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As I waited in anticipation for the turbo manifold and downpipe to be completed, I got to participate in my first real track event at Harris Hill Road in San Marcos!
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...0-02124727.jpg
The 10AE and my buddy's AP1!
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...0-02124658.jpg
I got to run 3 separate sessions, 2 going around the track in the usual clockwise manner, and 1 in the more technical counter-clockwise direction
I got a good bit of video from the runs, so here's a couple of the laps I did. First lap was a bit of a warm up, and the second was faster, but we had to pit right after because they were going to change the course direction
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...32/th_H2R1.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...0-02131932.jpg
The miata cooling down next to a Challenge Stradale
At the end of the day, I got to ride in a LS1-swapped NA, which was absolutely incredible!
I definitely learned a lot that day about the car itself, the mechanics of driving on a track, and especially how I needed to improve my driving style in order to be faster around the track!
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Out with the old and in with the new...roll bar!
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...1-04111716.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...1-04111729.jpg
And as I write this right now, I realize that I never got any installed pics of the half cage :P
This is the best I can do :roll:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6...9efde69e_b.jpg
Untitled by ShadowMX5, on Flickr
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After picking up the cage, I received an email that I had eagerly been waiting for...
The turbo components were complete!
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/109_0994.jpg
Abe at ARTech sent me some photos of the completed work, and everything looks very, very good. If anyone is looking for someone to do any type of fabrication, Abe is 100% the man! He is extremely easy to work with and very good from a communication standpoint, always keeping me updated on the progress of everything with photos and emails. His fabrication skill are second to none, and the welds couldn't have been done better by a robot!
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/109_0995.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/109_0996.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/109_1024.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/109_1025.jpg
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I then got in a couple cool pieces from a former 10AE buddy Broketuner!
Energy Suspension Polyurethane suspension bushings and the Hondata intake manifold gasket:
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...1-18194758.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...1-18194838.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...1-18195244.jpg
Really looking forward to seeing and feeling the difference that these two parts make whenever I start the assembly of all the doep parts I've been massing lately
The suspension bushings are the ones sold by 949 Racing, and are 88 durometer, much higher than the stock bushings, so the ride should change quite a bit once I get the old stock bushings out that have over 150,000 miles on them
The Hondata intake manifold gasket is designed the reduce the amount of heat that is transferred between the head and the intake manifold, reducing the air intake temps by as much as 40 degrees, which will greatly help once the turbo stuff is installed!
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Now time for some new content!
I just received the intercooler, blow off valve, and seat brackets this past week.
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSC_008021.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSC_008122.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSC_008223.jpg
The intercooler is 16.5" x 11" x 3" with 2.5" outlets. Should be just the right size to fit nicely in the mouth of the car and still allow air to pass around it for the radiator.
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSC_001429.jpg
Pit Garage seat brackets! These things are amazingly light compared to some other side mount brackets I've seen. I got 2 sets of these, and all together, they *maybe* weight 3 lbs.
The brackets will be holding a pair of these in the car...
http://www.upr.com/images/D/00820_black_186.jpg
The seats are en route to me right now; I'm hoping to see them sometime this week! :D
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As for the blow off valve...
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSC_000324.jpg
I picked up the Turbosmart Kompact Dual Port, as its pretty innovative and is very good quality from what I can tell.
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSC_000425.jpg
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSC_000526.jpg
Its an interesting design: There are 2 ports on the valve itself, one dedicated to atmosphere, and the other one for recirculating back into the intake.
The valve comes with a block off plate that you can screw into either side so that you can make the valve fully atmospheric...
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSC_000828.jpg
Or fully recirculated...
http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/z...DSC_000727.jpg
Its a pretty cool piece in my opinion, and it should work out quite well!
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One more quick pic that I took the other night while playing around with my new camera... :D
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6...70fdf6b7_b.jpg
Untitled by ShadowMX5, on Flickr
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Nice. Are you doing any changes in the cooling department for the new FI gear?
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Yes! I'm planning on doing a coolant reroute, so with that and the bigger radiator that I already have, I believe it should cool the motor adequately with all the turbo bits on.
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Well it turns out that the Sprint V's are on backorder from Sparco until the middle of March. So I won't be getting to ditch the stock 10AE seats *quite* yet.
Either way, it doesn't really affect anything. As soon as my tax return comes in, I'll be doing some major damage to my list :twisted:
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wow, an awesome write up, great car--very nice job...
I really enjoyed reading your story
keep up the great work....
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Amazing how far this Miata has come!! Looks great!!