by "Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
Published 04/03/2017 at 00:17
by "Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
Published 04/03/2017 at 00:17
Tags: Miata
STARS: 8
Stuff went down this weekend. A Miata and two Stealth R/Ts in one garage? That’s dangerous. Also, take a look at dat cart tho.
Koni Sport adjustible shocks. Retail around $800, I got them brand new in box for $440.
Stock springs from a Mazdaspeed Miata. Significant bump over the springs in my car already with the added benefit of not lowering the car. Will take me out of e-street but I really couldn’t care less.
mmmmmmmmmm
Fairly certain I could fit four Miatas in my dad’s garage.
Pretty sure I could also fit four Miatas in the footprint of one Dodge Challenger.
MMMMMMMMMMMCARPARTS
Fronts on. At this point I broke an end link removing it and of course no stores in the area had them in stock. This meant I wouldn’t be able to autocross since hard right-hand turns make the sway bar rub the control arm (and also it handled like shit with just front upgraded suspension and no sway bar) so I tossed the wheels back on the fronts and went home for the night.
Back at the shop the next day and we’re screwing with a Dodge Stealth R/T Twin Turbo. Friend’s car, putting in bigger turbos and converting to E85. I helped as little as humanely possible because these are some of the worst cars in the universe to work on, what with everything packed in the engine bay all kinds of stupid.
Rears! About 10000x easier than the fronts despite not disconnecting the sway bars. Long-ass pry-bar and a heavy guy standingon it was enough to squeeze the new strut in.
All done! Suspension will probably settle slightly lower but right now it’s about 1/2 inch or so lower than it was before. I’m glad. I don’t want to bottom out on every pebble I come across.
These are ugly and also big and dumb and impractical. The exhaust sounded great though.
God seriously screw this thing. Ugh. Two hours to put in the last few pipes (leftmost, the one just to the right of it, and the one underneath the leftmost one that you can’t see)? NOOOPE.
15 minutes after this picture was taken a coupler either blew off or split. We gave up at that point.
Miata handles fantastic though even without a front sway bar. Can’t push it too hard due to the front sway rubbing on things but I’m super pleased. Unfortunately the stiffer springs are showing new weaknesses in the chassis stiffness which is, to say the least, annoying, but corners I could previously take at 50 in the dry I can now comfortably cruise through at 60 in the wet. Ludicrous.
"Noah - Now with more boost." (antriebverliebt)
04/03/2017 at 00:40, STARS: 0
These are ugly and also big and dumb and impractical
that’s why they’re great!! like civil war beards or a full rack of ribs
"AMGtech - now with more recalls!" (amgtech)
04/03/2017 at 01:34, STARS: 0
Yellow doesn’t strike me as a particularly stealthy color.
"carcrazydan738" (carcrazydan738)
04/03/2017 at 09:22, STARS: 1
Hey! I’d take a stealth, the R/T twin turbos had 4 wheel steering and All wheel drive. The NB Miata I had a interior that smelled like a wet boat interior, the right door speaker only worked and the top never was snug in the upper left corner when up.
"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
04/03/2017 at 10:19, STARS: 1
Yeah but the Miata, when you sit in it, works. And in the time it took just to upgrade the turbos in the Stealth I could’ve done an engine swap and I *did* do a complete suspension upgrade in about half the time.
"daender" (daender)
04/03/2017 at 18:57, STARS: 0
I’m heavily interested in hearing how a NB2 on Koni Sports responds to Mazdaspeed springs. I was planning on doing it to mine (but painting the springs black because #unfairadvantage) but I wasn’t sure if it was worth putting on old but (hopefully) low-mile MS springs.
So, how were the conditions of your existing bump stops? Also, were you not able to reuse your old shocks’ dust boots? How did the trunk trimming go to make room for the Koni knobs?
"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
04/03/2017 at 20:48, STARS: 0
Ride quality: Not fantastic, but it wasn’t that great with the stock suspension because the rock-hard sidewalls of the RE71rs are to blame. The difference is honestly minimal. The slightly floaty feeling is gone and the car feels far more connected to the ground, for better or for worse. Would not recommend in Ohio.
Handling: Even with no front sway bar body roll is far more controlled and at/near the limit the car wallows far less than it did. Honestly in this respect this is how the car should have felt from the factory. I’ll be able to tell more with my sway bar hooked up and an autocross or two under my belt (now in STS class where I will get my ass handed to me a million ways from Sunday) but on the street it’s a million times more fun, though corners are at a premium around here.
Bump stops: surprisingly good. The rears were a bit munched but the fronts were in perfect shape. The dust boots kept fouling on the spring compressors when I was putting the shock back together so I wasn’t able to use them. I didn’t end up cutting the trunk because the only place I would really be adjusting them is at an autocross, where I can just bring tools and take my trunk apart and make adjustments as needed. Right now they’re a full turn and a half from full-soft and it feels about right. Everything I’ve read says that once they’re dialed in they never need to be messed with again so I see little sense in molesting my car’s trunk for ease of adjustment.
"daender" (daender)
04/03/2017 at 21:09, STARS: 0
Interesting! Keep me posted as you log more miles on this setup! I figured they would be rougher and that has me a bit worried as SC roads are absolute dog crap. The hardtop rattles and bumps around enough as-is on my current setup.
Also, you’re going to STR class because it’s a NB (page 160 in the Solo rulebook). STS is for open-diff and VLSD-equipped NAs. Have fun chasing S2ks! There’s a ‘02 SE similar to yours that’s running in my region under STR and he’s beaten S2ks periodically. I need to find pictures of it.
Edit: found it. It was lightly prepared, I think all it had was a set of coilovers with 15x8 (maybe 15x9) square setup on RE-71Rs.
"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
04/04/2017 at 01:59, STARS: 0
...dammit. Driver mod needed :(