rodan Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 Spent the weekend at Inde Motorsports Ranch with the Porsche Club... It's kinda fun to get a point by from a GT3... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 Out with the old... In with the new... Motor and trans back in the car... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 Took the NA for an extended test drive today with the 6 speed. Warning... ***wonky track math in this post*** The speedo now reads about 10% high. Definitely pulls harder gear for gear than the 5 speed... that was expected. What that translates to in real world acceleration, who knows? What it should do is get me out of the slower corners on track a lot harder. Looking back at my data, there are several corners on our local tracks where the NA maintains 40-45mph. At those speeds, it's pulling from as low as 3400 rpm with the stock 5 speed and 4.30s, but a downshift to 2nd puts it at 5000 rpm and adds two shifts in quick succession. The 6 speed in third with the 4.30 at that speed is pulling from 4100 rpm. Looking back at my dyno sheet shows that with the 6 speed, the engine will be applying an additional ~30 hp coming out of those slow corners. That is a significant improvement. Of course, I'll end up paying for that with an additional up shift on straights that exceed ~90mph, but 5th is now the same ratio as 4th previously (1.000), so I'm hoping for a break even with the increased acceleration in (new) 4th. We'll see how this all sorts out in February, hopefully. Unless I muddy the waters by doing some aero work on the car... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 More work getting ready for the season... I was tired of the fixed seat not being comfortable for either of us, so I'm installing a drop floor to fit sliders under the seat. The first step is a doozie... Fitted and ready for welding: I test fit the seat last night after tacking everything in, and hope to finish the welding today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 Floor drop finished, and seat re-installed with new harness. Both of us can now get a comfortable driving position, and even with the sliders it's about 1" lower than the previous setup. Also installed a Miata Roadster shifter on the 6 speed to get rid of the sloppy stock shifter. I think we're ready for the first event of the year in two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSFW Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Nice job! Out of curiosity, how tall are you? At 6'0" I had to go without sliders to get enough headroom in my C5, and my wife is going to run some extra seat cushions to get positioned right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 I'm 5' 10" I originally went with the fixed seat to get under the roll bar, and we used a 3" foam pad for my wife, but it was a compromise for both of us... too close for me, and too far for her. We had our first outing with the new setup last weekend and it worked perfectly. I don't know if a floor drop is available for 'Vettes, and if it is, I'm assuming the fabrication would be a lot more involved... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 First track day of the year was a wet one... My wife's first time driving in the wet, and she did fine, and more importantly still had fun. The Conti ECS tires worked very well in the rain, color me impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSFW Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 I'm 5' 10" I originally went with the fixed seat to get under the roll bar, and we used a 3" foam pad for my wife, but it was a compromise for both of us... too close for me, and too far for her. We had our first outing with the new setup last weekend and it worked perfectly. I don't know if a floor drop is available for 'Vettes, and if it is, I'm assuming the fabrication would be a lot more involved... C5 floors are weird - it's basically fiberglassed balsa wood. So I don't know how you'd attach a new floor in way that anyone would be willing to bet their life on it. If someone can find a way to make it work, it would be a popular product. C5 forums and FB groups are full of people looking for ways to get more headroom. Not generally big deal for daily driver duty, but it gets challenging with a helmet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Yeah, I knew about the balsa wood thing from when we had a C6. Best of luck with that project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Time for a long overdue thread bump... 2020 has been, well y'all know how this year has gone. We did get one more track day in early March with the Porsche club, and had a very nice day, but nothing to report on, really. We were scheduled to go to Willow Springs in September, but that event was cancelled. We probably only going to make one more event this year, so I've been spending some time been working on several projects on our NA track car, mostly centered around aero improvements. I went with the proven Supermiata S2 formula, birch ply splitter and plastic airdam up front. Bumper trim and BlakbirdFabworx spoiler out back. I went pretty aggressive with the bumper trim, and moved the exhaust to a center exit to facilitate construction of a diffuser in the future. These mods are really more about drag reduction, but they do have a slight downforce benefit as well. Bumper cover and bumper removed, front support cut out and replaced by fabricated bumper cover support. Trimmed bumper cover back on with splitter brackets and splitter. Airdam rough fit. Grille opening cut w/ 1/2" mesh to keep track debris out. Rear bumper trimmed. Jack recess was cut out and filled with a flat plate. Fabricated rear bumper cover support. Exhaust modified for center exit to facilitate construction of a diffuser. BBFW spoiler installed. I also installed fender vents from Left Lane Designs which should help evacuate the high pressure area inside the front fender. All done... I still need to install the ducting for the radiator and brake cooling, but all the heavy lifting is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Nice job, is there a reason why the radiator opening don't go all the way down to the splitter? I'd consider that the lower part there would cause a bit of drag. Maybe not much, but some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Nice job, is there a reason why the radiator opening don't go all the way down to the splitter? I'd consider that the lower part there would cause a bit of drag. Maybe not much, but some. Couple of reasons: The bottom of the radiator is well above the splitter, and there is also a lower support for the airdam that would be in the way if the opening went all the way to the splitter. The entire front of the airdam is a high pressure area, so the particulars of the grille opening are not critical to the overall drag. Here's a CFD that someone did comparing the various front end configurations: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 OK, maybe it's not making too much of a difference, after all it's not F1 racing, and it's not carbon fiber. I just did see a part where it was 90 degrees angle to the direction of the airflow and that's usually considered "bad" for airflow. My thought was to add air guides to the radiator behind the opening to ensure that the air ends up where it shall be and that those weren't in place yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhino6303 Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 It looks like Lightning McQueen a bit. I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 My thought was to add air guides to the radiator behind the opening to ensure that the air ends up where it shall be and that those weren't in place yet. Yup, ducting is the next step. I have a stack of 5mm corrugated plastic sheets waiting in the garage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Yup, ducting is the next step. I have a stack of 5mm corrugated plastic sheets waiting in the garage. I have a stack of those too. I store them around the neighborhood Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 I actually bought some, because I didn't want to advertise for anything... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Finished the ducting for the radiator and brake cooling. All ready for our next event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Great weekend with the Porsche Club at INDE Motorsports Ranch in southern AZ last weekend... windy!! and a little rain on Saturday. 4+ second improvement in the Miata over last year. I'm still looking at data, so no empirical evaluation of the new aero, though my subjective opinion is that it helped. Especially considering the 20+mph headwinds on the main straight. No video of the Miata, but here's a few pics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrik94087 Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 do you run the SCCA miata races? "It's within spec" - SOA "Depth is only shallowness viewed from the side." - Fredism "So, how much did it cost for your car to be undriveable ." - Stephen (very close friend) "You have done so much it would be stupid to go back." - Sunny of Guru Electronics 2018Q50RS | 2015WrxThread | Shrek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 Spec Miata? No, the car is built beyond the rules of Spec in several respects. NASA is bigger than SCCA out here in the Southwest, but the only competetive stuff I'm doing is Time Trial with one of the trackday organizations here in AZ. I'm considering running some of the NASA Time Trial events, but it's a question of fitting the car I want to build into their ruleset and have it be competitive. The events I currently run are based purely on power/weight with a tire modifier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 Since this is a Miata: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9KJ_f7REGw]I put Koenigsegg’s freevalve tech on a Miata... It runs and drives! - YouTube[/ame] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 I realized today that I've been remiss in updating this thread. Since I kind of 'inherited' it from Chris, I feel like it should be kept going. In January, the car got a Supermiata radiator, Miatahub front hubs, SadFab modified MR-s rear hubs, and Blackbird Fabworx competition motor mounts. Miata hubs are known for failing when exposed to track use with wide, sticky tires. The upgraded hubs should permanently address that issue. Motor mounts improved shifting, though I wouldn't recommend them for a street car! The radiator is mostly future proofing, as I never had any temperature issues with the stock radiator. Also picked this up, for the future where the bigger radiator is a necessity... Some other small changes were made with the splitter/ducting for long term durability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 The next project was a major one: upgrading the bolt-in rollbar to a full rollcage. The first step was replacing the street top with a race top. This would offset the weight of the cage by removing ~30lbs up high, but also provide slightly more room for the cage. Next up was stripping out the roll bar. Both the street top and roll bar were easy to sell, and offset most of the cost of building the cage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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