Need to tint those headlights MSM-style - will contrast great with the new paint job (which looks a bit like MSM Lava Orange, one of the best paint colours in the sun, even better than Velocity Red):

- now they just look "meh".

Also, your vinyl stickers on this car need to be black, they're easier to read because black contrasts better than white (see your avatar for what I mean, SUPERMIATA on the front bumper would stand out much more and be readable from further away).

Add black low vinyl sticker side-stripes too with SUPERMATA printed at the front to ensure that SUPERMIATA is seen in side views too.

 

That paint is HAWT!

 

Color is very very different from Lava Orange. I do love LO, though.

Good idea on the tinting. Might have to look into that.

 

 

Tossing you an email about some headlight work. Let's make some cool/unique stuff

Car looks HAWTT

 

The real question is how did you get a hold of a Walter 6 speed? I tried for months to get one, I ended up trying a JO motor sports rebuilt and strengthen 5 speed. He said it should hold 250whp. Once my car has an engine I’ll be able to test.

gotta love windshieldless Miata. Mine was not pretty like that

 

Roller skate from our street car in temporarily for fitting exhaust and a few other tasks. It'll come back out for more prep when it gets back here.

 

emilio do you mind sharing how you are going to support the turbo and downpipe off the Kraken low mount to insure least loads and cracks with race use?

thx

 

Haven't gotten that far yet. But as with everything else on the build, we'll share it if/when we do. Expect a pretty basic brace with a big turnbuckle to adjust tension on the support. Nothing clever or innovative.

 

Last few details before it comes back home. I think we'll start on 15x10's with 245/40 RT660's for most stuff. Might experiment with 15x11's with 275 Nankangs on 285 Vitours for autocross.

Alex drew up a mount for the dash display and license plate, cut on his laser table.




Fabbed a 3" exhaust using muffler and resonator I sent. Wanted a center exit but he said it interfered with radiator ducting (rear mount) so we stayed with a slightly offset exit



Windshield fulfills my 50 year old Speed Racer Mach 5 fantasies. No wipers so I asked Alex to line it up with the back of the hood for a more flush, integrated look. Stoked.




Rear mount radiator and ducting


Skinny shop roller wheels here. Should look proper meat with 15x10's & F88 BBK


Obligatory wing shot

 

That windshield is going to help greatly not getting little rocks and tire chunks in your neck and helmet windshield.

I did some experimenting when I had my no windshield miata with a car snell helmet and with my motorcycle helmet. The spoiler and chin lip on my racing bike helmet helped a lot with lift and helmet stability. Car helmet was just rounded, zero aerodynamic features. Ended up buying an open wheel helmet much better at speed. And that was at 185whp , you are going to have triple that power.

 

Windshield was really for its life on the street. That will be a baseball cap and sunglasses so I want a safe space behind there. I'm assuming I'll need a separate open wheel helmet with the aero shaping/devices to mitigate helmet lift on track. We have the luxury of being able to play around with shields, deflectors and various airflow devices to help reduce lift and buffeting. It'll be a learning experience for sure.

 

Nice to see that you've angled the centre console towards the driver for better driver visibility (vs cabin aesthetics and ease of construction):


It's a bit A N A L (and would bug me given that this is intended to be more than a "track rat"), but using this one as a template, please consider making another one and "round-off" that top angled face so that there are no hard creases from the vertical face to the top of the housing (I love metalworking jobs since I don't do enough of them).
Alternatively, and probably easier, you could stick foam on that surface, shape it with a file and clad the console in vinyl-wrap (black or carbon-fibre).

 

Not sure if serious or trolling me. In either case, it's perfect as is. Simple, cheap to build, minimalist, hyper functional. Exactly what I asked for. Certainly other builders can spend more time making things "burn" less by fussing over aesthetics.

Those FRP front fenders are $200 ebay special, fit like **** and look a bit janky.. but cover the wheels, are light and disposable = perfect

Keep in mind there is a mountain of fab work and custom parts into this thing. To keep it from spiraling into another $100k build, we kept things cheap and simple where possible.

 

Lmao, did you really just roll into this thread, snap your fingers, point, and say “you need to redo that because *I* don’t like it.”??

 

This IS an open forum for sharing ideas/thoughts and I DID state up front that "It's a bit A N A L (and would bug me" so WHAT exactly is your problem with my response?

Emilio pointed out that he's happy with it as it is (and that there's still a LOT left to do without fussing over aesthetics of the console at this point), which is fine, but he MAY have considered doing it once someone mentioned it or he could have stated it was just a prototype.

Emilio, NOT trolling, just a suggestion - one for "when it's all done" and if you get time to do it (which will likely never happen given how time-poor we all are and new projects) :(

 

Cardboard over the rad to protect it during fab


Approximately where we will add brackets to stick an NC endlink in there to help support the weight of trubo

 

It is my belief that much of the turbo ejection tendencies for anything going on a B series Miata engine, are because the weight of the turbo is cantilevered out on studs or a vband that are not designed to deal with those type of loads.
Studs or vbands are great clamps. They are not structural joints. Add to that the intense low frequency vibration from a low rod ratio B series engine with 3x the combustion energy doing its best to shake everything to pieces and you have very high yeet potential.

Lots of OEM turbos on other platforms running much higher boost without their turbo falling off. They pretty much all have the turbo weight supported independent of the manifold/turbo connection.

my .02

 

I can't find the plot, but I did use some lab level vibrational measurement equipment that showed (as I suspected) that natural frequency of an FM manifold + GTX2860 was within the engine firing harmonics (2EO, ie twice engine frequency) and shake force (also 2EO). I can't remember exactly, but it was ~200Hz, which with 2EO shake force (rod ratio!), worked out at ~6000rpm. Hence my turbo kept falling off every 2 trackdays or so (inconel studs, grade 8 locking nuts, resbond etc). Adding that brace (at the same time as a link between downpipe and gearbox) increased the resonant frequency and also added a load of damping to the natural frequency mode. It meant the turbo now stayed on ever since.

One slight adjustment I'd make though, the natural frequency mode is likely the entire thing moving vertically, pivoting around the headflange, so I think the endlink at the original angle shown (closer to 45 degrees from vertical) would provide more resistance to this. Though this solution will likely push this over the durability line. I did always think the low mount was crying out for something like this! Could be a product there.....

Its highly likely that this is the same effect causing throttle bodies to break.