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View Full Version : Charlie's Na6 Story :D



Charlie
01-06-2012, 11:40 PM
Hey guys.

First a bit of background info.. I bought my first mx5 in january 2010. It was bone stock and the paint was pretty good for the age. I fell in love with the handling of the car as soon as i test drove it. With inspiration from a lot of US roadsters i set out on a mission to try and replicate something similar. I wasnt really wanting to do much to it, mainly just clean up, front lip, coilovers, exhaust and maybe intake.

So now u know the base and my original plans, time to go through whats happened in the last couple of years :D

The first things i did stayed with what i wanted to do to the car. I had to replace the motor because the old one overheated and also had the shortnose crank problem. Also added some cheap wheels, coilovers, mirrors, front lip and a few other things.

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/2905/30052010164.jpg (http://img88.imageshack.us/i/30052010164.jpg/)

After that a few other things came, Fender braces, sparco, Jackson Racing intake, Custom exhaust, spacers, bootlip spoiler and more low.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4897648756_7ee30ddfc9_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ausscare/4897648756/)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4905681801_c25b6bf151_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/matyiii/4905681801/)

Next up i decided to change wheels. So i got some grid v's and put them on as well as a new shorty console. This is also the point where i started piecing together my first turbo setup.

http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af160/7hazi/7.jpg
http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af160/7hazi/6small.jpg

Turbo parts
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/7465/photo38e.jpg (http://img219.imageshack.us/i/photo38e.jpg/)

Bought a new sparco, ordered new wheels, bought a cusco 7 pt cage

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/7364/photo40d.jpg (http://img146.imageshack.us/i/photo40d.jpg/)
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/7696/photo42io.jpg (http://img34.imageshack.us/i/photo42io.jpg/)


Bought a few more turbo parts, got new wheels in. Specs were 15 x 9 +10 Work equips.

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/381/photo50h.jpg (http://img822.imageshack.us/i/photo50h.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/2238/photo51m.jpg (http://img709.imageshack.us/i/photo51m.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Not long after that i decided to get the turbo stuff happening. Motor was pulled. New nb6 motor was stripped down and all seals replaced. Na8 diff put in and everything else that was needed.

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/7381/photo80y.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/585/photo80y.jpg/)

Motor back in the car
http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/2903/dscn1362t.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/806/dscn1362t.jpg/)


So i got the car running on 12 psi. Made 219 rwhp which i was happy with :) Made up a difffuser, new skirts, and of course new wheels. This time it was custom re barreled bbs rs in 15 x 8.5 -8.

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29788&dateline=1323838169
IMG_0302 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/5976609813/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29789&dateline=1323838169
IMG_0303 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/5977176496/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29790&dateline=1323838169
IMG_0299 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/5976605369/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29791&dateline=1323838169
IMG_0296 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/5977168770/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29792&dateline=1323838169
IMG_0295 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/5976602479/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29793&dateline=1323838169
IMG_0290 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/5976595719/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Charlie
01-06-2012, 11:41 PM
After about two weeks of running the rings decided to go :( So had a lot to think about. Could either part out, swap the motor for another stocker and hope for the best.. or go all out and build something ive always wanted.

I chose the last option ;) Time to build an all out track car.

First things first. Some cheap turbo gear came up for sale in the US so i snapped that up and it was in Australia not long after.


http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29794&dateline=1323838169
IMG_1867 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6058246180/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29795&dateline=1323838169
IMG_1868 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6058247576/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29796&dateline=1323838169
IMG_1866 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6057697815/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Pulled the motor
http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29797&dateline=1323838169
IMG_2016 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6128507399/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29798&dateline=1323838169
IMG_2018 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6128509169/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Stripped down the bay
http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29799&dateline=1323838169

Made a list of all the parts that i needed to buy/do

Garret 2871r .86 Tial Rear housing
Tial 38mm wastegate
Master bushing kit,
mishimoto fan shroud,
mishimoto radiator 3-row 52mm,
pauter machine rods.
Pro-Gram Engineering (5) billet steel main caps,
MiataRoadster main bearing support plate ,
MiataRoadster ARP fastener kit,
Moroso coolant expansion tank,
Wiseco 8.5:1 CR forged pistons with rings set +1mm,
ACL bearings rods STANDARD (Race Series), ACL bearings crankshaft STANDARD (Race Series),
ARP main caps studs kit ,
Maruha Motors head gasket for turbo 79mm bores 2mm thick,
Maruha Motors oil pan baffle,
Mazda tie rod ends from R package,
Jubiride flares,
Garage vary front lip,
garage vary canards normal,
garage vary canards extra large
6 speed gear box
Red Hardtop
engine bay bolts
catch can
225/45 15 rs3's
M- tuned fuel rail
Flyin miata big fuel kit
I.d 1000cc injectors
3" custom exhaust
m-tuned re route kit.
Rebuild kit (seals and gaskets etc)
stronger Timing belt
Ceramic coat manifold, turbo rear housing, dump pipe.
Send block out for machining and balancing etc.
Respray engine bay and exterior
Wing
New wheel studs and bearings
Na8 rear calipers and disks

Started getting on with the build. Bought mostly all the parts and was just waiting for them to arrive. Slowly but surly they started to :)

Fuel system
http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29800&dateline=1323838169
IMG_2728 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6265730178/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

My Flares, wheels, tires and canards arrived
http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29801&dateline=1323838169
IMG_3369 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6308847042/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29802&dateline=1323838169
IMG_3372 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6308324623/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29803&dateline=1323838169
IMG_3367 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6308843752/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Replace most of the panels and sent the car off to get painted :)

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29804&dateline=1323838169
IMG_3374 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6325200946/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr


Pretty much had all the parts, just waiting for the car to come back from paint so i can start doing the suspension work.

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29805&dateline=1323838169
IMG_3456 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6352694976/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Build went on hold for a while as i waited for my turbo to arrive. Finally did so i got on with it. Sent the rear housing and the manifold off to get ceramic coated :)

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29806&dateline=1323838169
IMG_3878 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6444372631/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Charlie
01-06-2012, 11:42 PM
Got the car back from paint

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29807&dateline=1323838169
IMG_4202 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6503674069/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29808&dateline=1323838169
IMG_4201 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6503671289/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

On stands w/ front suspension out:

http://www.miataturbo.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=29809&dateline=1323838169
IMG_4209 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6503682219/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Had a few bad things happen with paint. They didnt prep it so it just peeled off :(
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6551427101_d30ff4c378_z.jpg
IMG_4248 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6551427101/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Decided to get all the suspension and fuel lines done to the car. This consisted of new bushing throughout, tomei traxx lsd, new ball joints etc. Got the car rolling again with its new wheels. Mounted the wing and canards and played around with the height. -6 Fuel lines from tank to fuel rail were installed also.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6592633099_17629e1307_z.jpg
IMG_4273 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6592633099/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6592636575_9447bd41f9_z.jpg
IMG_4274 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6592636575/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6592640387_017ba37b61_z.jpg
IMG_4276 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6592640387/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr


So after all that. it brings us up to now. The car is getting ready to go back to paint come monday. The block will be going out to machining this week also and so hopefully i will have the motor together in a couple of weeks ready to go in :D

Stay tuned for updates this week.

Charlie
01-10-2012, 07:56 AM
Update :D

So the car went back to the paint shop yesterday to get the engine bay redone and the rear garnish panel painted. Also today dropped off my block to get the machining etc done to it. Such a relief that im finally starting the engine work :D I should get the block back next week sometime and then its off to be put together :D :D :D

Driving this car again in February. CANNOT WAIT.


To do list once car and motor is back:

- Build motor
- assemble car lol
- get turbo lines made
- Insert motor into the car finally.
- fix fuel lines
- weld in 50 cell cat
- finish intercooler piping.

Thats about all i need to get it going. Once the motor is it it should go past quick :D

George
01-10-2012, 08:15 AM
this is awesome! Don't know if you've mentioned it in your thread on CR, but are you sticking with the NB6 engine?

Charlie
01-10-2012, 08:21 AM
yep.. nb6 motor is the one getting built. :D

KAL
01-10-2012, 08:35 AM
Subscribed and in for videos!

morr
01-10-2012, 08:52 AM
Awesome progress so far! Can't wait to see more :)

Itsaparty
01-10-2012, 11:55 AM
bro, i love you but seriously fuck you. lol looking great.

Charlie
01-11-2012, 06:32 AM
cheers guys.. dw, there will be videos ;)

The Driver
01-11-2012, 07:37 PM
This project is surreal!

ChrisJuliano
01-11-2012, 07:46 PM
Loveeeee this car cant wait to see it when its done, you should do a double front canard setup :D

Meow
01-11-2012, 08:26 PM
subscribed as always man haha. Always love your updates

Charlie
01-11-2012, 08:48 PM
Loveeeee this car cant wait to see it when its done, you should do a double front canard setup :D

i would and I was going to but I decided not to. I like it better with just the large one :)

Cheers for the comments guys. Getting close now :D

ahrut7
01-12-2012, 01:55 AM
ur ballingness is gona b my inspiration ahahhaha god damn! this car is gona b straight nuts!!!!!!!! :D cant wait to read up on it

Charlie
01-12-2012, 05:41 AM
For those that feel like a good read. Here is my original build thread. It's 90 pages long so it might take a while :D but atleast u get to know the history :)

http://forum.jdmstyletuning.com/showthread.php?22698-Charlie-s-NA6-back-on-the-ground-D-!!!!

Maikeru
01-12-2012, 06:55 AM
You quickly working your way into one of my favorite miatas.

Charlie
01-13-2012, 12:31 AM
cheers dude... means a lot :)

wannafbody
01-13-2012, 10:33 PM
Where did you get your canards?

jesseshoots
01-13-2012, 10:38 PM
This thing is freaking sick! I love that you're doing it all with an NB6

Charlie
01-19-2012, 03:19 AM
Update:

So a lot has been happening over the last few day and its getting me pretty excited :P

In the last few days i got my car back from being resprayed again, also resprayed a few things myself. Started getting shit on today.

Also got my block back from machining and dropped all my parts down to Automotive plus who are gonna build the motor for me :D

Also purchased my new brakes.. Its just basic atm untill i learn to drive this car again and then ill upgrade to some wilwoods :)

Anyways, pics.
Back in my driveway
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6724522233_938a6f0ef3_z.jpg
IMG_4305 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6724522233/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Bay with a few things in it..
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6724524933_a7a49b79a3_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6724524933/)
IMG_4310 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6724524933/) by
charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Motor disassembled.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6724525485_34c3d25828_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6724525485/)
photo-24 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6724525485/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Will have motor done next week. Next sunday i should have the motor, gearbox, driveshaft, ppf, brakes all done. and start to bleed them.. maybe :P

Thanks for watching :)

p.s i got my canards from tetsuya garage :)

Benbrg
01-19-2012, 03:47 AM
Wow. I remember frantically waiting for updates back in cr. Definately coupeloop's twin from across the ocean. :)

friday
01-19-2012, 01:15 PM
The silver bay is really cool.

Dilly
01-19-2012, 01:47 PM
More like Slevin's twin. Haha. Or Vegard's twin. :D

Caoboy
01-19-2012, 03:00 PM
Slevin's redneck twin circa 2010.

Charlie
01-24-2012, 02:07 AM
update:

So the last few days the weather has been shithouse.. non stop rain so not much progress has been made unfortunately :(
I recieved my temp brake setup from 949 racing and also some new super low sidemount rails for my recaro that im getting.

Plan still is to get brakes done friday and to drop the motor in on sunday and hook up anything else that needs to.. After that its just intercooler piping, new 50 cell cat and a little bit of wiring..

Once the car runs my mate will come around and tuck the harness in a day so it should look clean as and then its getting towed to the tuners where it will be run in and have its run in tune put on :) Really not much left to go so 3 weeks time it will be alive once more :D :D :D

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6753590621_797cc1657f_z.jpg
401094_10150610374816055_586521054_11403322_104573 2926_n (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6753590621/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

ChrisJuliano
01-24-2012, 07:16 PM
so sexxxxx

Charlie
01-27-2012, 04:07 AM
Update :D

So the motor is finished .. Fuck it looks so sick haha. Really happy with it. HUUUGGEEE thanks to Jason down at Automotive Plus for putting this together. Awesome customer service and so fast.

Also did my front brakes today but the rain and wind blew away my gazebo :( so im gonna have to finish the rears and bleed it all tomorrow :) Sunday the motor will get dropped in along with the 6 speed gear box :D soo keen lol

Pics when i have them :)

Charlie
01-29-2012, 01:10 AM
Biggggg update :D

So over the past three days ive made a bit of progress and also had a few things not go my way :( Main thing was finishing off the brakes.. Well i did the fronts all good, but when i went to do the rear i could pull through the new studs.. Turns out there were a little bit too big for the hole. So unfortunately i wasnt able to keep going with that.

Anyways i got the main thing i wanted to do this weekend which was dropping the motor and gearbox in. This was a success :D
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6780298271_a8fe755972_z.jpg
IMG_4316 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6780298271/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6780301345_72e03f943b_z.jpg
IMG_4319 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6780301345/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Although we couldnt fit the ppf and the driveshaft due to missing a spacer but thats easily done another day.

All thats left really is to:
- finish off rear brakes
- modify brake like to fit around dump pipe.
- finish intercooler piping
- 3" cat of some sort
- wire tuck :D :D

Few little things here and there but its not to much which is good. So happy that i finally have an engine :D NO MORE FLINSTONE CAR!!!!!

diabeetus
01-29-2012, 01:20 AM
ohgodamn. beautiful

adamvanxxx
01-29-2012, 11:53 AM
Is that oil cooler in its final spot?

ChrisJuliano
01-29-2012, 04:15 PM
Oh muh lanta...i just jizzed.

Charlie
01-30-2012, 02:04 AM
Is that oil cooler in its final spot?

yep .. thats area will receive ducting behind that bar there.. So it should curve up behind it :)

adamvanxxx
01-30-2012, 02:10 PM
yep .. thats area will receive ducting behind that bar there.. So it should curve up behind it :)

I was thinking more of IC placement? What size IC you have?

Charlie
01-30-2012, 03:10 PM
It sits just below. It pretty much just a little bigger then the front opening in the bumper.. Should be good.

adamvanxxx
01-30-2012, 04:55 PM
Everything looks excellent. Fully jealous.

Charlie
01-31-2012, 03:26 AM
Update:

So in the last few days ive just been doing a few little fiddly stuff after work.. So far the injectors, rail and fuel lines are hooked up. Just stripped back the old wiring harness and re taped it and ran it differently.. Stoked with the out come. Gonna keep doing the little things i can over the next week or so. Hopefully wont be far off from a tune :D :D

Before engine bay.
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6130/5976607113_3bcbac57c7_z.jpg
IMG_0298 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/5976607113/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

New wiring etc..
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7028/6794497209_dc66a5aacc_z.jpg
IMG_4323 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6794497209/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Looking boss :P
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6794500151_c2c84cc61f_z.jpg
IMG_4324 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6794500151/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Anyways let me know what u think :)

itzzspencer
01-31-2012, 03:40 AM
oh my god this is hot

ChrisJuliano
01-31-2012, 06:03 PM
Omg<3

Charlie
02-03-2012, 11:01 PM
Update:

So today i got my intercooler piping all test fitted and made note of any adjustments we have to make. Really good to get this stuff sorted as its one less thing to worry about :) This should be finished during the week some time :D

Also a mate gave me a bellmouth since he isnt using it. So this is what it looks like. I dig it. But i also have an alloy pipe/filter setup to use for street.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6815112745_907c314a7e_z.jpg
IMG_4328 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6815112745/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7151/6815112761_2c30ef1980_z.jpg
IMG_4329 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6815112761/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

uni
02-03-2012, 11:37 PM
probably my favorite engine bay, beautiful.

Charlie
02-19-2012, 02:14 AM
update :)

so a few things have been happening.. i took my dash out for wiring and im now doing a custom dash. Thats at the trimmers tomorrow and will hopefully be done on friday :)
Also started on wiring. Drivers side is pretty much done. Looks very clean. Just waiting on finished cooler piping and the rest of the wiring.

Anyways today me and a mate decided to get the rear brakes, brake lines, ppf brace and driveshaft in :) All went in to plan and i dropped it back on the wheels. Also fitted the custom centre caps to the wheels as meisters dont come with any. Pm me for details on this.

Also put my short shifter in aswell. Not long to go now. Monday next week im towing it to the workshop to do turbo lines, shorten fuel lines and a few other little things then its TUNEEEEE :D :D :D

pics.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7061/6901012731_898c8f0308_z.jpg
IMG_4347 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6901012731/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6901016047_b465616ff0_z.jpg
IMG_4349 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6901016047/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7045/6901018613_83145fbe79_z.jpg
IMG_4351 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6901018613/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Dilly
02-19-2012, 02:23 AM
I hate wiring. Lol. Car is looking real good, though.

Vegard
02-19-2012, 03:42 PM
What a car :D Love following this!

Jack87
02-20-2012, 05:50 PM
Hey bud, I just finished reading the thread, looks awesome, can you pm me with your suspension setup? I love the stance you've achieved

ChrisJuliano
02-20-2012, 06:15 PM
Outside clean and ready, inside messy :D

Charlie
02-21-2012, 02:32 AM
haha alot of the stuff on the inside is just random shit :P im running out of room at my place haha

Anyways i bought a bride zeta III and some roll bar tabs to add more bars. Also wrapped my dump in some heat wrap and a few other little things.

Cooler piping tomorrow night fingers crossed. Will take a lot of pics

Till tomorrow :D

Charlie
02-22-2012, 07:17 PM
New plates bought :D

Charlie
02-26-2012, 04:25 AM
Update :)

So busy couple of days .Finished intercooler piping, welded in de-cat pipe, Installed the roll bar, bride seat, harnesses, did a wheel alignment and finished off the wiring :)

Happy as. Car is going tomorrow to the workshop to get finished off :D so stoked :D

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7206/6930857249_68204e452b_z.jpg
IMG_4376 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6930857249/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7180/6930855961_5d431a0e18_z.jpg
IMG_4373 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6930855961/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7205/6784424806_8af417cb45_z.jpg
IMG_4369 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6784424806/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7204/6784426898_f648371e6a_z.jpg
IMG_4371 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6784426898/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7209/6930539521_94d9a39b95_z.jpg
IMG_4367 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6930539521/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Vegard
02-26-2012, 08:44 AM
Beautiful engine bay! Doesn't look like you can turn your wheel with the piping there, must be the picture tricking me!

WASABI
02-26-2012, 06:50 PM
Beautiful engine bay! Doesn't look like you can turn your wheel with the piping there, must be the picture tricking me!

Thinking the same thing. Looks awesome, and great idea to route it out the side, but, does the inter-cooler pipe's current position allow for full shock compression?

-Jim

Charlie
02-27-2012, 12:30 AM
Its just the photos.. the way its run. it needs to hit the chassis first before it even touches the piping. that side i still needed to raise a little just for more clearance with the fender. thats done now so its alot even now :)

Charlie
02-27-2012, 04:06 AM
Sup guys,

Something happened this afternoon. After 6 months of sitting out the front of my house.. My car finally got on the tow truck to go the the workshop to finish it off and get ready for the tune :D

Big relief to know that its out of my hands :) Also spoke to Jason at Automotive Plus and he estimates it being tuned by the end of next week. Im stoked :)

Hopefully it all goes to plan :D On another note, i also raised the front a bit more just to even it out and give more clearance.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/6788360602_0a184aa47b_z.jpg
IMG_4387 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6788360602/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

adamvanxxx
02-27-2012, 10:37 AM
You took the wing off. :(

I<3flippyheadlights
02-27-2012, 10:47 AM
My hand hurts from all the fapping.....

banzai
02-27-2012, 04:53 PM
exciting :D

psulja
02-27-2012, 08:36 PM
Wow, not sure why I haven't clicked this thread before. Super clean car all around. Love that engine bay!

Dilly
02-27-2012, 10:19 PM
I'm excited for you.

Charlie
03-02-2012, 01:07 AM
Update:

So got my dash back from trimmers.. looks clean. really happy with it :D Also gonna try and integrate a kg works starter into the metal panel :)

Not much updates other then that. But hopefully it will all come together pretty quick next week :) im exctied regardless.

Heres a pic of the dash in a mates car.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6799582438_a2a6dfefe5_z.jpg
8 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6799582438/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6799582508_6f268404d6_z.jpg
425124_10150698651156055_586521054_11670536_129995 2909_n (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6799582508/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Also my plates :D
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6791343202_797f0d5201.jpg
430566_10150696707391055_586521054_11663225_185073 8239_n (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6791343202/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Dilly
03-02-2012, 02:22 AM
Your mates interior is real clean and simple.

Charlie
03-23-2012, 03:23 AM
Hey guys

so its almost ready to start ^^ pretty excited. Hopefully tomorrow if all goes to plan. Then its just get it together and off for tune :D

Booked my first track day this week so still a few things to do before the 25th of april :). Also got my dash back in.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7116/6861792386_d1239da92e_o.jpg
dash (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6861792386/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Charlie
03-27-2012, 03:20 AM
Update:

So on saturday i tried to start it but unfortunately i had no power at all to anything.. We got it to crank finally yesterday ^^ It ended up being just a few plugs and we ran more grounds just for good measure.

Unfortunately there is no spark.. Not sure why this is because it had spark when it came out of the car now it doesnt and nothing has changed so hopefully its an easy fix..

Where we're up to now is just making sure everything is perfect before it goes off to get tuned. It will be there for a week and the last thing i want is for something to go wrong on the dyno because it will end up costing me $$$$..

Anyways.. made the first of my braces for the wing to keep it stable.. im gonna run two more cross wires going to the frankenstein bolts once i can put it on the car :) this should keep it nice and stable.

Ill be down at the workshop tomorrow hopefully with better news :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7065/6874169102_71124097fd_o.jpg
wing brace (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6874169102/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Last thing.. Ive been looking for ways to mount a splitter really strongly.. I saw this pic and thought it was great but i dont think it will work with my lip/bumper without modification. But i might still be able to do this.

That along with turn buckles side and front and mounted to the subframe at the bottom is what i want to aim for.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7121/7020278037_9d5637b9c7_o.jpg
splitter mounts (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/7020278037/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Charlie
03-30-2012, 02:06 AM
Car is almost ready for tune. It goes down to GT Auto first thing monday morning. :D:D:D:D

Once there it will get a run in tune, be run in on the dyno and a proper tune :) its there for 4 days so will definately have it just after Easter :D

Pretty fucking excited.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6060/7028799529_beb5058167_o.jpg

KAL
03-30-2012, 05:11 AM
Tidy! Love it!

Vegard
04-08-2012, 09:19 AM
How's it coming along Charlie? Engine bay looks sooo tidy, puny airfilter though :P

Charlie
04-10-2012, 01:58 AM
update:
Car has been run in on the dyno. Just made 200rwkw on 1 bar with no timing on a very conservative tune. Still plenty in it.

It has been pulled back to 160 rwkw just so i can put more km's on the motor this week. Finally got to drive it again which was an awesome achievement :)
Gotta fix a few things on the car like a really bad exhaust leak, coolant leak, wire in the tacho and a few other things just to clean it all up. I still wanna make to more supports for the rear wing as well before the track day on the 2nd of May. This day will be more or less a test day, I wont be going to hard cos i still wanna get use to the car and see where my limits are.. If everything works the way it should ill start to push a bit more :)

It will be going back to the tuners in the next few weeks to put the proper tune on but im not sure i can get in there till after the track day. We shall see.

Plans are now:
- drive the thing as much as possible
- upgrade ecu to haltech ps 1000
- racepack dash (main reason i want this is i want warning lights on for overboost, low oil pressure, high oil temp etc etc and id rather it on a single display then a shit ton of gauges)
- Maybe a 0.64 rear housing to increase spool

Charlie
04-15-2012, 01:33 AM
Update :)

So saturday i towed the car off to get a wheel alignment. Then after that i drove it for the first time on the road :D :D Fucked around with some mates during the day and then at night i went for a 2 hour drive in it just to rack up the kms. So happy with how it drove. Everything is working as its should and temps are where they should be.

Only issue is the waste gates isnt closing all the way meaning exhaust gases are getting in and out the screamer when not on boost. This is making it pretty loud but its not to bad. And there seems to be a fuel leak someone.. Its not visable so must only be vapours but thats something i wanna sort out to.

Other then that im stoked to be driving it on the street after all this time.. Its now just the wait till the 2nd of May for the first track day.

Pics:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/7078988857_04eb8afc3e.jpg

finished interior for now :)

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5466/7078992549_0d816f3558.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7248/6932916228_e0d1a9cc51.jpg

Charlie
04-15-2012, 01:34 AM
double post :(

Vegard
04-15-2012, 08:01 AM
It looks absolutely fantastic Charlie, inspirational to say the least!

Post up your alignment numbers.

psulja
04-15-2012, 08:04 PM
Wow, it looks soo good!! Glad to hear everything is running well.

Charlie
04-16-2012, 01:55 AM
Cheers for the comments guys.

Update: So this arvo ive been stuffing around with the wing and trying to make supports.. Still a couple of things to buy but its getting there... And should be pretty stable afterwards ^^

Anyways here are the pics plus a finished engine bay pic ;)

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5345/6937008410_b858943600_c.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5200/6937009916_06424e235d.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/7083089423_eb84573e18.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7272/7083090975_e7558edf72.jpg

Engine bay

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/7083087865_f63df7ba9d.jpg

adamvanxxx
04-16-2012, 09:37 AM
So envious

KAL
04-16-2012, 09:44 AM
Video!

morr
04-17-2012, 10:02 PM
Dang dude. Your car looks so much better with the meaty tires and track setup. The bay is looking pretty freakin' clean too!

Charlie
04-18-2012, 02:30 AM
Not sure where the posts went with the videos..

But anyways here they are....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcNTW...oqmIHBN_grr00=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw-Pq...mIHBN_grr00%3D

Also finished off the wing supports... Really happy with them.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6943688674_bee2f2e2a1_c.jpg
photo-41 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6943688674/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Wing back off and tucked back away ^^

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5316/6943688878_54c0c00c49.jpg
photo-42 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65179706@N03/6943688878/) by charlie_2011 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65179706@N03/), on Flickr

Next week im adding two more bars to the roll bar... ill probs take off the canards for street duty's but they will be back on for the track day.. If you lived over here u would understand :P

psulja
04-18-2012, 10:09 AM
Not sure where the posts went with the videos..

The server went down and ate them... :ninja:

Looks and sounds great! :shock:

Charlie
04-23-2012, 02:13 AM
Update: so finally finished the Km's in the car. Dropped it off this morning to get a new removable rear section with a muffler for street/lakeside . Also put the reflectors in and took the canards off. It looks a lot more tame.

I'll get it back by the end of the week then it go back to having the wing and canards on for a meet and track day on the 2nd. Very excited for that. So keen to see how it goes at QR.. just from driving on the street it feels really good handling wise so yeah cant wait :mrgreen:

It will be retuned to automotive plus after the track day and will go back to Gt auto and hopefully easily make the power I want.

Charlie
04-26-2012, 03:21 PM
Update: so I gotta put 2000km+ on my car before its next tune says the tuner. Which is gonna be hard as fuck since I barely get to drive it.


So me and a mate are thinking of driving that over a weekend :) leave Friday night, drive all night to Sydney and all day sat then sleep and drive back sat night/Sunday. I'm keen as to do this as it will get it out of the way instead of dragging out for months.


Plus it will give me a chance to get a new tune with more power quicker :D

Charlie
05-03-2012, 01:27 AM
So sunday went to a meet, that was good. First drive with the new exhaust on and holy sh*t its good. So much better then the loud one. Nice and quiet when im just puttin around but when i get on boost i have the screamer come in to play so atleast it sounds good :P

Really happy with how its been driving and no issues have came up.

Heres some pics from that..
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7137942735_f66e3b6ec9_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7091/7137942653_f1456ef02a_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7129/6991861448_d2861e3b3f_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7101/7137942865_9505054489_z.jpg

Then on wednesday i had a track day at Queensland Raceway. It was awesome. First session on the sprint track was getting use to the car but it felt really good so managed to get a 63.4 on the last lap :). Second session i was a bit more confident and had no traffic so it gave me more room to improve and that i did. Managed a 62.3. Stoked with those times. Car is pretty easy to control. On exits i need to be careful cos it does wanna get a bit sideways there but in saying that its really easy to control sideways and isnt snappy like i was expecting. Brakes seemed to do the job pretty good (nb8a brakes with solid rotors and xp10's all round) and it never really felt like they were wearing that much. Tires held up really good but towards the end of the sessions i was getting a bit of understeer so maybe just a bit hot? not sure.

Next was clubman circuit and i never really got the hang of it.. A few corners i ran a bit wide and ended up with a bit of oversteer because of that but given more track time i think i will improve.. Once again brakes did there job as well as tires. After the first session i got a 65.4 i think. Second session the car felt a bit twitchy and i wasnt sure why so i only lapped in 66's but upon coming to the pits one of the bushings fell out of the lower control arm on the outers :P So that could explain it haha. Temps throughout the day were spot on. Never looked like over heating :)

Apart from the bushing falling out, (two on closer inspection and two more were on its way out) the only other issue i had was from the breather. because the catch can doesnt route back to the intake or some other place i was getting a bit of oil and as it built pressure inside the can it would expell into the engine bay. There was a fair bit of blowby but ive had it looked at with the mechanics and its nothing to worry about. Once a proper breathing system is put in place i shouldnt have any issues at all..

So today the local mx5 parts warehouse had some lower control arms all with sperical bushings in them. Since i was down a bushing i decided to chuck them in and be done with it. I needed another alignment anyways. Next week ill hopefully get the tune looked over at gt auto to make sure its all running the way it should. Im deciding not to drive to sydney this weekend as its just to much and ive got to much work on atm. And ive realised after the track day, that power is perfectly fine for learning with. If i got anymore power id definitely have issues with brakes and tires.

So next track day is hopefully the 20th at qr again only on sprint track this time. Hopefully i can sort out the tune, breathing before then :) Would have to say this is the most fun ive had in this car yet :D

Pics:

Cruising out
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7191/7137279043_7ba5562f43_z.jpg

Trying to catch the s2k on the straight
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7276/7137285513_6cee91e4c2_z.jpg

Got him :D
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7266/6991187488_60c094a37f_z.jpg

One last one
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8003/7137283405_f3c87b77aa_z.jpg

Cheers :)

Charlie
05-05-2012, 06:22 AM
update:

So managed to get a couple of videos..

Here u go :)

Short Clip
Ga7clABzkBU

Long Clip
Cr8zrLWYMrc

And heres a couple of pics.. Right now the car has been raised a little, more cut out and canards and wing is back off. I remounted the fender as u can see in the first pic it kinda unhooked and just flapped in the wind like a boss :P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7238/7144161515_34f503fbcf_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7095/7144162131_297f4d72ba_c.jpg

Dilly
05-06-2012, 02:43 AM
The last post made me smile. :)

Charlie
05-08-2012, 06:57 AM
Thats my fav part of the build :D
As for an update my indicators rocked up today yay haha.
Pretty much spending done for a long while haha. Just gonna try and get as much track time as possible.

If figured all I want is 160rwkw for daily and track and then have a switch wired in for high boost. Which I want to be at like 220 rwkw just to have straight line fun

Charlie
05-19-2012, 01:15 AM
Sup guys.

So today i cut my rear bumper.. i was initially gonna get a spare incase i fucked it up but i realised thats just silly :P

So got up this morning and started marking out where i needed to cut.

Here i am cutting, Safety first right guys ? Dont worry i put boots on when the melting plastic landed on my feet :P
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8155/7225430968_abffa18a57.jpg

Test fitting it and trying to figure out what to do with the bumper support.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5038/7225431062_36dbf298c2.jpg

All good now :) Finished product
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7236/7225423162_00b72e69dd_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7221/7225429460_519f2c5b90_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7103/7225426332_32b6a0265a_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7094/7225420202_4f19db2897_c.jpg

Track day tomorrow so there will be on board vids and outside vids.. KEEEEEEEEEN. Also plan is to get some a centre exit exhaust made up for this. Stay tuned. Will be epic :D

Charlie
05-21-2012, 04:27 AM
Update:

Sup guys,

Time for a run down on the track day.

On the drive out to Queensland Raceway the car felt good. New alignment had great turn in and felt planted when i gave it a bit coming out of corners. So i was pretty happy and was nervous as hell waiting to get out there. When i got there i swapped over the loud exhaust (drove in with the quiet one for the misses :P), took out the indicators and was all ready to go :D.

Briefing was over and i was patiently waiting for my group to be called up and not long after it was :)
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5151/7240284410_6e7e32142c_c.jpg

While waiting in the line i was hoping that this breather setup was working the way it should and i could put all this shit behind me and just get as much track time as i could. Warm up lap the car felt good, awesome steering response, good braking from the get go and more power was very noticeable coming out of corners.

First hot lap was a good start and trying a few new lines was working good. However after the second lap i had to come back into pits as i could smell oil burning. Once i came in i popped the hood to see oil spat everywhere same as last time only this time it couldnt even last more then 2 laps. So wiped it all down and degreased the areas and played around with a few things to hopefully improve it. I couldnt understand why it wasnt draining and why it was constantly spitting out of the filter ontop of the catch can. After the first session (2 laps) i managed consistant 62's which was what i got last time so that was a plus i suppose.

Some pics..

Squatting like a boss
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7238341694_28d69818ff_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8021/7238345198_f8b1362fa4_c.jpg

After it was all clean though i went back out there hoping to get a few more laps. The car felt really good again and i was able to push it a bit more coming out of turns. As i found that it actually pulled me more and got me around the corner the more i got on it. I was using more of the track coming out of the last turn to so that was a plus. However, 2nd lap in same thing happened. I drove it round and back into the pits to find a very familiar story :(. Decided to call it quits after that and just cleaned it up and washed it down. Went over to the timing office and got the sheet. 61.1 first lap and 61.2 second lap. Beat my pb by a second so i was happy with that.

Using all the track... and then some :P

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8144/7238338498_595d8bce46_c.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5344/7238356022_90d14ea0f6_c.jpg

It sucked though because there was so much more in it and i could push it so much more but not being able to last the session made it hard to actually put that into practice. At the end of the day i was happy to drive the car home after the day just pissed that i couldnt do all sessions and laps and that what i thought was a solution in theory actually made it worse.

Back into the pits early.. Something i've done to often.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5152/7238335540_356a96f506_c.jpg

So i drove the car over this arvo and started researching ways around this issue.. At the end of the day if it costs me a bit i dont mind. I just want it sorted so i can actually get to this cars potential. The hankook rs3's are awesome and provide me with a lot of grip so dropping a couple of seconds shouldnt be to hard.

Ill update when i figure out whats happening but as of now the plan is to fix it for good regardless of costs, and get back out there on the 7th of June to really show what its got.

Untill next time :D

friday
05-21-2012, 06:12 PM
Is the oil coming out of the breather filter?

Charlie
05-21-2012, 09:30 PM
Yep. Because its at the front of the motor it coming out the top and just going everywhere.

In talks with savington on miata turbo about a solution and almost it one covered.

Charlie
05-23-2012, 04:20 PM
Heres a quick vid from the track.

Warning: it does get shaky at times but atleast u get an idea haha :P Ill have an in car vid soonish.. Just gotta go get it off my mate :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34aB6AUoPQw&feature=share&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw

So since Sunday we've been trying to find out whats wrong with the breather setup.
We took the valve cover off yesterday to see what's up and found a few things. Ok so the valve cover is ceramic coated inside and out, so the inside of the cover has like a slippery coating. When we stated to disassemble the baffles (take the covers off) it seemed that because of this coating the sealant wasn't t able to bond properly meanin it probably wasn't sealing all round. This is the first problem.

Once all the covers were off we started looking what's going on and found something strange. When I got the cover Coated, they put it in a big polisher machine (machine that vibrates millions of tiny ceramic balls to polish). When I got the cover I had to remove all the balls that were stuck in the gaps.

Between the middle baffle and the baffle where the -10 weld on is situated is linked by a tiny passage to let oil through. The oil is allowed to come through the middle baffle via a trap door type thing and then the only way to get to the problem baffle is via the passage. However, blocking this passage was a ceramic ball lol. So no oil was able to get through.

And it seems that the only way the oil could get through is under the unsealed covers. Imagine it like this, down the straights at 7000rpm, the motor would be flicking oil like crazy under the cover allowing a lot of oil to get into the baffle.. Turn one is around 150-160kmph and before it's got a chance to drain back through the oil is sucked out of the baffle into the catch can giving us the problem.

So in theory if we seal this up proper, there shouldn't be the same problem. So we sanded away the coating exposing the bare metal, flattened allege covers and sealed it all up again. Having done this it 'should' solve the Flower ton of oil gettin out in turn fixing my breather problems.

One thing i wanted to rule out was anything wrong with the bottom end so we put it under a compression test and results showed 165 across all 4 very happy to know that.

So having sealed up the cover properly, I'm also moving the catch can up higher and making a bigger tank to sit in the top right hand corner.

Hopefully this fixes it all. It all makes sense so we'll soon see

Phatmiata
05-23-2012, 10:48 PM
great video!! car is amazing!! makes me want a turbo sooooo bad!!! hahhaha

Charlie
05-28-2012, 11:33 PM
Hey guys,

Not much to update. but i sold my old mirrors and got my new mirrors the other day :)

Heres some installed pics:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7078/7292516418_274051b187_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8162/7292519640_48b56ce32c_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7238/7292517926_ce343fb1c3_c.jpg

Figured out what setup we are doing for the breather so thats good. Should work fine :) And unfortunately my email that i sent to book the track day didnt send and now its booked out so i dont think i will be racing then.. Theres another day at Lakeside on the 16th but i didnt really wanna go to this track so early.. Oh well lol :P

Any track time is good track time.

Charlie
06-05-2012, 10:57 PM
So update if anyone's following,

Picked the car up today.. Got a custom air oil seperator/catch can made up .. Its actually to parts in the one tank sort of thing.. hard to explain but its pretty cool. Should solve my problems for sure.. Will need to test it again at Lakeside Raceway in a couple of weeks so we will monitor how much oil gets in there and then go from there.. If its necessary for a drain that we will do that, also running a line off the other side of the valve cover to.

But like i said, still need to test. Its not something u can really test on the street unfortunately :P

heres a pic :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7098/7334917528_87e7afcbf7_c.jpg

Once i picked the car up, drove 80km to a mates place and dropped it off for some fabrication work ;) This will be epic but i wont spoil it :bouncin:

Also chucked it on stands and took the wheels off to get re done :) extremely keen.

Charlie
06-10-2012, 06:28 AM
Sup guys..

What a day. Got my wheels back and holy fuck i am so stoked. Came out exactly how i wanted.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8162/7165418913_5f09ce442a_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/7350628896_b52d90c444_c.jpg

All together :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8158/7350652668_95d5e1fbb9_c.jpg

Also keen to get my new tow hooks from Ken at Garage Star. Great company and fantastic products..

You can get some from here:
http://garagestar.com/blog/?p=822

Support a good quality company so he can keep making cool shit :D :D :D


Anyways,

Tires mounted and painted :D :D :D

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7219/7353570956_b65316a596_c.jpg

Hoping to pick the car up wednesday night so mounted pics then ;)

iamdallas
06-10-2012, 08:44 AM
Those look wonderful! I have considered powdercoating my wheels, but I'm afraid the heat may have adverse affects on them. It seems unlikely, but I don't want to take the chance.

Charlie
06-11-2012, 06:49 AM
Cheers mate :)

Should be ok. time will tell though :P

kung fu jesus
06-11-2012, 07:39 AM
That oil blowby in the baffles seems a common problem. I had it too. I resealed mine and it went away. I hope your separator configuration works for you. Speaking to Andrew was a good idea and I can't think of anyone more knowledgeable.

Good luck @ the next track day!

marlonthegreat
06-11-2012, 11:35 PM
game over, those wheels are dope!!! Work could'nt have done better

Charlie
06-12-2012, 06:49 PM
Cheers guys :) will be sure to have good coverage from the day :)

Charlie
06-18-2012, 01:28 AM
Update:

Proper pics of the new setup :) Aero is back on and it will stay this way for a fair while. Pretty stoked with how its al come together :D

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7103/7392257116_d50a407467_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7244/7392251836_4bf9e4b6b5_c.jpg

Very excited for Saturday :D :D

Also teaser from a fabrication piece im getting made for my car :) this will be finished next sunday :D

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5280/7385997056_23316d2ca7_c.jpg

iamdallas
06-18-2012, 03:30 AM
Car looks great!

I<3flippyheadlights
06-18-2012, 02:07 PM
Those wheels, omg. Your car is so amazing man.

Charlie
06-23-2012, 08:38 PM
Hey guys

Update from the track day yesterday :)

Was awesome. So much fun. No issues with the car either so that was the biggest relief from it. Managed a 63.2 which is pretty decent i suppose.. the yellow LFA in my group did 61's so its not to bad. Few areas where i know i can be faster because the car is so planted and stable i just need to grow some balls and make it stick :)
Never really felt loose apart from 2 times one where i spun but i managed to go onto the little run off area this track has :P

heres a couple of pics to get u started.. there will be more coming though :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7272/7428850410_4de40e2051_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/7428850558_31436ab7cf_z.jpg

thought i chipped a finger nail... you know. because hairdresser car

Also an in car vid :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKhIwf5GoUw&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw&index=1&feature=plcp

marlonthegreat
06-24-2012, 06:51 PM
one fast track there....nice run

Charlie
06-24-2012, 11:51 PM
Yeah it is.. that main straight i reach around 220km/h and then that back section is like 170km/h going under the bridge into the left hander :)

Charlie
06-25-2012, 12:09 AM
More pictures thanks for my mate Foy :) Check out his stuff and like his facebook page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50566434@N04/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Foy-Imaging/216787918332413

Getting ready to go back out and trying to turn on the damn go pro :P :P
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8167/7435256358_6ffe5ac605_c.jpg

Down the hill into Hungry :D
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7136/7435261956_5fbb84b6bb_c.jpg

Hard turn it :)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7249/7435278206_0884b3d99f_c.jpg

Coming back into the pits
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5117/7435247352_5b4b0c03af_c.jpg

Parking up
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5117/7435274850_b37b3505df_c.jpg

Dilly
06-25-2012, 12:30 AM
Great pics from your mate.

hippari
06-25-2012, 02:05 AM
loving this car so much

Charlie
06-25-2012, 09:21 PM
Moment has come.. Exhaust is done. :D :D :D Big thanks to Nathan @ Fabuous Fabrications. He did an awesome job once again and made a dream a reality.

Before i post pics.. A lot of you will ask why.. Why not? I like the little things about cars that make them unique and the fact that its one off is what makes me happy.

Plus it sounds fucking badass. Here we go !!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7117/7439852534_22e494b409_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7131/7439846304_d9ba0d6400_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7112/7439839872_d3db506453_c.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5451/7439833928_db6bfbacd1_c.jpg

Videos :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_fOT4x5wgo&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJonOMpX7ts&feature=plcp

Enjoy :)

I<3flippyheadlights
06-25-2012, 09:28 PM
So beautiful, great idea and excellent looking exhaust.

marlonthegreat
06-26-2012, 09:31 PM
no resonator? just 3" all the way? :)

AntiochOG
06-26-2012, 10:21 PM
Wow, sounds great, and that exhaust is beautiful.

recklessabandon
06-26-2012, 10:43 PM
i really like this. very tasty build.

Charlie
06-26-2012, 10:44 PM
no resonator? just 3" all the way? :)

theres a resonator and cat in the midpipe.. But yes 3" all the way

artcentermiata
06-27-2012, 04:39 AM
god... that lobster tail exhaust... so awesome

would love something like that for my nb!

Charlie
06-27-2012, 06:30 PM
Posting this pic cos its my favourite one ive found from Saturday :D actually looks like im going fast hahah :P

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8010/7457512672_dbd7f17eef_b.jpg

All pack for the roadtrip this weekend :D gonna be some sick rolling shots from this so keep an eye out for spamage

The Platypus
06-28-2012, 04:00 AM
Oooooh nice shot. And I love spammage from you :)

Charlie
07-06-2012, 02:41 AM
Roadtrip to Sydney write up :)

Friday:

So i woke up friday morning, went into work for a few hours then headed home to start packing and getting my car ready for the big trip down to sydney. Plan was to leave the Gold Coast at 11pm, drive straight through to Sydney with a couple of stops in bewteen and get there around 10am ready start preparing for The Lowdown's Showcased meet that started at 1pm. Unfortunately not everything goes to plan :P

Washed, waxed and pack the car and i was pumped to start getting on with it.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7267/7465488080_2cd796ef24_c.jpg

Drove over to a mates house to meet up with him on the way so we could travel down to meet the others an hour away. Before i got to his, i took the exit off the highways only to be confronted with an 4 cop bikes and 2 highway patrol cars. Clenching my arse i drove straight past and luckilly for me i got green lights and got through fine :D

Picked up my mate and drove down to meet the others at Chinderah BP just over the border into NSW.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8427/7512796570_170e7cfc31_c.jpg

Caught up with the others and wasted no time in getting on the road :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7512648090_2f73dbb5a3_c.jpg


First few hours were great, spoke some shit with my mate in the car and everything seemed to be going great..

Saturday:
About two hours into the trip i looked in my rear view mirror to find the 2 other cars missing. We quickly pulled over at the next servo and called to see what happened. I did not expect to be told what i was told lol. Zak (drive a static slammed BMW 7Series) who run Streetkarnage had split his fuel tank open after bottoming out coming over a bridge. We looked for supplies in the Sevice Station to see if there was anything we could use unfortunately there was nothing. We drove back 2 kms to see how they were going to be confronted with the Beamer in the air with fuel pouring out of it.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8027/7512648738_0b8afe882a_c.jpg


While others were seeing if they could block the leak Zak raised the rear up. We convinced him to drive it up to the servo so have more space and light however he was concerned considering his car throws sparks constantly and Fuel + Spark isnt that great of a combination. We managed to get it back to the servo and decided it was a good photo opp :P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/7512649194_e28582c515_c.jpg
NOTE: the fuel puddle to the side of the car

Alex's bagged golf and Cobeys static stanced V35
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7268/7512649420_ac35a332ea_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7256/7512649674_3b2518cbe6_b.jpg

One of the guys that was with us came up with a great idea to use soap to seal up the split and atleast stop the leak. They ran into the servo and got soap, plugged it up as good as they could, dropped the car and rolled it forward to see if the fuel was still leaking.

10 minutes passed and no sign of fuel :D POWER ON!!!!

Charlie
07-06-2012, 02:41 AM
After that setting us back 1.5hrs we had to get on the road if we were even gonna get close to making it in time. We drove for a couple of hours before stopping off for fuel, snacks and checking to see how the soap was going :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7512651508_01d2d9dfea_c.jpg
Filling up like a boss :P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7115/7512652014_d6a44a3262_c.jpg

Drove through the dark and fog waiting to be greated by some light. At around 5am i started feeling a bit sick so i got my passenger to drive for a bit. Morning came and we decided to stop off for some breaky, talk some shit and fuel :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7128/7512652610_5b15dbeeac.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7133/7512652970_2c4b57d9a5_o.jpg

Dawn seemed like a perfect opportunity for rolling shots.. However my sickness got worse and i was relinquished to the Getz :P

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8017/7512654154_6e7c46276a_o.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8011/7512656058_c7513f498d_c.jpg

Looking sorry for myself :P
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7275/7512656872_e0d99cc021_b.jpg

As i tried yet failed to sleep we continued driving till we got to newcastle.. Unfortunately we got split up and had to try and meet up somewhere.. Still being 2 hours away we decided the car wash was a good option. I didnt last that long and had to pull over twice to throw up :(

By the time we all got to the carwash it was around 10.30 and promtly washed all out cars.. At this point my windows stopped working and the drivers side was stuck down :(

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7119/7512845112_43fd62950a_c.jpg

Not being able to put it up meant i couldn't wash it properly.. So i quickly sprayed it down and did the best I could without soaking the inside of my car haha :P Once washed and dried, we rolled out for the last time before we arrived at the meet.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8023/7512657812_4ce6786fc0_c.jpg

Charlie
07-06-2012, 02:42 AM
With no time to spare we were hurrying to get there in time and was was supposed to be a boring drive on the highway actually turned out to be a lot fun seeing that the roads were twisty ;) At this point i think everyone was surprised that we didnt see any cops lol Probably a good thing to :D

1.5hrs later we arrived at the carpark where the meet was held. Quickly parked up on the lower levels to wipe over out cars and get prepped to park up on the roof top :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8286/7512684798_ec58e29042_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7251/7512684926_9499da0e40_b.jpg

We drove up the top and got given out designated area :) Parked up as a club and got out and chilled for the rest of the arvo :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7253/7512700570_dc9470d341_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7127/7512686800_b40ae472ca_b.jpg

A lot of coverage from a lot of good photographers. Heres my favs so far :)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7130/7512690350_dbd08f4e35_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7262/7512686538_46639b6ce0_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7253/7512893596_84c3a29da2_b.jpg

Me with the beard :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7130/7512893398_d1429abc2a_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8027/7512922782_bdefb56bcb_z.jpg

Alex's golf
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8156/7512914832_d57304fd3c_c.jpg

For more coverage of the meet see these links
http://www.stancenation.com/2012/07/05/the-lowdown-presents-showcased-photo-coverage/

http://www.downshiftaus.com/

http://streetkarnage.blogspot.com.au/

Meet finished so we headed packed up and made a move.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7127/7512688812_41a519700d_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7262/7512923012_3d7126b316_c.jpg

Charlie
07-06-2012, 02:43 AM
Once back at the hotel we parked our cars, ate, showered and after 36 hours of being awake i went to sleep. Few of the boys pushed on and went out :P Before going to bed i decided to take my steering wheel off since my window still wasnt working :(

Sunday:
Woke up sunday morning refreshed after a 8 hour sleep and decided to do a bit of sight seeing with a couple of the boys.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7134/7512979588_e560ca9d88_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7512981296_141f9a6e65_c.jpg
After a couple of hours we decided to head back and make a move back home. Packed all our stuff and we were on our way.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/7512701990_d5e64ab403_c.jpg

Stopped off at a servo to fill up and Zak decided he would try to raise the rear abit.. Just to give more protection to the fuel tank :P Unfortunately he couldnt for some reason and was made to roll slammed the whole way home :P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7140/7512998562_62ffbb6235_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7266/7512998224_e1a5bcdc94_c.jpg

We were back on the road.. The next two hours were probably the highlight for me. It was much easier driving during the day and a lot of fun was had :P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7121/7512702662_afeb6faaf4_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8003/7494007738_095fc1dde9_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8424/7494006818_5c08be00c1_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7109/7493999856_8e8229ac30_c.jpg

Vid :)

M2sqmHKUmgM

Charlie
07-06-2012, 02:44 AM
After a few hundred kilometers we stopped off for a break and we couldnt have timed it worse lol :P Two minutes after we pulled in i decided to put my lights up, thats when this cop came in.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8432/7512702448_6fcded3b25_c.jpg

Shortly after a Department of Transport car rolled in as well haha. We waited for him to start filling up and drove off on our merry way :) The sun went down and i started to feel my car like it wasnt boosting properly :( Didnt take much notice and just kept driving. About an hour later we stopped off on the 'private road' to do some skids :P It was after doing that i knew my car wasnt right.. Having no boost getting onto the highway i pulled off a couple of kilometers down the road.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7124/7512703248_cf888e203b_c.jpg

Trying to diagnose to see what the problem was. Until one of the boys noticed this:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7267/7512703524_7790a18299_c.jpg

Danger to manifold :(

For the next 6 hours the car was noisy, uncomfortable, cold, smelly and not much fun to drive lol. We stopped off for dinner, fuel and the crack along the way and came to the last stop. This was about 2 hours from the gold coast and its where we all parted ways.. Wanting to get home asap i headed off first with the Getz.. About 5 minutes later a cop on the opposite side of the road drove by. I watched him disappear untill a couple of minutes later a pair of headlights was coming up from behind fast. I tried to put a few cars in between him and me but unfortunately he ended up behind me a couple of km's down the road. The road merged into two lanes so i moved across (Right hand rear indicator bulb blew on the way down) and two seconds later the lights came on :(

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8294/7494146966_30c78772d9_c.jpg

He proceeded to go through my car and defect me for the following items.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7119/7513109412_2c5aace873_o.jpg

At this point my turbo had fallen off the manifold, i was tired, and i just wanted to get home.

Final stop for fuel and we were back in Queensland.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8421/7513134772_614904284a_c.jpg

Sup brakedust
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8287/7513139560_24d96c5c21_c.jpg

1.5 hours later (3.45am) i was home :D Fuck yeahhh. Time for sleep.

Next day i washed the car and took it to a Automotive Plus to access the manifold and make plans :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8166/7513143052_d7c3feeed1_c.jpg

This is the aftermath :P
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8154/7494109968_6f63b6edb8_c.jpg

So thats the trip.. Even though it was long, and i was tired.... Its gotta be the most fun ive had in a long time :D. Big shout out to the Streetkarnage boys, Downshift and The Lowdown for organizing the event :)

Charlie
07-06-2012, 02:44 AM
Couple more pics from the meet:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7134/7513109252_6b090005b6_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8158/7513109168_a1f12fe79e_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8294/7513128702_b9d106cd00_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8147/7513128628_8f257dbc5b_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8025/7513128432_e10a671292_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8285/7513128348_3c186a7da2_c.jpg

I<3flippyheadlights
07-06-2012, 09:38 AM
You know I love your thread because of the incredible amount of pictures. I can't believe you drove 11 hours to a meet, that is insane! How are you still happy with everything that happened? You got sick, your buddy ripped his fuel tank, your manifold broke, your window broke. I would just jump off a cliff. Also, how much was that ticket for and can you change the outcome? I would of been pissed off at that cop beyond belief after dealing with my car taking a shit. But I'm sure you will fix it and make it awesome. Pictures and cars look awesome!

marlonthegreat
07-10-2012, 07:58 PM
Hopefully in the end, despite the difficulty, you enjoyed the drive of your miata...as that is its only purpose for being

Charlie
07-11-2012, 02:22 AM
Yeah it was awesome. Through the ups and downs but i had the best fun :D


Update:

Hey guys. So after the big trip to sydney theres been some maintenance to do :P First port of call was the manifold. We decided to make a new collector and get it done properly so it doesn't break. Also fabbed up some braces to give support to the collector part of the manifold so hopefully nothing like that happens again :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8023/7548260418_3e4854afaa_c.jpg
Manifold bolted up w//braces :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7131/7548259232_f6a557f8ee_c.jpg
New collector :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7246/7548257800_dc29af0ed3_c.jpg
All off again to get ceramic coated :)

Other things on the list was the centre console which i had to break to get to my window switch to see what happened, oil change and filter and fix a couple of cracks in the exhaust when the exhaust bottomed out :(

That all will be done this week so it shouldnt be long till i have my car back on the road.

Got the Garage Star rear tow hook in the mail yesterday as well. As soon as i opened it i knew it was quality. Beefy as hell and was gonna look good. Went and fitted it up and couldnt be happier.. With the bumper cut i thought it might sit low but im really happy with the height. Its strong enough to jack up from and looks cool :P

Once again an awesome product from Ken @ Garage Star. Could not be happier.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8422/7548259976_17c76cb1e1_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8429/7548256630_05f1fb7424_c.jpg

I<3flippyheadlights
07-11-2012, 07:11 AM
Glad you got that manifold back together. I thought the turbo was about to fall off :P

KAL
07-11-2012, 09:45 AM
Its amazing how that ridiculous wing balances the whole car visually

Dilly
07-13-2012, 07:31 PM
Its amazing how that ridiculous wing balances the whole car visually

Kinda like when you take a girls pants off. Giggity.

jdm slick
07-15-2012, 05:10 PM
I have just gone through this build thread and I am in awe with the amount of work and $$$ you've put into this thing!!! It has made into my favorite Miatas list for sure....Wow, just wow...

Charlie
07-19-2012, 12:35 AM
Update:
Not much happening atm. Waiting on my parts to be ceramic coated. Will put them back on this weekend and get the car prepped for track on monday :) Back at lakeside again so should be good.

Charlie
07-20-2012, 01:54 AM
Update :D

Finally got the parts back from being ceramic coated :) Now its the mad rush to get the car ready for monday :D :D

Some pics

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8427/7608048566_8b6cc0ffe2_c.jpg
Hotside parts looking fresh :D

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8293/7608049732_81a4f2fc29_c.jpg
Killswitch mounted and hooked up :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8011/7608050630_d629f2285b_c.jpg
So much to do :P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7112/7608045158_b13b693b94_c.jpg
Chillin with its big bro :)

AHHthatsJDMyo
07-20-2012, 07:34 AM
Sweet build! Are those instagram pictures?

Charlie
07-25-2012, 01:15 AM
Update:

So sunday we were trying to get my car sorted ready for the track day on monday. We got it all running and as i went to test drive it the car felt a lot quick. Looked at the ecu on the laptop and i was now making 19psi to my previous 15 psi. So big jump there.. We brought down the boost and knock back timing 4* just to be safe. WE were gonna get the tune re done during the week anyway so it was only temporary.

Next morning i went out to Lakeside with the mx5 club the the afternoon session only to have my exhaust fall off the hangers twice lol.. FUUUUU. When i got there i quickly zip tied the fuckers together so they wouldnt slip off :D.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/7635363876_1342d0aa92_c.jpg

We were split into 3 groups and by 12.30 or so we were ready to get racing. There was something weird about my car and i couldnt put my finger on it. When i got on boost it would like sound like WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSH lol and it would seem like it would stop pulling as hard (i suspect the bov was leaking?). Never did this before the new manfiold. I didnt think much of it and proceded to drive out with group 1 and get on with it.. At the end of first hot lap i hear a POP!!! and suddenly no boost :( drove all the way around to get back to the pits and looked to see what i had assumed had happen was true. Cooler pipe blew off.

I put it all back together and clamped it down tight to make sure it wasnt coming out (yes i do have nipples welded to the end of the pipe :P) Seemed more or less ok so went out that next session. Familiar story, 2-3 lap in and POP!!. I did it again lol. Drove back in and grabbed some pliers to try and flare out the pipe to give it a better chance at sealing. Missed the 3rd session so waited it out for the 4th. Drove out, did warm up and managed to get 3 or 4 laps in :D woooohoooo lol At one point in the session i was stoked cos it hadnt blown off then 2 seconds later .. POP!!!

Incar vid from that session.
http://youtu.be/7rs7g7NuGJ8

7rs7g7NuGJ8

After that i tried to get it sealing again but the clamp was rooted so i just left it and began packing up. Sorta disappointed with the car and just having weird problems come up but oh well.. thats cars for u. Happy i managed to drive it home, N/A but still happy haha :P So this week im getting it sorted, re tuned, new bov and hopefully no issues for the track day on sunday :D

Cannot wait for this one. All my mates are racing and we are in the same group so should be sick.

Some pics.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7111/7635355382_d5cd666447_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7131/7635365194_afd6127e67_c.jpg

how i left it :P
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7635361998_5989b7e1f3_c.jpg

Also used harrys lap timer pro for the first time.. not a bad app.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8432/7635381448_5ecf1ae946_c.jpg

Only slightly off the pace. Real time was 64.1.

Update at the end of the week.

Dilly
07-25-2012, 02:00 AM
Bead roll that pipe!

Charlie
07-27-2012, 03:51 AM
Update :)

Ok so during the week we fitted a dual stage boost controller, new hks bov, fixed cooler piping all in preparation for the dyno today to get the tune sorted.

Swapped out the plugs for some colder plugs to start it off. Then started the tune. New manifold makes boost come on around about 600rpm earlier which im stoked about. Started to set things up for the power runs. On 20psi it made 220rwkw but fuel pressure was dropping at this point.. So we put boost back down to 16 psi and it made 200rwkw. Did a few more pulls and fuel pressure kept dropping. Something was wrong.

Luckily we had a spare deatschwerks 300lph fuel pump on standby. Swapped that in and luckily that solved the problem. Did a few more runs on 20psi and everything was all good. Made 250ish rwkw on 20psi and 185rwkw on 15psi. For the yanks out there.. thats around 335rwhp and 250rwhp ish..

Safe to say im stoked. Cooler piping issue is sorted. Everything is looking really good. Cannot wait for sunday now haha :D :D

Dyno vid.
7KhIHPVHego

Will have sheets up tomorrow :)

I<3flippyheadlights
07-27-2012, 11:06 PM
It seems something goes wrong every time you drive this car, but your attitude and overall optimism make up for it completely. I also appreciate the use of horse power for us Yanks as you say, I had no idea you were pushing that much power!?

Charlie
07-27-2012, 11:47 PM
So did something ive been wanting to do for ages. And that is make it so i can put stuff in the boot with the wing on.

So this morning i took the boot off and cut some slots in the side to make it work. Bit of touch up paint and put it back on. Works perfect. Very happy to be able to put all my track shit in the boot instead of the passenger seat.

Here are a couple of pics of how its mounted for those that want to know.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7260/7660152082_5148d2c7b2_c.jpg
Cuts in the boot

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7273/7660150878_19765c8c3d_c.jpg
Where it mounts

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8423/7660151342_f197882148_c.jpg
Packed boot for the track tomorrow :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8011/7660151788_1ae4ec7c51_c.jpg
All done :D

wannafbody
07-28-2012, 03:22 PM
And I thought I was the only guy to have an exhaust fall off on track. In my case it happened while a friend was driving the car so he looked like the idiot-LOL

Muti007
07-29-2012, 12:35 PM
Needs a bigger wing.

iamdallas
07-30-2012, 05:48 PM
335!? Awesome numbers!

Charlie
07-31-2012, 05:26 AM
update:

So another trackday came and went on sunday. This was a different track with a different setup during the day. They had sprint sessions, cruise session where you could race people on the straight :P and a skid pan. Was setup to be an awesome day.

Started bright and early that morning. Met up with some mates at the servo local to the track for some breaky before we headed out to get setup.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8020/7682632276_3b926a9030_c.jpg

Got setup, did driver briefing and went out for the first sprint session.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7139/7676713676_d430403240_c.jpg

What a technical track, a lot difficult to master then the previous one.. Little to no front end grip coming into the hair pins and along the high speed sweepers it was an arse clenching experience being top of 5th with not much track to work with.

Screen shot from harry's lap timer gives u an idea of the layout.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8283/7682640884_a9a56b647e_b.jpg

Being chased by my mate in his supercharged k20/24 civic
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7280/7682676558_bfb8ab03bd_b.jpg

Next up was the cruise session. This was so much fun.. having re reign of the track and racing whoever we please. Was good to test out the new power to :D :D
So much fuel :P
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8028/7682676446_898566d29d_b.jpg

heres a quick race again an s15 with an 3076r.. Making a fair bit of power i cant remember how much. Would have been good if we took off the same :P

http://youtu.be/RJ0NYiS12xg

Lining up ready to go out for another sprint session. Started to find my grove here and was really enjoying it :D

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7132/7682632820_0d883541b0_c.jpg

Next up i decided to try out the skid pan haha.. So much fun but difficult at the same time.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8156/7682632990_7aecde0f61_b.jpg

This is where it gets pear shaped. After the skid pan session i went out for another cruise session and then the car started playing up. I went back to the pits and fucked around with it for a while till i concluded that it was running on 3 cylinders.. Somewhere in the wiring harness there was an error and it wasnt sending a signal to No. 1 Injector. As i wiggled it around it seem to fix it just breifly but then went back to 3 cyinders.. Thats where my day ended.

For the rest of the day i was passenger in a couple of mates cars which was just as fun. Came time to go home and i got it running back on all 4 so quickly made my way out the gates and on the way home. About 1 km into the drive car started struggling a lot and air fuels were going crazy so i pulled over.. Was barely running by this point. So i decided to just call a tow truck before i do any more damage.

Took the bumper off while i waited for the tow truck.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8011/7682637552_52a6185661_c.jpg

admired the crazy as skies going on behind us
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8423/7682640064_0b9f55fda3_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8162/7682644214_8808c53dc3_c.jpg

two hours after calling the tow company the truck arrived and picked me up and took me home.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8009/7682640672_3b1c264854_c.jpg

And thats where i left it... Time to take out the harness and start trouble shooting the cause. I really enjoyed the skid pan so i wanna start learning how to get sideways and hold it properly :D

The Platypus
07-31-2012, 01:00 PM
Your car just really does not like you

Charlie
08-02-2012, 01:14 AM
Update:

So since sunday we took the wiring out and started stripping it back to see what we could find... It was pretty dodge to say the least. So much for a mate helping me out by making this. I wont go into what actually caused the problem as there could be a few reasons. So we are building a new harness from scratch :)

This will solve all my issues and its something i can have piece of mind with :) Thats underway now but i wont be seeing my car till after World Time Attack in sydney next weekend :D

I also found that im hitting my cooler piping under brakes and compression so as ive never been to happy with how this actually fitted i decided to re route it back inside the engine bay.. This will make it much easier to access and should solve my problems. Plus i can re use that pipe just by cutting and re welding bits and pieces :D win win.

Went down to the hardware store and picked up some flexible pipe used in bathrooms :P Good thing about this is you can actually set a shape or route without loosing it so it worked perfect to find the right path.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7272/7696194876_4e13c0e5d0_c.jpg

Also have this coming in the mail this week :D :D
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/7232529126_6eb9c6528d_c.jpg

Very keen to say the least. Ill be using this when the big wing isnt on. :)

Updates next week :)

Charlie
08-12-2012, 01:43 AM
Update:

So i went down to Sydney to go to the World Time Attack Challenge this weekend and man it was sick. Awesome cars, awesome mates made for another sick trip.

Cars there were phenomenal to say the least.. The amount of work that goes into the pro class cars is out of this world.

Favourite car was the Top Fuel S2k. This thing looks amazing.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8448/7763839662_6200c0a45f_c.jpg

Home town favourite 'nemo' the carbon bodied Evo took out the event smashing the previous record by 3 seconds set by Cyber Evo last year. Amazing stuff from there team. Looks may not be for everyone but man, u can deny the results.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7122/7763837402_b443980acf_c.jpg

Made me very excited to get back out to the track and start nailing my setup. Id love to compete in the clubsprint class (street tires) so plan is to stick to the rs-3s and just become a better driver on those instead of going to semis.. It would be good to be competitive but even if im not id love to be there to experience it.

Later this year in the off season i am tossing up whether to sell the 6 speed before it blows and make way for a Quaife 5 speed dog box or just stick with it. See how i go. Hopefully splitter brackets will be ready to send out soon as well :).

Updates during the week when i get the car back, new boot lid etc.

AHHthatsJDMyo
08-13-2012, 05:54 AM
Can't wait to see the home made wiring harness! I've been toying with the idea of making one myself as well.

Charlie
08-14-2012, 02:01 AM
So finally got my new boot delivered.. Was so excited, till i opened it up :(

Back corners broken off and crack in the main duck tail part >:( So pissed. Thinking of what to do now.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8421/7778927050_9e59c69e93_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7114/7779108986_cc7d2b1782_z.jpg

Muti007
08-14-2012, 02:20 AM
Man that sucks!!! Im pissed for you!

tsingson
08-14-2012, 07:10 AM
Damn man. That really sucks. That trunk is really nice.

Charlie
08-20-2012, 01:13 AM
Update:
So today has been a sick day. First off. Went to work and got told im doing a night shift so i got to go home :D Thought about what to do and decided to make a cluster panel to mount my Stack cluster to :)

Went down and got a template of the cluster, traced that onto some flat material i had laying around at home and proceded to cut the shape out :)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8296/7821439470_2693556175_z.jpg

Went back down to test fit it and make sure it was gonna work. It was. So i traced out where i needed to cut a hole in a the back and came back home to do that. Few coats of paint later and it was ready to go. Took it back down with a drill to drill the holes in the back to mount the actual cluster. All goooood.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7250/7821438564_55d386edea_z.jpg

and test fitted it in the cabin :D

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8281/7821440066_ff2e50cafa_z.jpg

So wrapped with the outcome. Very very happy with it :D One less thing to do now ;)

Also the plugs ive been waiting for finally came in :) So my harness was finished off ready to be put back into the car :D :D

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/7821438904_617f8c8af2_z.jpg

Charlie
08-23-2012, 02:02 AM
Update :)

So i went and picked up my boot lid from Mayne Paint and Panel in Newmarket and was so happy to see it complete. They did a phenomenal job on the paint and repairs. Cannot recommend these guys enough.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7843090834_a3080d417c_c.jpg

Went straight down and fitted it up :D :D

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8444/7843090460_2695289494_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/7843091290_0da70f479d_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8440/7843090086_084f899b1c_c.jpg

Very happy with the results even though its not what i first had hoped for :( Updates and better pics over the weekend when i get the car running with the Stack Dash :D

The Platypus
08-23-2012, 09:15 AM
Painted carbon fiber looks better anyways IMO.

Car looks great man. Are you still getting that feature that you mentioned in an earlier post?

treeafodo
08-23-2012, 11:32 AM
This car is so clean. It looks so fast! I've been following your thread on CR for a while, good to see it here too.

Caoboy
08-24-2012, 10:08 AM
Honestly, I don't like that trunk with the wing. It's gotta be one or the other.


Still badass though.

Charlie
08-25-2012, 02:02 AM
That's the plan ma man. Bought this trunk for when I dnt have throwing. I just put me both on cos I have a photoshoot for a mag is weekend :)

Caoboy
08-25-2012, 09:47 AM
You sir, are a winner.

tsingson
08-25-2012, 01:25 PM
I'm all Jelly now......:bow:

I<3flippyheadlights
08-26-2012, 09:47 AM
One guy has lips on lips. You got spoilers on spoilers :P

Love the car as always man.

Charlie
08-27-2012, 01:12 AM
Update:

So finally got to drive my car for the first time in weeks. Man its a good feeling. Car seems to run smoother with the new harness as well. Massive thanks to the boys at Automotive Plus for making that up for me.

Woke up bright and early saturday morning to get a few things done. Gave it a well deserved wash :)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8287/7870009716_fa53bdaa57_c.jpg

Then drove it over to get a wheel alignment later that day. Funniest thing seeing the wheel alignment guys try to get out of the car :P :P
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7870010316_d3e023083f_c.jpg

Still a few things to work out with the stack dash but i can say that im very happy with it. Extremely cool.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8286/7870009006_3c67a4da09_c.jpg

Tacho is now wired up and working on a few of the other features to.

tsingson
08-27-2012, 07:06 AM
Still looking great man!

marlonthegreat
08-27-2012, 08:18 AM
that is one great looking arse...:)

Charlie
08-31-2012, 01:51 AM
Update :)

Track recap.

This week ive been sick as with the flu hoping id get better before the trackday on thursday.. that wasnt to be. But i pushed through anyways. Drove out to Queensland Raceway early in the morning to start a day of racing :D Plenty of fog greated me when i got out there which is cool.. I like the fog..

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8312/7898670158_2c3cf5e86c_c.jpg

Parked up, signed in and got given my pit bay while i waited for driver briefing.. Lets just say i wasnt feeling the best at this point..

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8306/7898669862_2c56214e0e_c.jpg

Driver briefing over and it was time to get racing.. First up was the clubman circuit. This one i wasnt to fond of before yesterday but its pretty fun now. First session out i was all over the place, understeering everywhere and oversteering is places.. Was really messy. Came off twice i think and yeah i didnt enjoy it :P next session was better but got a fair bit of traffic unfortunately but managed to do a 62.1 :)

Was stoked with my time so i was excited to get back out there.. Third session i saw consistant low 62's :)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8453/7897476860_74b06aaf68_c.jpg

In car vid.. this shows where i smashed my lip when i went off lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGoTLUcjlkM&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw&index=2&feature=plcp

Next up was sprint track. No issues yet or so i thought.. went out first session and the car was really hesistant coming onto boost. So i went back in pretty much straight away.. Looked around but couldnt see any issues.. Second session out it was the same but cleared up so i pushed it. Finally dropped into sub 60's with a 59.5. Very stoked with that.

Heres the in car vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhlB4zdAlho&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw&index=1&feature=plcp

Few pics
Hard on the brakes
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8033/7897469148_1a6fbca993_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8308/7897457178_508b735035_c.jpg

Pic i found of me taking the evo turn 6 exit
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8316/7898656480_e74ee22fda_b.jpg

Arvo session came and went back out on clubman track and once again beat my pb with a 62.02 :D Not by much but enough haha. Car was starting to feel really good and i was getting use to it now. Few sessions later they opened back up sprint track to finish the day. Once again the car was really hesitant and would not rev over 5.5k rpm :/ i was confused by this.. Decided to come back in and give it a rest and then try again next session. Went back out and it just wasnt getting better. I decided to call it a day and leave on a high before i broke something :P

The next day i took it for a drive to see how it felt and it was perfect again.. Have no idea why it went the way it did but yeah... stupid cars. Anyways its back in it street mode ready for a few events over the weekend :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8459/7898670444_0680c4d752_c.jpg

etikoner
08-31-2012, 05:53 PM
Sweet as fucking car.

Charlie
09-03-2012, 10:52 PM
update:

but not much to update.. another vid thats my mate took.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4yHoRoS6A4&feature=share&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw

more pics of it without the wing and the canards :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8441/7927280352_0c8c05ef05_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8042/7927274070_6f66c5eaa3_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8170/7927268648_0b22aed72a_c.jpg

Also diggin this pic A LOT.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8314/7898865268_6533faed1a_c.jpg

SpeedWorks
09-03-2012, 10:57 PM
this car is truly awesome.

Willywongka
09-04-2012, 01:01 PM
It looks great in the tame(r) street mode! You pull off the flares nicely, I wish I had the guts to cut up my fenders.

I<3flippyheadlights
09-04-2012, 03:10 PM
Fuck being tame, put those canards and wing! IT IS A RACE AWESOME CAR!

Charlie
09-21-2012, 02:49 AM
Update:
Last couple of weeks i went to the mx5 car club track day at Queensland Raceway.. It rained for a few of the session which was fun to get use to and suprisingly not as loose as i first thought it would be. Very stable. Got another pb on the sprint track when it dried up a bit which im stoked about :)

Also built a front splitter.. Its supported via the subframe, front and side supports which go to the chassis rail. Atm its just 9mm ply. Interested to see how the car reacts at speed and whether the 9mm ply will be thick enough to not flex a lot at 200kph. Might but another piece of 12mm ply and lay the top with fibre glass just to be sure its gonna hold good. Anyways atleast i now have a template.

Pics:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8032/8008396829_cf21cb30dc_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8302/8008401146_90f3d58247_c.jpg

Charlie
09-25-2012, 01:22 AM
Update:

So the other day when i was removing the aero again i noticed the lip wasnt sealed air tight against the splitter. Last thing i want is it going through the gay. So i picked up some aluminum angle, fibreglass and some resin and set to work.

I traced where the edge of the lip sits on the splitter and cut and bent the angle around it. Once glued down i started to lay the fibreglass. The topside is now done but needs cleaning up. Ill probably just resin the underside i think. Plan is for the air to hit the angle and dispurse up over the lip and bumper.. Sorta like a mini airdam.

Anyways heres some pics:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8316/8022378848_86c6bf7f02_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8032/8022378616_053b9ebab3_c.jpg

Charlie
10-02-2012, 09:12 PM
Update..

So the last couple of weeks ive been thinking about cutting my bonnet up a bit. I marked it all out last week then pussed out :P. Determined to get it done i marked it back out, bonnet off and made the first cut. No turning back now :O :O.

Finished cutting it all out, touched up some of the paint and put it back on the car. Im wrapped with how it came out. Really happy with it :D Might not be to everyones liking but meh. Its my car haha :P

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8460/8049084872_4a4235190a_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8174/8049080071_3162751bd2_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/8049079687_5a2fedb348_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8041/8049078991_1352f3d0ef_c.jpg

Muti007
10-02-2012, 09:46 PM
Dude that hood looks fantastic.

I<3flippyheadlights
10-02-2012, 09:46 PM
I think that looks AWESOME! How exactly did you do this? What did you use?

Charlie
10-02-2012, 10:16 PM
I marked it out with black tape.. then i got my angle grinder and went nuts haha ;) im pretty steady/pro with a grinder now lol.

treeafodo
10-03-2012, 10:20 AM
I love the track day updates, makes me feel like I was there :lol:

Charlie
10-05-2012, 05:15 AM
Update:

So finished work early today and made the most of the afternoon. Splitter on, canards, swap boots and put wing on. Now its ready to hit the track again next week :) Absolutely stoked with the bonnet. Really suits everything else :D Also the splitter came up a treat. Really sturdy

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8042/8056184400_5f151f650f_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8032/8056184200_149debf257_c.jpg

Now for a weekend of motorsport with drift matsuri, v8 supercars bathurst 1000 and F1 :D :D So keen

I<3flippyheadlights
10-05-2012, 09:06 AM
I love everything about this car.... EVERYTHING

Phatmiata
10-05-2012, 09:12 AM
man this car is just a great looking ride!!

treeafodo
10-05-2012, 11:35 AM
So you daily drive this and race mode it? Sorry if I missed that somewhere. This car is down right sexy no matter what, but race mode makes me drool.

Dilly
10-05-2012, 12:16 PM
That neighborhood is classy.

artcentermiata
10-06-2012, 03:18 AM
God... those are some crazy nice cuts on the hood! splitter looks nice too!

I thought Australia was just made of sticks and kangaroos... Apparently i was wrong- those are some amazing houses...

tanakapz
10-06-2012, 04:01 AM
this is my favorite miata.. no joke. great job on it man!

Charlie
10-14-2012, 08:28 PM
Update:

So Thursday was another track day. Booked for a full day cos i wanted to really make the most of it. 30l extra fuel and all my tools ready :P Woke up in the morning to rain lol. Made the drive out there with it pissing down. Got to qr and the rain eased off a little and so i was hoping for it to stay away. First session out, it was wet, really slippery. Start of the second session we went 1st hot lap had a moment at turn one. Almost held it before going into the dirt lol. One lap later my mate in his supercharged k24 civic when off on the same corner but got beached so back into the pits i went.

Heres a vid of turn 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOpHdeebc4w&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw&index=2&feature=plcp

Made my way back onto the track for a few laps when disaster struck. Came in a little to hot for a corner and the rear locked up spinning me round. As i hit full lock my wheel pinch the brake line between the control arm leaving me with no brakes :(

Heres the culprit :O

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8195/8082292624_6f669fbcec_c.jpg

How it stood for half the day lol

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8052/8082298513_0a3e8303d8_c.jpg

So with the car jacked up i phoned around to see if i could get another brake line out so i could get home. Luckily my mechanic had a set of braided lines in stock so he got his courier to bring them out to me with some brake fluid :D:D

Few hours later he rocked up and i was able to quickly swap it over and bleed my brakes.. At this point i was gonna go home but my brakes felt ok so i decided to atleast get my money's worth. At this point it had been raining constantly for a good 2 hours so the track was soaked to say the least. However i didnt care lol. I went back out and had probably the best afternoon ive had at a track event. It was awesome to get sideways coming out of corners and by the end of the day i was getting better at controlling it :D

Heres a pic to exiting turn 6 :) will be a few more coming in the next few day :D
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8332/8079541107_2983ba1115_c.jpg

So all in all even though the morning was a right off i had an awesome afternoon and got to learn my car so much more :D Few things i noticed on the way home was the clutch losing pressure here and there when changing gears so i think somethings leaking. And i cracked a flare.. Oh well :P shit happens.

Said cracked flare.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8190/8082292040_78d16cd45e_c.jpg

Airing it out the next day

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8333/8082299401_f6059860b2_c.jpg

Ill have a few pics and stuff as they come but for now heres a vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL0zxS_Jjpg&list=UUqWwfvuyKn8Jw7z_V0EIoGw&index=1&feature=plcp

Charlie
10-15-2012, 10:47 PM
Finally got some more pics from the last trackday from a mate :D

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8188/8092620125_f3891ec9a3_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8472/8092619553_7cc5277cf5_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8469/8092624548_b6581e1dbe_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8046/8092618113_6afd224574_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8335/8092623230_abf823981a_c.jpg

artcentermiata
10-17-2012, 03:43 AM
Dude... your hand must be made of lasers to do those hood cuts so clean!