Just a pics post. I brought this car with the original plan of making a daily driver/autox car out of it, but over the last seasonish, the plan has slowly evolved to beat them CSP miatas. We have a few very fast cars here paired with really good drivers (like nationally competitive), and overtime, the goal is to get my driving skills and car up to snuff to win... Anyway, it's a 82 gsl with a fairly fresh stock port 12a with-

camber plates
375/175 lb front rear springs (front on coilovers)
Battery relocated to behind passenger bin
RB header with Bonez cat with RB muffler
RB aluminum flywheel
delrin Control arm bushing
removed rear sway
Removed AC/cruise
13" wheels with v710s
energy front sway bushing
S.S. brake lines with Ferodo front pads
Koni shocks

Mods to come-
Recaro SRD seat (probably tomorrow/Friday)
Test pipe
Sterling Carb/Intake Manifold (on waiting list)
MSD 6al on leading (still havn't gotten around to hooking it up)
PLX wideband setup (to help tune sterling carb)

 

nice ild like to just get on a track..

all the best of luck

 

yo. im just gonna say...weight reduction! like the red fc at the picnic.

good luck! and maybe ill start autoX with you soon....that is if i could pass this damn smog test...did a pre-test and fail...

 

That is awesome. Those Miatas are pretty crazy, but yeah, I believe the first gen seven could take them if done right.

 

I feel your pain. I'm in my third year of autocross, just got Hoosiers on 13x8 rims, changed the rear suspension to a tri-link/panhard, and still getting my **** handed to me by a Miata and a Honda Civic. Although not as bad as last year. Also have coilovers, dellortto,

I think the biggest way to improve is through improved driving skills.

You will find a huge improvement in handling if you get rid of the Watts link and the top trailing arms.

Good Luck

 

like woodonastick said "weight reduction"...i would remove the rats nest...thats 20 pounds right there.

 

I think it may also have something to do with the ten + years of suspension progress.
My Miata is just plain faster in the low (under 65mph) speed corners. Once it's up around 75-80, the weight of my FC seems to keep the car planted better. At buttonwillow this year, I was able to catch the Miatas in the sweepers and S'es, but once we hit any really tight sections, they pulled away...no matter what I tried.


IMO:
Track Days= RX-7
Auto X = Miata

 

I ran an 01 Miata last year is CS and I am running an 85 GSL in CSP this year. The first event out in the 7 I did better than I ever did in the Miata (2nd in a highly competitive class). My 7 has...

Racing Beat Springs
Racing Beat Sway Bars (both attached)
Racing Beat Holley Intake
Racing Beat Holley 465 Carb
K&N Air Filter
Holley Center Line Float Bowls
Summit Racing Duel fuel line with pressure gauge
Holley Quick Change springs for Secondary
Racing Beat full Street Port Exhaust System (I think that what it's called)
Tokico HP Rear Shocks
V710s on 13x6.5 wheels


...other than that it's all stock. At the last event the choke on the Holley did me in (it was partially closed and ran crappy). I believe the seat time has helped me more than all the mods put together. Some one told me when I started that it 15% car, 15% tires and 70% driver, I think that is very close.

 

nice set up

 

Thanks guys, looks like I'm not the only one going through this... I'm still working on it, I think one day it might be doable, but it's gonna take a lot of work... My co driver and I (I codrive with a buddy of mine) have been getting closer and closer... I have the susko manual, and I may start applying those mods to the car, but the next step is a bit more power. As right now, the car seems to get slower as the car gets hot (later runs tend to be slower even though we were making fewer mistakes) We believe the cat is being a big constriction and that's why we are getting the test pipe. i'm definitly considering the pan hard and tri link, also consider some weight reduction, but CSP requires full interior and so not too much i can do.

 

how much was the front coil over set up? Where did you get it from?

 

I think EFI would be a biiig benefit. Carbs and tight turns (and weather changes) don't mix.

 

Funny that you should mention this. I also am racing csp with my GS and have a goal of beating the Miatas. I'm getting closer with each race, but I just ordered my RB springs and front Illuminas (hope to get the rears soon). Hopefully I will have it all ready to go by the next race on July 1st/2nd.

 

www.racersareme.com

That is where he got it... My bro got that red car from him

 

Now that I got my fuel pressure set, my Sterling has zero issues in the turns. In fact, I used a parking lot like a skid pad to set my fuel pressure up. I can turn indefinitely in either direction as hard as my Sumitomo tires can hold the turn with no carb issues. Is it different with a stock Nikki?

 

It does do something weird in turns right now, the other thing that happens is the coolant level warning keeps going off, I need to bypass that sensor, otherwise, my co driver and I have a long ways to go, especially since there are two miatas here that are nationally competitive (I believe one has previously gotten first at scca nationals, and the other is a second place car (though with a different but still very good driver).l

 

No one would chose an Rx-7 if they wanted to be nationally competitive in CSP. Our cars are old, the body structure has lost rigidity, which makes keeping up with a more modern Miata very difficult. It is just us rotary nuts that love these old first gens that keep throwing them between the cones.
Of course if we were'nt so cheap we would have an RX-8 and be very competitive in BS.

I'm waiting for the rust in mine to cause me to say "enough". And then I use its components to build a Locost 7. http://www.mindspring.com/~robmk2/

 

Now this is interesting. I also have a Tornado Silver GSL, running in CSP. This is my first season so right now I'm just trying to get more seat time. The Miatas provide some stiff competition and they are FAST. The top ten fastest times for our events are pretty much all Miatas. So I applaud your effort and will watch carefully because we both have the same goal

 

Last Auto-X I went to, I didn't hafta worry about beating any CSP Miata's. There wasn't any. Since there were no other cars running CSP, they classed mine in STS-2, where it isn't legal..... Since I was new, and mainly just wanted seat time, I didn't care.
I haven't run any this year, for a couple reasons. I did not like the site they had been using, and when they finally got a suitable site, they schedualed events for days I had other events going on. Now that I have more seat time, and fewer conflicts, they had staffing issues that required canceling the last event. So I still have no idea how well I can compete within my class.................

 

Well, my Illuminas and RB springs showed up today. Now I just have the extreme pleasure of rebuilding those damn front struts to get the inserts in...

 

Ah what fun. I wish I had the Illumina's to go on mine. I bet they would be a better match for those Tokico springs than the KYB's currently are. The car handles quite well, and rides pretty good once I am out of town. But, the crappy roads here in town are a major pain.

 

Well, I finally got everything (Illumina struts/shocks and RB springs) installed! I even ended up getting the rear Illumina's that I wanted, and the wife is no longer speaking to me so that's like a double bonus (just kidding). The handling improvement is indescribable, it literally made it into a whole new car. The next test and tune will be this Saturday, with the racing on Sunday. I can't wait! Hopefully the adjustable suspension will now allow me to set up the handling the way I want it. Last race I was dealing with understeer (believe it or not) and could have been a lot quicker if only the car would have turned into those corners for me. We'll see...

 

wanna trade cars? you already have all the mods I was planning on doing including bumper Mine will give you something to work on??? so...? lol

 

may i sugest an upgrade to racing beat front and rear sway bars? Th rear bar is ajustable so you can mess about with it, to save you a bit of extra time in the corner.

Also what kind of coilovers are you running? how much did they cost? What are you running in the rear?

 

asking me? I am considering a bigger front bar, but not interested in the rear, as the car handles pretty good as it (also gives another element to bind), I'm running a custom set of coilovers (beeline Manufacturing), and about 2.5 degrees of negative front camber, right now, running spec 7 175 lb/inch eibach rear rx7 springs with two spacer coils cut off. I'm also eventually going to get g force's tri link and pan hard...