The Miata experience: his and hers.

Took the NA for a quick test drive this morning to try out the shifter, which works great.  Honestly, the eBay shifter it replaced was 85% as good for 30% of the price, though it was finally starting to show some wear after 6 years.  I was also running with the power steering belt off, just to see how it felt.  I've been having issues with the power steering fluid boiling on track, and I was planning to de-power when I installed an NB subframe and rack down the road a bit.  Looks like I'm going to do it a little sooner...

Also installed a rear-cradle bushing lockout kit in the ZL1.  It would give a little wiggle in the rear when changing directions and getting hard on the throttle (like a pass on a two-lane road).  Minor, but a bit disconcerting...  The kit, from BMR, was a lot less hassle than installing the solid bushings from the 1LE, and provides 90% of the benefit.  The rear is now much more locked down in quick transitions, and when getting on the throttle when changing directions.

Finished the short-term de-powered steering on the NA today.  Actually I finished yesterday, but got a call and had to run out and pick up some wheels for the Camaro, so it sat on the stands overnight, and I didn't get a test drive in until this morning.

I did the 'quickie' method of de-powering for now, which is just draining the fluid and looping the lines.

Down the road, my plan is to swap in an NB front crossmember and steering rack, and that one will be properly de-powered, stripped out and welded.  Actually I planned to have that, and the suspension bushings done by now, but other crap keeps getting in the way.

I do like the way it cleans up the engine compartment with the PS removed...

I still need to remove the PS bracket from the block... it's heavy...  first I need to coax out a bushing that's blocking one of the bolts, and it's being uncooperative.  I have an idea for the next time the NA is in the garage.

I had to run to Discount Tire to pick up some wheels while I was finishing up.  Nothing special, just some SS 1LE reps that are the same size as the stock ZL1 size.  Since I picked up the all season tires over the winter, I've had three sets of tires and two sets of wheels for the ZL1, which was driving me a little nuts as the weather got warmer...  I wanted the stock GY summer tires back on the car.  I also wanted some wheels I didn't really obsess about for track work.  So after a night of tires piled up in the garage...

... the Camaro is riding on summer tires on the HRE wheels, the stock wheels with A/S tires are wrapped up and stored, and the R888Rs are mounted on the track set and wrapped up and stored until our next track day later this month.

Today I was continuing to work on getting the Camaro ready for it's first track day...  First was the diff oil, which Chevy recommends changing sometime after break-in, but before the first track use.  That was nice and easy, thanks to the drain and fill locations being easily accessible.

Next was flushing the factory fill DOT3 brake fluid for Castrol SRF DOT4.  Another recommendation in the track prep guide, which I just discovered last week.  Why in the ever-lovin' berkeley GM would use DOT3 on a car like this is beyond me... 

I splurged on a Motive Power Bleeder, which I had read lots about, but never tried.  I used it dry, just to provide some pressure for an accelerated 'drool' style bleeding and it worked great.  Not fast, but nice and clean, and much easier than the 'phone a friend/pump and hold' method.

Got the track tires swapped onto some new wheels, and the stock GY summer tires swapped onto the HREs I bought last winter.   So the all seasons are stored and it's on the summer tires...  The HREs really show off the brakes... 

Brake pedal felt great, tires felt great, all was going well...

And, as usual, that's when things went to E36 M3...

I stopped at the local RV shop to pick up a part for our camper, and come out to "hey, somebody just hit your car"...  

Yup... mouth breather backed her CRV into the Camaro...  berkeley!!! 

It wasn't even close... huge parking lot...  there was so much room it actually took me about a minute to even figure out how she did it.  And then her insurance card was expired... 

As if the damage isn't enough, it's highly unlikely that I will be able to get it repaired in time for our planned trackday Memorial Day weekend... 

Bring all the forces of law down on her for uninsured driving please. I hope you carry uninsured cover, I do, and here in PA it is surprisingly inexpensive to add it.

I had the local PD respond to take a report so everything was documented.  Turns out she has insurance, just didn't have the current card...

Not looking forward to this... I'm still fighting over the claim from when we were rear-ended last November.

Initial estimate on the Camaro is $4k, and that's just what's visible...  I'm pretty sure there's suspension damage as well, as the steering is very heavy on-center.  She hit it hard enough to turn the front wheels...

Her insurance has accepted full liability, but I've been playing phone tag with the adjuster, who of course isn't local.

Shop can't get the car in until 5/21, so our trackday on 5/25 is definitely cancelled... 

Camber plates came in for the Camaro today.  With the stock Magnaride strut suspension, only ~2.0* of negative camber is possible in the front before the wheel/tire hits the strut, since the adjustment is at the bottom mount, and it tips the wheel toward the strut.  With these, I'll be able to dial in ~1* negative at the bottom, and the rest at the top, keeping the wheel well clear of the strut.

Very nice part from Vorschlag, part of their first run of these for the 6th gen Camaro.

I was hoping to get these installed in time for our track day, and get a little more camber, but now it will have to wait until the car is repaired....

Finally got around to building the bandsaw mount for my bench... mostly because I needed to use the bandsaw for something.  Stores underneath when not using it.  Next up is a mount for the tubing notcher...

On the Camaro front, since I'm still waiting to get it into the shop, I jacked up the driver's side and checked the front wheel runout...

.005" lateral runout, so I'm fairly confident the wheel wasn't bent in the collision.  Due to the shape of things, and still having a tire mounted, I had no way to measure axial runout, but it was hit from the side so that's where I would expect the damage.  

Just read this thread over the past week and I've got to say that seeing this just makes me more amped to get to wrenching on my miata! 

If you ever find your way to CT, drop me a line! 

Regards, Mason. 

Thanks, Mason!

Quick update on the Camaro...

I dropped it off at the shop on Monday night, and they found more damage after disassembling the front end.  The additional parts are on order, but it's definitely not getting done this week, which I didn't really expect anyway.  

Well, nothing new on the Miatas, and the Camaro is still in the bodyshop.  They were supposed to finish it yesterday, but got behind...

Today, I worked on the trailer...

When I ordered it, I debated having E track installed, and ultimately decided against it, as the cost was significant.  I never regretted that decision, until we got the Mustang (though we never did trailer it) and the Camaro, as the tie down points I had for the Miatas just weren't going to work with the much larger pony cars.

So, in order to properly secure the Camaro, I decided to finally install some E track.

I started in the rear, at the point on the trailer floor where the dovetail starts.

You can see by the width that the Camaro will be a tight fit!

Once I had the rear pieces in place and secured, I laid out the front.  I started with four eight foot pieces, but I had to cut the fronts at a little over seven feet to clear the tie down rings already installed.

Once the front pieces were in place, it was just a matter of screwing them down.... LOTS of screws! 

I installed the two short pieces cut from the front rails forward of the tie down rings, behind the bench.  I figure I can use them for tieing down miscellaneous stuff up front.  You can also see the chock for my motorcycle in the pic below.  Not sure yet if I can haul it and the Camaro at the same time.

I've decided to add two more two foot pieces at the rear on the dovetail part of the floor, just in case.  Going to try to find that locally tomorrow morning.

I've also got a set of Mac's over-the-wheel tiedowns on on the way.  Should be here tomorrow.

Once I get those in, and get the Camaro back, I can figure out where the car needs to be to get the tongue weight correct, and I can see if my bike will still fit.

Also greased the wheel bearings on the trailer... gotta love bearing buddies! 

More work on the trailer today... started off by washing it.  I try to do that at least once a year whether it needs it or not... 

Next was a run to Home Depot Racing for parts and supplies, followed by finishing up the E track install with another two feet at the rear on each side.  These needed to be separate pieces because of the dovetail angle.  Of course the HD E track is a different color than the stuff I ordered from ETrailer...

Next was the worktops for the bench.  I'd only been putting this off for about a year...  I used some 3/4" white melamine board, cut it to shape and then screwed it to the bench frame.

I used some 1" aluminum strip on the front, which leaves a lip to keep things from rolling off the bench, and 3/4" on the sides.   I also added some delrin furniture slides to act as 'bumpers' for the roll out tool cart.

With the cart in place:

Looks like I must have done OK with the original measurements when I planned this out over a year ago, 'cause everything fit! 

It will be nice to finally have a place to set stuff... 

So, in other trip preparation news, I did some work on the tow rig.  

When we mount our truck camper, it completely blocks the sat/nav antenna on the roof.  Fortunately, Dodge anticipates such problems and offers some information on relocation of the antenna.  They provide part numbers for the antenna and connector cables, but unfortunately offer no actual advice on where to put it.

Using that info, I ordered up a second antenna, and mid cable.  I didn't want a permanent alteration to the truck, and wanted to be able to switch back to the roof antenna without too much difficulty when the camper wasn't mounted.  My solution was to fabricate a mount for the antenna that would stick out through the grille, and could be easily removed.

The connection for the roof antenna is under the passenger A pillar trim, so it was a simple matter of pulling the trim, disconnecting the existing cable, and plugging in the new cable and running it along the top of the fender under the hood.

Next was fabricating the bracket for the antenna.  I started by building a base of 1" square tube, welding on a flange that attaches to one of the factory bolts.

The square tube was drilled and has a nut welded on the bottom for a 1/4-20 bolt to hold the antenna mount in place.  The mount starts with a 1/2" square tube arm that slides into the above bracket from the outside of the grille.

Onto the arm, I welded a plate that I cut to the shape of the antenna, and gave it a slight bend to mimic the curvature of the roof panel for which the antenna is designed.
 

The bottom of the plate has a raised section to accomodate the factory mounting bolt.  Please excuse the crappy welds...  I was too lazy to break out the TIG, and my MIG is a little overkill for little stuff.  It's not that pretty, but it's not going anywhere.

The opening in the rear is for the wiring.

In place on the truck...

And... painted, with the antenna mounted.

Testing so far shows good reception for both sat and nav.  I know it's not ideal, but it's not much lower than most car antennas, and at least it isn't completely blocked by the camper.  We're mounting it up for a trip soon, so we'll see how well it works.

That's, um, kinda goofy looking!

In reply to docwyte :

Which is why it's easily removeable! 

CRV owners really are human scum 

Which reminds me... we got the Camaro back Monday.  Shop did a great job.  $6000 !!  

A while back I mentioned I put a rear cradle bushing lockout kit in the ZL1.  Shortly after I installed it, I learned the cradle bolts are torque-to-yield, one time use bolts.  This was pretty irritating because I had specifically asked that question and been informed they weren't.  There was quite a stink about this on the Camaro forums, as one member actually had one of the bolts snap while driving, after installing the kit per the manufacturer's instructions.  So, I had ordered new bolts, which came in around the time the ZL1 got backed into.  I finally put the new bolts in this morning.  Good thing I have a bolt angle gauge left over from my C6 ownership nightmare.  I don't know why GM is so infatuated with the damn things.  Even the alignment bolts on the front struts are TTY, which is absurd.

Also washed and waxed the ZL1, and upon closer inspection, did find one minor dingus in the paint on the new fender.  So now I have to find time to get it back to the body shop... 

In reply to Rodan :

Torque to yield fasteners yield profit at the parts counter. Bean counters have always ruled GM.

Rodan said:

 

Also washed and waxed the ZL1, and upon closer inspection, did find one minor dingus in the paint on the new fender.  So now I have to find time to get it back to the body shop... 

 

Ugh that sux!!! 

Paint work and body shops I hate with a passion. Over the years, whenever a car of mine needed any paint work, I sold it the week after it returned from body shop. I still live by that rule. No its not smart, but just the way I am built :(

mr2s2000elise said:

Rodan said:

 

Also washed and waxed the ZL1, and upon closer inspection, did find one minor dingus in the paint on the new fender.  So now I have to find time to get it back to the body shop... 

 

Ugh that sux!!! 

 

Paint work and body shops I hate with a passion. Over the years, whenever a car of mine needed any paint work, I sold it the week after it returned from body shop. I still live by that rule. No its not smart, but just the way I am built :(

I don't usually get the paint work done until I'm ready to sell them.