Miata Mailing List: August 1993, Message #116
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   From: 
Subject: blueprinting
   Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1993 13:34:38 -0400


Al Jenab wrote back to get more info about blueprinting the chassis. Tom
Manson responded personally to me with:
>On the subject of removal from a class; from my understanding of blueprinting
>(and I am no authority mind you) the objective is to tear down and rebuild the
>subject to factory specifications (maybe tightening up tolerances along the
>way).  I may be wrong about this, but if not, this alone should not compromise
>a SS classification in any way, since given a lot of good luck, a car could
>be received this way from the dealer in the first place (but of course they
>never are).
>
>BTW, I bought a decent book the other day at Waldenbooks.  It is called
>"Chassis Engineering" by Herb Adams [published by HPBooks (a division of
>Price Stern Sloan, Los Angeles) and goes into a fail amount of tech detail
>on suspensions and handling.  You might want to check it out.

To further the explanation - although the factory says the height here is x and
y over here, etc. the car may not actually have those dimensions. The driver I
spoke with was telling me he experienced some drift in corners where you may
not expect it and some questionable handling characteristics. Turns out the
frame sat higher in one corner than another so the car's weight was not be
distributed properly to the wheels. The frame/suspension was blueprinted to
factory specs. They had to send the springs out to be reformed (shortened or
lengthened) to help align the suspension. Some other tweaks were done, too. In
my move to MD this week I expect there to be some minor (hopefully no) damage
to my car. Once I get back I want to have the whole car and frame checked out.
It will help me not only find any damage during trailering, but also help me
during autoXes.
Hope this helps Al. FWIW, I'm probably going to pickup the book Tom
mentioned. BTW, Al, what time does stuff start at Summit Point this coming
weekend? I'm curious to get out to see the track (i never got out there when I
lived in MD).
-alex-

Alex M. Postpischil	albabe@macc.wisc.edu	71603,2756@compuserve.com

"The only skills I have the patience to learn are those that have no real
application in life." -Calvin