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Thread: The Slow Pursuit of Vintage.

  1. #226
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Good to know. I'm just usually overly concerned about such stuff.

    I'm the type that'll read the rule book, see it says this and this and that. And then think/hope I understand what they mean by the language they use, but still feel unsure about it until I have some actual experience.

    I have no real expectations about how I'll do. I'm just hoping legal, "safe" fun is as... addicting? Exciting? Thrilling? as questionable and illegal speeds mountain fun. Or at least it's enough of something that I like it enough to keep doing it.

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  3. #227
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    G-Force? My youngest son loves that movie.


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  5. #228
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Heh, it was the cheapest option that would arrive in time from Amazon. My decision to finally do this was last minute, so to speak (some friendly "peer pressure" from close friends tipped the scales too). And while I know they have loaner helmets, eh, I rather have my own.

    Which, pinching pennies for noggin' safety ain't the wisest thing to do. But I figure... hope... with it just being autox I should be fine. I mean, I've taken larger, more dangerous risks in the mountains. And hey, SNELL approved is SNELL approved? Right? Right? Lets go with that.

    Also, I'm such a vain ho. I removed the "GF" sticker from the visor because I didn't like how it looked. I get me some bubble goggles and I can be a far less talented bearded Intimidator... so, the Miatidator? Hipstertidator? huh, thought I had something for that, oh well.

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  7. #229
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
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    Snell IS Snell. If it fits, and you like it, then it's good.

    Autocross is a great place to start. I did it for many years, even staged a number of them. My biggest gripes were the petty BS competitors complain about and lack of seat time. It's still great for honing skill and shaking down your car. I enjoy circuits more for the speed, seat time, and training to strengthen my racecraft skills. I also enjoy chasing or evading my friends on a track.

    Be safe, stay calm, keep hydrated. Enjoy the day!

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  9. #230
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    First autox was fun.



    Just a boring paddock shot before getting on the track.

    But also hot as all hell. I'll do autox again, eventually, but not in such heat.



    10th ain't bad, I guess. Of course, the times the guys in ES ran makes it painfully obvious I've got some driver modding to do. I want to say I learned a lot, but I'm not sure. Well, I know I learned I've got some bad habits. Like leaning into the wheel and being too aggressive. I feel like when the guy that I did the Novice course walk with said "it's about car control and not speeding", what he really meant was it's about restraint and patience.

    The break down of my 5 runs are as follows.

    1st: DQed as I completely missed the 2nd slalom. Driver Instructor ride along.
    2nd: Bitch slapped seemingly every cone of that 2nd slalom. Driver Instructor ride along.
    3rd: Oh, OK I got an OK run in. Solo.
    4th: Was going great, felt fast, then almost looped her going into the 2nd lane change. Lost all my speed and time saving her. Solo.
    5th: Too aggressive on the final loop section... to be honest I just couldn't get that section figured out. Solo.

    I feel like if I could have gotten more runs in, gotten a chance to really learn the course, I could've done better. Which I guess is just one more excuse for why I was slow.

    I did happen to borrow my friend's gopro during a couple runs... but forgot to hit record both times, doh.

    At least he got some footage though. This will give ya an idea of the course.



    Surprisingly, he didn't touch a single cone, so the only time penalty he suffered was the spin itself.

    I need a gopro.

    But yeah, lots of fun, great people. Really, the guys out there responsible for putting it altogether really love what they do and were super friendly.

    A package came in yesterday... well, likely Saturday and I just forgot to check the mail that day.



    All da way from da Isle of Man.



    K.G. Works pilot light lenses, now I have some spares for... in case... I dunno, just in case.

    I also have another package on the way.



    And its a good one too. A really good one.

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  11. #231
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! MiataQuest's Avatar
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    #10 for the first time out, Wow that is pretty good!

    Being a Newbie was it hard to figure out the cones on the fly?
    I think I would be so fixated on figuring out the laid down cones that I could not focus on my driving.

    A long time ago I drove a "Mazda Rev-it-up" event and got on the leader board for most the day. However the course was marked cone to cone with a clear car lane to follow.
    After I get my Miata finished I look forward to trying this.

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  13. #232
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Out of 45 at that. And if you ignore the PAX (aka RTP Racer's Theoretical Performance) adjustment, I get bumped up to 6th. My friend with the FRS that told me about the event in the first place did the math on that one.

    The fellow I did the Novice course walk with and the instructor I had as a ride along for two of my runs both stressed looking as far ahead as possible, not to get too focused on the "event" directly ahead. That the further you could look ahead the more time you had to plan your line. Not doing so could/would open yourself up to mistakes.

    And I was guilty of not looking far enough ahead most of the time. I was making far too many corrections. But, I guess practice makes perfect? So, hopefully I'll get out to some more events in the future.

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  15. #233
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
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    In the walk through, you get the line roughed in, mentally. Generally, the more autocross you do, the better you become at recognizing the nuances and placement during this time. You get to the point where you can sit in your can and visualize your run in your head. If you can ride with someone before your run, it can help fill in the gaps.

    A slalom in a Miata is all about entry and efficiency. The closer you stay to the line of cones, more settled the car is. Inside the car, it feels like a few minimal inputs, outside the car, it looks like the car is dancing and is awesome to watch.

    You'll get it, it's humbling but essential towards honing more skills. Good job!

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  17. #234
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
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    P.S. the courses aren't generally the same at the events, even if it's the same location.

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  19. #235
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kung fu jesus View Post
    P.S. the courses aren't generally the same at the events, even if it's the same location.
    Oh yeah, I know. I'm just thinking the more autox experience I get in the better I'll get at it in general.

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  21. #236
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    A couple weeks ago I got a text message ransom note from a number I didn't recognize.

    Today, this was delivered.



    I got it in the house as quickly as I could, it barely fit through the door.



    Better get it open. Gotta see what's inside.



    Hmm, let's pull that out.



    Now to just get it unwrapped.



    Money shot!

    And the tags.





    I feel like I have chased these very seats since the Phatman himself said he was gonna sell them. I am ecstatic to have these in my possession.

    A few thanks are in order. 1st, fwdtamiya for thinking of me when he thought about letting them go, 2nd, Geoff for giving fwdtamiya my number, and 3rd, and likely most important, my good friend Zach for helping me afford these seats.

    So, what now? Well, I'm gonna give them a gentle cleaning, then some leather conditioner, and finally, I need to fab some seat belt receiver brackets.

    I could just get a pair of NA6 receivers, but I rather use my NA8 receivers. Luckily, Nakamae has a couple images of the brackets they make/sell for install into an NA8 car. I could buy those, but I don't have the time for those to get here, MATG is around the corner. Also, after seeing what the brackets look like, I can't justify $100 for each one.

    Oh, and that ransom note?



    I post it because it's hilarious looking back.

    I hope to have the seats in Betty within the week.

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  23. #237
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Boring update on seat belt receiver route.

    After looking at things and thinking about it, I don't think, and have realized, using the NA8 receivers is going to be as safe as I'd like it to be.

    In the unfortunate event that shit happens, I don't want to trust having the receiver's only ancor point being the seat. As nice as the Nakamaes are, I'd be putting a lot of faith into the threads and material those threads are in, more than I feel comfortable with. And the stock mounting location of the NA6 receiver is proven.

    So, I've ordered new OEM NA6 receivers that should be here by Friday. I bought new based on price, condition, and speed of delivery. All the used examples I saw had faded release buttons and were still $40-50. That don't make sense when new ones are $60.

    Of course, I figure all this out after buying the hardware and material to fab brackets to use the NA8 receivers. As well as having gotten as far as fabbing a nice paper template from comic backing board.



    Which is a pretty good knock off of the Nakamae bracket.



    And that shows how such a bracket works to attach the NA8 receiver. You can see why after a bit of thought I'd change my mind on using the NA8 receivers. Well, if you zoom in on the images you can. Tiny pics, but they're the only ones I found that showcase the Nakamae NA8 brackets. And those were found directly on Nakamae's site.

    Oh well, I could return the bolts, nuts, & sheet metal, but I'll have a use for them later, probably. And I only spent $13 for that stuff anyways, so no biggie.

    For future reference, I suggest anyone that plans to, or wants to, install Nakamae buckets to just use NA6 receivers regardless of chassis.

    I thought I was going to be clever and save some money by making my own brackets and reusing the NA8 receivers so that I could also keep their better ergonomics of moving with the seat. I was wrong, learn from my lesson, that I thankfully figured out before possibly learning the hard way.

    Oh, out of curiosity I weighed the seats.

    Stock, w/receiver slider, no seat sliders: 29.5lbs (roughly)

    Nakamae Type R, no sliders: 18lbs (roughly)

    Bathroom scale was used, so the ole weigh-yourself-then-yourself-with-item-then-do-the-math method was used. Hence roughly.

    Still, a roughly 23lbs weight savings is good overall.

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  25. #238
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    NA6 receivers came in Thursday. Got to cleaning and conditioning the seats here and there. Already had the passenger seat out sonce Monday from getting a better look at the NA8 receiver sliders.

    Here's the stock passenger seat next to ome of the Nakamae's.





    Pulled the seat bottoms on the Nakamae's to vacuum the pans.



    Before:



    After:



    Here's one cleaned. And these show how a camera flash really plays with the color compared to the naked eye.

    Flash:



    No flash:



    The no flash is much closer to what the naked eye sees.

    And if you're paying attention, you can see the factory sliders have been installed. I cleaned those too, got any grease that had ran out from the channels off, along with 20 years of fuzz.

    A note on installing the stock sliders to Nakamae Type R, and I'm assuming, similar Nakamae low back buckets. There's actually two sets of holes for one side of the sliders. One for the wider distance of the right seat, and one for the narrower distance of the left seat.

    I initially was confused about the extra holes. Thinking that maybe the Nakamae fit in something else too (like an S30 chassis. But nope, I learned the NA's stock sliders are set different widths apart. I emeded up running back out to Betty to measure the distance between the mounting point to check/verify what was up/how the sliders were suppose to bolt to the Nakamaes.

    I then got the driver's seat out.



    And got to vacuuming the carpet and installing the NA6 receivers.





    The receivers bolted directly in place of the NA8 receiver slider frames using the NA6 receiver bolts. Just had to remove the pin plate from the NA6 receivers.

    I had planned to wait til I had the side step pieces, but it made too much sense to go ahead and install what I already had. So out came the center console and in went the Nakamae quilted transmission tunnel covers.





    I found that I needed to extend the wiring for the driver's seat belt receiver's electrical connection. Luckily I had some stuff lying around that got the job done nicely.

    And here's the center console back in.





    A couple of sheets of paper, the handle of a kitchen spoon, and a lotta damn sweat, was all it took to squeeze and slide the quilted pieces up under the dash. Once in, I pulled the paper out, which kept the velcro from grabbing the carpet while slipping the pieces in. The corners of the dash where it met the tombstone were the tightest and only reason and place I needed to use a spoon.

    If you're wondering about the black square hanging from the center console on the passenger side, that's a folding adjustable cup holder. Came with Betty when I bought her and it's actually quite useful. I wasn't sure if I was gonna keep it with the quilted pieces, but it's just one of those things that's been a part of her for so long it just belongs now. And I kind of like keeping some things from the previous owner.

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  27. #239
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Everything else was done, so it was time to get the Nakamae Type Rs installed. And boy, do they look gooooood.











    Those were taken late Friday night/Sat. morning in the garage.

    And today I snapped these two.





    I want to write a full review of them. Not sure if anyone has ever done so for the Nakamae low back buckets, any version. So that's something I'm gonna do later. But, inital impressions are good. I'm starting to already find they're allowing me to focus more on driving and less on staying in my seat. Which may be allowing me to better feel what Betty is doing in a corner. I just seem to have a better connection to the signals she's broadcasting.

    I totally get why people go for racing seats in street cars and have a better understanding beyond that they hold you and keep you from sliding around. Or at least I think I do.

    Oh, and they are snug. More in the hips than the waist actually. I currently wear a 32" waist, and would possibly be fine for fitting in the Nakamaes if I was a 34". But if I had sexier hips, nah, doubt it'd be a comfortable fit.

    Still getting used to them. But I am loving them so far. But I do plan to get the side protectors Nakamae offers ASAP. I knew these were used and had been around a bit, so I don't mind the light amount of wear they show here and there, it's character in my eyes actually. But I do want to protect them as best as I can.

    With seats checked off now, the only things I want for Betty's interior to be "complete" are 93LE speaker covers, Nakamae quilted side step covers, and an NA6 dash. Well, maybe an NA6 dash. I've grown very accustomed to the NA8/US spec airbag dash in Betty over the years. But then again, her dash is honestly worn out. There's a lot of hidden cracks behind the scenes of her dash, and it's a source of a lot of little rattles, etc.

    Anyways, even without the last few pieces I'd like to have, I feel pretty proud to say Betty's interior really looks vintage now. The stock seats had been letting her interior down in my eyes for a while now, but the Nakamaes are such a huge improvement.

    See y'all at MATG next weekend!

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  29. #240
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    MATG XXI had a ton going on and had a hell of a turn out. I didn't get in as many runs as I had planned or wanted to on the Dragon, but this year was quality over quantity.

    I got my first clean (no impeding traffic or LEOs) run in on Sun. evening.



    Pics and more videos to come later.
    Last edited by JamieH; 08-09-2017 at 10:48 AM.

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