joesurf79

Pound you too ? Huh.

^^This. Car Control, Car situational awareness, Awareness of others on track, anticipation / planning what you want to happen, then knowing how to make the car do that, and adjusting as the situation changes real-time. All those skills matter more than lap times w.r.t. "run group progression". It takes time to get the mental database built to do that. And the wide variance in groups is in part because of the Humans in the loop. As standard as Rick would like to make the criteria for progression, it comes to a Human's subjective application of those objective criteria. Some "move up" sooner than they should, others should have been moved up but cant for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they just want to stay in a group where their friends are.

Thanks! I'm kinda partial to it after three years of working on it. Sometimes I even make something better instead of worse haha! You'll have no problem with that - it's only a 2.0L ;0 Snag a ride while we're out there! I'll be at the TDE MSRH event coming up 9/14-15 as well.

So how comprehensive are the wiring instructions that come with these ECU kits for swaps like this? Is it plug and play to get the engine to run? Car doesn't have cruise or ABS, all I really need for functionality is a speedo, tach and the other gauges I can plumb / wire. I'm becoming more interested in a K swap in the not-too-distant future to make my Miata more fun with more whp reliably. I just hate am intimidated by the wiring portion of the program...

Yeah, i meant to put 4.3 in the title. Unless i can snag a 6 spd to go with The 3.90 too...

That once seems to be gone anyway now. Anyone else out there have one?

Thanks Matt! I'll have to have my wife look when I get home - I don't have facebook haha!

Have a spare NB Miata Torsen diff 3rd member hanging around that 1) isn't broken 2) you'd like to part with, please hit me up! Thanks! Joe V

You think Cayman vs 911 guys sucks, try being BRZ vs anyone guy! They're great cars, but...oh wait...you did have one haha! 😉 Also - that car looks dead sexy! Congrats

So it turns out that the disconcerting thumping that I have lived with for the past month WAS the diff hitting the underside of the car when going over bumps of just the right size at just the right speed...The noise sounded like something heavy hitting the underside of the car somewhere with some oomphf! It had been getting progressively worse since I had the motor out and put it back, so I spent Saturday night and Sunday morning pulling the diff, knocking out the old bushing remains from the housing and slapping in some urethane Energy Suspension replacements. I suspected that the diff was hitting the underside of the car. When I got the diff down out of the car, I was 95 % sure my guess diagnosis was correct. There were a few witness marks where the diff had rubbed on the sheet metal, and some shiny spots on the top of the diff. The old bushings had broken down quite a bit, and I think jacking the car up by the diff as much as I have since I got it, just forced their hand. One was ripped 1/2 way through both of it's rubber "arms", and was crumbly. New bushings in, and the car is great again! There's one spot on the way to work about a mile form my house that would both cause the noise every time I drove over it. A right hand sweeping turn that has a nasty bump at entry and another about halfway through, that served as my test bed. I hit it 5 times in a row - just making laps over it progressively faster each time, giggling to myself maniacally. No more thump thump thump sound as the diff bounced off the underside of the car ahaha! There are two steel bushing retainer type plates that the Energy Suspension kit requires you to strip of their factory rubber parts and re-use. The look from my next door neighbor was priceless when they waved to me - Sitting on a bucket in the driveway, old MIG gloves on, ratty tshirt, ratty old workout shorts, propane torch in one hand, vice grips holding the steel bushing being de-rubbered in the other. Full-on caustic smoke motorsports smores being made and me beaming through it all - happy as a lark with the knowledge that my commute will likely now be 50% less likely to kill me when the diff drops out :)

During the summer I measure the severity of heat during the day by the number of shirts I sweat through in the garage. Not get sweaty, but literally saturate to the point that I can wring them out :( Also OP - that is a sweet looking Miata you have there!

I just thought I was posting a funny picture of a truck pulling weight outside it's realistic capability - this has been informative!

Ordering when I get home. Drooling at the chance to ruin some aluminum. I mean practice welding aluminum... MKarr or Nix - either of you have any experience with the fingertip control pressure pads for tig torches? Seemed like an interesting concept, but the foot pedal it comes with is free so I'll use that to start.

Totally off topic, but AHPs site has the Alpha TIG 201xd for $690...how do I pass on that? I can't...and thus I'll be able to create some rad stuff (after a steep learning curve and lots of ruined electrodes) of my own out of aluminum and stainless!