"21 Flavors"

[Doward]

2014 preseason prep meant some clean up work on the wiring harness and a $50 half-paintjob.

I pulled the dash bar to grind down some of the leftover tabs, brackets and screw holes as well as giving me operating space to cut more metal away from the A-pillar. Both of these things were for passenger safety considerations and future track tech inspections.

I dont have a "before" pic, but I have 3 or 4 HOURS of angle grinder time in this thing. I present to you a shaved dash bar:




Once again, more parts from local spec miata guys in the gauges. The layout looks funky from these angles, but needs to be this way so the important ones are visible around the steering wheel. The seating position is really really low in this thing. And yes, that is a push button start. Darren picked up some smart/proximity key kit on Amazon for shits and giggles. Ought to be fun, when it isnt broken. He is also making a full custom harness and relay board to go in that weatherproof box in front of the passenger footwell. Megasquirt and proximity key computer will stay nice and dry in there.







That previously mentioned $50 paintjob is a Rustoleum "Smoke Grey" roll on job. I wiped some of the panels down with acetone before rolling paint, that's about all the prep work that was done.





This is what the coverage looks like after 1 coat over OEM Sunburst Yellow:


2 coats over a minty green color:


3 coats:


Final coat drying, one door was OEM Mariner blue, one pretty much completely rust. I did more prep work on the doors and front bumper and it really shows in person. When I paint the shell and back end, i'll probably prep them at least as well as I did these(scuff with whatever scrap paper is left over and wipe thoroughly with acetone):







Meanwhile, I had been working on plans for a real splitter.
Two reasons:
A. We need to protect the new-ish aluminum radiator. This car has no core support or undertray/ducting. Cones have no real barrier. The first hard thing they hit is the bottom of the radiator. We actually broke three OE style radiators in 6 events last season.
B. Because aero, right? If I add some front grip, I should be able to add more rear sway back in, making it faster.

This is much more of a true splitter compared to what I did under my green car. 1/2" hardwood birch ply (some guys go thicker.) It is attached very similarly to the undertray I just built for my green car; bolted to the subframe and hung from an aluminum structure from the front frame rails. This piece is the full 4 feet long from front to back. It goes ALLLL the way to the transmission and includes an oil change access hole.
It is clearance'd very tightly to the control arms and wheels. It is just a smidge wider than the frame rails under the car in case we ever flat bottom the whole thing. Darren has been bitten by the trackday bug, so the possibility of 21 Flavors being converted to primary track car is much greater than I thought it would be.




















The ONLY event that 21 Flavors made it to was extremely successful despite the motor giving up on us.
It had a slight tick all season, but when we changed the oil Friday night before the event, that small tick turned to a pretty ominous knock. I had just finished the front aero and we planned on trying the Hoosier A6s on my 6uls so we loaded it up and trailered down to the autocross anyways. We hoped to make it through most of the day, but after starting it just to pull out to grid, it really didn't sound pleasant. My codriver took the first lap, said it felt amazing, "the best thing he's ever driven." When he came back all excited, we agreed I'd take it for one too. I set a time good enough to win our class on my first run. I would ultimately go faster in my green car after swapping the Hoosiers onto my own car.




Due to the nature of this project, neither of us wanted to dip into our pockets to rebuild one of the motors we have lying around, so the car sat most of this year, outside. But that one lap at that one event was amazing. We both have a major drive to get it back out there.

2015 will mean more power and more lightness.