The Miata experience: his and hers.

Some other parts that showed up this week are new rear hubs.  Miata hubs are a known weak link when you start running higher G loading on track on a regular basis.  I had put new hubs on the car several years ago, and because of the engine swap downtime, they don't have a lot of time on them.  So, although I wasn't worried about the current hubs, I'm always looking for opportunities to "future proof" things.  Some of the real thinkers/tinkerers over on MT.net came up with a way to modify Toyota MR-S rear hubs to work on NA/NB Miatas.  Because of the way the hub is designed and machined, it should be stronger than the stock Miata hubs that are currently available.  I jumped into the initial group buy, and they arrived this week.

I had the builder install the ARP studs, as my last experience with that in the stock hubs was kind of a fiasco.  These probably won't get installed until I do the suspension bushings, hopefully this summer.  I'll change out the front hubs, which are also low time, with a new set, and the ones off the NA will go on the NB.  They should last forever on the NB as a street driver.

Now, we Miata folk just need a solution for the front hubs... 

Almost forgot...

The headlight door will be getting a NACA duct to dump outside air into the filter area.

Finshed the air inlet today.

Started by sectioning the tubing.  I decided this would make for a better fit, as well as optimizing the inlet length.

A bandsaw would be best for this, but mine is handheld, so I used my miter saw with a cutoff wheel.  As long as you take the time to get things square, it makes for a good joint.

Next was welding it up, and adding the IAT bung and a mounting bracket.

Tucks in nicely with the tighter radius...

Should be good for a decent drop in inlet temps.

Next up is working on the NACA duct and lighting.

So, phase II is complete (air inlet), with the installation of the NACA duct.

I started by laying out the location on the headlight lid, once I removed it from the hood.

I used carbide 'hole cutters' to cut in the 'corners'.  I've found this works well with rounded boundries to get a smooth cut.

These are the cutters I used... 

Amazon hole cutter set

IIRC it was a thread on this forum that turned me on to them.  They've worked great for a lot of projects.

Once the 'corners' were cut, I very carefully cut out the rest of the opening with a 3" cutoff wheel.

After some edge cleanup, I painted the perimeter of the opening with some Rustoleum for protection.

Last step was reinstalling the headlight door to the hood, and installing the NACA duct.

Given the amount of air the ducts in the 'wing' windows moves into the interior, this thing should get quite a bit of air to the filter area at ambient temps.  I was planning to use a silicone elbow on the duct to help funnel the air, but things are pretty tight between the inlet tube and overflow tank.  I'll play around with that a little later.

Phase III is the lighting... coming up.

So, one of the few things I was disappointed with on the new truck was the size of the stock fuel tank.  33 gal is OK running around empty getting 15-17mpg.  With the camper and trailer, at 9mpg, not so much.

Titan makes a 55 gal tank that bolts up in place of the stock tank with no mods to the truck, and I'd been waiting for a sale through one of the diesel truck vendors to get one ordered.  Over Memorial day, it went on sale and I ordered it up....

Now that's a BIG box...  good thing it was free shipping! 

Bigger tank is BIG... 

I hope to get it installed for the Summer Camp trip in a couple of weeks.  Still need to burn off some fuel in the truck to lighten up the stock tank.  Why are gas tanks always full when you want to work on them?  

Installed the fuel tank in the dually today.  Not a bad job, took right at 4 hours taking my time and working alone.  HF transmission jack made things easy.  Nice thing about trucks:  not having to jack them up to work on stuff!

Old v. new:

Making progress on Miata lights despite a SNAFU with ordering stuff.  More on that tomorrow, hopefully.

Finished up the lights today.

About a week ago, I decided the LED lights I had previously ordered weren't going to work, and I ordered up a new option.  They're a small 20W LED driving light I sourced off Amazon.

Cheap enough at $15, and with a projector style molded lens, I figured they would be better than the LED floods I tried first.   They're also available in a 3k amber, so I ordered a set of those as well.  My inner ricer was toying with the idea of amber headlights.... 

The lights arrived Friday, at which point I discovered they were single lights, not pairs.  Oops...  

At least I was able to test the lights, and work out a mounting setup.  After looking at them at night, I was pleased to discover they have a really nice horizontal cutoff.  I also determined the amber lights weren't going to be bright enough, even for my usage, so it'll go on the shelf.  I jumped on Amazon and ordered a second white light, and finished up the install today.

The lights mounted up nicely behind the cut out clear corners.  You can see the turn signal LED on the left end of the lens.

And they leave almost the entire headlight area clear for future mods.

Both the light and the turn signal are wired into the factory harness.  I don't think the stock relay will have any issues with the LED lights.

These certainly aren't going to be super bright, but should be sufficient for an emergency trip in the dark if it becomes necessary.  Once it gets dark I'll be able to get an idea how effective they're actually going to be.

Result were actually better than I expected...

The funky reflection at the top is from the 'turn signal' housing the light is projecting through.  

Pretty good cutoff on the road as well... definitely enough for around town driving.  Hopefully that reflection will be high enough not to bother other drivers.  Not that I don't get blinded by everyone on the road when driving a Miata... 

Sorry, no pics today, but I've spent the last several days getting things ready for the trek to FM Summer Camp...

NA is in the trailer, trailer is washed, and most of the track paraphernalia is loaded.  Truck and camper got washed, and the camper is loaded in the truck.

I'd had some intermittent light issues on the camper just about from the day we bought it two years ago.  Last fall, I replaced the stop/turn/backup lights on the camper with LEDs and thought all was good. Unfortunately, on our trip to Willow Springs a couple months back the backup lights weren't working, which I had forgotten.

I always check the lighting before lowering the camper into the truck, and today none of the lights were working. After about 45 minutes of troubleshooting, I traced the fault to the plug where it connects to the truck. After peeling back the protective sleeve, the whole plug came loose in my hand. The tech at the RV dealer where we bought the camper had failed to properly crimp all of the connections... 

Another hour to run to the hardware store for some parts, and reinstall all the connectors and heat shrink everything. At least I shouldn't have anymore intermittent lighting issues... 

Another fantastic Flyin' Miata Summer Camp is in the books!

Things changed a bit from the past, as things are changing at FM, but the changes were mostly GOOD.  Two things that didn't change were great times at the track, and great times talking with the wonderful folks at FM, and the Miata enthusiasts that make the journey to Grand Junction, CO for the annual event.  It was good to see old friends, and make new ones.

I'm still working through photos and video (and I have to go back to work today), but here's a couple shots of the pits at GJMS...

More about the event a little later...

First, a few words about the tow rig...

This was the first trip with the new truck where we were going over the same route with the same load we had previously covered in the old (2004 Ram) truck.  WHAT A DIFFERENCE!  The new truck was much more comfortable, quieter and more powerful.  It pulled all of the grades effortlessly, up and down.  I've always been a manual trans guy, but compared to the old truck, it was significantly less work.  Which means you arrive less fatigued, both mentally and physically.

The new tank in the truck worked perfectly, and achieved exactly the result I was looking for.  On previous trips, we had fueled 7 times total for the round trip, not including fueling the truck immediately after arriving home.  With the large tank, I was able to eliminate 3 of those fuel stops, and have enough fuel arriving home that it's not an immediate concern.  Of course, we still made a couple of those stops, but just for a quick bathroom break.  Total result was about 30 minutes saved in each direction.

The rig averaged 9.5 mpg over the 1100 mile round trip running 67-68 mph.  

As a side note, my wife followed in the Mustang so we would have a car to run around town (and we made a side trip to Vail).  Following the rig at 67-68 mph it got 30mpg!  

Some of you may remember that Flyin' Miata had a salvage business way back.  They haven't been doing it for a few years, but still had a lot of parts.  Plus, they end up with lots of take-offs from their installs and V8 conversions.  So, they had a huge pile of parts in the shop.  Since FM isn't really in the salvage line anymore, these parts were just taking up valuable space.   All of these parts were put outside the shop for Summer Camp, free for the taking!

Fortunately, I knew a guy that had brought a trailer! 

I scored pretty big, and picked up a bunch of parts that I have wanted for a while for several projects...

One of the upcoming projects on the NA has been changing out all the suspension bushings, which is a huge PITA.  An extra set of control arms allows installing the bushings at your leisure, and swapping the arms out in a day.  So I got a (almost) complete set of control arms.  

I picked up a set of subframes so I can build jigs and either roll my own tubular subframes, or modify the stock ones.  Can you say "engine swap"? 

Got another VVT head to rebuild/port and swap on, and an undertray to replace my missing stocker until I get around to fabbing a splitter.  And a bunch of other little stuff for some ideas I've been knocking around.

The also had a blowout sale table, where I managed to score a carbon headlight lid, and a pair of V8R tubular upper rear control arms (the only ones I was missing) at half price.

So, now I've got even more crap to keep me busy this summer and fall!!

More pics to come... lots to go through!

Quick post about lap times...

Unfortunately, FM has stopped recording lap times for their event due to insurance concerns/costs, so this year we had to make do with cell phone lap timer apps.  It took a few sessions to get all the bugs out, but I think we eventually had reliable times.

Absolute Miata track record here is :59 and change, set by a local driver in a turbo NA on Hoosiers with aero.  That's smokin'!  V8 and turbo cars at FM's event are typically 1:01-1:04.  Last year I ran 1:05.8, and this year my goal was to break into 1:04s.  I didn't make it, best being a 1:05.2.  We did two days on the track, and I wasted most of the first chasing tire pressures with the Rivals.  By the end of the day, I finally found some grip, settling on 28psi hot.  And it was HOT... temps in the mid 90s both days, hotter than last year.  I still think the car's got a 1:04 in it, but I didn't have it in me this year.

I'm really proud of my wife!  She did her first ever track day here 5 years ago, so she's done 9 track days at FM Summer camp, which totals about 45-50 hot laps on this course.  The first year, her fast time was 1:26 and change.  This year, her best was 1:10.6.  16 seconds improvement at a track she gets to drive once a year, and this was her first event here in the NA. 

Good job, Honey!

Long time without a post... sorry about the radio silence.

Lots going on, but I finally got some time to sit down at the computer and go through some pics.  Also, the pro pics from Summer Camp are in, so I had to go through those as well.  Had a motorcycle (sort of) trip to CO earlier this month as well, but I finally got time to sit down and go through everything and re-size and upload the pics.

But first, a dog update...  Those who have been reading will know I had to say goodbye to my long time buddy and shop helper Mocha a few months ago.  My wife started campaigning for a new dog fairly soon, a little too soon for me.  We took a run at adopting one dog through a local agency at the end of April, but she was very high strung and showed definite signs of separation anxiety.  Not a good thing with my wife and I both working, so we decided not to go through with it.

At the end of may, we went to the local shelter to check out another candidate, and this one stuck.  From what we've been told by the shelter and the vet, she's a Boxer/Pit mix and about a year old.  So, I'd like to introduce Kona:

She's got a great personality, and made herself right at home...

Were hoping for a very long and happy future with Kona, and things are looking good so far. 

So back to the Summer Camp photo dump.

First, I need to give credit where credit is due:  all the pics in this post were taken by Travis Ingram, the pro photg for the FM event.  Apologies to Travis for some crops, but great photos as always!

You can visit his site here:  https://www.travisingramphotography.com/

My wife, ready to get on track

My wife, coming down the Chicane

Me, taking the 'tight' line out

The Navy wanted to join in, but I think the track was a bit tight...

This was also parked at the track...

Rumor was that you could rent it, and for a not insignificant amount of $$, drive it through a derelict singlewide trailer... 

There were also a couple of Mustangs hanging around, frustrated that they weren't allowed on track...

Funny story:  the orange Mustang belongs to another long time FM Summer Camp going couple that also traded their NC on a Mustang this Spring.  Great minds think alike!! 

Of course, ours weren't the only cars there, but there were too many to post.  Here's a few of the coolest, though...

And again, most of these pics are by Travis.

Turbo Exocet

LS3 NB on 275 Hoosiers

Miata powered/chassis Seven (almost entirely handbuilt!!)

And of course, the FM stable, including Keith's Targa Miata...

There were also a few 'interesting' moments, though I failed to participate (this year)!

Even Keith took a run at the shrubbery this year, a very rare event!

In the end, nothing damaged but egos, so all in good fun! 

We skipped the Sunday drive to take a side trip to Vail.  We strolled the art exhibits, paid too much for a decent Calzone with indifferent service, and rode the gondola to the top of the resort.  Up there the views were pretty darn nice...

On the way back down, I snapped a pic of the parking garage from the Gondola.  If you're not colorblind, you can probably pick out our Mustang! 

And that pretty much wraps up the Summer Camp coverage for 2018.  I still have some video, but my computer has decided not to play nice with it, so it won't get posted anytime soon.

Another long break... apologies.

Today, the NA came  out of the trailer for the first time since Summer Camp.  I had a couple of minor issues there that need to be corrected for the fall trackday season, but I've been busy with some other stuff, so I'm just now getting to it.  More on that in a bit.

I spent most of August getting ready for a little road trip that took most of September.   We took a few weeks off, and took off across the country to visit family in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.  Originally, we had planned to take the Mustang.  Then we decided to take the dog, so it was going to be the truck.  Then we decided to take the camper as well... no trailer this trip, though.

Here's the end result:

465 gallons of diesel!  Good news is the bigger fuel tank worked out great, giving us all kinds of flexibility in our fuel stops.  The truck ran like a champ, and never missed a beat.  We split our stops between a few small-town RV parks, and the WalMart resort.

The dog did great, considering it was her first road trip, though at times she really wanted to be in the front seat with us...

She did get to play in dog parks in about 6 different states, and she and my sister's boxer became instant BFFs...

They played for hours, chasing each other around the yard and wrestling until they were so tired they couldn't even stand.

The rig parked at my in-laws' in PA...

All in all, a great trip!

And now it's time to get back to business...

So, the NA had two issues at Summer Camp:

One, I was still getting some weeping from the brake fittings...   I'll get to the brake lines in a bit.

Two, I was getting a mysterious misting of coolant onto the header.  I had noticed this previously, but thought it was the rubber hose connecting the re-route thermostat housing at the rear of the head to the hard pipe that runs into the mixing manifold.   I had tightened the hose clamps, and it appeared to go away, but came back at Summer Camp.  Looking more carefully, it appeared a freeze plug was weeping.  

So today, it came out of the trailer and went up on stands.  Before getting into the above problems, I pulled the wheels and washed off the brake dust and dirt.  I also took a look around the underside, part of my routine post-event inspection.  First thing I found was this:

So much for the fancy poly exhaust hangers.    Guess I'm going back to rubber hangers...

Everything else looked good, except for a couple of brake fittings still weeping.

Next, I pulled the exhaust and header, so I could get a good look at the side of the block... and I couldn't find any source of a coolant leak... 

There's really a lot of  in this post... 

On the good side of things, tire wear looked nice an even on the Rivals, though I think I still need to try dropping the pressure a bit more.

Oh, Mustang tires are huge compared to Miata tires...

Tires were off the Mustang since it got new Michelins today ($$ ).  Rear Pirellis still had some tread, so they're going on CL.

Back to the NA, tomorrow I'm planning to pick up a coolant system pressure tester so I can try to localize my leak and fix it.  I also picked up a tubing flaring tool, and I'm going to redo some of the brake lines to tidy things up, and hopefully eliminate the leaks there as well.  Have a track day later this month in Phoenix, so the race is on to get the car ready.  My wife really wants to track the Mustang, so the pressure's on... 

I think I figured out my mystery leak...

When I pulled the master cylinder, I discovered the reservoir for the front circuit was leaking.  It was, in fact, split along the joining line for the upper and lower half of the reservoir.

What I believe was happening was the fluid was leaking out of the reservoir on hard left corners.  Data from my lap timer shows sustained 1.1-1.2g cornering, and I'm starting to think the fluid was 'flinging' from the reservoir onto the header, as indicated by the green lines below.  Second pic is an old pic with the stock m/c, but shows what I think was going on...

This correlates with the symptoms, where the fluid was only appearing on the track, not on the street.  Fluid was also leaking onto the 'shelf' under the m/c, and flowing along the m/c onto the booster.  After having everything apart, and even pressure testing the cooling system (no leaks), this is the only explanation I can come up with.

I perused the Wilwood website, and some vendor websites, and discovered there's a one piece reservoir available as a replacement, but there was some disagreement as to the correct cap.  Vendors' site gave one part number, Wilwood's site another, and the Wilwood tech guy a third (which part wasn't even on their website!).  After some headscratching, parts are on order...  If it all works out, I'll pick up a second set for when the other reservoir fails...

I'm also fabricating a mount for the 'T' fitting and proportioning valve.  I was in a hurry for the initial installation, and it was driving my OCD nuts.  I'm also going to fabricate new lines from the m/c to the fittings to tidy things up.  Hopefully, everything will arrive by the weekend so I can get working on it.

Reservoirs are in...

Old style 2pc on the left, new style one piece on the right.  Same mounting flange, so the new style should be a direct replacement, and have one less failure point.   I bought one of each, just in case...

Fabbed up a bracket to hold the 'T' fitting for the front lines and the proportioning valve today.  Not my best TIG work, but it's not coming apart.   And of course I ran out of gas in the middle of  things....  Seems like every project entails a run to the welding shop.  

Concurrent to the brake project is a modification to the coolant line that runs from the mixing manifold to the rear of  the engine.  Stock, it connects to the heater core, but since I have no heater core, mine connects directly to a thermostat housing at the rear of the head which is part of the 'coolant re-route' typically done on a track Miata.  Because of the orientation of the outlets, I was stuck with a big loop of hose to make the 180* turn between them.

Among the parts I picked up at FM this summer were some various extra coolant pipes so I could section them and come up with a better routing solution.  Here's the stock pipe, with the modified pipe mocked up.

In position...

The new routing should allow me to find a molded coolant hose with a 90* bend that will fit right in, eliminating the big loop of hose.  Hope to get that welded up tomorrow.  

Also working on the master cylinder tomorrow, and starting to fab up some brake lines.

I  LOVE LOVE your truck. Even though I have no need for 4 doors duallys, but it SO sexy

Thanks!  It's a pretty nice place to spend time...  and we do spend a bit of time in it!

More fab work today.

I finished the coolant hard line...

Modified on top, stock on bottom:

In position:

It was a real PITA to weld, between the plating and coolant contamination.  Even after grinding off the plating and rigorous, multiple cleanings it still wanted to contaminate the welds.  Took a lot of patience and slow going!

I found a hose at the local O'Reillys (Gates 19048, if anyone cares) that fit and had a molded 90*.

After an amputation, it's ready to go.

I capped one end of the pipe and filled it with water to double check for an pinholes I may have missed, I'll let it sit overnight just to be sure.  The wife is off for Bunco night with the girls, so I'll be headed back to the garage to start bending brake line...

I registered for the trackday next weekend, so I'm committed...

Also going to take the Mustang, so it will be its first trip to the track.  Bought HPDE insurance to the tune of $191...