The Miata experience: his and hers.

That muffler is amazing. 

Muffler glamour shots??  

Went for a drive with some P car friends after our local C&C this morning.

I rode with my friend who owns the red GT3, and he let me drive the return leg.  What a fabulous car! 

It's nice to have friends in that tax bracket...

Rodan said:

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

Black radiates heat more than lighter colors. 

Not sure if you're saying the muffler being black is good, or bad?

Less heat being radiated from the muffler would mean conserving the heat within the muffler instead of radiating it to the clamp. More heat retained within the system also means less expansion of the exhaust gas, so better flow (the reason for wrapping headers). 
 

Certainly there's engineers on this site that can comment. I'm rendering opinion, and am by no means an expert. 

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

Ok, I understand what you're saying.  That said, the heat problems existed before the muffler was painted black, so I doubt it's a significant contributor.

Finally joined the Wang Gang...

Back in April, I ordered a Singular Motorsports wing.  The original expected ship date passed, plus another six weeks.... I still didn't have an ETA.  So I changed course and changed the order to a Nine Lives Racing wing.  Kudos for great customer service from Goodwin Racing.

Got a big box yesterday which contained a nicely packed wing, endplates, hardware and uprights.

They put these nice ply endplates on for shipping, which also are handy during install, as the wing never touches what it's sitting on.  I wouldn't be surprised if they updated these to carbon fiber to save money on future wings.

Great kit, and simple install.  Just a couple minor quality control gripes...  first, the wedge spacers that keep the uprights straight when bolted to the tapered trunk opening were slightly off-size

Not a huge deal, as it's not a precision part.  Also the 'logo' cut into the endplates was pretty nasty, with lots of sharp and pointy burrs.

Finally, the .pdf instructions linked on NLR's site show the wedges installed backwards.  I've got a call into them on that, but haven't heard back.

Anyway, not a difficult installation.  I had picked up a fiberglass trunk lid in anticipation of notching the lid for the wing uprights, and that was nice and easy.  All told, ~2hrs install time working without hurrying.

I'll try to get some better overall pics over the next couple of days.

Took some better pics on the way to C&C this morning.

Lots of jokes about the wing being a perfect place to set a coffee cup!  

I've been following your thread for a long time. Your car looks like a ton of fun. The wing looks great too.

Thanks!

Got some vinyl on the wing today.  Just basic black to protect the aluminum from the elements.

Now I need to get the trunk painted.  I was going to paint the top red at the same time, but my wife likes it in white, so I'll leave it gel coat for now.

My FJ-09 left with its new owner last night, so some good things should be happening with the NA.   First time in 25+ years I haven't owned a motorcycle.

This morning, I dropped the trunk lid off with the paint shop.  I had originally planned to do the hardtop at the same time, but my wife insisted I leave it white, so it's staying in gel coat for now.

Today I stopped by the storage yard to grab something out of the trailer.  Glad I did, as I discovered a nasty storm we had through the area yesterday did some serious hail damage.  Most of the damage was on the right side, but every panel has damage.  Broke the roof vent, so I had to run back out with some plastic and duct tape to seal things up until I can get a new vent to install...  really didn't need to deal with this right now.

I have comprehensive coverage on the trailer, but I'm not sure what's even involved with fixing something like this.  Need to make some calls...

Some calls on the trailer got a ballpark of $7k to fix...  (basically replacing every exterior panel, including the roof!).  Working on getting a claim put in.  

The same storm, though less severe at our house, finished of the HF canopy covering the Capri.  Guess I need to step up the plans for a more permanent carport... 

So the HF shelter made it 22 months.  Not bad for AZ... the environment here is pretty destructive.

Personally I'd take the money and not get the trailer fixed.  It'll get better mpg with the golf ball dimples!

In reply to docwyte :

The aerodynamic benefit of golf ball dimples did actually occur to me... LOL.  Didn't Mythbusters do an episode on that with a car? 

In reply to Rodan :

Yep!

NA parts starting to arrive...

A couple of weeks ago, everyone on our street started getting nastygrams from the Post Office about their mailbox height.  Apparently the local supervisor was covering the route, and decided everyone was outside the regs... even those of us who aren't.

My next door neighbor asked me to build him a mailbox post like the one I had built for ours a few years back.  He paid for the steel, and I fabbed it up for him yesterday.

Cell phone pic is pretty distorted, but it will be much like ours, in the foreground, replacing his, circled in the background.

In other news, FedEx just showed up.

Yeah, baby... 

so do you have to modify/change your mailbox? and is your neighbor going for the short-reach style now?

regarding the more important new posts, that looks like a lot of goodness about to grace the old girl....

Shiny spinny bits and the Kraken.   Nice!

In reply to jfryjfry :

I got a nasty gram, but at 43", my mailbox is square in the middle of the 41-45" height specified on the USPS website.  They're gonna have a fight if they expect me to change mine.

The perspective is skewed by my phone's camera... from the vertical post to the mailbox end it's 7ft.  Direct replacement for the one in the pic, except not falling over.  

Picked up the trunk from the paint shop today.  I don't think I could have bought the materials for what they charged me.  And for the first time in 40 odd years of playing with cars, I got something back from paint when originally promised!

Aero glamour shots, now that the trunk is painted.

I was originally planning to paint the top at the same time as the trunk, but my wife insisted we leave it white...  not sure I love it, but it does look OK, I think.  Maybe add some kind of design...??

Not too much going on here lately.  Got the insurance estimate back on the trailer... $7600... minus my deductible.  Taking it to the trailer repair shop next week to see if his quote is going to be covered by the insurance estimate.

Dodged the rain at CnC this morning... small turnout because of the threatening weather.  Bunch of pansies... I've got no windows and slicks, and I still made it.  

I went by the storage yard later to pick up some gear out of the trailer so I don't have to unload all of it later... I ran that errand about 20 minutes too late, and came home to this:

What's up Roden This thread is just amazing and I have a few questions Regarding how you wired your VVT in your NB1. I am doing the same swap Could you shoot me an email or text?