Nice updates! Interested to see how it all turns out... I feel like I lucked out with both my AWR mounts and how perfectly the NC splitter brackets worked with my setup!

 

Thanks Nate!

Yes, I looked before I bought so not altogether surprised, and the LHS worked a treat. But when they arrived I couldn't get over how heavy/strong they are, so surgery was always going to happen regardless of the RHS fitment issue. More surgery will be happening on the splitter piece rather than the chassis piece.

Currently working on the sealing/ducting of the LHS, the hard bit around the radiator mount took a lot of fiddling, now working on the easy bits. RHS will benefit from that fiddling/template, but it is not as simple as flipping it left to right. I might have finished the LHS yesterday but my workshop heater ran out of gas and the cold got to me - getting soft in my old age!!

 

Much progress on the ductwork, the alloy work is pretty complete, pending delivery of the front crash bar to replace the plastic piece.

This is for a road car that will see track work, with the minimum necessary transformation for the track.


The RHS bits, semi assembled. These will be fitted as shown.


The LHS pieces, side plate, front plate, and floor.

Two photos of the LHS, front and rear. The front view shows the complicated cutouts to accommodate the radiator mount which intrudes frontwards. The filling of the triangular space housing the PS pipework is a work in progress.



RHS from the rear


Final sealing to come. Also, the side plates stop at the front of the crash structure bulkhead, leaving a gap of ¬75mm to the bulkhead sealing the area around the inlet.

One of the issues with this cooling stack is to get plenty of cooling air to the radiator, given the biggish IC and AC condenser. This ducting has widened the area immediately behind the inlet mouth approx 100mm, lessening the obstruction by those two lumps.

It has become apparent that the RHS splitter blade (which is mounted inboard for reason discussed upthread) is too close to the radiator support, it will require the nuts to be welded on to the upper member. Another job for the next teardown. This will not be required for the LHS as that blade is located outboard on the chassis.

 

Been quite a bit of work on the ducting, a lot of the earlier work (esp LHS) has been replaced. The ducting under the IC has been enhanced, which combined with the larger openings on either side should encourage better supply to the radiator face - hopefully not at the cost of IC performance

A late decision has been the acquisition of a BBK ...

BBK, Brofab hub, AWR sway mount, splitter mount, ducting

One of the things I like about this kit are the steel adapters, not aluminium. Calipers are radial mounted. New longer brake lines are supplied. Something I don't like is that the bridge bolt is removed from the inboard side, I suppose that as a tool is reqiored, and the wheel has to come off anyway, it is not such a big deal. Pads are a generic as-supplied pad, will be replaced.

I will be entering the NSW Supersprint series again next year, the classes have changed since I last competed, and there is a new class (RH) for more highly modified road registered cars but you can run factory aero only. Looking at the results from last year, I may be somewhat competitive there, depending on whether the car is actually eligible - the devil is in the detail! If not I will run it in a Time Attack class.

I got an entry for a track day at Phillip Island at the end of November, I am looking at using that as a shakedown for the car (and a rusty driver). PI is a fantastic track, smooth, fast, flowing and wide - plenty of room to handle traffic. I have only ever driven my atmo 1.8 NB8A there, so the turbo will be a new experience. Downside is a haul of ~1500kms round trip.

I am looking at PI as more of a shakedown. I am also reconsidering my approach to aero, and will probably run naked there, if only because I will prioritise mechanical readiness, and all the little things. Bonnet vents are the next high priority item, and they will be the major focus as soon as the new brakes are finished, and an update on the tune.

 

The car is really coming together! Everything looks super tidy between the ducting, splitter mounts, AWR brackets, and now these beefy brakes I've never heard of before! Are those the standard 11.75 rotors?

 

Thanks Fire. Yes, pretty happy with progress. Initially at least, it will look pretty 'sleeper', but that will diminish with the bonnet vents.

As an SE (MSM) it is a relatively scarce car, and I did not/do not want to do things that can't be reversed out. This was particularly inhibiting with the ductwork.

This is a pretty popular brake kit here. It is a Taiwanese copy of an AP Racing caliper, the rotor is 286mm, which must be pretty close to 11.75, I meant to weigh everything but got carried away and forgot. The kit is well engineered and complete including some locktite, and went together easily, rotos are pre-assembled. You could save some time and mess by re-using your existing brake lines instead of using the supplied replacements, but I had aftermarket lines which were too short for that to be an option.

I am working on revising the Singular brake ducting so it blows closer to the vane inlets, and the rotors/calipers will have to come off again for that, I'll try to remember the scales when I do that. Effectively it is only a test fit, as the fasteners are not torqued or locktited.

 

The fitment is spot on you’ve got the ducting, splitter mounts, AWR brackets and now these massive brakes... which btw what brakes are those? Are those the standard 11.75" rotors?

 

Nice work (but my high school Metalworks teacher would have blown a gasket at those cuts :P ).

Not sure if it's just the angle/position of the camera in that last shot, but there's not a lot of clearance between the ducting and vibrating parts (eg. intercooler pipe).
Consider a visit to Clark Rubber and use this type of edge trimming on your ducting:

It'll seal the gaps better and allow more movement (plus clean up those "dodgy" DIY cuts :P).

Hint: To handle the curves, cut the underside of the edging from the bottom edge vertically up to "almost" the top of the "horseshoe" (so that there's still metal connecting both sides of the edge cut to ensure that it doesn't split - one long edge in a curved section will hold better). More cuts will be needed for tighter curves :(

 

You are right Lokiel, my metalwork is definitely crude, in my defense I have only just started doing some, on the teach-yourself-as-you-go basis . You, and your metalwork teacher, would be properly appalled at some that is on the car and out of sight .

I have some of that stuff, but it is very bulky, I have a cunning plan in mind for that IC piping ... That section is complete, but needs a little more detailing, and sealing of a few minor gaps. I still have to seal the panel at the top of the front garnish, so the garnish will have to come off (again!) for that, and the work on those side pieces.

In the meantime, modz to the Singular brake cooling ducts ... (having trouble posting resized photos, anyone else experiencing this?)

The ducts blow mainly on the face of the disk, some to the base of the vanes. This deflector will direct the incoming flow to the base of the vanes, which as they rotate will draw the cool(er) air through the vanes and cool both surfaces. I hope.




There will be some restriction of air but I hope that this will be more than offset by the more targetted flow, and it being more effective working on the interior of the vanes.

 

Big fan of the deflector idea. I just picked up a set of AWR backing plates for my car and they also blow only on the inner face of the rotor. Frustrating, as they (almost seemingly purposefully) don't have any clear photos showing how the ducts are aimed at the rotor.

Those calipers look BEEFY! Good stuff.

 

I'm wary of AWR after my swaybar mount experience - obvious QC problem = radio silence .

The disks are larger diameter, and thicker. Not so thick as some, but hopefully some more thermal mass where it counts, and now better cooling. I am going get some of those heatstrips to put on the rotor circumference, and check what they get up to. Yeah, six pistons take up a bit of room!

 

A productive afternoon " class="post_inline_image" loading="lazy" />

After hopefully fixing a leak at the join of the flexible brake line (it needed a little snug up) the sealing of the gaps around the top of the radiator/crash structure/headlights took over.

After a number of tries, I think I have arrived at a satisfactory solution, if not very elegant. Some wiring on the driver's side led to a difference in the implementation, highlighted in the photos - if I had started on the driver's side, they would have been the same. Still unfinished, it will be completed with some aircon aluminium tape sealing the remaining gaps. This method led straight to an effective solution for the big hole inboard of the headlights.





Happily, with the bumper in place, this handiwork will be largely out of sight. Lokiel will pleased at my use of the rubber edge stripping .

Also had some unexpected problems with wheel/brake clearances on the BBK, only my new Konigs fit without spacers. Some of my wheels were for the chop anyway, that may now include my 15x8 6UL race wheels, if the new ones fit without spacers.

 

This one is for Lokiel ...
I got some Bunnings Race Depot rubber edging, U shaped channel. Clark Racer Rubber is defunct here, there is another similar shop but the range there is quite limited.


The garnish is back on, all the sealing completed, working now on the undertray between the garnish and the underside of the radiator,.

 

Looks good, that's some nice trim!

I need to get around to sealing the last little gaps in my ducting. The final 5% takes 95% of the effort...

 

Good News Dept

Nice progress on the ducting, finish line is in sight! This plate is the base of a shallow duct taking air under the IC and AC condenser, and feeding it into the base of the radiator. It replaces a flimsy piece of plastic the factor uses to seal that gap.


Kilroy says 'Hi!'



The remaining gap ...



... and the piece to seal it!

The Bad News Dept
The need to run spacers to fit my old race wheels over the new BBK is creating issues of thread engagement on the studs, as in 'not enough'. I think the issue is endemic to the nature of the Brofab hubs, as effectively the hubs come with a spacer to position the hub face correctly.- add another and you have 15-20mm of trhread inside 'spacers' before they enter the wheel hub. One solution is to buy new wheels, I am already selling three sets, why not make it four, right? The second solution is to pull the Brofab hubs and replace them with SM Chubs, not quite so glitzy, but a lot cheaper. Currently waiting on advice as to whether the latest 6ULs in 15x8 will fit, but the is an offer of a good price on some spicy 15x9s to further complicate my decisionmaking.

This is not a criticism of Bronson or his hubs BTW, they are perfectly fine for normal/most purposes. But not for this application it seems.

 

It's looking tidy! And hoo boy you are going through exactly what I did. I sold my 15x9 gen2 6ul since they didn't fit my afco 11.75 big boi brakes. I ended up with konig countergrams in 15x9 flavor that fit perfectly, but have also been eyeing some current gen 6uls that will fit as well. Not sure if any 15x8s are going to clear those brakes, to be honest.

 

Yes Fire, pretty happy with progress.

In hindsight, I should have persevered with the SM Chubs, but I was blinded by the contribution their price could make to the BBK kit, so returned them for the refund. The Chubs will give me an extra 10mm of thread, taking the engagement to 21mm (12x1.5=18), so a few extra mm for peace of mind running the 10mm spacer required by the old 6uls. I think I will try the Chubs again, and then sell the Brofab items locally to offset the cost.

The 15x8 6uls need the 10mm spacer, but the 15x8 Konig Countergrams fit up nicely without it. While Chubs (hopefully) render new wheels an option rather than a necessity, selling off all my old wheels (not the konigs) would more than cover the cost of some spicy 15x9 6uls, and make a decent contribution to new rubber for them.

Decisions, decisions ...

 

Dang, those new ducting brackets are looking great! I'm jealous!

We also need to get you an Anti-Hair Hairdresser Club sticker as fellow bald Miata driver

 

Two developments - the spare gearbox is getting the Herring treatment and will go in the car. gearbox thread

Also, I did a relocation of the catchcan to the LHS wheel well but got the dimensions wrong - it fouled the 'fog light' which has been removed pending resolution.




The problem is fitting a 2l can in a very crowded engine bay. The old location was beside the little IHI turbo, but the new turbo takes more room and that space is no longer adequate.

 

LoLs at the effort and expense put into the aero, looks like it my be unused ...

Registered for 2026 in my old stomping ground, the NSW State Supersprint Championship, I could run as a T/A car in 2wd, or in a new-to-me class RH, highly modified road-registered (but only factory aero allowed). On paper this looks like a good fit for the car, the driver not so much. Looked at my logbook - last event was 2019 .

The PI track day (aka shakedown) is fast approaching, and when one of my old sparring partners mentioned that it was a long way to go without a shakedown of some sort, commonsense took over (briefly I hope) and a quickie pre-shakedown shakedown was organised - two sessions at the new One Raceway previously known as Wakefield Park. The car was great - nothing broke or fell off, no issues other than confirmation the YSR pads are crap. But the driver needs more seat time to refresh the muscle memory and to get used to the faster car, that is for sure.