Season 2 is a wrap!

I've added a few parts but mostly have just been driving the car.  Rain or shine, day or night I managed to pile up 6500 miles in 3 months on her.

 And a lot of bugs!
But I'm loving this semi gloss paint because they come right off!

 I ran a few more autocrosses and did the high speed run I talked about in my last post.  
This shot is from my first run that I took it easy on and unfortunately it rained so I was not able to push it any faster. 135 mph is 6300 in 4th and from the way it was pulling I have no doubt shifting to 5th would take it beyond 150.  A short video HERE

There was a Cobra there and yep that is 2 Cobras I have beat now…

Feeling rather truckish the band played an outdoor afternoon gig and I decided to use the Miata for it. 

Yep I ran about 80 miles with a stint of interstate this way.  It was epic!

Still in truck mode I’ve been thinking about converting my little cargo trailer to a camper so I hauled it around for a few hundred miles behind the Miata. 

It pulls it really well because the suspension is so firm but I think I would put brakes on the trailer for the Alaska trip if I use it for that.

Besides the trailer hitch I found a deal on a steering wheel I could not pass up.

And a great deal on a set of seats too.

Sorry she's so dirty - daily driver you know!  I took these photos today. 

OK now this is 100% bling and Jim being dumb but I stumbled across a deal on a wing that just needed end plates, a mount and paint so...

I have not had the wing on since I got the seats so these are older shots than the seat pix above.

It's only rice if you don't have the muscle to back it up right?  

I really just got it because I like the look of the thing but come to find out the crazy thing actually works!  So I pretty much only put it on for pay day Fridays and car shows.

 

Speaking of car shows I actually did 2 random car shows this year both of which I decided to do 5 minutes before I left for them.  Of course!

I don’t have any shots of it but it’s always a treat to step back and watch the car draw a crowd. 

And that brings me to today which is the worst day of the year because the insurance will drop for the winter.  The top number is the first day the speedo worked so this is the official tally.

11,500 miles on the swap now, and what a thrill it's been!  So I will leave with my favorite couple of shots from driving to work this fall. (I took these this week). Hopefully this will keep the smile going through the looong Minnesota winter!   

I'm going to miss setting up for these 45 mph corners everyday...

So with that I wish you Gods very best and we’ll see you next spring!

Success! The V8 Miata beats the Cobra!

I finally got things put together enough get out on the road and first thing I did was look for a track to hit.  I searched the web and found Des Moines was having an autocross on Sunday.  I checked the registration list and there was a 65 Cobra replica running in the class I run in so that sealed the deal!

So the day starts with rolling out of bed at 3:30am to make the 230 mile drive to the track.  Hey if you are going to be crazy you may as well go all the way! I rolled in right on time, shoveled out the red bull and mickey Ds debris and got through tech. 

  

I should have taken a photo of it but I had forgotten how sitting in line for tech with the hood up and the car running draws a crowd with this car. It's really fun to meet everyone and talk cars with folks. I was delighted to meet a guy with a LS1 96 Miata so now there were 3 drivers in XP!  The other Miata and Cobra were track cars with no heater, wipers, radio, A/C or power steering and both were running on high end autocross tires.  I've got all the comfort stuff and running on 30,000 mile normal street tires so I did what I always do and paid no attention to the times and just had fun.  Note the position of the cone here...

We did have a shot of rain but it only effected one of my runs.  The other run group had a couple pretty soggy runs but everyone had at least 4 good dry runs.  I was glad to have my street tires!

Now if you were to put me in a category as a driver I would be the 4th stooge.  I do try hard to hit the apexes right and take the best line but more often than not the cones get in the way and I end up laughing so hard I have a hard time driving.  The guy in the other V8 Miata suggested I start in 2nd and had I done it right it probably would have been faster but, well it went the way of the rest of the day and you just have to see it... Iowa autocross video CLICK ME

I hope you got a good laugh from that!  It seemed like such a good place to put a camera LOL!  The good news is I had NO tire rubbing anywhere and the flares did great!

I have another event in a couple weeks that should be interesting.  It is a normal autocross then they turn you out on a 1/2 speed run.  This is the track map...

I've had the car a bit over 100 but to be honest when I do the math I am a little concerned about this.  A rolling start on a 1/2 mile run with a 2500lb, 450hp car, 250 miles from home.... What could go wrong?

I hope things are well with you and stay wise!

She's back in Black!

The paint color was actually dictated by a job I took on to paint a railing at our public library but she my turn that pretty Lexus blue in a year or 2.  This is semi gloss black and honestly the photos don’t come close to how good it looks in person.

Rather than me telling you how it went I did a video.  It’s fast, fun and of course has a great sound track.  Enjoy!  CLICK ME
 

 

 

 

How NOT to make DIY fender flares on a Miata!

It’s been over 2 months since I posted on the flare project.  Not because I have not been working on them but because the endless hours of filling the low spots and grinding the high spots is about as thrilling as watching bondo dry.  Actually if I put the hours working on it into a part time job at minimum wage I could have purchased a wide body kit and paid to have it installed by now!  Well anyway here is an update on it. 

 

In my last post I had the rear frames welded up and ready for glass.  This time I used tape to make bridges between the slats hoping things would be smoother than the fronts.

This looks good at first glance but it was a colossally bad idea because that tape was near impossible to get the tape off after the glass went on.  But not knowing that I glassed them up.

It was better than the fronts but I still ended up with many hours making high spots low and low spots high. 

 

Fixing the rocker rust I did make a normal cap for it but decided to try making a cap that would push the rear out some to fit better with the larger wheels.  So I took a hunk of 3" exhaust pipe and made a support.

Then I formed a panel to cover the rust.

Tech tip a piece of 2 1/2" PVC pipe is the perfect radius for that rocker curve.  

I liked how it looked so I welded it in,

and started filling.

Speaking of filling I also took out the antenna hole.

Fast forward forever of working them and I rolled it out to check for tire clearance.  Crank the sound and check out the video.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSQ4Ry3kE9I

Yeah it was fun!

The clearance was fine but the photos from that trip reveal some problems. As you can see in the photo above I took too much off a couple spots when I ruffed in the radiuses.  Also the drivers front and a weird bump in it I don't like.  It took another couple of weeks of grinding and filling to fix all that. 

I finally got to the point I put a guide coat of flat black on it and rolled it out for another look. 

Yeah I thought the same thing.  GAG!  The fronts are OK but the backs look like a wart on the car.  It looked fine up close in the garage but when it was all one color and I could step back from it she was UGLY!  

So it was back to brainstorming and a few days off.  Solution - add another layer...

This is a hunk of plastic screwed and glued with structural adhesive.  

 And the panel

More glue and screw,

and welding where I could.

20 hours of work later and presto no more wart!

It's coming along but in a nutshell there are LOTS of different ways that are better then this for building flares!  Still it's been fun and there are only a few regrets in it.

I hope things are well with you and you are living large in the joy of the Lord.  Next post paint, but I can’t promise when that will be!