Meet the Ogre....EFR6758 purpose built rase car.
#29
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 445
Total Cats: 15
Thanks Rich!
The car is built to the FP rule set so I do have some limitations.
The car is built to the FP rule set so I do have some limitations.
- 46mm restrictor
- block and head that came in the car stock
- 10in wide wheels (I can go wider but there's 100lb penalty for anything wider than 10in.)
#33
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Location: Louisville, KY
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Damn, I've been a slack *** and haven't updated this thread in a long time. I did quite a bit of work over the winter to make it a little faster and also look better.
Appearance Update:
I bought an overfender kit from CarbonMiata.com. I was not a huge fan of their front bumper, so I chose to build my own front connection pieces to tie the flares to a stock bumper instead. This was both a great learning experience and a failure. I finally gave in and ordered the front bumper and connection pieces from CarbonMiata.
The plugs I made to tie the flares into the stock bumper turned out pretty well. It was a lot of work and took several attempts to get it right, but I was pretty happy with the final product. The problem that made me pull the plug was when I started the fiberglass process. I put the gel coat over the plug and it ate right through the primer and into the foam of the plug. I didn't think the type of primer was that big of a factor, but indeed it was.
I then hit the easy button and ordered the bumper/connection pieces.
I will say, the fit and finish of the CarbonMiata kit was the best I've ever worked with. I've installed at least a half-dozen flares on various cars, and this was the best fitting kit I've ever worked with. I only had to massage one part to make it fit to my liking, the rest bolted on and mated up perfectly.
After the kit was completely installed, I pulled it back off and started another process I've never done before, painting a car. This time I read the instructions thoroughly and made sure I used products that were compatible with each other. I ended up shooting it with a single stage paint over top of an epoxy primer. The paint and primer was PPG shop line and was very reasonable. It cost a little over $400 in materials. I used a Harbor Freight purple HVLP gun and it worked well. At $13 each, I bought 3 and just threw them away instead of cleaning after each use. I chose Viper Green which is a Porsche color that I originally saw on a GT3 RS. It's definitely not a show car, but it turned out pretty well.
Will I ever do this again?....maybe, but definitely not in my garage. I'm going to be cleaning up green overspray for the next 2 years.
Appearance Update:
I bought an overfender kit from CarbonMiata.com. I was not a huge fan of their front bumper, so I chose to build my own front connection pieces to tie the flares to a stock bumper instead. This was both a great learning experience and a failure. I finally gave in and ordered the front bumper and connection pieces from CarbonMiata.
The plugs I made to tie the flares into the stock bumper turned out pretty well. It was a lot of work and took several attempts to get it right, but I was pretty happy with the final product. The problem that made me pull the plug was when I started the fiberglass process. I put the gel coat over the plug and it ate right through the primer and into the foam of the plug. I didn't think the type of primer was that big of a factor, but indeed it was.
I then hit the easy button and ordered the bumper/connection pieces.
I will say, the fit and finish of the CarbonMiata kit was the best I've ever worked with. I've installed at least a half-dozen flares on various cars, and this was the best fitting kit I've ever worked with. I only had to massage one part to make it fit to my liking, the rest bolted on and mated up perfectly.
After the kit was completely installed, I pulled it back off and started another process I've never done before, painting a car. This time I read the instructions thoroughly and made sure I used products that were compatible with each other. I ended up shooting it with a single stage paint over top of an epoxy primer. The paint and primer was PPG shop line and was very reasonable. It cost a little over $400 in materials. I used a Harbor Freight purple HVLP gun and it worked well. At $13 each, I bought 3 and just threw them away instead of cleaning after each use. I chose Viper Green which is a Porsche color that I originally saw on a GT3 RS. It's definitely not a show car, but it turned out pretty well.
Will I ever do this again?....maybe, but definitely not in my garage. I'm going to be cleaning up green overspray for the next 2 years.
#34
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 445
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Suspension / Tire-Wheel Update:
I decided to swap out the delrin bushings for spherical bearings. I created designs in CAD and sent the drawings out for quote. The prices weren't bad, but it ended up being about the same price for the Keisler Automation bearing. These were already proven and he had them in stock. I pulled my arms and sent them down to TN and in less than a week, I had them back in my hands with sphericals installed.
Once I got the suspension installed again, I looked at the front sway bar and was really not happy with the stiction of it compared to the control arms. I'm using a hollow Racing Beat bar with the poly bushings that comes with them. Being the stubborn engineer that I am, I wanted something better and decided to design a set of custom bushings for this bar. I opted to use a polymer that is basically an oil impregnated delrin. It should provide the freed up movement that I want, and being oil impregnated, it shouldn't require much, if any, maintenance. I can't really give any feedback one these yet because they have only been on the car for a day.
Last year we ran 275 A7s on 15x10s, this year we are giving the 295s a shot. I opted to put them on 15x11s even though the 15x12s are likely the better option. The 11s require an additional 50lbs of ballast, going with the 12s will be another 50lbs pushing me over the 200lb of ballast mark.
On the left is 275s on 10s, right is the new 295s on 11s.
Stacked next to each other.
I decided to swap out the delrin bushings for spherical bearings. I created designs in CAD and sent the drawings out for quote. The prices weren't bad, but it ended up being about the same price for the Keisler Automation bearing. These were already proven and he had them in stock. I pulled my arms and sent them down to TN and in less than a week, I had them back in my hands with sphericals installed.
Once I got the suspension installed again, I looked at the front sway bar and was really not happy with the stiction of it compared to the control arms. I'm using a hollow Racing Beat bar with the poly bushings that comes with them. Being the stubborn engineer that I am, I wanted something better and decided to design a set of custom bushings for this bar. I opted to use a polymer that is basically an oil impregnated delrin. It should provide the freed up movement that I want, and being oil impregnated, it shouldn't require much, if any, maintenance. I can't really give any feedback one these yet because they have only been on the car for a day.
Last year we ran 275 A7s on 15x10s, this year we are giving the 295s a shot. I opted to put them on 15x11s even though the 15x12s are likely the better option. The 11s require an additional 50lbs of ballast, going with the 12s will be another 50lbs pushing me over the 200lb of ballast mark.
On the left is 275s on 10s, right is the new 295s on 11s.
Stacked next to each other.
#37
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Chattanooga, Tn
Posts: 1,234
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I've driven it. It's a HOOT.
Looks as good as it runs.
I still want to do a drag race thing at one of the 5 events a year we run at drag strips. It would be cool to see how the different setup perform in a straight line.
Looks as good as it runs.
I still want to do a drag race thing at one of the 5 events a year we run at drag strips. It would be cool to see how the different setup perform in a straight line.
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