Welcome to the Ex club. I used to run a CSP Miata with Tarheel Sports Car Club and with NASA. Miss those days!

 

Nice. Mine is at the fabricator right now. I pulled out the bolt in and am getting a welded in cage. I'm planning on going from time trials to wheel-to-wheel next season. My car is prepped for time trials, so I'll have to change it some. I plan to make it a SSM car and run with SCCA MARRS. I might have to run it as a SM or ITA until I can afford to "undo" some of my mods, but my motor won't even be close in either of those.

A buddy was busting my ***** the other day and asked if I was compensating for something by buying the Excursion. I said, "Yeah, a small race car."

 

A buddy was busting my ***** the other day and asked if I was compensating for something by buying the Excursion. I said, "Yeah, a small race car."[/QUOTE]

Just tell him "Nope, I needed something that could carry it"

 

I've got a Spec RX-7 that I hope to get out... If I can get away from the kids sometime.

Part of the reason I'm looking for an Ex. Kid seats don't fit in the back of the Dodge pickup that is currently my tow vehicle.

 

That is the biggest challenge. As much as I'd like to run an entire series and try to compete, the whole family/kids thing ... along with the exponential cost thing .. limits me to 4 or 5 weekends a year. My wife says it keeps me from getting out of control, can't say I disagree with that.

 

I bought my excursion as an ex border patrol vehicle. It was in suprisingly good overall shape had low miles (65,000 if I remember right) and was cheap. I think I had about 4,000 in it after the first round of repairs. It has 210,000 on it now. It's got the V10 and so far I have few complaints. I remember having the vibration I think you are talking about. I tried everything. Driveshaft, wheels, etc. nothing seemed to fix it. I think it eventually went away after changing the front wheel bearings. Mine is 4x4. Most of the things I've had to fix over the years are due it's farm use. It has filled in at work pulling a bobcat or excavator and hauled baseball players to south FL for a world series. Mostly used to pull my ski boat these days. Mine is great for that due to its government issue vinyl 2nd and 3rd row seats with rubber floor mats. I reupholstered the fronts with matching gray factory take off leather. Lots of things you can do to make it your own. I added an 07 grill and bumper the first week. I've been thru mud grips and black wheels to 20's and bfg at's. Now I'm back to factory alloys with 305's. Tons of parts available. It's a good one to keep for the long haul.

 

Sorry to hijack the original intent of your thread but I hear you on your wife's logic! I'm now in the Outer Banks and it's very difficult to get to any of the tracks but I miss it. Roebling Road, CMP and VIR are my stomping grounds. Once you get rid of the bolt-in there is no turning back.... Really stiffens the car though. What have you done to the motor? Mine was a 92 chassis with a 2001 engine/trans swap. With the lighter shell of the 92 and the extra power of the 1.8 it was really fun. I just picked up a 2001 that needs a lot of work and am seriously thinking of a Monster swap.... already have the 302. Lots of ideas and short on time!

 

Motor is a simple intake/exhaust, otherwise a tired 160K motor. For SSM though, I have to get original intake and a specific exhaust. I also have the SM suspension with the Fat cat kit/NB tophats. Fat Cat/NB illegal for SSM. Also have 94 brakes, which is illegal for pretty much any class. A couple frame stiffening devices are easily removed.
I've already sourced some brackets to bring the brakes back. The SSM exhaust is a little more difficult since it's not made anymore. Gotta wait for someone to either crash or move up to SM.
Should get the car back before the weekend.

 

CSP was a bit more lenient. The SCCA spec shows 90-05 being one and the same so parts could be swapped around. CSM is definitely different. It shouldn't be too hard to find the stock parts.

 

I'd love to be able to run spec e30 or spec e36 someday. The e36 is quickly becoming one if the most affordable cars out there.

Did you work out the driveline vibration yet? I've read that these can sometimes be incurable.

 

Yeah, at 6'3" tall, I'd fit better into a SE30 or 36. But, the MARRS series is very Miata oriented. Largest field of the day is in the regional SSM class, second largest is SM. Makes things easy and cheap when there's tons around.

I haven't done anything on the driveline vibration since the u-joints. I will try to get a roadforce balance in the next few days. The place that can do it is not nearby. If that doesn't work, I may try new tires. The Uniroyals on there seem OK, but you never know.

 

I'm a similar height, which is why my track car is an e28.

 

A floor jack should help fix your running board issue, as long as it's just bent. These things are heavy enough that you can definitely bend the running board with a jack and a 2x4. Just make sure to jack up toward the outside of the RB frame to get maximum leverage, or else you'll just jack up the truck.

 

Nope, the L-brackets holding the running board to the truck are not bent. The truck is. This photo isn't very clear unless you know what you're looking for, but it shows the brackets pulling away from the truck. They are attempting to pull the "nuts" through the sheet metal. The sheet metal has bent out where the bolts go in. The step was pushed in rather than down. The down is just an effect of how the metal bent as it went in.



There was some sort of impact. You can see the scratch above the mashed in/down part of the step. There is also a dent under the tan moulding behind the door. The seller took a closeup of the scratch on the moulding, but I couldn't relate it to the saggy step until I saw it in person.


I'm not sure if a BFH will do a good enough job, or if I'll need a welder and some sheet metal. Kind of a different reason to have to weld in a rocker panel.

 

Not a ton of new stuff going on. I've just been driving. Most of my hours for working on the car have been spent on the race car lately.

Yesterday, I pulled the overhead console and got the board out. I pressed in all the resistors and it started working again, although dim. I don't have a good soldering iron for detail work like this, so I gave it to a friend today to solder up.