Well, looks like you'll have to wait on the video. It's been a while since I've used the camera rig and it didn't turn out that good. Hopefully the contacts are just in need of a cleaning. The video feed is a little garbled but mainly, the sound is crap. I'll have to play with it before CMP so I can make sure to get some awesome track footage. Maybe I'll get a few more cameras setup to film the race on Sunday.

BTW, I will be taking tons of pictures over the next two weeks as the car gets prep'd.

 

So how do you like the rear end?

I suspect that rapid transitions are a lot easier to deal with now, eh?

 

Well, to give you an idea, between the IRS and the wider track width in the rear, the car was pretty easy to control even though I found out my front sway bar has come undone. The last time I drove this car without the front bar, it was nearly uncontrolable and spun constantly. It's really hard to say how everything will work out until I get good rubber on it and take it to a track. AutoXing on seriously old rubber in 40 degree weather is a bad idea. I am also running stock shocks at the moment. I still need to tune shocks and spring rates, so it probably won't be until March that I have a decent idea of how the car handles all set up.

 

That's very interesting. Given that you're running the Miata rear end on a car that must be about the same weight, you'd probably do well to try out some of the spring rate combos that have been proven to work well in the Miata community...

 

Doors are gutted and I made a set of clips to hold the windows in place. The work well. I put the boom tube back on and I swear it's quieter than the mufflers. I also got the front sway bar hooked back up since it came loose at the AutoX. I still need to rebuild the calipers so if anyone knows a good source for an FC rebuild kit other than Mazdatrix, let me know. The tube for the cage is in my garage and the cage is getting built this weekend. CMP is next weekend! Hope it gets finished in time!

 

How does the Miata rear hold the torque and HP of the Windsor?

 

Well the rear end is an FC RX-7 which is a popular upgrade for Miata owners with high hp. The weak link is by far the Miata axels which have been known to snap at 200 ft/lbs on drag radials. Lucky for me I don't plan on drag launching the car. I will have some standing starts with NASA but it'll be a lot of clutch slipping and not a lot of hard launching. Plus on R compound tires there isn't a lot of traction available for hard launches. Everything else is ok, but IRS is a poor setup for hard launches anyway, regardless of how strong the parts are. I suspect I'll lose and axle to wheel hop eventually, I'll just have to be carfull.

 

Great job! Now I have to find the motavation to catch up to you and Install my 93 5.0 AOD that has been sitting on a pallet for the last year into the Cosmo ! www.mazdacosmo.com . Flame on

 

Well our first race is next weekend, and we'll be doing a TON of work on the car this weekend. I'll get pictures and I'm still trying to figure out what is wrong with my video camera. I guess two years of nearly zero use has taken its toll.

On a side note, Grass Roots Motorsports, the magazine that is partly responsable for this project in the first place, is hosting the "Ultimate Track Car Challenge" where interested contestants create a Cardomain page and members can vote. I don't know how much votes really count toward the decision but if any of you have Cardomain pages, I'd really appriciate some possitive support. I'll also be adding a few pictures, but they will probably be posted here first anyway. :-)

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/256039...m/ride/2560399

Cage goes in tomorrow and Sunday! Woot!!

 

looks great!

 

There are tons of pics of the cage build but I'm too tired tonight to post them all.
http://www.trackpedia.com/forums/sho...7858#post17858

CMP in 4 days!!

 

That's a serious Nascar style door bar. Have you weighed the body yet, with fuel and driver, along with front and rar weight distibution? Good luck in the cmp.

 

Super Touring is a power to weight class, and one of the rules is you need a weight and certified dyno to race. I'm going to have the car weighed for sure, and if the portable dyno shows up, I'll probably dyno the car as well. I'll let you know next week what shows up.

 

Ride is rated. Nice cage Rob. Hope the weather isnt too Cold at CMP.

 

Well the car made it through the weekend. I ate through two EGR block off plates. The final solution involved 3 peices of aluminum siding that held through the rest of the weekend. I also found I need a surge tank for the fuel system. I'm getting air in the fuel lines under hard cornering. The final thing I'm going to change before Road Atlanta is the gear in the read end. I simply cannot keep using 5th gear around the track. A 3.63 from an old 626 should help out considerably.

I also figured out the car's electrical system is causing interference with the camera. That is why the autoX video from a few weeks ago didn't turn out. I'm going to still post the vid from Sundays 51 minute endurance race, but the quality sucks.

Here's a shot from Saturdays comp school.


BTW, I played with a $100,000 first gen this weekend. No joke, a $100,000 FB. Full tube frame race car, nasty motor, crazy suspension, it was just pimp all around. You'll see him on the video when I post it.

 

http://clemsonscc.com/Gallery/mediao...bcmpenduro.asf

The silver RX7 in the video ended up going back and forth with me for the better part of 30 minutes. Because I'm a rookie I start at the back of the pack, and because it was a combined race, I started behind all the small bore guys, hence the disparity between horsepower. Still, it was a lot of fun passing 20+ cars in the first two laps of my first race.

 

nice. wheres the $100k FB?

 

The silver one in the video is the bling bling FB. No great pictures but I'll take a bunch at Road Atlanta in March for you guys.

 

dont get put off by them; thier, how can I say....dumb

do what makes sense and what you want to do, but once you start getting endorsements and these other "purists" start paying for the parts on your car dont give them a second thought.

 

Holy ****!

It's fast, looks like it handles and it makes a great noise.

Sign me up!

I'm so very glad that this project worked out for you. It looks like one hell of a ride.

 

I can vouch for that ^

handles pretty damn good.

 

Well soon I will be ordering a 1979-82 626 gear. That will bring me from a 4.11 to a 3.63 which should help big time with the gearing. If I need more gear then I'm going to have to do it with wheels and tires, or get creative with the differential.

Also, I have nearly all the parts for the surge tank now. I am going to convert the fuel filter I have into a tank/filter. We'll see how it works. I plan to do it this weekend, so I'll try to post some pictures.

The next scheduled events are at Road Atlanta. I'll be instructing with the BMW club the weekend before my next race, so I'll get a change to test out the new gear and surge tank. Now I need a set of extra wheels and street tires.

 

Man-oh-man has it been a long time since I updated. Surge tank is finished and works awesome. Car now drains the fuel cell dry and doesn't sputter until the last drop. Good for getting all your fuel used up, bad when you don't pay attention to the level and have to get towed back into the pits.... :-)





And my 3.64 gear showed up but it reminds me what I dumb *** I am and how hard it is to work a project like this. The 626 gear uses a Miata style pinion, which means I need to conver to the shorter differential and re-do the diff mount and lengthen the driveshaft. Sigh....

Ok, here are some pictures of the car at BMW (17" street tires) and NASA's race at Road Atlanta.

 

thats badass. looks great!

 

How much do you think these two items will cost you and is this something you are doing or having done? These are the two biggest things I'm debating the value of my car on, Steering and suspension.

I wish I could get the same quality steering and suspension into my 7 as I had in my Miata. I got rid of the Miata to go all 7, hope my baby doesn't let me down. =/