What a weekend. Had a lot of fun at the track, but managed to screw up and didn't get any good video. I forgot how big and difficult that track is. I also got to learn the hard way that you don't use the curbs at NCM. Hit the turn 13 curb and it upset the car, spun it, and hit the guardrail on the back straight. All things considered though, I got real lucky. No frame damage and ran the rest of the weekend. Only damaged the bumper and cover and broke my passenger taillight.


Quick "repair"



Kept running the rest of the sessions and got down to a 2:27, which is still slow. I was finally starting to get my confidence up when I ran out of brake pad and had to pack up with 2 sessions left on Sunday. I think my biggest time I'm leaving is under braking still.
Rivet groove on rotor



I'll post up some on track photos when I get them later this week. Now that my season is done, time to make some serious improvements.

 

Picture dump from last weekend:

 

Glad to see you're OK. You know this now, but curbs can bottom your suspension and/or cause a large grip difference between the L/R, leading to unexpected handling.
For science, how many sessions did you get out of those pads? Looks like you already have a BBK planned based on those 15x10 wheels.

 

Those pads had 8 sessions on them for about 3 hours and 20 minutes. A BBK will pay for itself in a year or two at the rate I'm going through pads. I do have one on order, just waiting on it to ship.

 

Well now that the season is over, it's time to start tearing the car apart to make it better. Put it up on jack stands, removed the suspension, and started prepping to pull the motor. Got the radiator out and the engine probably 40% prepped to pull.

 

I don't think this is supposed to be loose...

 

Yikes. Is that crack just paint?

 

It's not a good idea to have paint under a mating surface like that. You can tighten down the bolt and it compresses the paint. However as the paint ages it can change properties and allow the bolt to loose its torque.

 

yeah, the crack is just paint. Painted that cover over 5 years ago, its seen some abuse.

I didn't consider the paint potentially causing a loose bolt, I assumed it was just vibrations. I honestly haven't checked that bolt probably ever. Just another thing to the list to check.

 

Finally got some time to do some work again. This was easier before kids...

Got the engine out and on a stand. The turbo studs were loose again after 1 weekend. I'm hoping the TSE studs are an improvement over the FM ones.




The clutch had some interesting wear. The flywheel and pressure plate had hot spots only in one area. They lined up between the two surfaces. Seems like maybe the flywheel isn't perfectly flat after they machined it last time.




Also, I feel like this disc is a little thin. I emailed FM for thickness specs. I hope it's just me and I don't need to replace it.




Finally, parts are accumulating. Only thing I'm missing now is my front brake kit. Disassembly is complete, time to start installing. Probably start on the oil pump first.

 

Coming along nicely. I could have sworn that I saw your car at NCM last weekend with NASA.

Did you hit the curbs on the driver's side of "T13"? I hit all the curbs in my E car at NCM last weekend(2:23s), no drama over any of them....... but I have Xidas

 

Nope, wasn't there. Wish I was though...

Yeah, those are the curbs I hit. It's really clear what happened. I was way up on the curb too. Double the hp doesn't help, but i bet ohlins and Hoosiers will help that issue. I just stayed off of them after that. I don't think there are huge gains by hopping that one.

 

Had a random 245 slick mounted to use for fender clearancing. This thing is huge. Can't get over it.

 

Picked up a Treasure Coast top last night and traded my OEM.




Also started working on removing the turbo to install the new Trackspeed studs. Ended up breaking 5 studs off. I think I'm going to try to find higher quality normal studs.

 

Just realized I never posted this. Still waiting on my brake kit, but picked up the pads. These pads are huge. Pictured is a Superlite pad vs Stoptech vs stock miata (that might even be a 1.6 pad).

 

How do you like the XP12/10? Always wanted to try some, I have been playing brake pad roulette. Usually run DTC60s but wanted to get more, and haven't been able to find what I like. Tried GLOC R10/8 and was beyond scared for my life when the braking power was not there.

 

They're fantastic, should give you the increased bite you need but you can actually modulate them as opposed to the DTC60s which felt like bricks to me.

 

Brake kit finally came in. Picture does not do this caliper justice. The superlite is huuge

 

You probably thought I abandoned this thread. But no, its just been that long since I worked on it. Our son decided sleep is for the weak lately. Got lucky tonight and got some time in the garage. Installed my first new part, BE oil pump. Buttoned up the oil pan, messy part of the job done.

Did run into one problem. The new pump needs a longer bolt in 1 spot. Didn't find out until I was tightening pump onto engine. Have a long bolt and washers in place for now, but I'll need to swap one bolt out.

 

Got a little more work done tonight. Got the turbo hung on the manifold again. Definitely easier to do on the stand. I think I'm going to order some more Resbond for the downpipe studs and nuts too.




Started prepping my Skunk2 throttle body for install. Got a new spring hole drilled for some preload. Also laid out the parts enough to know that none of the bolts are the right size. Great QC...




Now if I can stay off the PS4, I might actually make some progress...