Charlie's TIme attack Miata :)

[charlie_91]

Hey guys,

Where to start. Well i first bought this car around 2.5 years ago and since then it has gone through a bunch of changes.


The first things i did stayed with what i wanted to do to the car. I had to replace the motor because the old one overheated and also had the shortnose crank problem. Also added some cheap wheels, coilovers, mirrors, front lip and a few other things.



After that a few other things came, Fender braces, sparco, Jackson Racing intake, Custom exhaust, spacers, bootlip spoiler and more low.





Next up i decided to change wheels. So i got some grid v's and put them on as well as a new shorty console. This is also the point where i started piecing together my first turbo setup.




Turbo parts


Bought a new sparco, ordered new wheels, bought a cusco 7 pt cage





Bought a few more turbo parts, got new wheels in. Specs were 15 x 9 +10 Work equips.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Not long after that i decided to get the turbo stuff happening. Motor was pulled. New nb6 motor was stripped down and all seals replaced. Na8 diff put in and everything else that was needed.



Motor back in the car



So i got the car running on 12 psi. Made 219 rwhp which i was happy with Made up a difffuser, new skirts, and of course new wheels. This time it was custom re barreled bbs rs in 15 x 8.5 -8.


IMG_0302 by charlie_2011, on Flickr


IMG_0303 by charlie_2011, on Flickr


IMG_0299 by charlie_2011, on Flickr


IMG_0296 by charlie_2011, on Flickr


IMG_0295 by charlie_2011, on Flickr


IMG_0290 by charlie_2011, on Flickr

That brings me to the rebuild of the car. Two weeks later the motor let go so Stripped the car back and started getting it ready for the coming months

Work that was done:
Fully built motor
Custom turbo setup
Wire Tuck
Engine bay painted
Exterior painted
Flares
New wheels
Canards
Wing
Bigger diff
Bigger Brakes
Stronger gearbox
Custom interior setup

So put that all together i had a decent setup that looked good and i could thrash out at the track.



Made some wing supports

photo-41 by charlie_2011, on Flickr

Engine bay


Without the wing


Custom interior


Cut the rear bumper


Decided to change the look up a bit.. i wasnt really happy with the fact that the polished lips on the meisters were getting hammered by brake dust and was always having to clean them.

Look the wheels down to get powdercoated gloss black and had some new stickers made up



Heres a few pics from one of the track days

Down the hill into Hungry


Hard turn in


Coming back into the pits


Parking up


Favourite pic from the day


Decided to do something a bit different with the exhaust. So i got my mate together and swung him my ideas.. He put it into practice and this is the end result.

[charlie_91]

Roadtrip to Sydney write up

Friday:

So i woke up friday morning, went into work for a few hours then headed home to start packing and getting my car ready for the big trip down to sydney. Plan was to leave the Gold Coast at 11pm, drive straight through to Sydney with a couple of stops in bewteen and get there around 10am ready start preparing for The Lowdown's Showcased meet that started at 1pm. Unfortunately not everything goes to plan :P

Washed, waxed and pack the car and i was pumped to start getting on with it.


Drove over to a mates house to meet up with him on the way so we could travel down to meet the others an hour away. Before i got to his, i took the exit off the highways only to be confronted with an 4 cop bikes and 2 highway patrol cars. Clenching my arse i drove straight past and luckilly for me i got green lights and got through fine

Picked up my mate and drove down to meet the others at Chinderah BP just over the border into NSW.



Caught up with the others and wasted no time in getting on the road




First few hours were great, spoke some shit with my mate in the car and everything seemed to be going great..

Saturday:
About two hours into the trip i looked in my rear view mirror to find the 2 other cars missing. We quickly pulled over at the next servo and called to see what happened. I did not expect to be told what i was told lol. Zak (drive a static slammed BMW 7Series) who run Streetkarnage had split his fuel tank open after bottoming out coming over a bridge. We looked for supplies in the Sevice Station to see if there was anything we could use unfortunately there was nothing. We drove back 2 kms to see how they were going to be confronted with the Beamer in the air with fuel pouring out of it.




While others were seeing if they could block the leak Zak raised the rear up. We convinced him to drive it up to the servo so have more space and light however he was concerned considering his car throws sparks constantly and Fuel + Spark isnt that great of a combination. We managed to get it back to the servo and decided it was a good photo opp :P


NOTE: the fuel puddle to the side of the car

Alex's bagged golf and Cobeys static stanced V35





One of the guys that was with us came up with a great idea to use soap to seal up the split and atleast stop the leak. They ran into the servo and got soap, plugged it up as good as they could, dropped the car and rolled it forward to see if the fuel was still leaking.

10 minutes passed and no sign of fuel POWER ON!!!!

After that setting us back 1.5hrs we had to get on the road if we were even gonna get close to making it in time. We drove for a couple of hours before stopping off for fuel, snacks and checking to see how the soap was going


Filling up like a boss :P



Drove through the dark and fog waiting to be greated by some light. At around 5am i started feeling a bit sick so i got my passenger to drive for a bit. Morning came and we decided to stop off for some breaky, talk some shit and fuel





Dawn seemed like a perfect opportunity for rolling shots.. However my sickness got worse and i was relinquished to the Getz :P





Looking sorry for myself :P


As i tried yet failed to sleep we continued driving till we got to newcastle.. Unfortunately we got split up and had to try and meet up somewhere.. Still being 2 hours away we decided the car wash was a good option. I didnt last that long and had to pull over twice to throw up

By the time we all got to the carwash it was around 10.30 and promtly washed all out cars.. At this point my windows stopped working and the drivers side was stuck down



Not being able to put it up meant i couldn't wash it properly.. So i quickly sprayed it down and did the best I could without soaking the inside of my car haha :P Once washed and dried, we rolled out for the last time before we arrived at the meet.



With no time to spare we were hurrying to get there in time and was was supposed to be a boring drive on the highway actually turned out to be a lot fun seeing that the roads were twisty At this point i think everyone was surprised that we didnt see any cops lol Probably a good thing to

1.5hrs later we arrived at the carpark where the meet was held. Quickly parked up on the lower levels to wipe over out cars and get prepped to park up on the roof top





We drove up the top and got given out designated area Parked up as a club and got out and chilled for the rest of the arvo





A lot of coverage from a lot of good photographers. Heres my favs so far






Me with the beard





Alex's golf


For more coverage of the meet see these links

http://www.stancenation.com/2012/07/05/the-lowdown-presents-showcased-photo-coverage/

http://www.downshiftaus.com/

http://streetkarnage.blogspot.com.au/

Meet finished so we headed packed up and made a move.




Once back at the hotel we parked our cars, ate, showered and after 36 hours of being awake i went to sleep. Few of the boys pushed on and went out :P Before going to bed i decided to take my steering wheel off since my window still wasnt working

Sunday:
Woke up sunday morning refreshed after a 8 hour sleep and decided to do a bit of sight seeing with a couple of the boys.



After a couple of hours we decided to head back and make a move back home. Packed all our stuff and we were on our way.



Stopped off at a servo to fill up and Zak decided he would try to raise the rear abit.. Just to give more protection to the fuel tank :P Unfortunately he couldnt for some reason and was made to roll slammed the whole way home :P





We were back on the road.. The next two hours were probably the highlight for me. It was much easier driving during the day and a lot of fun was had :P









Vid

[youtube]M2sqmHKUmgM[/youtube]

After a few hundred kilometers we stopped off for a break and we couldnt have timed it worse lol :P Two minutes after we pulled in i decided to put my lights up, thats when this cop came in.



Shortly after a Department of Transport car rolled in as well haha. We waited for him to start filling up and drove off on our merry way The sun went down and i started to feel my car like it wasnt boosting properly Didnt take much notice and just kept driving. About an hour later we stopped off on the 'private road' to do some skids :P It was after doing that i knew my car wasnt right.. Having no boost getting onto the highway i pulled off a couple of kilometers down the road.



Trying to diagnose to see what the problem was. Until one of the boys noticed this:


Danger to manifold

For the next 6 hours the car was noisy, uncomfortable, cold, smelly and not much fun to drive lol. We stopped off for dinner, fuel and the crack along the way and came to the last stop. This was about 2 hours from the gold coast and its where we all parted ways.. Wanting to get home asap i headed off first with the Getz.. About 5 minutes later a cop on the opposite side of the road drove by. I watched him disappear untill a couple of minutes later a pair of headlights was coming up from behind fast. I tried to put a few cars in between him and me but unfortunately he ended up behind me a couple of km's down the road. The road merged into two lanes so i moved across (Right hand rear indicator bulb blew on the way down) and two seconds later the lights came on



He proceeded to go through my car and defect me for the following items.


At this point my turbo had fallen off the manifold, i was tired, and i just wanted to get home.

Final stop for fuel and we were back in Queensland.


Sup brakedust


1.5 hours later (3.45am) i was home Fuck yeahhh. Time for sleep.

Next day i washed the car and took it to a Automotive Plus to access the manifold and make plans



This is the aftermath :P


So thats the trip.. Even though it was long, and i was tired.... Its gotta be the most fun ive had in a long time . Big shout out to the Streetkarnage boys, Downshift and The Lowdown for organizing the event

Couple more pics from the meet:

[charlie_91]

Finally got the parts back from being ceramic coated Now its the mad rush to get the car ready for the upcoming trackday

Some pics


Hotside parts looking fresh


Killswitch mounted and hooked up


So much to do :P

[charlie_91]

Installed a new stack dash


Did a couple more track days









In car vid.. this shows where i smashed my lip when i went off lol
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGoTLUcjlkM&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw&index=2&feature=plcp"]GOPR0003 - YouTube[/ame]

Next up was sprint track. No issues yet or so i thought.. went out first session and the car was really hesistant coming onto boost. So i went back in pretty much straight away.. Looked around but couldnt see any issues.. Second session out it was the same but cleared up so i pushed it. Finally dropped into sub 60's with a 59.5. Very stoked with that.

Heres the in car vid
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhlB4zdAlho&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw&index=1&feature=plcp"]GOPR0005 - YouTube[/ame]

Few pics
Hard on the brakes

[charlie_91]

Bought a new bootlid and took off all the aero for street duties

[charlie_91]

Had some spare time so i decided to hack away at the bonnet to make some vents and get some heat out Happy with the result.







And made a front splitter

[charlie_91]

Now we are up to date
Recap from trackday last week

So Thursday was another track day. Booked for a full day cos i wanted to really make the most of it. 30l extra fuel and all my tools ready :P Woke up in the morning to rain lol. Made the drive out there with it pissing down. Got to qr and the rain eased off a little and so i was hoping for it to stay away. First session out, it was wet, really slippery. Start of the second session we went 1st hot lap had a moment at turn one. Almost held it before going into the dirt lol. One lap later my mate in his supercharged k24 civic when off on the same corner but got beached so back into the pits i went.

Heres a vid of turn 1
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOpHdeebc4w&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw&index=2&feature=plcp"]GOPR0017 - YouTube[/ame]

Made my way back onto the track for a few laps when disaster struck. Came in a little to hot for a corner and the rear locked up spinning me round. As i hit full lock my wheel pinch the brake line between the control arm leaving me with no brakes

Heres the culprit :O



How it stood for half the day lol



So with the car jacked up i phoned around to see if i could get another brake line out so i could get home. Luckily my mechanic had a set of braided lines in stock so he got his courier to bring them out to me with some brake fluid

Few hours later he rocked up and i was able to quickly swap it over and bleed my brakes.. At this point i was gonna go home but my brakes felt ok so i decided to atleast get my money's worth. At this point it had been raining constantly for a good 2 hours so the track was soaked to say the least. However i didnt care lol. I went back out and had probably the best afternoon ive had at a track event. It was awesome to get sideways coming out of corners and by the end of the day i was getting better at controlling it

Heres a pic to exiting turn 6 will be a few more coming in the next few day


So all in all even though the morning was a right off i had an awesome afternoon and got to learn my car so much more Few things i noticed on the way home was the clutch losing pressure here and there when changing gears so i think somethings leaking. And i cracked a flare.. Oh well :P shit happens.

Said cracked flare.



Airing it out the next day



Ill have a few pics and stuff as they come but for now heres a vid.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL0zxS_Jjpg&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw&index=1&feature=plcp"]GOPR0024 - YouTube[/ame]

[charlie_91]

So thats a quick wrap up of 2.5 years of ownership A lot has happened. Plans now are to start sliding the car a bit more as well as do time attack every now and then. When i re built this car i wanted something that looked good and something i could thrash the hell out of and keep up with porsche gt3rs' at the track days

[SENZA PARI]

I feel as though our tastes may be similar... lovin the style of this car. High five.

[that911]

Awesome car, your Miata is one of my favorites. Any pictures of the wing mounts? Was it to the sheet metal or was it through the trunk to the frame?

[mcmuda]

I like you..and your car :P

It's pure art in those mid turn pictures!

[MikeyRa]

This car is glorious! Amazing work and detail!



BTW, how did soap fix the fuel tank?

[MattyHacks71]

Very cool!

[rsingh3g]

This is how you enjoy a car and the life style it comes with building car and being a car enthusiast

[charlie_91]

I feel as though our tastes may be similar... lovin the style of this car. High five.

Cheers dude keen as to see ur z progress

Awesome car, your Miata is one of my favorites. Any pictures of the wing mounts? Was it to the sheet metal or was it through the trunk to the frame?

Thanks mate. Pic of how its mounted below

photo-93 by charlie_2011, on Flickr

I like you..and your car :P

It's pure art in those mid turn pictures!

Thanks mate

This car is glorious! Amazing work and detail!


BTW, how did soap fix the fuel tank?

Anything else we tried to fill it with didnt work. Because soap doesnt dissolve with the fuel we were able to pack up the split and compact it in to ensure no leaking.