RebekahsZ

Go all the way or don't bother (just my suggestion). Once you have it all apart, you've done most of the work! And stay away from "progressive" springs. Just a gimmick. The softer coils just collapse, effectively giving you a shorter spring.

You may find your instructor smacking your knuckles when you shuffle your hands around the steering wheel!

I will sure try! I'm waiting in line at chassis shop for roll cage work. Been waiting a while....

My car is gutted awaiting rollbar upgrades. So it will be a trailer queen that gets pushed into a spot. Maybe I will have an act together for racing 3 years from now. Coming in landspeed configuration.

We gonna see you at Z Attack?

Simply awesome.

Maybe I could trade them an M14....or a kidney.

Several of us have interest in the S-1 system, but can't figure out how to order one, or if they ever made it into production.

Welcome back from the dead! You've been missed. That wasn't even fair! What kinda times was the roadster running?

The issue of sound control is really affecting the hot rodders who autocross. SCCA (and many road courses) is having to enforce noise limit (dB)standards. When I was autocrossing, I had to pedal the car when in proximity to the dB meter. If I were to really pursue autocross, I imagine my fix would be (either to run a stock Miata in stock class, or) to mount a huge (like 4' long) RV muffler cross-wise from the rear bumper mounts external to the car. Something I could install with v-bands the night before the race. I don't know if it would be better to direct the outlet straight toward the sky, straight back, or straight at the ground.... but getting scolded for having a car that sounded as good as it looked and ran (perhaps with a better driver) really sucked the fun out of hanging with the SCCA crowd. It's not their fault-they are just doing what they gotta do to keep the facility.

I did only one race last year. I've fallen off pace lately.

If you re-cut your rear flares, put jackstands under the front to level the car. I had mine jacked up just in back like your photo, and my flares are rotated toward the rear a little and it looks "off" now that it is on level ground. All because the car was sitting at a nose-down attitude when I drilled for the mounting bolts. Longer coilover springs are available on Speedway.com for $55 each. Just figure out how much you need to raise the car and order longer springs.

Hard to believe that is the same car, Rob.

To reduce noise, go to shortie headers if cast iron won't fit and reduce pipe diameter. I'm building a street rod and after how loud my truck is with long tube headers and 3" exhaust, I'm going with cast manifolds and probably 2" dual exhaust with a crossover. After a while, loud is just...loud.

Its OK. The after-market spring is shorter than the stock spring. You just need to be careful lowering the car to be sure the spring settles onto the perch squarely. Once the weight of the car is on it, all should be well.

R200.

Is that the ride height you plan to run? I wouldn't install the flares till your ride height is established.

I used JTR headers. Still had to trim the flange a little to clear my exhaust. The QT bellhousing is big. And mine needed indexing dowels.

Got the door bars cut out this weekend. What a messy job. Gonna let roll cage guy know that I'm ready to get in line for his magic.

Dave has a new kit out-call him. I bought the new kit, but haven't installed it so I can't comment. I'm in the middle of another project.

That looks great!

Speedwaymotors.com.

Everybody I know (1 guy) who has used a CTSV tranny has regretted it. The driveshaft yoke is weird.

If road racing, I'd get the 2.66 version. I'm getting the 2.97 version for the .75 5th gear for landspeed. I probably won't have the power to pull anything lower, like the .63 or .5. It would be cool for me to have a .86 5th and a .75 6th, but I don't think they can do it that way. I guess with shorter tires I might be able to use the .63 but the .5 is just dead weight. Of note: the T56 uses a 26 spline output shaft and the Magnum uses a 31 spline output shaft, so upgrading means ya gotta buy a new slip yoke. It's tough to have a car that is best at everything. Best bet is to pick something and get to the track!

The 98-2002 Camarillo/Firebird is your best bet. The GTO tranny fits equally as well but you need a $30 part (offset lever) to convert the shifter. The GTO trans is stronger and has a lower 1st and second gears (lower than optimal) than the Camaro version. Also, the Camaro version is better supported by repair vendors like Liberty or RSM for modifications like dog rings and face plating. Probably the best new tranny is gonna be a brand new T56 Magnum but the tail housing has to be switched to the Camaro tail housing to put the shifter in proper location, which is something Liberty can do for a fee. You probably don't need 6th gear-a 5 speed is probably adequate. Go to Tremec's site and you can see the different gear ratio options available in the T56 magnum. I'd pick one with the smallest numbers for gears 1 & 2, and the largest gears for 5 & 6 (you don't need a .5 6th ratio for a road course car. I bet gears 3 & 4 are the same for all of them.