1.6 Liters of gayness... '90 MX-5

[thedguy]

Let us know how those Teins work, every one at the Tire Rack is telling me to go with Racing Beat Springs with Koni adjustables, and a good Racing beat sway bar front and rear for a decent all-round setup.

seems like everyone I talked to kept saying go with the Teins. After riding in a 2001 Sport package with MonoFlex's running 10kg front 6kg rears and noticing it rode BETTER than mine did on full stiff I was sold. The 01 sport does have a lot more bracing, which is why I went for the frame rails first, and will be getting a rear subframe brace, and finish the butterfly when I can.

OH and I currently have 1 on the car right now. Other events have prevented me from finishing the job. I will say this, the back is surprisingly simple.

[thedguy]

Lower that bitch!

Nice find.

I hope this is up to your standards











And a small piece of the new frame rails.




I currently have issue's with something (I assume wheels on fender) on hard corners. And the frame will hit speed bumps if I don't go over carefully. I've got about a 3" drop over stock. The pictures really don't show it too well, but it's a LOT better.

[Dsemaj]

I hope this is up to your standards

Looks a hell of a lot better. You have my approval.

It'd look bitchin' if you had a nice discrete front and rear skirts on it... Quickly, my wish is your command!

[thedguy]

Looks a hell of a lot better. You have my approval.

It'd look bitchin' if you had a nice discrete front and rear skirts on it... Quickly, my wish is your command!

We'll see. I'm gonna build an ABS plastic under tray for the car to improve under car air flow, it might integrate a lip on the front. I doubt I'll ever do side-skirts though.

[thedguy]

Alright, updates.

I've had some time to play with the car, sans re-alignment. Luckily the miata suspension design means dampers/springs can be changed without touching it, unfortunately that means I'm still on the stock crap miata alignment.

The car has a hard time with donuts (it would rather push) if I have the wheel at full lock. At speed and when I get the ass end loose, there is A LOT more grip all around and especially in the rear. I can actually control the tail when I get it out a bit, and that's with a stock open diff! Keeping the rear under control with more than a simple fish tailing was impossible on the stock suspension. The car, at least with dampers set (near) to full soft is not much harsher than stock surprisingly enough. There are area's where it's just not possible to be better, but overall it's hard to tell. It still rides better than many other modded cars I've been in...where I live in fear of bashing my skull on the underside of the roof.

Alignment to come when I find time to do it in my garage or funds to take it to my 949racing in Lake Forest, where I'll probably have them properly adjust the corner balance/droop on it as well.

[thedguy]

This just in, installing a new softop canvas is a PITFA (pain in the fucking ass). I don't recommend it, take it to a shop, pay someone thats done it before to do it, or goto planetmiata.com and buy one already on a frame ready to install for $500.

[Twerp128]

^That is VERY good to know, thanks for saving me the hassle.

[Spectre]

This just in, installing a new softop canvas is a PITFA (pain in the fucking ass).

So, what you're saying is that your Miata anally violated you?

[thedguy]

^That is VERY good to know, thanks for saving me the hassle.

Glad I could be of service. I picked up the cheap $230 ones on ebay, not worth it. The material is all good, but every hole has to be manually cut open and lined up. A robbins top will run you $500 and at that point just go with the planet miata one.

Mine has been a multi day process. Partially because I broke one of the tension cables, mostly because I got to a point where I'm not completely sure where a couple of holes need to be put into the top and I've been lazy to pull the car out, move the top back on the car and snug it down to find it.

Luckily the local miata community is fucking awesome and there is a get tech day/thrash on cars day saturday

[Censport]

This just in, installing a new softop canvas is a PITFA (pain in the fucking ass).

So, what you're saying is that your Miata anally violated you?

So it really is gay...

[thedguy]

So, what you're saying is that your Miata anally violated you?

It just slapped me on the cheeks a few times.

[thedguy]

So some updates.

Car handles extremely well with the improved suspension, though I'm still constantly tinkering with it and I need to get a proper alignment.

I've advanced the timing about 10* and now run premium. Ass dyno noticed improvements mostly where it matters...during passing maneuvers, and the fact that my normal throttle positions seem to lead to an extra 5mph. I also leaned out my AFM a little and noticed a bit more of the above happening. I've been reading that spec miata guys will get these things dyno tuned and can gain 10whp with about 1 hours time on the dyno.

[thedguy]

Semi-related to this is the fact that I drove a stripped out 1.6l Automatic converted to manual car with an "ebay" turbo setup using a Mitsubishi turbo = to the size of a t25. I want that. I want it badly. 10psi and the car was pushing nearly 180whp and 190lb-ft of torque.

With some tweaking to the turbo sizing it could be an AWESOME setup on my motor. Especially with some manual cams and adjustable gears.

On that note, I've been tossed the keys to a stock Mazdaspeed Miata, that is the car mazda should have been selling from the get-go, even if only as an upgraded model or something. Would have made it extremely hard for anyone else to even try and get into the 2 seat roadster market without being laughed out of it.

[Twerp128]

^I've ridden in a turbo Miata, and the lag! Not my cup of tea, getting a ride in a supercharged 1.8 this spring though. Also test drove a Mazdaspeed when I was in the market, that cars a hoot, but the one I drove was crashed so not one to buy.

[thedguy]

^I've ridden in a turbo Miata, and the lag! Not my cup of tea, getting a ride in a supercharged 1.8 this spring though. Also test drove a Mazdaspeed when I was in the market, that cars a hoot, but the one I drove was crashed so not one to buy.

The lag can be cured with a better sized turbo and some trickery with the ecu/cams I'm sure. That and I'm not concerned with hitting "OMG hp/litre" numbers of epic proportions.

[Jay]

A T25 is small, but I know they spool so very quickly, and is just about a perfect size for your engine. Maybe contact Garrett, see if you can use that housing, combined with a turbine that has the correct vane blade angle.


Ten pounds of pressure can't hurt anything, with proper timing adjustment. That advance you have now on the cams would have to scaled back, probably retarded below factory specs.

[thedguy]

A T25 is small, but I know they spool so very quickly, and is just about a perfect size for your engine. Maybe contact Garrett, see if you can use that housing, combined with a turbine that has the correct vane blade angle.


Ten pounds of pressure can't hurt anything, with proper timing adjustment. That advance you have now on the cams would have to scaled back, probably retarded below factory specs.

Well I know he wasn't running a T25, but a "mitsubishi equivalently sized one." His setup worked well but the combination of automatic cams (10degree less duration) and that turbo lead to little boost below 3k and full by 3200.

With the power numbers I want I could probably track down some euro 1.6l turbo engine, or even a used IHI from the 323gt(x)/capri XR2, get some manual cams (which i'm working on now) and have a hell of a fun car. Especially since my motor runs 9:1 compression vs the 9.4:1 on factory manual engines

[thedguy]

Latest update, I'm currently waiting for the primer to dry on my attempt at a fender repair. Pictures of my failure to follow sometime tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

[thedguy]

Alright, here are the preliminary shots






The paint obviously doesn't match (closest I could come up with from autozone), but it looks far better than what it was before as 1) it doesn't have exposed metal and 2) it actually follows the shape of the fender rather than having some severe high and low spots. 3) it's smooth.

BTw, the shop vac there = awesome for keeping the overspray down and controlling where it goes (and keeping asshole bugs from jumping in the paint).

[thedguy]

Ok more updates:

Alignment has finally been done. Had I realized my landlord's school would have done it how I wanted for $20 I would have done it sooner.

Here are the specs
Ride height (fender to hub center) 12.5" f/r
Front camber: -2* (or as close as you can get to it)
Caster: +3.75 to +4.25*
Front total toe: 0

Rear camber : -1.8*
total toe: 3/32

My tiens have the pre-load set to 5 turns on the front and 0 on the back. Eventually I will get it corner balanced but I can't imagine it making that much of a difference with how well it is now.

As far as how it drives... It's freakin' perfect. The car is EXTREMELY controllable, changes direction on command (but far from darty, thanks to the caster). When/if the ass end steps out it so smooth it makes the stock miata and stock BMW 3 series I've driven almost seem violent in comparison. Even with the open diff I could fairly easily control and hold short drifts.

Dynolicious showed on a uncambered-downhill onramp 1.04G lateral (previous best was 98G). On my Preferred test is the slightly cambered downhill interchange, pulled 1.08G (previous best was 1.01). And on an Uphill cambered ramp 1.12G.

I still want to put in the butterfly brace, though I'm currently looking at roll bars (buttonwillow April 19th!) and then a torsen and I think suspension will be left alone other than a possible wheel change. I really really really want a torsen.

The dynolicious graphs for those interested









The "finished" repair job I couldn't find any paint that matched any better. I was really only interested in cleaning up the shape and getting some paint on the fender as I'll probably buy another one down the line











These was taken in the Puente Hills (not the city)