Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Impulse Buy: Drift Miata

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Seat situation is classic for tall people in miatas...the only thing I've seen successfully working are Lotus Elise seats on fixed brackets (stock or racing-er aftermarket ones if you need more side support), and those are actually comfy too even with near to no padding. Dunno about availability on that side of the big salty waters tho

    FB: @DumbassCarCrew - IG: @fruttolo_dumbasscrew

    Comment


    • #17
      Originally posted by hinrichs View Post
      Glad to see it was an easy fix for the oil issue. Sucks about the seat situation.
      Thanks! And I'll figure the seat out one way or another. Considering the Spec Miata seat drop at the moment. Requires some aggressive cutting and welding of the floor, but might solve the issue for good.

      Originally posted by Fruttolo View Post
      Seat situation is classic for tall people in miatas...the only thing I've seen successfully working are Lotus Elise seats on fixed brackets (stock or racing-er aftermarket ones if you need more side support), and those are actually comfy too even with near to no padding. Dunno about availability on that side of the big salty waters tho
      Fun story actually, I had another NA Miata about 6 years ago. One of my only modifications to it before the engine imploded was putting a Lotus Elise seat in. I had to dig around, and this was the only photo I could find of that.


      They're expensive, and definitely make you sit far back in a Miata. However, they're not very supportive laterally. For drifting, I need that lateral support to keep me upright while going sideways. That said, they might be my only option.

      Comment


      • #18
        Dunno about how skinny yo ass is, since those are really narrow, but here's an (expensive af) example of an elise seat with really high sides



        Only thing they all lack is shoulder support, for obvious reasons, but I don't think there is much room for that in a miata either

        FB: @DumbassCarCrew - IG: @fruttolo_dumbasscrew

        Comment


        • #19
          Cleaning Up

          Small updates, because I'm not actually finished with this project. But I haven't posted much in a hot minute, and I just felt like sharing what's going on. Basically, I went in to add AC into the car, and discovered some more damage. One thing led to another and here we are. This isn't quite 2002 territory, because I'm not trying to make the car perfect or do a lot of custom things. I've just been severely delayed by parts and my own spare time.








          First thing is first, the photos are just plain shitty. I know it, you know it. Motivation to capture things as I go along has been low, so I apologize. I'm due to break out my DSLR anytime now I guess. That said, I made some small interior improvements. I got rid of the Nardi shift knob, as cool as it was it didn't really fit my needs. I found a taller shift knob via 5x racing, so I went with that. I sourced a new-to-me tombstone, since mine fell apart when I removed it. It's rough, but better than having nothing at all.

          I added a new radio as well, using the DDMworks surround. This isn't strictly necessary for the track, but the car will be driven on the street and I need my tunes. Turns out half the speakers are fried in this Miata, but still this works as intended. You'll also note the three gauges below the radio. Those are actually blank fillers. I specifically ordered the 3 gauge radio surround for future application. I figure if I ever boost the car, I'll need a place for gauges. But since I have no need for them now, I simply popped in 3 blanks from Glowshift. They look fine, and give me the option to change things later.

          Then came the bummer. I have to AC in my street cars, this is Arizona and it has to happen. When we lifted the car in the air, I took a really close look at the front subframe for the first time. The car had clearly been punted into a curb at some point in it's life, and the steering rack tab was taco'd. This probably explains some of the funny steering feel I was getting out of the car, so I just opted to replace the whole subframe. I needed new rack bushings, steering rack risers, and motor mounts anyways. Plus the oil pan gasket was leaking, and it's so much easier to do with the subframe entirely out of the way. So out it all came.




          New subframe I picked up


          I cleaned it and repainted it. Had some ridiculous color shift clear sitting around from an old art project, so I sprayed that on for fun.


          You can compare the extent of the damage to the old subframe. Steering rack mounting point is crunched in.


          You'll also spot that I did in fact purchase coilovers for this car. I just got some cheap K Sports. They're really not ideal, and frankly I'm not a huge fan of the company, but they are local to me so I figure if I crash and need parts, they can supply them pretty quick. Long term, if I keep this car, they'll be swapped out for something a little higher quality. While I had it all apart, I put in polyurethane steering rack bushings, 5x steering rack risers, and NB camber bolts up front. The hope is all these changes will allow me to fine tune the alignment and get the car feeling planted and consistent.


          Here's a before and after on the drop. Obviously I'm in need of a good fender rolling, I haven't driven on this setup yet, but frankly that's not even leaving the driveway with that little room.




          Another small, but important, change I made for the track is swapping on 949 racing lug nuts. You'll see in the first image, the lugs I had before required a key to remove. This is a hassle at the track, and just gives me one more tool to potentially lose. The 949 lugs are super light, but more importantly accept a simple 19mm socket. No more key needed to remove drift spares at the track. A cheap change that will make a noticeable difference.

          Currently I'm waiting for the oil pan seals to arrive, and then I'll be putting the subframe back in the car. I'll just need to adjust the coilovers a bit, get an alignment and roll the fenders to be back on the road. At which point I'll have fully functional AC, a refreshed steering system, and new suspension all the way around. Not a bad improvement between events. I'm also currently waiting on my rollbar to be made at Zerekfab. That should wrap up about 90% of what I want out of the car right now. So here's hoping I have another update in the next couple of weeks.

          Comment


          • #20
            Hope you know you now need to paint as many parts as possible in that ninja turtle paint

            Fitment looking good, coilovers always make things cool

            FB: @DumbassCarCrew - IG: @fruttolo_dumbasscrew

            Comment


            • #21
              Originally posted by Fruttolo View Post
              Hope you know you now need to paint as many parts as possible in that ninja turtle paint
              what he said!

              Bummer for the subframe, at least you didn't find any rust... for now.

              Comment


              • #22
                With the seat rail, just throw it away/sell it. I'm 6'2", long legged and I had JDM roll bar that had leg's behind the seat, lost 2-3" on movement. I bought similar rails and my head hit the top and I didn't get the seat to move enough and even that it was "super low" it didn't help because if you look the original seat, it sits between the rails, so it goes lower than the lowered special. To make it up just I bolted the seat straight into floor. There is some bracket making and griding involved but its well worth it and it helps alot. I could fit in with the helmet no problem and I had more room in lenght wise and less problem with knees hitting the steering wheel.
                I didnt and still don't like the Elise S1 seat (least of Elise's problems), my bum is too slim so it felt like sitting on church bench and there is not enough support sideways, biggest problem was that it wasn't meant for track driving so there wasn't holes for 4 point belts (in worst case, deadly on crash) and no room for helmet like race seats have, it pushed head forward when sitting up right.
                If you can afford Tillett seat, I highly suggest them, they fit like Italian shoes, but I bet you can find similar ones locally.
                Have you check'd Flyin'Miata's seat list of what fits in Miata? They have picture that gives you seat measurements what to look and also old list of know seats. There is also a good thread about seats in Miataturbo.

                With suspension best of all I've tried by miles is 949Racing's XIDA's. Öhlins are great, but are too general to suit, rear runs out of shock lenght and bottoms out "all the time", it can be helped with NB rear top mounts. MeisterR and BC Racing bound and rebound seemed to be bit out of balance. XIDA's have been ones that make you forget the suspension, in good way, like in good Porsche's. They just work.

                Can't remember was it Flyin'Miata or 949Racing that had list of good alignment for track, road etc.
                If you havent changed polybushes all around, I would suggest it too, before, on our second track whore, while braking it moved around that stopped with poly bushes. With Engine mounts don't go too hard, we had ice puck hards (also we took all the interior off to make it lighter, biggest, stupidest mistake) and it just made the whole car feel like your sit inside big loud drum, undrivable to the level that you can't hear your thoughts. But nice, harder ones make shifting easier, when in our local track I had S bend with braking and down shifting, engine/gearbox moved/tilted so much sideways that I often found 4th instead of 2nd.

                I bet you have read miataturbo.net about all you need to know about boosting Miata, if not, read, don't ask, they love frying lazy asses. They also have good thread about what it takes to build turbo miata for real track use so that it lasts more than one stint. From my experience of 10 or so different turbo Miatas ranging from 180whp to +400whp I would suggest to go with smallest that gets you to the number you want and gives you the flattest torque curve.

                Sorry for the long rant (and bad'ish English), I bet I'm repeating things you already know but it all comes back and I love sharing.
                Last edited by samulis; 07-14-2019, 04:48 PM.
                btdt 4xmiata, westfield, ae86, 944, 2x951, mini, mk1 golf

                Comment


                • #23
                  kind of sad to see the Elise S1 seat go, looked hella cool, but I know that is meaningless if they aren't comfortable or safe. Curious to see the new Tillett seat.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Originally posted by DawsonLiri View Post
                    what he said!

                    Bummer for the subframe, at least you didn't find any rust... for now.
                    If I find any rust, I'm driving this car in a lake and leaving it there
                    I have enough of that on the 2002 to last a life time haha.

                    Originally posted by samulis View Post
                    With the seat rail, just throw it away/sell it. I'm 6'2", long legged and I had JDM roll bar that had leg's behind the seat, lost 2-3" on movement. I bought similar rails and my head hit the top and I didn't get the seat to move enough and even that it was "super low" it didn't help because if you look the original seat, it sits between the rails, so it goes lower than the lowered special. To make it up just I bolted the seat straight into floor. There is some bracket making and griding involved but its well worth it and it helps alot. I could fit in with the helmet no problem and I had more room in lenght wise and less problem with knees hitting the steering wheel.
                    I didnt and still don't like the Elise S1 seat (least of Elise's problems), my bum is too slim so it felt like sitting on church bench and there is not enough support sideways, biggest problem was that it wasn't meant for track driving so there wasn't holes for 4 point belts (in worst case, deadly on crash) and no room for helmet like race seats have, it pushed head forward when sitting up right.
                    If you can afford Tillett seat, I highly suggest them, they fit like Italian shoes, but I bet you can find similar ones locally.
                    Have you check'd Flyin'Miata's seat list of what fits in Miata? They have picture that gives you seat measurements what to look and also old list of know seats. There is also a good thread about seats in Miataturbo.

                    With suspension best of all I've tried by miles is 949Racing's XIDA's. Öhlins are great, but are too general to suit, rear runs out of shock lenght and bottoms out "all the time", it can be helped with NB rear top mounts. MeisterR and BC Racing bound and rebound seemed to be bit out of balance. XIDA's have been ones that make you forget the suspension, in good way, like in good Porsche's. They just work.

                    Can't remember was it Flyin'Miata or 949Racing that had list of good alignment for track, road etc.
                    If you havent changed polybushes all around, I would suggest it too, before, on our second track whore, while braking it moved around that stopped with poly bushes. With Engine mounts don't go too hard, we had ice puck hards (also we took all the interior off to make it lighter, biggest, stupidest mistake) and it just made the whole car feel like your sit inside big loud drum, undrivable to the level that you can't hear your thoughts. But nice, harder ones make shifting easier, when in our local track I had S bend with braking and down shifting, engine/gearbox moved/tilted so much sideways that I often found 4th instead of 2nd.

                    I bet you have read miataturbo.net about all you need to know about boosting Miata, if not, read, don't ask, they love frying lazy asses. They also have good thread about what it takes to build turbo miata for real track use so that it lasts more than one stint. From my experience of 10 or so different turbo Miatas ranging from 180whp to +400whp I would suggest to go with smallest that gets you to the number you want and gives you the flattest torque curve.

                    Sorry for the long rant (and bad'ish English), I bet I'm repeating things you already know but it all comes back and I love sharing.
                    Thank you for all this info! I was familiar with some of this information, but you shed a lot of light on the seat that just doesn't seem to be available online in this detail. I ended up upgrading to Mazdaspeed engine mounts, which I have heard gives the best balance between comfort and firmness. XIDAs seem to be the way to go suspension wise, though I'll give the KSport a fair shake for now and adjust once I get more comfortable with the chassis. In retrospect I wish I went that way initially.

                    I had been planning on just giving up on the seat front, but I think a floor mount solution may be the only option at this point. I've heard of Tillett, but haven't had a chance to test one out before. I'm going to need to explore that option, if it fixes this seat headache once and for all, I'll be a happy camper. The problem is, most people recommend tube frame seats, which I find to be horribly uncomfortable. I prefer something like the OMP or Corns I bought, with a fiberglass shell. Locally it seems like most people just slap a Kirkey in the car and call it a day. If I have to, I guess I will, but it doesn't really fit my needs. Plus, I just think they look ugly...

                    Definitely appreciate all the info, every bit helps at this point!

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      I love kirkeys look wise but they don't look that comfortable for anything else than drag racing, but then again I never sat in one. I sat in some tube frame seats tho and those are the worst stuff I've ever laid my ass on, sparco sprints are so uncomfortable I'd rather sit on the floor with a rope holding me down

                      FB: @DumbassCarCrew - IG: @fruttolo_dumbasscrew

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Great!

                        Mazdaspeed engine mounts have been best option, if not enough, then have exhaust side bit harder, depends how hard you treath your car. Any good fiberglass/carbon etc seat that is made for humans is way to go, I had seat that all the pillows were interchangeable to fit my liking, I found my seat that had runned out of date from racing forum/FB cheaply. If you take the seat out and sit on the floor you'll see how low you can go, that floor mounted isn't much more than 1-2" higher/away from rear when you get it right.
                        Before you enter the WOTang and turbo, I highly suggest to install and get familiar your stand alone ECU and wide band. Mistake margin with NA is much greater.
                        Links don't seem to stand out from the text so I'll drop them here again, just in case, to make sure they don't get missed.

                        Welcome to Miata Turbo, home to the largest turbo Mazda Miata MX-5 following and Turbo Kitten.

                        Welcome to Miata Turbo, home to the largest turbo Mazda Miata MX-5 following and Turbo Kitten.

                        Race Prep - turbo reliability on track - reading Savington's post over at m.net. he mentioned a lot of progress in this last year on track turbo reliability. can you guys elaborate on that. thanks

                        Good basic how to tune MS, just turn the subtitles on.
                        Note! At about 13:30 I'm talking about wasted spark where all coils fire simultaneously. That is not true. There is 3 spark outputs, so only 2 coils fire sim...


                        Oh ninja edit. Best upgrade to make car chassis stiffer, specially with out hardtop, better than frame rails or frog braces and way cheaper are stiffer door bushings. I could not believe how much it made difference. Driving over bumps or rail road tracks etc the car didn't shake like shoe box with out the cover. Just leave windows open at start, you need to worn them a bit in, their stiff.
                        Last edited by samulis; 07-16-2019, 04:22 AM.
                        btdt 4xmiata, westfield, ae86, 944, 2x951, mini, mk1 golf

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Valve Cover

                          Small detail, thought I’d share. We found a Mercury Capri valve cover in a junkyard a while back. This isn’t strictly needed for this car, but I like odd ball parts. For whatever reason I didn’t take many before photos, fortunately my friend got one when he tapped the new fitting for vacuum lines.


                          Before. Here you can see the new fitting tapped for vacuum lines. Necessary mod for Capri valve covers.


                          Blasted, and the raised portions sanded


                          Final product. Misty midnight blue, white lettering.

                          Also, starting to rethink the whole drifting thing. I ended up selling the OMP seat and I’m frustrated with fitting in the chassis in a track capacity. Buuuut... I’m looking at selling my daily driver Fiesta ST by the end of the year to replace it with a truck. I’ll lose my backroads canyon carver, but happen to have this little Miata sitting around. Maybe setting the Miata up for grip and throwing a little boost at it isn’t such a bad idea. Just tossing around ideas, I don’t want to get rid of this Miata, I like it too much. We’ll see how things go.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Why not both? You can go for a good grip setup and still go slide the car around. You can run drift knuckles for daily/ canyon/ grip driving, thats just my $.02. I dig the valve cover, oddball parts are always interesting
                            grimegang_cody on insta if you want to follow my build

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              I always second grip>drift, and the mx5 is certainly perfect at backroad blasting. I just don't think the whole seat ordeal would be forgotten just because you don't drift it anymore, good driving position is super important anyways.
                              As cody says you can drift a grip setup or build sort of a grip/drift hybrid, just stay away from zero ackerman super quick steering knuckles that feel like crap anywhere but drifting

                              FB: @DumbassCarCrew - IG: @fruttolo_dumbasscrew

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Originally posted by xxcody2130xx View Post
                                Why not both? You can go for a good grip setup and still go slide the car around. You can run drift knuckles for daily/ canyon/ grip driving, thats just my $.02. I dig the valve cover, oddball parts are always interesting
                                Originally posted by Fruttolo View Post
                                I always second grip>drift, and the mx5 is certainly perfect at backroad blasting. I just don't think the whole seat ordeal would be forgotten just because you don't drift it anymore, good driving position is super important anyways.
                                As cody says you can drift a grip setup or build sort of a grip/drift hybrid, just stay away from zero ackerman super quick steering knuckles that feel like crap anywhere but drifting
                                I’ll still probably take the car to a few more drift events, though in my experience the few cars I’ve driven with modified angle all hand some funky grip characteristics. They were both 240sxs and maybe it was just the way they were setup, but I’d prefer to just play with stock angle. I remember doing media for Danny George’s Pikes Peak Miata, and they took all of the FD spec angle kits and suspension bits off, and basically put the car back to stock for that event. Fortunately since this whole car is just for fun, I have the luxury of just playing with setups until I find something I like, so maybe it’ll be possible to balance the two.

                                On the seat, I realize my last post made it seem like I was done with the seat issue entirely. I blame the Arizona heat and frustration with the subframe this weekend on that one haha. I’m still going to put seats in the car, but not until I’ve found a setup that I can verify absolutely will work. I’m going to find some Miata guys locally who track their cars, and ask to see if I can sit in their setup and test it for myself. Just in the mean time I can gain some support for free by gutting the stock seat.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X