Interesting, I wonder what the differences are that make one so repairable and the other not?

robert

 

If I had to take an educated guess, the steel alloy, thickness, and geometry. They said the NC tub just tears if you try to pull it out.

 

Admittedly, I don't have a ton of experiences, but we have 2 customers who use their NC's for DD purposes, auto-x, and track day events. One also does hill climbs.

One gentleman has an '06. He had Ohlins installed here, corner weighted, a little axle back just for some noise (Racing Beat, I think), and swaps out pads and rotors between track duty and street use (He uses Hawks on track). We also set-up a Kirky bucket to swap in and out with his stock seat, so he can have a 6-point harness during track events.

The other gentleman also has an '06. He came here for Progress springs installed over what were the stock Bilsteins (If I recall correctly), along with Racing Beat sway bars. He also swaps pads and rotors back and forth. He runs a harness of some kind around his stock seat, but we didn't install that.

Driving both, the suspension help, with a good alignment, really woke both cars up. They feel great, even with just the little bit they have done to them performance wise. Obviously the Ohlins are fantastic, but I was pleased with the results the other car saw with it's additions. Both owners come in for general maintenance, inspections, fluid changes and have been tracking the cars for at least two-three years now with no reliability issues. Maybe they're the exception, and not the rule, but their 2006's have served them well, and are really enjoyable even if they aren't modified to the teeth.

 

That's interesting about the NC.

Just have to see what prices look like come November/December. At least it looks like I'll be able to rent some time in my buddies STL build later in the year so I won't completely miss out on driving this year.

 

I agree about the NC, super nice car and I'd love one. I would keep mine N/A for a long time too with basic bolt ons, even as a street car.

However, you cant discount the cost of a replacement NB shell if you put it into the wall, performance parts, replacement OEM parts, etc. A wise man once told me to never track a car that you are not prepared to write off entirely.

 

^I'm well aware of that last bit. That's why I have an NA now.

It's also why I decided against taking the '13 Mustang GT Track Pack car to the track before I got rid of it. Even though I would have put insurance on it (Lockton Affinity offers HPDE insurance), it wasn't something I wanted to deal with.

 

Cheap car . . . go fast . . . have fun . . .

 

Realistically I'll end up with an NB, just thought I ask about it now in case I run across a smoking deal.

 

Are the NC running costs really that far from an S2k, why not consider that.
To me the whole point to running a Miata is go fast(ish) for cheap.

 

Buddy's STL Build?

Miata?

1.6 or 1.8?

 

2001 Miata

I don't think it will be getting close to fully prepped until next year, but it will at least be a caged Miata with a decent setup, so I won't be completely without track time this year.

 

HEY that's my NC build! I work for a Grand-Am team and we race NC's. I can tell you that they can take more than a hit and still be saved..... This car is getting saved even. The NC is quite a leap to a better car from the NB. Bigger wheel bearings, better susp, and the trans/diff are much stronger. The 6 speed is MUCH stronger than 5speed. If you're going to track it get a 6speed car! With a few bolt ons you can have a porsche,bmw eater.

 

Negative unfortunately.
I haven't seen anything showing above 155ish whp. That seems to be a consistent max from the popular tune providers using Goodwin hardware.

But someone did get their IHE tuned NC to quarter 14@96mph.

 

I thought TDR had an NC get 163whp on Dynojet running a Goodwin racing header and exhaust with a TDR tune of the stock ECU. They were shooting for an estimated 200bhp. Using a catted mid pipe dropped it down to 160whp.

I have my 99 PT/SPM race car for sale. When it sells, I plan to buy an NC and make it into a fun street / track day car.

 

I wouldn't trust anything TDR tunes, 11:1 AFR at WOT brah.

 

he is probably referring to track dog racing, not "tuning done right".

 

I was talking about Tuning Done Right. I was merely pointing out that it can and has been done. I imagine if they can do it, others can too. I sure seems like the NC is lacking in development at least those willing to share their info.

 

The big benefits of running an NC are the suspension geometry, tub stiffness, and the tyre choices. Apart from that, they are heavier and the MRZ has shown fragility at high levels of tune (though these issues have mostly been solved by the Playboy teams and later model engines), and the gearboxes (esp. pre 09 models) had some issues too (shift forks IIRC). When they're sorted though, they're damn quick.

I still think the earlier cars can be developed to compensate for their shortcomings. Custom control arms, drop spindles, etc can all be had now off the shelf to improve the geometry on NA/NB cars, and the bolt on options and weight reduction potential of the earlier cars mean they will always have the weight advantage over the NCs. The engines are cheaper and easier to tune, and sure is nice being able to pick an ECU off the shelf, plug it in, tune and go. Try that with an NC.

So yeah, NCs are quicker... But not by much, and bang for buck is still firmly with the NA/NB cars.

 

The NCs kind of have the tuning even easier than plug and play standalones, order a cable, plug the cable into your obdii port, use tablet to tune stock ecu. And then if you need something more serious than a flash tuned factory ecu you can turn off all the codes in the stock ecu an just leave it hooked up to the obdii port to pass emissions.

 

Maybe for a basic flash tune - but serious tuning seems to be a bit tricky from what I've observed. I watched one of my mates struggle all weekend a few weeks ago with his race-tuned NC while his ECU continually reset itself into "limp home mode" on track, and did other choice things like reset and disable his ABS in the middle of a hard braking zone.

I'm sure these things aren't all that common but I am thankful for how simple my car is!