The Answer is Always Miata

Havent bought a rollbar yet, but Ive done some maintenance on the car.
Installed a delrin window bushing so that the windows roll up and down smoothly once again and applied a bit of sound deadener inside the doors to make the interior a bit "german sounding". To my surprise the speakers sound a bit better with the sound deadener as well.

I also cut the rear bumper to alleviate the "parachute" effect as the rear bumper traps wind as you drive down the road. Plus it makes it look raaaaaaaaaaaaaaacecar


Im going to take it to a custom exhaust shop and get an axle-back made for it that will remove the pipe that snakes to the passenger side. Im shooting for a short driver side exit with a muffler tip (removing the stock axleback will save ~30lbs, no joke that shits heavy).
Going to shoot for something like this, except y'know, miata sized (2.5" instead of 4"):



I just got a ball new delrin shitknob in from amazon this week. Shiftknob sits ~1" shorter than stock and my hand loves the feel of it. Best part was it was only $20 shipped compared to the $100 fancy pantsy shift knobs that are made of metal and will burn the shit out of your hand in the summer.

Im going to work on fixing up the MKV for a hot minute (fender flares!) and then I will finally order the rollbar for the miata.

Going to get the custom axleback welded up tomorrow.
Also just placed an order for the rest of the parts to wrap up the suspension on the miata.
New tie rods (one year of miata had a set of tie rods that were different and can help reduce bumpsteer on lowered cars), rear subframe brace that ties everything together in the ass end, locking eccentric bolts (eccentric bolts will need to be replaced during rear subframe brace install so I figure this would be worth it), hood strut kit that will replace the shitty OEM hood prop arm, locking hood latches (so I cn get rid of the stock hood latch arm), radiator cover piece that does not have the OEM hood latch cutout (will help direct incoming air through the radiator and make the engine bay look better), and a wiper cowl plate that will cover up my windshield washer reservoir relocation and cover up the wiper motor arms behind the firewall.

Some of these mods are done in prep for the eventual v8 conversion (windshield washer fluid relocation, windshield cowl plate cover), and the suspension bits were grouped together as I want to get an aggressive alignment done on the miata but wanted to hold off on that until I get the mods out of the way that will ruin the alignment (tie rods and rear subframe brace). The locking eccentric bolt kit will help keep the alignment set as eccentric bolts have a tendency to wander when #racecar

Im also putting in an order for a Blackbirdfabworx GT3 rollbar finished in Chrome FX powdercoat. #SHINY
Game plan is to order my wheels in chrome powdercoat so they should roughly match the rollbar.
MMMmmm Blurplechromium

Will post pix when Santa starts to drop off parts over the next week <3

Racecar shit:

4 point GT3-RS rollbar from Blackbird fabworx finished in Chrome FX:
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Custom Driver side axleback (OEM exhaust used to snake around to passenger side, was too quiet and weighed a solid ~30lbs):

Oh and dont forget the towhook, yeah thats right. Im a fucking Ricer now :biggrin:
Before you guys flame on, dont worry it doesnt sound bad as the rest of the exhaust is stock, and will stay that way until I drop in a motor with twice as many cylinders.


Final batch of parts(for now!):
got a rear subframe "Cannon brace" that ties the rear end together, new tie rod ends that will help correct bumpsteer, hood strut kit that gets rid of the stupid hood prop arm (I hate those things!), locking aerocatch hood pin kit (yeah, im cutting holes in the hood!), and the litle oval shaped smiley face things with spikes on it are lockign shims that go on the stretch bolts you see. Those go into the Cannon brace and under heavy load the eccentric bolts can slip and ruin your alignment, those locking shims prevent that so Im doing all of that at once. Once that crap is installed I will head to the shop to get racecar cornerbalanced unicorn alignment magic done.




Oh and I got some HID bulbs to go in my oem projector housings from Diode Dynamics (I lucked out and the 2003 comes factory with projector housings, SCORE!). The kit is top notch with real high quality cables and connectors. Cant wait to install that as I got spoiled with the MKV headlights:

Got to installing the hoodpins, I must say the must unnerving part was drilling the first hole!


Past the point of no return now!
The instructions provided by Flyin Miata were pretty straight forward. You mark the point where the pin is going to be, drill yoru pilot hoel there, then use the provided template by Aerocatch and mark the outline for the hood latch. Then drill out the 2 big hole sections using holesaws. Once the hoels are drileld you just fill in the gaps by using a dremel or angle grinder.
Then the process gets repeated on the underside using slightly larger holesaws



#Racecar



Here you can see the hoodpins (you can kinda see that the driver side hoodpin needed to be moved back slightly and slightly inward):


You can also see that I added a trim piece that covers up where the hood latch normally resides.
Later on the trim panel will be removed once the LS is swapped in and the oem Corvette intake fits right in.


I also installed the HID kit into the OEM projector housings:


The light output is AWESOME and makes a huge change.
Before any of you jump and say blah blah blah im going to blind people, do your research.
As I said this came with OEM PROJECTOR housings so the HID is a direct fit, no need to retrofit anything.
Had I needed to retrofit stuff I would have said fuggit.

Kit is from Diode Dynamics out of STL and the guy I ordered from used to actually be a part of this forum.
Shout to Phil!
Install was a piece of cake with the provided harness and install took roughly 1hour. All of the cable connectors were top notch, good quality wire loom, and included instructions. I would highly recommend them for direct bolt in kits!

Good stuff man! It's been awhile but I actually found a low price M45 supercharger kit and I have an MS3 ready to go in. I'll tell you how it hows!

If I was to add forced induction on the miata, I would go supercharger, and Ive toyed with the idea, but I really dont want to invest money into the engien that I ultimately plan to remove.
If I stumble on a good priced kit I might be tempted though, Im def interested in how it goes!

What are you doing for a tune for the miata?
Megasquirt?

If you want to get the most track fun out of a Miata, consider the Exomotive kit. I am taking a look at it. Potential is HUGE for about the least amount of money you could hope to spend. Yes you can make them street legal I believe so that you can drive to track rather than trailer. These kits are Miata based and can also support LS1 V-8 in lieu of Miata power plant if so inclinded but with the huge weight savings, performance with a forced induction Miata motor should be fantastic.

Youtube Smoking tire drive of one.

I looked at them and seriously considered it when i found the rust on the frame rails.
My thought process was:
1) fix frame rails
2) buy exocet frame
3) set it on fire and claim insurance
:biggrin:

Biggest downfall to the Exocet is that its a 1 season car and cannot see rain. I bought the miata for racecar fun AND cheap dd abilities. The miata wont be driven in snow, but I definitely drive it in the rain, hence the hardtop

sounds like its time for another cheap dd

Yo dawg, i heard you like DDs,
you should buy a DD to DD while your DD is in the shop because your DD is in the shop. :biggrin:

I think Im preaching to choir their 'eh Terry

Something like that

ViRtUaLheretic said:

If I was to add forced induction on the miata, I would go supercharger, and Ive toyed with the idea, but I really dont want to invest money into the engien that I ultimately plan to remove.
If I stumble on a good priced kit I might be tempted though, Im def interested in how it goes!

What are you doing for a tune for the miata?
Megasquirt?

Click to expand...

Yeah makes sense. I got it for $800 shipped with literally everything needed so it was a no-brainer. I'm using Megasquirt 3 w/ RX7 550CC injectors. My buddy is making a patch for the harness so it'll be plug and play (bought it off of an NB). I'll tell you what happens. I'd be happy with 150whp on pump which is enough to track and AutoX without needing any supporting mods like intercooler, exhaust, 1.8L rear end etc.

GIACUser said:

If you want to get the most track fun out of a Miata, consider the Exomotive kit. I am taking a look at it. Potential is HUGE for about the least amount of money you could hope to spend. Yes you can make them street legal I believe so that you can drive to track rather than trailer. These kits are Miata based and can also support LS1 V-8 in lieu of Miata power plant if so inclinded but with the huge weight savings, performance with a forced induction Miata motor should be fantastic.

Click to expand...

So I actually met a guy at my last track day at Waterford Hills with one. I was parked next to him and talked to him on an off all day. I was sold then and there. It ran amazing times, looked like a blast to drive, and he had mostly stock hardware which is the best part. All the sudden when you drop 800 pounds stock brake calipers become MORE than capable when you have track pads just as an example. I WILL do this one day. I think after I go salary in a couple years.

$800? Hells yeah!
I thought superchargers were able to crank out 200-220whp?
Maybe thats with all supporting mods, ie intercooler and shiz?

Either way an extra 50% increase in hp over stock would be a welcome addition!


In other news, I checked my oil level last night and found that my miata is eating oil at an alarming rate. After ~3k miles my oil was really low. Looks like Im keeping a jug o oil in the trunk from now on (more reason to LS Swap :biggrin: ).

In other news, going to order a dipstick handle as the oem shitty plastic handle (great idea Mazda, plastic handle that reisdes directly over the exhaust heat shield, what could possibly go wrong?!) snapped off.

Ooooh just found a video to try securing a spent rifle casing onto the dipstick handle.
I have a boatload of casing that need to be reloaded so Ill give this a whirl:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7isKMW-CLg

Dub is currently getting some love as Im finally installing my fender flares.

Once that is done the miata is going back under the kinfe as I am going to get the rust on the rocker panels fixed up, painted, and Im going to install some "large tupperware" OEM sideskirts and order the rear ducktail spoiler. Both will be painted the same color as the body, Midnight Blue Mica.

Large Tupperware:


Carbonmiata MONSTER spoiler:

ViRtUaLheretic said:

Yo dawg, i heard you like DDs,
you should buy a DD to DD while your DD is in the shop because your DD is in the shop. :biggrin:

Click to expand...

this made me laugh.... nice looking car tho. :w00t: