You raise a good point. The first box of these that Enkei sent us were mismarked as 38mm offset and that is what you see on my 2006. We got that fixed and what you see on the gray 2006 is the proper 45mm offset.

They make a 45mm 17x9 in the same wheel that we can get...but not a 17x9.5

How do you feel it at Autox?
How's its stability?
Dont you think that 18's are a little big for this engine?
Sorry for so many questions.Newb

I really want to know if i can compare this car and the S2k with wide wheels and all suspension components? (whos better on twisties?. better driving feel, best jinba ittai)etc.

The overall diameter is all that matters....the fact that rims themselves are 18 inches or 17 is not relevant. We went 18s because of the race tire sizes available that are close to stock diameter, and those choices are better in 18 inch than they are in 17 inch.

Since the gray car is (or was as it stands now) mine, I can comment.

As Brian stated, the fact that I'm running 18s is because of tire sizing. The stock NC sizing is either 205/50/16 or 205/45/17. There aren't really any tire sizes available in either a 16 or 17 that closely match the stock diameter in Kumhos which is what I run. When I was looking at what size wheels to get, I looked at total diameter of the different tire sizes and noted that there were two LARGE sizes in 18s that would work. Both the 245/35/18 (which is what I have on in the picture that everyone has seen) and the 285/30/18 are with in 1/2" of the stock diameter, which is pretty darned close.

So far, I've only run the car with the 245s and the car worked quite well. I did have to roll the rear fenders and got a very minor amount of rubbing at the front. It mostly just worked through the fender liner at the top lip of the fender.

Since I'll be campaigning an NC in CSP this year, I knew that I needed to update to a 5 speed transmission, as the gray car was a 6 speed. In checking pricing of transmissions, I decided on a lark to check into just buying a new car with the 5 speed and then put in an LSD. As it turned out, thanks to Pinnacle Mazda here in Renton, WA, I was able to work a deal that got me an '07 5 speed for a deal that I couldn't pass up. So, now I just need to get either a stock LSD or the Mazdaspeed unit. Not sure yet which way to go, but I'm researching as to what exactly are the differences between the two.

In any case, I'm planning to run 285/30/18s on the car. Since it will likely require some cutting of the front fenders, I'm going to buy two new fenders and do the dirty work on those. I'll be sure to post pictures when I get into this a little more. Hopefully the tires will be on the way this week.

I'll also get a new picture posted tomorrow of the new car with the Enkeis. The new car is Stormy Blue Mica, so you'll be able to see how they look on that color. I have to imagine that it's going to be at least as sexy as the Galaxy Gray was, and am pretty sure it's going to be even better.

For those that want to see more of what I'm doing, you can check out my website at http://www.bauerspeedracing.com/autocross/ourcar.htm .

One other thing to keep in mind is that the weight of the Enkei's is about the same as the stock wheels, so the overall combo of the wheel/tire should be pretty close to stock, meaning that we're getting all the extra grip at no expense of acceleration/braking/etc. I'll try to weigh the 18s vs. the stock 16s tomorrow as well.

Ron

Thanks for the great update Ron...looking forward to your progress.

In your webpage you said that "cars can take advantage of different parts from different cars, as long as they're all considered to be the same".

Why dont you try a 2.3 Mzr engine?
or a 2.3 Disi engine?
or use the Disi head in the 2.0?

Its worth the try... and if pinnacle mazda is helping you maybe they have one of those engines(the ones they keep in warranty) for fitment issues .

Just a opinion.

If i remember correctly i read that for the swap:
you had to replace the front engine cover with the mazdaspeed6 one
had to custom made a header
remove balance shaft system
use mx-5 oil pan and some other stuff.
If you are interested i can get you the other stuff that it said that you had to change from the 2.0 to the 2.3 engine.

But what you had to buy its the mazdaspeed6 cover and the header.
The other stuff was change it to from one engine to the other.

darvo,

I was hoping that the way I wrote that would help people understand that there were still limitations, but it's kind of hard to explain the whole rule in a short format.

Basically, different cars are listed separately in the rule book. Because some cars are similar over a number of model years, they are all listed on one "line" in the classing.

For instance, the '90-'05 Miata are all very similar as they're platform was the same. As you'll note, the '99 and up cars looked different than the earlier cars, but the engine were mounted the same and they all used the same transmission, etc. This allowed a number of things to be done with these cars. The hot ticket so far has been taking a early Miata ('90 - '94) and putting in a '99 motor. In 2003 there was a Club Sport Miata that came with your choice of a hardtop and no softtop, or a softtop only. Because of this, any year Miata could delete their softtop.

For my car, it's not so easy. The only cars listed on the line for the NC in the rulebook is the '06+ MX-5. At this point, the only motor that has been available is the one that's in the car. Therefore, I don't have the options available to me that you're speaking of.

It's also useful to note that the Mazdaspeed Miata of '04-'05 is listed separately in the rulebook, so the CSP Miatas can't use that motor/turbo setup.

Does that make a little more sense?

Ron

Hi Ron,

Hope I'm not digressing too much off topic here, but I noticed on your website that your CSP car had the thicker rx-8 front sways and NO rear sway bars. Would this not cause massive understeer on the car? Did you set the car up specifically to handle like that? I just assumed that someone would want the car to be slightly more tail happy especially in Auto-X. OR.... is it because of the higher grip levels of the NC, that the snap in the rear is just that little more uncontrollable such that you've removed the rear sways so that you can trail brake a little more aggressively to get the rear to whip out in a slower, more controllable manner?

Just wanna ask for your opinion/impression of some of the handling characteristics of the car. I've got the MS/Eibach sways and I'm still trying to gather as much information as I can on them before installation. I'm already on coilovers and the car (IMO) is handling quite neutral.

Thanks.
FF

New car with Enkeis....

fluid fish,

The reason I'm running the rear bar disconnected is because it was oversteering quite a bit with it connected. I'm going to be playing with alignment, and of course the bigger tires, so I may end up reconnecting it at some point.

I think the main issue is my spring rates. The fronts might need to be a little stiffer yet.

I'll continue to update the website with information as I go.

Ron

Yes it did make a lot of sense to me.
Thank You and Brian
For all your help.
Good luck in your project cars.

Wow...that's Smokin Hot Ron. I like the new color.

Any other pics of this car (or another with the same tire/wheel setup)?

Another question..

Here in Puerto Rico having a 30 or 35 tire will be a massacre for any wheel.

Can you recommend a setup with the 18x9.5 or 17x9 with street tires that will work.
Lets say a 255/40/17 or wider tire? taller.. something thats close to the stock diameter or same. Dont delete the 18x9.5 option(the wider the better)
you are the experts..
What can u recommend?
Sorry for so many questions