suggestions to revitalize this news group?

Good point! Chris

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Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo
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But not as much fun ;-)

Chris

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Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

You're a modern man my friend ;-) I'm more in line with Pat on this. I don't have time to do half what I want to in life and I don't want to spend a whole bunch of time doing any one thing. This group has always been interesting / entertaining (to some degree ;-) w/o requiring a bunch of time to keep up with.

Everybody needs to feel comfortable posting anything interesting AND Miata related. Hopefully they do.

Chris

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Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

I'm all into Colin Chapmans adding lightness philosophy :)

I'd like just a bit more pep on the straights

Reply to
Domagoj Bagaric

"Bruno, Copenhagen - Denmark" wrote in message news:i02vj3$1u8$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org...

Thanks Bruno. I don't mind saying that our 'relationship' (I tell my wife that in my 40's I finally got my first pen-pal ;-) has been one of my favorite things to come from the use of this group! It's been great to learn a bit about Denmark and to discuss just about EVERYTHING, as I feel we have. I can say the same of Pat, difference is, he and I have seen each other's ugly mugs in person ;-)

Let's keep her going! Ya, at least as the volume has decreased, the crap and spam hasn't hugely increased.

Later, Chris

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Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

I guess I can understand that but to me the straights are where I slow down and cruise at 70~80 to the next curve. Just an opportunity to get a ticket w/o the reward of the drive that the curves give you. From what I see most people looking for big power are never satisfied. Somebody can always out run them and it's a battle that costs allot to win ;-) Good luck in your quest.

Chris

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Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

Ditto here. I'll actually drive the speed limit down the straights. There's no fun in going faster.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

My primary care physician is somewhat of a car nut. The cardiologist is a non risk taker.

A "good" time is between 14 and 13.5. 14.5+ if off the line wheel spin or hop is excessive, missed a clean gear change,etc. You get to third gear very rapidly, then it's a bit for another gear change. Also, the mixture was slightly richer than needed, and the retard under boost about 2-3 Deg. more than it needed to be. Not great, and would be better with a lot of work to the drive train, not to mention that it was over thirty years since I ran anything on a drag strip before the 99's runs.

Much faster ~12.5, and the strip rules imposed a hard top and or a real roll bar. The Drag strippers do quite a bit better today, and can get close to 300HP with a modified internals turbo'd 1.8 engine. (How long it lasts is another story)

Drag racing is not a drive train friendly endeavor. So, other than just seeing what the car will do, I've stuck to SCCA autocross, when I feel like it! Actually, the lower HP helps by promoting smoothness, rather than using sheer power in autocross. The "drifters" like the sheer power from a turbo to help with tire trashing and smoke generation.

There is a stock V8 Camaro owner out there still wondering how a stock looking Miata nailed him at a Camaro day on the drag strip.

We installed the turbo & stuff in a shop owned by one of the Camaro club officers (who also owns a 93 NA, and just wanted to see what the results were like at the strip)

Reply to
Chuck

A ticket, what is that?

When I got my last ticket about 6 years ago, it was through the curves, where he said he clocked me at 62mph in a 45mph zone. I must have slowed down a bit before I hit ran into his radar, because I had to have been doing at least double the curve speed recommendation of

35mph.

I challenged that one in court and I kid you not, there were 13 defendants there for that traffic court session, and 12 officers did not show up. Mine did, and I changed my plea to a big, fat guilty, as I truly had zero defense. The SODDI defense, "some other dude did it", was not going to fly very far that day.

The last radar detector I owned was a passport back in the late 1980's. I used to average one or two speeding tickets a year. Now I am at just one ticket in over 15 years, knock on sheet metal. ;-)

Pat

Reply to
pws

There are some great people on here. I still want to meet up with Frank and drive his MSM one day. Meeting some of the other "regulars" would be cool too.

Pat

Reply to
pws

I am running 10 psi. I have thought about building the engine up and taking it to 12 to 15 psi, but there is really no reason to do so for myself, the car is already so much faster than what I need it to be.

I have been pleasantly surprised by how reliable the car has remained. In almost 6 years, the only problems were a defective timing belt that broke at less than 30K miles, and one magnetic crank sensor that failed.

My total repair costs for this miata over nearly 6 years has been less than $200.00, though of course that is with me doing the labor myself. It now needs some things like a new clutch cylinder, but nothing related to the engine or drivetrain.

I even kept my low-mileage 5-speed transmission from my 1996 model to replace this original one if it breaks, but even at 153,000 miles and a lot more power than stock, it is still shifting nicely.

Pat

Reply to
pws

I can see why people add power to a miata, it's is still fun to drive a fast car fast, especially on a track, but you are correct in that it really has enough for almost every realistic situation.

Still, if the power can be used, it is not like it takes anything away from the car. It is still very fun, just a lot faster to accelerate.

It feels much more like driving a car with a big engine. That can be a plus or a minus, and 5 to 6 years in, I have still not made a decision on what I like better.

I think that getting the Mazdaspeed Miata and the NC PRHT may be the only reasonable solution. Then I can just make the choice of turbo or not on a daily basis. :-)

Pat

Reply to
pws

My offer of a test drive still stands. With my wife's recent hip replacement surgery and a monster project due at work next week (first draft, anyway), I've had no time to think about mods. I know for sure I need to soften the ride. Whether I can do that with the stock Racing Harts just by chaniging tires isn't clear to me. I like your SSRs. Did you say something about a swap?

Reply to
Frank Berger

I agree, please send me the necessary funds.

Reply to
XS11E

I second that emotion!

Pass it around Pat!

cd

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Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

You can't help but love these cars!

Chris

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Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

Cool! I still need to get tires, change my diff. and transmission fluid, register it, and have it inspected, then it will be good to go.

I REALLY need to do this asap, as that automatic Honda Accord is boring the hell out of me, but at least I won't have heatstroke this summer.

Do you have a floor jack and stands? If we swapped my SSR's onto your car, with the fresh set of RE-11's, you could then drive it and see if the difference is enough to warrant the expense of going with lighter wheels and in this case, different tires.

You would get a chance to test those specific tires that are Lanny's current favorites as well.

I am about halfway there on the tires, just need to keep saving my pennies, plus I have a MSM and a NC PRHT to buy for myself, XS11E, and Chris D. so far! ;-)

Thanks!

Pat

Reply to
pws

Pat, I'm partial to the Liquid Silver Metallic for the PRHT.

I see the Mazda Speed has gone back to the 1.8 liter engine of previous MSMs, cost maybe? Liquid Silver Metallic for that one also please.

Reply to
XS11E

No jack, no stands. I might be able to borrow them. I'll check. Actually, I thought you were proposing a permanent swap. Not sure about the marget value of your SSRs vs. my Racing Harts. Similar, I think. At the moment, I'm leaning toward the Konig Feather/T1R package. Good looking enough and good enough performing for my purposes for a reasonable amount of money. Leaves something over for other mods.. I'm getting the hang of shifting the

6-speed, but it's still a bitch.
Reply to
Frank Berger

You have hit on one of my two favorite colors, black being the other, (for the .2 seconds that it stays clean after a wash), and a near-black blue is up there in the running as well, along with a good shade of white, but silver may be my all-time favorite color for a car.

I know that the 2nd two generations of Miata/MX-5 do not fit you well like the NA does, but it sounds like you may be warming up to the looks of them.

I had to do that with all three of major variations. When the car came out, I thought it was way too cute looking. When the 1999 model came out, it seemed like an RX-7 wanna-be, and the NC just looked like a bloated beast to me.

Now, I fully retract all of those negative opinions and I love all of the Miata/MX-5 models in looks and almost everything else.

Ideally, I would keep my current 1991 model, then get either a 1999 10AE or a 2004-2005 MSM before next summer, and add the NC with PRHT in 4 to

6 years, probably a nice 2009 to 2012 model with low miles.

Considering how much less that total cost would be than so many single vehicles, the idea is not that crazy, except maybe for this pauper know as Pat.........

Later,

Pat

Reply to
pws

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