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Actually, I finished college and bought a house and have some expendable income. I have spent the last 3 years watching for good deals on 1.8s that are local. I am not spending $800 on a motor that I am going to need to refresh before I even drop it in (cheapest I found was a VVT at a junk yard for $650, turned out it had rod knock). All the 1.8s and good miatas have been eaten up by the drift kids in this area.
As far as why bother with the refresh, the 1.6 in my car is getting long in the tooth. Been semi trying to kill it for 4 years now. High timing advance N/A on 87, track days, autocross, all kinds of things like that. Then supercharged for 2 years, again, high timing advance, never checked it even with det cans. Now it's turbo abd making 190 to the wheels. Compression is getting low, have some blow by, main seal is shot and the crank sprocket is welded on (done by PO). It's time for a new engine.
As far as dropping money, $240 for rods, gaskets, rings, maybe bearings, then a dingle berry hone and some valve lapping compound. Figure $500-600 all in for a freshish engine ready for everything a TD04-13T can throw at it.
Come grab one up here. We're pulling my friends motor soon to install my old one post rods only build. I think he'd part with his motor pretty cheap since the rings are toast. Pretty much exactly what you're looking for. Running driving car with a smokescreen that would make bond proud.
Alright, taxes are finally done, time to wait for the money. Return is a little sadder than I thought it'd be, so I'll be ordering everything but the Kraken kit, IC, and piping once it all comes back.
Things to be ordered:
Speeduino PnP
Supermiata sprung four puck clutch kit
Supermiata Radiator (Unless there are comparable options for less money, still a bit of research to do.)
Supermiata coolant reroute
AEM wideband
Low Boost Wastegate (Stock EFR wastegate is "medium boost," and doesn't crack open until 8.8psi)
Boost Gauge
GM IAT sensor
323GTX PCV valve
NGK 4644 plugs
3D printer VTPS bracket and Kia VTPS
Please feel free to offer feedback on any of the selected parts!
This way I can at least get the car back to a hoonable state for mountain driving as the weather warms up, and for Autocross which is starting up soon while I save for a couple more months for the remaining ~$1200 worth of boosty parts. Clutch is slipping right now, not ideal for powering out of corners.
Anyway, here's a fun pic of the car in its pre-spoiler form on the Tail of the Dragon on Cinco de Mayo (note the sombrero) with a whole bunch of my buddies in tow. We do a weekend at the dragon and surrounding roads every spring, it's a blast. This was the first recon pass, otherwise they'd be eating my dust!
You should also plan on budgeting for some real, non-pool-noodle roll bar padding.
To be fair, it is rollbar padding, not a pool noodle, but the super hard, high density rollbar padding meant for helmet impacts isn't gonna do much for me on the street, unless I'm misunderstanding something. I would like to get one of the nice, formed ones from Hard Dog at some point, though. I'll also likely be doing a set of sparco sprints shortly which IIRC should cover my head pretty well.
BTW, the higher density is what you want for head or helmets. Low density compresses too easily in a hard impact and will crack your egg when you hit the pole.
I'm running the hard dog "foam" on my rollbar. I have no doubt that thing will split my noggin' open with light bump from behind. Is that stuff really supposed to be that rock hard? I figured it should be at least a tiny bit less dense than the steel it is resting on.
hell, this stuff "comes in 7 pretty colors" and it IS a pool noodle:
This is what I run on any street driven cars. Sfi padding like you want below and a softer upper portion. And yes, rollbar padding is supposed to be that hard because you're not supposed to hit it with your bare head. It's meant to be hit with a helmet.
The supermiata radiator is great no doubt. But I got a used MS2 for that price.
I hate to steer someone away from quality product but it's far from "cheapest I ever did see". Better than stock radiators can be had for less than $200...
This is what I run on any street driven cars. Sfi padding like you want below and a softer upper portion. And yes, rollbar padding is supposed to be that hard because you're not supposed to hit it with your bare head. It's meant to be hit with a helmet.
That's perfect. I'll be ordering some. Thanks!
Originally Posted by 90LowNSlo
The supermiata radiator is great no doubt. But I got a used MS2 for that price.
I hate to steer someone away from quality product but it's far from "cheapest I ever did see". Better than stock radiators can be had for less than $200...
Well... I was going to run stock radiator but was shamed by my Miata driving coworkers into upgrading. The 949 is just the first one I've looked at, I haven't done a deep dive into Miata radiators yet. Believe me, I would LOVE to spend less.
Edit: please do tell me more about these cheaper radiators you speak of.
That's what I have. It's a decent unit/brand. Decent. It's better than stock but definitely not better than the big name brand ones. I picked it because I'm on a budget also and several other members here run it.
That's what I have. It's a decent unit/brand. Decent. It's better than stock but definitely not better than the big name brand ones. I picked it because I'm on a budget also and several other members here run it.
Nice, I'll look into it. For that price I could pick up a set of singular hood vents as well and be in it less money than the Supermiata rad on its own. Thanks for the link!
I would recommend it on something more needed, hood vents are... well, not useless but definitely optional. For the money you could nearly get some injectors...
I would recommend it on something more needed, hood vents are... well, not useless but definitely optional. For the money you could nearly get some injectors...
I do plan to track this car once it's thoroughly shaken down with autocrosses, so I'm thinking hood vents will be a good thing to have.
That cheap radiator will not sufficiently cool a turbocharged car on a track. Anyone who says otherwise isn't tracking their car. This is why options like the supermiata or trackspeed radiators exist. Otherwise everyone would be running cheap radiators.
That cheap radiator will not sufficiently cool a turbocharged car on a track. Anyone who says otherwise isn't tracking their car. This is why options like the supermiata or trackspeed radiators exist. Otherwise everyone would be running cheap radiators.
Oh so much this right here. Heat management has been the biggest pain in the *** on the track.
That Amazon radiator looks like a Mishimoto with slightly shittier welds. Mishimoto's factory offered their radiator to me without their logo for roughly $65/ea last year. It's hardly better than a stock auto radiator.
If you plan to track the car, there are some things you don't get to cheap out on, even at the beginning. Cooling is one of them.
I didn't see anything about the car being tracked... So yeah, go nuts on cooling if you want it to last. You'll probably need to upgrade the brakes too.
02-04-2019, 06:10 PM
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