Meet Mica

[jdmfc3s90]

Glad to see the motors in! Hang in there man, you'll be able to drive it soon

[etikoner]

Thanks bro, that's the bp4w head you sold me that's on there. I've been patient these last two years. I can wait a little bit longer, lol.

[—atank—]

Great Progress...........

[etikoner]

Looking at Middle next week or maybe the week after for me to get her back

[— fwdtamiya —]

Purty

[— Phatmiata —]

Very nice! Now take off that lower shield and show off those sexy Maruha Cam Gears !!!

[etikoner]

I went through the hassle of saving all my FB miata pics to update the broken links but I can't edit my previous posts lol.
But anyways, I went last week to pick up my car from Treasure Coast Miata.

I'm really bad at documenting things. So sadly no pics of his sweet shop set-up for now.. But I do have some pics of Mica.

Excuse the dirty engine bay.



First fuel up in two years. (Yes I did ask them to drain fuel and throw in new fuel for me)


My Miata Roadster SSK was installed in a muscle car backward facing fashion.. I used to have it facing the steering wheel, but it looks pretty cool like this imo lol.


Anyways, My goal was to get the car home in one piece, and drive it safely and break the engine in the best way I could. I've read a bunch of difference sources, some advising against idling too long, others demanding max throttle pulls, ect. I basically drove slowly till the engine got to operating temperature, drove to a gas station, filled up with octane booster and filled my tires with air.

I stopped by someones house to pick up a new to me ARC intake [:rice/]




Also, really surprising for me how comfy I was during the drive down with the S1 Lotus Elise seats. They literally have no padding, but I've lately (Since my accident) have had pain sitting at work/ dinner/ any hard chair, and my leg stiffens up drastically, but I was pleasantly surprised that I experience no discomfort the entire trip back down.

My drive was mixed with street driving I got on the high way for a little bit and just varied the rpm as much as I could without slowing down too much, but once I felt i was on there for too long I got off and found a nicer route down via US1/A1A. Also kept my eye on the AFR gauge and didn't step on the throttle too hard.

Over all, I'm super stoked to have my car driving again.
Wes and Thomas installed 01 Injectors, and backed my timing down to 10 Degs, and I've been driving with 93 octane and recently tried out a NOS brand octane booster. I've also been lucky to have cold weather so my engine doesn't sound too bad.

I had to change out the gauge cluster/tail light relay again for the fifth time. I really have to go in there and check what causes it to die so often.

Also, waiting till my buddy has free time and we're going to give another shot installing my MSpnp1 again and see if it'll work this time since Wes wasn't able to. (it would cut out intermittently)

I'm missing my front 949 racing end-links and a front sway bar. But I do like my new suspension. I would also like to trim down the rear bump stops I installed some more.



Also need to install my R-package tie rod ends, new eccentric bolts I have get her corner weighted and aligned.

[etikoner]

Ken Auto Ridgid door spacers were recently acquired.

I picked these up a few weeks ago after seeing them pop up in JoeyZ31's build thread.
My cars chassis is a limp-noodle-dick.. Only bracing I have now is the NA8 Stuff, the Beatrush PPF brace and Garage Star Brake master stopper.

I remember reading about the TRD version of these for the FT86 so I was hoping someone would make em for the Miata, and was gladly surprised when I saw them.


They appear to be made of Delrin, and they come with the hardware to bolt them in place.

I was skeptical of the results these would give upon my initial inspection, but after starting the install on the passenger side and seeing how solidly the door closed I thought their might be some weight to their design.

Comparison Vs. Oem Piece:


I must forewarn you guys; Ken auto made these specifically a bit over-sized for customers to shave down to get perfect fitment in their car. Once I installed them in the passenger side I noticed it took a bit more effort to open the door. But after installing them in the drivers side I was afraid I wouldn't be able to open my door again for sure...

This is how they looked after driving around a few miles without modifying them and you can see where the door cup rubbed them down a bit.


I've now been using them just about a week and can say they really do make a difference in chassis rigidity. My buddy club dampers are relatively comfortable, but in my daily commute I would encounter some bumps on the road that transmitted a jarring feeling to me. Right away on my first drive my car went from vibrating and flexing to an hearing audible thump and quickly regaining it's composure. driving speed bumps now feels like it's allowing my suspension to articulate verses the spring rates being too stiff and thus causing the chassis to flex, and the suspension to do it's work secondary to that. I now drive over speed bumps and I don't feel the familiar chassis see-sawing that I was so used to.

I still plan on getting Garage Star Frame rails and fender braces, but for the money and ease of install these are hard to beat..

Lastly here's a quick video I made to demonstrate the difference when closing the door.
http://vid20.photobucket.com/albums/...psk6ekmw1s.mp4

After taking this video, I removed the drivers side block and hit it with some 150 and 400 grit sand paper to shave them down a bit, and opening my door still takes some muscle, but is much easier than the first attempt. According to Joey's research, this was done on purpose from Ken Auto for each user to have them fit perfectly on his roadster.

:hello kitty:

I should also say that someone close to the roadster community is working on a set of his own to bring out which I am very excited for!

[Andy]

Now that is something I have not seen before. Ill have to check it out.

[newoldm]

I've recently installed on of those door latches from Ken Auto and I must say I'm impressed. Takes a few minutes/side to install and car feels more composed. Took only 3 days to arrive from Japan too.

[etikoner]

Yeah, (imo) it's a really great addition for the price. Did you sand your drivers side block down? I remember just throwing them onto my car i couldn't open the door from inside the car. I've since sanded it(drivers side block) down and now entering my car and shutting the door still takes (a bit) more effort than stock, but the benefit outweighs that point...

[newoldm]

No for now I just left them as-is and will let them self clear. Driver's side closes OK but passenger side needs a firmer push/pull (didn't take the time to readjust the hinges after I put on the GarageStar fender so was slightly droopy to begin with anyway). In any case the extra effort doesn't bother me and I'd rather have a firm engagement to have max improvement in stiffness.

[Paul B]

Now you've convinced me these are worth the money. $65 bucks isn't bad at all

[etikoner]

Hey roadster bros.

Recently dropped my car off at Racelab here in Miami for megasquirt install and tuning. I had an itch to get VICs working so I bought the solenoid I was missing from Tom at parts group and he shipped it straight to the shop.

I was a bit optimistic thinking this thing would hit 160 whp. But just from driving around a bit I can say that I'm really happy with the outcome. Driving around now compared to not having it tuned really shows the difference.
I can give it throttle at any moment and it just responds nicely.


Here's a video of the final Pull:
http://vid20.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1zrdrajs.mp4

I still need to bring it back to the shop so they can build a circuit to get my tachometer working, and have them re-pin my aem wb02 (it loses power randomly) and my TPS sometimes gives wonky readings to MS i think also due to bad wiring.

Also, my drivers side door handle broke



Maybe sometime in the not so near future I'll change out my factory 25+ year old catalytic converter and remove the head to see how much clearance is left for some cam gear timing on the dyno.

Also I still need to purchase gold tape and wrap the fuck out of my ricetastic arc intake.

[Greasemonkey2000]

Sorry my memory fails me, it has a header and catback exhaust? Either way 141whp/133tq probably feels great! I REALLY need to get my ms3 installed and tuned and start adding some power...it is just so slow with stock power.

Thanks again for the before and after video for the ken auto door blocks, that's what made up my mind!