So this is long overdue, but I am going to start my build thread for my car.
Purpose: So my Mazda 2 is my DD and it is going to be my autocross car.well my girlfriend will be autocrossing it as well. I am not really concerned with being the fastest since I have my 240WHP Miata for that, and I am not really that concerned with what class I run in either, but it will largely be STF based. I do want the car to be very street able as well for a while at least. I also want to hit a fine balance with cost since most of my money will be going towards the Miata being turned into a track car. Overall I just want to maintain the fun factor of driving the 2.
Currently I have eibach lowering springs, fat cat motorsports strut bump stop for the fronts, slotted front struts for -2.5 degrees of camber, a 1 0.120 wall steel torsion beam stiffener which I made. I also have stock wheels painted black with 195 Star Specs. I have the fog light rings painted black. If anyone has any questions about what I did, feel free to ask. I mainly wanted to see if I could make a car handle properly with lowering springs. It was an interesting challenge. Also, I had no money since I was saving up for a house which I not have.
Moving forward, I have already ordered a set of 25mm wheel spacers for the wheels so they will sit nice in the wheel wells, and the 2 of extra track width will be good as well. I also will be getting a set of the Bilstein coilvers this June to help out with the handling. I really want a set of ASTs, but the Bilsteins are better on the wallet for now. Down the road I might get a set of ASTs or Ohlins. I also talked with Fat Cat about revalving the Bilsteins and they should be able to, so that is another option down the road. Depending on how the car behaves with the coilovers I might step up the bars on the car to the racing beat pieces to further keep it flat while having street able spring rates. Again this is mainly a DD/mountain run/autocrosser so I am going to work my best with lower spring rates.
I already did a full look at the shock travel on the stock suspension for the 2 which is why I ended up with the Fat Cat bumps stops in there. There is a thread out there with the info somewhere. Once I get the Bilsteins I am going to be doing the same thing. Looking at the travel and get the ride height set so it will be close to in the middle of the travel. I already have a backup plan for creating a new top hat which will mount the shock about higher up (inverted front shocks) to help with being able to lower the car more while maintaining travel. I might also put more caster into the car with the plates as well.
The way I see it, I want to keep the car light since that is its biggest strength and I am a huge fan of light cars. So I am going to get the 3.5lbs ballistic battery for it. The stock wheels are pretty light so I will keep them for now. I am going to build an aluminum exhaust from the header back. I am going to have a v-band connection from the axle back so for the street I will have a stainless magnaflow section, then for autocrossing it will just be an aluminum piece. I am also working on making an intake for it as well. Oh and I do have access to a dyno so I will have number to see if there actually is any performance difference.
I am also playing around with the idea of painting the brand and name of the tire on the sidewall white or some other color. Wont do anything, but I think it will look nice. I am going to tape on letters first to see if I like it.
Feel free to offer other ideas for things for me to do or try. I have good fab skills and a place to fab stuff so I can really do anything. I am also an ME so I can make stuff that works well right off the bat. I also have a design for a short shifter I want to try to see how it works, but I might not actually use it long term. I just want to see if it works well for the design.
Purpose: So my Mazda 2 is my DD and it is going to be my autocross car.well my girlfriend will be autocrossing it as well. I am not really concerned with being the fastest since I have my 240WHP Miata for that, and I am not really that concerned with what class I run in either, but it will largely be STF based. I do want the car to be very street able as well for a while at least. I also want to hit a fine balance with cost since most of my money will be going towards the Miata being turned into a track car. Overall I just want to maintain the fun factor of driving the 2.
Currently I have eibach lowering springs, fat cat motorsports strut bump stop for the fronts, slotted front struts for -2.5 degrees of camber, a 1 0.120 wall steel torsion beam stiffener which I made. I also have stock wheels painted black with 195 Star Specs. I have the fog light rings painted black. If anyone has any questions about what I did, feel free to ask. I mainly wanted to see if I could make a car handle properly with lowering springs. It was an interesting challenge. Also, I had no money since I was saving up for a house which I not have.
Moving forward, I have already ordered a set of 25mm wheel spacers for the wheels so they will sit nice in the wheel wells, and the 2 of extra track width will be good as well. I also will be getting a set of the Bilstein coilvers this June to help out with the handling. I really want a set of ASTs, but the Bilsteins are better on the wallet for now. Down the road I might get a set of ASTs or Ohlins. I also talked with Fat Cat about revalving the Bilsteins and they should be able to, so that is another option down the road. Depending on how the car behaves with the coilovers I might step up the bars on the car to the racing beat pieces to further keep it flat while having street able spring rates. Again this is mainly a DD/mountain run/autocrosser so I am going to work my best with lower spring rates.
I already did a full look at the shock travel on the stock suspension for the 2 which is why I ended up with the Fat Cat bumps stops in there. There is a thread out there with the info somewhere. Once I get the Bilsteins I am going to be doing the same thing. Looking at the travel and get the ride height set so it will be close to in the middle of the travel. I already have a backup plan for creating a new top hat which will mount the shock about higher up (inverted front shocks) to help with being able to lower the car more while maintaining travel. I might also put more caster into the car with the plates as well.
The way I see it, I want to keep the car light since that is its biggest strength and I am a huge fan of light cars. So I am going to get the 3.5lbs ballistic battery for it. The stock wheels are pretty light so I will keep them for now. I am going to build an aluminum exhaust from the header back. I am going to have a v-band connection from the axle back so for the street I will have a stainless magnaflow section, then for autocrossing it will just be an aluminum piece. I am also working on making an intake for it as well. Oh and I do have access to a dyno so I will have number to see if there actually is any performance difference.
I am also playing around with the idea of painting the brand and name of the tire on the sidewall white or some other color. Wont do anything, but I think it will look nice. I am going to tape on letters first to see if I like it.
Feel free to offer other ideas for things for me to do or try. I have good fab skills and a place to fab stuff so I can really do anything. I am also an ME so I can make stuff that works well right off the bat. I also have a design for a short shifter I want to try to see how it works, but I might not actually use it long term. I just want to see if it works well for the design.