We're DISAPPOINTED with The BUDGET Miata (First Track Day)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- 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.
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 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.
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?
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
@@Iketanidoesit but you did drive it though.
Camhin1 nope. But Ive owned the car for 3yrs
Ok
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.
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?
Extended lower ball joints is the best bet for these cars.
You guys should really talk to Greg at TheCarPassion channel on TH-cam.
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 TH-camr 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
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.
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
Extended lower ball joints can give you 2.5 degrees more than max stock camber i believe
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
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 TH-cam trying to have a sensible discussion.
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
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!
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.
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.
You guys might have bought an open diff miata. Look into getting a torsen LSD.
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
Should've done the bushings, flying miata lower ball joints
Put an LS in it and induce oversteer with the throttle
That's what I want to do to mine.
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!
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
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
Miata's tend to have the early mid-corner push, more aggressive turn-in followed by getting on the power immediately helps.
From a Fellow Canadian Miata racer: You need to minimize the caster prior to adjusting camber, also it looks like the ride height is very high. The lower the front suspension, the more camber you get w the double wishbone. Miatae ride heights are measured by the jacking point on the pinch welds. Around 4.25” front 4.5” rear is a good starting point. The rear bar is also too large as you already know. If you want to loosen or tighten up a miata you use the rear ride height
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!
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.
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.
Are these guys not reading the Miata forums? Like 80% of the things they run into are addressed in the pinned threads on the front page.
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.
60-65mph front end vibration is often caused by the front end of the chassis. Google miata "fender braces" They bolt up to the chassis behind the Fenders and reinforce the front end to the cockpit of the car. I have the exact miata as you guys and those braces fixed my shimmy issue
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.
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.
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.
I would play with the ride height settings first before putting some money into it. Lowering the front should help you guys get more front camber, as well as more Rake would help the car oversteer a bit.
Good suggestion here, Miatas respond well to a little rake
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.
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)
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.
change the rear tyres for street tyres, if you have the semi slick on front, with some extra camber it will turn and with the lack of rear grip - due to tyre setup it will be loose. I would stiffen up the front to medium not all the way soft.
Big front sway bar. 949 racing alignment. No or stock rear sway bar. Sticky tires. Coilovers of choice.
Lower the car and you'll get more camber
I strongly suggest doing a shifter rebuild with a brass bushing that should help ALOT with the vague shifting feel
Bring a piece of chalk with you next time. Put several lines over the edge of the tire (inside and out) so you can SEE if you need more or less camber and/or tire pressure. Don’t rely simply on feel
I feel this is a good idea ...
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.
Big grip miatas are notorious for destroying front wheel bearings, not that you've done much hard driving yet, but just some food for thought, also, miatas like less rear camber, do that 👍
More front negative, or less rear for sure. I agree
God guys the whole video broke my heart, Very well setup car but first track day and nothing but battling but loosing the war to understeer due to not having the right amount of negative camber in the front / rear ratio!
100% alignment. Mike Kojima would recommend 0 rear camber, 0 rear toe, for what you want.
@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.
I had a horrible vibration at semi to full speed on left-handers, came from the front right while turning left. Turned out o be the tire rubbing on the fender/chassis. My problem was a right rear shock that was blown caused the car to have extra body roll. Changed rear shocks and issue went away. Just my experience. Car is a NASA Spec Miata.
The NS2R tyres are the cause of your shake/vibration problem - they are well known for terrible noise and vibration in the Miata community. It happens when the car is parked for a day or more and then you drive it, as if the tyres had flat spots - and it becomes alright after some time of driving. And this happens again and again each time the car is parked for some time and driven afterwards.
Take the front shock brace out. And it won’t push anyone. Also remove the rear sway bar help with rotation
Pete's face in a helmet is arguably greatest sight i've ever seen!
+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.
Guarantee that shimmy is due to an improper balance, and the understeer is due to the front sway bar still being connected (I assume, didn't hear in the video whether or not it's still there). Leave the rear sway bar alone, disconnect the front one and rebalance the tires to get rid of the shimmy and understeer.
Do an icehawk or lanny alignment. Full specs can be found on miata.net . The car doesn't have enough camber up front or enough caster
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 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 !!!
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.
increase front track width relative to rear, increase caster with ball joints or offset hole control arm bushings
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.
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 !
If you want a tail happy car then a stock powered mx5 on semi slicks isnt really going to cut it. It's a very forgiving chassis that won't bite you. Your best bet would be to change the tyres out to something less grippy. I run the NS2Rs as well and they are way more grippy than their price point would suggest. I suspect some of it is setup still, I am only on stock suspension and it will swing round if I provoke it. As you suggested, do try a full degree more camber upfront, that should make a big difference.
Vibration is more than likely a bushing rather than a motor mount.
Second the elbj suggestion. The Miata needs more front camber for the track.
$120 for extended lower balljoints. .25" rake, rear being higher. 949 racing track alignment specs are available on their website
It's all down to the tyres, I'd say. Also, I'd get shot off all that extra weight. Things like the doors cards, carpets, soft top, radio and speakers etc. I'd also put steel rims on. Just get that mass down as low as you can.
Front track of a NB Miata is 1 inch less than the rear - Add 7mm 1/4 inch wheel spacers to both front wheels
Lower extended ball joints for much more negative camber in the front. Also raise the rear ride height by a hair in comparison to the front. Those two things combined will give you a ton more grip in the front (even without creating too much oversteer).
As for the shifter, you can keep the stock shifter but if you want to track the car, you absolutely have to change the motor mounts. The Mazda competition rubber mounts that are supposedly 40% stiffer rubber only did so much for me. They were nice for the first 1,000 miles personally but afterwards they didn't handle my turbo power ;)
I highly recommend AWR or Innovate polyurethane motor mounts. Either that or you guys can fabricate your own polyurethane mounts based off of those 2 examples above. They are proven to handle way way over 300whp with far far far less miss shifts. You'll love them I promise. I'd recommend skipping the Mazda competition mounts, they aren't that much of an upgrade if you're going to dedicate the car to only track use (or add power later on).
They will be a whole lot better than old worn out stock mounts but like I said I personally didn't like them after about a few 1,000 miles. The poly mounts on the other hand are where it's at!
It's the engine mounts that are the reason why your shifter feels like empty space I promise lol
Get rid of those crappy coilovers. Install some Xidas & re-install the OEM rear sway bar. I would think the front sway is too large as well. But, your largest handling problem is those coilovers. As far as the shake goes, check the sway bar mounts on the front to make sure they haven’t failed, it’s a common issue & you can install reinforcements or change them out all together. Put 0 toe in the rear & make sure the the front has .5 negative camber more than the rear with a little bit of rake. You also need to install the shifter kit with the copper upgrade.
Nice build. Although not really a "budget" build by most standards. Very good comments below about settings. I also believe your settings are way off. Keep at it. And set it up to be fast, not to be "tail happy," you may regret it when unknown drivers get on it. It only takes 1 mistake to destroy a car.
Shifter rebuild, biggest front bar you can find, completely lose the rear bar.
Awr motor mounts!!! They make a HUGE difference. Poly bushings everywhere, delrin door bushings and delrin diff bushings.
My guess, return all setting to beginning of video. Then bring rear camber to 0*, front & rear toe to zero, front camber 2.5-3* and increase caster to 6-7*
With thick saw bars and good suspension (I mean not bling bling coilover) put around 1.5 camber in the front and max caster and stay close to 1.2 degree at the back. If the car corner flat it's useless to add crazy camber....
Look at the contact patch on the tires, does it look even? or bias to the inside (or outside). I always shoot for a full even wear across the contact patch so I know the full surface of the tire is being used in the corners... if it rolls over the outside , you have sudden loss of grip on that tire. I like to run the same damper setting front and rear , set and forget it , use the spring rates for adjustment until even tire wear , don't be afraid to think outside box like removing a sway bar entirely. Shimmy at speed that you can feel in the wheel without braking is definitely front end probably wheel/tire balance. It has to be something centrifugal and unless your rotors aren't round I can't think of what else it would be
Why are people suggesting to get rid of the larger rear sway when it’s understeering?
Should’ve tried disconnecting the sway bar. Most Time attack and auto x’ers don’t run one.
alxgalarza88 or run the stock bar with adjustable endlinks
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.
That oversteer and jet-out at the end actually looked pretty quick for a no-jam car.
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.
For stock geometry more camber in rear than from this preferable for getting the car around corners.
If you guys recall, you didn't setup the car with a rake. I think if you lowered the front another 1/2" you'd get that rear to come loose. It makes an absolutely massive difference on Miata's, imo.
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.
Car sounds great fellas! Maybe the engine mounts were damaged when lifting the engine up to fit the headers?
Rebuild the shifter and put the brass bushing for the shifter. Itll make it feel a lot better.
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.
As mentioned Miata's are sensitive to wheel balance. It's recommended to use a Hunter RoadForce machine to balance the tires with