Padlock

Hey guys!

So to put a long story short, I've been in the miata game quite some time now. I bought my first miata (an NB1) as a daily to just bomb around through traffic with the top down during one of my summer's doing an engineering internship. It wasn't clean, but it was cheap enough that I didn't care. I drove it for that summer and dumped it afterwords for what i paid for it (win). Come to find out after I sold it that I missed the damn thing, so a few months later I ended up buying an NA6. This link should tell you all you need to know about how that build went with the suspension build, wire tuck, turbo build, and everything else I ended up doing. CLICKY. Ended up learning a TON about the platform from the NA6 but being a DD in the midwest didn't bode well for the body on that car and I ended up completely parting it out due to the body basically rotting away.. and here's where we get to where the title of the thread comes in..

So at the time I thought, "enough with these gay little girl car fggts on MT. Now that I'm graduated with a big boy engineering job I can get a big boy toy and look professional and still have a fun car blahh blahh blahh"... So i bought one of my dream cars to own:

2009 Cadillac CTS-V Sedan. TR6060 6 speed manual, 556hp LSA engine, Factory Recaro Seats, 39k miles, pretty rarely optioned car


Did some autocross events in it.. Did some drag passes in it.. Set one of the fastest times for a stock factory street tire manual V2 in the country this October



As much as I loved the V and for how many compliments I got on it, there was something missing about the car from a driver feel standpoint. All the electronic gadgets, the magnetic ride control, the traction control, air conditioned recaro seats it was all great for what the car was built to do as being a fast luxury sedan but I finally reached the point after going to enough track days where I realized that wasn't what I wanted. It's fun but it comes at a huge cost that I didn't feel was justified. Consumable costs on the car are nothing short of ridiculous if you want decent competitive products, so I got to looking into more budget friendly summer daily driver and track rat ideas and put the Cadillac up for sale. Ended up selling it a few weeks later (14 months after buying it)


...and this ended up in my driveway on 11/12/16


First order of business has been cleaning it up... I'm the 3rd owner and its quite clear that neither of the previous 2 owners spent much time maintaining the paint, so that got fixed as best as I could get it. Ive never seen a clear coat so beat up without flaking before


Cleaned out the typical miata garden in the fenders...


Henry approved of the interior


and the final product. Not bad for a 17 year old midwestern NB with 125k on it.



Looking to build the miata I've always wanted seeing as I now have the budget to tackle it. Going to attack a few cosmetic items on the exterior to make it my own. Currently have a Morimoto MH1 Retrofit headlight kit coming in the mail to take care of lighting issues, and I will need to figure out a tail light setup seeing as the OEM drivers side tail has a crack in it.

The car is already up on jack stands for the year. We've been lucky so far this fall season in Wisconsin seeing as we have no snow on the ground yet, but I'm anxious to get the build started so its going under the knife early.

Hoping to get this done by Gridlife in April to run in the HPDE+ Time Attack Class:
-Hard Dog Double Diagonal Roll Bar with Harness Bar (currently have a Duece I'm planning on getting rid of)
-Fixed Back Seat (undecided on what yet)
-Xidas 800/500
-15x10 6UL wrapped in 245 Maxxis VR1's
-949 Lug Nuts
-FM Adjustable Endlinks
-Complete Control Arm refresh (paint, bushings, ball joints)
-FM V8 Front Sway Bar (hint hint)
-FM Rear Sway Bar


Wish me luck.. will post updates as I complete them

Monk

iTrader: (3)

Didn't read past the title and Photoshopped time slip.
Subbed for title.

acedeuce802

iTrader: (1)

Needs more V8. I believe the Gridlife in April is at Mid Ohio. Where are you from?

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

What's this game all the kids mention?

No but for serious, wtf is the "Miata game"?

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

Collecting them all? That's the only game I've found with Miatas.

KMiata

Awesome, another somewhat local Miata in Gridlife time attack. Welcome!

18psi

iTrader: (76)

The Gayme

astral

This is probably going to end up a crazy build... Nice shell! That before/after shot of the paint is crazy.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

You're crazy, that V2 was beautiful.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Excellent observation. Will be using as my own and claiming full credit for coining.

farpolemiddle

This. ******* guy sold my dream car for a shitty Miata.

Chilicharger665

iTrader: (2)

Why the mix and match of FM and 949 parts? I definitely suggest against the rear FM sway bar, at the very least. It is huge and gave me massive oversteer.

codrus

Yeah, the FM rear bar is crazy, I really don't understand why they sell it.

--Ian

natedawg

I feel your pain. I went from a 650whp MKIV supra to a Miata because at the end of the day tracking a Supra is stupid unless you're rich. I've still have yet to find a street production car that makes me happy as a Miata when you factor in dollar/per smile.

Padlock

I live just outside of Milwaukee Wisconsin

Hope to see you there. I have a lot of work to do before the April event. A friend of mine is in the final stages of finishing up his boosted S2000 for Gridlife right now as well.

The V2 was a beautiful to daily and drive, but if you want to enjoy a V2 the same way you enjoy a miata at ANY competition. Empty your wallet, bend over, and spread your cheeks. Its expensive.

Just a few quick notes on tracking that car.. A set of decent OEM sized mediocre grip tires runs you $1200. My main issue is it runs a staggered setup and eats through front tires pretty damn fast because its so heavy. To run a square wheel/tire setup to be able to rotate wheels your dumping over $2k on that, V2 pads and rotors $1200 for OEM level stuff, more for aftermarket.. I'm not entirely impressed with the Mag Ride control struts durability and replaced 2 of those at $250 a pop. You get 4 MPG give or take at the track while stock powertrain. Not saying you should really care about MPG much, but the tank is only 16 gallons so if you have any mods or E85, you are filling up constantly and fuel cost does add up. My insurance was 65% higher on the V2 than the miata as well. Everything about that car was $$$, it got old.

Probably the worst part of all of this, is I was still getting beat by relatively stock miatas at some of these events. The heavy V2 simply could not out-handle a nimble budget friendly miata on some of these tracks. Its only saving grace is the fact it has power (and a lot of it), but the devils advocate in me says a miata can have that too... so here we are...

See above. It was my dream car too. It took 13 months of ownership to realize it was a friggen stupid dream. Bang for the buck for fun and competitiveness in the miata is dare I say "unbeatable?"

I had the FM rear bar on my turbo NA6.. Not sure if i want it again, but I just tossed it on the list as a potential depending on the car balance. Rear sway bar is honestly the last item I'd plan on changing. I'm hoping its pretty settled by just removing the stock rear bar with the upgraded FM front sway.

I feel like the sealed FM adjustable endlinks may be a better "less prone to noise" design than the heim joint setup from 949. I had Heim joint endlinks on my NA6 that ended up making noise after only 10k street miles. They worked good, but the noise was annoying

Couldn't agree with you more.

Padlock

Progress this weekend. Retrofit parts came in. Completed a set for a friends Honda Grom, and started mine

Pulled everything apart


Test fit the Morimoto MH1 Projector with the mini gatling gun shroud.. Will be running an "angry eye" switchback halo setup on it.. stay tuned for those details


Everything painted semi-gloss black. Polished the lenses to be nice and clear. The concept in my head is coming together really well so far

Scaxx

Seeing the mention of the FM front bar makes me happy. ******* do it. Just don't get a crate engine where gm forgets to clean all the aluminum pieces out of it. Cause they don't warranty that ****. Other than that it's totally worth it.

On the other hand, I would have a really tough time selling that beautiful V, but I guess the consumables aspect makes sense. But still, damn.

Padlock

I read through your build and noticed the failure. FM actually had an identical thing happen to them in one of their builds and it was covered. Devil is in the details there I'm sure, not sure why yours wouldn't be covered, but I'd likely be working with Crate Engine Depot in Grayslake IL. I worked quite a bit with them in the past when I had a Cobalt SS. Tom there is pretty great. I've got some time before worrying about that order though. Still trying to decide if I want to go new or used on the longblock, which model to get is another question in itself..

Thanks for the kind words on the V. As said above, fun car but not worth the cost in my opinion. A little related side story to help tie this together.. I graduated college May 2015 and have been putting a heavy focus on paying off student loan debt ever since. I put myself through college unaided by anyone but FAFSA (and their terribly high interest rates) and can proudly say I will have it gone by early this year to hit my goal of eliminating student loans in less than 2 years from graduating. The V was my only debt besides student loans.. selling it greatly helps achieve my loan goal and I easily bought the NB with some of the cash on top from that sale. Besides the consumable cost and "bang for the buck" fun reasoning, selling it basically set me on the super fast track to a debt free lifestyle while still having a fun car. I don't think anyone here can blame a guy for wanting that. Being 23 years old and owning a V2 was pretty baller for some time though, that I cant deny

I've got a different toy to keep my need for speed at bay anyways

Scaxx

That'll do the trick haha

And yeah, devil is most definitely in the details. I'm guessing FM is a licensed installer of crate engines, my buddy allowed me to say that he (chevy tech) did the installation but I don't think they cared about that. I was 3 months past warranty coverage, plus if they had looked into it, the standalone computer voids the warranty. I think the biggest thing they look at is whether it was done at a licensed facility or not though. I read a thread about a guy who literally had his block crack two weeks after he got the engine and they didn't fix it, it blows but I guess that's the way it goes. If I could go back I honestly don't know what I'd do, probably still buy a crate engine but maybe buy it closer to when I started building the car or do the last step at an actual shop, something to make sure I could get the warranty. I guess now I get to run high comp pistons and a fat cam at least

That's interesting that FM had the same problem though, I didn't actually know about that

Good idea getting rid of the student loans as fast as possible is a much better choice than having a V, student loans are totally fucked. And congrats on the big boy engineering job, I get to start that search this May Scary thought.

Padlock

Projectors all assembled, mounted, and aimed. Will seal up and finalize electrical install tomorrow.



Light output is so much better than OEM.