Targa Miata
MIATA BUILD
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April 8, 2009 - I did have one problem on the way home from California.
As I pulled in to Reno, I popped my earplugs out and was greeted with a pretty nasty exhaust note and rattling. I figured out pretty quickly what was going on - the collector had somehow come off the primary pipes.
Now, when I was building the header, I had to pull it apart to finish some welding. And I had a really hard time - several prybars and a torch were required. So when it was all assembled again, I only made a small tack weld as a token gesture, figuring it would never come apart on its own.
Well, obviously it held together for the race and a bunch of track testing. But 7 hours at Laguna Seca? Not so much. We tried several field fixes on the way home but to no avail. The rear section of the header settled on to the front subframe maintaining a bit of contact with the tubes but transmitting a nice buzz through the car. No harm done, just a bit of unpleasantness. I've pulled it out now and I'm going to clean it up before reassembling and welding everything!
tags: header