Paging Miata owners

[101101]

I need someone with a first or second gen Miata to measure something for me; mine is at the cage builder's, so I can't measure it myself. What I need measured is the passenger floorboard area. I want to know how wide and long the section of floor is from the front factory seat mount to the part of the floor where it starts to curve up. I want to order a fire system and plan to mount my bottle where a passenger's feet would go and I want to know how much room I have to work with so I know what size bottle I can get.

Also, if you've got a second gen, how big is the area where the radio / tape deck go? Basically how much of a radio blank plate would you see with the dash in place? I'm planning to put some gauges there and want to know the dimensions of that so I can plan my gauges and better know what to order.

Why am I not waiting to order it until I get my car back? I want to make sure this stuff is at my apartment when my car gets back so I can have as little down time and have this thing done as soon as possible before the next event I'm going to.

Thanks

[Theodore]

Rob, I'll try to get some measurements tomorrow. I'll be in the garage replacing top on the M Roadster...Wheeeeee! Can't wait.
What class are you wanting to run and what event are you planning on attending? If you need some gear, let me know...I have loaner gear you may qualify to use through the Second Gear program. Also might have some spares you can use (tires, etc.)
I am assuming you are wanting to Track day / Time Trial. If not ... disregard the rest of this email! <S>
A couple of thoughts...
1. Extinguisher - Not sure about NASA TT rules... SCCA is loose on fire bottles. Most say 2 pound minimum Halon or dry chemical for TT. I actually am considering becoming a proponent of eliminating fire extinguishers in car for SCCA Time Trials and hillclimbs. Reason being, I have yet to see any real reason to have a fire extinguisher as course workers are equipped with them and can be to me in 10 to 15 seconds. I, on the other hand, am extricating myself from the car, wearing belts, HANS, gloves, etc and my main goal is to get OUT. The Fire bottle is not only dead weight. I have found only a few stories where someone actually used their fire bottle but I have found MANY stories where in an accident, the fire bottle broke from mounts and became a projectile. I have articles where early Indy driver were complaining about seat belts.... one of them said "If the car is wrecking, why the hell would I want to stay in the car. I want to get away from it." Okay... they were dumb and it was time for a change in safety. I'm saying ... "fire extinguisher in the car is dumb for TT and it's time for a change." Fire system? Sure. Fire bottle? Hmmmm... Not so sure. Still thinking about this though and talking to people to get their thoughts.
2. Gauges in CD radio slots. IT looks great... it's clean... it's pretty. AND it's way out of where your eyes need to be focused when your driving. Most people I am finding are putting them in the eyeball socket vents... it's an easy and perfect fit for Aftermarket gauge.... and you can glance there easily. If you are in a 1.6 car, your 1.8 gauges don't work anyway. <S> The other alternative is ....screw gauges. I have spoken with a number of National level drivers and road racers that say "How much input do you really need?" How much of your focus does it take to read a gauge and tell whether it is 185 or 188 degrees.... you have to search for the pointer... then your eyes slide out to the increments... you go to the one below and work up and figure AH... it's 188. How many times do you do that in an average event? THAT is too long to have your eyes off the road. Their solution? Use Industrial Engineering! Idiot lights. Left side of upper part of dash is oil pressure and oil temp. Right side of upper part of dash is water temp. You got yellow at 200 and you got red at 220 (or whatever fits your need for your car. ) Now you don't need to look at gauges unless you get a yellow warning or a red light comes on in peripheral vision. You stay focused on road and environment.
Now I'm not saying I would do either of these... just thoughts. A number of the guys I speak with have a cutoff for the alternator at 2000 RPM .... some of these guys get pretty anal at getting every "ounce of pounce" out of their cars. In some cases, it's purely psychological... in others, it might make a difference in the big picture.

Ted

[101101]

Thanks for volunteering to get those measurements!

I'm working on building the car to Spec Miata - there's no turning back to CSP at this point - I got a letter from the SEB last year saying NASCAR bars that cause door gutting are legal in SP, but other things would make it hard (the least of which is my rear factory seat mounts are no longer present, so I can't mount a seat to them ). At this point I'm only doing HPDE / PDX with the car, but that will change (planning to finish fully prepping to SM in about a year - due to things going on with my personal life it's not realistic to try to do it sooner plus I'm sure my future competitors would appreciate me getting more track time before hand). The next events I'm doing will be either the SCR PDX at CMP or CSCC Autox (both same day next month) followed by HPDE at NCCAR with NASA-SE the following weekend. If I need the fire system at any of these, I think that would qualify as a "you're doing it wrong" scenario.

I know I'll need a fire extinguisher or system when I get to SM and I don't see a reason to not put it in the car at this point now that I'm signed off to solo with NASA-SE - I don't have to worry about an instructor complaining about leg room. With any luck this'll be money I waste and never put to use, but if I ever do need it, it'll be nice if this helps save some of the car (my 6 point and the amount of cage padding I expect I'll need will probably cost more than the fire system - if it saves just those two things it's paid for itself). In the event it's needed I plan to launch myself out the window as fast as I possibly can and pull the "FIRE" handle on my way out.

The gauges I'm looking at getting have built in warning lights. The plan with those is to set them to light if there's an issue so I can take a peek at what's going on and to otherwise ignore them. That said, I do like the idea of staged (yellow & red for the same parameter) warning lights - I may have to look into that.

I'll have to look into the TT rules, I don't even know what class I'd fall in at this point. As the car sits now it's a CSP car with the interior of a Spec Miata. Oh, and I suspect it will weight about what my car did with the full interior, roll bar, and hardtop snapped in place with the factory latches - I'm going to see if I can borrow the scales from the cage guy for a few minutes just to check current weight when I pick it up.

[crazyboardr8806]

just come look at my car it's in clemson. i have a fire system installed in the passenger footwell.

[101101]

(08-20-2010 11:01 PM)crazyboardr8806 Wrote:  just come look at my car it's in clemson. i have a fire system installed in the passenger footwell.

I really wish I could, it would actually answer a couple questions I have plus I could talk shop with you about setup. Plus it'd be nice to see if I could borrow that paint booth you setup to paint yours . Problem is that (since this forum isn't setup to show location in the username bar) as of Feb I've been living in Charlotte. Really the next time I'd have a chance to come to Clemson will be that autocross.

[101101]

Any update?

[kbrew8991]

get the car dynoed and weighed - send that into Greg G. for a reclass. I doubt your _SP or IT_ mods are points-efficient so you'll come out ahead. I bet we can fit you into TTE/PTE on good tires with that

I'm scaling back helping out with NASA stuff (trying to become just a customer, less stress) but I'm always up for helping out an old CSCCer (or a new one too)

[101101]

When it gets time that I'm doing TT with NASA I'll do that (assuming the car isn't completely Spec by then).

[kbrew8991]