Toph6888

My wife has had an R56 for the past 6-7 years. Bought it with around 30-40k miles on it. Its a 2009.

I'm 6'3" and on the hefty side and I find them actually very comfortable for their size. The door is a bit close, but other than that I find the steering wheel/pedals/seat overall to be in good locations. I don't even have the seat all the way back when I drive it, so I don't think you'll have any issues with it.

We have done a fair bit of maintenance, but mostly in the first 2-3 years we got it. Other than that we have had really good luck with it and it is a blast to drive at autocross.

We have done the clutch (not a terrible job if you just take the front end off instead of trying to drop the subframe like the manual says. the whole front clip comes out as an assembly in about 1-2hrs, and then the whole engine/trans comes out as one piece through the front by removing three mounting points). We went with an aftermarket solid flywheel to avoid the OEM $1000+ dual mass flywheel. We still have an OEM clutch in it (which is a solid disc since the oem flywheel is Dual mass) and haven't had any driveability issues with it, and its done probably around 30-40k miles like that.

Rear water housing we had to replace due to the plastic cracking and leaking coolant. Kind of a pain to get in there, but it wasn't a terrible job. Its a FWD, so its not like everything is super easy since its all packed so tight.

Timing chain/tensioners were replaced maybe 2 years ago? Again, not a terrible job, and theres access to everything with it in the car, but you do have to buy special cam holder tool and a crank tool which are available on amazon for not a terrible price.

We cleaned the intake valves ourselves last year. theres one bolt thats a real bitch on the back of the intake manifold, but most don't put it back in and we haven't had any issues. Again, a special tool was purchased that fits the ports, but other than that it was harbor freight walnut blaster special. Easy enough to clean out once you get going and the car again is running fine afterwards.

The only part we had replaced under warranty was the high pressure fuel pump. Car would miss at cold start for about 2-3 mins, then be fine. There was an extended warranty from MINI to replace these, but I think we were at the tail end last spring getting it replaced. They are kinda expensive.

So, its not terrible to work on, but it is a BMW product (couple special tools). It has a good amount of cargo space, we have loved it as a daily/autocross toy. We have coilovers on it now, run a decent 200TW tire, and then a rear sway bar and it rotates really well.

If we knew about this work needing to go into it over the life of the vehicle, we would probably still get it as most of the time it wasn't that bad and it drives and feels nice for what it is. If you want something thats going to take zero maintenance and just drive all the time, I would probably look somewhere else.

Were you running this past Monday? It sucked! I was in a silver E36 M3, had I known you were a fellow CR member I would’ve said hello!

-Eric

I was there as well in the red turbo miata parked off by the entrance to the grid. It was quite wet, and somehow I managed to not park it in the grass on course unlike some of our fellow drivers lol.

I will be up at gingerman this weekend and mid ohio July 12th again. Feel free to stop by and chat, I'll keep a look out for both of you.

I passed this on to a buddy that may be interested. I'm at work so can't check just yet, but is this on FB marketplace also?

Yes, it is on FB. Let me know, thanks!

Selling a 40”x48” utility trailer that I bought last year but never used. I bought this used off of another racer to haul tires for my car to Autocross and track days, but now I have a truck and trailer so I don’t need this anymore. Previous owner used it for many years, so it’s nothing super fancy, but it appears to be in good working order. That said, it is used and looks to have been stored outside by previous owner so there is some small rust here and there, but appears to be surface only.

Sale includes trailer with spare tire, trailer chains, box mounted on diamond plate to the trailer, as well as 1-1/4” receiver hitch with locking trailer pin and I believe 2” ball. The ball mount on the trailer has a lock and there is a lock for the box itself. I am also including the steel pipe and pvc pipe that I bought for it to make the tire stands.

The steel pipe is threaded 1.5” nominal diameter schedule 40 with mounting plates and the pvc pipe is 2” id, 2.375” od. I was going to mount the steel pipe vertical to a floorboard on the trailer, have the pvc outside of it for a simple cushion, and then stack the tires through the center hole of the rim on the upright pipes.

Also included are the two long locks that I bought to run through the steel pipe to lock the tires to the trailer. There is also a new set of trailer lights. I’m not sure if the trailer needs them or not, but they are there.

Price is $230 or best offer. I’m located in Jerome Ohio (north Dublin). Currently it doesn’t have a plate on it, so looking for someone to pick it up locally. (Other items in background and jack stand are not included in sale).

So far I've only used Hawk pads, and will probably try carbotechs this year. I use blank rotors, and never had an issue with them. $25 for cheapos, $50 for nicer ones on rock auto for my car.

Started on HPS. They are quiet on the street, and initially on track I was fine with them but quickly outgrew them. I have them as daily pads right now, but I don't overall care for them.

Moved up to HP+, they squeal a bit during stopping in stop and go traffic, so if you don't care for that, i would use them only on track. A lot more stopping power compared to the HPS, so if youre looking for a street strip it would be my go to (its what I have on my miata for daily pads/autox now). They make a shit ton of dust though, and if the dust sits for a while its a real PITA to get off.

I tried Hawk DTC60's this year finally, and they are by far the biggest change to how the car handles on the track, I can go way harder into braking zones without fear of not being able to slow down. But like others said, lots of dust, and hard on the rotors. I had them on pretty much new rotors, and after 1 day at Mid Ohio and a weekend at Pitt they are looking pretty used. No cracking through the rotor, but lots of microcracks and some grooving. This is with a 3300lb car, 13" brakes, and 400hp with lots of gear. At pitt there are a lot of hard stopping areas (three or four that are 120-130mph down to 50-60mph) so its pretty hard on the brakes. One of my upgrades this year is to add the brake ducting to help keep temps down.

I could maybe get one more day out of the DTC60's and rotors, but I think 3-4 individual days is gonna be about the max on them. I'm still working on increasing cornering speed, so I'm hoping to gain a balance on hard braking and maintaining corner speed so as to not use the brakes quite as hard as I was initially doing when first trying the DTC's.

Planning on actually finishing out the last couple mods on the mustang since other items took precedence last year to keep it on the track.

Going to put the 4.56's in for the diff, and then the 2018 intake manifold and maybe GT350 throttlebody/cai if it plays nice with the tune. If funds allow a front splitter and maybe a wing if the rear needs help after the splitter. And then probably finish off with a new set of BFG R1 tires for it.

Already bought a 10pack for Autointerests dates for 5/13 @ Mid Ohio, 5/25-26 @Gingerman, 6/29-30 @ Pitt Race, 7/12@ Mid Ohio, 8/3-4 @ Summit point and then 8/30-9/1@Pitt Race.

Plan is to try to get my car as close to NASA American Iron record times as I can for Gingerman, Mid Ohio and Pitt.

2) New-Edge Mustang (Great RWD platform with a huge aftermarket)

Heck, you could probably find a great Coyote S197 for that budget (2011-2014).

Why not both?

Fun is defined by me as being able to at least enjoy getting on it, and being able to autocross and hpde it once or twice a year between both events.

As much as I enjoy my car, the SN95 chassis really isn't worth it unless its an 03/04 cobra. I'm still chasing my tail on this thing trying to iron out a lot of the platform issues. I would suggest saving up for the S197 coyote if mustang is your goal, its just a better platform.

I would agree on others with C5. Its just a good starting platform, its the american miata.

Cool, I'll be interested to see how he gets that combo. If you don't mind, let me know when you get it dyno'd, I wouldn't mind stopping by to watch for a bit, ask some questions.

 

GT350 IM is on my list down the road.

Will do. Initial talks with Brian are looking like second week of May.

Good stuff. The 18 manifold also gives more tq vs the GT350, but gives up a bit on 7500rpm+.

 

What event are you doing May 14? I'm doing 12/13 with NORPCA.

Yah. Looking forward to getting a dyno comparison of the two. Hoping to get with Brian in the next couple weeks.

Autointerests has their first Mid Ohio day on the 14th.

Impressive.

 

18 instead of GT350 IM due to cost?

yup. $250 shipped new for the 18 where the GT350 new is $1000ish. Even used the GT350's are quite a bit, most I have found range from $600-800. I don't really need a lot of power gain, I just want more RPM to go with the new rear gears so my overall top MPH in each gear doesnt change too much.

Currently with 3.90s with a 25.6" wheel:

1st (2.66) 7000rpm = 52mph

2nd (1.78) 7000rpm = 77mph

3rd (1.30) 7000rpm = 105mph

4th (1.00) 7000rpm = 137mph

With the 4.56's and a 25.6" wheel:

1st (2.66) 8000rpm = 50mph

2nd (1.78) 8000rpm = 75mph

3rd (1.30) 8000rpm = 103mph

4th (1.00) 8000rpm = 134mph

The reason for the 4.56's is the t56 is a double OD transmission. The MT82 in the coyote cars are a single OD transmission. Putting a 4.56 in my car with my tire size is the same as the new mustangs with the mt82 and a 3.73 gear ratio.

Thats a lot of coin....

Back in the car as of this weekend

New long arm shifter. Stock new edge ones are so far forward it was a pain with the harness, so once the wheel gets lowered down its about even wtih the steering wheel. Much easier to shift.

Been a While.

Updates from last summer: I took care of the seat harnesses pretty much a week or two after I had originally put them in. FYI, I never ran an event with them around the front of the seat and hadn't planned on keeping them that way. Anyways, I bought slots that fit through the seats and cut them out to fit.

Then it got stored all winter. yay. Now onto more updates.

New parts for 2018:

2018 GT Intake Manifold

87mm GT350 throttle body / JLT Air Intake

Boundary Billet Oil Pump Gear / Timing Sprocket

ATI Super Damper

4.56 Rear Gears

T56 magnum close ratio with 0.50 6th gear OD (with my tire size and 4.56 i'll be at ~2100rpms at 75mph)

Ford Racing Aluminum Flywheel

Exedy Mach 400 stage 2 clutch 26 spline

DSS driveshaft for 03/04 cobra

Sparco Evo 3 fixed back seat

2018 manifold: higher RPM (typically peaks around 7200 instead of 6500-6700 that is current and can retain IMRC's for lower rpm torque. targetting 8000rpm redline with the billet opg, sprocket and ATI balancer)

t56 magnum

decided it would be easier to just pull everything out of the bottom to swap the trans and do the Oil pump gears and whatnot.

Turns out the old T56 fits in a miata with the passenger seat removed.

One of my biggest complaints on the car was the master cylinder moving, so I made a brace. Its two pieces of 1/4" steel. I doubt it will move now.

We are up to this past week now. First track day is 5/14. I should really get it all together.

swapping out oil pump gears

This is a t56 10spline transmission and aluminum driveshaft from an 03 cobra. I purchased it when it had around 35k miles, and drove with it for another 10k miles. So 45k mileage trans. Includes a ford racing billet steel flywheel and an exedy Mach 400 sage 2 10spline 11” clutch rated at 510ftlbs of torque at the flywheel. Also includes the steeda tri-ax short throw shifter and original cobra 6speed shift knob. Does not include the bellhousing.

Reason for selling is I am upgrading to a tremec t56 magnum. I just wanted something to hold more power and have more options on gear ratios.

Price is $2500 or best offer. I do have the box from the magnum, so I can potentially ship at buyers expense.

Man that tube chassis front end makes a huge difference in being able to route all the turbo piping.

I might have to steal your bumper attachement method with those quick clips too. Mine are trashed/broken tabs anyways.

What, no dodge demon style AC cooling system for the intake charge temps?

Looks awesome man. That tube chassis front end looks awesome.

If you can get the mounts figured out I would be interested in hearing how you make the brackets for those calipers on the SN95 spindle. Looking at potential options for mine as well.

Looks good!

FYI the v6 and 5.0 bellhousings are slightly different, so make sure you find a 5.0 bellhousing for the trans. The 3.8L use a 163 tooth flywheel and the 5.0's use a 157, so the starter location is slighlty different on the two bellhousings. Other than that, they are pretty easy to swap out.

Nice thing about the ford ecu stuff is they are usually "standalone" ish, as in the engine ecu doesen't have to talk to anything else. So long as you get it fuel/power, it will be good to go on the stock ECU. That being said, its still easier to start with a manual trans ecu as they don't have some of the auto trans stuff in them. You can program them out of it (at least in my generation mustang you can, not 100% sure on foxbody stuff).

A lot of guys get GT40 heads for the 5.0's from I think the marauders or expeditions of that era? so thats a pretty low buck option. A basic intake system is fine and then cam of your choice. The anemic 5.0 picks up quite a bit with just HCI.

Or you could just get the better 5.0 instead of that pushrod life :gabe:

Went to nelson ledges this weekend with autointerests group to see how the track was. Overall the surface is pretty good. Coming into turn 12 at speed it can get a lil dicey with the "evenness" of the pavement, but overall not too bad. I can actually go full throttle around the oak tree turn, which is a blast in this car. That banking works really well.

They have started working on the berming and the tough transition from pavement to grass. They laid down some rough packed pavement as a transition zone, but its still not what I would call overly faith inspiring. Still, it was a fun day on a new to me, very fast track. Back straight I was up to about 125 before I needed to start braking into 11 for my comfort, probably could have gone a bit faster with better tires/brakes.

I took times on my phone with Harry's lap timer and best of my third session was 1:25.5, which I thought was pretty decent. Last lap of my last session I was able to get lower to 1:22.5 on HPS brake pads and RS3 tires that are too small for my car (cue excuses!). I think with some more track time there to really dial in teh carosel (I was terrible at it) and I could find some more time.

In a couple weeks I will be at mid ohio and will try out my slicks to see how much of an improvement I get with them, as well as some HP+ brake pads.

I love this car. You've done well. Definitely need more meat on it this year.

Thanks, I really appreciate it. STill not as fast as that Viper on R888R's though haha.

So this past weekend we had the third points event at BMC. Finally was a nice forecast, so I decided to bring the 245/45R17 BFG R1S Slicks with me. I bought these used off another CR member, but this was the first time I finally got to use them, and HOLY CRAP do they stick. Completely different car at circleville.

For BMC I ended up second in A class (essentially unlimited non miatas) with my 46.414s time and I only lost to a Ford Formula car in my class lol. Average best time for the course was 50.193s.

I finished 5th overall, losing to the formula car, two miatas on slicks, and one ND miata on RE71R's. I figure thats pretty good for my car with a good 1000-1200lbs (and around 200-300+HP lol) on those cars and it being a go cart track.

Still some understeering problems around the hairpins, but the car seems to be lifiting the front inner wheel, so I think the sway bar is too big for the circleville track. I'll try the stock sway bar first and see if that alleviates the problem. If not, then stiffer springs up front. It doesn't roll a ton, but the bar is lifting it enough to where I'm losing contact patch. Last year I was having the same issue with the brakes where it would lock the brake on the inside every turn, so ultimatly the car is unweighting that wheel enough to cause loss of traction.

Will probably try the R1S Tires at Mid Ohio in September for a couple sessions to see how they feel, but next year I will probably only go to a 100TW tire (R888R or NT01 probably) to try to make the tires last the whole track day season next year.

Last weekend we went up to Pitt Race with Autointerests just for a saturday event. They were calling for rain, but it ended up sprinkling just a bit in the morning during tech and then was clear and sunny the rest of the day.

We ran the full track, and it was a blast with that mustang. Thanks to the coyote and the gearing in the car I was able to still run the entire course in 4th gear, something my instructor said he had never seen before haha. There were definitely some points where I could see myself reaching down to third through some sections, but it was never needed and with it being my first time to the track I just wanted to get really clean line over the course of they day.

The car either seemed to be more responsive to the track, or I'm just finally get comforable pushing it through the corners more. My friend with his bolt on RSX normally eats me in the corners, and this time he couldn't shake me when he was in front and I walked away from him pretty easily through the twisties when I was in front.

I definitely need tires and brake pads bad. The 255 RS3's just aren't cutting it, the HPS pads are pretty much toast about halfway through a session, and my autox alignment I think is hurting the car on track (-3* camber in front and 1/16th toe OUT is not helping with my braking). I'm pretty much engine braking around 600ft, hard braking at 400ft, where my friend with his RSX and DTC 60 track pads is staying in it and slamming the brakes at 200ft. If I could get braking like that I would be able to cut the lap times down quite a bit.

Today I actually put in my new GForce 6 point harnesses that I got for my birthday. Didnt get a chance to before pitt race. I also have HP+ pads and new rotors to go on the car before we go try Nelson Ledges in August, then Mid Ohio again in September.

I decided to ask for the latch style to save half the cost over the camlock harnesses and to get a general idea of how the harnesses will go. For the couple times a year I will be using them they should suffice for now until I decide to pay the cash for a HANS device and go full cage/rip out the interior (which i've been thinking about more and more now that I ahve the miata for autox lol). The submarine harnesses are currently wrapping around the front of the seat since I don't currently have a submarine slot. I am ordering a kit to put in a slot and then will reroute the submarine harnesses back behind where the driver/passenger would sit.