Ben Sale's white 1990 NA6

[bensale]

Wow..! Those photos are stunning, it's definitely on the list now! It will be closer to winter when I go, I'll just buy a good jacket =) Monaco is on the list, I don't think i could not go there! I think not staying there is a very good idea though from what i've heard!

As far as the car is concerned I have a few parts on the way to fix some problems with it. I have new front shock bushes to stop the squeaks, new brake clips to stop the random noises the front right brake makes and a new passenger door/window seal as mine has split which means that the window can go up further than it should be able too... I've come too close to breaking the window on the hardtop enough times...

[bensale]

The car went on the dyno last night and made 74rwkw at 6500rpm. It was maintaining 73rwkw up to 7100rpm which impressed me.

The club are satisfied that the output, while good, is not too good for an strong standard NA6 engine with a catback exhaust and advanced timing. I think fiddling with the spark plug gaps and temperature has probably helped me too.

It made about 4kw more than Owen and Chris Boak's na6 did on the same dyno. So I did some reading (knowing full well that you can't really compare different dynos and different days) and the output is actually quite good compared to other similar cars. Cheyne's old na6 made 72rwkw with a mania intake and catback. Gunan's na6 made 71rwkw and Hammer's NA8 clubman made 74rwkw on the mania dyno which is known to over read... So basically I'm making at least na8 power which I have to be very pleased about..!

As a matter of interest, the car actually made 1rwkw more with the holes in the airbox taped up..!

Thanks go to Gerald from Mammi Motors in Somerville who helped me out by putting the car on the dyno for me and to Rob Downes for coming down and observing on behalf of the club.

I fitted new brake clips this afternoon and took the car for a drive. No more annoying noise, so much better! =)

[RawSouth]

When do you leave for Europe mate?

[bensale]

I'll be arriving in Frankfurt on November 13th. =)
Leaving Rome December 15th.

[emexv]

Great stuff Ben. I'm sorry I couldn't make it as promised. My missus booked a guy to come and measure up the driveway and talk about options for sealing it....I couldn't get out of it. I spoke to Gerald today about you session. Quite interesting.

[bensale]

No worries Mark, I was wondering where you were... Hope the driveway works out. I think we may be organising a club dyno day there sometime in the future which could be good =)

[bensale]

I replaced the passengers side window and door seal today which turned out to be quite an involved, although thankfully not too difficult job. My old seal was slit at the top which was allowing the window to come up too far and I was risking breaking the window on the hardtop. Annoyingly when taking it all apart I discovered that I could have fixed my problem of the window coming up too far in anouther way without buying a new seal... At least the seal wasn't too expensive...

The job scared me a bit at first when I realised that I would have to take out the passengers window as the seal also forms the track for the window but it actually wasn't too hard, just a little fiddly.

The first step of the process is removing the door card and unbolting the door handle allowing you to pull off the plastic protector inside the door.



When you look inside the door with the window half down you'll see there are three screws attaching the window to a metal frame (the plastic tabs in the below photo show whee they are located. You remove these three screws and then the two stoppers at the top of the door and you can pull the window up and out. You don't need to remove the guide wheels on the window.



For me then it was a process of removing the old seal, putting the new one in after spraying the channel with silicone spray. Fitting the seal is easy, although the little clips around the door can be a bit fiddly before you figure out you just have the stretch the seal over them. From there it is a matter of guiding the window back into the door. You have to push it down while positioning the plastic tabs behind the metal frame so you can screw the window in and then put the stoppers back in. It helps if using the electric windows you get the frame in the right place to be able to see the tabs so you can line everything up and get your hands in the door. From there you just put it all back together and admire your work.

Tomorrow I am entering the car in a round of the Victorian Motorkhana championship. It's a grass/dirt event so it promises to be completely different to anything I have ever done before. Thanks to deBounce on the forum for pestering me for long enough that I am finally going to do one. Just so you know Bob, I touched up the missing paint today so I am not breaking any of the 'lightening the car rules' you warned me about... =P Looking forward to tomorrow..!

[mazdatenfive]

Glad the clips and door seal worked out OK.

[bensale]

Thanks Larry, great parts, price and service from you. Will update this thread when i get around to pulling the shocks out and replacing the bushes. Looking forward to the results of that... if not the actual process of doing the job...

[bensale]

On Sunday I finally entered my first motorkhana, something I've wanted to do for a while but probably wouldn't have gotten around to without deBounce spending a lot of time convincing me with his passion for the sport that I should.

Being Mothers day I managed to drag my Mum along, so together we entered round 3 of the Victorian state motorkhana championship, although she decided to drive her Peugeot 206 gti not the MX-5.

Before I go into details I have to say that I had a blast, the day was a short one due to the weather but even then I still considered it good value compared to a track day. It's a great sport, with great people (and some eclectic ones... and you should see their cars..!) and a really friendly attitude. I can't wait to give it another go!

Despite grey skys and the freezing cold to start with it didn't rain... Bob took a lot of time to walk us around and explain the concept of a motokhana to us, I would like to thank him again for all his time, it was really apreciated and great help. I wouldn't have enjoyed myself anywhere near as much if you hadn't taken to time to make us feel so included so thank you! After a lot of advice from Bob and others and time spent studying the course and watching others go it was my turn.

The first test was fun, I didn't make any mistakes and managed a respectable, if not outstanding time. After that run I figured out a lot of what i was doing wrong and and got ready for the next test. I went out with a lot more confidence this time and was able to dance with the car through the points and handbrake turn so the nose pivoted right on the flags. Although I got a bit overambitious near the end and got a little too sideways between two flags and had to stop and put the car in reverse to get back on course. Despite this I was only 3 seconds off the fast times in class for that test despite loosing at least that much time, if not more, with my mistake! Apparently when I lost it there was a bit of a sigh from the time keepers and my competitors who were disappointed to see that happen as I was doing well, shows how inclusive a sport it is!

Test three was just in time for the rain to coming down and it got a bit challenging... See I haven't taken the Dunlop DZ1's off the car and they aren't exactly have a tyre with many groves cut into them... They also don't have a lot of tread depth... Running these tyres, surprise surprise, turned out to be a bad choice... The second there was water on the ground bye bye any grip... If I went out with the intention of stuffing everything up I probably would have done a better job, 2 spins and a wrong direction... A terrible run... Despite that i have to say I still had a smile on my face the whole run, even though I did terribly it was still fun! Test 4 was just embarrassing though, by this stage it was very wet and muddy, the tyres offered no grip at all and a test that takes 30 seconds in the dry took me 3 minutes and 45 seconds... I don't think I got the car over 5kph... It must have been like watching grass grow for the people watching...

After this it was decided to call it a day as it transpired that the road out was even more slippery than the course... After helping push a variety of cars out of ditches on the way out it was time to head home from what had been despite everything been an amazing day..! I can't wait to do the next one...

Thanks have to go again to Bob (deBounce) for all his help and enthusiasm, I wouldn't have done it without your help and I wouldn't have had as much fun either..!

And a few pictures my Dad took






And here is my mum =) She had a blast too, I can't remember seeing her with a bigger smile on her face than I saw on the day, she's still talking about it..!

[PaulF]

I love motorkhanas, though all bar one of the motorkhanas I've done have been tarmac. Great fun factor with a minimal cost and risk factor. Unfortunately, in recent years we've struggled to actually find venues around Newcastle willing to host them.

[bensale]

I'd like to try one on tarmac, there is one coming up I can hopefully enter... I have a spare pair of wheels with dead semis perfect for it too =) Although the amount of car control you have to have on the slippery surfaces (especially with a rwd) appeals to me as it's something I'd like to improve. Apparently it's a lot more violent and hard on the car to do it properly on tarmac too...

Can't see how it would be too hard to find a venue if you were happy to run on dirt/grass. The one I went to was in the middle of a field. There was a dead cow in the paddock next to where the 'pits' were..!

[surok]

AWESOME MUM IS AWESOME!
How did the pug take it? rip the front lip off?

[bensale]

Lol..! Her and the Pug did great, her times were really good too, especially considering she's never done any motorsport! The Pug seemed to be better suited to Motorkhana than the MX-5 actually, and it looked the part too! I kind of wan't to use it next time... But oversteer is addictive fun..! Didn't realise how close that lip is to the ground though!

By the 3rd test she was even doing handbrake turns! I was so proud..!

[surok]

i think kathleens front lip is even bigger.
ben . show your mum this. tell her you need to borrow 10k and her car for a week.