NC Light

Miata Parts, Intakes, Superchargers, Headers, Exhausts, Shocks, Springs, Sway Bars, Brake Kits, Autocross and track mods.
ronbauer
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Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:56 am
Location: Issaquah, WA
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Re: NC Light

Post by ronbauer »

As promised, my wheel showed up today and I did an initial test fitting tonight when I got home from the requisite Christmas Eve family function.

The first thing I did when I pulled the wheel out of the box was to weigh the wheel. It seems a bit heavy at around 17 pounds, but is certainly robust. It's also a nice looking wheel.

I then took it down to the garage and pulled a front and rear wheel for initial fitting. As previously noted, the two original wheel makers I had talked to (Diamond Racing Wheels and Spinwerks) said their wheels wouldn't fit over the stock brakes, so this was my first concern. The other big concern was whether the wheel would fit over the lower link on the rear suspension.

I mounted the wheel first in the front. It definitely clears the calipers and seems to be a pretty good offset, however due to the shape of the center of the wheel, it will require a spacer of approximately 3/8" (5 mm) to clear the caliper carrier.

Next up I moved it to the rear. It bolted up and appeared to fit completely. However, once I took the e-brake off and tried to spin the wheel, I noticed that it didn't turn as well as it should. I got under the car and took a look at the brakes and the lower link and all of them had clearance. So, the only issue in the back is the same as the front where it will require a spacer, although it would only need a very minimal spacer in the back.

Again, the biggest issue I was concerned about was the lower link in the rear. Let's just say the clearance is tight.... There is only about 1/8" between the link and the wheel! The main thing though is that it does fit!

Next up, I'll have to get some spacers and obviously longer studs. I'll also get one of my tires mounted up and do further fitting to verify everything is good.

More later.
Attachments
REAL wheel fitment.jpg
REAL wheel fitment.jpg (89.77 KiB) Viewed 12942 times
REAL rear wheel clearance.jpg
REAL rear wheel clearance.jpg (90.91 KiB) Viewed 12942 times
REAL wheel.jpg
REAL wheel.jpg (85.59 KiB) Viewed 12942 times
Brian
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Re: NC Light

Post by Brian »

Great stuff Ron, thanks for the update!

For those reading along, that's a 6 inch backspace 16x10 right? And was it Bogart you ended up with?
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
ronbauer
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Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:56 am
Location: Issaquah, WA
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Re: NC Light

Post by ronbauer »

Actually they are REAL Racing Wheels. Sizing is 16x10 with 6" of backspace.

I will most likely get some Bogarts down the road, but these were only $380 each with shipping. I chose to get one to start with to make sure they fit and that my measurements for backspace were good. So far everything is looking good.

Another great thing about REAL is that it only took about a week to build the wheel!

I'll get a tire mounted up this coming week and make sure that the backspace will work. It looks like things might be a bit tight in the rear depending on the inside where the shock/spring go into the body of the car.

Ron
Attachments
A view from the side in the rear
A view from the side in the rear
REAL rear side view.jpg (84.77 KiB) Viewed 12929 times
ronbauer
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Re: NC Light

Post by ronbauer »

Brian or anyone else that knows......

Any idea which part number of ARP studs we need for the '06+ MX-5s?

Ron
jasonMX5
Posts: 69
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:10 am
Location: Sterling VA

Re: NC Light

Post by jasonMX5 »

Thanks for the advice guys, I am going to class the car before I do more work on it. I don't want a supercar class so I guess I will read up more on the classes. If I make it just barely into a class I will just lower the boost to 6 psi to lower my class hp/weight ratio and drop down into the next class down.
2007 NC, 6spd. True Red, BEGi turbocharged. Supporting mods.
jboemler
Posts: 304
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:15 pm
Location: Mukilteo WA

Re: NC Light

Post by jboemler »

Keep reading. What you'll find is that the classes you will want to enter won't allow a turbo at all. There will also be a lot of other restrictions. In racing classes that are based on production cars, you'll find that the race cars are slower than well-prepped street cars.

The other thing to keep in mind is that racing is hard on a car, cosmetically. After a year of road racing, you're not going to have a great-looking car anymore, you're going to have a beaten-up and tattered thing. You'll hit the occasional tire wall, get scraped by debris off-course, get rubbed by the tires of other cars, get wrinkled fenders from them, and once in a while hit a wall nice and hard. Some people can deal with that, and others are rich enough to keep the car nice-looking when it happens. But happen it will. Racing is fundamentally different from lapping in that you're actively battling other drivers -- you're gonna come away scarred.
jasonMX5
Posts: 69
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:10 am
Location: Sterling VA

Re: NC Light

Post by jasonMX5 »

Yeah that's why I'm in a big dilemma, I might just go with NASA time trials after all and do SCCA autocross. Will be reading on the classes for both in depth this weekend. I really like NASA classification a lot. Don't have the money to keep a road race car in good shape hah.
2007 NC, 6spd. True Red, BEGi turbocharged. Supporting mods.
jboemler
Posts: 304
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:15 pm
Location: Mukilteo WA

Re: NC Light

Post by jboemler »

I hear ya about the costs. If AX can float your boat, go for it. I have to tell you, though, that at least for me, road racing is far more satisfying. The element of other drivers with you, and the closeness of the cars, makes it just far more exciting than autocross. You just can't really understand the difference until your first real race.

Seriously, if road racing captures your interest, give a hard look at SM.
Brian
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Re: NC Light

Post by Brian »

ronbauer wrote:Brian or anyone else that knows......

Any idea which part number of ARP studs we need for the '06+ MX-5s?

Ron

Hi Ron

Did this about a month ago on NC LIGHT rear. I started by calling ARP and they didn't actually know...they said their catalog didn't cover the current MX5. Talked with Tim Buck at Mazda and he told me that he knew that at least the rear is the same part number as earlier Miata, ARP100-7720. But then another buddy told me to take a look at Ichiba # MZ-52110 that he has used on his MX5 with success, and that kit includes the studs with the 10mm spacer I needed for less total cost. I went with the Ichiba # MZ-52110 in the rear and it has worked out well and we started carrying it. Using that in the rear with 17x10 (52mm offset) and 265 Hoosier slicks. This wheel/tire combo needs no spacer in the front.
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
phaedrus
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Dec 25, 2010 7:30 am

Re: NC Light

Post by phaedrus »

After lurking for a bit, I thought I'd weigh in with some suggestions on getting more weight out of an nc. Something under 2000 lbs is such a very just and noble cause after all. Some of these were hit on earlier, but are still worth mentioning again.

- wet sumps are lighter than dry sumps, but if you really need a dry sump then raceline, pace and armststrong are lighter, and lower profile, than the cosworth kit.

- titanium is not quite as exotic as it used to be and is especially suited to replacing heavy steel springs - del west could hook you up with valve springs and renton could get you coil-overs. Crower will happily make you conrods as well. And if you already have a working header design, then replicating it in titanium would not be ridiculously expensive.

- although I am personally a fan of chain- or gear-driven cams, belt-driven is lighter and circle performance can convert any duratec or mzr to their belt-drive system.

- the stock 5- or 6-speed transmissions are great, but there are lighter options out there. If you can cope with 4-speeds then there are tons of t9-based manual options out there - quaife alone has several. 5- or 6-speed sequentials from quaife or sadev also appear to be lighter based on their spec sheets.

- replacing fuses and relays with a pdm, such as from motec or obr, saves more weight than you'd expect - especially if you use more than one such that they are located to minimize wiring length. And if you're determined to keep lighting on the vehicle, know that led's draw less current and can make do with lighter gauge wiring.

- if you're using up clutches frequently, then its easier to justify a multi-plate carbon-carbon unit which would last longer, be reasonable to rebuild and save a boat-load of weight and rotational inertia. Tilton makes a variety of systems that would work, even a single-plate design that although light would not offer any other benefits.

- A pair of gun-drilled half-shafts would be a reasonable suggestion for n/a engines, too. Mark williams makes a lot of them from 300M steel, but a good heat-/cryo-treatment rework of the stockers might suffice if not drag racing off the line.
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