Suspension Update, etc.
As I’ve probably mentioned separately to various TARPers, I picked up an el-cheapo set of eBay-derived “coilovers” to replace the crapp-ay cut coil springs that were serving as our suspension. I use the term “coilover” very loosely because a coilover setup is typically very high-dollar (well into the four-figures) and well-engineered, whereas this was more like $50 and is the least engineered bit of suspension kit I’ve ever seen.
Basically, what’s different is that these come with some uber-cheap aluminum adjustable bottom perches and some springs that are a narrower diameter than our stock springs. And the springs are stiffer, too. Over the last couple weeks I’ve been working occasionally to install them on the TARP Special and I got finished with the fronts last night. The adjustable perches basically rest on the stock perches and through the use of two o-rings, three set screws, and two loose-tolerance screw rings determine the height of the bottom of the spring. The top of the spring still rests on the bottom of the stock upper perch.
The rears will be adjustable to just about the right height without other modification. The fronts are a different story. Right now they are still riding way too high, but I have some room to lower them. But I think that what I’ll probably end up needing to do is to cut off the stock perches and fabricate a mount that’s lower on the strut tube so allow for more downward travel in order to get the front lower. Presently it’s back at rally-car height.
In the etc. category, I’ve sold a few more parts recently (including the power antenna and all the stock antenna relays), which generated a little bit of cash. I promptly converted that into a quick release mechanism for the steering wheel and a new wheel, since our old one got torn up in the first race. It sure would be a lot easier to get out of the car with the quick release on the wheel, so I’m going to put that in the safety column for accounting purposes.
I’m working on lining up a set of wheels that match our race wheels (which are just crappy Miata wheels, but still). Mrs. Mulry just looks at me with that funny look in her eye when I say I’m going to work on the car. Like rust, I never sleep. 
After getting the car back down off the jackstands, I piled the girls into the passenger seat and took them out for a ride. Katie (the 7-going-on-13-year-old) said that she really enjoyed it, whereas Caroline, the 5 year old who actually likes to get her hands dirty and work on the car with me, didn’t like the fact that the safety belts weren’t working to her satisfaction and thought that the car was going “too fast.” Perhaps she does not realize that this is a LeMons car and, per se, cannot go fast.
Cheers.
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