I've done that to a friends Camaro that oil starved at the track. Dragged it out to the parking lot out front and had it towed to the dealership.

"We were just hanging out. Nothing crazy."

 

The closest autocross course is 4 hours away and the lot has enough gravel that it might as well be rallycross. Plus they never seem to have one on my days off.

I went and got an alignment today. My car hasn't been touched until this point, so the OEM alignment was weird and I am still on the OEM Yokohamas. I had zero camber up front, wacky toe, and 8 degrees of caster. Out back I had -1.5 camber and wacky toe. I drove off with -1.5 camber all around, 8 degree caster up front, and zero toe all around. It responds so much better. It likes to dive into corners now. It dives, the marshmallow-soft suspension heaves over onto the bump stops, the tail kicks out, and then the open diff gives me some squeals. I am driving up to the mountains tomorrow. I have driven the same road before with the stock alignment, so it will be a good comparison.

I also test fit some 15x9 +35 offset Konig Dial-Ins that I have had laying around forever. The fronts fit with tons of clearance, but the rear brake caliper hose securing bolt is in solid contact in the rear and gave a nice gouge out of the paint when I spun the wheel to check for rubs. Everything is really close in the back. A rear Powerlite caliper kit from one of the various vendors is definitely needed out back. There is enough room up front to run a slightly bigger rotor, as long as the caliper is more compact.

What should be my priority for getting the ND ready for HPDE/track days? The next one I can hit will be in late September. My budget is $5000. I know I have to get a rollbar, so I will be getting the Blackbird one. I have also been in contact with Puddymod about building me a OSgiken diff out of my stock open one, but he did not recommend that. He is supposed to be looking into what other options are out there and getting back to me. I probably should just get an OEM one, because they are relatively cheap at $1250 for the whole assembly, ready to bolt in.

I realllllllllly don't want to put a Mishimoto oil cooler on my car, but I see no other options. It does seem necessary to run an oil cooler, because the oil temps have reportedly gone over 300 degrees and that is way too high. I don't like that the Mishimoto thermostat is 185 degrees.

My basic plan is:
1. Blackbird rollbar $1600
2. Ferodo DS2500 pads, SS brake lines, and Motul RBF 600 fluid $500
3. OEM differential installed with JBR mount $1750
4. Mishimoto oil cooler $675

That leaves about $500 left over in that $5000 budget. Anything else I should consider? I was thinking about getting a GWR muffler, because this thing is so silent and boring stock...

 

I thought you were thinking of selling the car?

 

Upside down and would take a loss.

No better time to modify and beat the hell out of it to guarantee an even bigger loss.

 

I have decided to keep the car. Resale value doesn't matter anymore because I am keeping it for a long time.

Also, when it comes to the financial issue, I cannot bring myself to pay the amount I am upside down on the ND out of my savings just get rid of it, so I am instead paying off all my credit cards, going from 4 cars to 2, and enjoying the 1000% more enjoyable engine in the ND over my NB.

 

Cook your own on the oil cooler? Find a Mocal thermo plate that works (why don't you like 185 temp on the oil), find a shop to make the lines, come up with a bracket to mount a Setrab core.

 

I always thought you would want oil to go above at least 212 to make sure there isn't any condensation in the oil? Maybe I need to read more...

 

Yeah, but it will still get that hot. Especially on track.

 

FlyinMiata had a 4th of July sale, so I bought their pedal covers, LBBK, and their Fox coilovers. I also bought some 225/50/15 Achilles ATR-K Sport tires from Evasive Motorsports. They had a 50% off promo going and I got them for $80 each.

FM's LBBK will allow me to fit my aforementioned 15x9 Konig Dial-Ins in the rear now and the 225/50 size is the same height as the stock 195/50/16s, so I should have no surprises there.

I still have the rollbar, oil cooler, and OEM diff to get before September. That will probably run me another 4k... yikes.

 

Thanks to you posting this, i just bought some 215s for my na! Sweet.

 

3rd of 14 in STR at the Packwood Pro!



We might have toasted our 17" BFGs between the testing and running the Cal Club regional event the previous weeks, so Ken opted to split the Packwood event half and half 17"/15".
On fresh tires, 17" would have clearly been the way to go, and what Ron beat us with.

"Beaker" is playing a bit of catch-up, but we are super happy with a podium finish at our first 2017 SCCA National event in STR.

Thanks to Ken Motonishi for the wheelin'! Congrats to Dietz and Bauer for their excellent finishes as well!

 

Emilio, have you posted any dyno tuning results from E85 or 100 octane? I'm curious if E85 will give the same results on a shorty header as it did on my long tube header. I'm starting to think that E85 tuning is the majority of my gain, and the header type really doesn't matter too much. Thanks for any help and for all the great information that you post for the Miata folks.

 

No A/B testing yet. The mixed data points we have now indicate the long tube makes more area under the curve, but the shorty is better on top. But I would stress that those data points are not controlled. Different Fuel and different Mufflers so it's inconclusive until we do a direct A/B.

One thing for sure, the skyactiv loves octane.

 

Thanks. I'll keep my eye out for more testing on the subject.

Absolutely. The car is an entirely different machine on E85 versus 93, especially in hot weather.

 

I can't wait for Delicious Tuning to deliver on their flex fuel promises...

I ordered the BFW rollbar and an OEM diff assembly from MazMart. FM needs to ship my damn coilovers already! I am really going to try to get everything on and ready for Miatas at Hallett on September 9th.

I will need to install the rollbar, diff, coilovers, get the tires mounted on my 15x9's, and brakes in the next month. I hate working on cars. Plus, I need an oil cooler still...

 

Pics from BMW club autocross in San Diego today, courtesy of Brian Goodwin

 

I see you got your Evo 2's installed. Are the seat rails you used for sale yet? I think I read you got them from PCI...

Oh, Emilio, I now see lots of comments about people saying that transmission and diff coolers are sorely needed. That and the LRR solutions require welding and don't work very well in the first place. Have you seen the need for them and are you working on any solution, if so?

 

Engine oil, dif, trans coolers recommeded on the ND for track use with an advanced driver. We do not have any on our car nor have any in development. Received virtually no Indies on track in California and not many around the country either. They are all being autocrossed. Eventually as the market changes we will pursue them perhaps.

PCI now has ND brackets. For more information contact them. Ours are heavily modified Blackbird brackets which are for sale, $50 the pair.

 

Where did your rollbar go?

 

I think they pulled it to run the car competitively in a specific autox class, I think STR.