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A Teacher and an Engineer Build a Track Oriented Miata
Welcome to the build thread full of pictures, good ideas, bad ideas, questions, lessons learned, and hopefully ending with a running car.
I've always loved cars and have grown up around them since my dad has always worked in the car business. Growing up in PA as a boy I learned to drive manual at a very young age and then was able to practice on the rare occasion until I got my license and first car a Pearl White 1988 Audi 90 Quattro. I moved to CT when I was 7 and by fifth grade I my best friend who I recently (two weeks ago) decided to buy a 99 Miata to build into a track car. My second car was a 1998 Audi A4 2.8. My freshman year in college I worked multiple jobs so I could finally buy my "dream car" a 2001 Audi S4. My dad works for Audi so I knew how awesome they were. I had spent 4 years looking for the perfect casablanca white one and I finally found one. After owning it for two awesome years with many many times with the car in the shop, I sold it and bought a 1997 Audi A4 2.8 wagon. After graduating I was driving a lot and wanted a new car that was still quick. So I ended up getting a 2016 Focus ST. After owning it for 11 months I LOVE the car!!!! However, I have always stood by the reasoning of having a great track car and a great daily. For that reason I never modified the ST, but the S4 was stage 2+. Last October my best friend got an 01 Miata LS with the sport package. I was a little hesitant to drive it, but finally had the chance. Lets just say I genuinely enjoyed it. He bought a very low mileage one, and did not want to do anything to it for that reason. So a couple months ago we began our search for an NB Miata. We wanted a 5 or 6 speed with an LSD, moderate miles, a beat exterior, and a beat interior. Remember the purpose of this build is to end with a track/ HDPE specific car. We both know a lot about cars and have a passion to learn, as well as build a project car despite our lack of mechanical knowledge. For that reason it will be one heck of a build!
Below is the car we finally bought. It is a 1999 base Miata so its got a 5 speed and cloth seats. we went with it because the owner was asking 3k since the car was his uncle's who recently passed away and he did not have the space for the car. It had a bad exterior, bad interior, but only had 124k miles. It was on what we considered ugly wheels, but we got the car for 2k with snow tires.
As you can see the car had plastidip on the hood, and trunk. this was to hide bad fading clear coat. Lucky for us, I run a small detailing business on the side so we knew that we could handle exterior, and interior deep cleaning, and providing the necessary TLC.
The first step was finding wheels and tires since clearly 14" snows wouldn't get it done. I found this site and stumbled upon some 15x9 Advanti Storm S1 wheels and rival tires. After some research on whether or not they would fit we pulled the trigger and picked them up the next night. Last weekend we swapped on the wheels and tires, and got the car registered on temp plates. Luckily today it passed CT emissions with no problems at all!! I work as an engineer in Boston, and keep my hot water extractor in CT because it's too big to keep in the apartment. My friend lives in Thompson CT down the street from the track. So, while I was home I had the opportunity to shampoo the carpets. Lets just say the carpets came out black, not grey, black!!
This week we ordered 5xRacing shifter rebuild with the brass bushing, and the hydraulic rebuild kit. Hopefully with the long weekend, we can pull out the whole interior to shampoo the seats, complete carpet, install both kits, wet sand and re-clearcoat the trunk and hood, polish the rest of the car, and get the caked on brake dust off the wheels.
Our goal is to build a very reliable track/ HDPE track car that is about 220-250 WHP. We are currently aiming to achieve this via a supercharger because there don't seem to be as many Miata's running them, but it looks like they are harder to keep cool on the track. I'll update this with a list of parts we have started to compile. We think it makes the most sense to build a very strong foundation for the car prior to doing anything to the engine, so that way all that's left to do is the engine mods.
Rotrex supercharger is much better than turbo when it comes to reliability, IATs, CLTs, and underhood temps. Call Track Dog Racing about one of their setups, they have the only quality supercharger kit for the miata. Excellent intercooler setup as well.
However, at the 250whp powerlevel, you can do a budget turbo setup (if you pick your parts correctly) and have minimal issues. (also faster, cuz torque)
You should check out the manifold and downpipe combo in the classifieds. I think it'll be perfect for your goals. I'm pretty sure I sent you a link to it a few days ago. A rebuilt subie TD04 should get you in the 220HP ballpark. Should be much easier to handle the heat etc on those.
A coolant reroute should be high up on your list as well.
Enjoy the wheels! Looking forward to the progress.
Rotrex supercharger is much better than turbo when it comes to reliability, IATs, CLTs, and underhood temps. Call Track Dog Racing about one of their setups, they have the only quality supercharger kit for the miata. Excellent intercooler setup as well.
However, at the 250whp powerlevel, you can do a budget turbo setup (if you pick your parts correctly) and have minimal issues. (also faster, cuz torque)
I live in Track Dog's backyard and see a lot of their setups at the track. Actually, I have driven a couple of them now. The Rotrex setup can be driven every bit as fast as a turbo setup, if you drive to its strengths--especially if the car is geared correctly for the track in question. When you are always over 4,000RPM, like you are in a track context, the linear onset of torque can be really nice. I have witnessed several turbo guys having trouble with throttle application into the apex and oversteer at corner exit, because of instant torque. I certainly do not intend to start another versus discussion here, but these things are valuable inputs to the equation.
Originally Posted by ridethecliche
Glad to see you guys start a thread.
You should check out the manifold and downpipe combo in the classifieds. I think it'll be perfect for your goals. I'm pretty sure I sent you a link to it a few days ago. A rebuilt subie TD04 should get you in the 220HP ballpark. Should be much easier to handle the heat etc on those.
A coolant reroute should be high up on your list as well.
Enjoy the wheels! Looking forward to the progress.
After spending months on end researching this stuff, the only 2 setups I would consider for track work are Trackspeed's and FM's with ALL the upgrades. Track use and street use are entirely different things.
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Last edited by Steve Dallas; 07-05-2017 at 07:53 AM.
I live in Track Dog's backyard and see a lot of their setups at the track. Actually, I have driven a couple of them now. The Rotrex setup can be driven every bit as fast as a turbo setup, if you drive to its strengths--especially if the car is geared correctly for the track in question. When you are always over 4,000RPM, like you are in a track context, the linear onset of torque can be really nice. I have witnessed several turbo guys having trouble with throttle application into the apex and oversteer at corner exit, because of instant torque. I certainly do not intend to start another versus discussion here, but these things are valuable inputs to the equation.
After spending months on end researching this stuff, the only 2 setups I would consider for track work are Trackspeed's and FM's with ALL the upgrades. Track use and street use are entirely different things.
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First off - sorry about not replying sooner!
Secondly - we have decided to pursue the TDR rotrex c30-94 track set-up. It seems to fit every single thing we want from the car, and while it may not have the intial "wow" factor on street, it'll be great on track! We are toying with the idea of upping the rev limiter up to 8k safely to really take advantage of the rotrex and the way it works
Rotrex supercharger is much better than turbo when it comes to reliability, IATs, CLTs, and underhood temps. Call Track Dog Racing about one of their setups, they have the only quality supercharger kit for the miata. Excellent intercooler setup as well.
However, at the 250whp powerlevel, you can do a budget turbo setup (if you pick your parts correctly) and have minimal issues. (also faster, cuz torque)
I've got a call into them and am awaiting a response. I'm interested in the c30-94 Track set up, but want to know if they have any engine specs in terms of rebuilt engines. Right on the site, they do say built engine required. I'm pretty confident it'll need 84mm+ pistons and forged rods and be bored out to a 1.9L. We are going to skip on the turbo to be a little different haha
Secondly - we have decided to pursue the TDR rotrex c30-94 track set-up. It seems to fit every single thing we want from the car, and while it may not have the intial "wow" factor on street, it'll be great on track! We are toying with the idea of upping the rev limiter up to 8k safely to really take advantage of the rotrex and the way it works
You need head work to get things to work at 8k. May want to gut the intake manifold for more flow.
Anddddd really may want to consider a vvt head for some more low end torque.
You should check out the manifold and downpipe combo in the classifieds. I think it'll be perfect for your goals. I'm pretty sure I sent you a link to it a few days ago. A rebuilt subie TD04 should get you in the 220HP ballpark. Should be much easier to handle the heat etc on those.
A coolant reroute should be high up on your list as well.
Enjoy the wheels! Looking forward to the progress.
This last weekend we did a lot! We installed:
Clutch master cylinder
Slave cylinder
Stainless clutch line
Pulled the whole interior and shampoo'd with my extractor (THREE TIMES!) and used goo gone on all plastic pieces
Wet sanded and re-clear coated the hood and trunk
Protege5 steering wheel for the time being
5xRacing shifter rebuild W/ the bushing!!
It's been fun but we did not want to do anything else until we knew what direction we wanted to go in so we didn't have to buy a part twice.
The First and Second photo show the carpet post three round of shampoo and drying out in the sun. The white lettering has returned!!. It also shows the color of the shampoo that came off while I was using the carpet brush attachment on my Rupes 15
This final picture shows the beautiful replacement wheel we got. It's short term and was only $20! It came off of a Protege5 and it awesome!
In the upcoming weeks we plan on bringing it to Main Street Auto in Clinton, MA to get a full PPI and compression test. We also plan on doing a coolant flush and if the radiator needs to be replaced we will use the TDR replacement that is compatible with their Rotrex kit. Finally we plan on wrapping the car 3M Sky Blue. It will look great with the black wheels and should be a fun little project. The two photos below are on an M3 I detailed last weekend with a full paint correction and ceramic coating, and then an example of the 3M sky blue wrap. The M3 is where we were really sold on the baby blue.
So a few weeks back we flushed the coolant system probably 4-5 times until it was "clean". Well, we must have flushed out the old gummed up coolant that was preventing the leaks from leaking. So fast forward and we spent about 6 hours driving the car a few miles before we could get it back to the garage. It is spewing coolant from everywhere, but it pulls very very hard still. I am not concerned about a cracked block a new engine is due eventually, and in the meantime we are enjoying the car. However I ordered a new radiator, all new hoses, thermostat, and a new OEM cap. Upon the flushing a few weeks ago we got a cap from autozone (not oem), and after reading a lot, I wonder if that has something to do with out misfortune. My question is, will I encounter any surprises? Are there any other areas on the car that could contribute to a coolant leak? The car has about 125k miles, and no records on TB service. So assuming it was changed at 60k miles, we are 5k overdue. Will a blown water pump cause a leak so severe?
I think your car would over heat pretty quickly if you had a busted water pump.
I'd also assume that the TB has never been done if you have no record of it. I bought my car with 103k and the PO had never heard of it...
Can you tell where the leaks are coming from?
Also, you might be the first person ever to say that a stock miata pulls hard!
haha this is true. I meant pulls hard as in there does not seem to be any loss for compression. However after this weekend I replaced all the hoses, radiator, radiator cap, thermostat, and did not do the water pump. Car still leaks, but does not appear to over heat. I guess that is the next task. I'll do the water pump, timing belt, and all gaskets as well as spark plugs. But now I've got to get the car to its permanent garage in CT....
Alright it's been a while since I have been able to work on the car/ post here. A few weeks ago I had to tow the car to Northwest CT from Boston thanks to the water pump completely failing. So finally, 3 weeks later (this last weekend) I replaced everything timing belt and water pump related. I replaced all came seals, front main seal, etc.
So I get around to putting the belt on and finally get the timing pretty much spot on (I thought) finish getting the car back together and had no missing bolts.. Go to the start the car and it just cranks and starts, but then immediately shuts down and there is a large wooshing sound like a vacuum leak.
Has anyone else had this issue?
My list of things to check
spark plugs
alternator tension
Valve cover (I threw on the old gasket in case the car did not start and I had to take it back apart. May not have set properly..
Timing belt tension
Timing marks
double checking all electrical connections
cam sensor (unplug and plug back in) could a valve cover not properly torqued prevent this from reading properly?
Ignition Timing
Can anyone think of anything else? If I need to go back and pull it all apart I do not mind! However, there were several bolts in really bad shape and I might as well make it worth while and replace every single bolt. I found the part number for all the bolts I want to replace. Seem pricey from Mazda at $2-$4 per bolt.. I know I can get them online as most people do, but how can I know the length of the bolt? I also didn't exactly record all the sizes of each bolt. Granted they were basically 10,12, or 14 with the exception of the crank bolt
During the timing belt swap you had the crank pulley off. Make sure that the reluctor plate was put back on in the correct orientation. The plate fits in between the crank pulley and your crankshaft boss hub. It will go on 2 ways, one of which will result in the car not running. The plate has the timing marks that are picked up by your crankshaft position sensor. The plate is installed with the recess facing the rear of the car. I attached a pic that shows where your reluctor plate timing tooth should be when the engine is at TDC. It is around the 1 o'clock position. If it is over at 11 o'clock then the plate is on backwards and you will need to pull the crank pulley off to flip it around. Another thing to keep in mind is that the outer part of the crank pulley on these cars have been known to slip when they are older, which puts the 2 timing tick marks on the pulley out of position relative to the scale on the lower timing cover. There is rubber between the inner part of the pulley and the outer, and as it ages allows the slippage. To verify yours is still in alignment, you can put your engine at #1 TDC by putting a dowel down the spark plug hole and turning over the crank bolt. Then check the marks on the pulley to see if they line up with the markings on the lower timing belt cover. If yours has slipped it will not cause problems with the car running but should be replaced since it may fail catastrophically in the future.
06-30-2017, 10:18 PM
A Teacher and an Engineer Build a Track Oriented Miata
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