We're DISAPPOINTED with The BUDGET Miata (First Track Day)
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- čas přidán 14. 07. 2019
- We track test our Budget 1999 Mazda MX-5 Miata for the first time.
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I really laughed so hard when the dude went like "did you torque down the wheels?"
*Both stared at each other blanky*
"We go check...."
LOL
@sebastian Sm what?
Been there done that... Never happened again
@@jakethesnake1503 Knew a kid back when I was 15 who did his own brakes on his old Grand Prix (that looked like the old Cutlass) and the front left wheel came off in a residential area left hand turn. Car went nearly vertical when it rolled under the body. Scary part was that our first warning something was wrong was the noises a few minutes earlier on the freeway, doing 90 because it was a badass v8 and we were 15. lol. We walked the last few blocks to our buddies house, crashed out for a few hours, and put a new hub and wheel on it the next morning and drove it away. Well, my buddy drove away. I never rode in anything he owned or worked on ever again. :) I somehow put a motorcycle wheel spacer in backwards once and miraculously only destroyed a rim without killing my customer though. That was a sobering moment, now I don't even want to know how many tenths I waste rechecking things.
Kind of unrelated , but a lesson just the same...I recently looked at buying a boat from a guy who complained that the motor didn’t have enough torque to pull a skier.
When checking the prop I unscrewed the prop nut with my fingers. It’s supposed to be at 40 lbs.
I talked him down a bit and bought a perfectly good boat.
So , yes, I can see why these guys looked at each other.
Boys, you've done it all wrong. What this car needs is a supercharger that makes no boost, 600tw all-seasons, and suspension from a company called Pogo Stick. I called this "Ben Spec". When you get it all sorted, I'd be happy to provide my expert feedback.
I second this. Took my 94R to autocross with worn out suspension and near balded generic all seasons and had a blast
10/10 would recommend
Why spend money.on a supercharger when you can get more power from a turbo for cheaper
@@MohamedAli965 my first ever “track day” my friend who is more serious about racing “sponsored” me aka he paid for everything I needed for me to be there even cut me a check for all tools and tires and fluids I brought to reimburse me.
His face was priceless and pure regret when I turned up in my Volvo school bus a nearly stock at the time Volvo station wagon on all terrains and a sheered boot on axel flipping gear oil all over my inner rim. My pit neighbor was laughing because he brought a dumpster fire too. He was running a clapped out M3 with more oil on his engine than in his engine and a exhaust leak aimed right in the cabin with wayward suspension, so we were good company for each other xD.
I think me and my pit neighbor had the most fun, we did it right.
@Pedka 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@Pedka Lmfao, mate shut up
You guys made the ultimate mistake of modifying a car. You didn't drive it to find out what it needed first, you just built it.
Got 'em
Camhin1 did I make the ultimate mistake too? Lmao my car was only stock for 5 months before going a little wild
@@a.s.6718 but you did drive it though.
Camhin1 nope. But Ive owned the car for 3yrs
Ok
You can get extended ball joints for the front arms.
Yes Bauer lower ball joints 100000% worth it for not a lot of money
A Miataroadster shifter as well would make it worlds better.
I second this. I used the Bauer extended ball joints sold by FM, 949, and the like. They give an additional -2* of camber thereabout.
This is the best mod I've ever done for my car.
The reason the front end is pushing mud corner is because when you lowered the car the anti roll bar on the front is seized in the rubber U mounts preventing the bar to rotate. So what is happening is the ARB is pushing down hard on the drop links all you need to do is with the car on the ramp slacken the U clamps and Wd40 in the rubber ARB MOUNTS. this will allow your ARB to move to the relaxed neutral position before tightening the U-clamps up.
Extended lower ball joints is the best bet for these cars.
Spring rates, alignment, ride height, rake, damping, it all makes such a difference. Rebuild the gear stick mechanism - they are very positive and you should know and feel the changes. I'm glad you ditched the extension.
If you want more fun go smaller less grippy tyres overall. I like faster on mine so I'm on 245 wide for the last 3 years.
The problem with taking advice from everyone is its so mismatched.
First thing you need is the more negative front camber. 100% do that. You were correct on that
Yeah for real. I'm thinking these guys seem more like the speed pupils here
This is so true. My car came alive getting the negative camber correct.
What do you recommend for camber on front and rear?
Look up the 65 mph shimmy. Most Miatas have it. Probably a tire balance or chassis stiffness issue.
Also invest in a shifter rebuild with a copper bushing. It's cheap and makes a big difference.
TKHua my proper was well worn and I think lowering the car upset it. Tried adjusting the gearbox tail height if I remember right...didn’t help.
I think the shimmy should be kind of gone when you install a roll bar and side bars.
Can confirm, shifter rebuild is super bang for buck.
My Miata does the 65 MPH shimmy even with roll bar and bracing if the wheels are not PERFECTLY balanced but I usually don’t feel it on track cus your not at 65 that much your either over it or under it
My car has the 65 mph shimmy roll bar helped a lot but still there.. hoping frame rail braces and fender braces will help
Shifter Must Haves:
MiataRoadster Shifter Kit + AMSOIL MTG - Manual Transmission Gear Lube (75w90 GL4)
Girz0r don’t even get me started on the importance of GL4 only!
Torsen diff, stiffen up rear dampers, 195/50 R15 tyres. Good luck, love this series!
All nbs came with torsen I believe
@@johngorgis not on NA and NB models I believe. Maybe on NBFL?
@@johngorgis Not all NB's had the Torsen. The "NB2's" ditched the torsen somewhere around 03. The torsen was part of the popular equipment package with the power antenna and the Nardi wheel. I actually have been wondering if that car has the torsen or not because I don't know if the Canadian cars differed in options from the US cars. Also I believe the Torsen was brought back only for the Mazdaspeed cars.
@@mrthesquid so does my 02 mx5 with the power atenna and nardi wheel have this diff?
How to make the car better: Step away from the car, read ANY of the hundreds and hundreds of documented track Miata builds that work. Print them all out, stick to a wall, throw a dart at it blindfolded, and copy whatever build it lands on. Interesting concept for a series, but the parts you chose in the year 2019 boggle the mind.
I just bought my first NB Miata 4 months ago. The modern recipe to make these cars handle has been out for at least 8 years. I've done some basic proper handling mods and it handles great. Do 20 hours of online research and it will handle 95% of where you want it the first time out. And STAY AWAY from the rear bar. Mine handles great with the stock 11mm rear bar!
1000% agree, for a "budget" build, they really went off the deep end in parts to only end up with mediocre build
Meh disagree. Sure that will get them there, but I'm more interested to see how they do by trying something different.
@@barrygreenaway158 Try bending one of the tines of your fork 90 degrees then eating a salad. That'll be different.
@@celicahalftrac My apologies. I forgot I was on CZcams trying to have a sensible discussion.
Couple of things that were missed, which are the baseline of Miata upgrade parts for many:
Delrin door bushings! Without stiffened up doors, the chassis is basically just a flat sheet. The roll bar will have made the chassis stiffness weird and uneven without supporting stiffness mods.
Flying Miata Butterfly Brace OR Jass performance rails to stiffen underneath. Ignore strut braces - they do very little for a Miata.
Upgrade both sway bars, or neither. No "bigger is better" bullshit applied only to the rear.
Reduce body roll with sway bars, not just with stiffer springs/dampening. Body roll helps create oversteer in a Miata, so dialing out roll too much in a miata kills the handling unless you compensate elsewhere. The Miata is low and light - body roll wont kill you.
Torsen rear diff, lightweight flywheel, and a more aggressive diff ratio (4.3) allow you to downshift hard and fast into a corner, guaranteeing the torque for a high speed exit with oversteer. I noticed in this video that the gear selection in corners was not ideal for a miata, revs were getting too low.
You guys might have bought an open diff miata. Look into getting a torsen LSD.
well damn guys that sure came out quick, good meeting you 2, was good seeing behind the scenes and meeting you both! PT's last corner slide was fun to see live! thankfully he had a change of shorts! we were the drone guys parked beside ya :P Great video keep it up! local badasses
Extended lower ball joints can give you 2.5 degrees more than max stock camber i believe
You guys should really talk to Greg at TheCarPassion channel on CZcams.
He can give you guys unlimited amounts of making a Miata faster and functional upkeep in general.
I love him, been a fan for years, but he doesn't know about track driving
@@NoGrip Ultimately you are correct, I think he is more of a car meet highway pull kind of guy. He used to do Auto X back in the day though.
No Grip who says he has to be a track wizard to help these guys make more power and possibly optimize the build?
I think Greg would be an amazing addition for this build to add the power side of things, while DP & PT can focus on the track oriented things. I’m pretty sure with his help this thing would be a monster track car.
Also don’t discount Greg, he might not be a track junkie but he has auto x and track events under his belt.
@@NippyMoto Yeah I liked those :) Hopefully we can see some Motorsport stuff again soon
@@mrmidnight32 Oh yeah power for sure. But its a CZcamsr challenge car, so I can't see them putting thousands into it, making parts harder to replace.
I meant more knowledge about suspension tuning, brakes and pads, chassis development etc
Actually I'd like to see Greg appear on here that would be good. Its only a small drive away haha
Switch to a 205 or 215 tire. Ditch that big rear sway bar. Get delrin door bushing's. Rebuild the shifter.
why would removing a rear sway bar make it rotate more? if anything removing the rear sway bar will give you even more understeer. If you want the back end to come out you need to add rear stiffness. WHat you've said here is as mad as them suggesting letting air OUT the tyre would remove grip, when in fact it does quite the opposite. too much speculation and not enough proper knowledge on this comments section
Should've done the bushings, flying miata lower ball joints
Extended ball joints and check out the alignment setup from 949 Racing/supermiata.
EDIT (watched through): yeah the front and rear should absolutely not be the same amount of camber. These cars need way more neg front camber to get the rear to rotate
Easiest way for camber is extended lower ball joints. And if the shifter is feeling sloppy, it's time for a rebuild. The miata shift is pretty dang good when the bushings aren't shot.
oh and BTW, you need more V-tec!! hahahaha
Looks as though it will be a fun ride.
Love the way you guys work on car, build cars and race them>
:) Keep up the grate work guys. We will keep watching @speedacademy
Put an LS in it and induce oversteer with the throttle
That's what I want to do to mine.
The miata's powertrain is mounted into the car by the two motor mounts and two diff mounts, with a powerplant frame between the gearbox and diff. Loose rubber dampeners in the motor mounts and diff can cause everything to torque a little bit under high RPM conditions, which very often leads to a missed 4 to 5 shift (the shifter is sitting right in the end of the gearbox). Replacing motor mounts and maybe diff mounts will tighten all of that up and should prevent the transmission from twisting around and moving the gates on you. But first, rebuild that shifter!
Awesome video guys keep it up would love to see a EVO7/8/9 on this channel someday
I made it into a video, I'm famous!! Haha
These two are just as friendly and real in video as they are in person!
the 65mph shake is common on miatas, most likely a tire balance or chassis stiffness issue. you guys should probably invest in a Flyin' Miata butterfly brace, it help alot, to the point as that I can say with confidence that as soon as you back the car out of the bay you'll tell a difference in stiffness, as well as delrin door bushings, they're pretty cheap for a good amount of extra stiffness. Fender Braces would be nice, but it's a budget build, so I get it. A master cylinder brace wouldn't hurt either. Flyin' Miata also sells rear subframe braces as well but might not fit the exhaust. They sell sway bar mount braces as well. As for shifter feel, it should be very positive, not vague at all. You should probably rebuild the shifter at the very least, 5X sells a kit with a bronze bushing so I'd go with them, don't underestimate how much the inner boots help with shifter feel. if you want to have an extended shifter setup, you might have to look into the MiataRoadster shifter kits. they are about 4" over stock height and even are available angled, multiple finishes, and if you measure the throw from the 4" over stock position, it almost matches the stock shifter's throw from the stock position. you have so many parts installed on that car that are from brands I don't have experience with that I can't tell you if the parts you already have are flawed or not, so I can't help you there. the only criticism that I can give you is yet again the transmission oil. most miata guys in my area , including myself, swear by Ford Motorcraft MTF, stuff seems to be like magic for Miata transmissions. it's kinda like GM fluid with Honda transmissions.
Really enjoying this build guys. Well done.
Shift rebuild kit with brass bushings will tighten up the shifting a lot. I think Miatas are also known for a little shimmy around 60-70mph. Might try some more chassis stiffening like the FM braces + x brace and maybe some fender braces as well.
good series! - what phone mounts are you using? - both the dash and fan mount. thanks!
When I installed my roll bar my turn in changed dramatically; it went from neutral/slight oversteer to extreme understeer. Many people delete the rear sway all together. Frame reinforcements help a great deal e.g., Paco Motorsports and Garage Star make bolt on fender braces for cowl stiffening and Flyin Miata frame rails rock. Bolt in door bars add chassis stiffness too. Bauer lower ball joints like everyone else said for camber. Rebuild your shifter and put in Mazda comp motor mounts as a min. Most of this can be done inexpensively.
Bauer extended lower ball joints is what you need for more camber. Check out Supermiata's alignment specs for great starting numbers.
Really enjoyed this! Damn I got to do more track days!
Contact 5XRacing for the brass upgraded shifter boot rebuild kit. (Will need to swap that turret fluid out for fresh 75w90) . Also definitely purchase the extended lower ball joints. Play with the dampening on those coils to find the right rolling balance. Swap back to the oem sway bars for the next track day. -- that shake may be a motor mount or wheel bearing. Good luck guys. Loving the build!
Miatas are super sensitive to wheel balance and alignment, I found mine doesn't shimmy with my hardtop on but with the top off it does a little. Also framerail reinforcement and bracing from Flyin Miata helped. Also people has had good results from just deleting the rear sway bar for the understeer issue. or upgrading the front sway bars with a Racing beat unit.
Taken from UK mk1 NA championship front runner.
As much caster as possible
-2.2 front camber
-2 rear camber
Slight toe out on the front.
Increase front camber dependant on tyre grip levels.
Hi guys, I was commenting on your Facebook posts on this one too prior to this. Glad you're having fun!
Definitely need more front camber. There are two cheap and easy ways to go about it: ISC delrin offset upper control arm bushings or extended lower ball joints (available from the usual Miata based vendors). I've ran both (not together, either will get you more than you need), but I recommend the extended lower ball joints as the offset bushings do eat into your tire clearance some. The numbers you were saying in the vid should be a great starting point (didn't mention toe, but I ran 1/16th out front and 1/16th in rear).
If you want to tweak balance track side, I recommend playing with rear ride height next time. If she's a little 'dead', crank the rear up some. These things respond to rake settings very, very well.
I was also a fat rear sway doubter, but... guess I'm wrong! I think the front camber should free her up for you.
PS: Some of the aftermarket front sway brackets with the poly bushings clamp too tightly and bind the bar. I placed a washer between the chassis and the bushings at the bracket bolts. Still holds it firmly enough and cuts that bind.
Like everyone else on here. Extended ball joints will get you more negative camber. you can also do offset bushings. Motor mounts are super common issues, they're often the reason for missing 3rd on hard shifts. Stiff motor mounts and diff mounts will help with that. Stock shifter is great with new bushing. If you're extending it you should use a short shifter kit to keep the throw normal. BC's were my first coilovers with 10/8 springs and it was an oversteer MONSTER. Which was good training for me on how to keep the rear right on the edge. Its a much better balanced car now. Oh and gas pedal extension does wonders for heel toe. Thanks for all the great content!
In our prod sports racing class we would fit offset bushings to the stock bottom arms to get the extra neg camber (around 3.5)
I have a helped build a few MX5's for track use in the past. I think my suggestions may help you. Just my opinion and we found it works. Everyone has their own ideas though ;)
The engine, transmission and diff are connected to the chassis by only four points. Two on the engine and two on the Diff. There is a frame connecting the whole thing. Engine and gearbox mounts make a huge difference on an MX5. Shifting gears is difficult because at high revs the engine is twisted over so the gear (usually third gear) isn't where you left it. Making gear changes less accurate.
Next, scuttle shake as it is known on an MX5. Best way to combat this is make the chassis more rigid (so we found anyway) We used Jass performance frame rails and Some Delrin door bushes.. Sounds crazy but the doors aid structural rigidity on an MX5. The door bushings really do help.
Some models had more under chassis bracing than others (in the UK anyway). Just check what you have and see if you can add to it.
Good luck!
Do you have some rake on the suspension ride height? Usually it's around 10-15mm front to back
Any chance were gunna see more of the rx7 ? Kinda miss it was a great car. How's it faring?
Second this! Shame we don't see Ken (and his RX-7) as much as we used to since they moved from the old shop.
What microphone setup do you use with your gopro?
That's why you run a stiff front sway bar with a stock rear sway so it doesn't understeer. Tightens up the steering and leaves the rear loose to do its thing so it rotates better... you got to drop those pressures way down stock cold for passenger is 29 I'm sure for a track you want it a lot lower cold.
Extended lower ball joints (ELBJs) in the front will give you all the camber you want. A little more forward rake will loosen up the back end as well. Time to start pulling weight out!
Was going to suggest a little toe out in front to help with mid corner understeer.
I second reaching out to Greg Peters from The Car Passion Channel about things to make the Miata more fun, very knowledgeable.
It's a good idea, but they shouldn't be adjusting toe before they get their camber straightened out.
Do MAZDA competition motor mounts and poly diff bushings, if that doesn't help the vibrations its probably a bearing or ball joint. The "miata shimmy" is more when cruising.
When I was NA I ran 1/8" rake to help create some oversteer and that was on 225/45 NT01s
Then when I boosted it I removed the rear sway bar, and kept my Racing beat front sway.
I think in the front if you max the caster in the alignment the front tends to dig the camber harder on turns, and gives a better on center feel. Just my 2 cents. Good Luck with the build !
Adjust rake forward? Wasnt that mentioned when you set your ride height?
Extended lower ball joints and lower car more for more camber, road force balance wheels for shimmy, shifter rebuild kit and motor mounts for shifting issues.
What is this phone mount you are using? I am looking for a good trackday setup and this looks good...
Miata's tend to have the early mid-corner push, more aggressive turn-in followed by getting on the power immediately helps.
Try going back to OE rear sway back or no rear sway bar. I had the small issue when I added a larger rear sway back to my MX5 NB. No idea why a larger rear sway bar contributed to the mid corner push/understeer. Hope that helps guys!
Disconnect the front sway bar, and test, if you need a bit more,
stiffen up the rear a bit more, if your on coilovers, raise the rear ride height a tad
The shimmy can be helped by getting some
Delrin Replacement Door Bushings by Cobalt. They're cheap, easy to install, and add a bit of stiffness to the chassis as well.
Second the elbj suggestion. The Miata needs more front camber for the track.
You’re incredibly lucky with the 2 degrees of front camber. My NB2 maxes at about 0.3 degrees negative.
(Haven’t down extended ball joints bc I want to stay in stock class for autoX until I can afford proper mods for higher classes)
Not lucky… just lowered.
The ND2 is a fantastic engine with a great chassis. If you want more power then BBR makes a NA 225 hp /185 lbtq @ 8k rpm option. If you want even more power there is a BBR turbo option at 250+hp / 200lbtq @ 7.8k rpm. Fox makes great coilovers and wildwood has a stage 2 upgrade kit for the breaks.
Hope to get it better :) So far i love this series :) Miatas are beast's!
This one sounds gorgeous
Guys bofi gave you the door bars for a reason. The front shake affect can be eliminated by using these bars. Due to body flex gives you these sense of shaking. Just install them. Finally turbo that thing and change engine mounts for perfect shifts.
Check your wheel bearings for that shake. I'd recommend that you always keep a spare front wheel bearing for a track Miata, they tend to wear out rather quickly. For the understeer, you'll want to make things a bit more compliant with the front sway bar and shocks, may help with grip.
Also check all the suspension bolts. The lower ball joint bolts into the control arm, have seen those work loose and you don't notice until they're just about falling out.
That oversteer and jet-out at the end actually looked pretty quick for a no-jam car.
i always check the tire pressures first. that will give a vibration even if it's half a pound off. then check wheel balance, then shock adjustment. if you still have a vibration after all of that, something is worth and needs replacement. is there an adjustable rear sway bar option? that could add some oversteer
100% alignment. Mike Kojima would recommend 0 rear camber, 0 rear toe, for what you want.
Do really the Nankang want more camber? What would the spring rates front/rear be right now? I would suggest more spring in the rear.
What seats and floor mounts are you using?
That exhaust sounds sweet!👍
What kind of Mic are you guys using? that audio is excellent!
Can't help but notice the black Z4 e85 at the start of the video. Any idea what times it got??
I love my Conquer helmet. I bought the full face version and it's awesome.
Use the Bauer extended lower ball joint or the offset upper control arm bushings. Will easily get the camber to 3.5 or even 4*.
I VERY overlooked mod but you are spot on at the end , a 330 steering wheel will transform these cars also experimenting with a few weighted shift knobs after a good quality short shifter made my 94 Eunos NA8C feel like a 45% better driving car (a used Old Nardi 330 leather in my case)!. I sold that 94 recently and made sure I kept that 330 Nardi , had the same classic style all black 360 Leather Nardi in it previously and a couple of Classico wood , I sell JDM parts for a living on the side and have been lucky to have tried all those, including Momo Race and at least three more older rare genuine Momo’s, I believe all were 350-360 size. The 330 Nardi is perfect for this car guys👌, used is fine as long as the leather is not rotten, buy it, you will never go back, again the 330 leather classic, not the 360 !!! Biggest challenge is getting the right seats in the NA has been the biggest nightmare for for years now . Mazdaspeed reclining (garbage) NB2.5 seats way comfier , Tom’s full bucket, even had the crazy expensive Recaro Carbon Kevlar FD Spirit R seats and they don’t slide right back in the Eunos MX5 Miata orNB because of those stupid seatbelt towers , mint Cobra Classic buckets (best looking & most awkward seat for a Miata, AKA “neck brakers” on Miata forums for a good reason) let fan boys like TommyFYeah spend thousands on em before testing them in a Miata, they are designed specifically for the RX7 FD chassis ... I currently have a set of LXC Recaro Fishnets classic ergonomic seats in my 91 now and will sell because they will get trashed and they also don’t clear the seatbelt tower. I would love to get some Lotus Elise seats as they seem to make the most sense as far as fitting such a narrow space with minimal but substantial cushioning. Hope I get lucky and find a set in Japan that I can recondition.... Again 330 wheel , do it !!!
Throw in some stronger motor mounts and diff mounts. The vehicle's full driveline is supported by just those. For the shocks, I run about 2 clicks stiffer in the front than the rear and run .5* less camber in the front for drifting or 1* less in the rear for autocross.
I strongly suggest doing a shifter rebuild with a brass bushing that should help ALOT with the vague shifting feel
@speedacademy Yeah I am not a Miata expert but from what I remember on the old hot versions the tuners shops that brought Miata's would leave the stock rear sway bar to keep the rear end loose.
Damper adjustment will only help with transitional balance. Steady state balance needs other things, rear toe and roll stiffness are way more effective ways to get your car balanced.
So if sway bar adjustments are not enough you may need stiffer rear springs or softer front springs. Set your rear toe to 0.
Both my mk1 and MK2 felt like it wobbled a little with the hardtop off and roof down, not sure if it was just in my head or not but having the hard top on gave me a lot more confidence ✌️
@sebastian Sm 🤣🤣🤣 each to their own mate
@sebastian Sm hard top bashing is for dicks
You guys have the tire pressure adjustments backwards. Cornering force is proportional to pressure - you want less pressure in the rear for more oversteer. You can also add some spring to the rear end as well - 800lbs/500lbs is pretty good for a dual purpose track car.
For more camber, get you some extended lower ball joints. Reevaluate after that. But I think you'll end up wanting to take out some rear camber and perhaps add some toe out.
I also had the shakines/vibrating with NANKANG NS2Rs ...after some heat cycles I balanced the rims and tires and got a good alignment ..and the vibrating was gone ..maybe give it a try
P.S. i love this miata build low power and a lots of grip and suspension work that is my jam
Yup they are right you want a big bar in the front and stock bar in the rear
shifter rebuild makes a big difference. after awhile even when you're in gear there's like a 1in circle of play...makes things very vague...
extended lower ball joints will help with your camber issues. and also, the shifter bushing is probably disintegrated at this point which would cause vague shifts.
Do you guys have the 5sp or 6spd? Also, missing 3rd (if a 6spd) can be fixed with unicorn tear trans fluid
Check the header, some of the Raceland headers on Miatas will hit the steering shaft of vibrate on the transmission.
Check your front sway bar. They have been known to bind and cause the bar to go to infinite rate, inducing push, most mid to corner exit. You can clearance the bushings a little, or add a washer between the mount and the bracket. With both end links off, the front bar should sag down on its own. I would bet that the bar is bound up.
What's that thing attached to your helmet mounted gopro?
I have raced spec Miata for the last few years. You can get offset nylon bushings for the front upper control arms for more negative camber. I believe they are available from ISC. Also go lower for the ride height with appropriate bumpstops. This should get you to and beyond your target camber in the front. You are right you want about 3.5 - degrees of front camber. Also sway bars go a long way to balancing the car. Have fun!!!
Feel free to follow us on Twitter @SparkleturdR (we also run the 24 Hours of Lemons)
Holy crap that’s a lot of comments. Good luck sorting through all that, guys. I’ll throw in my .02, though.
I used to auto x a Miata, never did open track though. I put on a big front bar and it killed the rotation, went back to stock bar and it worked awesome. I don’t know what spring rates you’re running but I’d run 800f/600r non progressive with the stock front bar. You can run a stiffer than stock rear bar, but it’ll snap around on you. Lower ball joints like everyone is saying for sure. If you have a huge front bar and tons of camber the bar will prevent the car from rolling over onto the tire for that mechanical grip you’re after. More camber, more front spring, less bar. She’ll rotate. Quick and easy test, just disconnect one end link and see what you think.
+1 on the extended ball joints.Think about greasing the front hubs with redline high temp wheel bearing grease. On gingerman, I overcooked my hub bearing and lost a few bearing balls causing a "duh duh duh duh" when that wheel was loaded. Lastly, Keep the same tires in front, but try a 205 in the rear? or try a full set of 205 Contis? Conti in rear and nanny kang in the front? Looking forward to the next video! nice job guys
nanny kang sponsored the build so they have to run them.
Why are people suggesting to get rid of the larger rear sway when it’s understeering?
try to put more spring preload in the back, that way you get the rear end stiffer without pushing the shocks
The shake may be a wheel bearing. My Beetle has had recurring wheel bearing issues (for various reasons) and usually it manifests as a sort of shuffley vibration that comes on at higher speeds, and gets worse when the offending side is loaded.
The front bar is NOT too big. KEEP THE FRONT BAR!!!! IT IS THE FRONT CAMBER that's the problem!!!
Have you had a look at the length and stiffness of the bumpstops? It’s possible that the front bumpstops are long and progressive (relative to the rear) and forcing the understeer.
Get extended lower ball joints for the front lca’s . They are 65 dollars per control arm . They will give you all the front camber you need. You want at least .5 degrees more camber than the rear to get the mid corner rotation. Shaking might be undertorqued eccentric bolts which will move in big grip Miatas
John Carson that’s what I thought too they were seized I bet the nuts are seized onto the bolts.
Definitely rebuild the shifter 👌🏾
As mentioned Miata's are sensitive to wheel balance. It's recommended to use a Hunter RoadForce machine to balance the tires with
Could you change out the springs for different spring rates? Maybe disconnect the fsb and hope it's not too sketchy
Car sounds great fellas! Maybe the engine mounts were damaged when lifting the engine up to fit the headers?
Replace the shifter bushing, my car had like 50000km when I bought it and it was already worn.
Get the Miataroadster shortshifter if you want it REALLY tight.
R package tie rods, extended lower ball joints will get you more camber. Also look up offset bushing....lot of spec guys use that to get a lot more camber.