car still will be street driven some.

Shield the brake reservoir and lines and put in new DOT4 High time brake fluid like ATE 200.

Must Shield Brake Reservoir

Yeah, shield everything brake related and the throttle cable. Brakes can fail spectacularly. Don't neglect the left front hard line between the turbo and the frame rail.

Would
building some heat shielding be best? Or get high temp sleeves for the lines and that reflective tape suffice?

Heat shield is best. Also turn down boost to just the wastegate.

Yes that was also my plan. I’m currently running about 14 now. Waste hate is 8 PSI iirc

Nice looking car. You can lose the strut bar, unless you love the looks, to give you a bit more working space in the engine bay. It doesn't provide any benefit.
For a heat shield you can grab a piece of thin aluminum sheet from Home Depot Racing and shape it to sit between your manifold and turbo and any other parts of the car. It's shocking how big of a difference a thin piece of aluminum makes.
Lastly, for your first HPDE just take it easy. Have fun out that, give your car a nice boot down the straight, and drive at like 60-70% while learning the course. My first time out I was really trying to drive quickly and didn't actually learn that much. My second time out I just tried to drive the line, be aware of other cars and have fun, and I was way faster and had way more fun.

Thanks man. I will go do that. Cut it out of cardboard first is how I’m gonna try. I need to also put Inconel studs in the turbo to manifold mounting area. I’m assuming they are m8 studs? I’m in no hurry to seem like im Mario Andretti lol. I just want to go have fun and get seat time and make sure the car is reliable. I am worried about it over heating. Buying this car will allow me and my pops to do these HPDE together which we aren’t both pumped for.

M10x1.5 studs.
Here are the studs sixshooter uses on his car.

Thanks Lars. Love your set up on this car. I can’t wait to get it out on the track.

Thanks, bud.

Many good track days on them.

Got the studs ordered. I’m afraid about the over heating issue because I’m the Texas summer cruising with ac on the car gets warm. It has a koyo radiator and stock fans wired to both run together. Also has hood vents. I will be pluming in a true coolant gauge. What else could I do to make sure that when it is being street driven and on the track it won’t over heat? I have the stage 2 flyin Miata fan kit ready to go on, I justness have not done that yet. A lot of what I read says the stock fans are good enough..

Welcome to the forum. You need a reroute and an oil cooler to keep temps at bay at the track.

QMax reroute and don't use the FM fan kit. I am not a huge fan of it. I think it block to much airflow at speed. With AC ducting will be important.

+1, ducting to get cool air straight to the radiator is important.

Will the QMax work okay on my 01? I was reading about needing to change the head gasket and I really do not want to do that. I also have a lower temp thermostat I’m going to put in. Aside from the stock under tray and hood vents that is all the ducting that I have. I’m not sure where I could add more..

I would skip the lower temp thermostat. I used to do that and all it really got me was more engine wear and worst gas mileage I think. Ducting, you can search around and see what I and others did. Basically on my miata, if air goes in the front bumper, it can only exit by going through the radiator. IT can't go above, to the side of, or under the radiator. Stock setup lets air go around it. If max cooling is the goal good ducting is required.

Great. Thank you. I will look more into it and try to make improvements. Thank you for all
the tips.