STS Miata - Project: Stronger Faster Lighter

What happened, it rained and only 10 people showed up? ;)

Congrats!

LOL no, it didn't rain, but it was a pretty small event. That being said, I managed to drag some competition from Atlanta to the event with me, so it was pretty much the 3 of us and an SM Evo fighting for time of day. It was kinda funny, I'm so used to having the REALLY fast folk (more national champions and trophy winners than I care to think about) from ATL as a bench mark. I came back from my 3rd run in the morning and asked 1 of the guys form the region I used to autox with back in the day what the fast guys were running... He goes "Fast guys? What fast guys? It's ya'll!" lol
 
I've been noticing some motion in my shifter that wasn't there before... not wiggle in the shift tunnel, but you could get a few degrees of 'twist' laterally before hitting a hard stop. That wasn't there before at all... ever.

See anything missing?

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Needless to say, the one on the right replaced the one on the left. Took this opportunity to slap a couple new dust boots on as well. Anyway, I'll take it for a spin tomorrow to see how she feels then button the center console back up.

Also put something up to keep me a bit more organized, or at least so I can't make excuses for forgetting...

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You may remember that brake caliper issue I had a while back. Tonight I had some time and tried to un-f*** it. Well... turns out that it was seized and there was no going back LOL

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so, is that going to be fixed by this weekend? :p

LOL it's already been fixed. I replaced the caliper a few weeks ago, but I was trying to re-furbish this one. Obviously, I failed miserably lol
 
is that a broken bolt/stud?

It's 1 of the slider pins. The rears have 1 that unscrews completely from that bracket, and then 1 that's fixed (usually...) to the part that's laying on its side in that 1st picture. That pin was siezed up (probably some rust) inside the caliper. I was trying to work it loose by swinging that piece back and forth, and it eventually just came apart in my hands lol
 
You could probably let those pieces soak in some pb blast and it could still possibly be fixed
 
naa, if you look close, the stud sheared. I'm sure I could get the slider pin out, but it wouldn't go back on the floating caliper piece
 
Gaa, yeah :(. I'm moving to another photo-host. I'll fix the ones on this page. If there's anything further back you're interested in let me know and I'll see about digging them up.
 
I guess it's about time for an update. The car really hasn't changed much... had a couple of part failures which have been rectified, hopefully at least semi-permanently lol. Anyway, the Atlanta region's had some issue with sound levels at our events within city limits and has instituted a sound policy. So, as much as I like it, it's time for the stumpy to go haha. So out with the old and in with the new.

I had Enthuza Car out of Kennessaw, GA whip me up an exhaust. It's their 'budget' racer series with a couple of mods. Basically we made it to be dual use. Muffled axle back for local events, which can be swapped out very quickly via a slip fit joint / belt clamp for a turn down. Still very light (haven't weighed it yet... plus I think Kevin still has my scale...), and will also make the car a lot more livable for drives to out of town events. I'll probably tweak the turn-down a little bit after I see how it fits on the car. More pics and hopefully vids to come likely tomorrow.

The welds on this thing are beautiful, so we'll see if it sounds as good as it looks ;)

Pics below... sorry for shoddy quality, but alas, my camera is AWOL atm
 

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I dont wanna hear about anything that has to do with muff and any mention of a squirt.
 
I have to say I'm EXTREMELY pleased with my experience with Enthuza regarding this exhaust.

Apparently the magnaflow direct fit cat isn't as direct fit as advertized. It was basically about an inch short. I never noticed because with the shorty exhaust I was running, it didn't really make any difference in terms of fitment. With Jason's peice, I had interference with the mid pipe on the rear subframe and driver's side axle. I called him up and let him know what the situation was and this man, beggering belief, tells me without hesitation that he's going to drive to Lawrenceville (from Kennessaw... about 2 hour round trip w/ traffic) to see what the problem was. He drives out, assesses the situation and takes the cat home with him to tweak the pipe length on it.

Seriously!? I am in the customer service business for a living... keeping customers happy keeps food on my table and a roof over my head, so I know what I'm talking about when I say that this may be the best customer service I've ever seen... or even imagined. Above and beyond the call of duty does not BEGIN to describe how Jason handled this. I'm stunned and beyond pleased. To say that I look forward to working with Jason in the future is an understatement. Jason is THE man.


And this is before I even talk about workmanship (man the welds are things of beauty) and sound on the exhaust. I should have some before and after video up tomorrow morning. I went and picked the cat up tonight and bolted everything together, but it's a bit late to be revving my car in the garage so that will have to wait.
 
How are the prices? This may be a viable solution for me to quiet down my car without losing power
 
How are the prices? This may be a viable solution for me to quiet down my car without losing power

www.enthuzacar.com. Can't hurt to give him a call and see what he'd want. It's not the cheapest, but I've seen exhasuts of lesser quality that cost $100+ more than what he's charging.
 

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