Alright so product review time...

Good-Win-Racing Roadstersport 3 Catback Exhaust

tl;dr: I wouldn't suggest this product to my friends.


So while prepping for the races last weekend, my dad is under the car and I hear a surprised "Are you kidding me?", so I ask what the problem is and he had discovered that two out of the three steel hangars coming off the muffler section of the exhaust have snapped off. The funny thing is that the welds didn't fail, the actual hangar material just snapped off. Luckily we didn't lose the third one or else we would have been in for a bad time at the track. I have no idea how long it has been like this but at this point the exhaust is about 2 years old and has maybe 3 to 5 thousand miles on it. Most of them being track miles. Also the exhaust system has not suffered any impacts from off road excursions and I'm still using the very forgiving Mazda rubber exhaust hangars.

Initially I thought, okay, we'll come up with a temporary solution for this weekend, maybe some plumbers tape or something, and submit a claim on it because it has an advertised Lifetime Warranty. I didn't really know how the Lifetime Warranty works but I got a quick email response after submitting pictures and they said to ship it in and they would repair it free of charge.

The only problem is that I would be required to find a huge box, packing material, and pay for the shipping to them which would likely be around 50 bucks for that large of an item. So forget that because I can get it fixed locally for much less hassle... so for me the warranty is kind of a waste of time.

While I was at a local shop getting my window net tabs welded onto my cage, I got the exhaust fixed as well, only to find out that the V band connection on the muffler side had cracked nearly all the way around the pipe. No wonder it was getting so loud and raspy... so I got that welded up as well. It's probably going to crack again though because the piping near the v-band flanges is super thin. This annoys me because one of the local tracks has a sound limit so who knows if I will pass again or not. I might look into buying a higher quality catback and put this one on Craigslist so that I don't run the risk of having it start to fail on track and get fined for a noise violation.

Pictures of the failures:

 

I've had that exact same failure on a completely different exhaust system with a Magnaflow muffler. I think it just comes with the territory of running a heavy exhaust system on track. Wish I could get the MBS spec Miata exhaust in 2.5".

 

Alright so back to what's going on with the car, I had one problem develop during the last race of the weekend. It was the hottest race of the weekend and with about two laps to go (I was just cruising at about 80% at that point) I started smelling fuel. Then the smell got a LOT stronger. Smelled like fuel really bad and I was keeping an eye out for issues if I needed to bail in a hurry.

Nothing happened. I roll into the pits after taking the checkered flag, and my dad comes over and puts his head near the window and to talk to me but instead says "Holy **** that smells like fuel spilled everywhere." I got out, shut the car off, checked the fuel door and fuel cap, I twisted the fuel cap off a tiny bit and air starts rushing out. For like a solid 60 seconds air came out at an alarming rate, there must have been a ton of pressure in there.

So... ideas anyone?

Only thing in the evap system I've touched is deleting the charcoal canister and PRCV, I just connected the two hard lines so it should be vented to atmosphere all the time so what gives?


Also current to do list, probably not going to be done before next event:

Install JPM 7.5lbs Flywheel and Quartermaster 5.5" Twin Disk Setup
Install ID1000's
Install Flex Fuel Sensor
Walbro 190hp (maybe 255? opinions?)
Get retuned at UMS Tuning
Wire up Innovate SSI4 and Wideband for more sensor inputs and wideband for Adaptronic engine protection stuffs.
Put in Joe's Racing Switch Panel for ignition/start etc.
Install blind apex lap timer
Move AMB transponder to front of car, put on switched power



Also, hornetball I know this one will interest you. Figured out that damn stumbling issue at wide open throttle. The car ran flawlessly all weekend. It was probably that ground that I had noticed before that was super loose. I have now completely redone pretty much every ground in the car. By now my dad and I have went through and took a dremel to every ground to clean it up and used star washers on every single one, and made a new engine ground strap, whole nine yards. I've attached a photo of the only one we hadn't checked, because it was painted over and kind of blended in. Hard to spot with the hard top installed etc. Also the gauges no longer twitch around at certain RPM's.

 

<p></p><p>There is talk about the 255+ overwhelming stock fprs on NA's. Don't know the whole truth but something to look into.</p><p>If staying NA then 190 is plenty. ID1000's are overkill too. If going boosty then its all different.</p>

 

Yeah will probably just go with the 190.

Also I already have the ID1000's, Paul Yaw gave them to me when he borrowed the Miata for a some sessions on track, so I'm going to use them. They're so awesome and linear that the fact that they're overkill doesn't matter.

 

<p>Can't argue with free. Was just pointing it out.</p><p>I'm going with the DW300 because fuel pump is something I only want to do once.</p>

 

<p>Which reminds me, I have a DW200 new in box that I have been trying to get fab9 to exchange for a DW300. Interested in buying it from me?</p>

 

Gonna have to pass on that, not a huge fan of DW. Thanks for the offer though.

 

<p>Welcome. Cool that you met/know Paul Yaw. When I was doing a lot of research on GT500 injectors someone mentioned that Paul Yaw had good data on them. I've read a lot of his articles, injector god.</p>

 

Yeah super cool guy to hang out with and talk to, very down to Earth and isn't afraid to speak his mind haha. A couple of my buddies that I hit the track with work there as well. I have a lot of respect for the amount of effort, knowledge and data analysis that goes into his products. He does some testing at various track days around here. I can learn more about cars from just shooting the **** with him in between sessions than I can in a whole day combing through resources online.


Anyways. Back to the fuel tank pressurization bullshit. I was doing some research and it looks like deezums said the 1.6l gas caps can be modified to vent pressure and still maintain the rollover valve function. I don't have emissions so looks like that is the easiest way. My current setup of canister delete and vent to atmosphere is pretty much how Emilio had Crusher set up, but maybe the line is blocked or something.

 

Hit the lines with some compressed air. That should clear any insect-type blockage and let you know if there is something more serious like a kinked hardline.

Oh . . . and loose grounds blow!

 

But make sure to look down the other end while doing it to see if anything comes out.

 

Still haven't touched the car.

I think the only thing I'm going to accomplish before the races this weekend is trying to figure out the gas tank pressure issue and the hot seat issue.

During one of the warmer sessions at the last race weekend the side of the aluminum seat got super hot. The seat touches the bare trans tunnel and there's no padding on the side so it gets to the point where it is almost burning me through three layers, firesuit, gym shorts, and compression shorts.

I already have one of those DEI stick on heat shield mats on the trans tunnel and the entire exhaust is ceramic coated but it's not enough. Ordered one of these, hopefully it does the trick.



Oh also I used my $125 contingency certificate from WindingRoadRacing.com to order some new gloves. My current A Stars Tech 1ZX gloves are starting to come apart at the seams, they're almost 3 years old. Opted for these without the velcro straps on the wrists. https://store.windingroad.com/alpine...2014-p483.aspx


And my dad picked up one of those vests with the pouches for these huge ice packs. This weekend is going to be hot as ***** (almost 100 degrees during the main race) so I'm hoping this will make it so I don't die. I'm considering using some Winding Road Racing contingency money sometime next year before it heats up again to go towards a Cool Shirt (that Momo one looks nice) and then build my own box/pump system on the cheap. If the ice vest can help me get through this weekend, I should be in the clear and the weather should be bearable again around here until next year.

 

Those are the new rage. I just installed mine

 

Nice, that looks *******. I actually got the idea from your thread and was like "1 day amazon prime? Done."

Did you get the two foot one? (EDIT: Derp, nevermind just read your thread.) I'm going to be placing mine more for shielding heat from myself than shielding heat from the trans, but then again I'm also N/A and have ceramic coating so I've never been worried about the trans. I think with my 2.25" exhaust piping that thing will almost circle the whole thing.

 

Yes 2 foot. I still have carpet, so I haven't had any issues with heat in the cabin. Mine is a 3" exhaust, so your's will get pretty close.

 

That thing was so awesome I bought another 2 foot section and did one day delivery. It covers 180 degrees around a 2.25" ID pipe which is nice. So everything is shielded from about the front of the actual trans case (where bellhousing ends) to where the gas tank starts. Hopefully this fixes the hot seat issue ha.

Also, took my straight vent to atmosphere gas tank line off the front subframe, if I put air through it, it comes out the filler neck just fine, put pressure to the filler neck and nada. It's as if there's a check valve in there facing the wrong damn way. Don't have time to take the hard top off and check the **** on top of the gas tank, so I stabbed the top of the gas cap with a straight pick and now it vents from there (SUPER slowly though). We'll see how it does. I didn't modify the rollover valve.

Also Sean if you stop by, I'm under the mega tarp tent where track exit is, all the way down at the end of the pit road on the infield. Free beer.

 

What now? All I heard was free beer.






I'm going to bring my son though so...

 

I tried the fuel cap tiny hole and it spit fuel when cornering at anything over 3/4 tank. '96 here, and my fuel tank is always trying to pressurize.

 

Well I'm starting under 3/4 tank. There's a lot of crap the fuel would have to make it past, I'm not too worried.