HPDE NB1 fun car
 

Ok, I guess it's time to start a build thread. I find logging things over time helps me (and hopefully helps others). Also, I'm new to the Miata platform so it gives me a place to ask some questions and hopefully some folks can stop by periodically and throw in their 2 cents. Why a Miata? Well that's an easy answer. Because it's cheap, fun, and an awesome platform. I want a solid/fun track car and not have to worry too much if I happen to have an accident on track. I have an s2k I used to track a fair bit and want to get back into it. Life and kids got in the way for a while and I'm hoping to get some time to get back on track at least a handful of times per year. The car will just be designed to win the HPDE cup and have fun. No TT/etc.

I will say I did give some serious thought to a new BRZ/GR86 for a track car (it's a little bigger (can bring a set of wheels to the track), more power, no rollbar reqd, etc) but ultimately the engine being a Subaru turd was sort of the deciding factor for me which pushed me to the Miata.

The plan is a low powerish turbo setup (<250whp) to have fun. I'm not trying to set lap records and I'm setting a hard cap on the car for common sense reasons. Any platform has its limits where you hit the law of diminishing returns $, reliability, and fun wise. For the Miata that seems to be ~250whp. I debated going the k swap route, but it looks like a solid ~$12k to do a k24a2 swap right. I think with a turbo setup it can be reliable and plenty of fun. My first track day back in 2013 I had an awesome instructor. Bob Hammond. He had a miata with a FM turbo kit and I want to say RA1's? Anyway.. he took me for a couple ride alongs and I was quite impressed. His kit was just the "base" kit with no intercooler but it was quick. He laughed when he told me the cost to run the Miata for a whole season was the same cost to run his old GT3 for one day. :D

So here's the starting point of the car. I picked it up from a friend of a friend, a local SSM racer that had it sitting around with similar plans of my own, but changed his mind. It's a 5 speed (I think with a Torsen). It's been a while since I've driven a Miata and I forgot how fun these cars are! A light car, good shifter, short gearing makes for fun. Heel toeing was a little tricky as the brakes feel a little squishy but I'm hoping some maintenance and upgrades will fix that. Also, I noticed the car seems to sort of "crash" over bumps on the drive home. Maybe some bushings are shot and causing harshness? I'm hoping that's it. The car mods wise came with BC coilovers and enkei rpf1s. I checked the settings and they are just a few clicks from full soft so I don't think it's the coilovers. Once I start wrenching I'm hoping it'll be apparent what the problem is but I'm guessing it's bushings.

The car seems to be in very good shape overall with just a few small rust spots (surface only) that I will of course touch up. Also there's just a ton of small maintenance that needs to be done but is pretty easy. It's needed some TLC so I've been cleaning it up, replacing some parts and refurbishing some parts. I replaced the cowl panel, window trim, and repainted the wiper arms to satisfy my inner ricer. :) I find it cathartic working on an older car and making it nicer again.

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So first question, does this wing do anything aero wise? :D I'm guessing not much or nearly nothing..? I noticed the outter window seal is cracked/damaged underneath it right in the middle. It seems to be a semi common issue from a quick search. I haven't pulled the wing off yet as it'll expose the damaged seal.. it looks like it's just double sided sticky taped on..

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Here's my helper changing the oil.
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With black friday around the corner I need to order a bunch more stuff. Since the bushings are old I will be replacing them. I started to look at the different poly/delrin options, but I think I'm going to just run the IL motorsports rubber ones to keep it simple. My plan is to do all the maintenance and hit a couple track weekends in the spring. Later next year I'll install a kraken top mount setup. At this point I'm looking to run Konig Freeforms in 15x9.5 with 245/40/15 200TW tires. It looks like RS4's are out of stock so I'll have to look into some other options. I don't have a tow rig/trailer so I plan on driving to the track. I got a set of BroFab hubs front and rear and will run the Afco 11.75x1.25" BBK up front with calipier brackets to run the larger sport rotors in the rear. The engine has 120k miles on it but these things seem reliable so we'll see how it holds up. I will run a skunk2 TB as recommended by folks here. Given the age of the car, I'm replacing all the ball joints, motor mounts, most rubber bits I can. The AC will be removed. I'm on the fence regarding power steering. I guess for now I will just leave it. Seats/harnesses (I have a hans) I'm debating on. Likely order an M2 Sport harddog.

Anything I'm missing I'm all ears. It looks like the Megasquirt is the goto standalone for miatas. It looks like the latest version is largely plug and play? It allows to delete the MAF sensor and switch to speed density. Does this have any real benefit NA or not really..? I will need one eventually so am tempted to pull the trigger during the BF sale. I haven't thought too much about aero yet either but I want to avoid a big front splitter since it'll be driven on the street. I'm also hoping Singular hood vents when I put the turbo on will aid in front aero and balance out a rear wing. I know 9LR is usually a solid option for a rear wing. Appreciate the help and answers thus far from folks!

Love to see it! Looks like you’ve been doing your due diligence and asking the right questions on here. Excited to see the build progress. At 120k miles, your engine is probably pristine inside as long as the PO kept up on basic maintenance.

Side note, sweet garage. Having access to a lift speeds up the build process by a factor of two, maybe three :rofl:

Woo another green NB. Welcome

I think the previous owners did do basic maintenance like oil changes regularly so I'm hoping it'll be solid.

Thanks. I actually just got the 4 post (it's mainly for keeping another car in the garage), and it's been nice for some fluid changes and any work that has clear access to the underside of the car (like dropping the tranny). I don't have a bridge jack so I'll take it off the lift for most work and do it w/ jack stands. A lift does speed up the process but then add back in a wife and kids and you need to divide by 4 or 5. :p

Welcome!

That's a pretty nice looking '99. Your suspension crashing is likely trashed bump stops. Many aftermarket coilovers for Miatas are lacking travel, especially in the rear and wipe out the bumpstops quickly. I'm not familiar with the BCs, so can't say for sure. I just went through the whole suspension on my '99 (new everything, ILM bushings, Tecna coilovers), and it was a huge improvement. I can say that $$$ spent in suspension is $$$ well spent on Miatas. I have Xidas on our track car and the Tecnas on the street car, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone. The Xidas especially are amazing at making track spring rates seem plush on the street.

Be careful with the rear seal/glass on the hardtop. IIRC, the glass is NLA, and you've got about a 50% chance of breaking it trying to remove it.

I ran an NB engine n/a on MS3 in our track car for a few years, and it's a great solution. You won't make a lot of hp removing the MAF, but it really cleans up the engine compartment. Power levels for BPs with mods and standalones are pretty well documented on Supermiata's site. You'll need it for the turbo, so why not start now. I'm on a similar path with our NB... once I finish up the K swap on the race car, it's getting the BP that came out and an MS3 PnP. Once that's tuned up, I have a Kraken/GT2560R setup on the shelf. It's 100% street car, though...

I'm pretty sure the car was repainted and they did a fairly good job. Thanks that makes sense. I will take a look at the coilovers and see if there are bumpstops missing or what. I hear you on suspension. I've learned this lesson over the years and the expression buy once cry once applies. I have a set of KWV3's on my s2k and while they're not the best coilovers out there they are solid and ride very well with stiffer springs (I just turn the rebound stiffness down on the street). I think someone said good shocks are like fine wine.. it's hard to put your finger on what makes them good but you know when you try it. :D

Gotcha thanks that's good to know. Ya I'd certainly be wary trying to remove the seal myself. Worst case I was thinking if I remove the spoiler on the hardtop I might just have to ghetto rig the small missing section and use some black silicone to cover the hole that replaces the damaged part of the seal.

Thanks a lot for the advice!

OP, give the man a cat! Around here that's how we show our appreciation for a helpful post, good information, etc. Bottom right corner, neg cats are of course the opposite.

FWIW a number of the track Miata folks I know have started using Beer Money Motorsport's ECUs, favoring them over the Megasquirt (I've got an MS3X in my car, no complaints). Uses Tunerstudio software, same as a Megasquirt. BMM has Black Friday sale going on, $100 off with code turkey&beer100 - something to consider.

Do you mind elaborating or sharing more info on the BMM ECU vs MS? It looks like SpeedyFI is also an option. Obviously there are the "big boy" ECUs like haltech, motec, etc. but those are obviously pricey and less user/diy friendly.

One of the more important factors in "which ECU" is which ECUs your tuner is experienced with/prefers. Unless you're going to DIY all the tuning, it's worth having a conversation with the tuner before choosing an ECU.

Yep gotcha.. I'm familiar tuning Hondatas and I'd expect that MS and similar ECU's aren't too dissimilar. I'm also not looking to have some crazy/complicated build and really push the limits. If I'm going to primarily run boost pressure off the wastegate ~8psi I think I can handle the tuning duties. There's a lot of similarities with my s2k (ethanol sensor, GM AIT sensor, etc.).

Jeez the Miata rabbit hole sure is deep. I came across speedyFI and ME442 plug in ecu's. From what I've gathered so far, it looks like the BBM ECU is based off of an open source ecu platform? That's good and bad in my book. Good as it's usually quite modular and adaptable but bad in the sense that there could be many different hardware iterations and headaches because of different iterations. Sometimes the good old Apple/Msft closed ecosystem just works and open source isn't necessarily better.. As a software dev I see this firsthand. The price sure is tempting though.. I will do some digging..

Welcome to the forum.

Mum's going to be furious if she sees THAT photo!

Does anyone have an opinion on aero for an hpde car that'll see some street miles as well? I'm not going to put a lot of street miles on the car but on occasion I'd like to take it out.

For the rear wing, is there a good option that's trunk mounted or easily removeable? 9LR rear wing seems like the goto in terms of a good L/D ratio but being chassis mounted it's not ideal for putzing on the street. I'm not necessarily against it but curious on other options. I've seen the APR GTC 200 that's trunk mounted and looks like a nice wing also. I know there are usually compromises with wings.

For the front, is there a good front lip/splitter option that is streetable? It looks like 9LR sells a nice air dam which I guess is the goto option? Appreciate any opinions. I haven't looked at all into aero and looks like there are some nice sales going on.

Edit: At this point I'm probably going to forego aero for this next year as I'll have my hands full with everything else. Interesting to hear if anyone has thoughts on aero. Seems like the full 9lr setup is obviously the goto for a pure track car.

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This past winter I added the full Nine Lives Racing aero kit to my Miata and for the most part don't find it unstreetable. It definitely gets some attention, but you can still use the trunk (it may not open all the way depending on the angle and how far back you mount the wing), and the splitter doesn't scrape too much if you are careful and don't mount it too low. I also don't have a tow rig and drive my car to and from all events.

That being said I do think it makes sense to hold off on the aero for a bit. It was nice to see the before/after from a handling perspective. I also got (most) of my off track excursions out of the way without the aero, going off track and breaking the splitter is no fun.

Welcome! Looking forward to following this build thread. Looks like we're in relatively similar positions (wanting to build something track oriented without loosing the ability to street).It's helpful to watch someone think through some of the same questions - like which ECU to get, for example. This platform (the NA/NB) has been around for so long, sifting through all the information on the internet can get a little hectic to say the least.


I have no experience with this, but I did jump for the 9LR medium downforce kit black Friday sale myself... I think worst case scenario, we can remove the splitter and wang and the car will fly under the radar on the street with the wing uprights and air dam.

Probably a good, responsible idea haha.

That looks purdy. Thanks ya at this point I'm not sure what route I'm gonna go but holding off on installing any aero for a while seems like the sensible thing to do. The difference pre-aero to post-aero is usually pretty dramatic (especially with a big wang) and it's cool to do a before and after. I am sorta debating the 9LR street wing as it simply has less "presence" and it might be fun driving my kid to soccer on occasion. :) I'm definitely a little wary of low/large splitters because off track excursions will surely do damage. I've had a handful (or so) of 4 offs and I'm sure I'll have more to come. I'm ok making an aero tradeoff for streetability being just an HPDE car. Appreciate your advice.

Ya it inevitably might turn into mostly track (swapping pads for events can get a little annoying amongst other things) but I'm going to try to make it work. I ordered the BMM ECU.. the sale and capabilities (built in wideband controller) made it a no brainer imo. I also YOLOd and just ordered Recaro PP's as I know they fit me, the car, and are comfy. I got the ABE version and will use 3 points on the street. I gotta figure out which rails to run and how I'll mount a buckle for the oem belt but shouldn't be too bad. If anyone has advice I'm all ears. The NA/NB platform has been around so long that what many people consider "common knowledge" is new to me. I'm debating on just buying the street wang and letting it sit around till next year (inflation's a bitch) with the 9LR sale but we'll see. Gotta decide by today..

I was going to skip some of the maintenance stuff with the car, but what the heck I'll post it here. I personally find it cathartic working on the car and fixing the little maintenance issues with it. An old car is going to have issues and maintenance needs. First thing after getting the car is cleaning out behind the fender liners. They fill with shit and when it gets wet that's probably what leads to the rusted out sections with wet debris sitting against the metal. Not too hard to do, just gotta undo the bottom of the fender and fender liner and scoop out the crap and use an air chuck to blow it out.
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Another thing is the car's window trim and cowl panel were in bad shape. I ordered replacements from Moss (I think they're made by IL Motorsports). Replacements were easy. I also order window bushings as they were shot and driver's side window rattled like a champ on the way home.

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The wipers were also rusting so they got some TLC with some rattle cans. Sanded them down and hung them in my spray booth. Nice and fresh now. Everything went on smoothly.

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The softtop has a tear in it and I don't plan on removing the hardtop so out it came.

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Headlights also needed some TLC. I just used a Meguiars kit to restore them. Hopefully the clear I applied keeps them from fogging again.
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I also got some Moss miata delrin door bushings. I'm not sure how I feel about them just yet. I still have to fine tune and sand them down a bit more. The passenger door is a bitch to close, I need to sand the bushings a bit more as they're tight. I got a new headunit and door speakers as well and gave the interior a good clean and protective coat. It's all shiney now. :)

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This isn't Miata related exactly but I got the 4 post just after the Miata (I prefer not parking cars outside). I had my garage door raised and jackshaft opener installed a few months ago in preparation for a 4 post at some point. My ceiling height is about 11'. I went with a bendpak hd7w. The quote to install it was about $1300 and I like projects so opted to just install it myself. I did not get the bridge jack as my main use for the lift will be car storage rather than working on cars. A quick summary is the installation is simple and not hard to DIY but things are heavy and cumbersome. Unless you're a bodybuilder you will want at least a few jacks to move things around and ideally a hoist. A friend let me borrow his hoist and it was a life saver for unloading the runways and setting the runways in place. I'm glad I assembled it as I know exactly how it works should I have issues down the road.

Delivery of the lift costs $3-400 because they need a forklift to remove it so I opted to just pick it up instead. I am fortunate to have friends with trucks and one has a nice 20' trailer he let me borrow. The lift is long (I wanna say 17'ish). The hardest part with removing it off the trailer is the runways. Everything else can be moved by hand with a few guys imo.
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Here's all the parts sitting in the garage.
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And here it is operational. It is a little tighter in the garage but not horrible. I do have to remove the ramps before lowering it down completely as it won't clear the garage door. The garage is a typical builder size garage and is not even quite 20' from drywall to garage door where the lift is. What it means is I probably can't put long vehicles on the lift to change oil/etc, but that's the tradeoff I made. I didn't wanna move my workbench and stuff in front of that bay. I opted for the 110V plug in model. One thing the initial saleman didn't mention is that during operation the initial power draw is ~25amps on lift startup. During operation it's apparently <20amp. So, if you have a 20amp breaker, it will pop the breaker. Fortunately I have a dedicated circuit in the corner for my compressor with 10gauge wiring so I swapped the 20amp breaker for a 30amp. After I did that it worked as expected.

Last thing to do will be to drill holes in the concrete for the concrete anchors. This is more just to keep the lift from shimmying/moving at all. Sometimes it can move a bit over time.
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Looking forward to hear what you think of the BMM ECU. I hope it works out well.

Thanks for posting the maintenance shots... I have a few of those things on my to-do list as well.

And congratulations on the lift!

Question for anyone regarding maintenance on/around the engine.. as stated I have a 99 NB. At this point I'm guessing it makes sense to replace both front and rear main seals, camshaft seals, timing belt, water pump, plugs, do a valve adjustment. While I'm doing a coolant reroute, timing belt change, and changing the clutch I figure I'll be working in the areas and just want to replace anything that could or is already leaking. I will be yanking the AC and replace heater hoses as well. Any seals I should also look out for that tend to leak on the tranny or other spots?

I will also swap to a 36-1 crank trigger wheel (it apparently makes syncs faster with a standalone). Anything I'm missing I appreciate it. I will start tearing into things soon just waiting on some parts. I try to get most things ahead of time but I'm sure things will come up once I get things apart.

It's probably worth replacing the transmission input shaft seals if the transmission is out and they've never been replaced. Same with the transmission output shaft seal (but the output seal can be done without removing the transmission, so it isn't really as important).

There are a few of coolant lines that connect the back of the head, oil cooler, throttle body, and front water neck. The ones in the back and underneath the intake manifold are a pain to get to and worth replacing (or deleting).

If you're pulling the engine when doing all of the work it's not a bad idea to replace the oil pan half moon seals, oil pickup tube gasket, and resealing the oil pan and the rear main seal retainer. There's also an o-ring on the oil pump that can be replaced along with fresh RTV. Doing these (along with the rear main seal like you mentioned) would basically prevent needing to pull the engine for an oil leak going forward.

If you replace the transmission output/tailshaft seal be careful not to damage the housing sealing surface - it's very soft. A buddy scratched mine when we swapped my clutch and it would fling transmission fluid on the exhaust at high speed until I pulled it again and cleaned up the surface.

May as well replace the clutch slave cylinder and put a braided line on it if the current age is unknown. The master's cheap enough I'd do it too while you have to bleed the system. The long braided clutch line all the way to the master doesn't really add value aside from eliminating one potential leak point, if anything I think it makes the engine bay look more cluttered.

Worthwhile picking up all the little coolant lines while you're at it, including new firewall grommets for the heater core.

Thanks yep I'm replacing all the clutch components. A new MC, slave and braided line for the looped and soft section of clutch line. Definitely cheap enough to do once and not have to think about it again for a while. Also makes sense I guess to replace any and all coolant lines since they're going on 25yrs old. At this point I'll likely pull the IM to port match and install the skunk2 TB and replace the hoses underneath.

On further thought it probably makes sense to just change to a squaretop or skunk2 manifold. It simplifies things. Seeing as how the skunk2 TB is a pain to install, I'd rather just do it once, and the VICS manifold is not ideal. At this point the squaretop seems like the better choice as it's about 1/2 the price and oem quality.

At this point just patiently waiting for parts to come in. Come on Supermiata/949! I started to install the rollbar but hit a snag and realized there's no swapping belts after the rollbar is in. My plan is to run 3 point belts on the street and the car came with a nice momo steering wheel I plan on installing. Removing the airbag without changing the belt seems like a bad idea safety wise for the street. I thought about getting some 94-97 OEM belts but most are pretty old and crusty at this point and they will be a giant pita to swap later (after the rollbar install) so I ordered a new driver's side belt from seatbeltplanet. Just have to be patient. I got the harddog M2 sport I believe.

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I don't want to just disassemble everything and leave the car apart as the plan is to register it at the start of the new year and drive it on the street a bit. I've been itching to drive it but just need to be patient. Here in VA, 25+ year old cars get antique tags which means permanent registration, no safety inspection or emissions.

I have a lot of goodies for the car around the garage. People said to run 17x10s but I like the looks of the freeforms more and I doubt the 1/2" will make a big difference. I went with these because it says these'll clear the SM 11.75" x 1.25" bbk. Tires wise there are definitely limited options in 245/40/15s. I was set on running RS4's but unfortunately it doesn't look like they're available for a while (factory fire or something) so I've been contemplating different options. I've had a couple people tell me the Nexen NFera Sport R's would be better for lapping over say the RT660's (which sounds more like an autox or TT sort of tire (they fall off after a few laps apparently)) so I will likely order a set of the Sport R's soon.
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I got these hubs waiting, but I'll wait for more parts to come in so I don't have to disassemble things twice. These are the BroFab hubs and they definitely look quite beefy.

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Finally, the important stuff. I ordered a couple different shift knobs.. The Type R knob I like the look of ($10 on amazon, hard to beat) but the DC Sports knob ($17) is weighted (almost 1 lb) which feels good. Decisions decisions..

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I always liked the look of the Freeforms...

Check this out for tire info, especially the chart at the end: GRM tire comparison

Nice choice on the freeforms, I'm going that route as well. Jealous of the hubs! I might make the dive this year as well, but I'm on some fresh hubs all around so I might wait another season. Exciting stuff going on here!

It's like Christmas lately with goodies coming in the mail. :) Finally not sick this past weekend (it's bad this time of year with young kids) and installed the steering wheel I got with the car. Pretty straightforward. It came with the NRG short hub and quick release. Looks like a 350mm wheel. I ordered a resistor for the airbag sensor from Project-G and that looks to have fixed the airbag light. Simple Honda brass tab for the horn button. As with everything, i had to remove things at least 2x to get orientation correct for different parts, but that's how it goes. I used to think by the time I'm in my 40's I'll have this s**t figured out and it won't take several times removing/installing things and multiple trips to HD for house projects, but I've just learned to embrace it. It's all part of the process. :D


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Damnit upside down..
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There we go..
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I also got a squaretop from Prestige in the UK. I thought about the skunk2 manifold but at double the price and fitment looking kinda meh, this seems like the OEM manifold should do just fine. I'm not looking to make crazy power so I don't think the squaretop oem will be a restriction. I cleaned it up well with brake cleaner and rags. I will have to open up the TB opening to match the skunk2. The only other concern is the oxidation on the manifold is pretty bad and sorta ugly. I guess ideally I'd powdercoat it to make it all purdy again but I'm not sure if I want to put in that much effort. I got a lot of stuff to do.
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One interesting video I saw this weekend was a miata that blew his engine because one of the press fit coolant lines broke/came out down to the right of the crank pulley. That is some shite. I will be sure to add a coolant pressure switch. These cars are getting old and s**t happens. I'm not sure how common that is on these cars but seems like EVERYONE ought to have a coolant pressure switch. A couple people told me this (on this forum) and hats off to you guys. That's a real shitty way to lose a motor.

I stopped by a friend's place and he pulled these out of the box for his car. The picture doesn't do the thing justice how f'ing big it is (I swear as big as my head). I will bring the AFCO F88 caliper and get a side by side comparison shot. :D The caliper is a monster! Good news is SM shipped out my orders so around Christmas I'll be tinkering in the garage.
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Pos-cat for installing the steering wheel hub upside down on the first go. Been there before haha.

Stoked to see more progress! So far the parts showing up seem to be compounding the amount of work you're gonna have ahead of you lol.

How was your experience working with Prestige on that manifold and how long did it take to get in? I've been wanting to grab some parts from them but am hesitant because of negative reviews.

I got a bunch more work but I don't think the first event is till March (you So Cal guys wouldn't know about tracks closing in winter :p) so I got time.

No issues with Prestige but it was only a manifold.. I messaged them on FB and I had the part in 1 week. I will definitely consider them for a diff or 6 spd down the road. It seems like a 3.63 is the way to go. Pretty sure I have a Torsen 4.3 in this car so not sure what's "best." Sell my existing diff and look for a Torsen with a 3.6 or just buy a 3.63 diff with a Fuji diff and just swap the 3.6 ring and pinion into my 4.3 diff? I'll cross that bridge down the road at this point.

Ahh yes, that's perfect on the timeframe then. Yes, our tracks don't close but summers in the desert still suck haha. I usually take mid-summer off to get my car dialed in rather than go racing in 100-degree heat. So, kinda similar? Lol.

Glad to hear your experience with them was good. I'll consider them in the future for a diff or trans replacement if/when I need one.

Ideal gear ratio seems to shift quite a bit depending on who you talk to/the car's power level/what you're doing with it. 3.6 does seem the best for daily driving/comfort once you've added some power. I was surprised to find out that plenty of guys still run 3.9s or 4.1s in their high power track cars, though. I've got a 4.1 in my car currently and have no issue with the current gear ratios. Might have to bump up to a 3.9 or 3.6 though as I believe I might end up topping out in 6th gear at my current power level at Willow Springs... Full torsen 3.6s seem to be harder to come by than any other complete diff as well...

The west coast with dry heat isn't terrible imo. On the east coast 90F + humidity is nasty. Plus you add all the rain we get and So Cal is still the clear winner. We can agree to disagree. ;)

Yep for sure. For a pure track car maybe a 3.9 or 4.1 is tall enough, but the stock gearing is quite short stock so I'd say a 3.6 would be welcome (especially with a 6 speed). I personally don't mind giving up a little speed for a little more street friendly car. I put a 3.6 in my s2k (pretty sure it uses the exact same Mazda 3.63 ring and pinion gear as the miata, stock is 4.1) and I like the taller gearing for putzing around. It definitely just comes down to personal preference.

Good news is the new driver's side seatbelt came in this week so I was able to install it and finish the rollbar installation. Rollbar install was pretty straightforward I'd say. I watched the FM harddog install video which was helpful suggesting a 12" 3/8" bit for the rear holes on the rollbar. That made it easy. I was a little concerned that the OEM side latches for the hardtop wouldn't clear as they are VERY close (they clear by like 1/8-1/4") but the M2 Sport bar just snugs in there. I was mindful and tried to bolt the front rollbar bolts down as I pryed the rollbar a bit away from the sides but it may have made no difference to be honest. The rollbar fits nicely. Cutting the plastics is a pita and I took too long on it but it came out nicely. If I really wanted to be ---- I could put the plastic edging around the cuts but it looks good enough to me.

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I just recently bought one of these led lights from HF and I can't recommend it enough. It's so small/compact and the strong magnet makes it super handy when working around the car. If you don't have one do yourself a favor and pick one up.

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Also, anytime you need to reattach some vapor barriers in the car or waterproofing this is the stuff to use. Very handy.

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Finally, I started my seat install but the planted seat brackets are not tall enough for the Recaro Pole Position ABEs. I also started whacking the tranny tunnel like a neanderthal and busted one of the rear o2 harnesses. Check before you start swinging the hammer like an idiot.

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I'm going to look at the PCI and PLM mounts and see which one will fit these PP ABEs. If anyone has any experience or dimensions of the PLM and PCI mounts let me know. I shot them both an email. The PP ABEs are definitely a little wider than the FIA seats, not sure about the height/shape at the base though. For future reference in case anyone is looking up the info. The rear mounting point is ~4 1/8" off the bottom of the seat. The planted bracket is only 4". The front to back holes are about 11.25" apart.
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I also pulled off the rear coilovers to see if anything looked out of the ordinary but they seem fine. They have bumpstops and rear shock travel looks to be about 1.5". Not a lot but I don't think that's out of the ordinary. I might raise up the car 1/4" or so. Most stuff has come with the exception of the "frame rail" braces so I got plenty of work to do on the car.
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Kraken had a sale so figured might as well pull the trigger. I'll wait till summerish to install it. The 2560 is kind of a widdle turbo but it'll do the job. :)

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Looking good so far!

Do yourself a favor and grab some locking hardware for the manifold to turbo and elbow connections. Those copper nuts like to loosen up after being run hard and also eventually round off. At least that was my experience after running them for almost a year.

Props for continuing to make progress during the holidays as well haha.

Thanks appreciate the advice! I was going to ask about that down the road as I don't have experience with them and the "best" seem to be something like the flying miata hardware. Is there a specific hardware type you used? Copper is def a soft metal and they came with the turbo kit but I thought they might need to be replaced.

Bunch of sick family in town staying with us that's been spreading.. hopefully doesn't get worse.. :/

The hardware available through FlyinMiata is the same Stage 8 hardware you can find all around the internet. I think I purchased one set from FM and one from Amazon (crucify me :hatecat:). There are probably other similar kits but I didn't bother checking as they seem to be the universal standard around here.

Yeah, I haven't researched it fully yet but am curious as to why copper nuts would be the call for a system that generates so much heat. I basically had to tighten my turbo to manifold nuts every other track session when I ran the copper ones, and eventually they ceased to be hexagonal.

All of the turbo Fords I deal with at work have ovalized turbo to manifold (or turbo to head on the motors with integrated exhaust manifolds) nuts. They take some persuasion to get on as you're basically deforming the nut around the stud as you crank it on, but I've never seen one loosen up on its own. These aren't track cars though so maybe that's why I've never seen use of them in the Miata community.

So one thing that was off with the car was that the right rear of the car was sitting lower than the other 3 corners. I pulled the coilover out to check it and raised it up. I raised it up a bit too much as the rear height is almost 5" to the pinch weld now. It was ~4.25". I think I'll shoot for 4.75" definitely no lower than 4.5". I need to pull them again to lower the car a bit but I'll do that when I put the car on jack stands. Better a little high than too low for now.
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The plan was to pull the tranny by now and install the new clutch/flywheel but a combination of factors.. laziness, getting sick, and I saw the rear tranny seal leaking made my postpone it. I ordered a bunch of stuff from TCM and it hadn't come in time so I'll just have to be patient.

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So something that did come is some "framerail" braces. Everyone calls them framerail braces but these are definitely not frame rails, just floor reinforcements. I opted for the R theory flavor since I like they are solid without cutouts which should make it easier to jack from (I looked at the FM version but it has a bunch of cutouts). I find jacking up the miata a pita since you can only do it from a few points so I figure at the very least some "framerail" braces will be nice to have as jacking points going forward. Before installing them there were a few surface rust spots around the framerails. I have a few other spots to clean up rust under the car but I'll fix those at a later point. Anyway.. a few quick minutes with a sanding disc and all the surface rust was gone. I primed and painted the bare metal. Fortunately the car is in pretty good shape with only a handful or so of surface rust spots.
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Fortunately the reinforcements were in good shape and surprisingly hadn't been banged out of shape. The R theory reinforcement braces were fairly straightforward install. I'm not sure how some people install these by themself. Fortunately I was able to recruit my son (8 now) to stay in the car and put a wrench on the bolts. That was a huge help! All in all it wasn't too bad and I also hit some spots with undercoating spray.

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I did finally get tags for the car. Nice to get permanent antique tags so no headaches with emissions or annual inspection. I finally took the car out yesterday and man the car is LOUD. Of course it's a convertible but I think a big part of it is the tires. It has some old RE71Rs and I googled re71r and loud and it seems pretty common. The things howl just going down the road and being in a convertible doesn't help. I could also smell some burning oil (it has a bunch of leaks) so I gotta get working on those. The brakes feel a little meh but that's probably just the pads. Also, I can't wait to install a lightweight flywheel. It's not horrible but blipping the throttle and driving you can feel how heavy the stock flywheel is. It needs a proper light flywheel. I look forward to swapping it out. All in all car feels pretty good for what it is. Hopefully some fresh rubber will quiet it down a bit.

Another thing on the list is the seat. I saw a set of PLM seat brackets used for sale and for the price figured it was worth trying them (I got a measurement and knew they were tall enough at least unlike the planted brackets). The seat I have is a Recaro Pole Position ABE. For those that don't know, there's an ABE version (which is TUV approved (I think this is the european equivalent of maybe NHTSA..?)) and FIA (which is race approved). The difference is the ABE is a little wider in the waist area I believe and the slots for the seat belts are much larger (to accomodate oem 3 points). I wanted the ABE specifically because I wanted to keep 3 points on the street and the larger slots make it easy to run 3 points on the street and swap to 6 points for the track. I chose the ABE because I know I fit it and it's a comfy seat. I ordered this direct from Germany. Onto the install..

Man the miata interior is tiny. People complain on the s2k forums but the ABE fits w/o any interference by the door panel in my s2k. Good news is the PLM bracket works. I would've liked for the seat to sit a bit lower but the spot welded rear raised mounting points for the Miata won't allow the seat to sit lower. The shape of the PP ABE's slope down quite a bit in the rear of the seat so the only way to get the seat much lower is to remove the rear spot welded mounting points and install my own mounting points that are flat. The mounted ABE seat sits only a tiny bit lower than the stock seat. It is what it is.. I hammered the tranny tunnel a bit and it's scrunched tight to the tranny tunnel. I had to install and uninstall it about 10x to try and get it situated but that's just how it goes.. I had to cut a good chunk of the door panel to make it fit. I'm not sure if I missed it but I don't know how people install this seat with the stock door panel. Maybe I could've gotten it to shift over another 1/2" or so at most, but the seat looks centered to me. Not sure if the FIA seat has smaller wings than the ABE..?

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Seat is in and it's very solid.. The nice thing about these rails is they have a hole for the 3 point belts. Unfortunately the OEM seatbelt receiver with fixed bracket doesn't work so I'll probably look for a ~10" long receiver buckle with fix mounting point. Strangely there are a ton of ~10" seatbelt extenders online but none with just a round hole to mount on the end. I will call seatbeltplanet. I'm also not thrilled with how the door panel looks (yes that's black duct tape lol) so maybe I'll have to switch to a flat door card(s). If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears.

My other passenger seat is sitting in customs and will hopefully get out soon. The passenger side I'm obviously not gonna be too specific about positioning so I'm hoping that install will be much easier.

Nice!

Why do you have to remove the coil-overs to adjust them? At most, you should be able to do that just removing a wheel. What am I missing?

You are carry a lot of extra weight in excess bolt length, that is what they invented angle grinders for ... ;)

The body of the shock (or really the base) is threaded onto the rest of the shock. I'm thinking I can probably just remove the lower bolt, lower the hub (so the lower part of the shock can rotate) and spin it. I probably don't need to completely remove it.

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Haha for sure. I'm not to that level of weight reduction yet. :p

On further thought I might be able to get the seat shifted over tight to the tranny tunnel another 1/2" but there's not much room to go. A combination of hammering to the tranny tunnel and using a thinner phenolic spacer on the tranny side. I'd only care to give the door panel some more clearance but I'll probably leave it for the time being. Maybe I'll look into it more when I have to pull the seat to install the harnesses. Also I can see how the PCI mount might give an extra 1/4" clearance based on how the uprights start higher up rather than at the very base but not worth the minimal difference at this point.

Continuing the work.. one thing I purchased a few months back were door bushings from Moss. I will say install was a PITA. I installed the passenger side first and I had to sand it a whole lot. I used some grease to mark where it was rubbing but definitely a pita. Eventually I got the door to close without having to slam it. The driver's side I messed with for a little bit but I think something may be off on the driver's side of my car. Maybe the door is bent..? After some sanding I couldn't get the door to close so said to hell with it and put the stock one back on. There is some strange looking where on the OEM bushings so maybe the door is tweaked/bent..? I'm not sure it's worth the headache/work of installing them but the door bushings are cheap.

The order from TCM came so time to pull the tranny. I tried to order parts ahead of time to fix things as I come across them. Dropping the tranny in the Miata is pretty straightforward. The hardest part was disconnecting the damn downpipe/exhaust pipe after the manifold. I was quite concerned I'd end up stripping a nut or one may not come out or break and I'd have to pull the manifold but with some patience and lots of swearing I was able to get all the 3 nuts off. I'm not sure why but the nuts gall pretty badly on the studs which makes them so hard to remove. Mazda didn't put them in a easy to access spot either and you can't get an impact on them. I got some new replacements from HD and hopefully they'll be easier next time around I remove them. The plan is next time I pull the exhaust it'll be to install the Kraken turbo kit.

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First time using the 4 post for "real work" and it's certainly nice being able to stand under the car while working (removing the exhaust nuts would've been a sumabitch on my back). I borrowed a friend's lower tranny jack and while it was helpful the lowest lock on the lift was about 8" or so too high. Fortunately the Miata tranny isn't too heavy. Muscling the tranny back on was a little dicey since it's higher than I'm used to (usually I put the tranny on my chest and knees and pop it into place but being a little higher made it a little dicey).

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With the tranny off I replaced the 3 tranny seals (they sell them together), cleaned it off with brake cleaner, cleaned around the engine with brake cleaner (from what I see these engines just like to leak) replaced the rear main seal, and rebuilt the stock shifter. I opted for the ACT pro lite flywheel (I think 10lbs) and the SM clutch (as if you couldn't tell by the orange color lol). I've always had light flywheels in all my cars and the Miata sorely needed one. I don't want to have to pull the tranny again before installing the turbo so just changed the clutch now. The rear main seal didn't want to come out easily but did some quick googling and one suggestion was to drill a self tapping screw into it to pry out. Bingo! That worked very well. The nice thing about this car is you can find any info about these cars on the interwebs.
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With the tranny out, I also replaced the oring on the dipstick tube and replaced the diff bushings with ES bushings. Man, the OEM bushings have a ton of slop in them. I followed the interwebs' suggestion for installation. I lowered the diff down and used an air hammer to drive the bushings out. Not too bad a job.
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Another thing that made sense was to replace the clutch MC, slave cylinder, and replace the wonky looped line with a braided line. Nice new fresh parts, don't want to have to worry about this stuff later.

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I did some other little things like get the shifter insulation and replaced all the rubber shift boots. I also got the 9" long soft strap from seatbeltplanet so it should be easy to swap between 3 and 6 points for the track.
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I wanted to take the car for a spin yesterday but the weather didn't cooperate. Old RE71Rs and snow/ice don't mix. I could barely make it down my flat street so I turned around and came home. Another day.
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I think I got the "underneath" stuff on the car done for the most part. I swapped places in the garage and I'll be putting it on jackstands to do a lot of the suspension/etc. work. I have to discharge the AC then I will pull it. Parts piled up around the car. :p
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Nice! Dunno how I've never seen the self-tapper trick on the rear main seal. Definitely adding that to my trick book for next time. I had the same experience with the downpipe nuts on my stock exhaust as well. I was able to get an impact on them and the nuts came off but took all the threads with them lol.

Did you wind up going with the organic or hybrid 4-puck clutch disc? Curious to hear your thoughts on it once you get to go for some proper drives with it. I went with the 4-puck SM clutch on my car but definitely would have gone organic if I wasn't shooting for my current power level. The 4 puck is a little chattery/noisy/aggressive even for my taste.

Nice progress! Smart man for taking care of all the "little" tasks before getting to the serious stuff. I feel your pain regarding the exhaust nuts - I can't wait to get rid of that section.

Looking forward to more updates.

Sorry I left that part out.. I went with the full face sprung disc over the puck clutch. I like the stock like engagement of full face discs and it doesn't look like I'll need the added holding power of the puck clutch (I am looking to limit things to ~250whp). Hopefully it can hold the power without issues.

One other small thing I could see when the tranny was off is it looks like the OEM pressure sensor is leaking not from the threads but through the electrical connection (I think). Also whatever's above it looks to be leaking as well but not sure. Is that the knock sensor?
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Next time you do an oil change, check the nut under the oil filter that holds the 'oil cooler' sandwich plate in place. I just dealt with that coming loose on my NB, and have seen that before on Miatas. Might not be leaking now, but it will eventually.

I really like the direction you're taking the car, great choices all around. I've been fussing around with my Miata for years and am sometimes jealous of other people that have the confidence to jump right into the deep end and and get a ton of mods done in relatively short time. Well done!

I'm not sure if there's any feedback on the hardtop wing, but the hotboi in me has always liked the look. Add some vortex generators for extra swag.

I've only had them on a few days on the street, but so far my custom Afco BBK setup is working great. I can't wait to see how they do on track. I'm sure you'll like the SM setup.

Thx for the input Roda. I will definitely check the oil filter sandwich nut. Definitely something that would have slipped by.

I've been around cars (and tinkering/maintaining them (mainly been a honda guy)) all my life so I have a good idea of what I want and generally know what to do/look out for. I'm fortunate to have the means to be able to pull the trigger and buy all the stuff I want now and simply not have to wait years. This is sorta my mid life crisis build per say. Buying a Porsche to putz on the street wouldn't do it for me and I couldn't justify really tracking a newer Cayman as maintenance costs, running costs, possibility of putting it into a wall would be much more costly. I also like tinkering..

Appreciate the feedback on the hardtop wing.. For now I'm just gonna leave it since the seal underneath is damaged and I think it looks ok. It likely does nothing for aero but oh well. :p

One other thing I might need to sort out sooner than later is the fuel setup. I know the NB is returnless.

So the goto setup seems to be a DW200 pump and FF640 injectors. Is there an upper power limit with this setup on an NB? With a vacuum referenced FPR the NA should be able to make more power than the NB due to higher fuel pressure. The FF website says 300whp but not sure if that's just for the NA.. https://goflowforce.com/products/fue...it-miata-xrnhx

DW200 and FF640s will get you to 250whp on pump gas with your setup with plenty of headroom to spare :bigtu: Can't remember if you were looking to do e85, you might be closer to the limit on them if you want to go with corn juice.

Sensor above your oil pressure sender in the pic is the knock sensor. The threads don't connect to any oil passages, though, and won't be the source of a leak.

Thanks I guess DW200 and FF640's will be the choice then. e85 is nice but I wish they sold it at the track. :D I'm probably too lazy to buy jugs and haul it to the track vs just adding a few gallons of 100 octane to mix with 93 if I'm really concerned about detonation. These motors seem to be a-ok on 93 and ~250whp or less so I probably won't mess with e85 and installing an ethanol sensor. You're in CA and they don't sell 93 which blows.

After getting things all buttoned back up with the car I drove over to my friend's shop and had the AC discharged properly before removing it. I was pleasantly surprised with how the car drove. Felt pretty good. Raising up the rear a bit helped the ride and the new diff bushings surprisingly weren't too bad from an NVH perspective. Maybe the OEM bushings were quite worn. I probably need to rebleed the clutch pedal as engagement is just off the floor but that's not too surprising. I'll bleed it again and maybe adjust the clutch pedal (there seems to be a bit of slop at the top of pedal travel).

I yanked out all the AC components, nice to have more space in the engine bay. I got a neat little duct from TCM that replace the OEM evap coil box. I just reused the clamps for the oem evap coil and it smooshes the duct a bit but it does the job. I didn't have to break out the duct tape. Saves a couple pounds and the evap coil accumulates junk. For now I will keep power steering installed. Is the OEM power steering system problematic on track? I thought I read people complaining about problems with it overheating and acting up..? I don't have a shorter belt for PS only so I'll have to see how the car feels w/o the belt on when I get it back on the road and go from there. I gotta start tearing into it and do a bunch of work now.
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Also got the wheels/tires mounted and balanced. I went with the Nexen Nfera Sport R 245/40/15s. I'm sure I'll have to roll my fenders good, hopefully I can keep the fender liners. If that's a pipe dream someone please let me know. Sorry for the shitty picture, I got lazy and just snapped one quick.

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Thanks for reminding me that I wanted to replace my evap core box with that TCM unit. Looks like your system's ready to be cleaned out anyways haha.

I personally never had problems with my OEM power steering overheating and losing functionality on track, even on 95* days. I deleted my PS before adding forced induction, so no data I can provide there. Sounds like it's a YMMV situation either way.

Sounds good. Sometimes people do dumb things so hard to say if it's an issue with the pump or just a bad setup. People have these big equal length manifolds, put no heat shielding around parts that don't like heat, and wonder why things melt/break.

Regarding heat and lines.. do you turbo guys reroute the heater core water line that runs under the manifold? I am thinking I will look into a new "mixing manifold" that moves the radiator hose over to the left a bit and reroutes the heater core water line. The line under the manifold seems like not too big a deal but where it comes back up and enters the heater core I'm guessing will be very close to hot bits. Has anyone routed that differently? If anyone has some links or examples please post them up.

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Are you retaining the heater? If not, you can use the hard line from the mixing manifold and modify it to work with a re-route and bypass the heater.

Stock on bottom, modified on top:
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90* hose to connect to re-route housing
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FWIW, I eventually removed my PS becuase it would consistently boil on track in hot weather. I think it has more to do with wide, sticky tires than heat from the exhaust manifold...

Nice work! I don't have the skill to cut and reweld the stock water pipe but I can ask a friend. Yes I am going to keep the heater core since it's still a street car. I guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I install the turbo.

I wasn't pointing fingers at anyone.. I'm just amazed the dumb things some people do and wonder why they have a problem. The sticky/wide tires makes a lot of sense.. I'm definitely leaning towards just deleting the PS pump as well. Thanks.

Thanks... that thing was not fun to weld. Even after extensive cleaning I had a lot of issues with contaminants.

I wouldn't worry too much about the coolant line... there are lots of turbo Miatas running around with the stock coolant lines.

Ya a small pipe like that is a pain but I see your thread and you got some nice fab skills! I like that mount for the proportioning valve, and brake tee also. :likecat:

I have a bad habit of overthinking a lot of things but on the flipside I really try to avoid problems and headaches down the road. I will most definitely be making some heatshielding around the manifold and just like to keep any rubber pieces well away from heat. Hopefully there's plenty of clearance.

Thanks! If I'd really been thinking, I would have put them on the outboard side of the M/C, but I was trying to keep the stock lines with some minor mangling. V2 will be outboard with all new hard lines.


It's definitely better than finding problems when you get to the track and bodging up some half-assed solution after it fails. I'm amazed (horrified!) at the "preparation" I see on some cars at the track!

Subscribed! Looking forward to following your build.