1995 Miata Black and Boosted

[IanIsInGarage]

So in building my NB for more track days I had a crisis of judgement and grabbed this AMAZING deal. Purchased off second owner, first owner kept it 1995-2017 and put 55k miles with zero sun damage on paint.  Second owner grabbed it and put $26k in parts; took a job overseas and during selling it car started stalling on people. He dropped price massively. I snagged it and fixed this issue with crank angle sensor cable.  Mod list! PS my NB is sold already to friend.

ATI DAMPER PULLEY KIT

FM Turbo Kit

Turbo Heat Sheild

Mac boost solenoid

Injectors 1050cc

Flyin Miata Big Flex fuel kit

Trackspeed fuel pump rewire

Big spark kit without coils

ls3 coils

FM Happy Meal Clutch

Poly Diff Bushing

Cipher steering wheel

FM Radiator

QMax reroute

FM Stage 1 Airflow

Singular Hood Louvers

FM 3 in exhaust

FM Big brake kit

Hard dog sport roll bar

Advanti Storm wheel

AWR Poly Engine Mount

 

 

[IanIsInGarage]

And so far i've had to rewire and do heat management on a lot of wires. Cheapie heads up heater hose makes great cheap heat protection for wires.  It's rated for 500F and to my surprise on car that burned down recently not one heater hose failed even after being massively charred. So I split hose in half to make it easy to put over wire and choose a heater hose size that will create a air gap inside hose for wires.   Scheduled Wed to check 93 tune and tune on E85.  Currently 240hp at 11.4psi; looking for same on E85 but get some cooling benefits and knock protection.  SUMMIT HAS BEST PRICING ON JUGS  hehe.

 

 

[tyhackman15]

Glad to see this went to a good home.  If it was in Austin I would have snagged it.  Had an exact twin to that car, black '95 FM2 kit.  Throw some XIDAs on there and you'll have a blast. 

[IanIsInGarage]

I already own a set of Ohlins DFV and will be swapping it over to this car. Just life has been killing me and my side business on cars is bursting with to do's.  

[robertcope]

I approve of this! Looks like a lot of fun.

[IanIsInGarage]

Picked up my car after I got it tuned on E85. Here's the results!

 

 

[IanIsInGarage]

I'm being punished I swear. Go to swap Ohlin's over to the NA and the lower strut bolt on front passenger corner took 2 hours to remove. Bolt got seized in sleeve. Had to remove both control arms and put on bench. Grinded away the sleeve and finally removed the damn strut. Looking over the control arms and their all rusty and just not in the kind of shape I think restoring them will benefit me greatly. So I'm ordering new front upper and lower control arms; then immediately swapping the bushings for my upgraded bushings.  Also picked up Harbor Freight cordless earthquake 1200 ft lb 1/2 impact to replace my 10 yr old Chicago electric 220 ft lb model. WOW Did fantastic on removing rusted bolts. 

[skillman11]

Was it the 1200XT impact? If you want to know everything about it here is the scoop from one of my my favorite YouTubers:

 

BOLTR: Harbor Freight Earthquake XT | SKOOKUM?!

 

It was good talking with you at CotA yesterday, hope to see you on the track soon!

 

[RBH]

That looks like a sweet ride 👍

[IanIsInGarage]

Finally delivered a S2000 track build back to client and back to NA project. So far I've done one corner upper and lower bushings replaced.  Having all the tools makes this go by so fast.  I remember all that money I spent at Harbor Freight when I did S2000 bushings and now those tools are paying me back.  I'm very undecided on what paint for upper and lower control arms after I get them cleaned up.  My only thing is it needs to not be black to show grease/scraps easier.  Thinking it's either Red, Purple or Silver.

[IanIsInGarage]

I don't think a grinder with wire wheel was the ideal method for rust removal/prep. Did the job, but took longer than I wanted. Any other idea's other than air tools let me know. Decided on Ford Red.

[V6Donut]

Looks like a lot of fun! Are you planning on tracking this? 

[IanIsInGarage]

It's sole purpose 🙂  .  Need to get all the sensors hooked up and then start monitoring temps to gauge how big of a oil cooler i'll need.

[IanIsInGarage]

Yesterday was 6 hours getting everything installed and 4 hours fighting alignment. The Paco hub stands are worth the money and I am in love with aligning a car myself. Ease of alignment is amazing. Now the Paco locking eccentric lock washers are not working for me.  The instructions say to not install lock washer, set alignment and then remove nut and install lock washer. I'm unable to get the alignment I want with washers.  The eccentric works with washers on both sides. I'm unable to put lock washer on and retain alignment settings.  Also it's limiting my range of adjustment it seems from when I have lock installed and when I don't.  So here she sits, dead until OE washers can be sourced.

[Shuka]

The hub stands are great! But a little sketchy to use on scales (no good way to drop them on the pads short of having a lift.) They also don't like textured epoxy garage floors.

For the locking eccentrics, you need to work them with the alignment as you do it. I would definitely not try to get everything set up then put the locking ones on, since it will just pop out of alignment when you do. It's kind of a struggle sometimes since you don't have both eccentrics working for you to adjust the arms into position. I found sometimes I have to use a small pry bar or beam clamp between the control arm and subframe to move the alignment bolt into position and get the locking eccentric on. I end up setting the locking eccentric at a position, installing it, checking alignment, try the next position, and repeat until it's where I want it or close. It can be a pretty good fight if there's a lot of stress on the bushing from the other eccentric.

Because you only have so many teeth on the locking eccentrics you can't get it quite *perfect* so expect a compromise, especially in the rear. However, to me it's better to have a 0.25* difference in camber between wheels than a bolt squirming out of position during a track weekend. 

BTW I highly recommend the Paco rear upper arms, provided you can run them in whatever class you're targeting. You can adjust camber independently on the rear wheels instead of chasing it as a function of toe and thrust angle.

[skillman11]

On 8/7/2019 at 6:56 PM, IanIsInGarage said:

I don't think a grinder with wire wheel was the ideal method for rust removal/prep. Did the job, but took longer than I wanted. Any other idea's other than air tools let me know. Decided on Ford Red.

Even though it is too late for this cleanup, I use Ospho to remove rust and prep

Ospho Amazon

[IanIsInGarage]

Next time I'll try that. In past I used Por15. Then I grew to HATE Por15.  I hope to never redo this current setup though.

[IanIsInGarage]

Little updates. Drove the car at Harris Hill Raceway and discovered cooling was no where near adequate for track duty. Picked up a Flyin Miata V1 under body brace with butterfly. I ended up destroying my Hydra ECU patch harness. During downtime battled mentally for what seemed like a month on oil cooler kit I wanted; decided on Track Dog Racing's kit; which bonus points I live 5 miles from those great guys. Skip forward a month and harness is replaced, oil cooler kit installed/modified. Unfortunately I wasn't able to bring Miata to my race track wedding; but driving off in a Lambo was almost as cool. The boosted Miata is back though, and I've promised again to her I wouldn't take her down for mods.

[IanIsInGarage]

Alright little update. Met Randy here in town and picked up 2x 5spd's and 1x torsen. Last night met up with a S2000 friend Louie so he could show me some good touge roads. After enlightening him on turbo miata's true mastery, corners; I think I saw part of his life flash before his eyes. Quickly popped hood to a turbo S2000 day sha vu; except this time without blown engine. Nice glowing manifold. Also I've lowered car 1in all the way around, still need to play with height before I finalize alignment.

After a spirited run at night. 44F outside.

New height. Need to remeasure, align blah blah.

[IanIsInGarage]

Alright I was able to kick some S2000's out of my garage for a hot weekend to take down Miata for upgrades. I replaced the missing driver A pillar with a treasure coast one. Replaced both door belts (trim) with treasure coast aftermarket ones and what a difference that makes on a car. Also installed K Miata reinforcement to rear diff and installed a locally sourced 4.1 Torsen Type I. Figured why not play with paint and restore at same time. The only big hold up was I stopped on 4 stripped diff 12mm bolts and after two nights rest I realized I was using 12 point sockets and hadn't tried a 6 point. On with the picture....

 

After all this I picked up enough acceleration that I finally think my Miata can pull on my Vette. First gear is till utterly hopeless. I really like the 5 speed, so I think i'll swap gears this upcoming summer and fix speedo to match.

[IanIsInGarage]

Great news. Armed with facemask's I showed up with a S2000 crew of friends for a Time Attack competition at Driveway Austin Motorsports on L1. I won most improved of day award. Super happy about that. First time I've really felt the Miata was dialed in. It was so hot my Defi ZD gauge kept shutting down. I kept jumping into friends S2000's with AC inbetween heats. Toyo R888r 225 tires did as I would expect and E85 kept car spooling smooth.

[IanIsInGarage]

Also I've been dying to compare my turbo powered Miata to other cars.

'04 S2000 with BC Cam and standalone ECU.  Pull about a cars length by 4th gear.

'20 Audi S7.  Pulled a car length by 3rd, but then Audi I could tell was reeling me in very slowly.

Newer Audi S5.  Pulled a car length by 3rd.

 

Also important to note, my C6 Corvette only get's street race invitations on highway, while Miata only gets race initiations from dig.  Wonder why hehe.  And to the full disclosure, all 3 of those S2000's above beat me at time attack. I was within a second of all but Cody in the yellow one. But Cody's on another level skill wise and project build.  I'm the mechanic for the black and yellow S2000's and both of them are going boosted next year. So not sure Miata's life after December, might be time to get a chassis that handles a little more speed and easily fits my 6ft 1in body.

[IanIsInGarage]

So I aligned my own car with Paco Motorsports hub stands. Second product from them I've not been happy with my purchase. I do think it's a good idea on hub stands and feel in better hands results would be far superior. I went to a Miata track alignment specialist; Texas Track Works. Here's where I landed.



Spent a weekend repainting my trailer. Tow rig in heat performed perfect and I loved being able to jump in truck idling with AC. Even though I was chugging water all day I got multiple migraines.



This event is my favorite all year around. Goes from 4pm to 11pm. Night is for experienced people only and late late most people are going home for bed. So night run is usually with only 2-3 other cars and you get to really hone your night driving skills. I ran on gopro 2:43.720. I was .2 seconds from one of my friends top times.



So next projects to help drop times are as follows.
1. Drop temps somehow just a little more; Lap 6 in day 95F I was getting coolant to 235F and Oil 275F. Need to think hard on which to increase cooling capacity on.
2. Get a proper driver seat so I stay planted.
3. Sway bars because stock didn't do great at COTA even with coilovers.
4. Possibly raise front as it was rubbing here and there. But I think sway bars may resolve this.

Day run.
https://youtu.be/KR4kQEawG-c

Night run and yes visibility is just like video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9W0sMuIUcg

I have some on track photos coming in next week or two.

[hornetball]

All I could see of your cooling was from the mod list posted above.  Based upon that:

1.  You absolutely need an oil cooler for track work.  You don't need one for the street.  Suggest a DIY approach and use minimum -10AN size hoses to preserve oil pressure.

2.  The "FM Stage 1" shroud and fans are probably helping you on the street but are hurting you on track.  Honestly, for track work, it's tough to beat a single OEM fan on the drivers side which will open up the rear of the radiator and let your hood vents work their magic.

This is the radiator/fan/oil cooler setup I've been running for 6 years.  August doesn't scare me!  However, I'm not boosted.  Cooling is a real challenge with that FMIC.

https://www.miataturbo.net/build-threads-57/hornetballs-build-2-meet-red-76869/page14/#post1149743

[cabowabo]

Note there you can run a smaller oil cooler if you give it fresh air vs mounting behind rad. Behind rad I think you have to size up by 50% or somewhere in there. Considering you likely need more capacity for boost vs us N/A plebs might help with packaging.

Also make sure ducting is on point, break out the tape to seal gaps and all that jazz.