sbrian2

iTrader: (12)

Well, I thought it was about time I start a thread about my track car I am building. To start things off, in February of last year I saw an ad on Craigslist for a 1995 Mazda Miata with a hardtop for $1,000. I called the guy, and he lived about 30 minutes away. He says the car runs, but is stuck in reverse. Having had that same problem once before in my turbo car, I knew it was an easy fix and told him we would be on our way. So, I hooked up the trailer to my wife's Trailblazer SS and headed to take a look at it. When I got there it was sitting outside with no side windows. I asked him if it would start and he pulled his car over to jump it off. It did not have a MAF sensor, so it ran like crap, but it ran nonetheless. I looked the car over, and it was rough. The interior was completely gutted minus the seats and steering wheel and the rear package tray had been cut out completely. The things that stood out the most were the hardtop and a really nice vented Garage Vary hood. Those alone were worth what he was asking for the whole car, so I told him I would take it. As we go into the garage, he says he is going to the attic to get everything that goes with the car. He starts bringing down boxes upon boxes of stuff. The following is a list of what I left with.

Attached to the 115K (no odometer, so going by what the owner said) Miata:

Garage Vary Hood
Hardtop
17" Kosei Seneca S5R wheels
Low profile headlights
Cross Drilled rotors
Eibach springs
Bilstein shocks
Jackson Racing Header
Jackson Racing Cat
Jackson Racing Exhaust
Jackson Racing sways
Adjustable end links
Short throw shifter
Spec stage 2 clutch
Fidanza Flywheel
Tail light covers
Style bar
Grant Steering wheel
Okuyama 3 point strut tower bar

And in boxes upon boxes of parts that he sent with me:

Ebay Turbo Header (new)
I.L Billet chrome vents and rings
Oval driving lights
460cc RX7 injectors
Console light kit
R1 Wurks aluminum alternator pulley (new)
2 cone air filters
Blue aluminum lug nuts (new)
Gold aluminum lug nuts (new)
Black aluminum lug nuts (new)
Cast Cobra style fuel door
Momo harness
Jackson Racing Red shift **** (new)
Jackson Racing Red ebrake handle (new)
Chrome round shift ****
Leather ebrake boot
Leather shift boot
Dual A-pillar gauge pod (new)
2 pair Pilot PL-360W lights (new)
2 OBX-R adjustable Cam Gears (new)
Unorthodox crank pulley (new)
Ebay crank pulley (new)
Right R.S Aizawa Ducted headlight cover
Left R.S. Aizawa Ducted headlight cover
Sparco Pedal covers (new)
99 stock springs
95 stock springs
Bilstein shocks (another set, 1 bent)
8 shock top hats (2 99s and 6 95s)
Top boot black
DEI black header wrap (new)
99 LSD in differential housing
Garage Vary Front Bumper with molded TSIs
R Package rear valence
Chrome Shifter surround
2 Momo harnesses (have a little mold on them)
R1 Wurks MR2 aluminum alternator pulley
1.8 radio surround
1995 Mazda Factory Service Manual

Gas station pics!


So, I pay the man and leave with the car on the trailer and Trailblazer loaded down. As soon as I get home, I asked my wife to start dinner and that I would have the transmission fixed before she finished. This is where an open center trailer comes in handy. I remove the reverse switch from the trans and popped the linkage back in place with the car still on the trailer. I put the sensor back in and back it off and drive around the yard to make sure the forward gears work. I was done before my wife as promised, and dinner never tasted so sweet! Total cost to date - $1,000.00

Here are some pics of it after I got it home.







The next weekend, I ran to the local pull-a-part and snagged a MAF sensor and pigtail off of a Mazda MPV van for $21.42. They share the same part and if you ever want to know what other cars share a part with yours, look up the part at www.oreillyautoparts.com and you have the option to see what vehicles that part is compatable with. The car now ran well and I was able to drive it around the block to check everything out. Total cost to date - $1,021.42

So I took everything off of the car that I knew I did not want for this car or my others and listed those parts for sale including the hardtop since I already had one for my turbo car and would not have it on that car from spring until fall when I would be racing this car. The following sold within a few weeks:

Hardtop - $700
17" Kosei Seneca S5R wheels - $300
Low profile headlights - $235
Tail light covers - $10
Style bar - $75
Ebay Turbo Header (new) - $165
I.L Billet chrome vents and rings - $170
460cc RX7 injectors - $85
Console light kit - $10
R1 Wurks aluminum alternator pulley (new) - $35
Cast Cobra style fuel door - $100
Jackson Racing Red shift **** (new) - $19
Jackson Racing Red ebrake handle (new) - $19
Chrome round shift **** - $10
Dual A-pillar gauge pod (new) - $18
2 OBX-R adjustable Cam Gears (new) - $120
Ebay crank pulley (new) - $45
Sparco Pedal covers (new) - $30
Bilstein shocks (another set, 1 bent) - $125
DEI black header wrap (new) - $35
R Package rear valence - $115
Chrome Shifter surround - $55

After shipping costs and paypal fees I netted $2,298.47 from this sale. Total cost to date - $1,277.05 in the black!

I needed to get the car to a more complete state and since I was in the black decided to spend some money doing so. The wiring harness was severely hacked up and I was able to source a full harness from a '95 that someone was parting out for $100 shipped. I also realized while putting the side windows back in that one of the regulators was hosed and sourced one of those for $45. I also put the stock headlight mechanisms back in and needed an arm for one side ($10) and a lid for the other ($25). I was also missing a gas door and sourced one from a forum member for $15. My friend John got me a dash from the wrecking yard he works at and brought it by the shop one Saturday. He charged me $83 for the dash, glove box, and meter hood and that day I mounted some tires for him and got $40 of that back. I put all of these items on the car and all of the gauges worked with the new harness and the car actually had a dash instead of that big ugly cross bar with no instrumentation. After the purchase of these items, I am at a total cost of $1049.05 in the black!

Around this time, work got really slammed and I started working 50+ hour weeks and abandoned work on the car. In the fall, I had a contractor start building a carport/workshop and moved the car from my house to the Tweakit Racing shop. One weekend while we were up there working on the SSM RX7, my wife stopped by and I put her to work digging out the bondo and fiberglass the previous owner had used to shave the body line on the car. With a heat gun and a putty knife, she was able to get it done.

The wife hard at work.


During this period that I have not been working on the car, I have been snatching up good deals on parts and I will list those and add to the total cost as they are installed. More updates to come soon.

baron340

iTrader: (5)

Holy hell man... deal of the century. Now if only my wife would help me work on the car.

samulis

Subscrib'd

One great deal. So next -99 head with cam mod?

Got91Miata

nice deal.

ianferrell

you suck.

nickt93

iTrader: (5)

Nice work Brian! It takes a keen eye to look at a primer covered ricer Miata and see a goldmine of parts that are worth more than the asking price. You appear to be on track to have a very nice track car on a very reasonable budget.

Are you going to do any of the Mustang Club events this year? If so I'll see you there!

Gotpsi?

iTrader: (5)

Ha we tow my miata with my wife's SS trailblazer too.

jacob300zx

Sweet, good eye. Do you have a parts dream list that you will be ordering off of?

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

rub it in why don't you...

sbrian2

iTrader: (12)

No dream list. I am just grabbing good deals as they come and trying to make it as affordable as I can. I'd really like to keep the budget under 3K and think that is very doable at thos point.

sbrian2

iTrader: (12)

Well, I was able to get a few things done to the car this week since I was able to get it back in my own garage. First, I got a few pictures of the interior with the dash in place. It was tan and I dyed it black and I also made some blanking plates for the radio and A/C controls from some ABS plastic I had laying around.



I then started test fitting the Autopower cage that I bought from one of m2cupcar's friends. I paid $425 for the cage and it looks rough now, but I will clean it up and paint it now that I have verified the fit.




I also set my new seat in to see how it fits. It is an Ultrashield Spec Miata seat that I bought from Solo Performance Specialties. I had won a $100 voucher from them at a National Tour last year and was able to use that toward the seat and it brought the cost down to $175.15 with tax.



At this point in the build I am still $448.90 to the good. Next up will be the final mounting of the cage and drilling for the backing plates, then remove it and paint the interior and cage prior to reinstalling them for good.

nickt93

iTrader: (5)

Looking good. What did you use to dye the dash? A sprayable dye like SEM?

curly

iTrader: (25)

Wow, that dash did wonders for the interior. I see a lot of simple green and black spray paint in your future. I love this stuff:
http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CGwQ8wIwAA#

It's fairly tough, easy to spray without a lot of drips, and is cheap. I see a bunch of interior bits that could benefit from it, along with the cage perhaps.

sbrian2

iTrader: (12)

Yeah, it was a spray dye. I have a ton of cleaning ahead for sure. I know it is only a track car, but I want to make it somewhat presentable as well.

jacob300zx

Get rid of those bolts on the cage where your head will go. I had a similar cage and its a head scalper. Try some carriage bolts Do you have fresh shift boots, rebuilt calipers, race pads, turned rotors, torsen?

GeneSplicer

iTrader: (14)

Sweet Brian! Great score Now you'll have something to bring next time you're down at RA! I'll be watchin for sure! Word to the wise, like Efini mentioned in another thread, if you're gonna do TT, build it for that specific class.

sbrian2

iTrader: (12)

Well, this update puts me in the red finally. It all starts with a rear package shelf kit made by Anthony Woodford Racing that cleans up the area that the previous owner had hacked up. I got the kit for $275 and assembled it all with riv-nuts so it can be easily removed if needed.



I also got around to cleaning up the floorboard and roll cage and painting them. Satin black for the floor and gloss red for the cage. My wife hates it, but I like the way it looks and it will play into the rest of the theme of the car in the future.




I purchased some stock door panels, an oil sensor to convert the ‘95s dummy gage to a real one, an instrument cluster, and a few other small parts from a car being parted for $110. I used the upper pads of the door panels and some aluminum ($44.48) to make the panels you see that match the rear shelf. I was also missing a door handle cup for one side and sourced one on ebay for $2.00.



With the cage, getting in and out is a bit of a pain, so I decided a quick release wheel was a must. I sourced an NRG quick release for $119.99 and found a brand new suede NRG wheel on ebay for $59.99



I had swapped a few parts with a fellow racer some time back for the seat I mounted on the passenger side. It is an older Corbeau Clubman and will fit the bill fine for those brave enough to ride with me. I also added 5 point harnesses, a G-Force one on the drivers side that I purchased used for $50 and an OBX-R for the passenger side that a friend gave me for free.



I then finished off the center of the dash by making a cover plate where the console would normally attach and place ProSport oil pressure and water temp gauges ($75.14) in the vent locations for the center panel.



Grand total to date is $282.70. Next up will be a few mechanical modifications, then on to body work. Stay tuned.

pusha

iTrader: (5)

that cage looks dangerous

nickt93

iTrader: (5)

The car looks good Brian - you've done nice work for a small amount of cash! Looking forward to seeing this thing at one of the NSS events.

sbrian2

iTrader: (12)

Me too, I just haven't had much time to work on the car with over a year straight of 50+ hour work weeks. One of these days maybe.