6strngs

iTrader: (2)

I have some scattered partial build threads between this site and club roadster but no single thread really tells the whole story of my car so I'm going to attempt to put it all in one place here.

I bought this miata for $1900 from a performance/speed shop, basically what happened is, somebody burnt a couple valves, took it to this shop, the shop rebuilt the head, gave the customer the $1400 bill and he couldn't afford it so the shop bought the car from him for $500. Then I came along and bought the car with literally 0 miles on the rebuilt head (they were still setting timing when I pulled up to check the car out). The car had a salvage title and there was some obvious previous damage in the right rear quarter panel but no biggie. The top was also ripped but other than that ran great, they smogged it on the spot and I took it home.



That pic was taken after I replaced the ripped soft top with a $150 one off ebay, not as high quality as the OE but it keeps me dryish in the rain, though it does leak a little onto the passenger's lap.



First mod, megan ez-street coilovers, this was after replacing all the maintenance crap like shift boots, transmission and diff fluid, etc. (the timing belt, plugs, oil, and coolant had all been changed by the shop when they did the head)



Cuz I could, I rode this low for two days and then raised it about an inch, then a few weeks later raised it another 3/4"



Ebay cone filter and a homemade heat sheild.



Upgraded to 1.8 Calipers and rotors all around.



Painted rear finish panel black, when I got the car it was silver which clashed horribly with the red, this looks much better IMO.




A little weight reduction, removed the carpet and some other interior pieces. Also added a shift **** to replace the crappy JB-welded on carbon fiber one that came on the car. Also added a digital media receiver, somebody tried to give me **** about removing the carpet but still having a stereo, but this thing doesn't play cd's only USB and AUX inputs so it weighs less than half what a headunit normally does.



Flyin miata frame rail braces, best mod for the buck ever!



I was having issue with overheating whenever I'd push the car hard, so I replaced the thermostat and relocated the license plate so it wouldn't block the incoming air. I also wired the fans together so they'd both come on at the same time. Problem solved.

thirdgen

iTrader: (26)

I'm sorry to read that you have ties with club roadster. Car looks like a good starting project. What are your plans for the engine/ rest of the car?

6strngs

iTrader: (2)

used ebay catback, took this pic while I was having an extra hanger put on it because one was broken off when I got it.




added a hard dog roll bar



Took the back bumper off to trim the bottom




1.8 differential with an rx7 clutch type lsd, housing painted by myself.





Put on some BBS mahle's shortly before my first drift event. I sucked lol

thirdgen

iTrader: (26)

Pics of turbo?

6strngs

iTrader: (2)

Let me finish posting and you'll see



This is me looking like I'm doing something cool but really just spinning out lol



Added a power steering oil cooler. It didn't help, fluid shot out the reservoir everytime I drifted the car ever. I eventually got rid of power steering altogether, but let's keep this chronological...






Modified knuckles for my steering angle, powdercoated red. I also made some stainless braided brake line that were extended for the front brakes to account for the extra angle. Made them all out of stuff off summit racing for cheap!





Another drift event. It had rained a little earlier in the day so the drag races were cancelled, meaning that us drifters were allowed on the race track rather than the skid pad. This unfortunately led to my first crash, but nothing really happened besides breaking the finish panel and some scratches.

Long boring video from that night:

6strngs

iTrader: (2)

Added a nifty tow-strap and some door pull handles and a much needed "Oh ****" handle






Cleaned and painted the tranny and polished the PPF





Poor little 1.6 clutch couldn't hang in the drift world, so I put in a flyin miata 1.8 clutch and flywheel. I also heat shielded the underside of the tranny tunnel which really helped the floor boards from becoming super hot after removing the carpet.




cheapo bucket seat bolted to stock sliders, and engine bay tidied up a little bit.

dieselmiata

iTrader: (3)

y8s

iTrader: (8)

lets review:

1. pics of too low (bonus point under truck shot)
2. drifting
3. drifting crash damage
4. no turbo

those are pretty egregious and going to lead down the bad road here, but honestly the rest of the car is fine. I mean it's not awful or anything.

Curious how the steering knuckles hold up. Does the car bump steer at all?

6strngs

iTrader: (2)

Got a new finish panel.




Passenger seat got the foam-ectomy




sitckerz because drift missile...




sparco wheel and turn signal intakes.








This is when I started assembling turbo parts. That's an ebay manifold and downpipe, the downpipe does not fit at all btw. The turbo was sold to me as a 50-trim t3, it was actually a 70 trim t3/t4, my car wouldn't even start spooling until 4200 with that guy! I also managed to blow the seals in this turbo in less than two weeks. The rest of the build specs: Begi FPR, 1.8L injectors, tial wastegate, cx racing FMIC kit and BOV.






Here's how well that downpipe fit btw, notice the heater hose resting on it and how badly it hits the chassis. My favorite part though is how well it bolted to the stock exhaust...

dieselmiata

iTrader: (3)

Let's not forget all the madtytejdm eBay parts.

6strngs

iTrader: (2)

DIY alignment








Now we're getting to the stuff you guys came here to see. I love my custom heater lines here. I went to a specialty automotive hose shop, told him I needed something that could survive a high heat environment and he sold me some (very expensive) push-loc hose and fiberglass heat sheild. This hose is really tough and hard to work with but it's very durable! I don't think these heater hoses will ever melt through in this location. I routed it a little differently to avoid the downpipe as best as possible.









The new exhaust. It starts 2.5" right off the turbo and then transitions to 3" as soon as there's room for it. 3 total v bands, one at the turbo and one on either side of the high flow cat. I told my exhaust guy I wanted it as straight as possible and he definitely delivered!

6strngs

iTrader: (2)

There's a video of the first event with the turbo on and actually functioning properly. Naturally, as soon as I get this thing all back together I crash it again which you can see in the video, but more on that later. Side note, I still suck pretty good at this point but I'm at least getting better.



Finished. For the time being at least.



Took apart the diff to find that the clutch plates had been installed in the wrong order the last time someone had taken it apart. I measured all the discs in spec though so I ended up just putting it back together.





Oh yeah, I crashed it again, but it didn't really stop me. Luckily all the damage done was in front of the suspension, though it did bend the frame a little.



Here's a good shot that shows how I fixed it. I welded a thick steel pipe between the frame rails, cut away all offending damaged goods, and am using hood pins. I still want to add some more here but it was what I could come up with to make my car survive the rest of the season. It looks good enough with the body panels on it as shown below:



And that's about when this video takes place:

6strngs

iTrader: (2)

And this is where **** really breaks. I'm still not sure what happened, though I suspect a faulty wastegate actuator, but my car started boosting 15 PSI, making the car run really lean, well, the headgasket did not take long to pop under these conditions. I put in some ARP headstuds while I was in there. After re-assembling though it had a slight tick, I took it for valvetrain noise as apparently it's common for the lifters to tick a little after having the head off so I shrugged it off. That's about when this video takes place, as you can see, I'm finally starting to get the hang of this whole drifting thing.


Yeah, so if you watched you notice that my tick turns louder and louder until it's pretty severe rod knock, ending with a blown hole in the side of the engine block. Yay!



I found a 1.8 engine to replace it with though...




motor mount brackets that I got from a member on norcal roadsters





BEGI coolant re-route parts, also notice the protege valve cover I got from the junk yard, it'll be powdercoated shortle








And under the knife she goes. And that's where my project stands I just got the engine out today. Now you're all caught up and I can update from here. I'm hoping tomorrow to get the engine bay all pressure washed and sparkly clean and then I need to pull the rack and pinion and depower it.

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

Needs more mismatching panels man. Not to nissan 240 territory yet.

6strngs

iTrader: (2)

I'm a little more worried about getting the swap done and getting it running, but it will likely be getting vinyl wrapped by my friend who is just starting his powdercoating/hydro-dipping/vinyl wrapping business and needs some rolling advertisement. Kinda like my first sponsor I guess

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

A+ drift thread, car is already a total POS after only a few drift events.

LOL, seriously though I dont care. glad you did it with a salvage title car anyways.

You know your hotparts won't fit on the new motor, right?

thirdgen

iTrader: (26)

I gotta say man, it sure seems like you put some serious time/ know how into your car. Why drift? You could have so much more. You could have what I have, a turbo NB (rhymes with pure envy). Someday I'll post a build thread, maybe, and everyone will either:
A) ********** instantaneously.
2) bow down and say, "we're not worthy".
d) ask me how I achieved such amazingness.

If you want to learn more, PM me...I'm no guidance counselor, but maybe I can help you overcome your problem.

6strngs

iTrader: (2)

Yup, custom ARtech manifold shipped yesterday.

I know it's a total POS, but crashing is just a part of the sport with drifting and honestly, my car doesn't look as bad as some cars that come out to the drifts. After I crashed it I strongly considered retiring it, but eventually decided to rebuild. Then after the engine blew I really did decide to get rid of it but yet again, I decided I could just slap in a new motor (along with over a thousand dollars worth of other parts...) and be back on the road. I have decided though that one more wall tap with this chassis and it's toast. Though there's more than one local guy who buys up cheap miata's to part out that I could probably get a shell from for cheap...

Also, I showed pics and videos from about 4 or 5 different events but really attended closer to 15 or so. I didn't have a go pro until later on.

I used to think drifting was stupid too, I actually bought my miata with the intention to make it a daily/autocross/aggressive mountain road car, but after spectating at a drift event and getting some ride-alongs I was hooked. It's so much fun!

y8s

iTrader: (8)

Redemption shot ^^^

thenuge26

iTrader: (2)

If you were really smart, you would save yourself thousands of dollars in the future if you stopped replacing broken rear finish panels.

It was an interesting mix of decent parts and **** parts. Nobody is surprised that you blew up the 1.6 with the FMU, get a damn megasquirt, you clearly have the money if you're buying Artech parts.