AA-Ron's 1990
on the advice of doward I decided to build a thread about the history of my Miata.
The Beginnings Let’s start from the beginning. in 1989 my uncle bought the car brand new flew to New Jersey to pick it up then drove it back to Florida. In 1992 my uncle then went back to Mazda for a defroster hardtop before he was transferred from Florida to Chicago. From 1989 until 2013 (excluding 2 years in Chicago) it spent most of its time in the south east, most notably Atlanta, Ga. My uncle would drive the Miata nearly every day 150 miles round trip to and from the suburbs of Atlanta to downtown. In 2012, he parked it in his field to start driving a more comfortable Honda Accord. 2013 - 2014 Now to 2013, while talking to my uncle about cars he proceeds to tell me he is getting ready to crush the Miata because my aunt is tired of staring at it out in the field. So, I offered to buy the car from him. Instead he told me to find a way to get it before his wife kills him. At this time, I moved from Florida to North East Ohio to attend school and start my career. Luckily my parents moved to Birmingham, AL for work and my dad was able to pick the car up and towed it back to his shop for me. Once getting back to the shop, it wasn’t in bad shape. The first thing he did before bringing it up to me in Ohio was: * Remove all the extra speakers and wire * Remove the neon lights from the interior and exterior * Clean the care * Replace the timing belts * Replace the normal seals * Replace all the hoses * Remove the spring spacers to give the car a rake * Replace tires * Remove homemade butchered CAI * Other misc. stuff, it was 4 years ago There were though a few other items wrong with the car: * No AC (but I grew up in FL with no A/C in my Car so it didn’t bother me) * The rear zipper on the glass window was on its last leg. Summer 2013 My dad was able to bring the car up to me in Ohio. At this time, I would autocross a 1992 Honda Civic Hatchback in completely stock trim. I continued driving my Honda throughout the summer at autocross events because the Miata didn’t have rollbar and shot suspension. Plus, at this point I never thought it would be raced. [img] https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ock-garage.JPG [/img] https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...rking-spot.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...-side-shot.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...eaker-wire.JPG Winter 2013- 2014 Winter came and I wanted to continue keeping my Honda in its Stock 1992 trim so my dad and I talked through autocrossing the Miata. This is where I jumped into the deep end. Since Winter in Ohio is depressing, I would spend nights and weekend working in my garage on the cold floors getting ready for autocrossing in the summer. To start we focused on: * Replace all bushings with an Energy Suspension kit. * 949Racing End Links * New Timken Front Hubs / Rear Bearings * ARP Studs * Cheap 13” Wheels with Hoosier Slicks on it! UPS loved us at this point shipping suspension parts to my dad to press. I don’t really Have pictures of this point in its time. But I do remember not being able to use his lifts, presses, nice tools. Then I talked to Mark McMahan at McMahan Autosport outside Akron, Ohio about a bolt in roll bar. After talking though the long-term goals of the car, and a possibility of putting a full cage in it potentially we decided on a welded in rollbar. He would also install a trans tunnel notch, center the seat on the steering wheel, install the passenger seat, and all the harnesses. His fabrication is amazing. Everything Tig welded and tucked as tight to the body as possible. https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...kage-shelf.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...kage-shefl.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...nnel-notch.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...r-complete.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...llbar-legs.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...l-complete.JPG Once I got the Car back from Mark, I ran 2 autocross events and 1 weekend at Mid-O. On the way home, I called my Dad and told him we are building a car to race. Now I dove head first. The car went back to Mark to do the front part of the cage. We Added the side hoops, Nascar bars, firewall bar, footwell bars, remove all ac and heater components. I also gutted the interior minus the dash. And started planning where to start. https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ass-gutted.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...e-together.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne.../full-cage.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ull-cage-2.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...e-complete.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne.../tig-welds.JPG While the car was with Mark finishing up the cage, I found a deal I couldn’t turn away: a 2004 LS with only 24,000 miles that was totaled for $1,700 in Cleveland. Now we are going VVT, 6 speed, and torsen. I shipped the car to my dad’s shop and after keeping the running gear and selling the rest I made money buying the car. https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ata-engine.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...miata-ship.JPG |
Current
My Family and I moved back to the Orlando area. The first goal was to get the car, spare parts, shop, plus my parents’ house and my townhouse in Ohio moved all back to Florida. I was excited, close (relatively) to different tracks, and from the 2015 events a good PTD crowd Now that we were all settled into our new shop, we made the game plan for 2017 our goals were to qualify for nationals, keep the car in one piece, and make power that matched our weight. parts list * OS Giken LSD * 4.77 Gears * Air dam * Squaretop * Skunk 2 Throttle body * FPR * Quality tunes * Lexan Windshield * replace 6-speed with 5-speed * SADFAB bushings * Change all Redline fluid with Amsoil * 1000lb Front Springs * All the Singular Hood Vents January – February We only changed the oil and the transmission. But the car is reliable and we were too busy to tackle the rest. The goal was to complete the list by October. The car ran good and I was earning a P2 or P3 finished behind a 2007 Si Civic and a Ford Mustang on a 138HP TTE* dyno reclass only making 133HP. We raced a full weekend at Sebring, and a full weekend at Miami Homestead. Both events only had one other PT competitor besides myself. So, I didn’t count those P1 finishes. https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne.../homestead.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...omestead-1.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...omestead-2.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...omestead-3.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...omestead-4.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...omestead-5.JPG April – June During the month of March and April we changed the springs to 1000lb fronts and completed the air dam. We are back at Sebring and running well in TT still behind the civic and the mustang. On a full course caution, I bunched up with the Spec Miata pack. This didn’t end will for two of us. The P2 Spec Miata driver got punted and I went to pass P4 and P5 Not seeing he got punted and we hit https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...e-2-airdam.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...2-airdam-1.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...3-airdam-2.jpg https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...spension-2.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...se-2-vents.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...-2-vents-1.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...-2-vents-2.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...-2-vents-3.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...-2-vents-4.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ta/wreck-1.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ta/wreck-2.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ta/wreck-3.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ta/wreck-4.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ta/wreck-5.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ta/wreck-6.JPG We got the Car together to race in June, but I hurt myself doing God knows what and couldn’t put pressure on my foot, not even to shift. So, I sat out. In the meantime, we continued working on the car by installing the SADFAB NASA Compliant Kit and more hood vents and a FAST cooling system. Florida is hot and not having this in January – April Sucked. July I found an amazing tuner, Jeff Linfert at Linfert Performance. If you are in Florida and not taking your car to him, you’re leaving HP on the table. We took the car there and with not engine modifications done at the time walked in with 133WHP walked out at 145WHP. Another reclass came. After that tune, I ran a track day with Chin. We were able to spend the two days playing with the setup since we missed the June sprints. August – Now Now the good stuff. We installed the 4.77 and OSG LSD, installed the FPR, Squaretop, throttle body, new CAI and went back to Linfert Performance to get the car tuned again. This is a factory engine with a Squaretop, Skunk 2 throttle body, Racing Beat Header, Enthuzacar exhaust, and homemade CAI. On 2017-10-09 it made 158WHP at Real St. Performance’s Dyno. https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...-3-parts-1.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...-3-parts-2.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...se-3-parts.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...se-3-lsd-1.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...se-3-lsd-2.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...se-3-lsd-3.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...se-3-lsd-4.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...spension-3.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...spension-4.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...spension-5.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...suspension.JPG https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...al-st-dyno.jpg https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ete-engine.JPG Now I can start the rest of this thread as changes are made. We are now installing a polycarbonate Teflon coated windshield for nationals, resetting ride height, and corning balancing the car for East Coast Nationals. https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...windshield.JPG |
Nice. Subscribed.
Also it's funny, we have the same name and our builds are kind of a similar trajectory. |
Shit Son!!! This is frickin awesome! I am insanely jealous of that cage. Very nice work!
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Originally Posted by Arca_ex
(Post 1444736)
Nice. Subscribed.
Also it's funny, we have the same name and our builds are kind of a similar trajectory. |
Originally Posted by thirdgen
(Post 1444743)
Shit Son!!! This is frickin awesome! I am insanely jealous of that cage. Very nice work!
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Very nice turn around on this thing!!!
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Hey! I met you at Barber last October! Reading this makes sense of why your car looked so put together. Looks like you've put quite a bit of labor into the car, it's awesome!
Will you be making ESC nationals at Sebring this month? Hopefully I'll catch ya at an event sometime soon! |
A++ build thread! Super clean and competition tested. Nice work!
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Originally Posted by flier129
(Post 1444928)
Hey! I met you at Barber last October! Reading this makes sense of why your car looked so put together. Looks like you've put quite a bit of labor into the car, it's awesome!
Will you be making ESC nationals at Sebring this month? Hopefully I'll catch ya at an event sometime soon! |
1 Attachment(s)
Originally Posted by AA-Ron
(Post 1444715)
Winter 2013- 2014 Winter came and I wanted to continue keeping my Honda in its Stock 1992 trim so my dad and I talked through autocrossing the Miata. This is where I jumped into the deep end. Since Winter in Ohio is depressing, I would spend nights and weekend working in my garage on the cold floors getting ready for autocrossing in the summer. To start we focused on: * Replace all bushings with an Energy Suspension kit. * 949Racing End Links * New Timken Front Hubs / Rear Bearings * ARP Studs * Cheap 13” Wheels with Hoosier Slicks on it! Oh! Please check those bearings to see if they look like this: https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...139693cbbb.jpg Because then they'll end up like this: Attachment 229700 And this happens: Get hubs that looks like this instead: https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9eb72f4386.jpg |
Originally Posted by AA-Ron
(Post 1445009)
I'll be There. I haven't received my paddock spot yet but I'll be on the Cement somewhere near the tire vendor. Stop by I'd like to catch up, a lot has changed since you saw it last.
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Originally Posted by flier129
(Post 1445121)
Oh! Please check those bearings to see if they look like this:
Get hubs that looks like this instead: Since I saw the thread about this happening, we check all 4 hubs at lunch and at the end of the day at each event. |
Originally Posted by AA-Ron
(Post 1444763)
Thats funny! Your build is one of the couple I really paid attention to. I am really hoping ST5 will be finalized soon so we can plan where our engine program.
Hey that's pretty cool, glad someone is reading it haha. I need to go through the whole thing and undo the Photobucket damage though. As far as ST5, I really don't know if they're going to implement it this year. It's getting late. Regions in the southwest already have 2018 season events planned for January, we get boned all the time by NASA's lack of planning and procrastination. My car is just kind of floating in limbo now. It's no longer legal for TTE/PTE (doesn't matter because PT classes dried up locally), doesn't have enough power to move up to ST4 (for now), SuperMiata S1 is tempting but I'm not switching to Megasquirt, etc etc. It's still good to go for the wheel to wheel PS4 class at ProAutoSports and usually there are 5+ cars there so at least I have somewhere to bide my time while the turbo plans unfold. |
Polycarbonate Windshield
On our way back from the Sebring event on Sept. 30th - Oct. 1st. a rock kicked up off the road and cracked the windshield. We were already prepared to replace it, just not quite yet. I reached out to Treasure Coast Miata and ordered a polycarbonate teflon coated windshield. Today, we templated the windshield to make others in the future. We use these foam core boards for templates: https://www.officedepot.com/a/produc...dy-Board-Foam/. Materials * 7 M6x1.00 Stainless Steel button head bolts * 14 1/4 neoprene washers (to squish the windshield between) * 7 M6 Stainless Steel fender washers * 7 M6X1.00 zinc nuts * SEM Trim black * Lots of Razor Blades * Wire Wheel * Tape Tools * 1/8, 1/4, 9/32 drill bits * Drill * Blue loctite * 10MM socket * Allen key The first thing we did after getting the glass out was we tried to get as much of the urethane off the lip where the windshield sits. We were not satisfied with the way it looked so we taped the paint around the window frame and took a wire wheel to the lip to remove the rest of the urethane. We then painted it SEM trim black and let is sit to dry. Today it was nice and dry so we mocked up the windshield and it was a great fit. We drilled an 1/8 pilot hole in the top center of the windshield then a 1/4 hole for the bolt. We followed this process on the top curves, halfway down the A pillar and at the bottom of the A pillar. We decided 7 bolts was more than enough. https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...-undertray.jpg After all 7 holes were drilled, we took the windshield off and oversized the holes with the 9/32 drill bit. tomorrow Ace will have the remaining neoprene washers needed to finish the install Cleaning Supplies I know cleaning the windshield is pretty important and the cleaners are important too. So I am going to give these two a try:
https://www.amazon.com/NOVUS-7247-Premium-Polish-Mate/dp/B002UCYS1S/ref=pd_sim_263_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B002UCYS1S&pd_rd_r=5HDX7B823ZVQQKBT01GJ&pd_rd_w=gYnXt&pd_rd_wg=eRNyQ&psc=1&refRID=5HDX7B823ZVQQKBT01GJ
https://www.amazon.com/NOVUS-PC-108-Plastic-Clean-Shine/dp/B000ABB1P2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1507764639&sr=8-4&keywords=polycarbonate+cleaner
Backup Undertray While we are waiting on the washers, we used the left over wood to build a backup undertray from our template (made from that foam core board).We have two different undertrays, one that flares out to the edge of the front tires, and one the follows the body line. These are the standard undertrays everyone runs. I can take more pictures of it if people want to see how its mounted, etc. Materials - 1/2 Birch - 9 M6x1.00 countersink bolts - 9 M6 washers - 2 angle brackets - Garden Edging - 2 Swageless turnbuckles
https://www.amazon.com/Panorama-Swageless-Turnbuckle-Stainless-Steel/dp/B01LOVAEHC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507762765&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=swagless+cable+railing+hardware
- 2 swageless mounts
https://www.amazon.com/LUX-Swageless-Surface-Railing-Stainless/dp/B01HN0JNJI/ref=pd_sim_200_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01HN0JNJI&pd_rd_r=F8S928W0WY2JCYT2GBV3&pd_rd_w=msN4b&pd_rd_wg=5izGL&psc=1&refRID=F8S928W0WY2JCYT2GBV3&dpID=41zcnVukP4L&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail
- Stainless Steel braided wire - foam core board template https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...windshield.jpg Rear Differential Lube Change We also received from 949Racing another liter of OSGiken OS250R. We wanted to change it after the last event because the LSD and the 4.77 gear were breaking in so some metal could be in the gear oil. May be overkill, Better safe then sorry. |
Originally Posted by Arca_ex
(Post 1445240)
Hey that's pretty cool, glad someone is reading it haha. I need to go through the whole thing and undo the Photobucket damage though.
As far as ST5, I really don't know if they're going to implement it this year. It's getting late. Regions in the southwest already have 2018 season events planned for January, we get boned all the time by NASA's lack of planning and procrastination. My car is just kind of floating in limbo now. It's no longer legal for TTE/PTE (doesn't matter because PT classes dried up locally), doesn't have enough power to move up to ST4 (for now), SuperMiata S1 is tempting but I'm not switching to Megasquirt, etc etc. It's still good to go for the wheel to wheel PS4 class at ProAutoSports and usually there are 5+ cars there so at least I have somewhere to bide my time while the turbo plans unfold. 1) ship the car and enough parts (engine, trans, diff, body parts, suspension parts, etc) to last a year to the west coast, rent a storage unit and run SuperMiata.(Most Expensive when adding cost for flights, rental car/trailer, etc) 2) take the car down to the bone and rebuild it for ST4 using the S1 template for build. 3) detune and removed what we have developed on the car to run PTE (the nuclear option) 4) suck it up and get as much seat time as possible and hope for the best. Before I moved to Florida I checked out the classes sizes for PT/TT in 2014 - 2016 and it was always a good class size so I was excited. This year only 2 PT cars have showed up and there is usually always 5 cars in TT at Sebring. I prefer wheel to wheel over TT but I like winning tires too! Even worse no one has signed up for PTD at East Coast Nationals. If that stays the same I'm going to up class to C and try giving the one driver a run for his money |
I was able to finish up the windshield today. Thats one more item off the checklist for nationals.
https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...d-complete.jpg Nationals Remaining Items Checklist * Get dyno reclass from Greg (submitted Tuesday 10/10) * Pickup fuel * Set ride height * Corner balance * Alignment |
Yeah unfortunately NASA has done a pretty good job of emptying out the PT/TT classes lately with the way they are running things. West Coast champtionships had one car in PTD and two cars in PTE. That's it. And for TT letter classes only six cars total. Two each in D and E, one each in C and F. Lame. The one car in F even looked like a rental car from the airport or something.
A turbo would definitely give you the most flexibility and ST4 seems to be blowing up. I'm hanging out with option number 4 and waiting to see what develops. |
Received a couple more items for East Coast National. Since no one decided to show up for PTD I decided to run PTC/TTD.
Phil's Tire Service is awesome. I can't thank Kim and Phil enough for the quick turnaround. https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ationals-1.jpg A few more things off the list. |
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