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Thanks for the tip six. I did hold the throttle open, but that was just to cut fuel to the injectors. I got lucky on that one. The engine was cold when I did the test as well.
Well, I suppose thats how you learn. I'll probably do another test tonight and see what I come up with.
It's actually Longacre's medium density roll bar padding. The most "track" use the car regularly sees is at autocross and I street drive it most days of the week. I wanted to get something on there in case of a low/medium speed fender bender, because I figured it would be better than nothing. The SFI rated stuff seemed like it would do more damage than good to an unprotected head.
Realistically, I should probably have gone with the dual durometer stuff. Fitment with the hardtop would be difficult, but I'm sure I could make it work. No concerns on the driver side, as the bucket seat sits low enough that I can't touch the bar if I wanted to.
I agree though, not a perfect solution by any means.
Also, looking back at that photo makes me realize I should put some on the crossbar as well. I forget how low and far back those OEM seats go.
I redid the compression test last Thursday after taking the car to get groceries. I pulled all the spark plugs this time. The numbers didn't change much, but did get a bit more consistent.
I didn't really have any concerns that led me to do the test, so I'm not worried about the results. I'd be happy to see a tighter spread, but it is what it is.
Got out the the mountains with my dad this weekend. We went to a spot he used to visit ~30 years ago. Unfortunately it's burned since then, but we still had a good time. The gravel roads up there made me wish I had a lifted Miata.
Hood vents should be showing up sometime this week. I'm backpacking again this weekend, so I'm hoping to get them installed before I leave.
Lifted Miatas and gravel roads get along quite nicely. Hopefully I should be able to get Sandstorm back on the road again tonight. Have a lot of wiring to tidy up after unpitying everything trying to find problems and such. Also need to reconnect the turbo oil drain that I had off to access flange bolts for lock-titing. That area wherever it is sure reminds me of where I'm at in oregon. Burnt remains, and mountains, and water. Pretty stuff, said it has to burn every few years it seems though.
The camp spot looks sick! What area is that? Still Idaho?
Yessir, about 3 hours from my place + 4 hours of hiking due to the trail petering out and having to bushwhack for the last 0.5-1 mile. The area was nice, but we saw/heard 6 trees fall throughout the trip. I watched 2 fall across the lake from our camp just before we went to bed on Saturday. I've always heard not to camp near dead trees, but never seen any fall. Nothing like crawling into your tent and crossing your fingers you don't get crushed during the night.
Originally Posted by Ryfrog
Lifted Miatas and gravel roads get along quite nicely. Hopefully I should be able to get Sandstorm back on the road again tonight. Have a lot of wiring to tidy up after unpitying everything trying to find problems and such. Also need to reconnect the turbo oil drain that I had off to access flange bolts for lock-titing. That area wherever it is sure reminds me of where I'm at in oregon. Burnt remains, and mountains, and water. Pretty stuff, said it has to burn every few years it seems though.
Pretty close to Boise, so probably not too far off from the terrain you're used to. It seems like everywhere I end up going is burnt unfortunately. My dad was bummed about how barren it was. Last time he was there was prior to the fires. For me this is pretty normal at this point.
I'll have to watch that one later, although I saw the bit where he's got his tires on his wing. I'm surprised that worked, I would've expected the wing to crack or something.
My other roommate has taken his car 6 hours each way to the track with the trunk open, tires sitting in the opening with a jack handle through the center bores. Dude is a savage.
If they would have some controlled burns regularly when conditions weren't super dry and also not let the fuel build up for so many years between burns then there wouldn't be so much harm when it did burn.
State forestry practices are so much better on that in Florida and Georgia than in the federally managed forests, from what I've seen here. My property in Georgia gets burned every 3 to 4 years and always gets lush 3 years after a good burn because it replenishes the soil. And it initially removes nutrient competition from the adult trees by eliminating small brush and saplings.
But you can't have a burn during the hot dry summer months. There aren't controllable when the humidity is too low.
If they would have some controlled burns regularly when conditions weren't super dry and also not let the fuel build up for so many years between burns then there wouldn't be so much harm when it did burn.
State forestry practices are so much better on that in Florida and Georgia than in the federally managed forests, from what I've seen here. My property in Georgia gets burned every 3 to 4 years and always gets lush 3 years after a good burn because it replenishes the soil. And it initially removes nutrient competition from the adult trees by eliminating small brush and saplings.
But you can't have a burn during the hot dry summer months. There aren't controllable when the humidity is too low.
Edit: Sorry, I saw a squirrel
My dad was theorizing that the last fire here was so hot that it killed all the seeds that the tress dropped during the burn. There were some new trees growing, but many parts of the forest were bare with no new growth.
There was another fire burning ~8 miles from where we were camping. The whole area's on fire as usual though, so that's cool.
Can confirm the same here in Cali. We get rocked here every summer by wildfires. I see some controlled burns occasionally while traveling up to central/northern Cali during the summers, but I can't tell you the last time I saw a controlled burn in SoCal. We just let the brush grow like mad and then deal with the repercussions every year.
I don't have much to add but one of my good buddies is a USFS hotshot stationed just outside of Yosemite. He told me a couple weeks ago that one of the fires he was on in NorCal (under the supervision of the USFS) was being so poorly managed that his crew just straight got up and left. That situation seemed like a first, though.
Fire science is cool. Thanks for the tangent, fellas.
Did a bolt check yesterday on the turbo and got the oil changed. Drained the catch can as well. Next Thursday we leave for Top Gun which will be ~1000 miles round trip and 2 days of autocross at one of the best venue's I've been to. I'm still waiting on my hood vents to get here, and for my (spoiler alert) Tecna's to ship out from SuperMiata. As the cliche goes, I'll likely be getting those parts in at the last minute. I'm really hoping the Tecna's get here in time, because a 1K mile roadtrip and a weekend of autocross seems like the perfect way to put them through their paces.
I'm paranoid about shaft play after that last turbo died. This one still feels good, as I'd expect considering it's only been on the car for a short while. However, I did notice a different issue when the intake was off. See anything wrong?
I also noted an oil leak at the back of the head. Not exactly sure where the origin is. IIRC the cap/blanking plate for the cam angle sensor was pretty chewed up when I rebuilt the engine so I slapped a good amount of grey RTV on it and threw it back in there. Probably not the recommended way, but I figured it would hold up fine. Maybe it's time for a new valve cover gasket
Not the greatest picture. Also, note
Just cracked 4K miles on the engine since the rebuild. So far so good. I sent the latest oil off to Blackstone for an analysis. My oil seems to smell slightly like gas, which I'm assuming could be a tune issue and/or the nature of a turbo car and running richer in boost. I'm also curious to see what peak summer autocrossing did to the oil, as I would see the oil pressure dip to 20 or just below after some runs. Hopefully it's just paranoia.
The Nashua "Aqua-Seal" tape that I used to seal up my undertray ducting seems to be holding on quite well, better than I expected. At some point all of that ducting will come off and be redone, but for now I think it'll hold up for the foreseeable future. I did test it as a seal for the top of the radiator, but it doesn't hold up to the heat (as advertised). Gorilla tape seems to be working well though and hopefully won't crack like the aluminum tape does. Aqua-Seal on the left, Gorilla on the right and the aluminum tape I've been using up until now is in the middle.
I'm off to the mountains for another backpacking trip as of tomorrow morning, so hopefully the hood vents will be here on Monday so I can slap those on ASAP. We'll see if the Tecnas make in on the car before the trip
If I can make a few suggestions on sealing the airflow...
I've had peel and stick foam insulation glued to my radiator for years to seal it to the radiator support. The factory does this as well on the stock radiator. Just go down to your local home improvement stores insulation section and find whatever roll of peel and stick foam or rubber you like best, with the right width and height to fill gaps. I've seen zero deterioration of this grey foam. In fact, the glue is probably sticking better to the radiator than it is to any other part of the car.
Since that thread, I also did a bit of work to the aluminum bumper support you made a cover for. All I did was cut some thin plastic I pulled out of a dumpster to cover the holes in that support, and tighten up the gap around the hood latch, then cover it in aluminum tape. Almost looks like it was meant to be that way from the factory now. The great thing about foam, either stick on or just loose pieces I jammed into gaps, is that I've never had to replace it once over 4 years.
The only decent picture I can find of that work to the bumper support was focused on my cat, so you can't see all of it. But you get the idea. No more holes in the aluminum piece, and the gaps where required are minimized.
The peel and stick insulation I mentioned between the radiator and the rad support is a bit hidden by headlight relay harness wires, but they're resting right on it. The aluminum tape blends in really well with the stock aluminum bumper support.
My goal in all this wasn't to get a perfect seal, but to make a big improvement without having to resort to single use tape or otherwise impacting service. Because the hood is sealed to the front bumper area, and the bumper support holes are minimized, I feel like it should be just as effective as any bolt on cover plate.
Last edited by OptionXIII; 08-16-2024 at 10:18 AM.
Damn, the stick-on foam is a pretty brilliant idea. Definitely making a note of that next time I have to seal up some gaps.
I used a single layer of the same Nashua foil tape to seal that gap and it tore in two sessions of road course use. I guess that means there's a decent amount of pressure differential to be gained by sealing that area up
Adding foam tape to my list of random odds and ends to grab...
We have a rubber supply place called Clark Rubber, you can get all sorts of shapes and sizes, in plain, stick-on adhesive and push-on. Home improvement stores are good but the choice is limited, here anyway.
One of my most useful repurposing was a length of what was originally plastic commercial office skirting, 150x50x1mm(?). Big enough and stiff enough for largish flat pieces, and the angle allowed for right-angle fixing if required, I found it in the trade area of my local home improvement..
Last edited by Gee Emm; 08-16-2024 at 07:16 PM.
Reason: clarity
@OptionXIII Thanks for the idea! I've got foam meant for sealing window AC units filling the gaps on the sides of the radiator. I figured there should be some way to do that for the top as well. I'll probably be looking into that shortly.
Also, nice cat
My hood vents should be here tomorrow, so maybe I'll grab some foam when I inevitably head to the hardware store for something.
Camping last weekend was much more scenic than the week before, and we had no dead trees at camp to fall and kill us! I recharged my batteries laying in my tent, looking out at the mountains and listening to James Taylor albums on Saturday.
Pure bliss.
The hood vents showed up yesterday. I got them in raw aluminum and decided to go with flat white for paint. Below shows roughly what they'll look like when installed. I got 7 panels but am just installing 3 for now. If this isn't sufficient cooling then I suppose the others will go on over the winter or next spring.
Bending these was easy enough by hand. I tried to get the front most flaps more vertical to get that Gurney flap effect, but I'm not sure that works if the flap has a gap in front of it.
I dusted them throughout lunch yesterday. Perks of working from home. This is Rustoleum high temp paint in flat white. I decided against baking it to fully cure, as that was only required if the parts would exceed 500 F and I'm pretty sure these don't get that hot.
God, these grips are the best thing in the world. I did the tops of the panels without this attachment and my finger was starting to cramp up when I moved to the backsides. My roommate reminded me that we had this laying around. 10/10 saved the paint job on the backside of these.
Ran over to a buddy's place to grab his air powered body saw. I've used a jigsaw a couple times before, but this was my first time with an air saw. I highly recommend using a clamp to secure the layers of the hood together. Without this the hood vibrated so much that the saw wouldn't cut. It took me a bit to get a feel for how the saw operated, but I think I understand it now.
Note that I'm cutting just to the edge of the bracing. Later you'll see that this isn't enough.
Forgive the sloppy cuts. I figure they'll get covered up anyway and I plan to clean them up with a dremel grinder. This is also the dumbest setup I've put together in a long time. I thought we had sawhorses somewhere but apparently not. The crack in the floor is also really convenient when using a chair with caster wheels.
I was pretty sure the louvers were larger than the section of the hood outlined by the hood's bracing, but this goes to show how much extra you have to cut. I'd estimate ~1/2" further around the whole section.
Going to finish this up after work today (possibly a bit at lunch as well). The body saw is quite loud and it was starting to get dark outside so I wasn't able to finish. Fingers crossed it should be pretty straightforward. At this point I just need to line up the two larger panels and extend the cutouts a bit, then drill holes and install the rivets. This will be my first time using a rivet gun, so I'm interested to see how that goes.
Tecna's have been delayed due to shipping and storms. Sounds like they're not going to ship out until Wednesday at the earliest. Ed said he'd try to get me mine ASAP, but I don't think they're going to be here in time for the trip this weekend unfortunately.
Got the vents finished up yesterday. Spent about an hour at lunch getting everything lined up and tracing cut lines. I'm slightly annoyed with the design of these vents. The 2 that sit further back require that the hole is a bit larger than the single skin of the roof. The front one doesn't seem to need any extra trimming. Kinda hard to explain, but basically I thought the underhood bracing would act like a template for all the panels, but it varied from panel to panel. I should also say that it could totally be my fault.
I've tried to show what I'm saying in the photos below.
This is how much extra I ended up having to cut compared to the outline of the underhood bracing, which is what the original cut is. On this panel, cutting the outline of the bracing was too much and resulted in one of the rivets having nothing to bite into.
Not the biggest issue, but I would've rather had all the rivets going into something. I only added that last rivet so there wasn't an empty hole in the louver. IE, just for aesthetics for this show car build.
The body saw was pretty annoying to use. It kept binding up. Again, likely user error more than anything else. The cuts were pretty rough but I went gorilla mode on them with some bastard files and smoothed them out well enough. The wasteland that was my work area.
Got the hood back on the car easily enough and figured out that the hydraulic actuators for the hood have little spring clips that are easily released for install and removal. Previously I'd been unbolting the whole assembly from the car.
Because the high temp paint mentioned baking the paint to cure it for environments that would get to 500 F or higher I was curious how hot the hood actually got. After a spirited drive at night I only saw 156 F (~69 C) at the hottest part.
Now, the real question, are they doing anything. It's hard for me to tell right now. The car certainly isn't overcooling, but I can't say that it's running significantly colder. This weekend will be a good test, as it's the highest speed autocross and the longest distance course I've ever run. Pre-turbo I'd be getting pretty deep into 3rd gear and IIRC the runs are about a mile long, but I could be mistaken on that one.
One thing I wasn't expecting was the noise. The turbo spool is so loud now that it's borderline unpleasant, so I might need to figure out a solution for that. The sound is oscillating too, which I don't love.
I'm also curious if the intake "box" that I made is actually doing anything, and if it's potentially going to impede airflow through the vents. It's basically a wall between the back of the rad and the vents. At some point I'll probably do some back to back pulls and see what IATs and coolant look like with and without it.
Nice dude! Having just installed a set of hood vents again, I forgot how much longer it takes than expected. Looks like you might have gone through the same thing as well haha. Looking good, though! I like how the white works with your color scheme. Hopefully you see a notable drop in temps this weekend. That's super interesting regarding the turbo spool as well. I installed the vents in my NA before going turbo so I never had a non-vented hood to compare it to. Can confirm the spool noise was present basically during any acceleration at all while driving that car haha. I enjoyed it, but could see it getting really annoying as well. Maybe (hopefully) you'll get used to it.
Two things: 1. I need one of those spray can nozzles. 2. Absolutely loving that lifted Express van in the background.
08-08-2024, 04:30 PM
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