A redneck’s Loser Miata build thread

[Castillo817]

Not sure if you saw on cl, but there were some brand new 9uls with some toyos (brand new as well) for $800.

[redneck4Christ]

Suspension should arrive tomorrow. Decided to bite the bullet and spend for XIDAs. 550/350 spring rates. Hopefully they are as good as everyone says. *fingers crossed*

Xida coilovers Miata

[Neverlift]

Originally Posted by redneck4Christ Suspension should arrive tomorrow. Decided to bite the bullet and spend for XIDAs. 550/350 spring rates. Hopefully they are as good as everyone says. *fingers crossed* Xida coilovers Miata

You will find that they will exceed your driving abilities for years to come. Hope you didnt skimp on bushings, mounts, adj. end links, and proper wheels/rubber (all 100% necessary with the lateral G's you will be pulling). Quality dampers hate shitty tires.

[redneck4Christ]

Originally Posted by Neverlift You will find that they will exceed your driving abilities for years to come. Hope you didnt skimp on bushings, mounts, adj. end links, and proper wheels/rubber (all 100% necessary with the lateral G's you will be pulling). Quality dampers hate shitty tires.

I did get new mounts, but I have not yet done anything with bushings, sway bars or endlinks. I plan to pick up a front bar from Voltwings, but I still need a rear bar to match and the end links.
Current tires are Nitto Neogens (280 TW) on Spec Miata rims. I also have 2 pairs of used 200 TW tires from my buddy’s chump car (Direzza and Falkens).

[Neverlift]

Well it is clear that the dampers exceed your cars current setup. Rather then developing the car with supporting mods, you spent money on dampers your setup will not be able to fully utilize. I realize most people do not consider supporting modifications, and would rather throw parts at a car, but you need to resist this temptation. That certainly can't be undone at this point so lets focus on getting the rest of the car up to speed.

What motor mounts are you running? I recommend a legit aftermarket w/ poly insert in order to stabilize the motor and trans during hard cornering. The Mazdacomp & hybrids are simply band aids, and I have seen people break a shift fork/pad from excessive transmission movement exiting a corner with them.

Bushings, since there is not a transmission mount, the diff and the motor mounts keep the transmission in place. Focus on the diff mounts, and if you can, locate a triangulated diff brace that connects to the PPF. Beatrush made them for the 1.6 but they were rare. However, they are one of the better bracing upgrades you can do. If you need a technical explanation of this theory, I can provide it.

As for suspension bushings, you do not want tired rubber preventing unimpeded oscillations that your dampers should be doing by themselves, replace them immediately.

What spring rates were you recommended to run with that wheel/treadwear?

[redneck4Christ]

The mounts, like the bushings, are still all stock from the factory. They are not broken, but yes, they ought to be replaced. I have not done much research into mounts yet. They need to be stronger, but I don't want to go crazy stiff and get a lot of NVH. (two 80 duro JBRs on my MS3 has a little more cruising NVH than I would like.)
This is a dual duty vehicle, not track only. Probably 1/3 me commuting to work, 1/3 Wife commuting or me with wife or daughter or son, and the rest HPDE track days,~ 4 weekends a year.
I called 949 and talked to Emilio about spring choices. Based on the mixed use, he said that this spring choice was fine. Yes, that will compromise track performance a bit.

Originally Posted by Neverlift Well it is clear that the dampers exceed your cars current setup. Rather then developing the car with supporting mods, you spent money on dampers your setup will not be able to fully utilize. I realize most people do not consider supporting modifications, and would rather throw parts at a car, but you need to resist this temptation. That certainly can't be undone at this point so lets focus on getting the rest of the car up to speed. What motor mounts are you running? I recommend a legit aftermarket w/ poly insert in order to stabilize the motor and trans during hard cornering. The Mazdacomp & hybrids are simply band aids, and I have seen people break a shift fork/pad from excessive transmission movement exiting a corner with them. Bushings, since there is not a transmission mount, the diff and the motor mounts keep the transmission in place. Focus on the diff mounts, and if you can, locate a triangulated diff brace that connects to the PPF. Beatrush made them for the 1.6 but they were rare. However, they are one of the better bracing upgrades you can do. If you need a technical explanation of this theory, I can provide it. As for suspension bushings, you do not want tired rubber preventing unimpeded oscillations that your dampers should be doing by themselves, replace them immediately. What spring rates were you recommended to run with that wheel/treadwear?

[redneck4Christ]

Mount search: First scratch.
Flyin Miata/Moss Miata seem to only have stock and Mazda Competition engine mounts.
Good-win offers 'stiff' 70 duro mounts (88 and 95 are competition only)

949 offers a combo motor mount kit with one 70 duro urethane and one MZ comp 70 duro rubber mount. That looks like a decent balance from my 20 minutes of research..."It is designed for the high HP daily driven street Miata."
SuperMiata Hybrid Motor Mounts 90-05 Miata

[Neverlift]

I apologize I did not seem the rates listed above. The rates have nothing to do with how the damper will handle oscillations, but they have a lot to do with what the tire can handle.

I am totally confused by your needs (buys racecar dampers for racecar handling) and expectations (charmin soft mounts/bushes), so I am just going to leave and wish you the best.

[redneck4Christ]

Originally Posted by Neverlift You will find that they will exceed your driving abilities for years to come. Hope you didnt skimp on bushings, mounts, adj. end links, and proper wheels/rubber (all 100% necessary with the lateral G's you will be pulling). Quality dampers hate shitty tires.

Pic from my last track day...
Suspension Lean!

[redneck4Christ]

Originally Posted by Neverlift I apologize I did not seem the rates listed above. The rates have nothing to do with how the damper will handle oscillations, but they have a lot to do with what the tire can handle. I am totally confused by your needs (buys racecar dampers for racecar handling) and expectations (charmin soft mounts/bushes), so I am just going to leave and wish you the best.

I want the best of both worlds while compromising nothing and only costing pennies, doesn't everyone? A BMW M5 for under $2k.

I do appreciate your input. I am definitely not done modifying and am still researching what all needs to go into the build. My life reality is that right now it has to be a dual purpose car.
On the bushings, one of the locals who tracks his Miata a lot actually said I probably did not need to upgrade bushings yet. That discussion came up in my thread on Trackjunkies forum.

[Neverlift]

Well you have one of the best possible damper options available, so they will be certainly be tits for dual purpose. My issue is they are not necessary at all, and you could have saved some money to be better spent getting the rest of the car up to par. I didnt want to have to flat out say that, but its the honest truth. I applaud the fact that you did it regardless (totally been there), as I am sure you were well aware of this fact prior.

As for what other people say elsewhere, I will shoot straight with you, I am not interested in it in this case. Run the OE bushings, then upgrade to poly and you will see how right or wrong that local was. Good luck

[redneck4Christ]

Parts are here. Starting install...

[redneck4Christ]

Rears are in!

[redneck4Christ]

I told you this would be a painfully slow build. Aug 16, the rears went in in about an hour. I finally got back under the car this last Saturday, Sept 10. Need to get it finished and aligned before DriversEdge (HPDE) this next weekend (9/17-18). Nothing like the last minute, huh?
Front shocks are in. Tie rods and ball joints feel nice and tight with no play, but they all are original and have torn boots. New tie rods are installed (Autozone). Ball joint dust boots are on order.
F I N A L L Y got it back together and on the ground last (Wed 9/15). I went a few miles for a shakedown run, then loaded it on the trailer and went to bed. Dropped it off at MER this morning for alignment/balance/setup.

One good thing about having it in the air so long is I got to explain suspension and steering to the kids. They enjoyed seeing the spring/shock compress when the wheel hub went up. And they enjoyed seeing how the steering wheel moves the rack which moves the tie rods which turn the wheels. We'll talk about brakes next time. The kids were in bed when my wife helped me bleed them last night.

[redneck4Christ]

Fun weekend. I'd say Great weekend except my buddy broke his 944. He has not fully diagnosed it yet, but thinks he had piston-to-valve contact.
This was my first weekend to run in blue. On the first run session I caught my buddy and passed him, then a lap later I had my first off track event. I over cooked/ over rotated/ somehow screwed up the last right hander of rattlesnake, sliding off track. The rest of the first day went well. Towards the end of the day I noticed some residue under the hood. Maybe I overfilled something? Saturday night I rinsed everything off.
Sunday morning I drive ~20 miles to the track and check everything again. More residue. Definitely radiator. Leaking around the upper tank. Crap. Well, does this kill my weekend or do I chance it? What's the worst that could happen? No. Antifreeze spilled on the track is a Bad thing. So I started searching for a radiator and let my instructor know what's up. After the Blue morning class, I take off for the Autozone hub in Haltom City (30 miles away). I missed the first blue driving session, but I got back and got it installed for the second blue session.
After lunch, I get up to the paddock for the third blue driving session. My instructor is not up there. After the rest of the blues are on track, he come up without a helmet and says, I didn't tell you earlier but here's a curveball. I signed you off to go solo. Get out there!

So in one weekend, I had my first blue runs, had my first spin/4-off, bought a helmet, replaced a radiator, and I got my first solo runs!

The suspension handled well, but I'm not calibrated well enough to tell a huge difference. I need to come up with a data logger before my next event. Track Addict or Harry's Lap Timer APs maybe?

[Neverlift]

I use Harrys Lap Timer on my phone. Keeps and logs all of my laps at any track that I can pull up at any time, and overlays to my cameras.