In reply to Keith Tanner :
My Showroom Stock C Miata cornered on the bump stops..................the first thing I did when it was no longer eligible for showroom stock was put fresh dampers on it.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
My Showroom Stock C Miata cornered on the bump stops..................the first thing I did when it was no longer eligible for showroom stock was put fresh dampers on it.
They always corner on the stops, but tired dampers mean you spend more time slamming into them unnecessarily. Also makes them a little more oversteery.
Showroom stock, that's a series we need to come back.
Yeah, this has some sort of aftermarket shock and mild lowering springs on it. Not horrible, but definitely room for improvement.
Almost goes without saying, but feel free to hit me up with pictures or questions if you're trying to identify what you have.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Oh, you know we'll be in touch!
Though, TBH this car is probably getting parked in a corner for a year or so. Too many projects and too little time at the moment.
Tom Suddard said:..Here's an interesting thing I realized: I have thousands of miles behind the wheel of modified NA Miatas, but I'd never driven a stock one more than a few miles...
I had a similar experience earlier this year. Chronicled in this thread -> Link
Yeah, that's definitely a fair summary.
One thing that caught me off guard immediately: I forgot how numerically high the rear-end ratio on the 1.6 cars is. This car was spinning 4200 rpm at 80 mph. 
Tom Suddard said:Yeah, that's definitely a fair summary.
One thing that caught me off guard immediately: I forgot how numerically high the rear-end ratio on the 1.6 cars is. This car was spinning 4200 rpm at 80 mph.
I don't think I've ever driven a Miata on the highway but that's spinning right along. Of course, the speed limit was still 55 in the US when that car was built.
Miata owners have been asking us about "why does the engine spin so fast on the highway??" for over 30 years :) But the cars don't mind.
It was like that in countries with other speed limits as well, like Germany. And the 1999-05 5-speeds had the same rear end ratio.
Keith Tanner said:They always corner on the stops, but tired dampers mean you spend more time slamming into them unnecessarily. Also makes them a little more oversteery.
Showroom stock, that's a series we need to come back.
Yup, there were some unique driving techniques in corners with big bumps.
I daily drove the car; I'd love to have the car back to run as a SSC car at vintage races. It had a couple of podium finishes at the RunOffs.
Tom Suddard said:
Been there, brother in law lives in Wallingford
Probably the only roads in the US I might even have a chance of recognising are CT-15 and CT-9.
Which reminds me he recently sold his LT4 Corvette (to Texas), I wonder what he's replacing it with - 6, 7 or 8?
Tom Suddard said:Yeah, that's definitely a fair summary.
One thing that caught me off guard immediately: I forgot how numerically high the rear-end ratio on the 1.6 cars is. This car was spinning 4200 rpm at 80 mph.
Yep, the 4.3 rear diff makes it....busy. I think most of the early cars came with a VLSD rear end but some of them were open. And of the VLSD units built many gave up the ghost over the past 30 years. I just replaced mine prophylactically so I have a spare working VLSD diff if you need it.
Cool road trip!
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