rodan Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Consolidated my welding/plasma gear today... bought the big HF "Vulcan" welder cabinet. Pretty happy... it swallowed all the gear off both my previous carts, my plasma, and cleared out a drawer in my toolbox. Before: After: Rodan AZ, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitexc Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 Nice setup. Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted January 11, 2019 Share Posted January 11, 2019 Still making (slow) progress on the control arm/bushing project. I decided I wanted to switch to NB2 front upper control arms since they have extra bracing... NA NB The arrow in the above pic shows the additional bracing, which actually needs to be clearanced, as it can interfere with the coil overs at full bump. I found a set of NB2 arms on eBay from Miata Mecca in Phoenix. With free shipping, it was cheaper and easier than driving to Phoenix. I ended up paying a little more than the typical eBay price, but most sellers don't differentiate between NA, NB1 and NB2 arms and use stock photos so it's unclear exactly what you're getting. In this case, I knew exactly what I was getting, and they were nicely cleaned up and in great condition. I also knew it would be easier to deal with any potential problems with the seller being semi-local. Now I just need to pop out the bushings and ball joints, and clearance the bracing. Then I need to decide if I'm going to have them blasted before painting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted January 11, 2019 Share Posted January 11, 2019 Just got a phone call from the body shop (dropped the truck off earlier this week - FINALLY)... NO FRAME DAMAGE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 I was driving the NB the other day and the power steering went out just as I was getting home... Finally got a chance to dig into things today and found a little issue with the pressure line... Apparently, it got a little too friendly with the PS pulley... New hose is due in tomorrow morning. So much for my Saturday... In other news, I got my truck back today. Looks good, but I'll spend some time inspecting everything tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Boring picture of the NA back in the garage after 3 months of hibernating in the trailer at the storage yard... Brought it home for a pre-season inspection... everything was good to go, except for a tiny wiggle in the front wheel bearings. Re-torqued to factory spec and it's all good. Also got it weighed, as I'm planning to run a TT series this year and the classing is based on weight/hp. 2045lbs with 5 gallons of fuel on board. First event of the year in three weeks! Speaking of first events... anyone watching the Daytona 24? That rain doesn't look like fun... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris GTO TT Posted January 27, 2019 Author Share Posted January 27, 2019 I'm thinking of throwing mine up on CL/FB to see what kind of trade offers I get Yeah I watched a bunch of the race. I'm glad I stayed up till midnight last night to see the end of the coverage on NBCSN. Then this morning was red flagged. I'm bummed the Mazdas had trouble again. 2003 Baja 5MT 2016 Outback 2.5i Premium w/Eyesight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 i'm thinking of throwing mine up on cl/fb to see what kind of trade offers i get nooo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris GTO TT Posted January 28, 2019 Author Share Posted January 28, 2019 nooo! I'm kinda bored/annoyed with it lately. It's loud, uncomfortable and kinda difficult to use for anything other than track days/autox. And really I only have the coilovers on it now with the Marrad seat. 2003 Baja 5MT 2016 Outback 2.5i Premium w/Eyesight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 I finally got the NA on a dynotoday... After I did the engine swap, and got the car running, I did a bunch of street tuning. It felt pretty good, and the virtual dyno results I got seemed to be in the ballpark, so I thought I'd done a decent job tuning it... I was wrong. All those hours researching VE, AFR and ignition tables... logging, and reading logs... Well, I had the car way lean. Didn't help that it appears my AFR gauge appears to be reading .5-.75 rich. I had figured I left something on the table, but it turns out I left a LOT... Pardon the pic... couldn't get my scanner to play nice, so I had to take a pic of the printout. Runs are baseline, and final result So, peak to peak 23hp and 15lb/ft. But the really good improvement to me is the shape of the curve 3500-4000rpm. There are several corners at the tracks we frequent where the car is pulling from 3500rpm, and this is going to make a huge difference in acceleration. We're all signed up for an event next weekend, and I'm running the car in a Time Trial class for the first time. Looking forward to our first outing of the season! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 Oh, the car after me on the dyno... 4.2L(!) 964... I wasn't able to stick around to see numbers, but it sounded GLORIOUS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris GTO TT Posted February 8, 2019 Author Share Posted February 8, 2019 130whp and 125wtq! I bet that's fun! 2003 Baja 5MT 2016 Outback 2.5i Premium w/Eyesight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 It was fun with my shitty tune... I can't wait to get it on the track with 20 more HP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDII Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Whale Tail FTW Did you hang out to listen? Need forum help? Private Message legGTLT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 I wasn't able to stick around to see numbers, but it sounded GLORIOUS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDII Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 (edited) weird forum double post Edited February 10, 2019 by BDII Need forum help? Private Message legGTLT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Well, our first event of the season is in the books... It was spitting snow when we left our house, but great racing weather in Phoenix, if a little on the cool side... right at 50*F when the track went hot, with a high of ~ 60*F. I'd never run this track in a car, and though I have a lot of laps here on a bike, the last time was in 2006, and we ran it in the opposite direction. Lots of cool stuff showed up, including some late model heavy metal... The guy in the Porsche Turbo S was fast, but drove like a tool, making some stupid passes. At the end of the day, I was running 2 seconds faster than the guy in the C7 ZR1 (!). I started out on NT01s, and with the cold, green track (lots of rain lately) the car was really loose, and I was sliding everywhere. I forgot to start my lap timer app, so I didn't get any data. 2nd session was better as the track and tires started to warm up, and I was ~ 2.5 seconds off the lap record for my TT class. Next session was my first "timed" session for the TT class, and I took another tenth out, but I was realizing the NT01s were done. Looking back this morning, that set of NT01s is 4 years old, and had done 11 track events! And unfortunately, they'd spent some time in our trailer in freezing weather this winter. The car was running great, and felt really strong after the dyno tune. Unfortunately, I don't have any historical data from this track, so I couldn't compare lap times or speeds. Next time out, I'll have some data for comparisons. I swapped on my Rivals for the next session, and immediately picked up almost a full second. Next session out, I pulled out another few tenths, but I still ended up about 1.5 seconds slower than the class winner, who dropped the lap record by ~.5 seconds. I still felt pretty good, as he was driving an ND Miata on Hoosiers. So, second out of 5 drivers for my first TT event, on a track I'd never driven... pretty happy with that! Now it's time to replace the NT01s... I'm not going to spend the $$$ on Hoosiers, but looking for a little more... probably Toyo RRs. Some other cool stuff that showed up: Mildly (180hp) turboed NA Wildly modified C3 'Vette Even a couple of ZL1s Gotta love a guy who guts and cages a brand new $70k car! We didn't take our ZL1, as I wanted my wife to have her first outing in it on a track she knew. This track is also pretty tight for a ZL1. She had a good time driving the NA, and I think driving on the shot NT01s was good for her. Got a month to the next event... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road_dog Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Looking good. I've always been a fan of the Miata. I'm sure it will be a blast to drive at autocross events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 (edited) No Miata driving today... But I did order a set of Toyo RRs for the next event... Edited February 22, 2019 by rodan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris GTO TT Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 Listed it for sale 2003 Baja 5MT 2016 Outback 2.5i Premium w/Eyesight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Noooooo! Well, sometimes it's time to move on. I hope you don't have seller's regret like I did with my NA. I was lucky to get it back for pretty much exactly what I sold it for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris GTO TT Posted February 26, 2019 Author Share Posted February 26, 2019 For now it looks like I'll be keeping the wheels and the seat based on the interest I've gotten thus far. I'm honestly not sure what I want to do next. I'm just tired of how much road noise it has and how it mostly just sits. I actually drove it for the first time in almost 2 months yesterday. 2003 Baja 5MT 2016 Outback 2.5i Premium w/Eyesight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 (edited) I get it. Our NA and NBs have never been DDs... only the NC hade that role, and it was much better at it. I haven't been driving our NB much lately (snow not withstanding), and I keep toying with selling it. But for how little I have in it, it's too useful to have around as a spare vehicle. And it is fun with the top down. The answer is just to stop resisting and make it a track only car... Edited February 26, 2019 by rodan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris GTO TT Posted February 26, 2019 Author Share Posted February 26, 2019 Yeah I've thought about it but I have this vicious feedback loop. I don't feel like I do enough track days to justify making it a real track only car, but it's not good enough for me really want to spend more time on the track. One of my thoughts is to pick up a 6spd manual Mazda3. Yes it's FWD but it'd be a hoot on the track or autox while not punishing me on the street. Other options include tracking down a 6spd LSD NC, or a 2.0 WRX. 2003 Baja 5MT 2016 Outback 2.5i Premium w/Eyesight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Among those choices, I'd definitely go NC. Our NC was pretty good on track... still easy on consumables, and can fit 255 rubber. With the PRHT, it was a pretty good daily, but still a bit spartan and noisy compared to an actual coupe. Are the Twins (FRS/BRZ) dropping into your price range yet? Not a very inspiring motor, but still a great low cost track toy. A C5 'Vette could be had for the same kind of money, but you're looking at more costly repairs, consumables and insurance. Order of magnitude more performance, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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