Miata suspension recommendations
 

Hi, I have been lurking for awhile. I have also been scouring the countryside for a suitable car to start my conversion odyssey with. A couple of months ago I bought a 1995 Miata. It was in great condition. I replaced the top and the tires and have been driving it. Pleasantly surprised. The interior is a bit snug as I am 272 lbs.
The question is that I need to redo the suspension. The springs are sagging and the shocks are decorations. My plans for the car are LS3/T56, most likely a boss frog kit. I have not intentions of autocross or events like that. This will be a street sleeper with some creature comforts. Instead of losing weight I would add horsepower. For thrills I ride a Kawasaki ZX-14. That is a rush.
I do not want to put a band aid on it now only to have to replace it all within a year. I prefer to do it right the first time. Currently it has 185x14 tires and some aftermarket wheels. Any suggestions?
Thanks

Hi and welcome to the forums.

With your weight you should look at adjustable coil overs to level the car with you in it. IMO the best bang for the buck is the Flying Miata V maxx stuff. $1100 bucks for a full suspension set up and it's very good quality stuff.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out.

David did you see this thread?

https://www.v8miata.net/v8-miata-sus...-install-1071/

I did now. Thanks. It looks like that is the way I'll be going. It appears adapters are needed for the NA cars.

It's a little confusing because Jason already had the NB top hats so he did not get them in the kit. If you order the kit for the NA it will come with everything you need. There is a drop down on the FM page to pick the right kit for your 95. You can also get them with out the sway bar but for the price difference and the fun factor I wouldn't go that way myself.

You will notice there is a street pack and a track pack and the V8 guys go with the track pack set up like Jason did. The difference is higher spring rates in the track pack which is ideal for the extra weight and better suspension stability to handle the power.

http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?...201990-93%20NB

With the variable springs I really doubt you would find the 504 front and 336 rear spring rates objectionable for street duty even in a 4 cyl car. But keep in mind that is from a guy running non variable 750 fronts and 350 rears as a daily driver so to me that would feel like a Cadillac!

PS it should be noted that if your car has tons of miles on it you should take a peek at the suspension bushings in your control arms etc. They may be fine but some of the slop you are feeling could be from them of they are original. If you need them you would only need the base kit since the FM sway bars will come with all new bushings. If you do buy them please support our sponsors and get them from 949.

Energy Suspension Bushings Miata

Thanks!

I'm kinda Meh about my VMaxx classic suspension. But I want/need a long travel suspension that can deal with the horrible roads I drive (lots of sunken areas in the blacktop due to high summer heat and heavy trucks). I want little harshness, very little body roll, and ability to deal with those mid apex 1 foot drops on the outside tires.

I'm going to adjust the anti-sway bars this weekend per Keith's suggestion and see where that puts me but I think I need stiffer springs, with higher damping rates, and faster moving suspension (low friction). That all adds to $$$.

If I'm being fair.... if I wouldn't be trying to pull triple the indicated corner speeds on jacked up roads they would be a really nice set up for the car.

OP...we are the same weight and I have the same drive train you are considering. It's a fun toy for certain. I've also had a couple of ZX14's and ZX10's of various model years (and nearly every model ZX made). Don't get yourself fooled into thinking its going to compare. I've yet to get tunnel vision in the car like the liter plus bikes can do. ...But that's what that new H2 is going to be for. ...I though I had given up sport bikes....oh well...

Thanks for the input. I do not expect that my miata will compare to the acceleration of a zx14. Few things will. Although tires every 2500 miles does get old. The H2 lb per hp is crazy I'm guessing 1.5 lbs per hp.
I have been researching my road to conversion. I've been involved in cars for many years. In my younger days I put a small block in a vega. It twisted so bad that it broke the windshield

Mmmmm....H2. That thing is badass. I just have a 250 Ninja, and that's fun. Looking forward to getting a 600.

Back to suspension, I'm doing full energy suspension while doing the swap since so much is already apart.

Jason

The RA1s on the rear of the Miata are about done after 2k. With 900 of that being the drive home from CO. Not a single burn out or donuts done...yet. :lol_hitting: Though I have been having fun with the 1-2 and 2-3 shift. Not sure that'll ever get old.

Been reading a lot about suspension set up and how the sway bar and tire pressures play into the game. I have a lot of test and tune to do b4 spending any more cash. Lots of variables.

How bad is the lack of traction in first gear? Like ice or can it be feathered? In the past I had a 400 small block in a 55 Chevy. I put a pretty radical cam in it with a 3500 converter and a manual valve body turbo 400. The cam moved the torque curve up making it a little more drivable around town. On the interstate I had to be cautious as the converter would flash and break the tires loose. At 60mph. Took some getting used to. It was fun

If you have the throttle control for a ZX14, you can launch an LS3 w/o drama. It's completely drivable. It only gets as stupid as I request. Check my other threads, I just posted the dyno tune graph from last week if you like to see the curve.

Gator RA1s are an autcross only tire that are just bearly street leagal with a 100 tread wear. They start life with 8/32s of tread depth so they are 25% gone when you buy them. I'd be surprised to get more than 5000 miles tops out of them and much less with spirited driving.

Do you know what the spring rates are on the classic Vmaxxes? I think that is the street version which is pretty wimpy.

I've got several hard launches in the autocross vids in my youtube channel if you want to see. Of course you can break them loose if you want to but if you try not to they don't very much. For all out zoomness starting in 2nd works pretty good but it's hard on the clutch. The advantange in 2nd though is it saves a shift and I find it harder to control shifts. I nearly always break them loose when I shift even when I try to be careful. First time it happened from 3rd to 4th at 100 and the back end went sideways a couple inches I about crapped in my drawers.

This is coming out of a U turn so the tire squeal you hear under 40 is the turn. I was trying to be gentle in the shifts here but you can see it jump from 100 to 105 as the wheels spin.

It was only a 1/3rd of a mile and I ran out of room. :(

Here is a launch in 2nd.

Mine are 391 lb, 140mm long in the front and 258lb, 185mm long in the rear and 60mm dia. They aren't an off the shelf set up as my bodies were an older configuration and were upgraded to newer spec while at FM.

I was looking to go to a 200 wear tire, but with how I use the car I don't want any less traction. The piece I inadvertently left out is the tires were not new when I got the car and had unknown miles on them prior to my purchase. There is still good rubber left with the dimples present, but they are very close to being slicks now. From what I read they get better traction as they wear. I don't use the car in wet weather so slick rears don't bother me.

Yeah that is the sport spring rates. Fine for a street car for sure but someone that wants to push as hard as you they might be a tad on the wimpy side. It's really hard to have both a decent ride for the ruff roads you face and track like performance in the same set up.

For what it's worth I have found over the years that the more you set up the car for the track the more fun it is to drive to work. That's how I ended up with SM stuff right out of a race car in mine. With 750 lb springs and bilsteins valved for the track I catch every crack in the road but it handles like a race car so that's fine by me...

I definitely looking for a compromise set up. I had PSS9's on my 996. Hella fun at pace but beat me to death at anything less that a 7/10's pace. The set up I want is likely to be closer to the set up on FM's Targa car. Although I respect Keith's knowledge, they are in the business to sell their products so I'm looking at other options while tuning what I have. I may just need to optimize what I have and drive around it's short falls. I need to get a pic of a couple of the turns I'm expecting this thing to handle well. ...it's asking a lot even if it was a full on Rally Cross race car.