Next event is Charlotte Motor Speedway. All of you Charlotte people are welcome to come hang out and I’ll give ride alongs. Bring a helmet!
Next event is Charlotte Motor Speedway. All of you Charlotte people are welcome to come hang out and I’ll give ride alongs. Bring a helmet!
- Danny
Do you have intakes where the indicators used to be?
And I’ll definitely come out for your trip to the Roval. I’m driving it with Track Night in America in a couple weeks.
Emma - 2005 BMW 330ci ZHP 6MT Estorilblau Individual
Sportline 8s 18x8.5F - 18x9.5R | APEX ARC-8 18x8.5 Square | aFe Intake | 135i Brembo F/R Calipers | 26mm Front/20mm Rear Sway Bars | Z4 Mirror
M3 Dead Pedal | Lexus ES300 Yellow Fog Light Retrofit | Koni Yellows/H&R Springs | Llumar CTX 40% | Coby Tri-Stitch Wheel & Boots
Awaiting Install: M3 Wing Mirrors
Yeah they are “turn signal intakes” a pretty common mod for Miatas, because it looks cool and lowers engine temps.
Can’t wait to meet you, and drive the Roval again!
- Danny
This one has been a long time coming, but it makes me a bit sad. I feel like the Autokonexion bumper on my car has always made it unique. The only time I've ever seen another person with this bumper was at Miatapalooza on one of V8Roadster's cars.
I loved this bumper. When the bumper first came out, I was in high school and I was broke. There was no way I was every going to be able to afford one, but I set one of the renderings of the bumper as the background on my phone as motivation to somehow make it happen. One of the members on the local forum bought one well he decided to go a different direction and wanted a stock bumper! This was perfect! So I traded my stock bumper for his Autokonexion Adore NA/NC bumper! Fantastic!
So I traded my bumper plus cash for his Autokonexion bumper! I now had the bumper I dreamed of, but no money to paint it! I drove around for a very long time like this...
Eventually I saved up enough money to get it painted.
Painted the lower portion black.
Ended up hitting a tire tread and broke the lower portion. You can sort of see it here next to my sisters old car.
I then cut out the entire lower portion since it was broken.
Added fog lights! The mounting was interesting, since the bumper didn't have all the nice stock mounting points that the NC bumper has for the fogs.
I ended up hitting ANOTHER tire tread (probably the 3rd or 4th one by this time) and it caused the fog light to pop out. I never got around to fixing it, since it never wanted to fit right again after that.
Then this is the most recent photos with the bumper still on from the recent track day.
As you can see the bumper had seen some damage from rock chips and tire treads over the years. It looks decent in that last picture because I literally spray painted the bumper before the track day, just so you couldn't see the rock chips in the photos! :D
After the track day I went to Miatastuff's (Somehow my first ever purchase from him after all these years!!) and picked up a nice stock red bumper. Also picked up the bumper support, air guide, hardware, and mounting points. All things I haven't had on this bumper.
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Here is the damage the bumper had seen over the years.
Notice that wonderful spray painting? :P
Also added this nice LRB Speed undertray since I now had stock mounting points again! First time running an undertray in like 6 years.
And very very stock now...It is actually growing on me a lot! The Home Depot lip wont be on long. I plan on doing an R-Package lip with a splitter and turn buckles.
I'm slightly sad about it, but at the same time I'm not. It is definitely for the better, and the looks are really growing on me! I'll make it look more aggressive soon!
- Danny
-Sister
-Lava Orange MSM
Go on...
All kidding aside, that was quite the update. It sucks it took a beating, but that’s unfortunately bound to happen on the track and highway. That’s a big reason I don’t plan on tracking this ZHP much longer. Maybe another E46, still keeping my uncle’s NB1 on the list, not sure yet.
The more I get into Miatas the more the NA front bumper grows on me. I’m an NB guy, but I’ve seen some pretty aggressive looking NAs, so I’m looking forward to where this car goes.
Emma - 2005 BMW 330ci ZHP 6MT Estorilblau Individual
Sportline 8s 18x8.5F - 18x9.5R | APEX ARC-8 18x8.5 Square | aFe Intake | 135i Brembo F/R Calipers | 26mm Front/20mm Rear Sway Bars | Z4 Mirror
M3 Dead Pedal | Lexus ES300 Yellow Fog Light Retrofit | Koni Yellows/H&R Springs | Llumar CTX 40% | Coby Tri-Stitch Wheel & Boots
Awaiting Install: M3 Wing Mirrors
Hahaha! She's had some great cars! She's married though, sorry! :D
-NB Miata
-Mazdaspeed Miata (sold it to buy a house)
-Protege 5
-Jetta TDI Cup Edition
-BMW 135is (sold it due to having a baby)
-Acura TSX Wagon ( Current car, possibly selling because she has another baby on the way)
NB's are great! Just get your uncles NB1 and track that. It'll be the best decision you've ever made! Seriously!
- Danny
Dang, that is a good list! I’d love a 135is, but I’m realizing my future car/dream car list is almost entirely as old/older than the ZHP.
I’m not 100% if his NB has an LSD or not—from what I’ve read his year is right around when then started being optional, but that would make the decision pretty easy if it does. Plus the consumables are laughably inexpensive. Just needs a hardtop, and some RPF1s lol.
Emma - 2005 BMW 330ci ZHP 6MT Estorilblau Individual
Sportline 8s 18x8.5F - 18x9.5R | APEX ARC-8 18x8.5 Square | aFe Intake | 135i Brembo F/R Calipers | 26mm Front/20mm Rear Sway Bars | Z4 Mirror
M3 Dead Pedal | Lexus ES300 Yellow Fog Light Retrofit | Koni Yellows/H&R Springs | Llumar CTX 40% | Coby Tri-Stitch Wheel & Boots
Awaiting Install: M3 Wing Mirrors
Like you said, parts are cheap! You could swap an LSD in even if it doesn’t have one!
- Danny
This weekend was one of the best I've had in a while! Drove the car to Charlotte for track day on the Roval. I drove it last year, but the layout was different this year. They added two chicanes on the straights. They ended up being some of my favorite turns! At first I hated the one on the front straight, but it ended up being super fun!
Spenser (704SW) came out to hang out for the day. Great to meet you, sir! He rode along with me on track most of the day. His ZHP is so clean!! I love the Estoril and the yellow brake calipers! Such a beautiful car!
At first the front chicane was difficult for me to get right. It was a struggle, but I seemed to have it figured out at the end of the day! I cut the corner a bit too much one lap and the car launched onto two wheels. All I could hear was Spenser busting out laughing from the passenger seat! I then did it on purpose every lap after that because it was so much fun! If I was in the ZHP the subframe would definitely just disintegrate!
I'll add more details and pictures later once they all start getting posted by everyone in a few days!
- Danny
Very nice meeting you, too. That little NA is a blast, and two-wheeling was quite entertaining. I'm definitely looking forward to driving with you guys later this year.
I'll let you know when I go through all of the pictures, and probably just send you a Dropbox link to use at your leisure. In the meantime, I'll leave a picture of this fire-spitting beast...
DSW_6218 by Spenser W, on Flickr
Emma - 2005 BMW 330ci ZHP 6MT Estorilblau Individual
Sportline 8s 18x8.5F - 18x9.5R | APEX ARC-8 18x8.5 Square | aFe Intake | 135i Brembo F/R Calipers | 26mm Front/20mm Rear Sway Bars | Z4 Mirror
M3 Dead Pedal | Lexus ES300 Yellow Fog Light Retrofit | Koni Yellows/H&R Springs | Llumar CTX 40% | Coby Tri-Stitch Wheel & Boots
Awaiting Install: M3 Wing Mirrors