Synchronicity!

Things were a little shaky at the autocross last weekend.  Played with tire pressures and shock settings, but never got things quite right and never felt like I was getting all I could out of the car.  In retrospect, looking at the event results, I guess I did okay.  At least I didn't get trounced by any other Miatas.  (in fact, only two "normal" cars with street tires were ahead of me by a mere 2/10ths, the rest were either all-wheel-drive turbo cars or on race tires)  I ended up with tire pressures of about 42 front and 36 rear (hot) and shocks set to a default 8/8 just because nothing else seemed to be working.

Yesterday, I went to Sebring for a Chin Motorsports track event.  I started off with my tire pressures right where I left them after the autocross and the shocks much stiffer. (3/5)  The car felt pretty good on the track, but had a very mild but consistent understeer issue.  My instructor suggested lowering the front tire pressures, which I did... and it helped a bit.  We even lowered them a little bit more later.  It took me a few laps to get used to the reduced crispness of running them lower, but maybe the grip was better.  (I may try bumping both the front AND rear up some next time... if I'm on the same tires)

All of that, and the mild understeer was still there.  What to do?  Adjust the shocks!  My instructor didn't mention this idea because he's a Spec Miata pilot (no shock adjustments on those car) and wasn't familiar with how to adjust shocks or what they could do to the balance of the car.  Fortunately, I knew what I needed to do.  One click softer on the front shocks.

It worked!  With the tires at 38 all around (hot) and the shocks at 4/5, the car handled wonderfully for the rest of the day!  And not just the suspension... everything!  All of the things I'd changed since the last track event in July came together:

The new rev limit (even though it was only about 700 rpm higher) allowed me to purposely rev as far as I wanted to... or carelessly rev as far as I needed to, and not once did I hit the rev limiter.  Banging the rev limiter is SUCH a distraction, I'm very happy with that change.

The Bipes timing controller allowed me to run static timing of 23 degrees (!) for much improved low-end torque.  It then magically retards the timing up to 12 degrees above about 4000 rpm based on air flow.  Worked like a charm with 93 octane.  Strong acceleration with no pinging.  All of the Spec Miata guys were envious, and I think the only Miatas that were able to out-accelerate me had turbos or superchargers.  (of course, there were Miatas that were walking all over me in the corners, so I slowed up in the straights and let them pass when they caught up) 

Some of my older mods helped, too.  The combination of the superlight flywheel and superlight wheels had a lot to do with the acceleration factor, I'm sure.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the car and I just might leave it alone and just enjoy it for a while!  (yeah, I know I probably won't)

- posted by loren @ 10:00 am

A Fresh Alignment!

I took the day off from work today and went over to Cars & Concepts in Tampa to have my buddy Dan align the car for me.  He did a ballasted alignment (That means that the car was aligned with the driver's weight.  Yes, it makes a difference.) using the most accurate ballast of me... ME.

Dan did a precise performance alignment on my Miata, and we experimented a little when he was done.  Before we took the car off of the rack, I had Dan hang on the front and then the back under the car, adding 200 pounds to each end of the suspension, while I noted the changes. Then I had him get in the passenger seat and noted the changes. Here are the results:

Front Camber:
-1.42 (w/ driver)
-1.56 (+200 on the front)
-1.7/-1.39 (+200 passenger)

Front Toe:
-.04 (w/driver)
-.09 (+200 on the front)
-.05/-.11 (+200 passenger)

Rear Camber:
-1.8 (w/ driver)
-2.0 (+200 on the rear)
-2.18/-1.88 (+200 passenger)

Rear Toe:
.06/.04 (w/ driver)
.06/.04 (+200 on the rear)
.06/.04 (+200 passenger)
Absolutely NO change, even when the suspension was bounced.

The only other thing of note is that I'm experimenting with a caster setting that's lower than I've ever used before.  I've gone as low as about 3.4 degrees in the past. (factory spec is about 4.5, but Miatas without power steering seem to work better with considerably less)  And as high as 7.5 once! (if you want your Miata to steer like a truck, you should try this, too)

I was aiming for 2.8, but it's hard to get even caster settings, and when Dan got an even 2.95 on each side I decided that it was good enough.  It's truly amazing how light the steering is now!  It's going to take some getting used to.  The "self-centering" is still there, it's just more subtle.

Can't wait to test out the new suspension and alignment at an autocross this Sunday!

- posted by loren @ 7:44 pm

Initial Review of the Tein Suspension

Since the install Saturday, I have been playing with the shock adjustments. First, I have to say that all of those Tein advocates were right... these are awesome shocks! I'm truly amazed at how different they are from my old Konis. And that's what I'm trying to figure out. I want to try to characterize just what it is that's different.

First off, yes, there is a bit more compression damping... but it doesn't seem like A LOT more, just some. The range of rebound damping adjustment seems to be far greater. I've sampled the mid-to-high range of them and they definitely get much firmer than the Konis ever did. I tried the lower 2/3 of the range and quickly found that I didn't like it, I'll probably never even bother trying them on full soft.

Just a recap of the car: '96 R with no swaybars, super-light wheels (6.5 pounds), and a new Tein SS suspension with 9kg front springs and 6kg rear springs set to 13" ride height. These shocks have 16-position damping adjustment. Here are some thoughts on various shock adjustments I've tried on the street so far (all shock settings are Front/Rear clicks from full stiff)

8/8 - This is where I started and I was really wowed by them. If they were non-adjustable, I'd have been happy right here. The increased compression damping over the Konis could immediately be felt in the steering response (and steering effort). The ride quality was amazingly better in spite of slightly stiffer springs. At these settings, the car just felt very "well damped". I still had body roll, but it was very well controlled and the car felt completely stable no matter what I did or what the road under it was like.

5/8 - I only had it set here for a quick drive. It sharpened the steering response and made smaller road imperfections more noticable. But, larger bumps and dips were still impressively damped.

0/0 (full stiff) - What the heck, I figured I'd try full stiff. WOW! I actually drove to work this way Monday to get a good evaluation of it. The body roll is so well damped that it doesn't feel like it's rolling at all... but it is. Steering response is incredible (and steering effort is considerably greater... an odd side effect that always surprises me), this end of the spectrum will be great to experiment with on a race track! Small road imperfections are in your face, especially at low speed. For example, you can sort of feel crosswalk stripes at 40-45 mph... but if you take them slower (like 15-20 mph "leaving a stop light with traffic in front of you") they can be felt very sharply. I guess that means that low speed compression damping goes up with the damping adjustment. The amazing thing is that big bumps and dips are STILL sucked right up by these shocks, even on full stiff!

10/12 - Tried this for about a day and a half. I left it there longer than I wanted to because I was trying to come to terms with it and see if I could adjust. I couldn't. I didn't like it, it was just too underdamped. In some ways it felt like my Konis... only with less rebound damping than I normally run... and slightly more compression damping than they had. That is to say that the car felt unsettled, unstable, wobbly. The ride was phenomenal... it felt heavier, sort of like a big sedan. Kind of floaty feeling, but not bouncy. It still handled well, it just didn't feel right. I won't be going there again.

7/9 - This is where I set it last night. Much like the 8/8 setting, I think this is the range I need to be in for street driving. I may go slightly stiffer, but this seems like a good compromise. Not too stiff, but very well controlled.

Bottom line: These shocks just plain dampen better than the Konis did. I think it's a combination of stiffer and digressive compression damping and outstanding bypass damping. The bypass damping doesn't just release and take up a large bump, it does so with incredible control. The car just never feels unsettled in any condition and I feel tons more confident driving it.

- posted by loren @ 7:31 pm

New Suspension!

My new Tein SS suspension kit arrived Wednesday.  Did the install today.  We took my old Koni setup and swapped it onto a friend's '91 at the same time.

I've only taken the car out for a short drive so far, but I'm quite impressed with these Tein shocks.  I never imagined that a Miata with such stiff springs (504 front and 336 rear) could ride so smoothly!  And the handling is nice and crisp, too.  I'll have to play with the shock adjustments and see just how much better it gets.  For now, I think I'm going to be very pleased with the new setup.

Did I say I was going to take pictures?  Well, I didn't.  Bah, they're just shocks and springs.  You've seen them before!

- posted by loren @ 9:47 pm

Lightweight Battery and other stuff

Wow, is it October already?  Well, I noticed a while back that my car was a little sluggish starting on occasion.  First sign of a battery getting weak.  My Westco battery was put in the car shortly after I bought it, so it's about 4 years old.  The AGM batteries are supposed to last longer, but having had cars that eat batteries (not to mention alternators) regularly every 2-3 years, 4 years is acceptable.  So... I need a new _____ (fill in the blank), time for an upgrade!

What can you do with a battery, you ask?  Well, if I had tons of big stereo amplifiers and stuff that I wanted to operate for any length of time without the engine running, I might want a more powerful one.  But you know that's not my thing.  I'm at the other end of the spectrum.  You can make a battery LIGHTER, and I'm into that!

One of the most popular "light" batteries for the Miata is the infamous Optima "Yellow Top" battery.  I checked it out.  It's a little lighter, has most of the capacity of the OEM style battery... and is VERY pricey at about $160.  That one just didn't seem worth it to me.  I almost decided to just get another Westco for $80. (or... did you know you can get the same battery under a different name for less at some of the chain auto parts stores?  The warranty is usually better, too.)

Some more internet research let me to some dry cell battery options.  Specifically, the Odyssey line by Enersys.  Ah, yes.  This is where the lightness is!  It took some searching and reading stuff on various car forums about people who have tried this and that to convince me to try it, and I might have not risked it if I didn't live in warm, sunny Florida where cold cranking amps aren't all that important... but I settled on a battery with only 265 CCA.

My battery of choice was the Odyssey PC625 (625 because in theory it can actually provide 625 amps for about 5 seconds, great if your car fires off right away, which mine does).  It's smaller than the standard battery, but the height is the same, so it fits the factory bracket well enough.  It only weighs 13 pounds! (typical Miata battery weighs closer to 25 pounds)  But wait, it gets better... the price was $69.95!  So, it's 10 pounds lighter, will start the car reliably (for 8-10 years they say... I'll be happy with another 4) AND it's cheaper.  How cool is that?

There is one snag, however.  The terminals on this battery are "industrial" style terminals rather than either style of automotive battery terminal.  I ordered it anyway, figured I'd either make up some sort of adapter, or just put new ends on my cables.  My solution ended up being even simpler, since the factory battery cables on my car have a through bolt that holds them together, I just got some flat heavy aluminum stock, cut it to about 1/2" x 2" and drilled to match the bolt in the connector and to match the stud on the battery.  DIY adapter kit!  And it works great.  Oh... you want pictures, huh?  Okay... out to the garage I go...

In other news... after carefully pondering the way my car felt when I drove at Sebring back in July, and the way it feels under certain conditions during street driving, I decided that my shocks need more compression damping.  Yes, I have adjustable Konis, but no... that adjustment knob doesn't adjust the compression damping, only rebound. (you may recall that I'm running without swaybars now, I think if I had a front swaybar on the car, it would feel more stable and I wouldn't need more compression damping)  So, I was thinking seriously about sending my spare set of Konis out to get rebuilt/revalved with firmer compression damping.  Would have cost me at least $500 after shipping and all.  I said to myself, "self, that's a lot of money to spend, you should explore your options"... and thus I did.

First, I considered how much all of the suspension parts I had were worth if I wanted to sell them.  Since I have good equipment that sells well on the used market, I figured I had at the very least $700 worth of stuff.  Add to that the $500 that I was looking to spend to revalve the Konis and I've got $1200 to spend. (yeah, I'm a creative thinker when it comes to financing my car upgrades!)  $1200 is a really good start on a lot of different complete suspension packages... so I started shopping. 

I looked into the Bilstein PSS9 kit, it seemed far too street-compromised for my taste.  Looked at Ground Control's Advanced Design kit... too race-oriented, didn't want to end up with stuff that would need rebuilding every other year.  Looked at the JIC kit... was almost sold on it, but it's just too new on the market and there are tales of questionable quality.  What's left?  Well, as "anti-JDM" as I am, I had to look at the Tein equipment.  And that's when I found the Tein SS kit.  The price is right, and it does all that I need it to do. (I don't need the trick shock body length adjustment of something like the Tein Flex because I don't intend to lower the car much)  I did specify custom front spring rates of 9kg/mm to go with the rear 6kg springs.  That equates to about 506 and 336 lb/in, which is slightly stiffer than what I've already got (450/250), but probably not enough to make the car uncomfortable.  I just hope these Tein shocks are everything people say they are!  I'd hate to have spent all this money just to end up with shocks that are still underdamped.

More news when the Tein kit shows up and I get it installed.

- posted by loren @ 6:17 pm

Bipes Timing Controller

The latest thing I've been working on is installing a Bipes Timing Controller.  I decided to do this in conjuntion with installing the ECU rev limit mod.

What's a Bipes?  It's a little black box that intercepts the Cam Angle Sensor input to the ECU and lies to the ECU to modify the timing of the engine.  Normally, a stock Miata engine is set with static timing advanced 10 degrees. (meaning that the spark plug fires 10 degrees before the piston reaches the top of its stroke)  That is the factory spec, and it gives adequate power throughout the range with plenty of protection against detonation (pinging) using regular 87 octane fuel under any circumstance.

For better performance, gearheads usually advance the timing even further to 12-14 degrees, maybe even 16 degrees.  This gives a noticable improvement in low-mid range torque and the risk of detonation at the high end.  Higher octane fuel may be necessary to combat the detonation.

So, what does the Bipes do?  It allows you to run maximum timing advance (up to 18 or 20 degrees) at the low end, and it retards the timing according to your specifications of airflow, temperature and engine rpm.  Effectively, you can have all of the low-end benefits of running 18 degrees of timing without the risk of high end detonation and loss of power.

I have installed this today, but haven't really played with it yet.  Hopefully, I'll get with some friends soon for some dyno time to see what difference this REALLY makes.

- posted by loren @ 3:11 pm

Engine Computer Modification - Raising the Rev Limit

So, what else have I been up to lately?  Well, doing all of these track events, especially Sebring, I kept banging the rev limiter in 2nd an 3rd gear.  This isn't something that I normally have trouble with, but when you couple the fact that my car keeps happily accelerating right up until the fuel cuts out and the fact that I get passed by faster and LOUDER cars when I'm accelerating on the track, it's easy to see how it can happen.  There's a guy who does a mod on the Miata ECU to raise the rev limit.  Send him $100 and your ECU and he'll send it back with whatever rev limit you choose.  I was just about ready to do that...

I decided to probe the collective mind of Miata.Net first.  Nobody claimed to know how this mod was done, but I got several good ideas.  One of them was to simply change the clock crystal in the ECU.  The theory being that if the computer is running faster, it will "see" the engine as running slower than it's actual RPM and the rev limiter will kick in later.  I did some web research and found that this is a pretty well known trick among the old-school Toyota crowd... and it works.  Having a spare Miata ECU on hand, I figured I didn't have anything to lose by trying it, even though several people on the Miata.Net forum said there was no way it could work.

So, I spent 40 cents on a 4.43 MHz crystal to replace the stock 4.0 MHz crystal.  The math says this will raise the rev limit from 6900 to 7642 rpm.  When the crystal arrived in the mail, I spent about 2 minutes soldering it in and... bingo!  $100 mod for 40 cents.

The downside of this mod is that it also changes the frequency that the ECU uses to connect to an OBD scanner to display fault codes and diagnostic info.  The OBD scanner can't deal with that and won't connect.  Not a huge deal... until you need some diagnostic info.  I figured I'd try to do something about it.

So, I ordered some more parts and experimented with a switching circuit that would allow me to switch between two crystals.  It worked!  Today, I just finished doing a final install of that switching circuit.  Now, all I have to do is reach behind the passenger seat (where the ECU is located) and flip a switch to go from the stock OBD scanner compatible mode to the extended rev limit mode.  Cool!

- posted by loren @ 2:58 pm

Long Overdue Update

Wow, it's been 8 months since I've updated my Miata Blog!  Until very recently, I hadn't really done much to blog about.  I've been autocrossing about once each month with SunRiders Motorsports and Central Florida SCCA.  Did a track event at the Talladega Gran Prix near Birmingham, AL.  And did a Chin Motorsports track event at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, FL.

As far as the car goes, I put new tires on it after the Talladega event.  The Toyo T1-S's were pretty well gone after that. (and, of course, it rained about 8 of the 10 hours it took me to get home)  Bought a set of 195/60-14 Hankook Z212 RS2's.  I like them very much.  Like the Goodyear Eagle F1's that I had a couple years ago, I'm having trouble finding anything to not like abou these tires.

I put a set of all-out Race brake pads on the car for Sebring.  I figured braking from 110 to 70 and from 90+ to 40 or 50 would be rough on brakes and I didn't want to risk having problems.  The pads I chose were Cobalt SM (Spec Miata) pads, and they worked GREAT on the track.  No fade at all, and VERY responsive.  Not so great on the street though.  Oh, they felt okay, and braked better than a stock pad would... but chewed up rotors really bad (I think I had more metal dust than brake pad dust on my wheels!) and squealed terribly.  I took them off last week and replaced with them with some good ceramic street pads.  Very happy with those.  As I heard a brake engineer say once:  "Brakes that you don't notice are the best brakes".  These brakes stop the car without effort or thought, and they are completely silent.

- posted by loren @ 2:35 pm

First autocross with the new steering wheel, second autocross with the latest alignment. Felt REALLY GOOD! Didn't really notice the extra heft of the smaller steering wheel. Actually think it helped by giving more precise control and more feedback.

There was a guy by the name of James Stock out taking pictures and he got some GREAT shots of my car on course. They gave me some good insight as to how well my suspension is set up. If you look closely in some of the hard cornering pics, you can see that the outside tire is tilted slightly outward at the top. That's an indication that I could benefit from slightly more negative camber. Looking at that same tire in some of the pictures almost looks like the sidewall of the tire is on the ground. It looks so much like it that I had to go out in the garage and look at my tires! But there are no signs of scuffing... it was just "very close". I might want to run a little more front tire pressure just as a precaution. (I have been running low pressures lately, 28 front, 26 rear... seems to be what these tires like) Otherwise, I like what the pictures show.

Here's a hard right with Susie Sutton riding shotgun.

This is straight acceleration after that hard right turn, notice the back of the car is squatted down slightly.

Here I'm coming around a 60-foot diameter skidpad turn. The autocross was a "novice school" event, so we had the skidpad setup for testing and incorporated it into the course design.

This was a really tight hairpin turn. I managed to take it without downshifting to first.

This is the same picture blown up just a little and brightened so that you can see what the outside tire is doing. Gotta love digital photography!

For reference, this shot shows the car going almost straight under mild acceleration. This is pretty much it's normal stance.

If you're wondering how I did, first consider that it was a school event, so how I did overall isn't very relevant because most of the people there were novices. BUT, there were 8 instructors there along with a few other experienced folks. I finished 3rd overall, losing to a Miata with better tires (Falken Azenis) by a tenth, and a Subaru WRX by about a half second. Not bad for the tires I was on. I figure I'd have done at least half a second better on Azenis.

- posted by loren @ 10:45 pm

Took things apart again today to install the 3.3 ohm resistor that fools the airbag into thinking the driver's airbag is there to stop the airbag light from blinking. Also repositioned the wheel to try to get it closer to center. Didn't quite get there, so I put the car up on ramps and adjusted the tie-rods to center it. Only took two tries to get it, now it's perfect!

As promised, here are some pictures of the new stuff:

The driver's perspective. Well, almost. I actually sit a little closer to the wheel and higher up than that such that the top of the speedo and tach are obscured... as well as the turn signal indicators.

Here's a side shot. I didn't take a "before" picture, but I did take some measurements. Surprisingly, this wheel as installed is in exactly the same position as the stock wheel. Without the 15mm spacer that I added, it would be closer to the dash, which I would not have liked.

And here's what it looks like with my paws on it.

- posted by loren @ 2:49 pm

For those who weren't around, didn't hear or never noticed, I have a big dent in my left rear quarter panel where a couple 2x10's that were leaning against my garage wall got blown over onto the car one windy day early this spring. I'd gotten an estimate from a guy named Kevin Byrd (he was highly recommended) to fix that and all of my other dings for $300. He said it would take a couple hours, but wouldn't be a problem. He dropped appointments on me twice without notice (I had to call HIM to find out what was going on), so I decided that my business wasn't important enough for him and put the job off until now.

Took the car over to a big chain collision repair place called Carsmetics (also highly recommended) Tuesday for an estimate. The counter guy looked at it and even called his PDR (paintless dent removal) guy out to look at it. They both looked over the entire car and estimated $550 to fix it all. (I had dings on every body panel except for the driver's door!) A little pricey, I thought, but I've been putting this off and I figured this would get it done... done right... and done NOW. Never did they give me any indication that they might have trouble getting any of the dings out. Scheduled to leave the car with them first thing the next morning.

Dropped the car off Wednesday morning. "Oh, yeah, we'll have it done by 10:30." Got a call around then telling me that it's not done and they'll need to keep it into the afternoon because the PDR guy has another appointment at noon. Great. So, I finally get a call around 3pm telling me that they're done, but couldn't get the forward part of the big dent out and were going to discount $100 for that. Due to my schedule, I wasn't able to get over there to pick the car up before they closed yesterday.

So, I went to pick up the car this morning. Walking up to it, I could immediately see the big dent. The forward part of it was still there, as stated, but the rest of it was still visible, too! The creases were gone out of it, but where that fender should be "roundish", it is "flat". I think he could have done more with it if he really wanted to. Anyway, I keep walking around the car. I took it to them dirty (I asked if I should wash it, he said not to bother, so I didn't), and it had obviously been hosed off, but had this nasty streaky white film on it along with a thick coat of fresh dust. I immediately picked out a dent in the hood that either wasn't there before or was an "innie" that had been made into an "outie". (I think it may have been caused by the hood prop rod) How could they miss that? Close scrutiny showed evidence of more light dents in the passenger door... that I really could have let go if that was the ONLY thing wrong. There was a small dent in the right rear quarter that wasn't even touched.

So, I discussed my findings with the PDR guy. He agreed to take off all of the cost for the big dent ($200) because that was the main reason I came to them... and it's obviously still there. And he said he'd touch up the other problems I found. I opted to wait on that, took about 45 minutes. The hood ding is gone, the door is now flawless (really amazingly flawless... which just proves what the guy can do if he puts his mind to it)), but he said he couldn't reach the one ding in the right rear quarter. They took another $50 off for that, and must have taken another $50 somewhere else bringing the total down to $250.

In the end, the $250 I paid is marginally worth the work that they did. The car still has significant dings in it, and even after they were "done", *I* had to walk around and point out where the problem areas were... I was very unimpressed by that. When I picked the car up, I expected it to be clean and to see no dings anywhere other than the one that they told me about. That's why I went to a big-name professional outfit.

I guess the good news is that since I committed $550 to this, that leaves me with $300 to see if another PDR guy wants to take a shot at it. From what I've read about PDR, it really is an art that requires a lot of patience and experience. I'm betting that the dents that the Carsmetics guy gave up on could be taken out by the right person. If I ever find that person and they are successful, I'll be sure to let y'all know who he is!

- posted by loren @ 10:09 am

My dear wife, who loves me much more than she does my car, got me a new steering wheel for Christmas! It's a Momo Corse, 320mm version. I'll post up some pictures soon. Installed it yesterday and so far I really like it!

The ergonomic grip at 9:00 and 3:00 on this wheel is awesome, feels perfect. The 320mm diameter (which, if my math is correct, adds about 13% to the steering effort... noticeable, but not bad even without power steering) simply makes the car feel more like a go-kart than ever before. It's great! One of the hidden benefits of this wheel is that it allowed me to put a 1/2" spacer behind it so that I can sit a little further back and have more leg room when driving.

I've still got to do the resistor mod to get the airbag light to quit blinking, but otherwise the install was relatively painless using the standard Momo "Mazda" adapter and a Dremel.

- posted by loren @ 12:41 pm

Caught some rain on the way home Wednesday night. This was the second rain since I got the car back together. The first time really caught me off guard because I never had problems with wheelspin simply leaving a light before, nor did I have problems with oversteer when cornering in the wet. That first morning in the rain, I did!

Since then, I did an autocross, and I'm thinking a lot more about throttle control. No wheelspin leaving lights now, but I get little chirps as I run over the stripes for the crosswalk! I have to very gingerly take corners off-throttle to keep the back end from stepping out, not sure I like that... I'm used to being more agressive. (and the car staying hooked up) The weirdest thing is that I could wait until after I was completely straight after exiting a turn in 2nd, mash the gas and get moderate wheelspin all the way to the top of 2nd.

Suffice it to say that this new flywheel allows power to be delivered much more efficiently.

- posted by loren @ 8:54 am

Got out to an autocross Saturday. Did 8 runs on slippery sealed asphalt. I did okay once I decided to eliminate an unnecessary shift. (duh!) I was within about a second of the fastest guys on Falken Azenis tires. Not bad considering I'm on Toyo T1-S, which don't grip nearly as well. I kept thinking the car wasn't quite right because I was getting more wheelspin than I wanted coming out of the turns, I had to really think about it on the drive home. I came to the conclusion that the suspension is good the way it is. It wasn't wildly oversteering, wasn't understeering at all, and felt very precise. It was particularly cool to have instantaneous control when countersteering as the tail of the car went out. I attribute that to the slight front toe-out, and I really liked it. The car used to get waaaaaay out when it started going and required a lot of countersteer to reign it in. Now just a light flick of the wheel can immediately straighten it out. I guess the wheelspin is a combination of the tires not being quite grippy enough, the surface being slick (it really is odd to autox on a surface that is more slippery than the streets that we drive on every day!), and the new flywheel allowing power to come on much more quickly. I need better tires, sure... but I think what I really need to do is teach myself finer throttle modulation to go with my new flywheel. I did get my shocks adjusted into a happy place at this event. Ended up at full stiff in front and 1/2 turn from stiff in the rear. The car feels VERY centered, steering response is precise and hard turning inspires confidence. The ride is actually very good on most roads. Only the harshest of bumps are objectionable. I've got a new set of stiffer engine mounts to install. Other than that, I think the car is going to stay as-is until it's time for tires next spring.

- posted by loren @ 2:18 pm

After living with the new lightweight clutch and flywheel combo for a couple weeks, it's about time I told you how I feel about it. It's simply awesome! The clutch has a pedal force that is just slightly more than stock, and the engagement is even smoother than stock. The lightweight flywheel allows the revs to build much quicker and also fall quicker. The difference is apparent in acceleration, deceleration, and especially when rev-matching for a downshift. I've yet to find anything negative about it at all. I've had at least 7 people take the car out for quick drives, and all reported the same. It drives like stock only better!

I finally got around to taking the car out to get some G-Tech readings this evening. Started with some HP runs. Last time I did that, I came up with 99-102 HP. That's an "at the wheels" figure, and it's only as accurate as the vehicle weight I program into the G-Tech and the straightness and levelness of the road that I test on (in other words, it won't be as accurate as a good dyno). This time, I came up with 107-108 HP. That's at least a 5% increase in effective power. I can live with that.

Did some 0-60 runs, too. My prior best 0-60 runs were in the 7.4-7.8 range. Published figures for my car in its stock form are around 8.6 seconds. You gain about 1/2 second by wringing out 2nd gear to reach 60 instead of shifting to 3rd when you hit 7000 in 2nd, so 8.1 or so would be a realistic starting point. Tonight, my first run was 7.3, and that was with a crappy launch. I never did get a really good launch, but all of my runs were between 7.0 and 7.3 seconds. If I can figure out how to launch with the new clutch, the car is probably good for 6.8 seconds. Not bad at all for a Miata with a stock engine.

Good news! I changed the oil today after two weeks and 500 miles on the new bearings. No sign of metal in the oil, so I guess my bearing job was a success.

- posted by loren @ 10:02 pm

Got the car back today. Swapped cars for a couple days with my buddy Dan who works at a custom shop (Cars & Concepts in Tampa). He did the alignment today and brought my baby home this evening.

They nailed my specs as closely as anyone could, I was impressed. Haven't driven the car much yet, but so far it feels really good. I dialed in a little toe-out in the front this time, which is way different from the huge toe-in that I've been living with since I raised the ride height a few months ago. But, it was really breezy tonight, so it was hard to judge.

Happy to have my car back, though! Dan's Miata that I drove Monday and Tuesday is a mostly stock '92. Quite a bit different feel from mine, made me appreciate my car more.

- posted by loren @ 10:09 pm

Okay, now that the car is back on the road, and all of the stuff under the hood is doing what it's supposed to do... time to get back to the neverending pursuit of suspension perfection!

If you haven't been keeping up, the latest suspension variation is:

- Koni adjustable shocks (revalved 20% stiffer in front)
- Ground Control coil-over kit (for height adjustability)
- 450 lb/in springs in front
- 250 lb/in spring in the rear
- Flyin Miata rear shock mounts (for added suspension travel)
- No swaybars (that's right, none)

Now that you're all caught up... my last alignment was with the FM springs installed and ride height (measured in the typical Miata way from the center of the hub to the fender lip) was about 12" front and 12.5" rear. When I installed the GC kit earlier this year and raised the ride height, I knew I needed to realign the car, but I wanted to be sure I was happy with the ride height and everything else first.

Well, now I'm finally very happy with the suspension and tonight I had some friends (thanks Billy & Bill!) help me "corner weight" the car. We didn't actually weigh it, what we did was adjust each corner to get the ride height even left-right and slightly higher in the rear. All of the measurements were taken with me in the driver's seat. We managed to get it exactly where I wanted it in a little over an hour!

With my fat butt in the driver's seat, the ride height is now 12.75" in the front and 13.0" in the rear. Oh, and that's with half a tank of gas. So, the rear will probably settle down closer to what the front is with a full tank... perfect!

Next step is alignment. Raising the car up as I did cost me probably .5 degrees of camber in the front and at least .25 in the rear, and who knows what it did to my toe settings. The car feels like it has a very slight tendency toward understeer right now, so I'm going to carry over the slightly oversteer-biased alignment settings that I used last time.

My goal is:

Front Camber: -1.6
Rear Camber:  -1.8
Front Caster:  3.6
Front Toe Out: 0.1
Rear Toe In:   0.05

That's all for now. Not planning to do anything else until I either get the alignment or do the first post-rebuild oil-change in a couple weeks.

- posted by loren @ 8:56 pm

I love Miata.Net! I posted a short description of my problem out there and someone came back within an hour telling me that I probably dropped the spacer off of the reverse switch. Bingo! I did. I knew I did, but I thought it was just a sealing washer rather than a "necessary" part. Being lazy, I decided I'd put it back in if it showed signs of leaking!

So, I put the car up on ramps this morning and spent about 3 minutes under the car with my 24mm wrench. Problem solved.

Is it time to go to work yet??? :-)

- posted by loren @ 7:59 am

I'm calling this project officially DONE! Drove the car quite a bit today and all seems to be well with it. Bled the clutch again and readjusted the clutch pedal. Shifting is fine, but it still wants to hang on to reverse. I'm going to give it a couple weeks for the new clutch to break in before I worry about that too much.

I'll post some impressions of the new lightweight flywheel and clutch after I've lived with it for a while. So far, I'm really enjoying it. The car feels peppier and much more responsive, especially in first and second... and even in third.

Huge thanks to all of my friends who helped me when I needed it, loaned me necessary equipment, gave me moral support, and even loaned me a vehicle so that I didn't have to rush. This is the first project of this magnatude that I've ever attempted and I'd by lying if I said I wasn't a little unsure of myself from time to time. It appears that I was successful and the car is back together good as new. Wow!

- posted by loren @ 8:19 pm

Wasn't the fans at all, turns out they were actually coming on when they should. I just didn't "burp" the cooling system, so there was a big air cavity in the system. Once that was clear and sufficient coolant was in the system, the temp gauge stays rock steady just a tick below half-gauge. :-)

Clutch still isn't quite right. I've bled it twice and adjusted the pedal, but it still doesn't seem to be disengaging fully. Shifts feel slightly notchy (that could just be that I've been driving Nick's truck for 2 weeks), but the real problem is when I stick it in reverse, it doesn't want to come out. I have to force it out of reverse. Gonna bleed the clutch again after the car cools down.

The interior bits are all back together. All I need is the hood and I'll have a complete car!

I'm nervous as hell, though. Every little noise I hear, I wonder about. Is it a bearing going south? Did I leave something loose? Getting the hood back on will mask some of that noise, I'm sure.

- posted by loren @ 12:42 pm

Got the car all back together today, I'm SO thrilled! Finished tightening things up, bled the clutch, filled the oil and coolant, hooked up the battery, pulled the spark plug wires and turned it over few times to get some oil flowing through it. Then it was time... I hooked the plug wires back up and turned the key. It fired right up! Good oil pressure, sounded right, and no leaks! Woohoo!

So I jacked up the front to get it off the jackstands, then I went to drive it off of the ramps that the rear was up on. Couldn't grab a gear! The clutch was not disengaging at all. So, I bled the clutch again, a little more thoroughly this time. Bingo!

Off the ramps, let's take it for a little drive! Everything feels okay so far, gee that windshield is dirty... let's cruise down to the corner gas station (about 2 miles down the road) and clean it. I'm feeling good. Wind in my hair, happy car under my butt, just enjoying the ride. Then I look down to check the status of the oil pressure and notice that the temp gauge is past 3/4! Damn.

I'm stupid, didn't think to turn on the A/C... that should turn on the auxiliary fan. Instead, I limped it to the store, shut it off and took a quick look under the hood. (actually, the hood is still in the living room, but you get the idea) Nothing out of the ordinary other than the fact that the fan isn't coming on and the car is overheating. So I sat there for a bit to let it cool, then I drove half way home before stopping again to allow it to cool.

I don't think it got hot enough for long enough to hurt anything. I'm betting that I either didn't connect or somehow managed to yank loose the coolant temp sensor. (there are two of them, one runs the gauge... that one works... and the other works the fan relay) I'll check on that tomorrow.

So, aside from that little glitch, I think I did okay. The new clutch really doesn't feel much different than stock. The lightness of the flywheel is noticable when launching the car, but I didn't even come close to stalling it. I did rip through first and second somewhat briskly once... it felt nice. Oh, and the noise that these flywheels are reported to make... bear in mind that I have no hood and the hole in the floor to the transmission is completely open right now... I did hear a slight "ringing" sound, mostly when cruising in 5th. I doubt that I'll hear it at all with the car all buttoned up.

Gonna clean up and get some sleep. I have all day tomorrow to fix this fan problem and finish up.

- posted by loren @ 11:13 pm

The evening wasn't quite as productive as I'd hoped. Sometimes things are a bit stubborn to get to fit! But with the help of some friends, I got the engine in place. Just have to hook up all the "little stuff" and torque everything down.

It's still looking good to have it running by Sunday.

- posted by loren @ 10:59 pm

In spite of a really late start (had to work until 8:00 tonight, thought I was getting off at 6:00!), I still managed to get the engine off of the stand and get the flywheel and clutch installed. Didn't get the transmission bolted up, but that should take about 5 minutes tomorrow.

Getting just a little antsy here...

- posted by loren @ 10:47 pm

What was recently a pile of greasy parts is now a complete engine again. I feel really good about that! Tomorrow evening, it comes off the stand and I don't expect it will take long to get the clutch done and the transmission bolted up.

Heck, if I find some help, I might even get the engine in Friday night instead of waiting until Sunday.

- posted by loren @ 9:21 pm

Very productive evening. Decided not to replace the camshaft seals. Figured I'd not push my luck... as they are, one is good and the other is/was only seeping a little. Could end up with a worse leak if I mess with it! Besides, I'm thinking seriously about playing with cams soon, I'll have to replace them then, anyway.

So, I got the timing belt installed and all the front covers on. The cam cover is on. It looks like an engine again!

Hopefully, the local Miata dealer will have my two oil pan gaskets tomorrow morning, then I can button up the bottom end and get little things like the alternator installed. After all that, I can pull the engine off the stand, install the flywheel and clutch and bolt up the transmission... then it's ready to go back into the car.

I'm SO ready for my car to be whole again...

- posted by loren @ 10:31 pm

Picked up one of the gaskets I need from Mazda this morning, had to order the other two. They'll be here Wednesday. Can't really assemble the rest of the bottom end without those two gaskets, so I just put the oil pan on with a few bolts and flipped the engine over to work on the top side.

Cleaned a lot of things. Replaced the timing belt idler and tensioner pulleys. Removed the timing gears to get a good look at the oil seals. I think I'll go ahead and replace them since I have another new set, one of them was seeping a bit, the other looks like it's thinking about it. Went ahead and installed the new stainless steel braided clutch line, too.

That's about all I did. If I'm as motivated tomorrow, I should have enough time to replace those camshaft oil seals and get the timing belt back on. I still need to pick up a smaller torque wrench to torque the cam bearing caps, maybe I'll do that on the way home tomorrow. With that, I can go ahead and put the front covers and cam cover on and have a nearly complete engine again!

- posted by loren @ 10:33 pm

Got the crankshaft and oil pump back in today. Could have had the oil pan back on the bottom of the engine, but found that I was missing a few gaskets. One that goes between the oil pump and the oil pickup tube that I assumed would come with the oil pump. And the two partial gaskets for the front and rear of the oil pan. I thought I'd reuse those two, but the rear one didn't look so hot when I started cleaning around it, so I'll get a new one. Looks like I'll be making a trip to the local Mazda dealer Monday morning.

Things should go pretty quickly from there. I think I'll try to recruit some help to drop the engine back into the car next weekend.

- posted by loren @ 5:28 pm

Picked up the crankshaft today, it sure is pretty! The machine shop ground it to .010 undersize and supplied me with an appropriate set of .010 oversized bearings. $100 for the machine work, $60 for the bearings. Not bad... NAPA had charged me almost $100 for a set of stock-sized bearings. (I'll be returning those next week)

So, I have all the parts I need now. I've reviewed the instructions in the Miata Enthusiast's Manual. Gonna get a good night's rest tonight and build an engine tomorrow!

Weirdness of the week:

I don't think I related the Fidanza Flywheel Fiasco. Condensed version: Ordered one from MVP Motorsports. Idiots sent me a flywheel that had been returned by a customer. 5 of 6 bolt holes STRIPPED, the 6th one had a BOLT broken off in it. Of course, they didn't have another one in stock and I ended up reordering from Mazda Motorsports so I'd have it in time to put in the car last weekend (didn't know I was gonna have to yank the crankshaft and all that). As instructed by Trent at MVP, I returned the busted flywheel to his attention. YESTERDAY, I got another flywheel from MVP Motorsports. Dusty at MVP informed me today that Trent's last day at MVP was Friday... might have something to do with the screw-up. So, now I have to go return another flywheel. What fun!

Got a phone call from Flyin' Miata this afternoon. Turns out the Competition Engine Mounts that I ordered from them were incorrect. They sent me stock ones. Good thing I didn't install them yet. Bad news is that I'll have to reinstall my old ones and then swap them out when the new ones come in next week. That sucks. But FM's customer service is top notch. Unlike MVP who makes me go to Fed Ex, fill out paperwork and pay money... FM just emails me a UPS label, all I have to do is slap it on the box and drop it off at UPS.

- posted by loren @ 10:47 pm

Called the machine shop this morning. They have my bearings on the desk and the crankshaft is done, just has to be "picked up". (I'm not sure where they took it that they have to pick it up... I'll have to ask) They're going to call me when it's ready, promised before lunch.

I hope I get my hands on the crank today so that I can get to work on this engine tomorrow. I wanted to have it mostly assembled by now and be putting it back in the car tomorrow!

- posted by loren @ 8:49 am

I was just informed that I've been leaving my "fans" hanging since Monday. Sorry about that. Nothing to report other than some mild entertainment with the beater truck that I'm borrowing. (I'd forgotten just how much fun driving an old worn out vehicle can be)

The crankshaft is still at the machine shop, should be done today. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow and do some major reassembly Saturday!

The fun news? I have an autocross Sunday, and my car won't be ready. (Even if I get it all back together Saturday, I'm not going to beat on it without some break-in period for those new bearings) So far, I've been offered drives in a '99 Miata, a Honda S2000 and a Porshce 911 Convertible. Don't you feel sorry for me?

- posted by loren @ 1:54 pm

No big news today. Dropped the crankshaft off at a machine shop this afternoon. Taking the evening off. Should get the crank back tomorrow or Wednesday, then I can start reassembly.

- posted by loren @ 7:26 pm

With renewed enthusiasm today, I went back to disassembling and inspecting the engine. First, I'd like to give some praise to Mobil 1 oil. The inside of my 70k mile engine is incredibly clean. No sign of any kind of crud anywhere. Amazing. (and I only change my oil about every 6k miles) In the photos you see here, nothing has been cleaned.

Removed the oil pump. Found that the pump itself was just dandy, but the relief valve was... and still is, STUCK. I can't get it to move in or out, it's just plain stuck. The position it's stuck in is leaving about a 3/16" gap for oil to be "relieved" through! This would be the root of all of my problems.

You'll also see in that photo the cause of the huge oil leak that I was experiencing after replacing that front crankshaft oil seal a few weeks ago (as a part of the 60k maintenance that I did at 70k). Either I got a defective part, or I somehow messed it up when I installed it, but a big section of that seal just self-destructed.

Removed the crankshaft. Most of the bearings were okay, but there were 3 or 4 that had varying degrees of wear and at least two crankshaft journals had some scoring. One of the thrust washers had some wear as well. Below are photos of the worst crankshaft Main and Rod bearing journals.

With the crank out, I got a good peek into the cylinder bores. They appear to be flawless, which jives with the compression numbers I read.

Removed and inspected all of the camshaft bearing caps. Didn't see anything that was a cause for concern in any of them.

Note that pictures have been added to previous entries. :-)

- posted by loren @ 11:48 pm

Started taking apart the engine and checking some things today. It's not all bad... but some of it is worse than I was hoping for.

Checked some crank main and rod bearings. #4 Main bearing was okay, and clearance was on the low side of the tolerance. #1 Main bearing showed significant wear with grooves that can be felt in the crank journal, but clearance was similar to #4. #1 Rod bearing is toast. One half of the bearing shows rough wear, and the crank journal has visible wear to match. Not pretty. The crank will need some work.

Checked some cam bearings. #4 Exhaust looked "polished", but otherwise okay and clearance was actually below normal. #1 Intake looked a little rougher, but still not "worn" and also had clearance below normal.

Good News

Got the socket and pressure gauge adapter out of the #3 plugwell. It wasn't cross-threaded, just stuck. No damage to the spark plug hole threads, whew! Apparently, the problem was that the socket didn't quite fit the adapter (metric socket, standard adapter). It got a little skewed and wedged in the hole. Weird.

As I suspected, my clutch was indeed nearly gone. Not much of it left at all. But, I weighed it with the stock pressure plate and flywheel at 28.5 pounds. The replacement parts I'm putting in weigh a total of 17.5 pounds. That's a very significant 11 pounds. I just read that weight removed from the flywheel/clutch assembly is equivalent to reducing the weight of the car by 15 times that amount. (for acceleration purposes) That's 165 pounds... the difference between carrying a passenger and not, which can be significant in a Miata. It's almost 7% of the total weight of the car (with me in it). Looking at equivalent horsepower, it's like gaining 7% of 135 hp... 9.5 hp. Of course... I have exactly 0 hp right now!

- posted by loren @ 9:50 pm

Following the Plan mentioned earlier, I checked compression first. I was pleased with the "dry" numbers I read and didn't bother doing a "wet" compression test. I got 210-200-200-210, which is a little higher than normal (I think 160-180 is considered normal for a Miata). After checking #4, I went back to recheck #3 just to verify that it was 200 and not 210... not that it really mattered. Sure enough, it still read 200. But...

When I removed the pressure gauge, the spark plug hole adapter stayed in the head. Damn. So I threaded the hose back onto it, gave it a light twist hoping that maybe it would grab the hose harder than the head. Nope. So, I shine the flashlight down into the plug well and notice that the adapter has a hex shape and think, "no problem, I'll just put a socket on it and get it out like a spark plug". So, I find the appropriate deep socket drop it in there with a long extension and start turning. It binds. What the hell? It went in EASILY by hand, it can't be cross-threaded. I think maybe the rubber O-ring has caught a thread or something... keep turning. It gets harder. Then I realize that my socket is also STUCK in the hole. I think I must have somehow cross-threaded that hole and now the socket is in there at a funky angle and stuck. I'm still banging my head over that one, but decided to deal with it tomorrow and continue with the engine removal.

Everything else went smoothly. My buddy Neal came over and helped and we got the engine out by about 10:30. It's sitting on the garage floor waiting for tomorrow to come.

BTW, I'm really glad I ordered new engine mounts for this project. My old ones are shot at 70k miles. They are visibly sagging with cracks over half-way through the rubber.

- posted by loren @ 11:17 pm

After posing some questions on Miata.Net and talking to a few people, here's what I'm going to do...

First, before pulling the engine out, I'm going to do a compression test. This will confirm that there is no problem with the piston rings or cylinder wear.

Then we'll pull the engine, put it on the engine stand and remove the oil pan. Just getting a look at what's waiting in the bottom of the oil pan will probably be enlightening.

I bought some plastigage today to measure the bearing clearances. I figure I'll check a few of them just to get an idea of how much wear has occurred. I'm going to replace the bearings, anyway, as long as the crankshaft shows no signs of wear.

I'll also remove the cam cover and check the cam bearings. Being at the top of the engine, they are likely to show more wear than anything else. This is the part that concerns me most because the camshaft does not spin in replacable bearings... could be a problem.

Anyway, I have a new set of bearings ordered that I will pick up tomorrow. I hope that things check out such that I can just replace the bearings and the oil pump and move on.

- posted by loren @ 10:59 am

While I've got a minute here at work, I mentioned yesterday that I was going to replace the clutch while I had the engine out. Of course, I've been eagerly awaiting the demise of my clutch for a couple years now because I want to upgrade to a lighter clutch and flywheel. That time has come!

With the goal being to reduce rotating mass and inertia of the clutch assembly as much as possible (within reason and without spending TOO much money), I opted to convert to the smaller sized clutch from an earlier 1.6 Miata instead of the 1.8 clutch that I have. If I were just going to put in a stock clutch, or if I needed to seriously upgrade the clutch to handle more power (like a turbo or something), I'd probably stick with the 1.8 clutch.

The 1.6 clutch is a smaller diameter, so in addition to being lighter, the mass is closer to the center and creates less inertia. But, since it's a 1.6 clutch, the stock clutch would not handle the power of my 1.8 very well... at least not for very long. So I searched around for a good 1.6 clutch upgrade and came up with a Spec Clutch Stage 2. The pressure plate applies more pressure without increasing the clutch pedal effort much more than a stock clutch. And it comes with a Kevlar clutch disk, which is reported to last about 5 times as long as a standard clutch disk. This combination is rated to handle 239 ft/lbs of torque, and my engine puts out maybe somewhere around 110... I don't expect it to ever put out more than 150 no matter what I do. So, this clutch should really last a long time for me.

Spec Clutch also has a "lightweight option" that I added (removed?) to this clutch. It involves drilling some holes in the pressure plate, sort of like cross-drilling a brake rotor. The result is a pressure plate and clutch combo that weighs about 10.5 pounds.

For a flywheel, the choice was easy. Fidanza makes an aluminum flywheel for the 1.6 that weighs only 7 pounds. The stock 1.8 flywheel that I'm replacing weighs about 19 pounds! BTW, if you happen to order a Fidanza flywheel for a Miata and it doesn't come with the bolts (most don't), be aware that the stock flywheel bolts are NOT compatible. Don't try it! The proper bolt size is M8x1.25x20mm.

These are the parts that I'll be installing when I put my engine back in. I'm really excited about this performance upgrade!

- posted by loren @ 12:24 pm

Right now, I'm thinking I want to have a set of bearings on-hand Saturday when I take the engine apart. Should probably just replace them as a preventive measure.

And if things look really bad inside, this may turn into a full engine rebuild. (which means I might just put a used engine in it for now)

- posted by loren @ 8:59 am

Well, I made good progress this evening. Have most of the accessory items out of the way, wiring harnesses unplugged, radiator out, hoses loose, trans drained, etc. Could pull the engine tomorrow night if I wanted to. (the plan was to pull it Friday night)

The bad news... I drained the engine oil. With thoughts of reusing it (it fresh synthetic with only a few thousand miles on it), I poured it into bottles. Then I got a good look at the bottom of my oil drain pan. It doesn't look so good. Lots of sparkly bronze colored bits, very fine. 3 or 4 larger silver chips. At least one small "sliver". To me, it doesn't look catastrophic, but I'm betting the bearings are pretty well worn.

Where do I go from here???

- posted by loren @ 11:17 pm

Now that the blog template is sort of tweaked the way I want it, here's what's going on...

Noticed a problem with my oil pressure about two weeks ago. My Miata didn't come with a real oil pressure gauge, just a gauge that worked like an idiot light, "on or off". So the first thing I did was convert my oil pressure gauge to a real analog unit. (I found all the info I needed on how to do this on Miata.Net)

After getting a reading of actual oil pressure and asking a few questions, I determined that the oil pressure relief valve in the oil pump was sticking open on cold starts. This caused extremely low oil pressure on cold starts until the valve unstuck, which was usually only a few blocks. Now that I've been driving it this way for a week or two, I've gotten to where I can "make" the pressure come up quicker, within about a block, by just revving out 1st and 2nd gear to 4k. I don't think it's the RPM's that are unsticking the valve, but the rapid reduction in flow when the RPM's drop.

Aaaaanyway. Sticky oil pressure relief valve means new oil pump. New oil pump means the engine has to come out. Did I mention that my clutch has been slipping a bit over the past few months? Yeah. So, I'll be putting in a new clutch, too. Hmmm... new clutch... sounds like a good opportunity to UPGRADE! (more about that later)

As of last night, my car was taken off the road. I borrowed a friend's Beater Pickup (thanks, Nick!) and my car is now on jack stands with the coolant draining out of the radiator.

- posted by loren @ 1:47 pm

Decided to start a blog on my car. Lots of reasons. To help friends and intersted folks keep up with anything I might be doing. To log information that might help other people. To log information that *I* am likely to forget. And just for fun. I think it will also be easier to keep updated than the CarDomain site which has the habit of getting out of date.

For basic info about my car that may or may not be current, check out my CarDomain site

I think it's up-to-date except for my last suspension upgrade, which was to install the Flyin' Miata rear shock mounts and a stiffer set of front springs. (spring rates are now 450 front and 250 rear)

- posted by loren @ 12:50 pm