D Prepared Miata Build

arent you going to be picking up more weight from the rest of the cage build iirc thats not finished either?

Yeah, but that's a ways down the road (and I should be A LOT lighter by then too lol)
 
arent you going to be picking up more weight from the rest of the cage build iirc thats not finished either?

i see guys at the track with gutted cars but seems like they break even weight wise when they add the full roll cage...?
 
i see guys at the track with gutted cars but seems like they break even weight wise when they add the full roll cage...?

Depends on the car and on how "gutted" it really is. I have a minimum weight I have to meet. I plan on the roll-cage being a part of the ballast used to meet that min weight, naa mean?



Ok, so, "new" plan. Having thought about it, I don't want to do away with hinges. It would make it a bit of a pain at events... I can't justify running without them.
I was poking around on the innernetz and thought of another "best of both worlds" solution:
Aftermarket 1 piece hood with stock-car style hood hinge / hood props:
http://pitstopusa.com/i-6328295-allstar-performance-aluminum-hood-prop.html

(click for mo' bigger pic)

These look like they function as both (hinge, then lock into place once open as a prop), and it shouldn't be too complicated to get a pair of brackets onto the hood and a pair on the body with a handful of clevis pins to hold everything together. Won't blow away, won't over-extend.

At least, that sounds good in my head. Thoughts?
 
Those won't work either, actually, not without a hinge at the rear (like, say, the stockers). The stock hinges can be made to work with that hood, I'm just looking for the easy button and I don't think there is one at this point.
 
So you save 2 lbs, but then you add the weight of paint and the associated hardware and it's prob pretty close to a wash...no? I can see getting the hood for aero reasons though.
 
We had our 2nd autocross of the season today. MAN is this thing fun when you can get even a little heat in the tires. Stupid fun course, stupid fun car, and it's handling a lot better than it was last year thanks to an alignment a little more suited to slicks than street tires lol. I had FTD through the 1st run group... until Pro and the Corvettes started running in the 2nd heat. As fast as we are, we still only have 120 HP, so while we can pedal it as fast as it'll go, it'll only go so fast lol. Still, a hell of a lot of fun.

Also: time for new rubber I fear. And to beat in the dimple in the wheel well that's eating that inside edge of the tire....grrrr

Tire.jpg
 
Also: time for new rubber I fear. And to beat in the dimple in the wheel well that's eating that inside edge of the tire....grrrr

Tire.jpg

time to get the arms warmed up...wondering how easy those are going to be to get off the rim.
 
The time has come to start tweaking the chassis. Our biggest issue right now is that we're getting enough roll for the tires to be getting into the body. I can legally "massage" the area that we're having trouble with, but then it's just going to hit the next closest spot. The balance of the car is incredible, but with the MUCH improved grip of the slicks, we just don't have quite the roll resistance that we want. So, we're bumping the spring rates up by about 15% all around and we'll continue adjusting from there. Hopefully that's all that will be needed :)


PS: Thank god for companies that have the resources to go through crap tons of springs in their own testing, and then sell the ones they no longer need for pennies on the dollar :D
 
Took a few minutes to sweep out the shop for all the work coming up in the next week (including doing the alignment on an STS car), and class up the place a bit:

Left the spot in the middle for a US flag. Gonna try and get a Mazda flag at some point for the left side:
CIMG0013.JPG


CIMG0011.JPG


CIMG0012.JPG


At some point I'm going to stumble on a deal for some shelving and get all that crap that's piled up around the perimeter put up properly, but for now, having a usable work-space is already a good thing. I also need to steal the lights from my old garage and put them in here, but that's a project for a day that I can get some extra hands. They're not heavy, just cumbersome. Once all that gets done, I will have a pretty ok man-cave. After that, probably a welding table and a welding cart :)
 
Nice space Andrew.
Thanks. Needs work, but we'll get there :)

what size tires you running?
20x9.5x13


So, today the oil was changed and the stock diff was extricated. The axles and drive shaft also have to be swapped as the diff isn't 'backwards compatible' with the 1.6L stuff. Also dropped the exhaust out so it wasn't in the way of everything. Lot of work, but got a lot done :)
 
Couple of crap pics from yesterday:

Old and busted:
196772_582636784494_44304805_33246046_1563831_n.jpg


Plenty of space to do suspension work on 2 cars simultaneously :D. My buddy made a few tweaks to his STS car's suspension while I dropped the diff on mine, then I did an alignment on his. Maff's race-car prep? Eh, not quite, but I do enjoy doing this sort of work in my spare time.
190204_582636759544_44304805_33246045_304428_n.jpg
 
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I got the torsen put back together (Korey [shadow102] swapped a torsen chunk in for an open, the 4.3 ring from the open was swapped... obv, and installed delrin bushings), now it's just a matter of getting someone to work the jack one night so I can get it installed.
IMG_20110328_001619.jpg
 
The diff went in tonight without too much trouble. Everything went back together great until we got to the passenger side drive axle... which turned out to be a 1.6L part (the bolt pattern on the 1.8L axles is wider). No amount of beat it to fit will work there lol. I've contacted the guy I bought the axles from to get this resolved, I just thought it was funny. It's a hell of a good thing that I got this done earlier than later, because that would have sucked to find out on Saturday afternoon the day before an event.......
 
Diff swap completed.

Beast-Mode-ENGAGED.jpg


Got the new axle in, buttoned up the axles and drive shaft, filled the diff with fluid, got the exhaust put back on, torqued down the axle nutz and staked them, re-upped the anti-seize on the wheel studs, and got the car on the ground ready for a shake down either Friday or Saturday, whenever the rain stops...
 

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