FM: "Yo dawg, I heard you like boxes..."
Seriously, amazing quality and packaging.
Here's what the layout looks like so far:
Christmas in July! FM really lives up to the hype!
FM: "Yo dawg, I heard you like boxes..."
Seriously, amazing quality and packaging.
Here's what the layout looks like so far:
Christmas in July! FM really lives up to the hype!
ok, im a little jealous....a little
Warren, care to give away what type of rates you went with?
In reply to Warren v:
Without the steering wheel that's over 2.5 months of my salary just sitting on your table... 
Our shipping department is full of rock stars. Stuff almost never gets damaged in transit. That's a custom-made box for the turbo - flip it over when you're done, you'll see "TURBO" on the bottom IIRC. There's 30 square feet of bubble wrap on the turbocharger alone.
Unpacking this stuff is a lot of fun.
z31maniac wrote: Warren, care to give away what type of rates you went with?
It's funny, Warren sent me a spreadsheet with anticipated weights. We independently came up with numbers that were within about 10% of each other. I have no problem sharing the rates, but I'll let Warren decide.
My ride frequency analysis ended up with 450/300 for something between road course and autocross and no aero. Keith independently came up with 500/325. We went with Keith's numbers due to our all-around aero.
A hard street setup would 325/250 (2.2/2.4Hz, 108% FRfreq). Something comfortable while remaining odd the bumpstops on NB shocks would be 175/125.
I've driven a couple Exocets with new OEM coilovers, and they felt shockingly good. Even better with the rear ARB disconnected. As weight goes down, ride frequency goes up.
what is thqt in kg/mm
Rockin' out. Here's the tool table in the heat of battle. Not everyone is followin' the rules, but it's still mostly organized. I ain't gunna be a Nazi.
And Grant: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=500+lb%2Fin+to+kg%2Fmm
Think you messed up the link, try this:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=500+lb+per+inch+to+kg+per+mm&dataset=&asynchronous=false&equal=Submit
In reply to GameboyRMH:
Thanks. I just typed in the HTML, I guess it parsed the spaces as the whole %20 deal
ehh im not too far off that now. im on a 12k/8k after the last trackday
WHOA
torque wrench? What is this, a race car?
It's going well. One of the reasons why we're making progress is because we're staying the hell away from this forum and Reddit for now.
Turbo is just now going on, we've already tapped the pan.
The front subframe was built from freshly-powdercoated pieces:
The rear subframe, suspension, and diff are all together now. Red bushings everywhere:
I personally installed the Happy Meal and used all our remaining Brake-Cleen doing it. My 2001 daily driver has made me completely intolerant of clutch judder. I don't have any pictures of this, but the inside of the bellhousing is now considerably more purple.
so much win. i really wish i was in country NOW. i would spend my whole vacation there helping
Looking good! BTW, that clutch judder on your 2001 was characteristic of the year. I think it was poorly machined stock flywheels.
In reply to Keith Tanner:
Something like that. I did a lot of research, some say it was the friction disk supplier, some say flywheel, nearly everyone says you need to replace the flywheel and clutch. I'm holding off until I get a two-post to do it. On cold wet mornings I slip at 3k RPM for the first few starts and it's usually fine.
Injectors installed. Turbo installed. Doing coolant reroute stuffs now because a lot of that stuff is buried under stuff we want to put on now.
I am SO looking forward to Thursday night/Friday! I'll be the guy drooling at pit out.
In reply to mistanfo:
And I'll be the one foaming at the mouth in the passenger seat during warm-up laps.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but everything is on schedule. We of course ran into a few hiccups, mainly Dorman replacement rear hubs with front-hub-sized knurls, but other than that, everything is rockin' out just fine. Kevin is making a run to Summit for new front Miata ARP studs, and I'm ready to take the chassis as soon as it pops out of the powdercoating oven.
MASSIVE THANKS TO THE GUYS FROM MX5ATLANTA! A few turbo gurus showed up and made everything happen Sunday.
We've got the front and rear subframes assembled, Happy Meal installed with all appropriate seals, coolant reroute done, shifter rebuilt, clutch slave replaced, turbo installed, exhaust in place, suspension bushings replaced, radiator and airflow kit assembled, and a few other things I can't remember. I finally had an excuse to call Keith. The turbo instructions called out an aluminum bracket for the turbo-side oil drain, which we couldn't find. We were scouring every box and package before I finally gave up and called him. Turns out it was not included because they threw in a hard line upgrade that replaced that block. Nice.
There is a lot of sexy purple on this car:
Our timeline doesn't allow for extensive cleaning and repainting every single Miata component, but I plan to break it down about a month after UTCC and go through everything anyways. This will be a show car at one point, but right now it's just a go car. Only so much you can do when you start building a UTCC car a week before UTCC.
Here's what I left last week at the powdercoaters:
I'm waiting to pick up the chassis from the powdercoaters this afternoon, and then we'll start to bolt everything together. We should get the springs today, which will allow us to assemble the AFCOs.
Remaining timeline:
Today (Monday) 4p-8p: Prepping the Chassis: Plumbing, pedal installation, various mounts and stuff 8p: Riveting on the floors 9p: Joining Miata and Exocet, installing various Miata components (fuel tank, etc)
Tuesday (all day) Plumbing and wiring First fire Full torque check
Wednesday Chasing gremlins Bodywork/stickers Night shakedown at secret location
Thursday Trailer up, head to VIR
Friday Have a goddamn blast at UTCC
Saturday and Sunday Build FM's Exocet frame.
Looking good!
Warren v wrote: I can't believe I'm saying this, but everything is on schedule. We of course ran into a few hiccups, mainly Dorman replacement rear hubs with front-hub-sized knurls, but other than that, everything is rockin' out just fine.
They were 1990-93 hubs 
What upper ball joint are we looking at here?
I have first fire scheduled for Wednesday. Mine is one of of these, though, and it probably won't happen on time:
Mine makes a bunch more power, but yours is definitely more exiting.
I'll be watching.
What's a happy meal? I thought it was a joke reference to eating, literally, a happy meal, but now I think I'm wrong.
Is that anodized purple thing a brake caliper mount?
A Happy Meal is a clutch/flywheel combo. It started as a joke in a catalog draft in the mid-90's, but kinda stuck.
The purple is indeed a brake caliper mount for the Flyin' Miata "Little Big Brake Kit". This car is actually getting the very first production four-wheel version, which puts a special caliper on the back that retains the parking brake.
Keith, speaking of that little parking brake caliper, how should we handle the lack of a parking brake cable? Are the arms alright to let rattle around? I was thinking of safety wiring them open somehow...
And the upper ball joint is this guy: http://www.v8roadsters.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=ball+joint
We didn't really need it, but we wanted to powdercoat the Miata arms, and we weren't comfortable pressing out and back in the stockers.
They don't seen to rattle, but I put a silicone rubber band (found in the kitchen, shh!) on mine to make sure. Safety wire would be good as well as long as you don't get it too tight.
Thought those might be the V8R parts. I was just curious.
Is it green?
Yes. Very.
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