January 7, 2008
Got the year started off right by pulling the cover off and enjoying the 70+ degree temps.
I had received a new dipstick and bolts for the clutch slave cylinder late last year, and took advantage of the wife & child being out to crawl up under the car for a bit.
I replaced the dipstick & slave cylinder bolts, swapped the front brake pads back to the Axxis Ultimates (the Hawk blues most likely account for the brake lockup I experienced, as their initial bite is way too strong for autox and any track that doesn't bring the brakes up to temp quickly), and finally got around to raising the headlight covers back to level with the hood. Someone had evidently leaned on the headlight covers at some point, pushing the left one down more than 1/8", and the right one about 1/32". The 1/8" one created an air-dam on the nose of the car. Hopefully that will shave 1/1000 off my next autocross time!
Not a lot, but then there's not exactly a laundry list of things to do this winter. I need to replace suspension bushings, do some dye-penetrant testing on suspension components, and replace brake fluid, but that's about it.
January 18, 2008
The right tool can make all the difference in the world...
I've been trying to figure out how to remove the old suspension bushings. Past methods have generally involved drills, lots and lots of sweat, and the possibility of weakening (or even destroying) control arms / A-arms / whatever else the drill bit touches.
I don't like drills when I can avoid using them, and I know damned well that no professional shop in the world works like that. So I did some low-buck hunting and found a C-frame press at Harbor Freight. It's huge, extremely heavy, mounts in a vise, and has 2 key parts: a threaded driver and a 1.75" receiver tube. Plug a 7/8" socket into the driver, powered by either a breaker bar or an impact wrench, and just push the bushing right out. Easy as pie.
I worked with one of my spare A-arms and it only took about 5 minutes to get all 4 bushings out. Once the temps get above 35 or so, I'll start dismantling the Miata's suspension and get all 22 done. The task is nowhere near as daunting as I'd originally feared.
January 21, 2008
Ordered tonight:
HANS Sport device
HANS sliding tethers
Bell dark smoke helmet lens
Sparco driving suit
Alpine Stars driving gloves
Alpine Stars Nomex underwear (top, bottom, balaclava)
Simpson Nomex socks
Piloti Monza Nomex boots
I'll be covered in fire-retardant materials and neck-snap resistant! Finally I'll be able to be safe(r) in my race car and other people's, too.
Of course, I may need to upgrade my TeamTech shoulder belts to the 3-2-3 design for HANS compliance.
I'm planning on being at VIR in March. Hope I can talk Mr. Gohlke into joining me...
January 23, 2008
Signed up for the Trackdaze VIR event on March 3 & 4!
January 28, 2008
Started replacing bushings tonight. I tore down the left rear suspension and replaced all 7 bushings. It took 4 hours, but I was limited to hand-tools, low light, and quiet hammering, as I was working under my sleeping son's window. All the original hardware had to be trashed. Thank God I had a whole spare rear suspension in the shed!
Tomorrow I'll hopefully get the right-rear done in far less time, as wife and child will be out for a while!
I'm beat.
January 29, 2008
The right side is done! Was it easier? Principally, but with one exception: the enormous bolt that runs from the outer end of the lower control arm through the wheel hub and back through the control arm was stuck fast.
I stood on my breaker bar. I put a jack handle on the breaker bar and stood on that. I hit it with a dead-blow hammer. Finally I resorted to all of the above, mixed with cursing and hissing, and after about a 20-minute fight, it shot out.
But I did the bushing work in about an hour less time.
Now it's on to the fronts, and I have all the tools necessary to do the front bushings and repack the front hubs.
14 down, 8 to go!
February 6, 2008
Tear-down began on the front suspension last night. The weather was perfect, the work was not. Most of the hardware will need to be replaced, along with at least one ball-joint. I need to track down a ball-joint remover today and hopefully I'll be able to trudge ahead.
I did manage to get the lower control arm off the driver's side, and the two bushings pushed out of it.
I also found out yesterday that my tow vehicle has evanesced. Mom was going to lend me a F350 dually for race weekends, so that I could concentrate my budget on the car and trailer. Yesterday she backed out, and now I'm having to look into trucks, flat-bed trailers, and completing the necessary work on the car.
Fun times do not abound.
February 18, 2008
Dancin' days are here again...
I've made some serious headway in the rebuild of the front suspension: all bushings replaced, one hub repacked (the other soaking its parts in WD-40), one tie-rod end and all dust-boots replaced, all front-end hardware replaced.
Now I'm waiting for a new lower-balljoint (a tool from Advance Auto Parts destroyed the old one) and the other tie-rod end. They should be here by Wednesday, and I'll get everything put back together and flush the brake fluid.
After that I only need to fab up a radio mount before shipping the car off to the alignment shop.
February 20, 2008
Final parts arrived today; just waiting for a break in the weather (we're having un-forecasted snow).
I picked up my trailer today! 18' Bri-Mar flatbed, tandem-axle, brakes, lights, break-away switch, pull-out ramps, powder-coat finish. Yippee!
February 24, 2008
To hell with the snow: I got 'er done anyway. Thursday night in the snow, freezing rain, and sleet, I repacked the right hub, climbed under the car, and put everything back together. I then went to the shed, filled the tires, mounted them, and put the car on the ground for the first time since November.
Of course, I realized well after the fact that I'd left the belly-pan off the car. D'oh!
Friday afternoon, I backed the Miata out of the driveway and onto the new trailer, which I then proceeded to back-up for the very first time ever. It was a bit daunting, but now the car and trailer are in the driveway. I went out yesterday and got ratcheting tie-downs and axle straps, and this morning secured the car to the trailer. Tomorrow I'm going to swap out the 3.25" drop, 5,000 lb drawbar for a 6" drop, 10,000 lb capacity tongue and 2 5/16" 10,000 lb capacity hitch-ball. Hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday night I'll move the car to Mr. Kimmelshue's garage to be corner-balanced and (possibly) aligned. Then finally it will pay a quick visit to Elliot Tire for an inspection before we truck the thing down to Danville.
It's a tight schedule, and of course I'm a little nervous, but that's how I roll.
March 1, 2008
Took the car to Crown last night for an alignment. Courtney C took care of me, and the car is set up quite nicely:
0 toe @ all 4 corners
-2 degrees camber @ all 4 corners
+4 degrees caster
No swaybar preload
Couldn't get scales in time, but that's all right. This afternoon I backed the car off the trailer and installed the belly pan, secured the cool-shirt cooler, and got as much stuff pre-packed as possible.
I gave up on the radio mount; there's just not enough time to engineer something with any real quality.
Daniel G. is coming tomorrow morning at 9am to load up, and we're pulling out at 2pm for VIR!
March 12, 2008
Shopping for new tires and brake pads. The autocross tires are dry-rotted, and the front Axxis pads are worn almost to the backing plates.
March 17, 2008
Ordered yesterday:
15x7 Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2's
Carbotech AX6 pads for both axles
Brembo rotors for both axles
Red-line fluids
aluminum valve-stems
aluminum lug nuts
Daniel is ordering the next set of tires for autocross: Hankook Z214 C71's in 225/45R15. They're getting lots of coverage right now, and if we're kind to them, should show some greatly improved performance over last season's dry-rotted Avons.
This afternoon I started removing dead-weight: passenger seat and harness were removed. Next to occur is a proper weighing; if we're over weight, the roof will be removed for autocross.
The only remaining suspension setup issue is ride-height. I've read JD's Setup Guide Version 2, and he strongly recommends against going as low as we are. So it looks like we'll be raising the car about 3/4".
To make the car 100% truly legal, I still need to get netting
mounted on both sides of the driver's seat, properly fire-block
the trunk, and mount a transponder.
April 15, 2008
Tax Day!
Last night I pulled the brand spankin' new Hankook Z214 C71's off and started on the long-overdue brake job. Front rotors and pads were easy enough, but I never made it through even one rear brake assembly.
Upon inspection, the front pads were worn down to 1/16", and the anti-squeal shims were so burnt that they fell of in little flakes. I tossed the pads, but kept the rotors for use with the Hawk Blue track pads.
The left rear was the challenge of the night, though. Turns out the set-screw is missing from the back-side of the caliper. I was able to pry the caliper away from the pads, and did manage to get the rotor, pads, and new retainer springs installed before realizing that little gem. Apparently Delta V adjusted the brakes without the set-screw. That, however, is patently impossible. Grrrr...
Where the hell is my set-screw? That's the question of the day. I'm going to order one, but when I get home tonight I'm going to have to dig through the parts bin and see if there's one in my used calipers. Double grrrr...
Once that little issue has been resolved, I'll be able to finish the brake hardware, do the fluid, and get to the cat-bypass pipe. All of this is horribly behind schedule, but I can't complain: my wife has been battling leukemia.
April 17, 2008
Daniel came over last night and hung the cat-bypass pipe. While he was working on that, I went the shed, raided the parts-bin, and found a right rear caliper that had the necessary adjuster screw. I took the whole assembly to the car, got the left caliper retracted and mounted around the pads, and hit a wall with the right caliper. It was frozen.
I pulled it off and installed the spare that had so conveniently been waiting for me, and now, with the exception of the fluid, the brakes are done!
I took the opportunity of having the catalytic converter removed to pull the parking brake out. There was probably 3~5 lbs of materials involved, none of which is necessary. Bye bye, dead weight!
Tonight we move on to fluids and bedding of the new brakes.
April 18, 2008 Happy birthday, dad!
Daniel came back last night and we ran new fluid. That new Motive Miata-specific bleeder-cap made all the difference: the bleeder pressurized to 15psi and never leaked once!
We flushed the (older-than-I'd-care-to-admit) ATE SuperBlue and replaced it with ATE Typ 200, the amber equivalent.
Then we used some of the remaining Typ 200 to flush the clutch, since there'd been some sponginess and curious engagement points. What came out of the slave cylinder wasn't blue: it was black. Yeah, no wonder it hadn't been working quite right.
After that was done, and with glorious feeling clutch and brake pedals, I sent Daniel out to bed those new brakes. With the cat-bypass pipe and pretty open exhaust, I could hear him from about 1.2 miles away.
When he came back, there was a terrible rattle. It took a moment to realize that I was hearing the O2 sensor plug, which had never been torqued. Thank God it stayed in!
Finally, while I was waiting for Daniel to run home for some stuff, I pulled the blower motor and A/C control panel. Not much weight, but every little bit counts.
May 6, 2008
Bought and mounted a Warn 1700 winch yesterday for the trailer. Today the quest for cabling options began, and I over-paid for an incomplete kit at the Home Depot. Boo. Part of that will go back when I receive my SuperWinch quick disconnect.
I also bought and mounted a tongue-box for the trailer. Now I can store parts and tools with the car! Yippee!
May 8, 2008
I fixed it! I fixed it!
After 10+ months of trying (on and off) to figure out why my interior lights didn't work (after getting the cage installed), many hours spent poring over wiring schematics, and even having a friend dive under the dash, I found the culprit.
And if I'd done the cage, I think I would probably have made the exact same mistake.
The plug on the back side of the instrument-panel dimmer switch is exactly the same size and shape as the defroster plug. My car has no defroster.
Delta V simply plugged in the wrong plug to the dimmer switch!
I also learned tonight that I can no longer focus on items less than 6" from my face. But I fixed it! Now I can return to my antisocial practice of bedding in new brakes after midnight!
June 12, 2008
Moving toward completion...
My 5th place finish at the last autocross has me revamping my ideas for this season. With finishes like that, finding sponsorship shouldn't be a problem, but with the car incomplete (and really ugly with its fading red paint), there are bound to be issues pitching it. And weenie protests for the window net and transponder not being installed.
Well, no more. I ordered all the remaining missing goodies for Spec Miata legality the other day: transponder; window-net and mounting hardware; SCCA club-racing stickers; fire, power, and tow stickers; and Mazdaspeed Motorsports contingency stickers. I've also made arrangements to have the car painted in the next couple of weeks.
Off to Maaco she'll go for a fiery coat of orange, but not until the window-net mounting kit has been installed. Stickers will be applied; photos will be taken; and Ahamos Racing will be incorporated.
June 24, 2008
I took the car to Maaco yesterday. They're going to mount the tabs for the window-net before they paint the car. I can't wait to start putting stickers on it!
Sunday I spent several hours pulling all the exterior lights off the car, including all their housings, so that there would be no issues with taping off those areas or unpainted jambs behind them.
Tomorrow I'll be turning in the license plates and registration.
July 1, 2008
Plates have been turned in (and a cheque for $16.50 is coming my way from DMV), and yesterday at 3:45pm, I picked up the newly-orange Miata from Maaco. Mmmm, orange...
July 29,2008
Washing, claying, waxing. Prepping for decals.
---
Page 1: Stats & pics
Page 2: 2006 events and work
Page 3: 2007 work
Page 4: 2007 events
Page 5: 2008 work
Page 6: 2008 events
