The Miata experience: his and hers.

In reply to adam525i :

The M54B30 was my first thought, actually.  S52 power levels, aluminum block, cheaper...  but requires all the extra work that an S54 would.

After doing the research and thinking about it quite a bit, the S52 is just a lot less work.  I don't really want another long, involved swap project right now.  And the S52 has that 'X' factor of the factory E36 M Touring that could have been, but never was...

We'll see... it's all just BSing until I actually buy an engine. 

Too many posts without pics, so here's a random Touring pic...

Merry Christmas everyone!

In reply to adam525i :

I made 240 hp to the wheels on my last S52 with just simple bolt ons.   Intake, tune, euro headers, cats and an exhaust.

docwyte said:

I made 240 hp to the wheels on my last S52 with just simple bolt ons.   Intake, tune, euro headers, cats and an exhaust.

And I'm not really looking for more than that... 

Nice day yesterday at Podium Club in Casa Grande with PCA AZ.  First time running the track CW, and my wife's first time there. 

More later, but here's the fast lap of the day....

We couldn't have asked for better weather, and although in the high 30's when we rolled into the pits before dawn, it warmed up quick and the high for the day was ~70*F.



We've always enjoyed running with the Porsche Club, and although they can be a little anal about some stuff, they run a good event.  My wife runs in the DE2 group and I run in DE3 or 4 depending on the schedule so we can avoid back to back sessions.  This time I was in DE3, and it was a big group, but it only turned out to be a problem in one session.  I had been to Podium Club in November running CCW, but this was my first time running CW.  IMHO the track flows better CW, and isn't quite as hard on the brakes as you come onto the straights from a slower turn and end them with faster turns.  I also really like tracks where straights lead into fast, technical turns.



First things first:  I swapped my brake pads back to R10/R8 and I'm happy with my brakes again.  The R12/R10 combo just had zero feel and no bite.  Maybe I just wasn't getting enough heat in them...??  Anyway, the R10/8 combo has great bite, great feel, easy modulation and no fade.  Running this track CW is not as punishing on the brakes as CCW, but I had no issues so I'm sticking with R10/8 for now.  One of these days I'll give G-Loc a call and see what they have to say about these two pad combos...

I started the day on Kumho V730s.  The first session was pretty slidey with temps starting out in the low 50s.  Best lap was a 1:47.5, which I considered a good start, with my goal being mid - 45s.  Traffic wasn't bad, but there were several spins, and a bunch of dirt got strewn on the track in the esses.  It became apparent pretty quickly that there were 3-4 of us that had considerably more pace than the rest of the group... me and 3 Caymans, 2 of them GT4s.  The P cars had more on the straights, but I had the advantage in the corners.   I also found out my Sim practice had my gearing expectations way off...  I was going through most corners a gear higher than I had on the Sim.  Sim practice is a good thing, but it's not always perfect.

Second session, the track was warming up, and once traffic sorted itself out I started working on making time.  Everything was coming together and I came off with a best lap at 1:46.02... at least I thought I did.  I was checking 'best lap' on my dash, and not downloading data between sessions.  Apparently I didn't look after my last 'hot' lap, because I discovered I had run a 1:45.61 after I downloaded data at home.  Still, I was happy with the :46 at the time, and the car was running great.

I swapped to Toyo RRs for the third session.  I figured they should be good for a bit more than the V730s.  Unfortunately, everything went to hell in the third session... traffic. 



I noted above that PCA can be a bit anal... one of those things is point-bys are required to pass in every group.  It's not a problem, 'till you get 'that guy'.  I got stuck behind a GT4 coming out of the grid, and he was 3-4 seconds slower, but of course faster on the straight.   He would pull on the straight, and then I'd be on his bumper for the next corner....  shiny happy person would not point me by... 

End of the back straight...


Top of the Esses...


I kept thinking of this... 


After a few laps, we had a gap behind us, so I gave him almost the full length of the straight to try to get a lap without catching him.  But we caught slow traffic, and it was a conga line from there so I pulled off.  Best for the session was a 1:48.  Normally I would pull through the hot pit in this situation, but they way they were set up, you had to come off track, go all they way back into grid, and then back out... no straight through hot pit, so I'd lose at least 2-3 minutes of the session.  Fortunately, D-bag put his car on the trailer after that session...

I managed to grid up to be first out for the final session...  and never saw anyone in my mirrors.  Only had to pass one car, the NB in the video above, and he was courteous.  The RRs definitely felt better, and inspired more confidence in several places on track.  Came in with a best of 1:45.1... should have been ~ 44.8, but I screwed up the end of the esses.  I pushed my braking point a little too far at the end of the straight on the next lap and ended up running off to avoid a spin and decided that was enough for the day.  

All in all, a very good day.  I'm happy with the results, and got some good data to compare the V730 and RRs.  I really think I could have hit .44s if I'd had some clear laps in the 3rd session and that's a bit irritating, but what can you do?

Data download coming...

Spent a few days digging through the data, and I'm not seeing much in the way of surprises.  Temps and pressures are good all 'round.  IATs are consistently right at ambient.

I did note about a 3 mph drop in terminal speeds on the front straight as the temps rose throughout the day, with max speeds dropping from 122 to 119 over a 15*F rise in temps.  

I was able to get a good look at comparing Kumho V730 to Toyo RR...  The Toyos felt like they had a lot more grip, and inspired more confidence all they way through the corner.  The objective difference in grip was actually pretty small, but noticeable on the data trace.  The result was more speed in the corners, and a better lap time.  This screen shot shows T3 with the red trace being Toyos (1:45.1) and the blue trace Kumhos (1:45.6).  I actually screwed up the esses pretty significantly on the Toyo lap, which would likely have been ~1:44.6 if I'd got it right.



I'm just starting to get a handle on using data, and being able to correlate what I'm seeing with what I was doing and feeling on track.  The next step is to start pulling data between sessions, and try to apply what I'm seeing to the next session.

Credit to Clay Lyons @shopclassagency... didn't even know he was taking pics in the paddock until later.

Here's some old fart looking at his dash while the car warms up in the pre-dawn, 35*F paddock...

On grid

Moar pics...

The new Hotness has arrived...  Nankang CR-S V2

Going from 225s on 9s (Toyo RR on 6UL) to 245s on 9.5s (CR-S on 6UL) will add almost 4lbs per corner, and some drag/rolling resistance. Hopefully the grip will overcome, but that's why I held off on 245s prior to the K swap.

225 on 9


245 on 9.5


Some pics on the car... 245s are wide! Car is probably sitting a bit high... just jacked it up and bolted on the wheels... didn't drive it. Flat fender roll, no pull.

Yesterday was AutoX day, and since we haven't been able to get back to the track we took both Miatas so I could try out the Nankang CRS tires on the NA.

The NA was ready to rumble...

It was a good turnout, with 38 drivers.  My wife drove our NC, and I drove the NA.

I didn't get a lot of pictures... my wife and I were both driving in the morning group, and both working in the afternoon group.  It's a drive/work event, so when you're not driving, you're working.   Makes it hard to play photog.  Some one did get a pic of the NA at the starting line.

Even though I don't consider myself an autocrosser, and the car isn't optimized for it, I can be pretty competitive.  LOL.  The afternoon group is always faster.  The morning group cleans the dust off, lays down some rubber, and the concrete warms through the day.  My problem is with two bad ankles, a bad knee and bad back, I'm pretty much done after chasing cones for 2.5-3hrs and my driving suffers.  So, I just run the morning group and live with it.   This month, I was having trouble with the course, and it didn't 'click' until my very last run.  I was stoked that run was FTD... for about 5 minutes.  The CAM-S C5 in the morning group clipped me by .09 seconds on the last run.  In the afternoon group, the same C5 pushed FTD out to a full second faster with the other driver, and I finished 6th overall for the day.  Still very happy with that.  One of these days I'll try binging some ibuprofen, guzzle an energy drink and try the afternoon run group.... 

Nankang CRS...  like them a lot.  Our pad is not very grippy, but the CRS were a definite improvement over the V730s I ran last time at AutoX.  Predictable at the limit, and easy to gather up if you go over the limit.  Looking forward to trying them out on track.

I wanted to get some video, and I tried manually starting my AiM camera, but apparently the auto-start parameters I have programmed for track use were interfering and re-starting the camera a few seconds into the runs.  It looks like I'm going to have to set up a full config file specifically for AutoX with a manual start and no track map, as it also defaults to the last one displayed in the overlay.  Anyway, here's my fast run of the day...  I got a bit excited when I saw the time.  

Where was that AutoX? I'm missing this month's PCA AutoX at AMP but plan on trying to make next month with my C7. 

My project NB -- the en fuego one from last year -- has its engine out and I just pulled a mostly-decent donor engine and am hoping to have it back on track by this autumn's track season. I've not run at Atessa yet, but with the news about AMP it sounds like that's where everyone will be going.

In reply to brandonsmash :

We're in Sierra Vista.

Podium Club is a fun track, much more interesting to drive than AMP, and a good hour+ closer for us now that we're down South.  The only drawback is the paddock layout isn't great, but I'm hoping it will improve when the new section gets paved (it may already be done).

For us, not being able to camp in the paddock at AMP makes going there a hassle and creates extra expense, unless I suck it up and do nearly 8 hours of driving there/back in one day.  With AMP reportedly sold, I think we've probably done our last day there.

A shop out of Tucson is headlining a "Time Attack" day at INDE in May... I'm still trying to get details on the event.  What little has been posted is here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1674197250146746/?active_tab=discussion

Ah, I didn't realize you were down south. Did we meet at an event last year, or was that someone else? 

I've heard great things about Inde but haven't been down there yet because of the drive. 

I don't think we've actually met, other than here and MT.net... 

INDE is a great track, best in AZ, IMHO.  It's worth the drive.

My bad back doesn't allow me to shag cones at all.  The most recent auto-xing for me I was in the trailer helping with timing, at least I could sit down then.

Well here we are a month later...  not much going on.  We took a road trip to NOLA last month, fun, but we both got sick which was really fun for the drive home.  Especially since we drove home through the big freeze in February.  7 degrees and snowing when we left our overnight in Texas!

Anyway, still waiting impatiently for FM to release the NC turbo kit and other than that not much car work going on.  I am doing a service on the RV genset, which is loads of fun...

Fortunately, it's on a slideout, but there's still a good bit of disassembly of the sound insulated box to get to everything.

New oil/filter, air filter, fuel filter and coolant.  Also replaced the temperature sensor as we had an 'over temp' shutdown last time out, and I believe the sensor was the issue, as they have a reputation for getting dodgy with age.  I couldn't find any indication that it was actually running hot, and everything else was in good shape.

Local monthly AutoX yesterday... wife drove the NC, I decided to take the Touring just for giggles.  It did surprisingly well, but was hindered by 560TW tires and shocks that are due for replacement.

Sorry for the hazy pics... I think there was something on my phone's camera lens.  I wanted to take a real camera, but the logistics are tough with both of us driving.

I need to get the rest of the suspension parts for the Touring ordered, but I've been holding off with the FM NC Turbo kit due to release any day...

Cold and rainy at the local CnC this morning, but some intrepid Euro cars showed up... 

A local acquaintance put up some YT video from our local AutoX last week, and had about 5 seconds of the Touring, credit to https://www.youtube.com/@LocalLosers520/videos

Here's a couple of screen grabs... Rock n Roll!! 

In reply to Rodan :

Love the name of the channel. 

Yesterday I took the NA to a local track, Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson, AZ.  It's primarily a kart track, and .78 mile.  It's reportedly built to "replicate" the Suzuka South Circuit in Japan.  Yeah... not so sure about that.  Before we moved to Southern AZ, this track was a 4hr drive, and we never went there.  Now that it's an hour away, I thought it was worth giving it a try. 

This was basically an open test day.  For most of the day it was just me, and half a dozen drifters.  The drifters got 20 minutes, then I got 20 minutes.  Eventually a Panoz Esperante race car showed up and ran some laps with me.  The track is basically like a long AutoX course, with a couple of longer straights.  4 corners have minimum speeds under 30mph.  3 corners are very tight 2nd gear corners that really don't help the flow of the course.  Grip was OK when the drifters weren't throwing dirt all over the track.  My gearing wasn't a good fit for the track... I ended up running most of it in 3rd, with a shift to 4th on the main straight, and then an immediate downshift back to 3rd, then 2nd.

Most of the pits was dirt, but since there was no-one there, I used a wide spot in the paved road to park the car between sessions.  The drifters are over in the far corner.

I started out on 225 V730s, and then switched to 245 CR-S.  The CR-S were definitely an improvement, with lap times a little over 1.5 second faster.

At the end of my second session, I thought I broke the throttle cable... no drive, and no spring on the pedal.  Car was still idling, and fortunately it happend at the last corner before track exit, so I limped back to the pits.  This is what I found...

That's the throttle quadrant hanging by the throttle cable under the throttle body shaft....  The vibes of the K24 finally caught up with me.

The KPower throttle body uses an adapter that bolts to the throttle shaft and then the quadrant bolts to the adapter.  The throttle shaft bolt is sandwiched between the two, and is apparently able to rotate within the assembly, which it did, until it ran out of threads and came off.  Fortunately, since it's captured, it remained with the quadrant.

Since this part came assembled, I neglected to loctite that particular nut... that will be corrected.

I was able to get everything back together and head back out on track.  Best time of the day was 1:00.24, which was faster than the Panoz, but I don't really have anything else to compare it to.  I'll ask some of the local AutoXers who've run here before.

All in all, I was hoping to like the track.  It's close, they're open 3 days a week for 'test' days, and they have a Time Attack once a month.  Unfortunately, I really didn't.  It just felt really 'stop and go' to me, with no real rhythm... it just doesn't flow.  Maybe a gearing change will help...?  I don't know.  

Anyway, fast lap of the day:

With a clutch swap upcoming in the NC, picked up a new tool for the shop.  While the low jack on the fabrication table worked last time, it wasn't ideal.  We'll see how this Amazon special works...