Shane_NA6

So I was in the market for a first vehicle after my uncle snatched a Jetta out from under my hands about a year ago, and I came across this not even the next day. (Now, I've been in love with the NA since I was but a wee lad. Neighbor had one, and it was simply amazing to me.)Went to look at it, fell in love, drove it home the next day. Been my baby ever since.


(Apologies for potato camera.) PO was a kid, no more than 20, who wanted to use it as a track car. Blew a head gasket, and he never bothered with it. He wanted 1500(IIRC?) on the Craigslist ad, bought it for 1000 cash.
Now let's be honest, it was kinda beat to hell.


Blown head gasket, rust in the rocker and trunk(Still there ), plastidipped black(Literally everywhere. Including tail lights, markers, turn signals, even oversprayed on the windows.), no heat (Took out the entire heater assembly. Box, core, blower, everything.), and I'll even go as far as no interior. Top was torn, rear plastic window was busted and cracked. Only one side mirror, off an RX-7. No door panels. Not even a washer bottle or nozzles.

It was a disaster. But, now it was my disaster.

It took about 2 weeks to buy all the parts I needed (Thank god for RockAuto) and install. Since she was at 120k at this point, it made sense to do timing belt, tensioner, head gasket, water pump, coolant hoses, and so forth.


To much surprise, he actually included a RacingBeat front sway bar and end links, which was nice. That was installed at the same time.

And with that, I drove it as a daily. Mind you, this was last year in middle of a Pittsburgh winter. There were days with -20 degree wind chills. Yep, I was driving this.

And so is the start of my build thread.

Shane_NA6

Over time, I bought different things, replaced other things (did you know mirrors from a Dodge Stealth/Mitsubishi 3000gt bolt right up?) and made the car a little more driveable.

One big issue was the wipers would go up to the top, and not come back down. Now you would think bad spot in the motor, right? Because that's what I thought. Well, I was wrong.

You know how you have the wiper linkage in the tray? Well there was a "Foreign object" lodged inside, that was refusing to let the wipers move freely.

Foreign object was a steak knife. Sketchy?

With the addition of a radio and speakers, the car was now somewhat more enjoyable.

One big point to bring up was the plastidip. PO decided to plastidip it black, which would be no big deal if he knew how to actually do so. There was one thick layer. Maybe. Peeling it alone made me want another vehicle.


Also, the Dodge Stealth Banana Wing makes a great mustache.

The progress was slow, admittedly. First thing I took care of when I got it on the road and legal(ish) was the top. The soft top was torn and the rear window was garbage. So, I did what any reasonable, broke 17 year old kid would do. I gorilla taped and flex sealed the top. Which, may I add, held up surprisingly well. The rear window got clear tape (Like you could even see out of it anyway) which helped with wind. Actually made it a little more bearable to drive!





Now, the plastidip was my next issue. That took about 6 months to peel before I discovered a beautiful substance called bug and tar remover. And then it took about two hours to powerwash off. However, once I did, it looked pretty great.



And that was pretty much it for a while. Added a couple small things, played with some lighting (Smoked turn signals with LED bulbs, yum.) And then well, all I can say is Oh Deer...

Shane_NA6

These pictures was taken the night before my little situation.

Garage meet after work with the crew. Not a bad night. We had the top 6 floors filled. It was a great time and there weren't any stupid situations to be dealt with. Everything was perfect. Even started talk of a turbo build.

Well 07:00 rolls around and my phone starts ringing. It's my cousin, telling me he needs me to work at his parents restaurant that morning. No big deal. Get a shower, get into my work clothes, fire up the Miata, throw the top back, and I'm on my way.

Beautiful morning. Truly. Sunny, 75 degrees, absolutely perfect to take the long way to work. So of course, I do.

Now, you're trying to think of the perfect drive to work. And you've probably go tit. Winding back road, nobody else on the road, no stop signs, just road. Yeah, that's the one. Now admittedly, I was driving rather "Spiritedly" around the bends and such. I mean, who wouldn't? And so I came around to the only straight portion of the road...

There's a Sunbelt Rental (Construction Equipment) on one side, but it's Sunday. Nobody rents construction equipment on Sunday. Well, apparently deer do. Such as the one that jumped the guard rail in front of the Miata. Oh, did I mention I was going about 75? Or that he never landed?


Jumped over the guard rail, and hit the light. Went straight up, and hit the road behind me after I watched it fly over me.

Now, my first thought is "Did that really just happen??" And well, it did. So, I pull over and shut it off. And of course the deer didn't die, but rather broke all four legs, so I had to well, take care of that first. And then, I looked to make sure nothing terrible happened. Thank god, it didn't bend the core support, didn't kill me, didn't puncture the rad, nothing.

So I drove to work. Walked in (Still on time ) and worked my shift.

Ended up garaging her and buying a parts car ($300 ftw) shortly after. Crazy how things set you back in the blink of an eye.

Shane_NA6

Now, I bought this parts car with the intention of taking what I needed and parting the rest. I mean that's what you do with parts cars right?


'95. auto, still mostly intact. Owner stopped driving it because the ball joint snapped and he was drunk and hit a phone pole. Which, not bad for $300. Got a whole lot of progress with my vehicle.


I was able to take my car from that^
To that V within a couple weeks






And it was a bonus, because NA8's came with 1.8 engines! You know what that's a great starting point for, right??

You got it. Boost! So I'm taking the engine for my own devious needs and having it built correctly. And that's where my real build thread starts.

So in other words if anybody needs parts call me. I still have a bunch.

Shane_NA6

Now build thread, yes? This is the part where I start talking about my plans and goals. Well, I'm very cautious and plan to over-build the **** out of this. Personally, I want a modest 275-300rwhp when I'm done. E85 is very plentiful around where I am, so I will definitely take advantage of that.

Parts list as it stands right this second goes as follows (If you see anything you would change/would remove/add, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do NOT hesitate to speak up!!):

Manley H-beams (Picked those up last night)
Wiesco 8-8.5:1 pistons (Help?)
ACL race bearings
ARP head studs
ARP main studs
Billet oil pump
800cc (Maybe 1000?) injectors from FID (Fuel Injector Development)
Supertech Valves (Questionable)
MS3x ECU
LS2 truck COP
6speed tranny
1.8 diff
Some bigger fuel bump (Walboro 255?)
AEM wideband
FM Manifold, Downpipe
GT2871r
E-gay intercooler and piping
Convert to 1.8 brakes
Coolant re-route
Mishimoto rad

Am I forgetting anything?

Girz0r

iTrader: (1)

Get yourself some flow force injectors or Injector Dynamics 1000s, spend the money don't look back.

GT garrett is good, GTX is better, BW EFR is best.

Any reason why you wanna go with the 2871?

IMO, take your time gathering parts. What's going to make or break the sweetness is how familiar you become with the megasquirt ecu. Learn how it is on your stock setup, become tuner mast0r. Once you build, make adjustments then turbo and scale up on injectors & bewst.

Shane_NA6

I was going to go with the 2871r specifically because a good friend of mine has one, brand new, that he was going to sell to me for 700. Brand new, still in the box, he just doesn't want it.

Same friend is a great tuner (600+(As of last build)HP turbo Legend) and is going to tune the MS for me on a dyno. The only reason I'm going to sorta jump straight in, is because of the engine swap. Going from 1.6 to 1.8, with F/I, with MS, is my biggest problem off the bat. I can't swap the engine first, because it needs rebuilt anyway. And I can't have something happen to it when I start up, because that's my daily.

So of course, I'm going to take time in gathering parts. That just makes the most sense. I don't plan to really start doing anything major until this summer is over. At that point, I'll be working full time and making a whole lot more than I am now, and be able to do such things as racecar and turbozzz.

The build itself, I hope, is going to take my car back from the body up. Paint, rust repair, undercoating, interior, electrical (Considering building a whole new harness from scratch. We'll see), motor, tranny, new paint in the bay, everything. It's my dream car, may as well make it how I want it.

Shane_NA6

So I did some things recently!

Before winter started I bought a set of Tein Street Basis coilovers because I plan to start AutoX this year. And well they look gr8.


^The night of the install

Also, that hood off the parts car? A good friend of mine stripped and polished it up for me, and even painted a nice stripe down the side!


And then well here comes last night's festivities.
First car meet of the year. North Shore parking garage. Amazing turn out (Until the bass-heads and stance kids showed up and got the cops called).
However, when I pulled in, my car starts steaming. And of course, I think the best. Perhaps it's just the rad cap relieving pressure? Nope, of course not. Get to the top of the garage and I can't see in front of me.


This happened. Cracked the rad, and then coolant went everywhere. Good times, right? Luckily it was cold out and I could drive it home.

Also luckily, my parts guy showed up! And now, I'm gonna have a Mishimoto rad, directly from Mishimoto, for $250!

Can you say winning?!

Shane_NA6

IT'S HERE!!!



Thank God for my parts guy

And after about 20 minutes of pulling the OEM rad, spilling some stuff, and replacing the rad, she looks soooo much better



So... Time for more racecar parts?