Project '99 Miata Sport

[Mike]

Rj, check out the other pages, such as setting up suspension, or the page for setting up natural frequency and spring rates...

Never tried that - wonder if its sound theory? I just go with what other people use :lol: Lots of different ways to set up a car or bike though...

A few of the smart people on HT (you know the few in RR/AX) say it is... I'm giving it (750F/600R w/ 24mm rear bar) a shot currently. If I ever make it to the track, I'll let you know how it goes.

[.RJ]

Track? F that. How does is skr33t race?

[Mike]

Dunno, I don't drive it there either. I keep adding bling though! Just need a trailer and some car shows.

[Maengelito]

Yea, I figured this much as far as comparison of suspensions when there are so many extra variables... figured it was just an interesting note to throw out there (simpler can be better). Your reasons are exactly why I want to stick with single adjustment for the time being, my only real reason for any adjustment is the ability to keep the ride somewhat comfortable for street driving and like you said slight situational changes. Anymore input? Additional reading?

I think the main issue here is that you want your suspension to have infinite adjustability ranging from full on race setup to soft and comfortable daily driver and it needs to be relatively cheap and OTS. I'm sure if something like this existed, it'd be selling like hotcakes. The problem is when you start getting deeper into the weeds (on-off, progressive clicks, fine tuning with knobs, rebound and compression, natural frequency damping, etc.) it will cost a lot more to include adjustability that actually does something. When would you stop adding variability? And tuning for that isn't gonna be very straightforward either. I agree with RJ, let other people test setups and go with whatever trickles down from that. The Koni/GC or Tein setup will do everything you want it to 99.99% of the time and will come close to what you want for that other 4 minutes that you're autocrossing. :thumbup:

[Nis01]

Not much to update here but did manage to get the miata out of the garage for the first time in about 2.5 years. I was pleasantly surprised to throw a new battery in the car and have it fire right up with no issues to mention. Took care of the basic maintenance, registration, insurance and inspection and the car was back on the road. Threw on the 6ULs, put in a little gas, and was on my way to VMP to rag the hell out of the car and blow off the cobwebs, literally.

Had a good time out on the course with the car. First realization, holy crap I am rusty and have a ways to go to find the limit of the car again. I was pleasantly pleased that I had consistent clean runs with only 1 cone due to a massive dorifto throughout 6 official runs. Took a couple runs to scrub in the RS3s that have been sitting dormant in the garage for the past few years. I was able to cut some time off with each consecutive run. Did not help that a factory five decided to blow an oil line and lace the slaloms with oil and provide us with a 30 minute cooldown. Last run was a blast and started feeling a bit more comfortable with the car, still not there yet though. Got in 5 fun runs, each of which I felt consistently cleaner, smoother and faster. I had forgotten every detail about previous car setup so I was guessing a bit but it was a blast regardless. No pictures or video, next purchase is definitely a GoPro.

Cliffnotes: Miata with 2.5 years dust/cobwebs, put in new battery and drove the piss out of it without issue. Hard not to love something so damn simple. Perhaps my next update won't be another 2.5 year hiatus. :lol:

[Nis01]

The next purchase will be a new driver seat to try and save my knees from bracing myself in the car. I am trying to figure out the best mounting options. I think Goodspeed went with some custom mounts from Piper motorsports? Goodspeed chime in if they modified the stockers or if they custom welded a fixed bracket? I really won't require sliders but they are definitely a nice feature to have. I'm a fan of this design but they are not currently available.



Second thing on the agenda, I'll take any help with sourcing a very good condition hardtop (preference black or white OEM top). Any leads on this would be greatly appreciated. Its only been several years in this search.

[ScottyB]

always an awesome feeling to get back in the saddle after 2 years! love that you're still driving the crap out of it.

[Goodspeed]

Nice dude! Good to see this car out of retirement. Coming to the college a-x?

The next purchase will be a new driver seat to try and save my knees from bracing myself in the car. I am trying to figure out the best mounting options. I think Goodspeed went with some custom mounts from Piper motorsports? Goodspeed chime in if they modified the stockers or if they custom welded a fixed bracket? I really won't require sliders but they are definitely a nice feature to have. I'm a fan of this design but they are not currently available.

Correct, they took everything factory out and built new bases from the ground up. For my height, it wasn't too complicated for the driver's side, but they massaged the pass. side a bit more to get the seat lower and further back to accommodate more people.

Full disclosure, in hindsight I should've gone with a slider setup. You're taller than me, so it may not be a huge deal, but having a seat that is in-and-of itself harder to get in, fixed in place makes getting in and out fairly difficult. I have it down to one fluid motion but it gets tiring if you drive it more than every once in a while. I also cursed myself when I had to get under the dash and adjust the clutch pedal a while back and short of unbolting the seat, it was in the way the whole time. Gave new meaning to the word "contort".

Now, I know from my experience working at OG before that seat installs are a royal pain the ass :lol:. Nothing ever "fits" or "bolts together" no matter what anyone tells you. Those 949 bases would be sweet if he'd build them, and I don't know if Goodwin is still making theirs, but short of those I know for a fact there are almost no legit, decent bases out there for our cars. So thats why I just left it to Piper to put everything together from scratch - harder on the wallet, but much less headache.

If I were to do it again, I'd take a pretty close look at this setup. Kind of version 2.0 of those Miata-specific Memoryfab seats everyone wants...fairly money, but intriguing nonetheless:

http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Per...-1084.html

Or maybe Elise seats?

[Nis01]

Those Goodwin seats are interesting, I'm assuming they are not FIA certified and therefore something I don't really want to invest in. I'm sort of set on Recaro SPGs, perfect fitment for my build. Plug and play solution just doesn't seem available for the NB so it may be a challenge to retrofit kits that are currently available. I also came across this design that is not currently being mass produced but all of the specs are available online. I don't know what the cost would be to build (the designer got a pair created for ~110.00). Do you think Piper or any local fabricator would be able to build these?

Design here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.projecttrackday.com/?p=970">http://www.projecttrackday.com/?p=970</a><!-- m -->
CAD files: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.projecttrackday.com/?p=1089">http://www.projecttrackday.com/?p=1089</a><!-- m -->



Seems like the research has been done and these will work with some minor modification if I can find somebody to produce them. I'm kicking myself for sending back the memoryfab sliders that I had a couple years ago, but at the time I was concerned with the aspect of single-locking slider safety. Not in a huge rush, really just trying to weigh my options at this point.

[JustinG]

Buy the seats and get Auto Dynamix (Carlos) to fab you some brackets.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[Nis01]

Buy the seats and get Auto Dynamix (Carlos) to fab you some brackets.

Sent from my Nexus 7

Justin do you have any contact information available? Google seems to be a no go.

Nice dude! Good to see this car out of retirement. Coming to the college a-x?

I was hoping to make it to this but I will be out of town, I will be at VMP the following weekend though.

[Evan]

I have a custom fabbed Piper motorsports for sale. it was designed around the sparco evo but any similarly dimensioned side mount seat should fit.

Has a slider (made by sparco, not repurposed stock), and accomodates people from my size 6'2" down to RJ size and a 5'5" female codriver I had for a while.

email me at evan55 at gmail

[.RJ]

[Nis01]

I have a custom fabbed Piper motorsports for sale. it was designed around the sparco evo but any similarly dimensioned side mount seat should fit.

Has a slider (made by sparco, not repurposed stock), and accomodates people from my size 6'2" down to RJ size and a 5'5" female codriver I had for a while.

email me at evan55 at gmail

Sounds good. Sending you an e-mail now for some details.