The internet has a way of making direct answers challenging to find and unnecessarily complicated. Unsurprisingly, removing the power steering from a Mazda Miata is no exception. The back-and-forth on the pros and cons is confusing and somewhat comical. That is why I am here to say resolutely that...
I have been building and racing racecars for a long time, and one of my favorite things is removing unnecessary crap. In a 1.6l equipped Miata that spends its life at wide open throttle, the ISC or Idle Speed Control System just so happens to fall into that category. In this guide, I am going to...
The hardtop on the Miata is one of my targets for weight reduction on the Super Touring 6 Miata. During the last round of extreme weight reduction on the racecar, I did some testing to try and determine what effect, aside from an 11-lb weight reduction, running without the rear glass would have...
Getting the Super Touring 6 Miata down another 130 pounds is no simple task. In part 1, I laid out a plan of attack that I started at the most recent Nashville Superspeedway event. I brought my scales to document the weights, and although I may have looked like a maniac with a Sawzall in the...
Last year, I converted the 1.6-liter NA Spec Miata to run in the Super Touring 6 class with NASA. This power-to-weight ratio class allowed me to shed the weight of the underpowered racecar aggressively. The result was a 2230-lb racecar with the driver, a reduction of 45 lbs. from the Spec Miata...
I wanted to simplify the intake path on the Miata as soon as I converted it to Super Touring 6. After fruitless research yielded conflicting results and very little non-anecdotal data, I decided to hack my own system together. The result is the shortest intake possible while retaining the factory...
The old adage goes something like this: You can build your car fast, cheap, and reliable. Now, pick two. This principle seems to hold true with racecars and most things in life. But occasionally, a product comes along that seems to laugh in the face of this principle. I actually got excited when I...
In the previous Failure Points segment, I discussed a recent front wheel bearing failure on the Super Touring 6 Miata. This failure was abrupt, and there was no indication of issues before the session. And as promised, here are the steps to replace the front wheel bearings on the Miata. A...
The harsh environment of the racetrack pushes a car right to its limit and beyond. As such, racecar failures are bound to happen in many different ways. Failure Points is a new series that dissects these moments and what to do when things go wrong. This time it is the front wheel bearing of the...
One of the things I have enjoyed about my foray into Super Touring racing with NASA is the open rule book. Building a car to a power to weight instead of the strict rules that go along with Spec racing. This has opened up many engineering possibilities and things I would like to try. One of those...
The little 1.6-liter engine in the NA6 Miata moves too much. This engine movement, combined with soft factory differential bushings, contributes to a lot of drivetrain movement.
The now ST6 Miata has had some serious electrical gremlins from day one. Intermittent starting issues, random fuel cuts, and erratic idling to name a few. I knew at some point I would rewire the car completely. What I didn’t anticipate however, is that I would give the rewire a first pass...
