Turbo'ing my (t)rusty MX5
 

Unlike my name suggests, I don't have a Jaguar. My car is (obviously) an MX-5 (Euro spec). It has the 1.6, it has ricey accessoires, it has rust and it WAS cheap. Cheap until I decided it was a good idea to turbo it. My thought process: "Yeah €1000 will probably be enough if I don't want huge power."
And yet here I am, about €1500 in, typing this post on miataturbo.net so you can all see me fail, or not, I haven't decided yet. That said I will probably be too stubborn to follow up any of the expert's advise, thinking "ferk it, that'll cost too much".
Side note: I'm a 20 year old student and I work every Saturday to satisfy my completely unrealistic desire for a boosted car, therefor commenting things like "Part X is going to be shit and break within 2 days, buy Part Y (worth 1200 dollars) instead!" is completely unnecessary unless you like to sponsor me. At least I'm not asking about/getting an eBay manifold :')

I have always learned "Power, Reliability, Cost. Pick two." That's why my first goal is a rather conservative 140-150whp. From there I'll see what I can do to raise that. After a new clutch (and maybe other stuff) I'll go towards 170-190whp, but I'm thinking I'll stick with that for a while. End of the day I have only had my drivers license for 2 years and I've only been driving daily for 1 year, so too much power will probably significantly shorten my lifespan.

Photo time! That's her, I'm pretty satisfied with how she sits right now. Maybe a ducktail in the near future but that might be all the mods I'll do visually.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463255548



Can someone please tell me if it's possible to resize a picture, the picture being as big as the car itself bothers me.

What I've done to the car:
- Cheapo coilovers because the old suspension was rekt (probably gonna receive hate for this)
- Cobalt Catback exhaust system
- Cat delete
- Gotten some BBS RZs from a friend for cheap. (In desperate need of a paintjob)

What I've done, turbo wise:
- I've been smart for once and got myself a DIYPNP, which now runs the car pretty well, some minor quirks but nothing bad.
- Bought a T25, which to my surprise was a Saab unit, which means getting a downpipe flange for it is nearly impossible. Also used Nissan T25s are pretty hard to come by here and importing anything from the US means you've gotta pay up because import fees 'n stuff
- I got a stock 1.6 manifold, to cut it up and use it as a flange (believe me it was cheaper than getting a flange from the US)
- Steel bends for the manifold
- The turbo flange, which thankfully is just the normal T25 flange.
- An eBay intercooler kit from Toyosports, don't know the performance yet but it seems to be good quality, none of the shit from the shitty ebay intercoolers from the "how to ebay intercool" sticky
- Oil feed, water lines, oil drain stuff is on the way as well as a tap.
- Probably more, but I can't recall.. I'll have to check my receipts for that :bang:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463255548
This is how it's sitting right now, nipple on line to the right of the water pump broke so I need to replace that, and the coolant lines because I had to cut them loose.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463255548
While I had the perfect opportunity to install it (read: the engine bay was relatively empty, I went ahead and interfooled my car... At least it's a 'stealth' intercooler so no one will notice, hopefully. :x:

Side note: Please, no comment on how rusty everything is, I KNOW ALRIGHT?! *bursts out into tears*

Okay that's it, I have filled my time this evening, too dark and too cold to work on the car so I decided this was a good idea. (I have yet to find out if I was right) I'll update this post along the way, if I don't forget it's existance.

Pics no work. Entertaining read though.

:ohnoes: Tried to fix it, if they still don't work I'm out of software based knowledge to properly fix this (I tried unplugging it and plugging it back in). In that case, RIP pictures, gone but not forgotten.

They work. Oi. Rust :P

That's quite an intercooler mount.

Sounds like you have done your homework. Good for you. Get some injectors, and a clutch. Shoot for that 170 right off the bat. You will succeed with your build, I'm sure.

Edit: wait! New driver! Build for 170, drive 150 for a year or more. Take some auto x lessons. Don't drive like an ass hat on the street. That way, you will live to drive 200+ hp.

I'm not even going to reply to any comment about rust, from now on :P
Can't seem to figure out if the thing about the ic mount is good or bad.. It's in there quite solid soooo... :') it had to be cheap so some threaded rod (or whatever the hell it's called) and some nuts and bolts and it's in there, the question is for how long, judging from your reply. Gotta stick with what you have, and since I don't have a welder I'm pretty much stuck using these things.

Thanks! It means a lot coming from someone I've already seen passing by a couple of times on the forum. The problem with me is, when I build for 170, I'm sure as hell going to run 170, so that might not be the best idea :P As much as I appreciate your advice, I think I'm going to stick with 150 hp on stock injectors and clutch (if even possible on stock injectors, I remember I have read some threads about people running up to 7 psi of boost with stock injectors without FPRs but I could be wrong) Also autox is not really a 'thing' over here, and it's a pain in the ass to get to a track or something like that. Most of the time I just look for desolate back roads to do my spirited driving. The only naughty thing I do on normal roads is accelerate hard to the speed limit, apart from that I like to think I'm a really safe driver.

After I am fully used to the 150whp, I'll start to upgrade for more, and so on.. It's probably, eventually, going to end up with a built 1.8, but that's way up there in the future. I have always vowed to keep my first car for the rest of my life and I have not yet changed my mind, so the time will come for more power, I'm not in a hurry. I have once seen a youtube video "The Life Long Miata Project". I think that that's what my car is to me; A life long project. Bottom line is my situation needs to be really, really shitty for me to sell my car.

Update time! (Already? It's been like not even a full day you *insert insult here*)

Been looking at the manifold today. Laid all the pieces right how I want them to go.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463308386This is the flange I cut off from the 1.6 manifold, don't worry, I'm not yet done with smoothing it out.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463308386Then I laid the bends on there right about how I want them to go. Again, I'm not finished yet as they obviously need trimming. Also the bends need to be pressed down on one side so that they align with the flange better.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463308386And this is how it should somewhat look finished, the T25 flange might be connected to the runner with a rectangular tube, as I don't really trust this setup. Also it'll be welded on at kind of an angle, so the turbo will sit a bit above the manifold.
It would probably have been easier if I just ordered a somewhat better fitting kit from the US, but what's the fun in that!? (read: I'm too cheap to import things from the US because of the aforementioned import fees and the exorbitant shipping rate some companies like to charge)

Also since the only way I can seem to get a pre made downpipe flange for my turbo is to get it from a US company who likes to ask $100 for shipping to the Netherlands on a $20 part, I decided to apply my engineering knowledge I gathered at school to design one myself.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463308386This is it in SolidWorks, measured everything at least 3 times to be sure to 'get it right the first time'

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463308386
Since we can 3D print things for free at school, I decided to make a test piece, to make sure my measurements would fit.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463308386
Despite my godly measurements, it still doesn't fit (by like a fraction of a millimeter, damnit!) Guess who's going back to the drawing board :/

So that's where I'm at, had most of this already but I figured it would be fun to post it. If I ever get the flange fitting I could send it to whoever is in need of it (my idea was to get it cut out by a company, don't know where yet, but I'll find out :P) because Saab flanges are a pain in the buttocks to find pre made.

That's it for now, if anyone knows a place where I can get a flange for my turbo that doesn't charge $100 for shipping to the Netherlands, please tell me because that will save me some time/effort.

Those els look really thin. Don't do it. Buy a flange online, or have one made with .500 material. Then buy the stainless weld els off ebay. I think you can even get them as a kit now. Don't get in a hurry now, and waste time and money on a thin, crack prone, manifold.

Lots of threads around explaining the size pipe, material and place to buy them.

I looked it up, these are supposed to be just as thick as the SCH10 Stainless weld els you get with the kits. (for example the mazworks kit) The wall thickness on the bends is 2.65 to 2.70 mm and on the straight pieces it is around 3.20 mm (those are measured dimensions) According to most charts the SCH10 304SS 1 1/2 inch tubes have the same wall thickness (2.7 mm / 0.109 inch) so I figured it had to work.

Cool. Pics made them look thin. Carry on.

If time isn't a concern, just make the flange. A hole saw spun really slow with lots of oil, will slice right through. 500 thick steel. Spin it agonizinglyslow. Like 60 rpm, and it will cut it like butter. Then just jigsaw the outer shape. Drill and tap the holes, carefully. Maybe even do that first. That way if you screw them up, you aren't 3 hours into it.

Edit : Fix those edge distances around your bolt holes. Apply your engineering skillz. You don't need 1.5 x's the diameter, but more than that shred you left.

Yeah I know the edges are thin, didn't really show up on the 3D CAD model as good as it did with the 3d printed model. I already ordered a 3-bolt T3 flange for next to nothing which according to the image had the same ID, bolt holes diameter and the distance between the bolt holes is the same.. Didn't receive it yet but for the price I had to try it. The only thing that I know for sure is different is the chamfered edge, maybe if it doesn't fit I'll just modify it so that it'll fit, otherwise I'll continue with the 3D CAD model.

So, little update because of the lack of updates.. The car still hasn't run since last Friday and I'm getting more and more sad that I can't drive it every day. Since most used parts dealers here don't have Miatas and therefor don't have miata waterpump inlet pipes as well, I'm gonna have to come up with a somewhat haggard solution.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463552135So this is it, and if you know what a decent one looks like, it has a hose fitting on the left side of it... As you can see mine isn't there anymore.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463552135Here you can see what I mean.. just a random pic from the internet. The hose fitting on the left of the inlet pipe broke off on mine.

So here's what I was thinking... I'm gonna drill out the hole on mine to a size that's suitable for screwing a fitting in there, then I'm gonna get a barbed fitting so that I can put the hose back on. It's either this or I need a new part (cost €131,50) and since I'm too cheap to buy that right away, I'm gonna try this first. If I fuck this up I need a new part as well so either I save €131,50 for now, or I need a new part anyway. The hole is 7.70mm right now so it's already too big to tap an M8 fitting in there.. The diameter of the area around the hole is 18mm, so that should give me plenty of room to drill it out to about 8.3-8.5mm and tap an M10 fitting in there. Also an M10 fitting should be pretty close to the stock ID, so the flow won't really be restricted (hopefully). Fingers crossed this works because otherwise I'm not as close to finishing my turbo build as I thought I was :P Will update this again if/when this works.

I heated up the casting, twisted mine out, and tapped it for a npt fitting. Wasn't hard. Just don't melt it.

I chopped off the end, rotated it about 45*, took it to a radiator shop and had them weld it back together for $30.

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing (and what I'm doing right now), only mine came out without heating it :')
Tapped it for an 1/8" NPT fitting, right now I'm sitting here waiting for a 1/8" NPT > 8 mm barbed fitting to come in the mail.. God why does nobody have the things I need in stock. >:(
Right now it's half assembled and waiting for the part, then I'll fully assemble it. Damn I really miss driving it, partly because it's a lot of fun (even without a turbo), partly because I'm stuck with public transport atm :doh:

Okay so just a couple of minutes ago I suddenly decided I needed injectors, so I literally just bought a set of RX8 yellow body injectors. I'm still kind of shocked I did this so suddenly but it'll all be for the greater good I guess. All I need now to be most of the way prepped for more than 150hp is a clutch... So I'm keeping myself from NOT buying it because 170hp in a miata right away probably won't end well :')
Figured I could afford it because I saved some money by not using up petrol this week. Realistically I won't be driving much this month at all considering my bank account is kind of empty till my next paycheck. I guess I need to find an extra job to support this car hobby of mine :')

I have a 5 hour flight layover in Amsterdam on Sunday morning, June 19th. Do you need anything I could bring in my carry-on bag? I won't have any checked luggage so it will need to be small and not considered dangerous. They would likely consider a head flange a slashing weapon.

Thanks a lot for the offer! For now I'm good, if I come up with anything small within a reasonable amount of time I'll consider this as a 'shipping' method (sounds a bit weird :P) and I'll PM you :)

Update time!
I've been quite busy with school and stuff lately, so I haven't really done anything to my car apart from driving it, but here's what I have bought in the last week(s)

Can't seem to add any pictures at the moment, I'm sorry :(

The injectors came in the mail. I'm gonna need four of those rebuild/reseal kits to properly seal them as they were sold as "used" parts, but I'm pretty hyped to drop them in.. Guess I'll have to wait a bit more.

Also went to the wreckers to get myself a BMW TPS, the one I got was the only one out of 5 BMWs where the screws weren't rusted so much I couldn't get them loose. €5 though, you can't beat that!

I also designed a spacer/mount for the BMW TPS, which is being printed as I am typing this (if they didn't already stop the printing process :S) I'm getting excited to get the TPS on so that I can properly tune the Acceleration Enrichment and get the launch control & flat shift working! :P

Oh yeah and I also got a mate to weld up the manifold (and downpipe) in about 1 1/2 week so that's happening as well :D

That's really it. More pics soon if the picture adding thing works (again)

Did I say the 19th? I meant today, lol.

*blows dust off of thread*

I finally have some time on my hands the coming weeks so my goal is to have it turbo by the end of next month.. All I need is a downpipe and some surgery on my manifold.
Installed the RX8 injectors today (again massive thanks to sixshooter for supplying me with the rebuild kit!), after some messing around with the fuel tables in MS (MS didn't feel like changing the amount of injected fuel when I altered the required fuel cell) it runs kind of fine. It's a little rich now and then, but it's smooth. Until I was driving around for a couple of minutes, everything seemed fine so I did some small pulls, when I got off the highway it decided it needed something like AFR 9.0 or it ran on less than 4 cilinder. I put it in neutral and coasted to the nearest safe stop. After some more tries it fired right up how it was supposed to (some problems seem to fix themselves??) Didn't skip a beat for the rest of the way home.. Will find out tomorrow if it's still as reliable as it used to be. I'm going to further tune it whenever I find someone who feels like driving a slow miata. :P
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467306597
Old injectors turned out to be in desperate need of some form of replacement.. Maybe this was why I couldn't get it to idle smoothly?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467306597The injectors installed.. Looks a lot cleaner with the yellow body ones (and the fact that they're clean helps as well)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467306597Also decided the A-pillar needed a paintjob (had some ugly spots) I went for some black because IMO it looks badass with a black A-pillar and a black hardtop :)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467306597Finished product with the painted A-pillar, turned out allright in my opinion

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467306597Last but not least it was time to get rid of the black (electrical tape) ricing stripes. I went and ordered some red vinyl because I really liked the stripes on the front fender. Also tried to wrap the mirrors but that shit is hard :') I am going to plasti dip them Gloss Red because ATM it looks terrible from the inside.

The black windshield pillar looks really good.

So it's been a long time since I posted anything here, but I'm still alive, and so is my car!

Okay so the initial turbo build is finally done! The turbo is on and it works, it whistles, and fluids stay inside the turbo and engine. (pictures/videos will follow) Only problems are that the downpipe or exhaust is touching the chassis/engine at some points due to vibrations, which gives a rattling sound. I'll get that sorted out ASAP. Another problem I encountered is that the cooling fan doesn't turn on. The engine heats up past the in MS specified 87.8 Celcius and the fan doesn't turn on. I checked the connector that connects to the fan and there was 12V running through the connector, which means either the wires on the fan are toast, or the motor isn't as lively as it used to be.

Considering the bottom bolts on the cooling fan are stuck beyond saviour and a new radiator and cooling fan combo would set me back at least 300€ (excluding coolant and having to change the coolant AGAIN, I'm not at all looking forward to that), I would like to know if any of you wizards have an idea on how to resurrect my trusty old cooling fan? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

That's it for me for today, I'm gonna try and sleep and dream about turbo whoosh and turbo flutter :)

EDIT: Oh and I forgot to mention, my thought process went like: If the connector going to the fan (the one that connects to the fan) gets 12V when the ECU tells ALED to turn on, at least the relay and the fuse are intact and it rules out any problem with the ECU and wiring up to the connector.

I could have brought a new motor.

Is the motor replaceable with the fan mounted on the radiator? If so I might be able to find a motor somewhere and repair it untill I get one of these multi core aluminium radiators, (or whatever they're called) which is the next mod I'm going to do if the clutch holds. I can get a new fan along with that, that wouldn't be a problem.

Also, are there any mechanical ways to check if the motor works while the fan is on the car? I heard jumping the two connections on the plug that goes in the thermostat housing should turn the fan on but I doubt if that works with MS.

Put 12v to the fan motor connection right there by the radiator.

Okay I have yet to figure out how, but the radiator fan started working all of a sudden and hasn't missed anything the last 6 days *knocks on wood*, that gives me a bit more time to get some money together for a new radiator and radiator fan. I might be getting a random scrapyard smaller fan and install it next to the primary fan for just that little bit more cooling. Also I noticed my clutch is on it's way out because I can't really shift from 1>2 and 2>3 quickly without the clutch slipping on full throttle, but it'll hold good enough for now, no slipping in 4th so just some gentle shifting is required.

I found out the wastegate on my Saab turbo is set to around 5 psi, most of you would probably argue if it was all worth it for such a 'low' boost pressure, but that's definitely good enough for me for now. (that would put me somewhere in the 140-150whp range wouldn't it? I know it depends on more factors than just boost pressure but yeah) The car, at least for me, sure feels like a rocketship now. The turbo spools surprisingly quick, it starts spooling at around 2500 rpm and it's on the full 5 psi at 3000 rpm, so for a stock gearing 1.6 there's almost no turbo lag :)

I found out at the inspection this week that my sills are in desperate need of some form of replacement, so I'm bringing my car to an MX-5 specialist next month for replacement of the sills. The dude is known for his good work and as far as I know you can almost be sure it won't rust as quickly anymore. It'll cost me quite some money, but it'll be worth it in the end. Next mods will be a new 'performance' radiator, a new fan, I might do a diy cheapo coolant reroute if I can find a good tutorial online (haven't really looked into it yet so be gentle :P), a new clutch (which should at least be enough for 190whp, which is my goal for this motor), I'm going to service the engine in the very near future (new cam-/crankshaft seals, new water pump, thermostat, timing belt, etc.) because there's some oil bleeding out of the engine. Apart from that I probably have more in mind but I can't recall :P

Now for the part you've all been waiting for...
..the picture(s) of the turbo installed!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8f9e018274.jpg

Also please notice the super legit looking DIY cooling plate thing I have made with some sheet metal and an angle grinder. I'm going to get rid of the charcoal canister thing soon and I have the US (miata) washer fluid reservoir laying around because this thing can hold about a coffee cup worth of washer fluid, the rest drains out just as fast as you can pour it in.

So that's been it, I'm enjoying driving it even more now with the extra power and the noises the turbo makes. I didn't think the Miata was that slow stock, but now I'll admit that this is one of the best things to do to your Miata (when done properly at least, not the cringe-worthy 150$ miata turbo build by haggard garage.. I honestly feel bad for any car they get their hands on)

Okay there's been some really bad news for me. The car needed new sills for the inspection, but while the old ones were cut out by the welder, it turned out most of the 'inside' of the car has been rusting to pieces. Let's put it this way; I thought I owned 1 MX5 while I actually owned about 0.75 MX5. Repairs for this chassis would cost in excess of €2500,- and that's only for the rear right part of the car. Say the left needs the same treatment and the front has some crappy rust spots as well and €7500 wouldn't be unrealistic.

Such a shame, I had just finished the turbo build and the repairs would've been the last amount of money I would have put into this car for a while. As it turns out the car wants more attention and it'll take a lot more money and time.

My plan is to completely strip this chassis of everything. Engine, driveline, suspension, interior, wiring, roof.. EVERYTHING will be pulled out of this. This chassis will either be saved to practice welding on or scrapped and I'm going to get a new chassis (with little to no rust :S)
While everything is out I'll be rebuilding the engine (no forged parts as I don't nearly have enough money for that), just a giant service, replacing all the seals and worn down parts. Also I'm replacing all the parts that are hard to replace when the car is in one piece. I'm going to sand(blast) all the subframes and suspension arms and paint them to prevent rust. All suspension parts will get new bushes and everything will be cleaned. The new chassis will be painted blue and all the parts that come off the current car will also be painted, I've always wanted a blue miata so this is my opportunity. Also I'm leaning towards a different colored engine bay.. I'm thinking white :) The bottom of the new chassis will be treated to prevent rust. As my car won't be moving for a while I've got time to restore and paint the wheels and the hardtop. I'm gonna do some custom work on the interior with suede and preferably new seats, also new door cards with pullstraps to close the doors, as that looks freakin' awesome in my opinion. While all the interior parts are out I want to apply some isolation to the interior. (yes, I know it'll weigh more but the car is loud as f*ck on the highway so I'd like a little more comfort)

All in all, the build continues. I'm thinking of documenting the entire process in either pictures or video. If it's gonna be video I'm going to start a youtube channel to publish it all on, because I've been wanting to do that for a while now and this will be the most interesting thing I do/have done. Either way this post will be updated, stay tuned. Next weekend will be the first time I get to see the car again this week and I'm going to start pulling it apart then.

Good luck man. Your choice to continue on instead of giving up, is inspiring. Good job.

Thanks, it's always nice to hear something like that! I did consider to pull everything apart and sell the car in parts, but since there's not really an interesting other car I can buy on my budget (mostly because of running costs) It would probably come down to buying another miata. My only other consideration was a 6 cylinder BMW 3 Series but those things weigh a lot more (taxes are dependant on vehicle weight and fuel type over here) and cost more in insurance. But I figured that after all the work I put into this car, I have some kind of emotional bond to the car. It just feels wrong to get rid of it, even if it's just the parts.
The best part about my current plan is that I already have every part to build a miata, I just need to take it off the old one. :P And this way I can build a miata the way I have always wanted one, and I will know the condition of every part. On the plus side, a rust free miata is around €5k+ over here, sometimes even double that when the mileage is low. A stripped down chassis is a lot cheaper, even if there's little to no rust. (saw one for €500 the other day, pretty much no rust whatsoever, too bad it was already scrapped because the seller needed the space or something) Bottom line is I'll always be able to sell it after the rebuild for quite a profit, but I don't think I will :)

I would suggest to reshell the car and not try to fix the old chassis.

I am in the same boat as you are with my NB, it is completely rusty and every time I take something off with the angle grinder I find more rust.
I already replaced the two front chassis legs (from the subframe to the nose of the car, notorious spot for NBs to rust).
Arches and sills have already some work done to them and I am sure I will find more rust under there.
I basically have all the parts ready to put the car back together, but no motivation to do so. The car is in 1001 bits since 3 years now...
So unless you are planning working 2/3 evenings a week on the car, fixing all the rust will be a very lengthy project.

As for car choice: the MX-5 is indeed a very good choice for low-cost enthusiast motoring in The Netherlands.
There are no RWD substitutes :)
During my student years I have always run a Civic w/D16Y8 swap and while those can be faster than the MX-5 on the same budget, they do not drive as nice as the MX-5!

A driving car really helps with motivation for the project though: so I would suggest to keep the current shell MOT/APK worthy and try to find a nice shell while it is still running.

I don't know if I didn't explain myself correctly, but I am essentially going to reshell the car yeah. As I said, I want to pull every part off of this one and put it on another one with less/no rust. I figured I might as well paint everything I want to paint and do some maintenance and upgrades while I'm at it/ everything is already apart.

Keeping this shell MOT/APK worthy is the entire problem. The MOT/APK expires tomorrow (30th of September) and fixing it requires a lot of welding on the chassis. (more than 2500€ worth of welding that is) I know how you feel with the angle grinder. Under the top layer of the car the rust has eaten most of the car over the years, which is mainly the fault of one of the previous owners' mentality towards repairs. The car, structurally, resembles swiss cheese, which is why I decided not to spend any more money on repairing it. I will most certainly cost more than a complete, assembled and rust free MX5. Also I'm sure if it would get repaired, new rust related issues will pop up within a year so I've already set my mind on reshelling/rebuilding it.
Since I'm a student I don't have that much money to spend on repairs while rebuilding it on another shell/base costs less money, only more time. Time I have, money not so much :P
I'm lucky enough I can use my mother's Toyota Aygo as means of transportation while my car is out of order, so I don't really have a problem with a big project like that.

As soon as I have everything to put the car together I am sure it will take a lot of time, but I am 100% sure I'll have the motivation to do it. Wrenching on a car is something I love to do so I guess that wouldn't be much of a problem for me :)

Sorry for your misfortune but I admire your determination. Good luck with your search for a solid chassis.

Here's an update for anyone who is interested

I already started taking the car apart and I already got most of the interior out. It's just the heater core that's left (need to drain the coolant first to remove that) and the carpet, the A-pillar trim, the ECU, pedals, steering rack and wiring. After the interior is out I think I'm going to start taking the drivetrain out (diff, gearbox, engine, etc.) After that the Suspension and subframes and last but not least I'm going to take all the panels off, should be mostly stripped by then.

I contacted some people for a shell and I might have someone who might be able to sell me the stripped chassis for €300. That's a hell of a lot cheaper than a €2500 rust repair :)

I'm also looking into some replacements/upgrades when all the parts are off of the car. Polyurethane bushings (is that even a good idea? It's a street driven car and I've heard they're really stiff, roads aren't too bad over here), new flywheel and clutch, full engine service, etc. Now for the bushings there's not much of a choice in Europe as far as I can tell. I found the IL Motorsport ones which go for around €350 which isn't that much more expensive than stock replacement rubber ones.

For the clutch & flywheel I'm looking at a Stage 3 competition clutch, and a competition lightweight 1.8 flywheel. Are these any good? They say the stage 3 should hold around 200 wtq (which I assume is 200 lb ft or whatever it's called, which translates to 271 Nm) I'm guessing that should be enough for my 190-200whp goal. I can get that clutch and flywheel for around €600, so that's still somewhat reasonable for me. The FM Clutch happy meal isn't realistic for me because of import fees and bullshit because it's from 'Murica.

Apart from that there won't be any "big and expensive mods", apart from the color of the car. I'm thinking something along the lines of an R34 Skyline's Bayside Blue, but it doesn't have to be an exact replica of that color.
Some other things I want to do to the car while it's in pieces is some suede in the interior and mount the boost and AFR gauge on the a-pillar, so I can acutally see them while driving :')
I might get a 1.8 open diff (the torsen ones are way too expensive for me at the moment) so it can hold just that little bit more power. Just to be safe since I am going to shoot for the 200 whp now, I have heard 1.6 diffs don't really like that magical number

That's it! I'd really appreciate it if anyone has some tips or something for me regarding the parts I want

UPDATE: Just been looking at the stage 4 Competition clutch, which will probably be overkill for me, but since it's only €12 more expensive I might consider that, just in case I'm ever going to upgrade past 200 whp. :P But I've heard the 6-pad clutches are noisy when (dis)engaging, pedal feel and engagement I can get used to, but are they really that noisy? I do plan on getting some sound isolation in the car whenever it's apart. I don't mind a little sound but I'm not sure what kind of sound it is and if I can get used to that.

I say always go a little stronger than you need for the clutch. You will always have power creeping up over time as you make improvements and clutches last a pretty long time.

Do you have to pay big taxes if the items (like bushings) are not boxed like retail sale items? Let's say you had a plastic bag full of nondescript bushings with no logos or any packaging?

Stage 3 would already be overkill, but since the price of the stage 4 is not that much higher I might just go for the stage 4, because I can :P

I don't really know the laws regarding unmarked (boxed) stuff here. There's a rumor going round that if anything is sent in a box with no receipts as a 'gift' there's no taxes and import fees involved, as they don't know what the value of the goods is. Apart from that I have no idea how much it costs to ship something like bushings overseas.
Just FYI, the import fees and taxes are being calculated something like this: (the value of the goods + shipping) * import fees * taxes. The import fees for car parts are 3-4.5% and the taxes are 21%.
For example if I would like the flyin' miata happy meal clutch/flywheel kit (just an example, I already know it's too expensive for me), that's $600, say it's a rather optimistic 100$ shipping since it's probably quite a heavy/big package, that's $700. Delivered to my doorstep that would be $700 * 1.04 * 1.21 = $880 and some change. In euros that's approximately €789.
This is just to give you an indication on why I try not to order anything from overseas. The entire problem is, before the package is imported, you have no idea if they are even going to intercept it and check the contents or just leave it alone, let alone if they know what the value is, it's kind of a gamble.

On the other hand, if bushings from the US are much cheaper than over here I might give it a shot. The only requirement is that if they DO find out what it's worth, the price including taxes and import fees is not that much higher than the price over here. I'm not going to try and save €20 with the risk of having to pay €70 more if it gets checked.

EDIT: It's funny how it works.. Just checked out some bushings from flyin' miata and the rubber ones are $419, because (and this is the fun part) they are from IL Motorsport, a German company. Over here they're €355, which makes them around $20 cheaper over here! That's a first :')
I also found out you have to regrease polyurethane bushings every now and again, so I guess I will get the IL Motorsport rubber ones as they are still stiffer than stock.

The bushing kit is even cheaper from the UK:
Bush Set, 22 Piece, Front Rear Suspension Arms, Mk1 2 2.5
Ordering stuff from the UK is painless as long as you can pay through PayPal (do not do a bank/wire transfer as it is expensive as hell because of the currency conversion, PayPay is much better). Shipping from the UK to The Netherlands is also very reasonable priced.

I have mixed experience with ordering stuff from the US. Sometimes stuff can be stuck in customs for weeks and that is really annoying.
And I have never been lucky with stuff from the US w.r.t. customs (import tax) either. Stuff from China passes the customs without being taxed much more often for me.

I would strongly suggest to not go with cheap polyurethane bushings as they can bind, if they do they can break wishbones and make your car very unsafe.
I would rather have worn OEM rubber bushings than binding polyurethane bushings.

As for your flywheel: I have a spare 1.8 flywheel if you need one.
Also: in Europe all MX-5's starting from 1994 should have the bigger differential, also the 1.6's. So it does not have to be a 1.8 diff, just check if it is the big diff.

Oh I didn't know about the diffs, thanks for the info, that makes the search a little easier.

Apart from that I already stepped away from the poly bushings idea, it's going to be too much of a hassle to maintain them. I'm just going to get a new set of rubber ones, since the car is mainly street driven anyway. Thanks for pointing out the bushings on Mx5parts though, I hadn't found them yet and they are indeed quite a lot cheaper.
About ordering the stuff from the UK, I know that's pretty convenient. I've already done that multiple times and it's never been a problem. Shipping is not expensive at all and it usually arrives within reasonable time.

About the flywheel, I'm not sure yet if I want a full sized, "heavyweight" flywheel since I love to heel-toe downshift :P I also read that the stronger clutches 'prefer' a lighter flywheel since it is easier on the clutch. I also like the idea of the revs dropping faster when the clutch is in, because the stock 1.6 flywheel had too much momentum for me to shift quickly without the tires chirping/clutch slipping. (mainly clutch slipping) On the other hand, I don't know how much you can lighten a 1.8 flywheel so if the price is right it might be a realistic option, but by no means have I decided yet :')

So I decided it's time to dig up this relic post in this thread, since I think it's fun to write about what I'm doing.

As mentioned before, I decided to rebuild my car. Since I have been putting some time into taking the old rusty one apart and getting some new/better parts.

The old miata is pretty much stripped from it's entire interior and the entire wiring loom is out. Next step is to remove the gearbox, then the cylinder head, and then the engine block, after that all remaining drivetrain parts (diff, axles, etc.), then the brakes, and after that all the subframes. When the subframes are out I'm slowly going to take all the remaining body panels off of the old car, along with any remaining parts that are left on there.

Also I have found a "new" chassis/body. It's one that's been run into a ditch, the subframes are bent but the rest of the car is rust free and has no damage, except for a dent in the rear left quarterpanel. I got this one because it was rust free and the price was right.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b2c409bc09.jpgThis is the chassis when it was being driven to my doorstep

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4706882a27.jpgThis is the poor old thing in my garage, can't wait to start putting parts on this one! Also the fender is dented, but the chassis under it is fine :)

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cc48b9993d.jpg
Coolant reroute parts I had found online for €90! Buying these new and shipping them from the US would've cost way more than that! Only thing I need now is some hoses and maybe some piping, but this is a start!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3cabe699ef.jpg
Some mirrors I had also found online for a steal. I have always loved the look of these mirrors on miatas. I like them so much I'm willing to sacrifice some visibility for it :P

Last but not least I'm planning on repainting the entire new car. I'm going to use hammerite or brantho korrux for the engine bay, subframes, suspension arms, inside (under the carpets) and the underside of the car to prevent it rusting away from under my ass.
The outside of the car will be blue, I'm thinking the R34 GT-Rs "Bayside Blue" or Subaru's "World Rally Blue". If you want you can look it up and give me your opinion, I'm still not 100% sure which one I want to go with, but I'm leaning towards the Bayside Blue.

I like Nissan code B17, Daytona Blue. I just haven't painted the car yet.

Bayside Blue. Childhood Gran Turismo memories FTW.

That looks really nice as well, but I think it might be just a little too dark for my liking. I'm curious to see what it looks like on a miata though.

Today I've been working on the car(s), like every Sunday since that's the only day I have "time fo dat".

I started out by cleaning the new old car.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a5a3025e16.jpgCleaned the engine bay..
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d7ff744f39.jpgGot rid of all the disgusting insulation stuff so I can paint the inside as well..
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c67da96b84.jpgRemoved the timing gear so I could take a look at the crankshaft. The lower timing cover is a little scratched/burnt away by the pulley rotating against it :')
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c79f9a6881.jpgThe infamous short nose crankshaft with a seemingly intact keyway (flash in the photo makes it look worse), despite the pulley wobble.. I might have been just in time to replace the surrounding stuff to prevent damage :)
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c146ce387d.jpgThe timing gear and pulley, which seem to be really stuck.. That's why I pulled the entire thing off with the timing belt still on :/
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...97da38897a.jpgThe part inbetween the pulley and the gear seems to be a little wavy. Could someone tell me what it's for and if it's still usable despite it's 'wavy-ness'?

I also spent some time to check my DIYPNP and what I want to do with it for when the car is in working order again.
I need some help wiring the things in, the last two pictures are my take on the 'problems'..
I mainly need help with the EBC wiring, since that's the most "crucial" of these things :P Car would work fine without them but it wouldn't get anywhere near 200whp on this wastegate without some form of boost control. I want EBC since that's the fanciest :') (Also the DIYAutoTune EBC solenoid is about as cheap as the manual boost controllers)

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...04de2db530.jpgThe front of my DIYPNP, just for reference
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...08f41cc8f8.jpg
The back of the DIYPNP, again, just for reference
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cf43852dcf.jpgMy incredible artwork, I need help wiring some things

Okay so the picture is way too big on my screen, but oh well. I've been searching on the interwebz for info about this but I can't find that much information that I understand. I found this thing on DIYAutoTune.com (https://www.diyautotune.com/support/...s-and-outputs/) from which I was able to pull some information.

I'd really like a physical switch which I can use to change fuel/spark maps, something like a "Sport button". (despite the an mx5 pretty much always being in "Sport mode" when the engine is on) But I might get something like an exhaust butterfly valve in the future, apart from that I'd like to artificially create some pops in the overrun, but I want to be able to turn them off as well without diving into the software. This seemed like a really cool way to do that in my opinion. Also I could get it tuned and let it switch between more/less aggressive spark maps. According to DIYAutoTune that's would be possible with "table switching", but I don't know if it'll work the way I have drawn it.

I also want to get the EBC solenoid from DIYAutoTune but I have no idea on how to wire it. My thoughts were something using the DB15 but I have no idea what.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...060d083860.jpg
Also need help for this wiring :')

Last but not least, since the MX-5 does not have the starter interlock "Clutch Switch" like the Miata has (mine doesn't have one), I want to come up with my own switch system thingy, which I also want to be able to turn off using a regular switch on the dashboard. As far as I understand it'd work pretty much the same as the table switching switch, so this would be my take on that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :D

I recently had time and went ahead and pulled out the motor, since I dont have an engine hoist, it wasn't as easy as it could've been, but we got there eventually.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f3b51f4b1c.jpg
Firstly I took the head off to reduce the engine's weight, so we could lift it out ourselves. The head seems in good condition thankfully.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...149d333c24.jpg
Took the engine out and the clutch off
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a7a58fafda.jpg
Gearbox is still chillin' in that general area, didn't have time to pull it out yet.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8c3a9282db.jpg
The reason why the clutch slipped on quickly shifting with stock power is quite obvious, this one is toast.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...df38c57d1f.jpg
Finally I cleaned the carbon off the pistons. Apart from that does anyone know if I need to clean the top face of the block before I put on a new head gasket because that stuff is stuck on there pretty hard :/

Last but not least I decided to do a Coil on Plug conversion, since the bracket on the old coil pack is broken and the coil pack was held on by zip ties. Just want to clean the engine bay up and maybe go for a tiny bit more reliable ignition. I ordered some COPs from a 1.0 Toyota Yaris/1.5 Prius for next to nothing. Was worth the shot since the 1ZZ COPs are harder to come by here. Just need a spare ignitor now and some wires to build the harness for the COPs. I want the extra ignitor because I want it to be plug and play :)

Take a wide, flat paint scraper and gently remove all residue from the machined surface of top of the block.

Okay I'll try that. Wanted to do it with a knife at first but stopped because my hands were freezing off.
Do I need to worry about some of the residue falling into one of the coolant/oil ports?

Yes. Don't get crap in your water jacket of the block or it will clog up the radiator, heater core, and thermostat.

Okay thanks! Now I just need to wait until Sunday to be able to work on anything on my car again.

Nice build so far. I like the determination :likecat:

Painting my NB come spring and using a Nissan paintcode (LP2 Midnight Purple). Bayside Blue would look great!

Thanks! Are you going to paint it yourself? If so I'd love to see how it turns out! That color looks really nice as well. (so many pretty colors) I'm also waiting until spring to paint everything since it's freezing outside, and I don't want to waste any paint or get a shitty result.
In the meantime I'm saving up for all the parts I need and restoring some parts before painting. I still need to pull the suspension and subframes off my old car along with most the body panels and some fuel/brake lines. I'm mostly not looking forward to pulling the old one apart, I am really excited for building the new one though, can't wait!

Yes! Spray can painted my NB when I got it since it was about 3 different colors and pretty rough (10$ paint job). But it's time for a halfway decent paintjob. For the price of the paint and a mid range HVLP sprayer I figured why not try it myself.

Excited to see the new shell all clean, painted up and waiting for some turbo goodness :party:

That's what I thought as well. We already had an air compressor and a spray gun laying around and collecting dust, so I might as well give it a shot, especially since I don't want mismatched black/silver car :')

The paint will be interesting to say the least, I actually want to coat the inside (under the carpets) and the engine bay in a layer of white, rust protective paint. Thankfully the turbo is just a bolt on kit right now from when I pulled it apart (no more makeshift engineering , I just want to wire in some goodies like a clutch switch for launch control (on spark cut, mostly to scare bad drivers lol) and EBC so I can get to 200whp *giggles like a schoolgirl*