The "because I'm scared to crash my Exocet" track NA6 build
 

As the title says, after some soul searching, I decided that I'm too big of a wuss to risk my Exocet on the big boy track. That will be reserved for autox duty and Starbucks posing. I wanted a track whore that could be used / abused and I wouldn't lose sleep over if it was put into a wall ( assuming I walk away ). I looked into other cars, mainly WRX, but in the end another miata fits the required list perfectly as its cheap and I have pretty much a backyard's worth of spare parts already.

Enter this basket case I found on CL.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...556485ca20.png

Oil leaks everywhere. Coolant leak as well. Water pump doesn't work so it overheats after 5 min driving. Grind from a VLSD thats going bad. 200k mile short nose motor. Door doesn't quite close without effort. Trunk lock is jacked up from theft attempt. Brakes calipers looking like they will need a rebuild. Speaker barely work on one side and radio not at all. And paint / bodywork looks good enough from 5 ft away, but not any closer. In other word .. a perfect track whore !

Some more pics ...

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...623a3747e5.png

Stay tuned ...

Picked up an autopower bolt in cage for it last week and started the tear down yesterday. Notice that the front bumper support was bent in so she must have been involved in a minor front end collision at one point.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fa8a275e74.png

Got the motor / trans out as well. What a greasy mess. The flywheel was a Fidenza ( as promised by seller ) .. buuuut .. not sure if its still usable. Apparently at some point, something tragic must have happened with to one of the pilot bearing because most of the cavity for the bearing was grounded out quite a bit.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b31ffb3406.png

Green line is the good area that doesn't seem to have been damaged .. which measures to about 1/8" out of the total 7/16" thickness.

Diameter of the hole in the red area measures 1.4525" .. diameter of the hole in the green area measures 1.374" so about .0785" was grounded away by whatever happened to that previous pilot bearing. The bearing that came out looked still intact.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...412559cfcf.png

Oh and that puddle of oil below the input shaft ? Yup ... rear main seal.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bdeb9db392.png

First world problems right there.
Don't punch that rear main seal as far as your current one is, on the two Ive done I try to not go past flush with the casting.

canardz brah.