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Thread: For more speed, add lightness

  1. #151
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MLambert19 View Post
    What trunk is that? Did you end up with a Murakami one?
    Not yet. The goal is Murakami Motors trunk one day. But for now I've got the stock trunk with an OG YSCC duckbill spoiler circa 1995.

  2. #152
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power MLambert19's Avatar
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    Thanks! I had read about the spoiler earlier, but looking at that rear picture it looked seamless, hence why I assumed it was a whole trunk.

    I'd love to go with the Murakami 1028 Carbon piece, but I'd kind of like to keep my 3rd brakelight. I wonder if there's any way to order it with the cutout...

  3. #153
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    I fitted the Track Dog Racing exhaust manifold heat shield over my Racing Beat header. It comes flat and you form it by hand so that it fits the way you want around the exhaust, hopefully with a small air gap between the exhaust pipes and the underside of the insulating blanket. You begin by forming the right hand side (closest to the firewall) and the top section overlaps that. It's a super tight fit around the oil dipstick, heater hoses and the shelf underneath the brake booster/ master cylinder. Time will tell how well it holds up against possible rubbing at those spots. I must be an idiot because I spent a rather frustrating 45 minutes trying to get it to fit as well as possible around the pipes and mounting brackets, which slipped a few times during trial fitting. I secured it with the supplied bolts and angle brackets. Hopefully this helps further lower and stabilize my intake air temps.









    I worked on the tune some more. I went back to my last known "good" VE table, did a bunch of smoothing by hand and using the interpolate button, added a lot more fuel in my TPS 2% row to help with lean stumble off idle, changed the Accel-pump Accel Enrichment Settings > TPSdot buckets and pulsewidth % adder for each so there is a lot less accel enrichment, and further tweaked the WUE settings. Things are definitely moving in the right direction but I ran out of time before the thunderstorms to test drive it again. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow the weather will hold and I can do some more driving, data logging and auto tuning.

    I also want to redo the hose from the valve cover to the catch can so that it is a little bit longer. It's about 2" too short now but I ran out of materials.

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  5. #154
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    My boy's first ever ride in the Miata with his dad on Fathers Day


    You don't see that many modern style homes in our area. But you see so much more of your surroundings with the top down. This one is a new build that I hadn't seen before.


    It will do a single backfire during overrun on occasion, but none of that snap, crackle, pop. I will probably play around with my bottom row of my VE table a bit. Removing fuel will get rid of it completely. Adding fuel will make it sound like a car that's not tuned well!


    Moderate acceleration first and second gear.

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  7. #155
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    In late June I went to Miataland in Italy. It was fantastic. For the sake of time, I'm just going to copy my FB review.


    If you love Miatas then you must go visit Andrea and Miataland near Perugia in central Italy. I was just there and it was incredible. Andrea is one of us, a real petrolhead and Miata nut who is not only a connoisseur, but a true ambassador who echoes the fun loving spirit of these little roadsters.

    We stayed overnight in his guest room, which was clean and comfortable and had a full private bath and private entrance. It was decorated nicely. There was even a copy of Roadster Bros. magazine near the fireplace if you need some reading material and a cool collection of aftermarket Miata steering wheels. Soon his larger guest house that adjoins the main house will be open to serve even more guests. He kindly gave us a tour of the construction and his vision for the property once completed. It will be very luxurious and quintessentially Italian, with famous Deruta porcelain tiles and oak wood trim and flooring throughout from a local master craftsman. Not to mention the large library of Miata and other automotive books and magazines.

    Unfortunately we didn't have time for a swim in the beautiful pool. There were too many other things to see, like the large Miata collection of over 40 cars that is absolutely without peer. The best part for me was seeing and sitting inside his rare M2-1001, which I consider to be the crown jewel of his collection. He also has two M2-1002, a M2-1028, various tuner style cars like a widebody Mazdaspeed N2 Nopro car, Pit Crew Racing car, Bugeye car, supercharged V8 Mega Monster, a RS-Limited, NC race car, every color NA ever made, many fine NB including 10th Anniversary edition, and a very special 1 of 1 Miataland edition ND Miata RF, which he kindly let us take for a drive in the countryside. We visited nearby Monte Castillo de Viturbo and enjoyed many twists and turns. It was a perfect car for such fun driving roads.

    After our drive we visited the beautiful and ancient city of Perugia nearby for an appertivo and dinner. The next day we enjoyed a lovely breakfast of coffee, toast, jams, yogurt, fruit juices and more friendly conversation with our host Andrea. One day is not enough time to spend at Miataland and I wish we could have stayed longer just to hang out and chat. But we had to continue on to the famous Perugina chocolate factory and other destinations. Vacations are always too short, aren't they?

    I only wish I could get a job at Miataland and help him regularly exercise his cars and maintain his collection. I definitely hope to return again in the future. Thank you Andrea!
    Miataland is in a rural area outside a tiny little town of maybe 100 people down a long dirt road. Once through the gate Andrea greeted us and began to show us the property. First stop was the Miata collection. Afterall, this is primarily the reason why we were here!


    Garage entrance


    M2-1001, the crown jewel of the collection in my opinion. Andrea is definitely a NA fan and I think this car is the "best" of the NAs. I was most excited to see this car as I am a huge M2 fan but have never had the privilege to see one in real life. Until now....


    Side view. Andrea had to go get this big box of car keys so he could open up the cars in his collection.


    Please forgive the photo quality. I was limited to my mobile phone camera and the lighting inside the garage wasn't ideal for taking pictures.


    Here is the man himself unlocking the M2-1001 so I could peek inside.


    M2-1001 door panel. It will cost you about $1800 to recreate the M2-1001 door panel using Nakamae parts from Rev9: $600 for the door panels (upper and lower), $150 for the 2 point leather pull straps, $400 for the alloy window cranks, $500 for the alloy door levers (not exactly the same as M2-1001 but close enough) plus $150 shipping. I'd love to be able to do this in my own car but I just can't justify it. So I'm doing the poor man's cafe racer with primer3d Forever panels and various aftermarket bits.


    M2-1001 bucket seats. Andrea kindly let me sit in his M2-1001, which was a dream come true. It is a tight fit for a fat ass American like me! Even Andrea admits they are a bit tight for him as when he drove the car back home from UK he had to make several rest stops because of them. They're a little bit tighter fitting than the Nakamae Type-R seats I've sampled. Perhaps ideally suited for your average Japanese customer, but even Mazda realized that the seats were somewhat limiting. When they released the M2-1028, they gave customers a choice of seat sizes: S, M or L. Just like when you spec the optional carbon buckets on a Ferrari 488 GTB. How bespoke.


    M2-1001 cockpit.


    M2-1001 rear finish panel badge


    One of two M2-1002 cars at Miataland. One is mostly original condition. The other has been restored. Both are very beautiful cars in person. The blue paint is really a beautiful color. I've read that both M2-1001 and M2-1002 were painted the same "Brave Blue Mica" color but I'm not so sure. They definitely look different in person. The M2-1001 is more black, the M2-1002 is more blue.

    Andrea also has a M2-1028 that I saw, but I forgot to take pictures of this car.


    I love how the blue paintwork carries over into the interior with the blue dash top and gauge hood. In photos I never really paid attention to that but in person it looks absolutely amazing. And all the woodwork was made by Yamaha using the same materials and techniques as their high-end musical instruments and hifi systems. Photos do not accurately convey the luxurious feeling inside.


    Mazda Europe’s 2010 20th Anniversary ‘Open Race’ endurance race car for Team Italy. This car is actually street legal now and has license plates and is regularly driven on the road. In fact, this is the same car featured in the excellent CarAdvice article at the bottom of this post. The cars are all stored indoors under cover. But Andrea and his friends regularly exercise all the cars. The goal is to drive each at least once every 2 months if not more often. Given the massive size of the collection, this takes quite some effort! Keeping all the cars running well requires regular maintenance, which they do in the workshop on premises.


    Pit Crew Racing


    Sunburst Yellow Bugeye Conversion


    Mazdaspeed Nopro car. As you will recall, Nogami Project ran a widebody NA Roadster with a turbocharged rotary 13B engine in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) GT300 class. This car has the same widebody kit and a whole bunch of Mazdaspeed (Japan) kit parts. Not sure if this was B-spec or what.


    Nopro-kitted Mazdaspeed NA.


    The wide fenders are needed to fit these wide Panasport G7 multi-piece wheels


    Ferrari GTO kit.


    Mariner Blue NA


    Mariner Blue NA


    Here you can see the enormity of the Miataland Garage. I don't know exactly how many cars he has but it's a lot! I'm not even sure if Andrea himself knows the exact number. He's got every color NA made, many limited edition models from around the world, and also several NB and NC models and even the new ND Miata. In addition, he has many other cars besides Miatas. We share very similar tastes in cars. He's got several VWs including Mk2 and Mk3 GTI, Corrado, etc. One thing is for certain, he likes true driver's cars. He has so many I couldn't even begin to photograph them all. Plus I was dying of thirst after the long journey there. So Andrea kindly offered us some water and grapefruit juice to quench our thirst, which was very much appreciated! It also gave me an opportunity to meet his two dogs Eunos and Yata (short for Miata) and see the beautiful renovations he's done on his private residence portion of the property.






    View from bedroom suite under construction in the new portion of the property that will soon feature a large reading library with every issue of Road&Ster, Roadster Bros, HyperREV, every Miata book ever written in every language, owner's manuals, brochures, etc. Adnrea even has a Mazda Kodo chair that was a gift directly from Mazda!



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  9. #156
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    1 of 1 Miataland edition Mazda MX-5 Miata RF with all the options boxes ticked and some special Alcantara trim on the Recaro seats and dash. This car really is the NA Miata reincarnated (but with modern safety and features). It sounds exactly like my NA did before I started messing with it. Not too loud, not too quiet. Just right. Perfect balance. The throttle blip when you start the car is neat. And it drives really nice, too! Andrea let me drive this very special car around the hills of Umbria and it only has 200 km on the odometer so I took it easy but it's definitely a fun car. It almost makes me regret doing the ITBs on my car... almost.












    Eunos Roadster Yours Sports Key Fob for our room key


    Steering wheel collection


    M2-1001 coffee mug


    Here are two great articles from Australia's CarAdvice magazine that do Miataland more justice than I can
    Miataland: Where Japanese pride meets Italian passion
    World’s greatest driving roads: Todi to Orvieto, Italy

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  11. #157
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    In other updates, I bought a PLX Devices Kiwi3 OBD2 Device so that I could output data from my Megasquirt MS3 via the MS Labs Wideband O2/ CAN Module to an app running on my smart phone. My goal was to use an old iPhone to provide a cheap AFR display. You see, I have a Innovate LC-2, which doesn't come with a gauge. Initially I didn't mind this as I figured I'd have Tuner Studio open on the laptop where I could easily monitor all engine vitals including AFR. But I realized that once my car is reasonably tuned I didn't want to always be driving with the laptop computer open on the passenger seat. Also, I share the car with my dad and he's not going to mess around with any of this stuff. So I needed a way to easily monitor AFR since that is one of the more critical measurements.



    I don't like the Innovate DB series add-on gauges nor the analog only G3/4/5 gauges. So I thought I'd try a wireless OBD2 device and a smart phone app. The Kiwi 3 is expensive compared to generic ELM327 devices but because I wasn't sure whether it'd work with the Miata or not I figured why not get one that is multi-device capable so that anyone in my family can make use of it on any of our vehicles. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get it working with my Miata. It takes me 10 seconds to connect OBD Fusion to my Volvo to read AFR. This is probably because my Volvo was factory equipped with OBD2. But when I connect to my Miata I get nothing, despite the software recognizing the PIDs for oxygen sensor and AFR as valid. When I try achieving the same goal by entering a custom PID manually (Mode 22, PID 0134) I still get no data. I'm sure this is probably just a config/user error on my part. Reverant recommended I try Mode 0x01, PID 0x34. But I haven't gotten around to it yet as it is somewhat of a pain to get to the OBD2 connection as it's buried behind my radio blanking plate.


    Here is what I see when I connect to my Volvo. This is what I want to see when I connect to my Wideband/ CAN/ OBD2 module.


    This is what I actually see when I connect to my Wideband/ CAN/ OBD2 module.

    I went for a drive. Found a newly built parking garage that was empty so decided to explore.







    My first foray into Android devices is this Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 to run a virtual dashboard in the Miata. I decided that rather than mess with the OBD2 device and only get limited data, I might as well connect directly to the ECU and see everything I want. I'm already annoyed because the Google Play store wouldn't allow me to setup Paypal as a payment method. I had to use a credit card in order to purchase, download and install the Shadow Dash MS application from EFI Analytics, the makers of the popular Tuner Studio software application I use to tune my car's Megasquirt MS3 ECU. I'm still an Apple/ Macbook/ iPhone fan here. Unfortunately, Shadow Dash only works on Android devices. Once I get my Bluetooth/ RS232 module from EFI Analytics I can start customizing my display.


    Big brother meet little brother. New 350mm diameter Momo Montecarlo steering wheel to replace the old 320mm diameter Momo Montecarlo steering wheel. I like the smaller diameter wheel because I have fat thighs and it gives me more room in the cockpit. But with manual steering and my dad's arthritis the larger wheel with its greater leverage ratio should be a little bit easier to handle.


    It still blocks the gauges but in a different way. It will be awesome once I get the race bucket seats installed and lower my seating position about 4". Even so, the larger wheel is an improvement over the 320mm version. With manual steering, the larger wheel both reduces steering effort and improves the level of road feel from the front tires. It's a win-win.


    I'm not sure if I need a valve adjustment or if my TWM ITBs just tick a lot due to the lack of a pulse dampener on the fuel rail. But you can hear the ticking noise at idle over the sound of the exhaust. You can't hear it once on the move. The car sounds like a beast doing a second gear pull to redline, especially when driving under a bridge overpass or through a tunnel.

    Lately I've just been driving a lot, data logging, and auto tuning with cell resistance set to very hard. I don't auto-update the controller anymore. Instead, at the end of a session, I will take a screen shot of the auto tuning screen showing what changes it recommends, then I use logic to decide which changes to manually incorporate. This keeps auto tune from doing anything too drastic or weird. I have some weird issues going on with my chosen fueling algorithm (Alpha-N) and firmware (1.5.0) with the engine states logic, so I cannot use certain features like Over Run Fuel Cut until the developers reconsider how Alpha-N users often don't have a MAP sensor. Because of this, auto tune sometimes tries to pull too much fuel from certain cells when I'm in an overrun condition. So to avoid that issue, I decide on a case by case basis what recommendations to accept and what to ignore. Other than warmup, I feel like my VE table is pretty good now. Not perfect, but definitely driveable. My dad is eager to play with the Miata, so I'm going to spend the next few weeks getting it ready for the big drive up north to deliver the car to him so that he can enjoy it for the last bit of summer and into the fall.

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  13. #158
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift oldgrayleather's Avatar
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    Thanks for sharing your trip to Miataland. It's now on my bucket list and Puglia helps make it a viable vacation for my wife and I!

  14. #159
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! marlonthegreat's Avatar
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    Did you notice what number is his M2-1001?

    This is what I saw in person in Japan...

    P1270165 by marlonmercado77, on Flickr

    no. "001" of 300
    MIATA...incredibly fun to drive - as that is its only purpose for being.

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  16. #160
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oldgrayleather View Post
    Thanks for sharing your trip to Miataland. It's now on my bucket list and Puglia helps make it a viable vacation for my wife and I!
    Andrea told me his goal is to build a resort like experience that makes it easier for the husband to convince the wife it is a viable vacation or long weekend getaway option. He imagines it a place where the husband can get a set of new Ohlins coilovers installed on his personal MX-5 in the Miataland workshop while the wife enjoys the pool or gets a massage. They can also tour the local countryside together in a Miata borrowed from the Miataland collection. I've never been to Puglia before but I know Bari is a popular jumping off spot for many cruises around the Adriatic and Mediterranean. I say definitely go for it! Hopefully in < 1 year the larger guest house will be open for business so he can accommodate more enthusiasts.

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  18. #161
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by marlonthegreat View Post
    Did you notice what number is his M2-1001?

    This is what I saw in person in Japan...

    no. "001" of 300
    Sorry, I did not take notice of which # car his was. Wow! Seeing #001 is a very special treat!

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  20. #162
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    A friend presented me with a last minute opportunity to trailer the Miata back to my dad. I was originally going to drive the car to my dad sometime in August and I had a bunch of projects planned for the next few weekends. But instead I decided it was better to get the car to him sooner rather than later so that he might enjoy the car more before the seasons change and the car once again goes into hibernation for the long winter. So I took Friday off work to do some last minute tasks to get the car ready for transit to upstate NY.



    Did another brake pad change on the Miata. The car needs to get its annual safety inspection done as soon as the car arrives at my dad's and he was told at his last inspection that the car needed new brake pads. So we ordered new Mazda value pads front and rear with the understanding that we eventually plan to install a Wilwood BBK down the road so just need something basic to get us through the safety inspection. Well, that inspector must have been very conservative. Our car is not a daily driver in NYC. We could have easily gotten another year out of the front pads and the rears looked barely worn. But since I'd already started the job, I might as well finish it, so I replaced all the pads and greased all the slider pins and a few key contact points (piston to pad interface, pad to anti-rattle clip interface) with Permatex Ultra Disc Brake Caliper Lube. These oil absorbing PIG mats are awesome for helping keep my garage floor clean, especially when doing oil changes and brake jobs when spraying brake cleaning solvent. I also use them to line the belly ban of my Honda CB350 racer.

    While I had the wheels off I cleaned them as they were coated in thick layer of brake dust. I also tightened the alternator belt. I had the belt off a few weeks ago to replace the wrong Garage Star alternator pulley with the correct one. I heard it squeal for about 5 seconds during a recent cold start so I loosened up the mounting bolts and gave the adjustment bolt a couple of turns to take up the slack and tightened everything back down. One day I'm going to buy a proper belt tension gauge.

    I got my Bluetooth adapter from EFI Analytics to connect my Macbook (Tuner Studio) and my Android tablet (Shadow Dash) to the Megasquirt ECU. Unfortunately, it didn't work out of the box. I thought it was maybe DOA. It seems like the device wasn't getting power via the DB-9 cable. When I plugged the provided USB mini power adapter into my laptop computer it started working. Apparently, my particular Megasquirt must not be providing the necessary power via the DB-9. I sent a customer service email to both EFI Analytics and Reverant in the hopes that they can provide me with some understanding of what I can do to get this BT adapter powered directly from the ECU itself. EFI Analytics suggested I use a volt meter and check pin 9 of the DB9 connector with the ECU powered to see if I get a reading of positive 4.80 to 5 volts. Pin 5 is ground. If I do not get 5 volts then it looks like the issue with powering the Bluetooth adapter is with the ECU, if there is power on pin 9 then it may be the Bluetooth adapter that is at fault. If it's just a simple jumper setting on the ECU printed circuit board, I've got to wonder why it wasn't configured by MS Labs to work from the get go. Once again, some additional hardware documentation would save MS Labs customers a lot of grief and time waiting for a customer service response. I ran out of time to address this before the car shipped out so another project for another day.

    Fortunately, I anticipated this very real possibility and also purchased a RS232 serial to mini-USB cable, along with a RS232 serial to standard USB cable and a RS232 DB-9 extension cable so I can connect my laptop and tablet to the ECU using old fashioned wires. I played around with Shadow Dash and custom dashboards but still have more design work to do. The small 1024x768 screen resolution is somewhat of a hindrance, but I didn't want a giant screen on my dashboard, either. So now I'm trying to find the sweet spot between gauge size/ readability and information density.

    I foolishly decided to plug my vacuum hose into the MAP sensor on my Megasquirt in hopes of gathering MAP data so that I can determine switch points for running ITB Load Mode fuel algorithm. But instead I think I just created a major vacuum leak as the Engine MAP gauge was reading atmospheric all the time and my car was running 0.5-1.0 points leaner on the AFR gauge. So I pulled the carpet and ECU cover again to detach the vacuum hose from the ECU and plug it. MAP is not needed for Alpha-N and I'm not doing any barometric pressure correction, either. Eventually, the goal is to have two MAP sensors, one for ITB Load Mode and the other for realtime barometric pressure correction. Apparently, newer MS Labs Basic MS3 ECUs have two MAP sensors. I'll have to revisit this again later as I ran out of time before the car shipped out.


    I'm not sure who is going to miss the car more, me or my kid.


    So long buddy. I left the car in the driveway and went out on a date night with my wife. My friend picked up the car while we were out and transported it to NY so this is my last memory of the car for now. Probably won't have any build thread updates for a while. Maybe next spring I'll get up to my dad's and work on some of the projects on the to do list.


    My buddy sent me this pic to let me know he got the car loaded up AOK. I received confirmation from my dad that the car arrived safe and sound. His plan is to get the car inspected and then just enjoy it for the rest of the summer and fall touring around the Finger Lakes region.

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  22. #163
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by freedomgli View Post
    I've got to wonder why it wasn't configured by MS Labs to work from the get go.
    Well now I know the answer as to why my BT adapter doesn't work right out of the box. According to Reverant, "your ECU has a 5V output on pin 6, not on pin 9, due to a design error." Great. My MS3 is not under warranty as I bought it in 2014 at the start of my project, but I don't really see this as a warranty issue per se. It sucks he didn't take ownership of his "design error" and offer to correct it for me. Especially after I generously paid for his Paypal fees when I bought my MS3 and even refused his offer of a refund for the defective Wideband/ CAN module he sold me. So much for being the nice guy. After I prodded him with another email asking what his recommended solution is, he suggested I build a custom RS232 DB-9 to DB-9 extension cable to route pin 6 to pin 9 instead. Looks like another opportunity to spend more money and learn a new skill....

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  24. #164
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! MiataQuest's Avatar
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    Just had a flashback...

    Now if 6 turned out to be 9,
    I don't mind, I don't mind,
    Alright, if all the hippies cut off all their hair,
    I don't care, I don't care.
    Dig, 'cos I got my own world to live through
    And I ain't gonna copy you.

    Hendrix

  25. #165
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power freedomgli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MiataQuest View Post
    Just had a flashback...
    right on man!

    Megasquirt definitely has its ups and downs but at the end of the day its useful to keep perspective and a sense of humor about it all.

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