Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

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Brian
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by Brian »

Will be installing the new Progress Sways on this project Saturday.

Header will likely be another week before latest prototype gets installed.
Brian Goodwin
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AZ Sun Lover
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by AZ Sun Lover »

Brian wrote:Will be installing the new Progress Sways on this project Saturday.

Header will likely be another week before latest prototype gets installed.
Thanks Brian.

Any hints on other mods on your "wife's" street car, other than trying RS mufflers?

Hmm, mod's are why my wife let me get my own MX-5. Her car, your toy (or in your case a new test car). :wink:

Good luck,
AZ
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by Brian »

Today.....the new SS Project got to play with some sways! The wife really is driving this project and providing me feedback on her impressions as we go. She finished her first year of racing and I am very curious as to her impressions and feedback on this street toy. This past week she talked about how she would like less lean in the corners. Thus, it is time for sways....and we just happened to have a prototype set from Progress that we need to test fit for them.
Attachments
Progress Sways MX5.JPG
Progress Sways MX5.JPG (81.84 KiB) Viewed 32984 times
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by Brian »

First impression, nicely finished. Front bar is tubular, rear bar is solid. Jeff at Progress explained that he wants to do solid in the rear for longevity (he had heard about some of the rear tubular bar failures). Triple adjustable front, double adjustable rear. Powder coating is flawless. Front sway bar construction from Progress is interesting in that they do not like the pinched and drilled tube style that most companies use. They think long term performance and reliability is best with their method which uses a solid end piece welded into the tube. What impressed me more was the front bracket, HEAVILY REINFORCED with TIG-welded steel side plates (no worries about flex in these). Progress seems serious about product longevity and another feature they include is the welded on slide stoppers. A number of brands use something pinched onto the bar that can move. Without getting into the debate about whether movement of those pinched on styles is really an issues, certainly this welded on slide stopper style will not move.
Attachments
Progress Sways MX5 Bracket.jpg
Progress Sways MX5 Bracket.jpg (135.7 KiB) Viewed 32984 times
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by Brian »

Off comes the rear bar. An Allen Key holds the center of the endlinks from spinning so you can put a 14mm wrench to work.
Attachments
Progress Sways Rear Tools.jpg
Progress Sways Rear Tools.jpg (181.69 KiB) Viewed 32984 times
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by Brian »

Shown here is the factory front brackets during removal. I like to crack loose all the nuts involved first (links and brackets) BEFORE I start removing them. Or to put it another way, if you start on one side and remove each completely before cracking loose the rest then when you get down to the last nut you may find you have a bar flopping around making it much harder than it should be to get that last nut loose.


One of the interesting things about NC2 for you owners of NC1 is how the factory simply foam filled a number of the suspension/chassis bits to lower NVH. As you can see from the holes where the foam oozed out. This could certainly be done relatively easy to the same parts in 2006-2008 NC.
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NC Foam Chassis.jpg
NC Foam Chassis.jpg (144.61 KiB) Viewed 32983 times
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by Brian »

Everybody wants to see the side by side comparison. Factory bars are off, Progress Sways going on....
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Progress Sways vs Factory 2009 MX5.jpg
Progress Sways vs Factory 2009 MX5.jpg (122.67 KiB) Viewed 32983 times
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by Brian »

And this is why we test fit before production! Had a bunch of emails from MX5 owners who already own and LOVE our Progress Springs but impatient to match them with these Progress sways. Thanks for waiting... we are very happy to catch this little issue you see here BEFORE production. As you can see, just a slight interference between the beefy Progress front bracket and the factory ABS clips. We saw this same issue with the first batch of Hotchkis sways....after they had already shipped to dealers and their solution was instructions to customers to grind the bracket (which was not well received with some customers). We will have Progress make the minor adjustment needed here to avoid any fitment issue in the production item (LOWER PICTURE)


LATER UPDATE (UPPER PICTURE): Progress makes the brackets in volume and did not want to mod the bracket. We thus came up with simple solution which is a thick washer/spacer that lifts the factory ABS connector so it sits slightly higher than the bracket. Notice small screw driver holding the spacer up so that I can tighten down the ABS bracket bolt.
Attachments
Sway bar spacer.JPG
Sway bar spacer.JPG (216 KiB) Viewed 32690 times
Progress Bracket.jpg
Progress Bracket.jpg (200.55 KiB) Viewed 32983 times
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by Brian »

Install COMPLETE!

I hit a few local ramps and car is much flatter. In stock form I did some freeway transition ramps that made the car feel nervous at speeds over 60 mph... with lots of lean (and requiring quite an alarming amount of steering correction if you add or subtract substantial amounts of throttle while at full lean at speed). With the Progress sways now installed the same ramps can be taken with more speed and much less drama and throttle steer. The effect is noticeable...yet less dramatic than I expected because the soggy factory spring rates are still allowing more lean and wiggle and wander than I like. Will let the wife give it a spin and see what she thinks!
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Michele
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Re: Our New 2012 PRHT SS Project....

Post by Michele »

Brian,

Thanks for posting the Progress anti-sway bar review. Well done. I'm considering those in the future.

I also look forward to your reviews for the exhaust systems that you were planning to test in December on the 2012 PRHT. I have not seen any more comments about exhaust systems.
Michele
2010 MX-5 GT PRHT
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