When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The grass ain't greener on the other side, it's just 10AE blue
Hello everyone, I've been lurking here for a few months but recently decided to make an account so I could document/keep track of my new Miata purchase. I have a few friends who use this website and I enjoy following their build threads, so I figure I should make one for myself.
In July of 2017, I bought my first car and first Miata, an entirely stock Emerald Mica (green) 1999 with all the factory goodies like ABS, Torsen, and AC. I left the car mostly stock (save for NB2 exhaust manifold) for about a year and then began modifying it when I started to get into Autocross. I installed the Flyin' Miata Stage 2 Koni suspension, some Carbotech AX6 pads I got from a friend/fellow miataturbo user, a Roadstersport 4 muffler, and I picked up some Kosei K4Rs with old RS3s on them. The car was fun to daily but I really wanted something I could do HPDE more comfortable with. I don't particularly like modifying cars from a financial standpoint and I'm also a pretty miserable wrench and mess everything up, so I was looking into getting something already modded. I was planning to sell the car this summer, but at the end of June, I walked out to my car on a Saturday morning to find that someone had broken in and tried to steal the car. Luckily, they melted a fuse in the ignition system so the car wasn't leaving without being put on a flatbed. I managed to fix the car by replacing the ignition and besides some beat up cosmetic stuff, it drove just as fine as it did.
Here's said car about 2 months after I got it, when it was pretty much stock.
I had been considering what I wanted to buy next for a while. I looked into E36 M3s, MR2 Turbos and E46 330ci, but the Miata platform kept drawing me back due to the familiarity and the low operating costs.
After getting my payout from insurance, I had enough to go pick up the car I had been eyeing for a few months, a tastefully modded 10th Anniversary Edition. This car was actually for sale on this site several years ago (listing here), which was helpful in getting a good idea of the history of the car and parts list. Fortunately, the car was owned by a friend's dad, so I was able to coordinate purchasing the car from him and finally pulled the trigger a few days ago. First thing I did after registering the car was go and take some nice pictures of it on some local roads.
I'll go ahead and steal the parts list from the old listing, with some out of date items updated by me:
Engine/Drivetrain Racing Beat Header FM Catted Mid-Pipe Mazdaspeed Muffler K&N "Typhoon" Intake/AEM Filter Koyo 37mm Radiator FM "Happy Meal" Stage 1 Clutch w/ 10.3lb Flywheel FM Clutch Switch Override Mazda Competition Motor Mounts 949Racing Braided Stainless Clutch Line Remote Oil Filter Kit
Suspension/Brakes/Chassis FM V-Maxx Classic Coilovers FM Sway Bars 949 Racing Endlinks Mazda Competition FSB Mounts FM Frame Rails/Butterfly Brace Energy Suspension Poly Diff Bushings Carbotech XP10/8 Brake Pads Centric Premium Rotors 949Racing Braided Stainless Brake Lines
Interior/Safety Sparco Sprint V FIA Seats Sparco FIA 6 Point Harnesses HardDog Hardcore Single Diagonal Roll bar HardDog Harness Bar Sparco 330mm "Naxos" Steering Wheel Voodoo Shift **** Amerex Halon Extinguisher '01+ Center Console 3rd-Gen Eclipse A/C Vents
Audio JVC KD-X40 Head Unit Scosche OEM Amp Adapter Clearwater Speakers/Tweeters
Exterior '01+ Taillights Painted Headlight Shrouds DEPO Smoked Front Sidemarkers F/R Tow hooks
So far, the car is awesome. It is still as slow as my last one, but its much stiffer and more enjoyable to drive, and as a bonus it looks wayyy nicer than my last one. I really love this color. My only complaints with the car thus far is that the suspension damping is less than stellar, which is expected because it has some tired VMaxx Classics. The seats are a little uncomfortable after a couple hours of driving but I think I will get used to them.
I'm hoping down the road in a year or two to add some forced induction, probably in the form of a TSE EFR kit, which is what a lot of my friends run.
In the short term, I plan on installing a coolant reroute kit as it lacks one currently, so I can feel comfortable running HPDE on a track, potentially a MiataRoadster shifter kit, and I may replace the suspension with something a bit nicer that has adjustable damping and higher spring rates. I also need to get some fixed seat rails. The car came with a one piece PCI mount, but when I tried to install it in the car I found that even in the closest position I could not fully depress the clutch, which is odd as I am around 6'/182cm.
The first modification I did was about 4 days after I bought the car. I took off the Mazdaspeed Muffler and threw on the Roadstersport 4 from my old car that I took off (with the intention of putting it on this one). It's a decent bit louder but the helmholtz is nice on the highway when cruising. Uphill at around 60 in 6th gear I hit an awful drone that is painful so I try to avoid holding it at that RPM. I keep earplugs in the car anyway.
(Mazdaspeed is on top)
The day after installing the exhaust, I took the car out to autocross.
The car drove wonderfully despite the soft suspension, much nicer than my old car. I still need to get used to the whole "no ABS" thing though. I am not a stellar driver, but I managed to place 13th out of 28 cars in my class, which is pretty good considering I am not in a class my car is competitive in. Most of the cars I go against are NCs/NDs with bolt ons and E36 M3s/328i. I also managed 29.5 MPG for the tank driving down to the track and back (240 miles roundtrip) and doing the actual autocross event!
I was also given a free gloss black Kirklin hardtop by a friend/fellow MT user. I slapped it on the car and it looks good. Still deciding if I want to wrap the windshield pillar gloss black to match it. I need to fab up some side mounts since it is not compatible with Garagestar mounts. The top is from 1991 or 92 and the latches are different from OEM unfortunately. There's a few gaps I need to seal but otherwise it looks nice and makes daily driving much better compared to the ripped soft top.
I was planning on waiting to order a MiataRoadster kit but this past week I've found myself missing a lot of shifts while just daily driving so I ordered it earlier this week and it arrived today. I miss 2->3 a lot and 5->6 as well as 5->4. Only happens sometimes, not really sure as to why given the stiffer motor mounts and poly diff bushings. I bought the stock length kit, and I've got a 3.5" straight extension I'm gonna throw on it whenever it shows up. I ordered a couple quarts of Ford XTM5QS synthetic manual transmission fluid that have yet to arrive. So far, shifts are WAY better. Throw is a little short for my tastes (which is why I got the extension), and effort is higher but the gears are a lot easier to find.
Oddly enough, the 4 bolts that hold on that shifter plate on the transmission (you can see some of the bolts in the photo above, the 12mm ones under the trans tunnel shifter hole) were all very loose and backed out a thread or two when I had that open. I tightened them down as much as I could when I had the stuff off, but the front 2 are hard to reach. I wonder how much impact that had on my shifts feeling bad.
Next plans for the car are some small maintenance items. I tried greasing the window guides but they got slow again pretty quick so I might just replace the bushings since they're like $20 in parts. I also need to replace the transmission reverse switch since mine has a small leak, and while I'm down there I'll throw in the motorcraft fluid.
I'm keeping my eye out for some used suspension that is a step up from what I have now. I didn't check the for-sale threads here for about a day and I missed out on the exact PCI seat rails I wanted. I'll probably wait another couple weeks and see if anything pops up and if not I'll buy some new. Same goes for a Supermiata reroute kit.
I'm gonna take the car out to cars and coffee this weekend and then next weekend is another autocross event that I plan on attending. I did a little drive in the mountains with some friends and it made me remember why I want a turbo Miata (hint: Miatae do not make a lot of power at 9000 feet above sea level). Guess I've got something to work towards.
I was also given a free gloss black Kirklin hardtop by a friend/fellow MT user. I slapped it on the car and it looks good. Still deciding if I want to wrap the windshield pillar gloss black to match it.
I'm putting my vote in for wrapping it to match. I've got a silver NB with a semi-gloss black hardtop and matching windshield pillars. I find it makes the whole greenhouse sort of disappear. Best pic I can find at the moment to give you an idea.
I'm putting my vote in for wrapping it to match. I've got a silver NB with a semi-gloss black hardtop and matching windshield pillars. I find it makes the whole greenhouse sort of disappear. Best pic I can find at the moment to give you an idea.
One of my friends has a Laguna Blue NA with a black hardtop and he wrapped the windshield surround black by himself. He said he has some extra material leftover so I might give it a shot with his stuff and see how I like it. He didn't wanna waste a bunch of material so he didn't do it seamless but if I like the look, I think I can get enough 3M to do the windshield surround in one piece for $30-$40 if the seam bothers me that much. My car isn't a concours quality car, so if it's not visible from more than a couple feet away I probably won't bother.
That's his car. You can just barely make out the seam if you really look for it.
Received my eBay special 3.5" extension for the MiataRoadster kit. Shifts are much easier with the extra leverage, throw is a bit long (what I expected), so I might try a 2-2.5" extension later if I can't get used to this one. I am still having issues finding some gears occasionally but I might just need to get used to the new shifter feel and maybe change the fluid. 6th and reverse in this car is a bit hard to find sometimes, but I think an old seller had mentioned that.
I also had a friend tell me that they've got some extra wrap material lying around in their garage and I could wrap my windshield surround with their assistance if I wanted to try it. Decided to go for it, and I'm happy I did. Really looks great with the black hardtop. I did some manual labor on my friends turbo drift NA in exchange for their wrapping guidance.
Of course I had to do another photo shoot with the car since I had just cleaned it up the day before for cars and coffee and I wanted to show off the wrap.
Thanks Jimmy! I'm really loving this car so far. I'm thinking about leaving the drivetrain stock until I can get one of those new K24Z3 kits in a couple of years. Driving your Civic made me realize how much I like naturally aspirated power delivery.
This past Sunday was my second autocross with the car. The day before I put in some Ford Motorcraft Synthetic MTF. I had overfilled the transmission a bit when doing the shifter kit, because when I opened the fill plug quite a bit poured out. Seems like some of it spit out the driveshaft seal. I know the car had a transmission leak before I bought it. Thought it was a leaky reverse sensor but that was dry so I suspect the output seal might be bad. I'll keep an eye on the leak and replace it if need be.
My friend also found a couple pieces of a nail in my drivers side rear tire. Ended up yanking them out with a set of pliers and luckily they came in at an angle and weren't very long so they stayed within the tread block. Glad I didn't need new tires because these have a good bit of life left in them, and thankfully I still made it out to the track the next day with no issues.
This course was a bit more open than the last one so I got to stretch the legs a bit and get into third gear a couple times, giving me a chance to work that new shifter. Feels good!
Here's me lifting the inside tire during some high speed corner action.
Again, I wasn't very fast, I think I placed 16th out of 30ish cars in class. But I shaved off a lot of time each run, which is what I always aim to do. Until the last run when
I also threw the stock wheels back on the car this weekend. Looks worse but the ride is actually bearable now so I'm not gonna complain too much.
I'm probably gonna order a Supermiata reroute in the coming days and install it soon after. Thinking about doing fluids and getting the car out to an open lapping session end of September or sometime in October when it isn't 95 degrees out. I think I can hold off on ordering the fixed seat rails since I actually fit under the hard top fine with a helmet on, which surprised me.
Nice 10AE! I need to post mine for documentation purposes too, but am hesitant as I do not plan to boost it anytime soon.
"I also threw the stock wheels back on the car this weekend. Looks worse but the ride is actually bearable now so I'm not gonna complain too much." What did you not like about the ride with the aftermarket wheels?
Sweet car! I wanna come run at PPIR, when is a good time to go? Any events coming up?
The next autocross type event is September 15th. They also have open lapping days occasionally on their roval. Check the calendar for dates of those since I never know when they are.
I think my next event there is gonna be the drivers school on the 14th, and then I’m not sure if I will go to the actual event the next day.
So the car had a pretty noticeable exhaust leak from before I bought it, between the header and the midpipe right at the flange. I finally got to borrow a friends 4-post lift to investigate.
I wish I had photos, but a previous owner had stacked 2 flange style exhaust gaskets on top of one another and both were blown clean through on both sides. After about 3 hours of driving around trying to find an auto parts store on a Sunday that had the correct size donut gasket, ended up settling for one that had the right diameters but thicker than suggested. So far it has been working, and the car is less drone-y and less tractor-y at idle.
As a result, the rear O2 sensor is now seeing enough airflow to throw a CEL for a P0420. I've dealt with the same code on my last car, apparently NB1s are particularly sensitive to cat issues, and this car has an FM catted midpipe. I really doubt the cat is bad, given it has 15k on it. Probably gonna throw that O2 sensor in a $3 ebay extension to shut the light up. Worked on my last car. Unfortunately, the O2 sensor is on top of the exhaust and tucked into the trans tunnel, so that means I'm gonna have to remove the butterfly brace and remove the whole midpipe assembly to get to the O2 sensor.
Went and ordered a Supermiata reroute kit the other week. I've got it sitting in my garage waiting for some time to have a friend help me put it into the car (since I am a hopeless wrench myself). So once that is in, I'm gonna put in new brake fluid, change the motor and diff oil, and then look into dates to do a track day.
I called PCI the other day and asked about the seat rails. The one that I have is the one piece setback mount, and I was looking into buying the one piece non setback mount. Apparently that will only get me another 1.6" forward, so I'll have to check with the setback mount again whether that's enough extra room for me to feel comfortable. Otherwise, I'll get the sliding fixed mount. Not a huge deal, but if I can I'd rather save the $70 or whatever price difference. I'll sell the setback one regardless since it's useless to me.
Never thought at nearly 6' tall I'd be concerned whether or not a Miata seat mount can get me far forward enough to depress the clutch fully.
Also, I have never been able to heel toe a Miata, so I went and bought an FM gas pedal extension to try and fix that.
I also should get some floor mats before I wear a hole in the carpet. The drivers side 10AE one is missing.
You being "nearly 6ft tall" pass broomstick test with the hardog hardcore single diagnal, with sparco seat and PCI brackets? Just curious if so and how much room you have, as I may be only an inch taller than you (almost 6'1").
I have never been able to heel-toe. It's like I can't get my foot turned enough without trying to put my one through the dash. I left foot brake and float for my downshifts...
Still tell me how you like the pedal extension. (I'm 6'- 6'1" also)
07-29-2019, 11:14 PM
The grass ain't greener on the other side, it's just 10AE blue
2
NB. Obviously now you have to get a turbo.
