The Miata experience: his and hers.

Nice work on the tombstone replacement, the interior is really coming together!

Thanks!  Not much 'interior' left at this point... 

Cleaned the necessary spots down to bare metal, ready for tack welding, but don't have time to get that done today...  also need to find my welding blanket.  Not sure where I put it.

Got the panel mount fitted up and tacked in.  Also got the cutoff switch mount tacked in.  Should be able to get everything welded in the morning before work.

Welding done, including the 'feet' to mount the fire system bottle, and some primer squirted on...

Trying to get some paint on before I have to run out for some errands before work.

This is one of the reasons I chose to rattle can the cage/interior as opposed to a 'proper' paint job.... much easier to make minor modifications and repaint piecemeal. 

Rodan said:

Thanks!  Not much 'interior' left at this point... 

True, but what's there looks purposeful and finished, which is miles ahead of a lot of track cars.

In reply to cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks.  I do admit to being a bit OCD in that regard, and having walked up to more than a few cars at the track and had a "YIKES!" reaction.  

A little more progress.  Started fitting stuff into the center panel, mounted the fire bottle, and ran a few of the battery cables.  Everything is just kind of laying there for now, it'll be tidied up when everything is in and I add cable mounts.  One thing I don't really like about the cutoff switches is they send the cables off in every direction.  If the posts were staggered in height, it would be a lot cleaner.

Spent most of the day getting the wiring done.  Car runs, cutoff switches work.  Dash back in.

I did not wire in the Longacre ignition switch/ start button.  I got to looking at the large gauge wires running to the factory switch and decided I needed to do a little more research before taking that plunge.   May end up using a couple of relays...  Also have some vinyl labels coming for the cutoff switches and fire pulls.

Working on the tubing/nozzles for the fire system tomorrow...

Buttoned everything up today so I can hit the local C&C in the morning.

Have some sleeve that will go around the cables, but it didn't get here 'till late this afternoon so I'll get it in later.

Two nozzles aimed at the driver, and three under the hood.  One aimed at where the turbo will be, one at the fuel rail, and one at the fuel lines on the passenger side.

Got a front-row seat at the local C&C this morning.

Some other stuff of interest...

3 red mid engines...

A couple of rear engines...

Though one was an oddity...

Speaking of oddities, I'd pay money to watch this guy try to get that rig up a wet boat ramp...

Final touch on the fire system safety pin.  Cliche, but just about required... 

Got the vinyl in to label stuff...

Need to finish up a few details, and do a pre-event inspection, but I think we're ready to go for our next event in two weeks.

Back in July I posted about our trailer getting blasted by a hailstorm.  After a long, drawn out battle with insurance, everything is finally settled.  The trailer was declared a total loss, and I bought it back as salvage.  Since the damage was almost entirely cosmetic, I came out pretty good financially, but now I have an ugly trailer.  I'm almost two months out from the first appointment I could get with our motor vehicle department to get it inspected for a "restored" title, but the trailer needs to get back to work before then.

One of the things that did get damaged by the hail was the roof vent.  Over the weekend, I brought the trailer home to replace it.  I had purchased a "Fan-tastic Vent" early on (when I thought the trailer would be repaired), but didn't want to install it until I knew what the fate of the trailer was going to be.

Didn't take many pics (forgot the phone when I got up on the roof), but got the original vent off without any trouble, and it went straight in the trash.

Got the new vent in... it's a good thing these vents are standard sizes... and got the interior garnish trimmed to fit the roof thickness.

Waiting on some sealant so I can finish the job.

Finished the vent replacement on the trailer.

Got the NA loaded, and the trailer off to the storage yard.  Hopefully I don't get a nastygram from the Town code enforcers for having it in my driveway for a week... 

Ready for our next event next weekend... I think.

The other day I swapped the winter tires back on the NB.  I installed brand new (reman) calipers 6 months ago, and this is how they look now...

Guess I'm going to be painting those in the spring...

Washed the truck/camper.  I thought this was a big job doing just the truck... ugh.

Had another great weekend with PCA at INDE Motorsports Ranch in Willcox, AZ!  

Weather was about as close to perfect as you can get (perfect outside the car, but 10 deg cooler would have been nice on track), car ran great all weekend, drivers were (mostly) courteous on-track, and set a new personal best.

We got an early start Friday for the 300 mile drive to the track so we could miss traffic times through Phoenix and Tucson, and get there early so we wouldn't be rushed unloading the car for early tech on Friday afternoon.  We weren't the first in the pits but, close.  Got the car unloaded, tech'd and proceeded to relax for the rest of the evening.

Up early on Saturday to take some pics by dawn's early light before the paddock filled up.  I really love being able to wake up in the paddock and enjoy a cup of coffee while everyone else is driving in.  

Had a great day on Saturday, beating my previous best lap in the first session, and whittling that down through the day to a full second better than previously.  I know I'm still leaving 2-3 seconds on the table with the new aero, but just as I was really getting there the day was over.  Unfortunately, we ran the track the opposite direction on Sunday, so I ran out of time to work on it.

They had a pro photographer out there, so hopefully he got some good pics of the car.  Also have video to go through, and some data to sort.  The video was having issues AGAIN... not sure what I'm going to do about that, but it's getting irritating.

Got some pro pics... 

Still trying to find time to edit video...

Hope everyone is finding some good Black Friday deals...  I went a little overboard.  

Finally real data acquisition for the NA...  I stumbled across a combined solution for data/dash/video that didn't cost more than another Miata, and had an even better sale price.  Don't want to plug too much until I can actually try it out, but it looks like a winner...

For the NB...

I've been a little worried about the future availability of these with the EPA on the rampage, so I'll tuck it away until the NB is ready for it.

On another note, the NB is scheduled to go in for paint the first week in January.

This is the current plan... kind of cool to be able to play with ideas in Forza.  

In reply to Rodan :

Man I like that. A lot. I may have to steal that for my white Colorado. 

Thanks.  It's one of only a few of my ideas that my wife was OK with... likewise me with some of hers...

Did some little jobs on the NB today.  But first was its last trip (hopefully!) to C&C with the ugly paint.

Some cool stuff was there today, including this Delta Integrale...

And this Datsun... would look right at home in Japan...

There was also a Ferrari 488 Pista, which I apparently forgot to take a picture of.  I didn't know what it was and had to look it up when I got home.  Limited edition 488 with 700+ horsepower...

Same guy had his whole family driving cars there.  Also brought a Ford GT with twin turbos, a 993 Turbo and a GT4.  Whatever he's doing, he must be doing it right...

On to the NB...  first up was rolling the fenders, something it doesn't really need right now, but I wanted to do it before the car goes in for paint.  Pretty easy job with my Eastwood roller.

I hit gold when this 10mm socket fell out from behind the fender liner...  not one of mine, so it's been in there a while.

Next up was fixing an intermittent speedometer, which was entirely my fault.  When I swapped the drivetrain into this car, I was lazy and just kind of pushed the vehicle speed sensor wire into the appropriate slot in the connector on the back of the dash.  It was losing contact over bumps, and when it did the speedo would go dead.  I pulled the connector, and stole the pin from the automatic transmission module wire (since it no longer has an automatic transmission module), and used that for the vehicle speed sensor signal.

Last up was to swap in the 5 speed MiataRoadster shifter that was a hand me down from the track car.  It got a 6 speed version when it got the transmission swap.

I've got a few more things to do before I start pulling it apart for paint.  If I can find the time...

More NB things...

When I did the motor swap/manual conversion on the NB, I left the open 3.90 diff in the car, thinking swapping in the 4.10 Torsen wasn't worth the effort at the time.  I've since swapped the 4.10 back into the NA, since the 4.30 was just a little too steep with the 6 speed transmission.  Which leaves the 4.30 Torsen available...  should be great in the NB with the 5 speed.

Got the original diff out this afternoon, will finish up tomorrow.

I really have to get one of those MiataRoad$ter shifters. 

Worth it?

In reply to cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) :

That's a good question... 

The MR shifter is definitely not cheap.  I probably would not have bought one for the NB if I didn't already have it from when the 5 speed was in the NA.  IMHO it does more for the 6 speed than the 5 speed, but it does improve the 5 speed.

What I really like is the longer arm that puts the shifter close to the wheel.