D Prepared Miata Build
- Thread starter aMaff
- Start date
Welcome!
Welcome x2!
20x9x13 A11 is "the one."
Kinda depends on your setup and where you run. We run on some bumpy lots, so I'm probably taller than most. That said, unless you've modified your control arms or bushings, your ride height will be determined by your alignment. You want to run VERY little camber for the bias plys (plies?), and running low, you won't be able to take out nearly enough camber.
Right, so: I wouldn't shorten the rears. I got rid of my rear Koni Races because you basically end up topping-out the rears when they're too short. The fronts are fine to shorten. Definitely look into rebuilding the rears if you're running high spring rates (400#/in+ or so).
I don't think so? I'm sort of taking the season semi-off for a variety of reasons. The car needs some maintenance & repairs in a few vital areas, and my off-season has been, and will continue to be taken up entirely with some family health issues, so I'll likely be running a buddy's Kart locally for the most part. So I've only been kinda paying attention lol
See the last response. I can't speak for all of us, but I almost certainly won't.
My buddy Brett is a bigger guy (ie: not Deech's narrow @$$) and running a KM kart this year. I'll be warming tires for him for most of the season I imagine. Sadly, I couldn't ever fit in the Kart you're thinking of (ie: Deech's), because I'm not a 24" waist LOL
Well it's been a while, but I'm finally tearing back into this and doing a bit of a refresh and taking care of some maintenance. Mazdaspeed Motorsports is the shiz as always, and is going to help a lot. My $150 shopping cart there would easily be triple using dealer prices.
The big items are: Transmission input shaft seal, and a full refresh of the cooling system. The Water pump & TB are pretty new, but just about everything else is getting cleaned up and replaced. I'm also installing a modified BEGi reroute while I'm at it. I got the kit used and most of the parts are for stock cars, so a lot of them are being eliminated. There are a few minor jobs here and there as well that'll take place.
For now, step 1. While I had it out, I did a quick fix to prevent the throttle body screws from backing out (common on 1.6s at high RPMs). No pictures and the TB's already back in, but... it's done
.
The big items are: Transmission input shaft seal, and a full refresh of the cooling system. The Water pump & TB are pretty new, but just about everything else is getting cleaned up and replaced. I'm also installing a modified BEGi reroute while I'm at it. I got the kit used and most of the parts are for stock cars, so a lot of them are being eliminated. There are a few minor jobs here and there as well that'll take place.
For now, step 1. While I had it out, I did a quick fix to prevent the throttle body screws from backing out (common on 1.6s at high RPMs). No pictures and the TB's already back in, but... it's done
.
For the coolant system:
As stated, I'm modifying a BEGi kit to use in my car, and removing a lot of the stock coolant hoses, including eliminating all of the heater core facilities.
Done so far.
-Eliminate the Throttle Body and Intake Manifold coolant hoses. Used 3/8" bypass covers to cap them off. Probably not totally necessary, but I felt better doing that rather than having a bunch of open ports.
-Cutting a Thermostat to keep coolant system pressure up, but eliminating a failure point for if the t-stat were to ever fail, as they fail closed. Sub-optimal.
-Plug the heater core port on the BEGi spacer.
-Install the rear spacer and thermostat housing.
-Delete the stock front thermostat housing, install cover plate with facility for coolant fan temp switch.
To do:
-Instead of using the cobbled together various hoses and tubes the BEGi kit comes with, I learned that you can use a Cadillac Escalade upper radiator hose that does the entire run from the rear thermostat housing to the upper radiator port. Ordered one from my local FLAPS, should be in tomorrow.
-Replace the coolant cap at the back of the head, along with a couple others. I'm not using regular 3/8" bypass covers for those, but the stock Mazda part as it's specifically for coolant, which these will be seeing. 1 goes at the intake manifold, 1 for the stock coolant neck where it would go to the throttle body, and then the last one for the stock back-of-the-head location.
-Order Water Wetter.
As stated, I'm modifying a BEGi kit to use in my car, and removing a lot of the stock coolant hoses, including eliminating all of the heater core facilities.
Done so far.
-Eliminate the Throttle Body and Intake Manifold coolant hoses. Used 3/8" bypass covers to cap them off. Probably not totally necessary, but I felt better doing that rather than having a bunch of open ports.
-Cutting a Thermostat to keep coolant system pressure up, but eliminating a failure point for if the t-stat were to ever fail, as they fail closed. Sub-optimal.
-Plug the heater core port on the BEGi spacer.
-Install the rear spacer and thermostat housing.
-Delete the stock front thermostat housing, install cover plate with facility for coolant fan temp switch.
To do:
-Instead of using the cobbled together various hoses and tubes the BEGi kit comes with, I learned that you can use a Cadillac Escalade upper radiator hose that does the entire run from the rear thermostat housing to the upper radiator port. Ordered one from my local FLAPS, should be in tomorrow.
-Replace the coolant cap at the back of the head, along with a couple others. I'm not using regular 3/8" bypass covers for those, but the stock Mazda part as it's specifically for coolant, which these will be seeing. 1 goes at the intake manifold, 1 for the stock coolant neck where it would go to the throttle body, and then the last one for the stock back-of-the-head location.
-Order Water Wetter.
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Quick mockup using a couple brackets I had laying around the shop for the oil breather. Gonna cap off the PCV and get rid of the little filter on the exhaust side of the valve cover. Not sure if it's the final location (it's almost certainly not), but it came in the mail and I needed to get in the shop and do something to get my mind off of things lol
Coolant re-route easy button. 2002 Cadillac Escalade upper rad hose. It'll need to be cut to fit once the engine and radiator are back in place. It's kinked because I'm 'hanging' it off the throttle body to keep it off the ground, btw:
Don't need these anymore...
Don't need this anymore...
Don't need that...
Or that...
And definitely not those...
Don't need these anymore...
Don't need this anymore...
Don't need that...
Or that...
And definitely not those...
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stevemhudson
Member
Take that contraption off the intake manifold and make a cover plate. Does the catch can have a 1 quart capacity? Solo rules require that size.
The catch can is a 1qt Moroso. I wasn't really happy with where it was, so I'm making a bracket to mount it alongside the driver's side wheel well is, to utilize those 2 pre-drilled & tapped holes.
A cover plate is in the works, but I wanted to at least cap off those fittings.
This isn't the garage, that's up the hill, attached to the house. This is the workshop
(peep)
Your setup is making me seriously consider a coolant re-route. Looks like it will clean up a lot of clutter and obviously cool the engine better...
Would you mind explicitly listing out the components you had to get to do the bypass?
Would you mind explicitly listing out the components you had to get to do the bypass?
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Started relocating & stripping down the battery harness to move the battery to the passenger footwell. It'll get that (little...) weight lower in the car, and also give me a handy place to house the ECU so that I won't need to do zip-tie a grocery bag over it anymore to keep it dry in transit.
Had to get all this:
(yes, that's zip ties holding lead down... emergency fix to keep us legal at Nats)
To here, to strip the harness down:
Cleaned most of this up, still have a little to do to then rattle-can that corner.
Not sure yet if I want to mount it transverse (as shown), or laterally down the tunnel. Mounted like this, I can use the stock ECU cover studs as 2 tie down points for the box.
That cabling will be routed out of the box, but for now I still need to keep it charged:
Had to get all this:
(yes, that's zip ties holding lead down... emergency fix to keep us legal at Nats)
To here, to strip the harness down:
Cleaned most of this up, still have a little to do to then rattle-can that corner.
Not sure yet if I want to mount it transverse (as shown), or laterally down the tunnel. Mounted like this, I can use the stock ECU cover studs as 2 tie down points for the box.
That cabling will be routed out of the box, but for now I still need to keep it charged:
Did a little more work with the Command Module tonight. The "floor plan" is about as tight as I'm comfortable with for clearance between the battery and ECU, but it's enough. It'll fill in a lot more with the wiring for the main engine harness to the ECU, alternator to battery (via master kill switch), and kill switch to battery wiring in place.
That gold bit on the floor of the box is 1 of the battery mounts, made from the battery mounts from the trunk (modified to fit the way I need them to), appropriately enough. So far I'm happy with it. I'm waiting on a few bolts to come in from McMaster to get it bolted to the chassis to do a final mock-up, then make a slot to run the wiring harness in, and start running wires for the battery harness.
Got a large order coming in from McMaster tomorrow for the Master Switch wiring, so I can get started with running those as well.
That gold bit on the floor of the box is 1 of the battery mounts, made from the battery mounts from the trunk (modified to fit the way I need them to), appropriately enough. So far I'm happy with it. I'm waiting on a few bolts to come in from McMaster to get it bolted to the chassis to do a final mock-up, then make a slot to run the wiring harness in, and start running wires for the battery harness.
Got a large order coming in from McMaster tomorrow for the Master Switch wiring, so I can get started with running those as well.
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Probably not the prettiest thing I'll ever make, but I fabbed up a quick & dirty blockoff plate for the air valve, and also capped off the PCV & IM nipple for the PCV.
Used the stock bolts (which are not fully threaded) and ran a tap down to the head, then cut them to length.
Used the stock bolts (which are not fully threaded) and ran a tap down to the head, then cut them to length.
