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The Prong Song posted:
Likely dumb question but in the picture it looks like the endlink is coming down at a decent angle instead of parallel to the mount ear. There isn't a chance the endlink is supposed to be on the other side of that mounting ear is there? Haven't been under a Miata in years so I'm probably way off. Good to see progress being made on race cars. I'll have to look at the South East Spec Miata schedule and see if I can run over for one of the races. edit: I've never felt safe with just jack stands supporting the car so I'll usually throw a wheel or block under a frame rail or similar. Just in case. NitroSpazzz fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Apr 9, 2019 |
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Apr 9, 2019 18:19
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| # ? May 22, 2024 05:23 |
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NitroSpazzz posted:Likely dumb question but in the picture it looks like the endlink is coming down at a decent angle instead of parallel to the mount ear. There isn't a chance the endlink is supposed to be on the other side of that mounting ear is there? Haven't been under a Miata in years so I'm probably way off... I don't think so. Look at the previous photo, it'd be at a pretty big angle (which only got bigger under compression). This Friday was my birthday. That means I had THREE days to slack off on working on the car. Unfortunately I wasn't able to bring myself to spend the entire weekend of mid-70s temps sitting inside in a dark room. So I woke up bright and early Friday morning, headed out to my favorite local coffee shop, and had some breakfast. Unfortunately, unlike my usual trips, the place was taken over by a group of runningwomen. If you like in a small-sized city or upwards, I'm sure you know what I mean. That group of 6-12, mostly middle-aged women that gets together one or two times a week to jog together - and afterwards, the whole group descends on some nearby shop to grab a coffee and chat. My partner is a member of one, as well. That, and the two parents who'd brought their single-digit-aged kids with them and fed them coffee meant my normally idyllic early-morning reading experience was turned into something more closely resembling a sports bar on game night. I abandoned the coffee shop and drove over to Harbor Freight. I entered meaning to pick up a set of pickleforks and a sledge. I ended up spending an hour wandering the store, letting everything I was seeing soak in; hopefully jogging some spark of memory loose in my brain that I needed something. $200 later I had a sledge, pickle forks, a bench vise, a set of random bolts'n'nuts, a set of cotter pins, some drill bits, and some other various odds and ends in the back of the BMW. I headed home, pulled the haul into the garage and distributed it over the once-again-shrinking choice of storage surfaces, and got to work. During the week, I pulled the muffler off:  Today I started off light, by getting the midpipe off:  It took me 30 seconds of wailing on those bolts with my impact to get them off. God, I'm grateful for electric impact wrenches. The brackets for the O2 sensor cable were... pretty rusty.  I ended up using the impact to get them off, as well. No point in working harder when I could work smarter (and the entire section's being replaced with a Springfield Dyno race exhaust).  A little tugging and moving around at the rear axle, and  turns into  Yeah, that wasn't budging, and I am missing my O2 sensor socket. I was able to borrow my neighbor's later on in the weekend and got the sensor out, no problem. It was getting on towards 10:30 at this point, 71 degrees with very high humidity, and I was out of Gatorade. Time to find an alternate source of hydration!  Side note: I've got no hesitation recommending the UltimateEars WONDERBOOM BT speaker for your part-time garage music needs. That thing pumped out 10 hours of jams at garage-filling volume with no issues. After grabbing a drink or two, I got to work on the front end again. The tie rod ends are quite shot:   Straighten the cotter pin:  Pull it out:  Get that tricksy (not tricksy any way at all but drat if it wasn't rusted on there) castellated nut off:   It's somewhere around here I realized I really should lock the steering into place. I made the excellent decision to lock it facing straight forward. Immediately afterwards, struggling to remove the lower ball joint spindle nut, I realized my decision was utter trash and I needed to lock it full lock. Time to get my brand-new, very fancy Harbor Freight pickle forks dirty:  And, then the tie rod ends come off easy:  And the new ones go back on, easy:  I'm not so sure about Duralast's decision to move from a castellated nut to a nylock nut. I'm replacing the lower ball joints with the SM-allowed Bauer extended LBJs - both because the current ones are definitely the OE with 170-some-odd thousand miles on them, and also to be able to get the negative camber a Miata needs for track driving. Getting the old ones out was relatively easy, but that many miles means a lot of dirt, grime, and surface rust making it difficult. The spindle nut defeated my cheap extension.   But, fell to my early-2000s Craftsman extension. My new pickle forks definitely got a workout with these balljoints. I was swinging that 4lb sledge with enough force to cause serious damage to myself if I missed - remember to keep all your bits away from the swing and rebound paths. They're only mildly trashed, I swear:  The drivers side was actually rusted inside. The ball itself, rusted. I couldn't move it with my bare hands. A direct comparison of just how extended they are:  I got both fronts, and buttoned everything back up; torqued to spec and ready to rumble. Then I started checking clearances, and the passenger's side tie rod seems to foul on the new rollbar drop link mount:  I'm not real comfortable with that. It won't foul on the nut with weight on it, but it WILL foul on the link itself. I'm going to be writing the manufacturer today to ask for clarification on the install instructions. There were pictures included, but they were tiny, black and white images I just couldn't see.  That can't be right. And the final thing, which I have to pictures of; it's been sitting up on jacks for 6 months and hasn't run in 4. I've had the AGM battery on a tender, but I decided to start it and let it warm up, idle for 15-20 minutes. The only engine-related thing I've done is swap the aftermarket air intake for the stock assembly (which I didn't mention/document, because blah). Of course, she won't start. Cranks for maybe 10 seconds before it just won't turn over anymore. I think the battery has given up the ghost from sitting for so long, and it's not like it didn't have difficulty starting in the cold and after sitting for a month or so already.
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Apr 15, 2019 13:28
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What year is yours again? I've got a 99 with sways and adjustable end links - it's still in a corner in the garage, but I can probably get a few pictures of how the links are attaching to the control arms (front and rear) if you'd like. E: with the fronts it's always close, flip the bolt around so the nut end is on the other end of the bracket. The bolt head is a few mm shorter than the nut. Also remember geometry changes with weight on the suspension. Jack the corner up from the control arm until the car is just slightly off the jack stand and take another look. TrueChaos fucked around with this message at 14:55 on Apr 15, 2019 |
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Apr 15, 2019 14:48
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TrueChaos posted:What year is yours again? I've got a 99 with sways and adjustable end links - it's still in a corner in the garage, but I can probably get a few pictures of how the links are attaching to the control arms (front and rear) if you'd like. 2001. I tested just how extreme it would be on the rears by jacking up until the suspension was under load, but not the fronts, yet. If you can get some photos, I'd appreciate it. I've been googling and have found other folks talking about different fitment issues/install issues with this set, but not my particular setup+issue myself, yet.
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Apr 15, 2019 15:08
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Sucks about all the fastener interference, but that nylock on the tie-rod has me seriously weirded out. I don't really like that poo poo at all. Is the new end not even drilled for a cotter pin?
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Apr 15, 2019 15:09
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Boaz MacPhereson posted:Sucks about all the fastener interference, but that nylock on the tie-rod has me seriously weirded out. I don't really like that poo poo at all. Is the new end not even drilled for a cotter pin? Nope. If it had been, I would have used one of the old castellated nuts with a new cotter pin (like I was planning anyways).
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Apr 15, 2019 15:11
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The Prong Song posted:2001. I tested just how extreme it would be on the rears by jacking up until the suspension was under load, but not the fronts, yet. If you can get some photos, I'd appreciate it. I've been googling and have found other folks talking about different fitment issues/install issues with this set, but not my particular setup+issue myself, yet. I'll see what I can get without lifting the car when I get home tonight. My rears are definitely offset similar to yours - when buying the kit from 949racing it came with a 10mm spacer. I've got lots of track time and autocross on it without issues!
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Apr 15, 2019 16:10
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The Prong Song posted:2001. I tested just how extreme it would be on the rears by jacking up until the suspension was under load, but not the fronts, yet. If you can get some photos, I'd appreciate it. I've been googling and have found other folks talking about different fitment issues/install issues with this set, but not my particular setup+issue myself, yet. Can't get a good look at the fronts, or a good picture of the rears. I can confirm that I've definitely got a 10mm spacer on the rears though. If you're still stuck in a week or two when I'm swapping tires I can get decent pictures then. I have the supermiata ones, and they've got a video showing installation. Their kit ships with a 5 & a 10mm spacer - more details here: https://supermiata.com/SuperMiata-miata-end-links.aspx Mine looks just like the rears in the video, only with a lot more rust on the control arms 
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Apr 15, 2019 23:35
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TrueChaos posted:Can't get a good look at the fronts, or a good picture of the rears. I can confirm that I've definitely got a 10mm spacer on the rears though. If you're still stuck in a week or two when I'm swapping tires I can get decent pictures then. The Supermiata ones look like the heim join has a sort of conical section on each side, to provide the spacing. Which would make more sense to me than the washers included with this kit. I'm still waiting to hear back from the vendor.
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Apr 15, 2019 23:54
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The Prong Song posted:The Supermiata ones look like the heim join has a sort of conical section on each side, to provide the spacing. Which would make more sense to me than the washers included with this kit. I'm still waiting to hear back from the vendor. You don't need much more than 30ish degree swing honestly - it looks like they're using the washers on the side of the bit the hemi joint is on as the stops, so its likely fine. The offset from the mounting point is okay as well - stay under 15mm and it'll be good.
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Apr 16, 2019 00:12
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The Prong Song posted:
Maybe I've been doing it wrong all these years, but aren't you meant to put the pinch weld in the 'bowl' of the jackstand top so it can't slip sideways off the stands? Basically rotate all 4 jackstands 90° and center the weld in the 'cup' at the top. Seems like a good push from the side would knock it right off of that setup.
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Apr 16, 2019 22:06
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You certainly can put the pinch welds on the stands, and many cars are designed with reinforced pinch welds at the jack points for just that purpose. Miatas have a reinforced section just inside the pinch weld, which is what the factory jack actually lifts from, and is where you're supposed to put the stands. It's not going anywhere like that, and is actually more stable than using the pinch weld.
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Apr 16, 2019 22:15
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BloodBag posted:Maybe I've been doing it wrong all these years, but aren't you meant to put the pinch weld in the 'bowl' of the jackstand top so it can't slip sideways off the stands? Basically rotate all 4 jackstands 90° and center the weld in the 'cup' at the top. Seems like a good push from the side would knock it right off of that setup. Yeah I do this with some old rubber mat between just minimize any scratching of the undercoating. I hate pinch welds though. Especially on new cars where there are 10-15cm worth of approved lifting area, so it's near impossible to fit both jack and jackstand.
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Apr 17, 2019 07:06
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I just realized I hadn't updated the thread. I got all the suspension stuff ironed out and got a race-spec alignment done at a local shop. Ripped the bumper in two pieces backing the car off the trailer after having it set at 4.75" pinch wield height. Replaced the exhaust system with Springfield Dyno's SM exhaust, got the driver's belts put in properly. Replaced the passenger and driver's fenders with new (used) fenders, and ripped out the electrics for the fog lamps and add-in side marker lights. Took it out to Charlotte Motor Speedway to test on the Roval at the JZilla event. Managed a 1:41.16 which isn't too bad for a stock-powered Miata. I think the pass-front wheel has a little more braking force than the driver-front wheel, which is making it lock up sooner and pull to the right slightly under heavy braking. The rear is definitely lighter, which is great for correcting a miffed line with a little lift-off, but hairier on downhill trail-braking moves. The Prong Song fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Jul 24, 2019 |
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Jul 24, 2019 15:05
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