Project #4. "tiny giant" na miata journal

[1badg35]

Not much of an update, have been putting mileage on the car for the past month or two, all great


the Exige Corbeau seats are up for sale, got an opportunity to grab an even more rare set of seats that I am not sure i can say no to.. post will be up shortly in the FS section and on clubroadster. will come with pair of seats as well as sliders for bolt in ability in a NA/NB miata.



I did also get a few more parts that I deemed necessary for the driver experience.. more info to come.

[1badg35]

The lack of updates on my builds is based on work load of a 7 day work week for the past few months... The fairlady and the miata are both getting things done at a slow rate though, I am mostly taking my time on the fairlady working on one individual piece at a time eventually it'll accumulate.

trying to button things up for a show in a few weeks on the miata, a few things to tease for the time being.

some of this


with some of this


with some of this


and some of this laid out for the water jet



this past weekend though there wasn't much happening on the miata, other things were getting some attention



I know not much of an update, but an update nonetheless

[1badg35]

Things in process



Also started on the install of the completed aluminum panels. all in all the extra work making sure the cad model was perfect paid off. The fit is literally perfect. Everything is going to be shot in a light texture black powder once finished. quick image for now



might produce these and offer if people are interested in the future. going to offer up a full group of parts

-side sills
-door lower panels
-radio delete
-shifter area
Including all stainless hardware to mount.


The best part about the interior is that all the door rattles are gone, and you gain a ton of space. A ton. I feel like I almost fit in there now.

[Pedro'z]

I'm sorry for what I said before! This car is literally perfect! I can't wait to see the RS on the car with those sticky tires! Give me a feed back about the 14" tire combo compare to the 15", and good job on with the interior!

[TruTaing]

Wow, I spy ALOT of big brake calipers in your passenger foot well! The car looks awesome - cant wait for the updates to the Z also

[1badg35]

Its getting cold here so the winter tires will be going on very soon, but I did get 3 days to put the RS set on the car with the RS-3 r comps to do a proper shake down. Heres what I have found so far to compare the setups.

-the RPF1 14x7+19 with Falken Azenis 195/60/14 - driven on for 8 months in varied weather - perfectly suited for this car. the wheels alone weigh 7.9lbs (unbelievably light), wheel and tire weighs in a little over 23. you can feel how light the combo is, its perfectly nimble, sticky, doesnt snap necks when turning because of the height of the sidewall, but handles like its on a rail and overall drives like a go kart. has a very very slight amount of understeer going into a turn as the front end actually feels light if you snap it around, but the drivability is unlike any car I've ever driven and is near perfect in my book. you point the car in the direction you want it and it does exactly that every single time. Closest thing to a video game although you feel every bit of it. you know exactly what the car is doing, when it gets loose, when it grabs, when you need to increase throttle in the turn, when the weight transfers, inspires confidence in driving feeling that youre physically attached to the car like its an appendage. Point and shoot is the only way to accurately describe it, you point the car and get on it and it just does it.

-the bbs RS 15x8+10 with 225/50/15 hankook RS-3- driven on for 3 solid days varied temps - great combo but you feel the difference instantly. heres why
--wheels alone weigh 12lb 10oz. still very light but the 4.5lb difference is instantly noticeable. Tires and wheels together weigh in just about 31lbs total again wouldnt be noticeable on a normal car but a go kart it certainly is.. The car overall handles in a very different way. Into a turn, car is much more snappy, neck hurts more from the abrupt turn in and out. still super sticky, may actually be stickier in fact, handles great, but its not as light and humble on its feet as it was with the rpf1. the extra inch diameter and wider tire/smaller sidewall grabs the road harder but honestly its not needed and comes through as overkill because of the weight of the car and as a result you lose a little of the "i am driving a go kart with a license plate" feeling. Again, not putting down the setup as its awesome, but the car does feel much more significant and much less point and shoot like before. Its not by any means a heavy setup, but it does instantly come across as heavier.


----
suspension was not adjusted, coils settings were untouched when comparing both setups, so the only difference was the wheel and tire setup and the amount of time I've had to break each in.
----

not exactly what i was expecting and i need more time on the RS combo to really be able to put it through its paces, but so far the rpf1 and azenis are setting the bar extremely high on this car. the lightness and grip combo is literally hard to beat.

as sad as this sounds, I have 20k or so just in suspension components on the fairlady and I'm pretty sure this thing handles better overall... its unreal and sort of sad to say this

[1badg35]

the winters by the way this year wont be on stock daisies. figured i had no idea why i still owned those wheels so they went up on CL.

blizzaks are going on something multi piece that i forgot i owned funny enough... going to prep and shoot powder this weekend on them

[Pedro'z]

Its getting cold here so the winter tires will be going on very soon, but I did get 3 days to put the RS set on the car with the RS-3 r comps to do a proper shake down. Heres what I have found so far to compare the setups.

-the RPF1 14x7+19 with Falken Azenis 195/60/14 - driven on for 8 months in varied weather - perfectly suited for this car. the wheels alone weigh 7.9lbs (unbelievably light), wheel and tire weighs in a little over 23. you can feel how light the combo is, its perfectly nimble, sticky, doesnt snap necks when turning because of the height of the sidewall, but handles like its on a rail and overall drives like a go kart. has a very very slight amount of understeer going into a turn as the front end actually feels light if you snap it around, but the drivability is unlike any car I've ever driven and is near perfect in my book. you point the car in the direction you want it and it does exactly that every single time. Closest thing to a video game although you feel every bit of it. you know exactly what the car is doing, when it gets loose, when it grabs, when you need to increase throttle in the turn, when the weight transfers, inspires confidence in driving feeling that youre physically attached to the car like its an appendage. Point and shoot is the only way to accurately describe it, you point the car and get on it and it just does it.

-the bbs RS 15x8+10 with 225/50/15 hankook RS-3- driven on for 3 solid days varied temps - great combo but you feel the difference instantly. heres why
--wheels alone weigh 12lb 10oz. still very light but the 4.5lb difference is instantly noticeable. Tires and wheels together weigh in just about 31lbs total again wouldnt be noticeable on a normal car but a go kart it certainly is.. The car overall handles in a very different way. Into a turn, car is much more snappy, neck hurts more from the abrupt turn in and out. still super sticky, may actually be stickier in fact, handles great, but its not as light and humble on its feet as it was with the rpf1. the extra inch diameter and wider tire/smaller sidewall grabs the road harder but honestly its not needed and comes through as overkill because of the weight of the car and as a result you lose a little of the "i am driving a go kart with a license plate" feeling. Again, not putting down the setup as its awesome, but the car does feel much more significant and much less point and shoot like before. Its not by any means a heavy setup, but it does instantly come across as heavier.


----
suspension was not adjusted, coils settings were untouched when comparing both setups, so the only difference was the wheel and tire setup and the amount of time I've had to break each in.
----

not exactly what i was expecting and i need more time on the RS combo to really be able to put it through its paces, but so far the rpf1 and azenis are setting the bar extremely high on this car. the lightness and grip combo is literally hard to beat.

as sad as this sounds, I have 20k or so just in suspension components on the fairlady and I'm pretty sure this thing handles better overall... its unreal and sort of sad to say this

MAN! Thank you so much for the time you took writing this big review! I am still debating between the 14" and 15" tire/wheel choice! This will certainly be helpful!

[anti.engineered]

I like reading about this build because I know while none of it is anything crazy, everything that is done will be done for a good reason and done properly at that.

[1badg35]

thanks yeah the car is partially filling the void of the fairlady while its undergoing insanity. its definitely fun to throw around.

the seats are officially going up for sale this coming week on a few forums as well as ebay if they don't sell within a few days. going to try to change it up to some recaro pole positions to work into the new scheme inside. Going to sell complete with the brackets so these things are a drop in for NA/NB/NC miatas.

[1badg35]

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1494807#post1494807

seats are officially up for sale, will drop into your miata with no work

[1badg35]

So this needs an update.

- past month a lot has happened. The Miata was relieved of its DD duty (for the past 14 months) and this could mean a few things. could turn into a legit project or stay along its path as a fun summer car for years to come.

Since its no longer a daily, work for next spring/summer season has gotten done on it that had been constantly put off while on DD duty. here are a few of the things

-interior all finished up, all the aluminum panels are in and finished - pictures shortly
-wheels buttoned up and then put up for sale haha (will explain below)
-wilwood bbk fully sorted and on the car. just have 1 more line to connect and a full writeup on that will happen as well as what I've learned along the way
-front end disassembled and refreshed

interior- so the aluminum panel project I spoke of earlier took place at a slow rate of speed, designs were mocked up on the car, adjusted a few times to be perfected if for some reason I decided to reproduce these parts for the miata market.. The kit consists of the following parts, water jet cut, bent, finished by yours truly.

-lower door panels
-carrera rs style door pulls
-center console stereo delete
-shifter boot delete panel
-door sills

the aim was to produce parts that were solid, knocked down noise a little, lessened rattles, looked OEM, shed a little weight/simplified the interior of the car somewhat.







dont mind the strap on this side being different. testing out the different thicknesses





wilwood 4 piston little BBK setup. initially the setup comprised of a front setup as the rear didnt seem necessary. new directional vented slotted 10" rotors, pads, lines, fluid, and wilwood calipers were on the parts list. that soon doubled in size to add the rear wilwood calipers, rotors, lines, etc... for what reason- seemed mismatched in my eyes thats about it.

insert pic

what Ive learned so far - bolt on kit is just that, fairly simple to execute. With that said, with the rears know what youre getting though before you get into it. The miata being a simple car doesnt have a rear inner drum for emergency brake, but rather a setup with a mechanical linkage inside the oem rear calipers that pulls the pads in when you pull the e brake. now that there are new rear calipers though, that assembly is no longer there. No one speaks about it, for what reason I don't know..

insert picture

which means one of 2 things. leave it in gear all the time or get a separate mechanical caliper for the rears that only acts as a parking brake. I have chosen the latter. will document this part of the process as soon as it arrives

http://www.wilwood.com/calipers/CaliperList.aspx?subname=Mech%20Spot

more to come
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[anti.engineered]

insert pics

[1badg35]

yeah will do as soon as I can upload the pictures

[LCG]

yeah will do as soon as I can upload the pictures

insert comment