The GoodGuys autocross was a bit disappointing. A short suuuper tight course led to alot of understeer, and low speeds. I ran out of time before the event to add more front camber, so I went with my street alignment. After a couple of runs I started doing my best to reduce rear grip to make the car turn in. Bumping up the swaybar position in the rear, stiffening the rear shocks, and running plenty of pressure in the rear tires did make the course manageable. I'm not going to use this event to learn anything about the car other than that it does have useful adjustments that can be made at the track. The brake pedal is still long, and takes plenty of pressure on the pedal to get maximum braking force. Here is one of the only photos I can find from the event:
Well after typing out the last 2 posts, it seems a bit obvious that I should try a larger master cylinder. Unfortunately, I just bought this 7/8" master, but I guess it was worth it to rule out a faulty cylinder. While I don't love the amount of pedal travel needed for the fresh air vent to open in the booster, and the feel of the pedal at most braking levels, I am not sure I want to spend $ trying a different booster yet. First on the menu will be firewall bracing, but a larger master will be on the short list.
Don't get discouraged. You're on the right track, and you'll get it dialed.
Thanks Scott, much appreciated. On another note, I've noticed a noise from the passenger rear recently. After investigation, the adjustable sway bar has been hitting the rear subframe:
I wonder if miatas suffer the same issue, or if I have my control arm tabs welded on slightly closer together than on a miata (causing a vertically taller link). Let's see if removing a bit of length will do the trick. If not I'll be shortening the links or repositioning the tabs.
The shaft collars on the bar were also contacting the subframe, so they were shaved a bit as well.
Back before I added the brake booster, I was using a 15/16" master from an '89 ranger (I realize now the irony of adding power and reducing the master bore at the same time). So, to check if a larger master will solve all my problems I dug it out of the box in my side yard where I put it a few years ago. To my surprise, upon disassembly the insides looked good. There is a small scratch right at the beginning of the bore, but hopefully it is in an area outside where the seals travel. So... to hook up the old master I needed new converters. The cheapest way I could find to ge 7/16-3an was to order some turbo oil feed fittings and drill them out:
After opening them up, one needed to be shortened. I also made a pushrod extender from a stainless bolt to match the pushrod depth to the 7/8 miata master but didn't end up using it.
Of course, when the fittings arrived I only checked 1 to make sure it fit... When it came time to assemble I found the second banjo had a 4an end on it instead of 3an. So out came the box of spare fittings, and a plan to make something work:
After moving the power steering reservoir mount forward for clearance, I could hook up the new (old) master:
After bleeding, the test drive felt like the dead space in the pedal was not reduced. If anything it might have a bit more dead travel. After the dead space the pedal is firmer. I'll have to bleed and adjust the pushrod again before making any judgements.
