JonEQuest 's vert kick ass
too bad a cop ran into his ass tho ...

I bought and 88 Vert new in 88 and one last year with 113,000 on it. Outside of the fact that the rear shocks are shot to the point that they leak fluid, the vert has a nice tight ride. Very little noise.

i think 'verts don't sell as well in Oz because on average they seem to be several thousand dollars more in price than the coupes.
i got myself a turbo 5-speed...
if i had the money a Wolf 3D v.4 and GT35/40 BB turbo would be in it as we speak.
here's a few pics....
http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~tiwaz/DSCF0145.JPG

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~tiwaz/DSCF0146.JPG

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~tiwaz/DSCF0147.JPG

What wheels are those? Are they the Mazdaspeed Ms-01? I love those wheels.

every 'vert has tears..... it's gonna happen. Mine does... but isn't there a slight purpose on the tears? Maybe I'm thinking something completely different today......

The tears are making me crazy because the carpet behind the seats is always soaked. 2 more days, new top, can't wait

Here are a few more articles:
http://mazdamark.com/mt-0889-01.jpg
http://mazdamark.com/mt-0889-02.jpg
http://mazdamark.com/mt-0889-03.jpg
http://mazdamark.com/mt-0889-04.jpg
http://mazdamark.com/mt-0889-05.jpg
http://mazdamark.com/FCmt-0889-06.jpg

http://www.iluvmyrx7.com/2ndgen/arti...rt-1190-04.jpg
http://mazdamark.com/rt-1190-05.jpg
http://mazdamark.com/FCR&Tlastpage.jpg

yup. MS01's. they're the only rim i ever want on a rotor. i've had them on all my rotors now.
they're 235/45 17x9 all round on my 'vert, though i've had to use 2mm spacers on the front to JUST squeeze them on. looks nice though...

That c&d driver article even claims the vert7 is more flexy than the others tested, even with "all the extra bracing." Thats all I was trying to say in the beginning. Besides, a few extra pieces of sheet metal tac-welded into place doesn't really amount to much though it is certainly better than nothing.

Icemark, about your 20b swap, when did you do that cuz I and others were under the impression the ONLY 20b vert out there and ever done was George Samuels. http://www.cris.com/~Asam/index.html

btw, I do like v8 swaps, but even better than those are buick v6's, but gnx7 happens to lives right down the street from me and his car is wicked and soon to be ridiculous so my opinion might be biased.
The best swaps are still 20b's though ;)

The article refers the the chassis/suspension being the most flexible of the cars tested, being that it could drive better on all sorts of roads, rather than the Miata and 944 vert, both of which they found to be well suited for smooth curvy roads, but less forgiving on other types. They are simply referring too the flexibility of the car to be able to handle all road types. Of course they did use the 90-91 'vert in the test, which is very heavy and not really a good example of the true abilities of the 'vert like the 88 and 89 were.

And I never did a 20B swap, nor have I ever suggested that I did. I did orginally swap a S4 13BT in, but since have removed it and the Turbo driveline for the lighter N/A engine and driveline. Although I did like the extra power, the extra weight really makes the car bloated feeling (and since I out grew drag light racing years ago), that extra bloated weight despite the extra power is the farthest thing from my mind that I wanted. I can only imagine a 20B swap to be even worse. The 'vert is already slightly front heavy in N/A form (52%/48%), but add the extra weight of a 20B (or even the 13BT from personal experience) and I feel the car's handling really suffers.

I have seen a couple other 20B verts, other than Georges, as well as V8 verts, but I wouldn't recommend either conversion/mod to anyone, but a diehard fabricator with more money than sense.

Oops, sorry Icemark. That question was meant for 'vert in vegas.

They refererd to the chassis after the suspension and commented on how flexy the chassis was, particularly in rough tight corners. Silly me for thinking the chassis and suspension are two different things.

I'll scan and post the whole article for you so you can see how they keep bringing that same thing up. It probably will make more sense to you then.

And the suspension is just a part of the chassis.

The suspension is bolted to the chassis just like the seats, fenders and anything else.

suspension is bolted to the body/frame. The body/ frame, wheel/tires, inner bolt on supports, and the suspension (and in some cars like the 928 the windsheild) altogether make up the chassis.

keep in mind where they tear is right where the stress is when the top goes up and down.

Unless you want to keep the top up all the time and not operate it your tape will probably fall off, and if the top has torn its probably brittle there and trying to get tape to stick to it will probably result in a larger hole.

One day a few winters ago I forgot to have the cover on the vert, I went to clean off the snow even though I wasnt going to drive it, and made that 1" tear about 3 inches long, then trying to tape it I made it larger.

So if you do try to tape it, unbolt it so you can reach from the underside to hold it with hand while you mess with the other side.

Who cares if the cars are slow, they give a decent ride for a 15+ year old car, they still turn heads, and they keep you out of trouble. Its not always about speed!

Winter 2000-2001. A great home project. You can probably read between the lines that I slept alone then.

He's mostly right. The 20B was an engineering and technical challenge which I enjoyed. It could not be justified by any practical standard.
I'm not so 'down' on the V8 swaps.

Regarding the top tears: If you don't put your top up/down when it's cold (below 50F) you probably will never have trouble with tears.

Not true
 

Tops tear in Hawaii.

Never gets below 50.

Why do you just pull these comments out of...thin air?

actually the owners manual says never to operate the top in temps below 50F or the top may be damaged.

My 88 vert has been in Florida for it's whole life, seldom gets below 70, and it has tears just behind the pockets with cute little patches that beg the rain to come in.

I did not know this till last week, thought I had fixed the problem by clearing the clogged drains in the pockets, and got good water flow out the drain tubes. But alas, still had ponding in the rear carpet.

The top shop showed me what was happening, and in 12 hours it is going to have the 16 year old top replaced.

Then maybe I can get the carpets back to turf instead of the current surf status.

I love my car.

More than my money so it seems.

Re: Not true
 

I have owned 9 'Verts. Bought my first one in '88.
(Still have that one).
I have never had a tear while I owned one.
(I have bought a few that had tears.)
Maybe I'm just lucky, but more likely I'm careful.
And :YES, I do ride top down a lot.
And: NO, I don't put it up/down frequently.
I tend to leave it down whenever possible.
I leave my car in a garage, so security is not an issue.

I respectfully call
:bsmeter:

;)

how do you put it down carefully???