The Malaga Bomber (no rust this time)

[AbsorbantNut]

^ I have driven 2002s for the last 25 years of my life with many various offset wheels on them. Scrub radius affects every car, however.

The further you push the centerline of the wheel away from the pivot (steering rotation) of the ball joint, the more force an input applies to rotating the strut. Sometimes called steering kickback.

An example would be hitting a 1 inch deep water puddle at speed with just the right wheels of the car. A car with zero scrub radius would feel basically zero input through the steering wheel and track pretty straight through the puddle. The strut does not want to rotate (steer) because the wheels pivot is at the center of the wheels width. The steering precision and feedback of this setup "feels" great and is easy to control.

The same car with the centerline of the wheel pushed out 2 inches (scrub radius) going through the same puddle will push a significant force through the steering wheel and swerve toward that side. The force is being applied to the center of the wheel same as before, but the wheel is now attached to a 2 inch lever that rotates the strut, which rotates the steering wheel. This force can be strong enough to rip the steering wheel from your hands if you are not holding on tightly. A car with a lot of scrub radius tends to have a lot of steering kickback and be unstable and weave with road irregularities and bumps/impacts to one wheel or heavy braking.

I can't comment on how your setup will feel exactly, but it looks like you are building in a fair amount of scrub radius. I do know that less always feels better.

A lot of production based race cars have a bunch of scrub radius, not because it is desirable, but because the increase in grip with a wider tire/track width is worth the trade off.

Well thanks for your opinion on the matter. I dug around a little bit and have come to a conclusion of my own.

Scrub radius is the distance between the kingpin axis/steering axis & the centerline of the tire on the road surface. So for us(MacPherson), the kingpin axis is the "invisible line" that connects our stut mounts to the ball joint. It's called scrub radius because when that distance isn't zero, the tire doesn't pivot about it's center, therefore it scrubs & increases the force required to turn the wheel.

This scrub radius is adjustable in two ways that I can see. The first way is changing camber up front. By moving the strut mount, you change the angle of the kingpin axis & change the scrub radius. Another way is to use an offset ball joint spacer. These are made by a variety of people for 02's.


But let's talk about scrub radius and it's effects.....


Yes, positive scrub(in this case I'm adding positive by lowering offset of the wheels) increases road feel and toe out under load(but dont think it makes the car toe out, it's most likely canceling out some toe in). With a positive scrub radius, the greater 'drag' from the scrub radius on that side will be fighting the driver trying to turn the steering into a turn... so a bigger scrub radius = heavier steering. What makes positive scrub worthwile is the gained traction/grip


Negative scrub radius tends to give the car an overly stable and dead feel. A few people advise against it on lightweight RWD cars. They also mention Audi cars?


Zero scrub radius, your preffered option, would feel fine if you traveled in straight lines. It would be stable. However, once you begin to turn, your front wheels act behave similarly to rear wheels with a welded diff. The slightest variation in load from one side to another can reverse the direction in that the steering is being pulled. The contact patch outside the pivot point moves faster than the contact patch on the inside. Yes, you have achieved an equal scrub area on either side of the pivot point(giving you a zero scrub radius), but the tires become grabby & the steering wheel fights itself. Some people call this "squirming/wandering".


So maybe the goal would be to achieve a scrub radius slightly above zero, but not so positive that steering would be unbearable?


There's definitely more to it than just wheel offset though. I could change my tire pressure, or switch to a softer/stiffer sidewall and that would change the centerline of the tire's grip during a turn, which would in effect change the scrub radius.


Definitely let me know if you see anything wrong with my conclusion, I'd like to get a better understanding of this and you've been a big help! I included a pic below to demonstrate the difference between zero, positive, and negative scrub radius. It all depends on the location of the intersetion between the lines.

[AbsorbantNut]

So after perusing some old threads on the internet, it seems I found a previous owner of this car who was responsible for painting the 2002 with house paint :loco: He posted a few pictures of the car under his ownership, and I got to see the transformation from patina to house paint







I've been making solid progress removing that horrendous mistake of a paintjob from the car though with some graffiti remover, rags, and putty scrapers. But I won't post any pics of that until I'm done

Now that the semester has finished, I have a week break to get some work done on the 2002 before summer classes begin. So I went about mounting attaching the hood & gutting it to clear the radiator/intercooler

CAM01665 by jasonbelina, on Flickr

I attached the front valence to the car

CAM01691 by jasonbelina, on Flickr

CAM01693 by jasonbelina, on Flickr

Most importantly I finished my fan shroud. I added a couple flaps to allow more air flow while the car is moving.

CAM01685 by jasonbelina, on Flickr

CAM01686 by jasonbelina, on Flickr

A center console has been made after quite a few templates. I still need to bevel the edges, cut out the gauge holes/switch holes/radio hole/wrap it, but it definitely makes the interior look a little more "complete"

CAM01678 by jasonbelina, on Flickr

Then I rolled the car outside and gave it a long needed wash.

download_20150502_004644 by jasonbelina, on Flickr

I also cleaned up the rear end a lot, refreshed the rear lights, and painted the lgiht buckets silver to try to help the light output
CAM01682 by jasonbelina, on Flickr

[LJ851]

Definitely let me know if you see anything wrong with my conclusion, I'd like to get a better understanding of this and you've been a big help!

I think your conclusion proves you understand my point.

This is definitely not a black and white issue, hence the variation on different cars. When the first miatas (NA) were introduced, mazda made a big deal about having a zero scrub radius on it. I owned one for while and it did not display any of the negative characteristics you describe, in fact it would be hard to fault that cars handling and steering feel.

That being said, mazda did introduce a little scrub radius into the next model (NB).

It's one thing to create a car that looks good on instagram and that is enough for some, i would like to see you end up with a car that excites and inspires as much with the driving experience as it does visually. Keep up the good work!

EDIT: The instagram comment was not directed at you personally.

[phreshkid]

Good work.


Don't screw this up. I believe in you.

[AdOz]

Keep up the good work brother!

[Nick_S]

When you say fan shroud you really mean hacked up stop sign right? I like the things that you do.

[AbsorbantNut]

When you say fan shroud you really mean hacked up stop sign right? I like the things that you do.

Ha repurpose all the things!

In other news, I have a ton of pics/updates. The only problem is I lost my phone cord a few weeks ago, so I can't post any of the pics I've been dailying the car for a few weeks now though, all is good.

If you want an alternative way of viewing these photos/updates, you can check out my instagram @jasonbelina

[kid325e]

Welp, guess i'll be stalking your IG on my lunchbreak...

I'll be upstairs with a shop rag and a pillow... don't ask me why.

[CorvallisBMW]

Ha repurpose all the things!

In other news, I have a ton of pics/updates. The only problem is I lost my phone cord a few weeks ago, so I can't post any of the pics I've been dailying the car for a few weeks now though, all is good.

If you want an alternative way of viewing these photos/updates, you can check out my instagram @jasonbelina

Download Tapatalk and post the photos here! I wanna see :)

[ForcedFirebird]

Maybe Malaga needs some WOT-Tech attention this week :D

[lambo]

Ha repurpose all the things!

In other news, I have a ton of pics/updates. The only problem is I lost my phone cord a few weeks ago, so I can't post any of the pics I've been dailying the car for a few weeks now though, all is good.

If you want an alternative way of viewing these photos/updates, you can check out my instagram @jasonbelina

google photos

noob

btw get ready to delete your r3v account because I won't have neon anytime soonish

[AbsorbantNut]

Welp, guess i'll be stalking your IG on my lunchbreak...

I'll be upstairs with a shop rag and a pillow... don't ask me why.

Hahaha, shoot me a message/comment so I can follow back :p

Download Tapatalk and post the photos here! I wanna see :)

I'm working on it! I found a cable in my garage :D

Maybe Malaga needs some WOT-Tech attention this week :D

You know it! :devil:

btw get ready to delete your r3v account because I won't have neon anytime soonish

Damn, you remembered that comment I'll check out google photos, thanks

[AbsorbantNut]

So I figure this is the most "noticeable" update on the car. I had the RS's built as 10s. I was told that I would be able to run a barrel - face - barrel configuration and be able to properly mount tires. However, this wasn't true. I ran into huge drop center issues, which meant that the tire wasn't able to rotate enough to properly mount. When we tried to "coerce" the tire on at the tire shop, the bead ripped & the sidewall blew out.

All was not lost however, I had a set of 0.5" lips lying around the house and decided to throw them on. So I went from a 10" wheel to a 6" wheel with a 205/50. Honestly, it's pretty agressive for stock body and I had to pull the front fenders an inch outwards.



So I took a final pic with the car on steelies



Then on went the RS's!









And excuse the tape on the front valence. I let a friend test drive the car, and he bombed over a speed bump. I have a decent amount of travel with these coils so he ended up smashing the lip into the ground. Nothing a bit of painter's tape couldn't fix :nice:



Then I ended up finding a set of Borbet Type C's (My old wheels from my e30) for a steal. So I scooped them up & of course I had to do a test fit on the 02!



While the Type C's didn't look horrible......they didn't look great when compared to RS's :giggle: So I tossed them on my vert & that's where they will stay for now.



Then everything was good for a while. I started driving the car around and didn't have too many issues. But I had no idea what was in store for me



While hanging out at a meet one night with some friends, one of my freeze plugs decides to spring a leak. Not a huge deal. Luckily it was a walmart parking lot; I went inside and purchased some "water-weld" to stop the leak so I could limp it back home.



I tried to upload a video of the leak above ^^ Below is a picture of the hole in the freeze/core plug.


Then here's the backside of the same plug after I removed it :hitler:


So I end up replacing all the core plugs on the exhaust side of the motor.


So with those done, I put the car back on the road and begin to daily it again. Like clockwork, the next day the car leaves me stranded 25 miles from home. Three freeze plugs had failed on the intake side At this point I'd had enough and deicded to pull the motor to replace all the plugs.



I pulled the motor in my driveway in about an hour. It took 1 week for all the freeze plugs to arrive. Then another two hours to drop the motor back in & start up. Not a bad turn around time






All new plugs yummmmmmm


Also, while I had the motor out, I figured it was a good a time as any to replace the water pump(3rd time since I've owned the motor lol). I opted for a late model pump since it allowed me to delete the nipple for the overflow tank the early model pumps have.



Then my boy RJ over at Ireland Engineering hooked me up with some goodies and this sick drawing




So of course I had to install everything as soon as possible :D











And then after that it's been the daily again. I tinker with things here and there, but it's pretty reliable on its own


Oh! I forgot to mention somewhere along the line I scooped up a set of euro turn signals :mrgreen:

[2mAn]

I like it better with the narrow body and the RS's

[AbsorbantNut]

As my final update for the night..........

I ended up redoing the housepaint from the PO on the hood & trunk. No this isn't permanent, it's just a temporary fix that makes the car look 50% better





I am going to try to wetsand the paint to knock some of the glossiness off. If that doesn't work, it's only another $10 for some "eggshell" paint instead of "semi-gloss"