Ben Sale's white 1990 NA6

lee · Postby **lee** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:32 am

After seeing pictures of that Miura, it should be easy for me to collect my jaw from the ground, as my knees also gave way. That looks absolutely stunning.

I've just had a quick look at Wikipedia for the Miura. The S is the most exclusive model made, at only 140 units built! One of those was owned by Frank Sinatra

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:59 am

wilch wrote:Is that a real Miura?!

Love the 8B wheels on your car. Looks really nice. & OMG at the locusts! Was your radiator getting any air at all?! :O

looks real to me

...are there any replica ones?

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:56 am

Regie wrote:
wilch wrote:Is that a real Miura?!

Love the 8B wheels on your car. Looks really nice. & OMG at the locusts! Was your radiator getting any air at all?! :O

looks real to me ...are there any replica ones?

The Miura certainly is real, I don't know if you can get a replica Miura, I've never seen or heard of or seen one. The car is the S which as Lee says is the rarest of them. This particular one is a bit special as it's one of the very last S' built which means that it has the refined SV mechanicals but the earlier and and prettier body shape. As Lee pretty effectively summed up I would say it's probably the best looking car ever built. I have a video which I took to record the noise, when i get my laptop back I'll try and post it up.

And thanks for the compliment Wilch

The car didn't overheat at all, the temperature gauge stayed still so I assume air was still getting through. However, as the NA6 temp gauge has a big dead spot it may have been running a bit hotter, you can't really tell as the gauge only starts to move when the car is running too hot. Cleaning the grille out when I got home was a nightmare, the number of locusts stuck to it was ridiculous so I ended up having the remove the whole thing to clean it which was a bit of a pain...

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:26 pm

A while ago I bought a LSD of Robbo107672 on the forum for quite a good price... It'd been sitting in my garage up until today when I finally had some time to fit it. I have some pics of the process which look quite interesting... suffice to say that it is not the easiest job to change over a diff, especially when you do it on your own as it's quite physically demanding in parts and you have to take a lot of the car apart.

In order to fit the new diff I had to remove the drive and tail shafts from the diff, the exhaust mid pipe and the upper locating mounts for the hub as well as all of the things holding the diff in place on the chassis and in the PPF. Of course a lot of the nuts and bolts were extremely difficult to get out even with a breaker bar, although i greased them all when i put them back so hopefully no problem if I ever have to do it again. The most difficult part of the process was getting the diff back in, but once I wrapped my head around it, it wasn't really that bad. It's the kind of job that if I had to do it a second time I would have it done in about an hour or two as opposed to the 4 hours it took me today.

I haven't dríven the car much yet, although I took it for a quick blat and the difference was immediately apparent, the character of the car has changed a bit and the improvement in traction it quite noticeable. I'm going for a good run tonight to test it out, but I guess the real test will be the next track day where I'm hoping it will help me get out of some corners I'm currently having to try hard to prevent inside wheel spin and therefore make the laptimes that little bit quicker =)

I have a few pics I'll post up soon.

two40 · Postby **two40** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:48 pm

Nice one. I know who to ask next time I need this done. A return airfare and a bbq will be a lot cheaper than paying a mechanic.

Can't believe you did it on your own though. You're pretty game.

-alex · Postby **-alex** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:15 pm

So very proud of you..! =)
See you soon!

lee · Postby **lee** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:49 pm

I forgot to ask after dinner; how'd the LSD feel on tonight's drive?

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:13 am

two40 wrote:Nice one. I know who to ask next time I need this done. A return airfare and a bbq will be a lot cheaper than paying a mechanic. Can't believe you did it on your own though. You're pretty game.

Thanks George! After I finished just about the first thing I said was never again... But thinking about it now it really wasn't that bad and would be much easier 2nd time around especially with more than one person! And anything for a decent BBQ and a good excuse to come to Syndey... Although i guess I don't really need one..! =)

-alex wrote:So very proud of you..! =)
See you soon!

Thanks Alex, I can't wait..! =)

lee wrote:I forgot to ask after dinner; how'd the LSD feel on tonight's drive?

Lee, it felt really good! You can feel the car pushes very slightly on the way into corners now, but as my car was/is very edgy it's not a problem and there certainly is nothing like any understeer. On the way out of corners it is great, even though we weren't going flat out I pushed it reasonably hard out of a few of the 2nd gear corners which caused the car to wheel spin slightly with the open diff and the traction was brilliant. The car feels even more composed now.

Anyway, some fun pics..!

In pieces

Oscar checking out the old open diff

Lining up the diff so I could get under and at least not have to pick the diff up off the ground while lying on my back.

All fitted, nice and pretty!

sliq · Postby **sliq** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:41 pm

was that the diff housing, or did you change just the diff centre?

either way. that's a mammoth effort. :beer:

a job i know i wouldn't attempt myself. well done!

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:44 pm

Thanks mate! It was the diff housing, changing the centre is something I probably wouldn't attempt or would at least think twice about as it's just a little bit more complicated.

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:39 pm

Guran made a really interesting post in his garage thread comparing his cornering speeds at Phillip Island with those recorded in the Motor Performance car shoot out in the latest issue. I don't have a data logger like Guran but I decided to work out what I could based on the minimum rpm I was pulling through the corners. I got the rpm readings from the following video. I know my numbers are nowhere near as accurate as Bryan's but it's still interesting. Although while the cornering speeds are very, very good my best lap of a 2.04 is 9 seconds off the slowest car in the test (the Golf R) and 22 seconds slower than the fastest (the 911 GT3RS) It goes to show what a power track Phillip Island is, but as my cornering speeds are better than these cars it goes to show why a nicely set up turbo MX-5 is such a weapon.

As you can see if you watch the clip annoyingly the tacho is out of shot for most of the corners, the only one I can for out for certain is turn one, turn four is a fairly certain guess as the tacho isn't in shot for the whole corner but enough of it... All the other corners were out of shot either because the steering wheel is covering the tacho or because of my habit of leaning into corners.

I was able to work out was that I am going 158kph through turn one (max down the straight is 172) which is a little un-competive as I'm only faster than the Audi RS5, Jag and C63 AMG.

Turn 4 is a little better... :mrgreen:

My minimum speed through there is around 65kph which puts me 5kph faster than the fastest car, the 911 GT3RS and 10kph faster than the Lamborghini LP550-2. Interestingly it also means I'm around 7kph faster than a Porsche Boxter.

I was able to roughly guess my speed through turn 9 the very tricky and fast Lukey Heights... It's probably my favorite corner on the track as to get it right you have to slightly drift the car through the corner from turn in keeping your line tight so you can then get hard on the brakes for the very important tight right directly after. Check out my second lap at 3.20-3.30 to see what i mean. I started the day going through Lukey in 3rd but found it was bouncing off the rev limiter the whole way through so I started going through in 4th which while the car was less stable it was a fair amount quicker. As an Na6 does 129 kph in 3rd at 7000rpm then I would assume that my corner speed is at least the same if not quicker than the 131kph the 911GT3RS recorded and much quicker than anything else in the test, for example the Boxter went through at 124kph, the golf r 118kph and the Audi RS5 112kph.

I guess it just goes to show what a giant killer a 20 year old MX-5 with some cheap suspension mods (Bilstein shocks, king springs, fcm bump stops and whiteline adjustable sway bars) (All 2nd hand for a total of around $500-600), a good wheel alignment, some chassis bracing and a $750 set of road/race tyres car do...

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:46 pm

Been on a couple of drives lately and I'm really happy with how the car is going, the diff is a nice addition. I drove up Arthurs Seat recently; as locals will know there is very tight 1st gear uphill left hairpin. With the open diff I could never get out of that corner quickly, I always got a lot on inside wheel spin no matter how I tried to exit the corner. With the LSD it's so much better, an incredible amount more traction and no inside wheel spinning

I'm suffering a little withdrawal, but only one month until the next track day and I can properly test out the tweaks to the car..!

I've been a little annoyed by my fire extinguisher bracket rattling (not to mention passengers always accidentally unclipping it..) so based on some good advice I bought a new 1kg one with bracket from Bunnings for $25. Not only does it not rattle but it looks much better too; showing off my orange bracket much better..! I also have a super annoying rattling LHS bonnet hinge, I've ordered a new one and when that arrives and is fitted it should mean that the car is rattle free again! YaY..! I also got a lovely present from -alex a little while back, a rev9 key, so so awesome and something a little different..! Thanks. . .

Some pictures from a Thursday night run

Some pictures out adventuring. Most of these are going down the dirt mountain track part of Mt Donna Buang to Healsville with Alex who took most of the photos below. It was a pretty awesome experience, the road is very narrow, but not too bumpy or chopped up... You can legally do 100kph on it crazily enough but most of the time we did around 20-40kph... The scenery was amazing and there is easily the best tasting water I've ever had from one of the mountain waterfalls! Pretty awesome drive, thanks for the photos too. . .

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 10:17 am

nice nice..love this car, soo clean and awesome subtle mods.

ill prolly be down there early next month, ill make sure to swing by for the garage meet

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 7:06 pm

Thanks mate, appreciate the compliment =) When you are down be sure to let me know, it'll be good to see you again. Will you have your car with you? I could organize a run if you do =)

I've had it pointed out to me that my fire extinguisher bracket is probably illegal for club motorsport as it is plastic... I figure it's pretty stupid as the bracket is more secure than the metal one I had before and allows quicker removal of the extinguisher than the other one... Does anyone reading do scrutineering and care the comment. Don't really want to go back to the rattly old one but it looks like I will have to =(

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 9:01 pm

I was wondering if that was a plastic bracket you had there. It would definitely get knocked back by the scruts in NSW. This is the one I have been using:

Quell 127416 – Auto / Recreational

It has a metal mounting bracket with twin spring release, which meets CAMS requirements. You can buy them at Bunnings but they're a bit more expensive than the one you bought, but they're still cheap at $35 each. Doesn't rattle either.