The Answer is Always Miata

[ViRtUaLheretic]

BSH RSB on the MKV broke. The short "arm" piece that has the two bolt holes snapped off.
Ordered a new 034 RSB and in installing that I will be able to remove my hotchkis sway bar mounts. Turns out that 27mm = 1" so that means I can reuse it on the miata. w00t!

I also just jumped on a good deal on a set of OEM "large" side skirts for my miata.

Going to have the guy that installed the fender flares on my MKV fix up the rust on the rocker panels on the miata and weld shut the antenna hole then I will be set to buy my spoiler and send the miata in for paint. Hoping to get all of that done before the snow hits the midwest so I can get her covered up for the winter.

 

[Goingnowherefast]

Looks great man. I'm in the middle of my Megasquirt 3 install. I built with the help of my buddy (never want to build electronics again). I'll tell you how it goes. I'm getting cold feet about the supercharger, now that I've already got the hardest and most expensive part of out the way, I might just say fuck it and throw the turbo in.

If you do want it, message me. I'm not sure what (if anything) is different about the setup, but I know the M45 supercharger itself should be the same.

 

[ViRtUaLheretic]

Thanks for the offer but Im pretty well set on just doing an LS swap.
My engine has a small oil leak and a couple of other small issues so rather than try and squeeze more power out of this engine Im just going to do a full swap.

With that said I have also been contemplating a K24 swap for the miata as there are a lot of people that rant and rave about how great they are.
Would be fun to keep a high revving engine that could still get great gas mileage, but part of me just wants to say fuggit and do the 450whp LS #racecar

 

[Goingnowherefast]

Have you heard about the Ecotec swap? I think it's gonna be the next new thing. It's cheap as hell, makes 200whp reliably, and has some headroom.

http://www.drivermod.ca/articles-1/2016/3/30/the-ecotec-miata-swap-is-the-bargain-of-the-century

 

[avenali312]

Since I know nothing about the Miata scene, I have a question for you guys.

What is the community like? I've seen guys like you that are clearly building track use only or track inspired street cars that are very impressive. Then I see a hipster guy at Target a couple days ago with an exhaust revving and bouncing his tach off the limit while letting pedestrians cross in front of him. Is the latter common in the Miata scene?

Btw, love the direction this is going.

 

[ViRtUaLheretic]

Have you heard about the Ecotec swap? I think it's gonna be the next new thing. It's cheap as hell, makes 200whp reliably, and has some headroom.

http://www.drivermod.ca/articles-1/2016/3/30/the-ecotec-miata-swap-is-the-bargain-of-the-century

I havent heard of this swap yet.
200whp sounds enticing, but I want MOAR! haha
Shooting for the moon with a LS swap, however if I do bitch out I will at least do the K swap.
Only reason I say that is part of me still wants to build an EG. Would be fun to get a front widebody + Vtak + giant turdblow and make a highway roll racer or something to thrash on at the local strip.

 

[ViRtUaLheretic]

Since I know nothing about the Miata scene, I have a question for you guys.

What is the community like? I've seen guys like you that are clearly building track use only or track inspired street cars that are very impressive. Then I see a hipster guy at Target a couple days ago with an exhaust revving and bouncing his tach off the limit while letting pedestrians cross in front of him. Is the latter common in the Miata scene?

Btw, love the direction this is going.

Forums arent letting me multi quote today....

Stance is a sickness and you will find retards in every scene, VW, honduh, and miatas are no exception.
It really depends on what forums you go to.
You wont find any of that stupidity on the racing forums and you wont find much of that on the turbo miata forums, but there is some on the other scattered forums.
Being an older cheap car you will find kids that get them and mod them and do whatever they want with them.

Hell some people might call my miata a ricer for having a towhook, muffler tip exhaust, rollbar, HIDs, and hood latches. Have I raced it yet? No, but I plan to get lots of seat time with it over the next few years for sure!
I couldn't give two shits what other people think. Im having fun with my little project car and love to thrash it around on the back roads and overpasses/onramps.

 

[ViRtUaLheretic]

In other news I dropped off the miata with the guy that installed my fender flares on the MKV to get the rust cut out of the rocker panels and welded back up. He is also going to fill in the antenna hole while he is at it as I did a stealth antenna in prep for the 3 piece ducktail spoiler I ordered.
I also ordered a set of "large" OEM side skirts and dropped those off for paint.

Car should be fixed up in a week and then off to paint.
The spoiler wont arrive for another couple of weeks as its being shipped from Japan, but once I get all of that done the whole body of the car will be transformed!
FWIW the front bumper and hood have lots of rock chips and Im not going to get that fixed #racecar

on to pictures of cancerous rust:


Here is what I could see on the car:

Here is all what he had to cut out:

Goes all the way up to the TOP of the rear fender wells on BOTH sides!!
Had to order some replacement rocker panels from summit and those will be cut up to be used as fillers as thats too much metal for him to fab up and weld in.
Just so happens that "while he is in there" he is going to go ahead and strtch out the metal ~1" in the rear to make room for some bigger tires
#zoomzoom

 

[ViRtUaLheretic]

Stopped by and got to see the progress last night, car is all primered up and will be getting some paint today. Should be done by the end of the weekend

Here is a picture of the metal work:

antenna hole welded shut to make room for Carbon Miata Monster Wing:

Yellow tape is around the gas filler door to keep fumes contained from sparks while cutting and welding.

 

[ViRtUaLheretic]

Spoiler arrived from Japan this past Saturday and I dropped it off at the shop on Sunday.
Took a quick peek at the miata and the new metal work was primered, blocked, and ready for paint.
Painter said the whole car will be done on Friday! Can't wait to get it back, I miss driving a manual, albeit slow.

 

[g60_corrado_91]

Subscribed.

 

[ViRtUaLheretic]

Car is getting all the paint finished tomorrow and will be ready for pickup tomorrow!!
...but I have plans and can't pick it up until Saturday.
I AM EXCITE!

Just a note, I know it looks liek basically the WHOLE car got resprayed, and well, you'd be right. However I only asked to get the fixed quarter panel/fenders painted, antenna hole plug, part of the rear decklid (there was a dealership sticker that was removed by PO and it removed paint along with it, THANKS!), and of course the new side skirts and spoiler (not pictured). However the bodywork guy is a perfectionist and insisted that everything get blended to match (I was just going to chalk it up to #racecar) so I went along with it.
Also worth noting is that the bodywork guy learned his trade from building showcar lowriders. Srsly his portfolio gave me a chimichanga sized chub.

pictures of the werk:

racecar *cough* errr... *cough* ricer *cough* spoiler

just a LITTLE bit of paint:

look how fucking shiny and smooth that ish is!

As a bonus the guys got bored whiel waiting for everything to dry and they polished the headlights lol

before

after

 

[ViRtUaLheretic]

In other news, I chagned my mind on wheels based on advice from all the miata guys. They swear that 15x10 are better for 245x40x15 tires than 15x9, and the previous design of wheels I wanted does not go bigger than 15x9 sooooo....

These wheels aren't nearly as concave as the last, but they are have a decent sized lip and slight concave and were designed BY miata guys FOR miata guys with 245x40x15 in mind. Luckily 245x40x15 on these wheels will fit perfectly on my car with a mild roll and possibly a tiny bit of pull, but alas all of that was done before the fenders were painted. #winning

Wheels/tires will be ordered late winter in time for early spring.

Oh and funny note, if you look at either side of the wheel in the picture you will notice TWO valve stem holes. Apparently racecars need two valve stems (vendor says one is for airing up while you have a pressure gauge on the other and claims better wheel balancing too lol).

 

[LilRaverBoi]

Your pictures aren't working for me.

 

[g60_corrado_91]

Your pictures aren't working for me.

They're working for me in Tapatalk. Are you on a company network blocking them?