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Turbo Miata (more investigating)

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on June 18, 2007
in MX5 Turbo and Projects
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So… I’ve been reading more and I have 2 options: 1. Buy a kit or 2. Build it myself.

As I’ve gotten into more into it all, I thinking building it myself from scratch is a bit beyond my mental and emotional investment. I’m going to go with a kit.

So, regarding kits, I already mentioned those from Flyin’ Miata. But I also found Bell Engineering. These two seem to be the major players in the “kit” market.

After reading through all the specs and the forums, I think my best bet is a hybrid of the two. I don’t know why, exactly, but something in my gut likes BEGi’s hardware better. But FM’s ECU (the Hydra) rocks.

Regardless, the first thing (Step 1) I have to do is replace the clutch. And since it comes in a “happy meal”, I’m going to add a lightweight flywheel too. The OEM clutch can’t handle the power I want to throw at it, and the flywheel will make the throttle more responsive.

Step 2 is to add the BEGi Series 2/3 kit. The big difference between the two is the size of the turbo. As I understand it, the Garret T2554 spools faster and gives more low-end torque, but lacks in high RPM power. The T2860 is just the opposite. It gives HUGE top horse-power, but takes forever to spool up. After driving today and paying careful attention to my driving habits and RPM’s in normal and highway traffic, and open country roads when I like to whip-it-up… I think I’ve decided on the T2560. Untuned, the turbo should start spooling around 3300 RPMs and between 4000-6000 RPMs will take off like a rocket. Since I enjoy driving the ‘twisties’ and not so much ‘drag racing’, I think the T2560 is the best choice for me.

Step 3, then, is to add a new exhaust. I’m still debating on which, but I’m looking for an additional 10hp.

Step 4 will be to add a new ECU. Right now, my only real option is the FM Hydra. I looked at the FM Voodoo II, but I think it’s a waste of money. I considered the Xede, but it just doesn’t seem “complete” to me. I also looked at the MegaSquirt from DIYAutoTune. And while I think that’s probably the best EMS out there, honestly, again, it’s over my head and beyond the mental/emotional investment I’m willing to make right now.

The New MX5 (planning)

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on June 15, 2007
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I think the decision came down to deciding whether I was content having a motorcycle and a sports-car (even though it looked cool but didn’t really perform like a sports car), or having a real sports-car and no bike. I barely rode the bike, and when I did I didn’t ride it hard. When I did ride, I couldn’t wait to get to my destination. It’s not that I dislike riding. It’s just not as much fun as it used to be, and not as much fun as my other options. When I’m driving the Miata, I keep thinking, “Where else can I go?”

So I’m selling the bike, and with the proceeds I’m going to start turning the Miata into the beast she was born to be.

Several months ago, when I had first started thinking about potential, I was fixed on either the Voodoo II or the FM Hydra solutions from Flyin’ Miata. Recently, I decided to go with the Voodoo II because it was sufficient for now and if I decided I wanted even more, the system is easily upgradable to the Hydra.

But after more reading on various forums, it seems to me that the Flyin’ Miata turbo kits are easy to install and will give decent performance increases, but are not the best ‘bang for the buck’ if one is willing to put forth a little more effort. Basically, I can do more research, more work, spend less and get a better final result.

So that’s today’s dilema.

P.S. Regardless, she’s going to need a new CarPuter.

She’s going…

Published
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on June 15, 2007
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I was thinking about it most of the week, as I parked the bike in the middle of the driveway and every time I leave I have to steer around it. I realized that I don’t ride nearly as much as I thought I would, and I’m not motivated at all to take care of the little things wrong with it.

So, today I went to the license branch to get a duplicate title (because I lost the original) and called ‘that guy’. Turns out he’s still interested in buying it. He has a Yamaha that he has to sell first, but I suspect in a few weeks I will be motorcycle-less.

That’s hot

Published
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Meta
on June 13, 2007
in Fitness
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No, not Paris. My house. I still haven’t gotten my A/C fixed and this afternoon I opted to work from home. Ugh. Once the breeze died down, it was miserable.

Anyway, not much of an update. Yesterday some colleagues and I visited the Indiana Dept of Homeland Security, got a tour of their EOC and learned a little about Ardent Sentry. I had dinner plans later that evening, also downtown, with a friend. The IDHS ‘visit’ ended around 4p and dinner wasn’t until 6p, so I had about 2 hours in between and had to find a way to pass the time.

So… in that time, I drove to the southside of Indy to Play It Again Sports. I had 2 hours, so I REALLY took my time checking out what was available. I walked out with about 200lbs of iron, a new barbell and a couple dumbell bars. (Actually, I walked out about 4 times. Those things are heavy!)

I did a little more fine-tuning to my workout routine and realized that there are some things that the good ol’ BowFlex just can’t do as well as free-weights. On the other hand, since I workout alone (ie, without a spotter) some things will have to stay on the BowFlex for safety reasons. Since I train to failure on my last set, any exercise that requires me to lift something heavy that I’m likely to drop on my head or chest and cause severe injury… well… I’ll stick to the PowerRods.

But now I can do some deadlifts, dumbell rows, shoulder shrugs and a lot of others to work the stabilizing muscles and hopefully get maximum benefit.

Eating is harder than it sounds

Published
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on June 11, 2007
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I was looking for ideas regarding food, and went back to Ferriss’ article (which I have to stop reading, because the more I read other things it’s annoying me). Anyway, the “meal” he describes (consisting of pasta, no-fat turkey chili and tuna) actually sounded good.

So I mixed up a batch and figured that if I ate all of it, broken into 3 meals, I’d get 1300 cals, and 110gm protein. Add that to my 3 shakes a day and I’m up to a total of 1750 cals and 170gm protein. So somewhere I still needed to stick in one more meal.

At breakfast, I managed about 5 bites before I simply felt ill and bloated. I put it back in the fridge. I took another bowl-full with me to work with the intention of eating it for lunch. I left work around 3pm and brought the uneaten concoction with me. But, honestly, by then I was hungry. I got home and swallowed the whole thing. And ya know… it was good.

So… that’s 1/3 of my expected intake down. It’s now 9pm and the thought of eating anything just makes me want to hurl. My stomach is distended and I feel so friggin’ full! I estimate that I got somewhere near 640 cals plus another 450 from my protein complex drinks. I don’t know where to squeeze in the rest of this food I’m supposed to be taking in!

The new workout

Published
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on June 9, 2007
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Rather than repeat it here, visit my BodySpace. I’ve re-engineered my workout.

Time of day and energy

Published
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on June 8, 2007
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I had tried to do my workouts in the early evening, around 5:30-6, when I get home from work. I found that to be a horrible time, because my energy and motivation are probably at their lowest.

However, last night I thought I’d try later. I got home, had dinner and did some housework. Then sat down and watched “Wag the Dog” which had just today arrived from NetFlix. About 8pm I put on a pot of coffee for a bit of a boost, then started the session around 8:45, just as the sun was going down.

Wow. I’m sore today. That was one of my best workout sessions yet!

In other news, I’m trying out BodySpace as a means to track my progress instead of my local page. It has its pros and cons.

UPDATE: I just put on the Temptations’ Greatest Hits, and the first track, “Cloud Nine” makes me want to work out. Weird, I know. During last night’s session I listened to a combo of the Jackson 5 and Stevie Wonder, with up-beat songs like “Rockin’ Robin”, “It’s Your Thing (Do what ya wanna do)”, “Sir Duke”, “Superstition”, etc. So maybe it’s not the time of day, but the ’soundtrack’ for the workout that makes the difference. Hmmm….

The fitness log

Published
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on June 3, 2007
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Well, now that the ‘experiment’ is over, I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to track progress and analyze things going forward.

Sidenote: I’ve always somewhat taken offense to people telling me “You’re so skinny! How do you stay so skinny?” Even last weekend when visiting my parents over Memorial Day, an older cousin asked me if I was on a diet or if it was just natural. While I understand how some people might admire the fact that I don’t outwardly appear overweight, I am fat on the inside. I had to explain to my cousin that I’m actually trying to gain weight (lean mass). The fact that I appear skinny is relative. What they (apparently) don’t see is that I’m not very healthy.

I was a bit shocked today. After hunting for some time, I finally found a link to the U.S. Navy Method (using non-metric measurements) for calculating ‘percent body fat’. I’m 33, 5′10″ and weigh 170 lbs. I never thought the standard BMI calculators applied to me. That calculator says I’m 24.5% body fat, which is nearly “overweight”! How can a little, skinny guy like me possibly be overweight? So I took the appropriate abdomen and neck measurements, plugged them into the Navy’s more accurate formula and the result: 23.8%!

So, back to ‘tracking’, that’s one of the new metrics I’m going to keep an eye on. Even if it isn’t 100% accurate, future progress can be measured against the value using the same formula. For now, I’m not setting a goal. I’m merely going to track it weekly for a month and see how things go and if my ‘routine’ is burning enough fat.

The “bad” room

Published
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Meta
on June 3, 2007
in Home Projects
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When I was dating Nancy (so she’ll appreciate this, I think), I had this bedroom off The Cozy that was off-limits. The door stayed shut and no one was allowed to enter. Though she had never seen inside, she named it “the bad room”. Why? Well, I’m embarrassed, but it was trashed. When I finally gave up on letting Soren have the run of the house while I was gone (and subsequently destroying everything) and the kennel I got for him outside wouldn’t hold him (he quickly learned how to dig himself out), I had no choice but to keep him in this room during the day. Meanwhile I searched to find him a new home. My reasoning was that at least he would only destroy this room.

After Soren, well, the carpet was ripped to shreds. Since I couldn’t use the room in the condition it was in, it became ’storage’. I kept all kinds of crap in there, including the old couch that Soren ravaged (and I still have).

The good news is… this morning I managed to clean out all the junk and tear out the carpet in preparation for laying the last bit of hardwood flooring I have. I actually had not been in that room myself for quite sometime and I nearly forgot how nice it is. The big windows and view are awesome. The gray wall-paneling is ugly, but I can live with it. I’m just glad to have finally started on this room, because it’s the last room in my flooring project I started last fall.

So, I guess I know how I’ll be spending the next few weekends.

Lots of firewood!

Published
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Meta
on June 2, 2007
in Home Projects
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So the guys showed up as planned Friday morning and cut down 3 trees total. Two were on the property line between my house and that of my neighbors, and the 3rd was in my neighbors’ front yard. Luckily, they didn’t drop it on my house or on anything else of value.

On the other hand, now I have a tree (chopped up a little) laying in my back yard. It’s going to have to be moved. It’s also going to need to be split. There looks to be enough wood in the one tree alone to get the camping troop through the summer then myself through the winter.

But right now I’m looking at it and thinking… “ugh… more work to do.”