Project Track Rat: 1990 Miata

[Jake]

This is awesome. I wish I had motivation for weekday wrenching. Is that Meg?

Want to come shake it down? July 8/9, or July 15/16? Good autocrosses both days of both weekends. Goodspeed, you too.

Well, when you get home by 6 and have "nothing to do" other than turn wrenches, you turn wrenches And yes that's Meg!

Can I come play at autocrosses tooooo? Where are they both?

[Kaan]

i'll bring a stool and some beers so i can watch.

[SlimKlim]

Eh, I'm gonna put real seats in it at some point so I'll probably leave the stockers intact and get a couple bucks out of them. I'll autocross it but not till I get that set of wheels. These tires are pathetic, it just passed inspection but I have no idea how, I wouldn't passed them.

[Jake]

it just passed inspection but I have no idea how, I wouldn't passed them.

They let my dry-rotted tires on the E34 pass, too. Pretty sure if the tread meets whatever depth requirement, they could have holes in the sidewalls and they would pass...

[xvxax]

Jake, you aren't going to like my answer.
9 - BMWCCA at Blue Crabs Waldorf.
10 - WDCR at FedEx Field.
15 - National Street Tire Challenge - FedEx Field
16 - WDCR at FedEx Field.

I am not sure if I'll do BMWCCA. Four autocrosses in two weekends is a lot of standing around. BMWCCA probably has the best time:fun ratio. Arrive 8:30am leave 11:30am. Not bad.

I wanna stop by sometime and turn wrenches, and when I say turn wrenches I mean heckle y'all and drink beer. Maybe we can arrange.

[SlimKlim]

The trans has been in for a few days now and I've gotten to sneak around town in it twice. I've learned 3 things.

1. These cars are awesome because they're so slow you can drive them wide ass open like your life is a racetrack and no one outside of the car is any the wiser.
2. I forgot to tighten bolt #8 on the bell housing. I know this now, and so does the guy in the Highlander behind me on West Ox.
3. The front left caliper is seized as shit. I misdiagnosed it as a swollen hose first because I could easily manually retract the piston and I greased the slides. However, after replacing the line its still seizing so blame goes back to the caliper. I ordered a used but working one off eBay for $31 shipped and it comes with a free passenger side one.

What's slightly more disconcerting is that these brakes are fucked. I know the 1.6ls aren't supposed to have much, but it feels like the manual brakes from a Porsche 914 which is really, really bad. I think part of it might be damage to that one corner getting cooked and dragged around town, which has the rotors nice and warped, I don't know if it's to blame for the overall crappy performance though.

It might also be that the old people just put some high life, low noise, low dust piece of crap pads on there that are just awful quality, and the heat damage to the front probably doesn't help. So anyway, I'm looking for someone that's parting a 1994-1997 and has a good set of brakes with some decent life left in them. I'd be interested in the whole shebang rotors, pads and caliper brackets (not the calipers), also, maybe SS lines if they got em. If anyone knows anyone drop me a line and lemme know.

Have a picture.

[MRicci]

Surprise, it runs and drives and sounds like a 1.6L Miata!

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/25556493[/vimeo]

"Alright this one works, I'm selling it." I loled

[Scott]

I know the 1.6ls aren't supposed to have much, but it feels like the manual brakes from a Porsche 914 which is really, really bad. I think part of it might be damage to that one corner getting cooked and dragged around town, which has the rotors nice and warped, I don't know if it's to blame for the overall crappy performance though.

Who said the 1.6's have crappy brakes? All mine work and feel great. Change your pads and rotors.....

[SlimKlim]

Who said the 1.6's have crappy brakes? All mine work and feel great. Change your pads and rotors.....

Yeah, like I said, I'm casually looking for 1.8l brackets and decent pads/rotors. What would you recommend as the best budget friendly pad for these little guys? NAPA has rotors for $25/ea, if I could get a whole set of pads for about $100 I'd be in pretty good shape.

[Scott]

Het the Hawk HP+ for the front and HPS for the rear. More than enough stopping power for DE's and autocross. When you get into hardcore tracking then it's time to move to a race pad (but some guys still use the HP+'s for that also). There really isnt any need to move to the 1.8 brakes. You won't gain much and the pads/rotors cost more.....


Shop around for the rotors. I get mine from Fisher auto for $17 a piece for the fronts.....

[SlimKlim]

Het the Hawk HP+ for the front and HPS for the rear. More than enough stopping power for DE's and autocross. When you get into hardcore tracking then it's time to move to a race pad (but some guys still use the HP+'s for that also). There really isnt any need to move to the 1.8 brakes. You won't gain much and the pads/rotors cost more.....


Shop around for the rotors. I get mine from Fisher auto for $17 a piece for the fronts.....

Alright, you've successfully got me rethinking. I'll see what I can scrounge together. The HP+ is just a 'spensive pad for an otherwise cheap car, I was seeing like $90+ for a pair.

[Goodspeed]

Alright, you've successfully got me rethinking. I'll see what I can scrounge together. The HP+ is just a 'spensive pad for an otherwise cheap car, I was seeing like $90+ for a pair.

That ain't expensive :lol: I sell $450+ (Porsche) Pagid pads all day long hock: .

With the Miata (and especially a $500 one), you have to calibrate your spend-o-meter to the fact that you'll easily spend more than the car ( 's worth) on maintenance and mods.

Consider this - for less than the cost of a set of Porsche pads, you can get a full upgrade kit that would tide you over for a long time. Such as this.

[.RJ]

If it were my car, I'd buy some cheap NAPA/etc brake rotors (should be $80 for 4) and a decent set of street pads for $60-80/set, and if the brake lines look ok, some decent fluid ($20). You're in for under $200 and should all be sorted out.

[Scott]

Fronts, make an offer:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hawk-HP-P...ccessories


Front and rear:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hawk-HP-P...ccessories

[D_Eclipse9916]

If it were my car, I'd buy some cheap NAPA/etc brake rotors (should be $80 for 4) and a decent set of street pads for $60-80/set, and if the brake lines look ok, some decent fluid ($20). You're in for under $200 and should all be sorted out.

+1.

And if your bitching about $90 pads imma smack you. A set of front pads for the M3 in the compound I like is $250.


But seriously, HAWK HPS for autox/daily use. And then a dedicated set of pads for track use. Youll get much longer and happier use out of both.

[SlimKlim]

I know, I just did a full set of brakes on my M3. But for an ittle widdle bittie miata that I've got a tight budget on? I'm tryina save my dollars.

What I'm planning on now is the NAPA rotors and either HAWK HPS.for about $120 for all four or the HP+ for about $170. I've got a really good deal lined up on wheels I dont want to miss, so the brakes are still probably going to have to wait 2-3 weeks.

Luckily I have a car to daily.

[.RJ]

The HP+ make a bunch of noise when cold (well, they did when I was still doing the street car/track car thing, maybe things hage changed) and are probably overkill for street driving/autox.

[JustinG]

my HP+ don't make any noise...... just FYI

[ScottyB]

the HP+'s on my old accord would also rape my ears when they were cold. i loved them once they had heat in them though. the ferodo ds2500 i ran on the A4 was a pretty similar pad but dusted less and made less noise for similar stopping power. more pricey though.

[D_Eclipse9916]

The HP+ take time to heat up, which is a complete waste on an autox course. Your braking force will change during a run, which is especially hard to get used to without ABS. I highly suggest a compound that operates at lower temperatures. It also wont squeak as much and dust as much. IMO lots of people use waaaaaayyyy too aggressive compounds for autox, especially considering there isnt much braking in autox with an m3, gsx, etc, I imagine a miata doesnt even use them aside from taps, so id rather have a compound that worked at much lower temperatures.