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Hi all, I figured I'd jump in on the build thread fun and post my own. About a year ago I picked up an '01 base model and after copious amounts of forum reading I decided that it wanted to become an E-85 powered track day toy when it grew up. I live close to Hallett Motor Racing Circuit so the overall goal here is to be sub 1:30 on the 1.8 mile CCW course while still being able to drive it to cars&coffee. Oklahoma doesn't have emissions or inspections so I can get away with a lot.
So here's the rundown of what I have planned. This is going to be a relatively slow build but, since a lot of this is going to be DIY, it should be pretty interesting at least. The list is pretty detailed because the one thing about build threads that irks me is when people don't mention all of the parts that support their build.
Full engine teardown and rebuild
84mm wiseco 10.5:1 pistons
Manley rods
ACL bearings
Mazworks billet main caps
ARP studs
Supermiata cooling reroute
Miataroadster 5-main support
Boundary stage II w/ 2 shims
ATI damper w/ fab9 trigger wheel
Head
Stock head w/ DIY head deshroud & polish
Supertech stainless intake and exhaust valves w/ new OEM valve seals
Supertech heavy double springs
Stock cams w/ rebuilt lifters
Supermiata ARP high boost head studs
Cometic 0.040" gasket
Intake
Skunk2 intake manifold and throttle body
FAB9 stage II intercooler
DIY intercooler piping
Turbosmart Kompact recirc BOV
Exhaust
Kraken low mount
BorgWarner EFR6758 0.64 A/R
Turbosmart IWG-75
Kraken 3.0" downpipe and exhaust
Suspension
Xida Race 16k/9k
Front lower offset ball Joints
Superpro polyurethane bushings all around
Racingbeat front sway bar
Deleted rear sway bar
RacingBeat sway bar end links w/ end link flanges
Konig 15x9 +35mm Dial In wheels
Falken Azenis RT660 225/45R15
Here's where the car sits as of about a week ago. Up to this point I've stripped pretty much everything out of the car. I'll be taking it down to the shell to weld in the cage and then soda-blasting and painting everything. The interior will get a coat of primer and finish rustoleum and the subframe and suspension components will get a coat of POR15 before doing the bushing replacment.
I'm trying to keep the wire harness in once piece so I have a reference for the custom piece that I'll be making. The exception here is the door harness, which was much easier to cut out than remove properly. Since the door is being gutted and cut up for NASCAR bars on the cage, this doesn't really matter much.
Last edited by TrackFocusedNB; 05-17-2024 at 01:52 PM.
You've done your homework! Not often to see such a hashed out parts list from a brand new member haha. Given how much work you've done on the thing already, I assume you have experience building other types of vehicles too?
May I suggest 245 RT660s instead of the 225s? With the capacity of that turbo/drivetrain, you're gonna have enough power on tap to spin 225s in 3rd gear easy, maybe 4th
Holy crap, what a build list! And you really have it torn down, I'll be following this one for sure!
My only real suggestions are:
fab9 trigger wheel: NO, GOD NO, (Michael Scott voice). Seriously though, everyone that has run that POS has had to replace it. The FM 36-2 is a great choice and won't fall apart on you. The ATI damper is fine if you are OK with the press fit nature of it. I prefer fluidampr just because you don't want to kill yourself anytime you have to remove it.
I love FM but I'd skip their brake kit and go for the Supermiata 11.75 kit. I have the SM Afco kit with the 1.25" wide rotors and they will clear a lot of 15x9 wheels and are the beefiest in the business. It's a great kit and replacement rotors are cheaper than just about any kit I know of that size.
I see no mention of ignition setup, but the stock coils won't cut it. I recommend the FlowForce LS ignition coil kit. Skip the toyota COPs, some of the other COP kits are probably good though, like the audi COP conversion.
DM me if you have't bought your stage2 Fab intercooler yet, I've got one (brand new in box) I was planning on using but other car projects came up so I'm probably going to sell it.
You've done your homework! Not often to see such a hashed out parts list from a brand new member haha. Given how much work you've done on the thing already, I assume you have experience building other types of vehicles too?
May I suggest 245 RT660s instead of the 225s? With the capacity of that turbo/drivetrain, you're gonna have enough power on tap to spin 225s in 3rd gear easy, maybe 4th
Thanks! To me, doing the spreadsheet and research work is half the fun of building the thing. This will be my first real build. I've helped friends with their builds and I'm decently mechanically inclined so I figured it was time. I was debating between this and a Factory Five Daytona Type-R but I caught a screamin' deal on this miata and the motor I wanted to build for the Daytona was more expensive than this entire build so here we are lol.
I'm looking into stuffing as much tire in the rear wheelwells as possible while still keeping the setup square, but I suspect that you're right that 225's are just going to get turned to smoke almost immediately even if I were to go with something much stickier. I've seen that some members are getting away with 15x10 jongbloed's. Any idea if I can get a 245/40 in the unmodified wheel wells on xidas? If not, I can just cut the fenders to fit and throw on some ebay fenders.
Last edited by TrackFocusedNB; 05-17-2024 at 03:15 PM.
Holy crap, what a build list! And you really have it torn down, I'll be following this one for sure!
My only real suggestions are:
fab9 trigger wheel: NO, GOD NO, (Michael Scott voice). Seriously though, everyone that has run that POS has had to replace it. The FM 36-2 is a great choice and won't fall apart on you. The ATI damper is fine if you are OK with the press fit nature of it. I prefer fluidampr just because you don't want to kill yourself anytime you have to remove it.
I love FM but I'd skip their brake kit and go for the Supermiata 11.75 kit. I have the SM Afco kit with the 1.25" wide rotors and they will clear a lot of 15x9 wheels and are the beefiest in the business. It's a great kit and replacement rotors are cheaper than just about any kit I know of that size.
I see no mention of ignition setup, but the stock coils won't cut it. I recommend the FlowForce LS ignition coil kit. Skip the toyota COPs, some of the other COP kits are probably good though, like the audi COP conversion.
DM me if you have't bought your stage2 Fab intercooler yet, I've got one (brand new in box) I was planning on using but other car projects came up so I'm probably going to sell it.
I definitely appreciate the input. I've changed the trigger wheel to the FM piece per your rec and I'll be digging into the SM brake kit this evening. Last time I looked at it, it was out of stock so that's likely why I decided on the FM BBK.
For ignition I had spec'd the AED kit but I'll be switching to the FlowForce kit you recommended because they're $250 cheaper. I especially like that they throw in the coil harness. One less thing to make a harness for.
I'll hit you up once I get closer to needing the intercooler. If you still have it, cool, if not that's also cool.
The engine and transmission came out of the Miata tonight. I had intended to do it in 2 separate pieces but the last person that did a clutch job on this car stripped out one of the bolts so I had to take them out of the car together. I'm happy with how the front subframe looks. It will be the next piece to come out and then I'll start soda blasting and POR15 coating all of the components that I intend to keep. I bought one of the cheap Harbor Freight blasting guns and 2x50lb sacks of soda. I'll report back how the HF blaster holds up.
The engine is going on the back burner for now. My plan is to complete the chassis, electrical, fuel, and take a stab at the aero before dropping in the engine and driveline. For those of you running a fuel cell, who do you recommend? I'd like to work towards making the car Time Attack legal so that if I ever decide to fully go down that route I don't have to do a lot of rework.
Thanks! To me, doing the spreadsheet and research work is half the fun of building the thing. This will be my first real build. I've helped friends with their builds and I'm decently mechanically inclined so I figured it was time. I was debating between this and a Factory Five Daytona Type-R but I caught a screamin' deal on this miata and the motor I wanted to build for the Daytona was more expensive than this entire build so here we are lol.
I'm looking into stuffing as much tire in the rear wheelwells as possible while still keeping the setup square, but I suspect that you're right that 225's are just going to get turned to smoke almost immediately even if I were to go with something much stickier. I've seen that some members are getting away with 15x10 jongbloed's. Any idea if I can get a 245/40 in the unmodified wheel wells on xidas? If not, I can just cut the fenders to fit and throw on some ebay fenders.
I think on an NB you could get away with just rolling and pulling the fenders. I dont have personal experience with this but in general its easier to fit wider wheels under an NB than an NA. I currently run 245s on 15x10 Jongbloed's on my NA but I have Carbon Miata flares to clear them.
Yeah, was gonna say on an NB, I believe 15x10s are no issue with a flare and mild pull. I'm running 15x9s on 245 RT660s (known for running a little wide) on my car right now with minor rub on the inner fender wells during hard driving. My front fenders are cut and could definitely clear 10s, but I think the rears would need a substantial pull to clear.
I don't have any experience with fuel cells on these cars, but FWIW I've never run into fuel starvation on my car. Even running it on track with the gauge pegged on E.
I'm running 245 RT660s on a 15x9 on my NB1 for autocross (205 NeoGen's for daily use). The fenders were done by the PO, but it's a roll/pull. My roommate ran 15x10's ( maybe 9.5s?) with a roll and pull, although that was track only.
Greg Peter's has a video on this that would be worth watching.
At full lock I will rub on something. IIRC there is contact with the sway bar but I can't remember for sure. I drive the car around town on those tires on autocross weekends and have no issues getting around.
FWIW if you get the 245's on a sale you can get a set for around $600 on Tirerack. Currently the 225s are $1 cheaper per tire than the 245s.
Cool build man! I'm in the process of a turbo build myself but am looking to keep the power lower so the stock tranny (probably will need a 6 spd) will last. I would echo what some other folks said regarding brakes/etc. Another thing to add is you could consider a "square top" manifold rather than a skunk2 if you want to save a few bucks. I think functionally they are very comparable. I'm newish to the miata platform as well and it's like drinking from a fire hose on here.. lol The squaretop is an oem mazda manifold that can be gotten cheap shipped from prestige spares out of the uk. I got one for my car and it was a lot cheaper than the skunk2. One positive about the skunk2 is that it's probably lighter and fine to run w/o an intake manifold brace. The squaretop is bulkier/heavier.
Great build spec list. I wish I had that much foresight.
Came down here to mention the Fab9 trigger wheel is a bad idea but Fireindc got you covered. If you ever want to know why, Pat made a video about them that I enjoyed.
You listed OEM valve seals, my original OEM seals never failed me before a recent rebuilt, but lots of people have issues with them down the line. Check out Supertech Viton seals as an alternative. Most people install the exhaust seals on both the exhaust and intake side - they have a higher heat tolerance for obvious reasons and they're the same size.
I could be wrong, but I don't think any NBs came with HLA lifters, so they don't need to be rebuilt. We (superior NB owners, and maybe 1.8 NAs as well, I'm not sure) have shim on bucket lifters which are a bit different. One thing you may have to do is swap around/replace some shims to get your proper lash clearances.
Looking forward to this build! Good luck and enjoy the ride.
As an enduro car, you probably aren't building an 8k screamer with big cams, but on the subject of shims you should think about SUBs (shim under bucket conversion), it is not unknown for the shims on top to be scooped out by the lobe but mild cams/revs should not require this step. They are a bugger to set up too.
05-17-2024, 12:10 PM
TrackFocusedNB's Turbo Build Thread
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