cpolly69

iTrader: (2)

Oh hai cpolly checking in here....
I got into Mazdas in 08 when I purchased my Speed 3. Had several project cars before that including an sc SVT Focus and several Hondas. I originally purchased my Miata to be a daily. After 3 years of modding the speed 3 I have stocked it out and I'm currently selling it. As time has gone on I've come to realize the Miata is much more in my budget range for a good project car vs an almost brand new car with a limited aftermarket. Here's a quick couple pics of the speed:





My Miata is an Emerald Green 01 nb2 w/ 6speed, ls trim, lsd, and sport suspenson - Car came with few imperfections like a little rust spot on the back and the top is starting to tear around the glass on the back a bit, but i'm not really worried about it.

I'm excited to get started on the Miata but I have to get rid of my speed first. I do have a bit of extra money right now from part sales off the speed, but I'm trying to hang on to that in case I cannot get exactly what I owe on it. I've been on this forum for a few months now reading and attempting to learn. I've learned a great deal from a few other fellow MS3 to Miata converts. I didn't really want to make a intro thread until I had at least done something to my car first. So far all I've done is pick up a nice set of Tire Rack's c3ms (15x9 36mm offset) with some Rs3 rubber and I do love them. When I first got the car it handled like crap and really scared me. I took it to the local Discount Tire and they assured me all the wheels/tires were balanced and ok. So I spent the last few months trying to figure out what was so bad about the suspension or mounts that made the car feel this way. I switched these wheels out and discovered Discount was full of crap! My stock wheels are all trashed - bent and cracked, they can't even roll straight alone. I was worried about the wheels fitting with the stock suspension, but they work fine. They do rub a tiny bit when you cut it all the way, but it's no big deal. I'm assuming this is b/c my car has sport suspension. Here's a few pics:



The car did come with a hard dog roll bar, but who ever put it in did some hack work.

The seat-belts work like crap because of it.
I did also make myself a cheapo intake out of some parts I had laying around.

I'm hoping that doesn't cause any major problems. I've been running it now 2-3k or so and no dtc or anything. Stuff like this is a major no no on the ms3 with it's super sensitive maf and fuel trims, but I think this is ok on this car.

I also swapped out my shift **** that a buddy of mine made for me from my MS3 and I replaced the shifter boot/gakset b/c it smelled like gear oil and was very hot when I drove for extended periods.


As you can see the Ohio BMV promptly labeled me a feg upon registering my vehicle here. Guess that's kinda the expected with this car....

My plan for the future with this car goes something like this:
Coilovers - I'm pretty set on Megan EZ Streets - I like the price and I can get a big discount on them off Amazon. I'll probably install them along with the Mazda comp motor mounts and some diff mounts.

Standalone & some gauges (already have leftover egt and boost)- I see this forum really seems to like the diypnp (megasquirt). One fellow ms3 to miata convert went that route with his nb1, but from what i'm reading it looks like the adaptronic seems to be much more friendlier to the vvt on the nb2. I'm interested in both and a bit worried because I only have experience with using a flash tuner to flash ots maps and a simple piggyback to make my own tunes. This would be my first venture with a standalone.

The rest I'd like to piece together over the next year or so and potentially pick up a daily driver as well (maybe a used MS6).


Turbo - most likely a t25 flange gt2560 .60a/r - Seems to be inline with what I want to do which is autox/scca/road race
I'm thinking I want to stick to iwg setup and just make my exhaust around 2.5" as i've also seen someone have boost creep issues with iwg and 3"

Mani/dp/exhaust - I've heard that ARTech (not sure) on here makes great stuff and is a good way to go

fmic setup - over the rad setup with a fairly small core and piping i put tog from sites like cxracing or siliconeintakes - i'll just reuse my hks bov i have leftover from the speed

and of couse a nice clutch & maybe a meth kit

Well if you took all the time to read that - Thanks and suggestions and thoughts are much appreciated.
Chris

phillyb

iTrader: (8)

chris, your miata >>>>>>>>>>>> that ugly cosmic blue ms3

aaronc7

iTrader: (8)

Herro!!!!!

phillyb, how in the world do you have 17 posts here?

soviet

iTrader: (10)

Nice car! From my experience, the rollbars are all like that - hacked up plastic trim and shitty belts. Although there's another bolt that goes into that hole >_>

cpolly69

iTrader: (2)

Oh yeah?
It looked like it was another option for mounting the seatbelt guide??

matthewdesigns

iTrader: (8)

Howdy. I've always thought a MS3 would be the perfect "if I can only have one" car.

Look through that hole and you'll see another one under it. That one is where the seat belt guide used to bolt up, and the rollbar came with a longer replacement bolt and a sleeve that is used there. Mine didn't line up properly with the factory mount so I don't have that one installed either...just been too lazy to enlarge the hole and make it work.

cpolly69

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the info.
Yeah the speed 3 is an amazing car in stock form and can beat a very large number of what u may encounter on the street from day to day. Fully bolted & tuned I was making somewhere around 300hp/320tq on a dynojet or about 280hp/300tq on a fairly loaded mustang dyno. That's enough to beat a whole lot more things on a roll race. But, it never stops the fact it's fail wheel drive. The more power you crank out of that car the more difficult it becomes to launch and control when u start putting the power down through turns. Couple this with the fact that aftermarket is filled full of "they shady vendor of the season" and/or just 2 dominate companies that produce high quality parts and pretty much control the market on prices you get a car that can be very expensive to mod. If I had to do it all over again, I can think of a totally different path I would have taken from the beginning. I wanted an ms6 to start with and that's probably what I'll pick in a few more years....

aaronc7

iTrader: (8)

nice car, feg

soviet

iTrader: (10)

what he said. that hole is where the seat belt guide USED TO BE before the rollbar. With the rollbar is installed, the guide is relocated to the new hole, and the original is filled with a long bolt.

cpolly69

iTrader: (2)

i ordered some megan ez street coilovers today - only wound up paying about $433 after my amazon gift cards
hoping to see them by the end of next week and get them installed that weekend - i already started spraying the 3 lower bolts and 2 top ones with pb on all 4 corners
i hope i don't have too much trouble setting the ride height and getting the dampening where i want it to be..

my next big ticket item i'll prob pick up will be a ms3 and vvt control box (if necessary)
i keep reading threads and attachments on here hoping to see more of the initial process of what's necessary to wire, hook up the internal map, and set timing to get the car running on the ms

future apologies for newb thread on stuff like this

phillyb

iTrader: (8)

chris, i didn't need any pb on my suspension bolts/nuts.
pretty straightforward install.

cpolly69

iTrader: (2)

hopefully it will be that way for me as well, i just remember how bad the speed3's suspension bolts were when i took all that apart at like 40k - and this car has 114k

Blindsay

Hey man, your ms3 looks eerily-familiar, and I noticed you're in ohio, were you at Beaver Run for CLubLoose driftpractice on sunday?

phillyb

iTrader: (8)

i had about 115 on my car when i installed mine. **** was a breeze. get another set of hands if you can.

aaronc7

iTrader: (8)

mine went well except a few ball joints exploded (130k). Might check ahead to see if local auto stores have them in stock, just in case.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

seatbelts always work like crap after roll bar.

Blindsay

hate to intrude on his thread, but what woudl you suggest in order to fix that? ofcourse harness bar & harness [done correctly ofcourse] is definetly plausable, but that would require racing seats and brackets and all that fun s tuff too

thirdgen

iTrader: (26)

True that, mine worked flawless until I did my roll bar install. Now they don't want to retract for ****.

cpolly69

iTrader: (2)

nah not me man -
i have never done any legit motorsport w/ the speed3 - just previous cars in wv before i moved to ohio
wish this place had thanks button...

spitefulcheerio

That car looks clean man. I like it.

I used to want a speed3 but I got a Cobalt SS instead. Speed3's were always on my "look for on the street for a supacoolracey0" list.