D Prepared Build Thread

[aMaff]

Nice. I just came upon this thread. How much were the wheels?

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/c...ries_82_Wheels
~$220 each or so. Considering the weight, strength and decent looks of these wheels in an odd backspace / bolt pattern / hub bore combo (good luck finding a 13x7, 4x100, 4" BS wheel that's hubcentric on a miata), well worth it IMO

-Gut the dash (eventually remove it and replace with a light 'cover')
When I got rid of Kluge, I kept the dash. I gutted it completly of the metal frame and now it's just a plastic shell. Only weighs a couple of pounds. I'd recommend when the cage goes in to make a bracket/mount for the gauges to mount on the 'dash bar' instead of the dash itself since it is so flimzy that it will vibrate all over when you're racing.

Yep, that's the idea. Once it's fully caged, the "dash" will be gone in favor of a light weight cowl cover.

-The carbon canister for the evap system (any reason should keep that?)
Nope, unless you want to be a green racer.. Are you going with an aftermarket ECU or is that not allowed?

Yeah, it's definitely getting MegaSquirted

[MiaTurbo]

Where are you getting your steering disconnect from? I need one too, but kinda lazy looking, lol. www.miatacage.com has one that threads right on the Miata steering shaft.

[aMaff]

Gotcha. I can't tell what bolt pattern the one on MiataCage is. I got mine from ISC Racing (http://www.iscracing.net/accessories.html). It's a 3 bolt pattern, and you need a MiataCage adapter to fit it to a Momo bolt pattern wheel. I'll let you know how I like the ISC one. From talking to Mike at ISC, it fits onto the stock splines and bolts on. It'll fit a 3 bolt pattern steering wheel with no adapter (think circle track wheels). FWIW, the reason he recommended the MiataCage adapter is that, according to him, they sell them for less than it would cost ISC to develop and make one lol. I should have it in the next few days, probably test it later this week or early next week and I'll let you know what I think.


EDIT: Just saw it on their diagram. MiataCage's quick disconnect is also a 3 bolt design, and will require that adapter as well to fit either 5 bolt Grant Style or 6 bolt Momo-pattern steering wheels

EDIT#2: There are cheaper alternatives out there, no question, but I tend to trust these that the guys who design and sell them use on their own race cars every weekend than the ones you see on e-bay.

[MiaTurbo]

yeah, the 3 bolt pattern is pretty much the universal part. I don't think i've seen an off the shelf one yet that will bolt to a 5/6 bolt wheel without an adapter.

BTW, I didn't see you mention it, but you've probably seen it: Since you're getting rid of the headlights, ISC has a 1 piece hood that's lighter than the stock piece

[aMaff]

yeah, the 3 bolt pattern is pretty much the universal part. I don't think i've seen an off the shelf one yet that will bolt to a 5/6 bolt wheel without an adapter.

They're out there (fleabay), but they're pretty questionable to me.

BTW, I didn't see you mention it, but you've probably seen it: Since you're getting rid of the headlights, ISC has a 1 piece hood that's lighter than the stock piece

Yes, I have seen it. But it's $325. For about $25 I can make some brackets and use automotive epoxy to "attach" the barndoors to the hood, and use a dremmel to cut out the hood reinforcements. It won't be AS pretty, but it a) won't need to be repainted, and b) will save money for other stuff. Chances are I'll eventually get that hood, or one like it, but starting off this will work.

[MiaTurbo]

Well, excluding those "NRG" ones on flebay. Those require a separate adapter to mount it to the steering shaft to begin with. I was thinking about getting one to see, but they are questionable in design and I knew I wouldn't like it: instead of splines, or a hex-shaft, they use 6 spring loaded ball bearings to hold it in place. But what i really didn't like about them is the release lever is a sleeve and doesn't have the flange part sticking out that would be easy to grab. I'd imagine in an emergency situation, it would be an issue trying to get a firm hold of the sleeve while trying to escape a burning car.

[aMaff]

Well, excluding those "NRG" ones on flebay. Those require a separate adapter to mount it to the steering shaft to begin with. I was thinking about getting one to see, but they are questionable in design and I knew I wouldn't like it: instead of splines, or a hex-shaft, they use 6 spring loaded ball bearings to hold it in place. But what i really didn't like about them is the release lever is a sleeve and doesn't have the flange part sticking out that would be easy to grab. I'd imagine in an emergency situation, it would be an issue trying to get a firm hold of the sleeve while trying to escape a burning car.

Yeah, those are the ones to which I'm referring, and that was one of the big issues I had with the design as well.

[Raider]

Simple an awesome thread, and I am fully jealous!

[aMaff]

The ISC Quick Release came in today. I'm a fan of the design, but the fit & finish leave a bit to be desired. I realize building a Prepared class car, not everything's going to be bolt on, so a little fab work won't kill me, but when something IS supposed to be bolt on, I usually expect it to be. I had to hog out a couple of the holes between the halves that mount the quick-release hex mount to the steering column adapter out because they weren't drilled just right, but now they fit fine. The only other issue is the bolts that came with the Miata Cage steering wheel adapter aren't the right thread pitch, so I'm going to have to go by the LowesDepot to pick up the right ones. I kinda wish the right ones were just included in with the adapter, but that's not really anyone's fault.

Anyway, pics of how it'll all go together:

The splined adapter that fits onto the steering column splines, and the steering wheel bolt goes over that.


The hex adapter


The quick release


Steering Wheel adapter

[aMaff]

An addendum, now that I've got it mostly set up (still missing the right bolts for the hub adapter, should have those this evening or tomorrow morning):

As I said, I'm fairly impressed with the design, as this is easily, by a long way, the slimmest steering wheel hub / adapter I've seen for the Miata. Most of them move the wheel up at least 3 or 4 inches, plus the depth of the quick release. This one's only about 3/4 inch for the adapter, with the hex bit for the quick release welded right on top of it. The quick release has got like zero play in it that I can find (we'll see how that works once the wheel's on it, but like this, so far no issues). It's a quality piece, it just needs those bolt holes between the steering column and hub adapters lined up properly. Hopefully it's a 1 off issue, but it's a data point.