I take pride in driving my car.

Not looking at it.

I'd rather go for a drive than clean. :facepalm:

I bought it that way and have put about 2k miles on it. The paint is shot to shit. It looks utter garbage everywhere.

I didn't buy it for garage art. I bought it to drive.

No, most people have no sense of fine movements.

Look at how most people do anything. Steering with their shoulders instead of hands/fingers. Brake and gas from the thigh.

Finesse isn't nearly universal.

OP is a girl. That explains everything

PS: dirty girl at that. eww

win

From a purely mechanical standpoint, it's much easier to detect mechanical issues with your car when the engine is clean. Coolant, oil leaks, exhaust leaks, etc. My cars exterior is not pretty, but the engine bay is always tidy.

However, I can respect driving being the priority. Carry on.

It's going to get cleaned up soon. I need it cleaned so I can make my headers look pretty when they warm up.

So, it'll be cleaned and stay cleaner than this in the near future. No worries.

Next I need to figure out honda intake or ITBs.

Got the exhaust squared away.

Who would have expected Emilio's racing exhaust would be too loud on the street?

Yeah. Header is on, the rest is adapted to big, heavy, vbanded magnaflow stuff.

Due to needing to go from one shop to another to get hangers welded on (the guy asked me, after jacking up the diff, after getting the car in the air, if it was front wheel drive... yeah I'm going somewhere else), I never cleaned the header or bay before driving. And I don't drive anywhere soft (this is how I drive...). So, it's colored and dirty, just like the rest of my car.

But, this is promising and pretty:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1370402037

Tried to warn ya. It will make power though. One option if you do any track stuff, is to make an auxiliary rear section with a big Flowmaster. Knock 15db off it maybe. Run the lightweight resonator when it's go time.

Oh, I've still got the entire race rear header back. It sounds glorious on startup and overrev.

The highway drone was a bullet to the head. Almost as though it wasn't designed for that.

But that's why I got my cat + HUGE resonator + HUGE muffler flowmaster setup. I'm happy.

Ok, so next:

I need to figure out if I should go skunk throttle body + honda IM or...

ITBs. And what ECU to go with if I go ITBs.

I really want the latter, but don't want to go alpha-n (NOPE), lose part throttle drivability (dealbreaker) or lose MPG (eh, already gas stops happen too often).

But I know nothing about ITBs.

I'd recommend a # 4771 edelbrock performer-x manifold grafted onto a BP flange. OEM B18 GSR TB. 64mm is really too big. Unless you have really big cams and lots of compression, ITB's will only make a tiny bit more peak power and have less torques. With big cams and seat duration above 275° the ITB's start to make much more of a difference to a single TB setup.

A medium cam say .390 lift, 262 duration on E85 with a performer-x manifold on a 1.9L blueprinted engine could make 180whp and still idle acceptably well.
Same came with ITB's might make more peak but definitely less area under the curve. You'll need a lot more cam to go over 200whp. Stock cams, it's a no brainer: square top for road course, USDM for autocross (more torques), performer-x if you have a few extra bucks to spend on the project.

All the Type-R clone manifolds have runners that are way too short and large diameter for the cams, peak port flow and rod ratio of a BP. Great for boost, sucky for N/A.

Not looking for maximum power here. Just good feeling. Response. Control.

This car isn't out to win any races, just put on a smile. I was thinking ITBs for the control, response time. Also sound. It is good to know to avoid the honda setup though, thank you.

I'm not sure if I'll get a cam in. I don't want to increase the redline much. I find having to wait to rev up to get power detracts from fun. If the engine gets built, no idea what I'll do for head work, was thinking a long rod build for smoothness, maybe 85.5mm inside.

Uhh...

If you like midrange torque, focus on midrange torque. If you want to rev high and have no lowend, get the ITBs. Unless you just want ITBs for YOLOSWAG points.

I said what I want them for.

Step one was not looking for power for the sake of power. Your comment doesn't make sense.

So.

The fan blades /fell off./

Not when it originally failed. Not when I put it on the new radiator.

But at some point the connection between the shaft and blades failed, and only fell off recently.

The blades /fell off./ WTF.

Fixed, behold the glory.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1376977275

Dust storms are a bitch.

So you like to fill the pressure washer with dirt and go to town on that bish? That's at least 10 lbs of dust, what happened to your lightness concept? :dealwithit:

I still haven't cleaned the car. I should probably do at least the engine bay. A little. I like leaving the exterior looking crappy. Kind of unassuming, given what is/will be on it. That and I can park it at a community college with no worries.

But yeah. I should... clean out that engine bay. Somehow.

Erin, you really should clean that engine bay. You are to the point that you need to power wash that thing.

Having a clean engine makes working on the car safer for parts coming on and off, and it is easier to spot problems.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1379015248

Update.

XIDAs in, corner weight, alignment. Pony.

I absolutely adore this car. It's just <3 all over the place.

With the tires, it's playful.

With the drivetrain (4.3 + 6 speed + twin disk), it's heel toe everywhere, no problem. You need to give it a little wheelspin on start, so going with a biiiiiit more than a little is great too.

The XIDAs take the edge off while increasing control. It's win win. At 450/300, they're a touch more comfy but way more composed. It's like moving from the old Cayman to the new one. Crash crash crash becomes composed. Their valving really, really doesn't seem to like the ~1" equilateral triangles every 20 feet, though. That's what this less maintained road is like at times, and it's less hopping than stock, but still jarring. Enough that my rear view fell off.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1379015248

The exhaust is damn near perfect. High flow cat, biggest resonator and muffler from magnaflow possible. It's quiet on cruise, has an awesome burble on gas release, gets pleasantly loud when pushing it.

Need to fix the shifter, the hot right foot, the AC. New fan/radiator/reroute definitely has me confident in the cooling.

Overall, when the road is technical it's way more fun than a turbo car, and debatably more around town. Heel toe, lots of full throttle time, can play with the car since it has low grip.

<3