The Targa Miata

Targa Miata clothes have arrived!

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:26:56 -0600

If you want to get a high-quality t-shirt or sweatshirt and show that you're a fan of the coolest rally Miata around, now's your chance. I had to wait until I saw the quality of the sample shirt, but it's good stuff. It's not only a heavy, high-quality shirt but the printing is perfect. Can't say the same about the out-of-focus picture, of course...
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Our NASA rally licenses are here!

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:13:31 -0600

Yes, the same licenses we took the class for back in February. I didn't send in the paperwork for a while, but it took about two months for the licenses to arrive. After all that, they're only good until the end of 2008. Oh well, now we have the qualifications required!

I haven't had the chance to do much work on the car for the past week due to Real Life getting in the way.

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:36:56 -0600

But the good news is that it's actually getting pretty close to being ready. My to-do list on the whiteboard is getting shorter and more trivial. There are still some logistical questions to be answered such as getting the car to Newfoundland (time to do a little work on the trailer) and how we do everything when we're there, but it's coming along.
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I needed a place to stash the safety triangles where they're both out of the way and easily accessible.

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:07:33 -0600

I was thinking of putting them on the rear shelf, but finally decided to put them under Janel's legs. The velcro is riveted to the floor and they're nice and secure, but immediately accessible.
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And voila, the finished rear deck.

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:02:34 -0600

The black piece is the stock sheetmetal, painted because it was really nasty looking. As usual for the Targa Miata, it was rescued from a salvage car. The Unbottles are strapped down and all the openings are closed up in the deck.
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While I was working on the rear shelf, I decided to move the Camelbaks back there.

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:02:34 -0600

They're more accessible now and I have a little more hose available. Velcro straps are riveted or bolted to the rear deck, and those slip through loops in the Camelbak "Unbottles". It holds the Unbottles in place quite nicely and they're fairly easily accessible. They'll boil in the hot sun around here, but that's unlikely to be a major problem in Newfoundland.

Showing off my mad fabrication skills, I made a plate to cover the removed steel from the rear deck.

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:58:57 -0600

I used a cardboard template (underneath the box'o'rivets), cut out the plate and riveted it into place. To add a little bit of provenance, I made the plate out of an old piece of the Seven.

One of the rules - a fairly common one for racing - says that the fuel tank needs to be isolated from the cockpit by a sheet metal barrier.

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:58:57 -0600

The tank's under that bulge in the middle, and it is isolated. But I've had people point to that bulge in the past and state it is a safety hazard. In order to avoid any potential unpleasantness at scrutineering , I decided to close this area up a bit.
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I got myself a new set of safety triangles.

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:29:21 -0600

The last set I picked up were unbelievably heavy - and they proved to be remarkably pervasive when I was looking for others. In Europe, there are many options for safety triangles. In the US, there appears to be one model that rules the marketplace. After a lot of hunting, I found a website with exactly what I wanted, and placed an order.
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To mount the tow strap, I welded a triangular plate to the frame arm.

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:28:25 -0600

There's a Grade 8 bolt passed through the plate and welded in as well. A 2.5" hole in the bumper cover and voila! a tow strap. I think it should work pretty nicely, actually, and it added less weight to the car than a bolt-on tow loop.
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I've been trying to figure out how to mount a rear tow hook to the car.

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:28:25 -0600

I cleverly took the frame extensions that hold the tie-down hooks off over a year ago, and this made things a little more difficult for me. I can't just bolt on a normal tow loop.
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I had the car aligned today.

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:22:49 -0600

I had a 9 am appointment and the car went on to the (empty) rack at 10. Sigh. Still, by 11:30 it was all lined up and looks to be a decent job. The right front wheel wouldn't give any more than 1.4 degrees of negative camber, which is a bit of a shame. I was hoping for about 0.5 degrees more. It could very well be my ride height, of course. According to the Spec Miata Constructor's Manual, I should be able to do a bit better. But I know from hanging out with certain Spec racers that it's not unusual for the upper control arm to be accidentally and carefully bent a bit, giving more camber. Good book, by the way.
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After our sore butts following the 12-hour MG rally, I ordered some new padding for the bottom of the seats.

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:22:49 -0600

The blue pad is a "backsaver" pad from Pegasus Racing. It's another type of memory foam, but very different to play with. It's firmer than the original cheap bedtopper I was using before, and almost feels like a gel pad when you try to push it sideways. Weird stuff.

I swapped out all the control arms for new ones this weekend, as planned.

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:17:40 -0600

I'll get it aligned on Wednesday, then we'll see what effect this has on the car. It does appear that I have more negative camber up front, which is good. Not very much of it, but more.
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I put the car on the cornerweight scales last night.

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:32:35 -0600

No surprise, the right rear was the lightest corner of the car. That's how Miatas are. But it wasn't extreme, and the cross weights were actually pretty good.
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With a nice long list of things to do on the whiteboard in the garage, I decided to do something else.

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:17:26 -0600

I've had a box full of cams sitting in the garage for a couple of months now. It's time to give them a shot.
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I don't know why I didn't do this earlier.

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:17:26 -0600

On 1994-05 Miatas, there's a plate that covers a big open area above the radiator. The Targa car didn't have one - and even the stock ones wouldn't be ideal, as they leave room for a hood latch.
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Hot.

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:52:37 -0600

It's a toasty day outside today (about 83F/28C) and the temperature inside the car was getting pretty warm on track. As I mentioned earlier, it's a hot little track to run. But even driving home it was warm. According to my pyrometer, the driver's footwell was 145F (68C). Obviously the ambient temperature will be lower during the Targa, but I am going to be generating lots of heat and I'm a bit concerned about some of the parts on the transmission tunnel. The intercom is right on top of it and is warm to the touch, while the brake proportioning valve is also getting the worst of it. So I think I'm going to find myself some adhesive heatshielding and see if I can cut down on the tunnel temperature from underneath.

Testing results.

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:52:37 -0600

The influx of hot air seems to have succumbed to my patching and the car no longer smells like exhaust fumes. So that's good.
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I spent some time patching up holes.

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:44:27 -0600

I think the exhaust fumes were affecting us pretty badly in the car on the way home. Cracking the windows open actually caused a problem, as it would pull air into the car from all the holes in the transmission tunnel. Very hot air. I usually drive the car fully closed up or with the windows fully open, so I'd never noticed this before. It's easy enough to fix. Small holes got rivets, big holes got rubber plugs.
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