Why we can't have nice things (slowly building a sport touring nb)
 

Build log for my '99. I'm trying to put together a reliable, well-mannered street car that I can take to casual autocross/open track days, use as a daily, and take on long road trips. A stock Miata would definitely fit the bill, but I would also like to be able to pass minivans on the freeway. The build is intended to be very generic. Certainly not the most exciting project, but I'm not looking to spend time/money on unproven mods when there is so much documentation available for these cars.

I've had the car for over a year and progress has been slow. "Maintenance before mods" has been my approach, but whenever I get the car running well and set my eyes on an upgrade, like clockwork something new breaks and I have to allocate time and resources repairing it.

Background:
In April of 2015 I sold my Yamaha FZ6 because I needed a slightly more practical vehicle. I wanted as close to the motorcycle experience as I could get with 4 wheels, so I decided to pick up a convertible. I also needed something that wouldn't cost too much more than I had gotten for my bike, so a miata was the natural choice.

After about a month of searching, I found this black and tan 1999 on Craigslist. It wasn't a good deal, or in particularly good condition, but I got excited and bought it.
Attachment 231774

It had a few issues.

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At the time, my plans for the car were the following:

1. Fix oil leak(s)
2. Replace front and rear bumpers, trunk lid, tail light (all damaged)
3. Suspension
4. Wheels/tires
5. Power

I brought it to a shop immediately after buying it for a timing belt service. After getting the bill I quickly figured out that I would need to learn to DIY as much as possible in the future.

I lucked out and picked up a used rear bumper with matching paint from a junkyard. Unfortunately, everything else was put on hold as the oil leak returned. I ended up chasing it off/and on for almost a year. It turned out that the CAS plug was leaking, the new front seal was also weeping oil, and so was that damn o-ring gasket behind the oil cooler.

More to come when I dig out some pictures.

At the beginning of last summer I took the car for a first road trip to Joshua Tree. It made it there and back, but the temperature gauge would start to creep towards H when driving uphill at freeway speeds. I moved my front license plate up and out of the mouth and removed the grill that the previous owner had installed and called it good.

Next trip was to Death Valley in August. Unsurprisingly, it overheated. I bought an OBD2 dongle before the trip and it was getting over 230. Luckily we were able to limp home during the night when it was cooler. The thermostat and water pump had been changed during the timing belt service I paid for shortly after buying the car. Fans worked properly. Radiator was an OEM style but looked new enough that it had to have been replaced recently. I decided to just overhaul the whole system because I wanted to boost it anyway.

Bought and installed the following:
FM crossflow radiator
FM spal fans + shroud
All new hoses (including those horrible two that attach to the oil cooler)
Reroute kit with new thermostat
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I also bought an OEM undertray, as my car didn't come with one. Installing that turned out to be the worst part, as I discovered that the animal of a previous owner snapped off 6 of the undertray fastening bolts. There wasn't enough thread to grab with vice grips so I had to drill them all out. The first one took about 3 hours. Thankfully, my neighbor walked over and asked what I was doing. When I explained, he just laughed and said hold on. In a few minutes he was back with his welder and he attached studs to the snapped bolts. Took all of 10 minutes. I put the tray on and threw some nuts to hold in place. Good as new.

He also helped me make this hardline for the upper radiator hose with some copper pipe and solder. I really didn't like the long floppy hose that came with the reroute kit:
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I put in a radiator "cooling panel" from GarageStar. It's ducting effectiveness is dubious at best and the price was high, but it really looks slick.

I had small coolant leaks off and on for about a month, including at that short length of rubber hose connecting the hardline to the radiator in the picture. I ended up replacing it with a much better fitting bend, and switched all my worm-drive hose clamps to t-bolt style. No more leaks, and no more overheating. Certainly not the cheapest way to go about things, and overkill for a stock miata but I am hoping that with my power goals (220 hp or less), I won't have to be concerned with cooling ever again.

Well done. Your car should turn out great if you continue on this path.

Looks great so far. I have similar goals/use planed for my 1990, but I am going supercharged because I like the noises they make.

Thanks! Hopefully it'll start coming together soon.

That's as good a reason as any, and they make a lot of sense for this type of build. Good luck, looking forward to reading about it.

Next project after the cooling system overhaul was putting in a high output alternator. My alt was on its last leg so I had it rewound by a local shop. Afterwards it was easily able to keep up with the current draw from the spal fans turning on. I also put in a secondary fuse panel. The idea here was to have a place to easily and neatly tap power for aftermarket accessories. I put in Morimoto 4500k HIDs powered by a relay and sourced from the new panel. In the future I'd like to put in LED fogs, an air horn and a power inverter.
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I relocated my washer fluid reservoir with the Cappuccino bottle. Totally worth it for $45. Mounted it with some misc junk I had in the garage.
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Shortly after that, the gf and I planned a trip up to the bay area. Before we left, I checked the tire pressure, and topped off the oil. I had a couple slow leaks, but it was down a whole quart which really surprised me. We left and stopped to get coffee about a mile from our house. My gf pointed out that something smelled bad while we waited in the drive through. Then the battery light came on. I popped the hood and there was oil everywhere. Total massacre. Alternator belt was soaked, and she was smelling burning oil.

Turned around and drove the car back home. I jacked up the car to have a quick look and more oil poured out of the dipstick tube hole at the oil pan. The dipstick tube had come loose. My working theory is that the tube popped loose before I checked the oil level and made it look like it was low. So I overfilled by a quart. This then caused my small leak at the front crank seal to become a large leak.

Ended up doing a timing belt job for the first time, since the belt got soaked. I also replaced the crank pulley which had started to wobble a bit and the plastic timing covers which were totally warped from oil exposure.
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I bought some nice12.9 grade hex-head 10 mm fasteners for the crank pulley. I've read through a bunch of threads on here about these breaking so I figured I would upgrade them now just in case. Torqued them to spec with my inch-pound wrench.
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And we're now pretty much caught up to the present. I'm working on the suspension currently.

Forgive me MT.net, for I have sinned.

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I spent a lot of time deciding between the Fox and Xidas coilovers and ultimately went with the Fox. It wasn't an easy call and honestly both of them offer performance which far exceeds my driving skill so I'm sure either would've been more than adequate for my purposes.

Heres what I'm attempting to install:

FM Fox 550 F / 375 R
IL Motorsports Rubber control arm bushings
Racing Beat 1.125 front sway
5X Racing 14 mm rear sway (same as stock MSM but adjustable)
949 endlinks
949 lug nuts (because bling)
New oem ball joints, tie rod ends

Should be a bit of an improvement over 130k blown Showas.

Well, one corner is disassembled. Only took 2 days.

Attachment 231765

Old rusty ball joints are terrible.

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Had a great day in the garage, 3/4 done. Got the first coilover in this morning, drivers rear. I did the passenger rear afterwards within a couple hours, then reassembled the driver front. Started on the last corner but it was getting late and I didn't want to annoy the neighbors with ball joint hammering noises. It's amazing how much of a difference having the right tools makes. Last weekend I picked up the harbor freight air impact and a set of long handle wrenches. 10/10, together they made this job so much easier. My air compressor was an impulse buy and I regretted it a bit, but this project totally made it worthwhile.

Done with the install! I set the ride height way too high just to see what it felt like. I'm sitting pretty at about 14 F, 14.5 R. Took it for an alignment at the closest shop so I can actually drive it around. I haven't had time to put my sway bars back on yet, but even with no bars and this ride height the foxes are hilariously good. Speed bumps, drainage ruts, mid-corner pot holes, the car just doesn't care. Granted, this is the first time I've driven the car with an actual functioning suspension, but I'm impressed how well these things tolerate a 1 inch lift.

I'm going to get the swaybars on this weekend, drop it down to a more sane 13F, 13.5F and get the alignment tweaked.

I had some time Tuesday evening to play with the ride height again. I took it down to 13 F, 13.5 R as planned. I also made sure to loosen all the bolts going through bushings and retorque them at the new height with the car's weight applied. I left the alignment bolts alone, however. The alignment is getting adjusted this Saturday.

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Also put in NB2 seats and center console a while back:
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Mentioning it because I'm thinking about doing a foamectomy this weekend.

Nice project. I'm equally torn on the XIDA vs Fox. Fortunately, I've got time to decide. Mine is a 80% street car (bumpy, windy country mountain roads), 10% auto-x and 10% HPDE on skinny wheels and skinny sticky tires (feels > grip).

I've noticed with virtually all pre-formed hoses, whether silicone or rubber, is that the original ends are tighter than the middles, even when you cut a straight section of hose. So when making up custom radiator hoses by cutting pre-formed hoses, you end up with potentially sloppy fitting connections at your new ends. I hate the long coolant return hose in the M-tuned coolant reroute kit so I made my own hard pipe out of aluminum. Had to try a couple different hoses to get one that fit the radiator neck decently after cutting. Then I clamped it down hard with Murray constant-tension hose clamps, which I generally like better than T-bolts in this application. I haven't really pushed my cooling system yet but no leaks so far fingers crossed!

https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7627/2...c7d33f5f_c.jpg

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It was a tough call. The Xidas are one of the most well received products in the Miata aftermarket, and one of the guidelines for my build was not to do anything against conventional wisdom around here. I dont have enough miles on the Foxes to give them a proper review, but they're excellent so far and I dont have any regrets. Its kind of impossible to go wrong with either, they're both premium products. I doubt we'll see many reports of first hand comparisons because few people can afford to buy one and then switch to the other. I also haven't read a single negative report on either.

That hard line is really nice, well done. Did you use a pipe bender? The lips on the ends look awesome, how was that done? And how are you supporting it? Mine bolts to the intake manifold in 2 places, at the 2 holes near the back and behind the throttle cable bracket. I will look into those worm drive clamps if I need to replace any in the future.

I put this on last night. Say what you want about Raceland, but they make a hell of a luggage rack. Light, sturdy and it looks pretty sharp.

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I polished the trunk lid before I put the rack on. Need to do the rest of the car, it's been about a year and I've scratched it up quite a bit with all the work I've been doing on it. Bumping it with wrenches, or my zipper, etc. I think ill do it one panel at a time rather than spending a whole day in the garage.

I really want a tan cloth top, but my current one is in great condition so its difficult to justify the expense. Heres what I have left on my list before I begin the power mods:

Tan top
FM frame rails and butterfly brace
6UL 15x8
Roll bar (maybe)
Big brake kit (or SS lines and the NB sport brakes)

Leaning towards the frame rails first, since they're cheapest.

Thanks. Yes, pipe bender and bead roller.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7305/2...eb717444_c.jpg

https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8812/2...c5b22e6a_o.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8536/2...dc612e1b_o.jpg

Pipe is secured with a high-temp rubber-coated P-clamp. I don't have a stock intake manifold so that wasn't an option for me but I still needed to support the pipe so it didn't droop under the weight of the water running through it. You just need to be careful as there has to be enough compliance to accommodate the relative motion of the engine. I've got the stiffer rubber Mazda Comp mounts and an upper HPI "engine torque damper" mount that connects to the shock tower so that helps along with the rubber hoses at both ends.
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https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8595/2...0764c0a1_c.jpg

That's really clean, great work.

I got my front sway bar in, along with the racing beat brace hardware. Need to torque the end links and put on the rear bar tomorrow. Didn't have much time in the garage because we had to take our cat to the vet.

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Sway bars are finished. For the first time in 9 months I don't have any car parts sitting around waiting to be installed. At least until next week, when the FM lift kit arrives.

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Nice. Looks like your engine bay got glitter bombed.

When I read this, I immediately thought of this and got extremely excited:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8de827bc4d.jpg



Are you building something of this nature?

Kind of like that, but without the exocet, huge tires, or that degree of off-roading! Honestly I just want to see what it looks like/ how it drives, then potentially put it on for more ground clearance when we go to national parks with dirt/gravel roads.


Though, I just bought new wheels so I could hang onto the old ones and put huge tires on them.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6d919a4ff3.jpg

Very glad I put the rack on the trunk instead of a wing. It's functional! One wheel in the trunk, one on top of it and 2 in the passenger seat.

I read that 949 was discontinuing silver 6UL's so I had to snatch up a set before it was too late. I wasn't planning on buying another car part so soon but the silver finish is by far my favorite.

Absolutely stunning in person. Can't wait to get them mounted tomorrow.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...963f9513da.jpg

It's been awhile. I still have my car, but haven't done much to it in the past year and a half or so since the FM Fox and bushing install. As far as that goes, I'm still super pleased with them.

I just finished doing my PhD and now I finally have time and energy to throw at this stupid car again. I decided to commit to boosting it. I've come too far not no. Purchased an MS3 and ID 725s from a forum member. It's happening.

In other news, I wasn't planning on doing the clutch just yet, but last Saturday afternoon I started hearing a grinding sound whenever I pushed the clutch in. It wasn't horrible, but not something I felt comfortable ignoring. So over the long weekend I started reading about potential causes and everything pointed to the throwout bearing. So, after much struggling, mostly with the exhaust nuts, I managed to pull the transmission:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...04945640ff.jpg


Swivel impact sockets are my new favorite thing. Worth every penny.

The throwout bearing actually looked okay, I think:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...aa9d031622.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7ea373b618.jpg

But the clutch was ready to be changed. I bought this car before I knew how to drive manual, so at the beginning I was very unkind to it. It is OEM style and my car has 128k miles, so I'm guessing it's the second.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5a01b721c1.jpg


While the transmission is out, I'm going to finally deal with the slow leak I've had in my cooling system. I don't have any overheating issues, but having to top of the coolant now and then has been driving me nuts. I determined it was coming from the back of the head, but just kept putting off dealing with it because it's such a pain in the ass to work back there. I pulled off the m-tuned rear housing. Gasket was a mess, I don't think I did a great job installing it. I also saw that the surface of the head where the rear assembly attaches to was scored. After cleaning off the gasket remnants, I picked up some JB weld to fill in the hole, let it cure then sanded with 220 grit. Ordered a new OEM gasket from priority mazda. I'm not sure if I should use RTV in addition to the gasket or attach it dry. Really want to do this right. I'll probably sand the back of the rear housing some more as well:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bf6dfdc6a7.jpg

I cleaned off the transmission. It's still not pretty, but it's clean enough that I'll be able to know if I have a leak and that's what matters:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e4ebdd4081.jpg

I dropped my flywheel off at a local machine stop. Very cool place and the owner was friendly. Unfortunately he's retiring soon so I'll have to find a new shop next time I need something. Decided to keep the stock flywheel for better driveability during commuting.

I also dropped my starter off at an alternator repair shop I've used in the past to have it rebuilt. It was such a pain in the ass to remove it that I figured I'd have it done now while it's out just in case. Maybe a waste of money, but the peace of mind from knowing I won't have to kick myself for not doing it if it fails is worth it.

Now I just have to wait for parts to come in. I've ordered the following:
FM Stage 1 Clutch
Extended stainless steel clutch line
Slave cylinder
Master cylinder
Throwout bearing
Pilot bearing
Tranmission cover gasket
Front transmission seal
Rear transmission seal
Silicone heater hoses (even though they were new I had to cut my rubber ones to remove them. And I don't want them to melt once I add the turbo)
Wrap for heater hoses
Rear housing gasket

It's good to be back.

I was away on vacation last week, but I'm back and now the work continues. The car's been up on jack stands for 3 weeks now. This is longer than it took me to do the suspension/bushing swap.

I finally found out why I was leaking coolant from the back of the head. When I installed the reroute, I gouged the mating surface with a screwdriver while I was scraping the old gasket off. The visibility was very poor and I didn't have an inspection mirror, so I never noticed. I filled in the gouge with some JB weld, then sanded it smooth with 220 and then 1000 grit.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...976c95c48f.jpg

After finishing, I went to put the reroute housing back on with a new OEM composite gasket and found out that the threads for the bottom bolt hole were damaged. I used the wrong bolt there when I installed the reroute. The kit comes with one longer bolt thats meant to go in that bottom hole and apparently I put it elsewhere. Since I used a short bolt, only the first few threads were engaged. My theory is that the bolt worked itself loose, then vibrated around and trashed the first few threads. This would be the second reason for the leak. I gave up for the night and ordered a longer 35 mm bolt, a set of metric thread chasers (plan A) and a helicoil (plan B).

Plan A did not work -- the threads were too far gone. Before I could bring myself to drill into the head to install the helicoil, I thought I'd just try to run a tap through just in case. At this point I had nothing to lose, the threads were already trashed. To my surprise, it worked. I put the housing back on, and used blue loctite on the new lower bolt.

I didn't have the new silicone heater hoses yet, but I wanted to pressure test the cooling system. I ended up rigging up a heater core bypass hose by cutting the damaged ends off my two old rubber heater hoses and joining them together with a socket. It held pressure up to 15 PSI just fine until one of the hoses popped off the socket and sprayed water everywhere. Awesome. I reattached it, tightened up the hose clamps and tried again. It held 15 PSI steady for around 30 mins. I left it overnight and it went down to 10 PSI. No evidence of any fluid leaks that I could see, and definitely none at the back of the head. I decided it was safe to finish the clutch job and bolt the transmission back up.

Changed the rear main with the FM tool because I'm incompetent.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5d589b12b5.jpg

I put the flywheel back on, added loctite to the bolts and torqued to spec. Next I went to put the clutch and pressure plate on and got an unpleasant surprise: the dowel pins to locate the pressure plate never made it back from the machine shop. So I was stuck for a few days until I could get back over to the shop. I pulled the flywheel off again.

Thankfully the machinist found the dowel pins. I brought the flywheel back to him so we could test fit and make sure they were correct. He installed them for me. I walked a mile home with that damn thing for the second time and reinstalled it. Next, I put on the FM stage 1 clutch.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...656aba8af4.jpg

At this point I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I changed the transmission seal and gasket, put the new throwout bearing on and then tried to bolt it back up to the engine. It went horribly. Wrestled with it for a few hours, then got frustrated and called it. Came inside and got cleaned up and spent some time with these two.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6f231a3acb.jpg

Started fresh the next day with a plan. Before, I had the PPF tied up and supposedly out of the way using a rope through the shifter hole. I think it was catching on the end of the transmission and jamming everything up. So I ended up detaching the wiring harness from the PPF to avoid putting stress on it, removed the inner rear PPF bolt and loosened the outer rear bolt. My god those fasteners were stuck on there. They laughed at my impact gun. I had to use a breaker bar with a 5 foot cheater pipe and all the strength I had. Thankfully I didn't have to do this from underneath the car. Removing/loosening those fasteners let the PPF droop much lower than it could go before, so I stuck it down and to the side.

Then I went back to wrestling with the tranmission. The harbor freight transmission jack that I have is too tall to roll under the car with the transmission on when the car is on the regular non-SUV harbor freight jackstands. So I had to drag the transmission under the car, then roll the jack under, and lift the trans onto the jack while on my side under the car. That was probably the hardest part. It's not so much that it's heavy, but the leverage is terrible and it's hard to find the right positions to lift from. I finally got it up on the jack and balanced. I didn't end up using a strap to support the rear of the transmission because I was able to balance it well enough on the jack. Mating it up was still a huge PITA, but it went much better this time. I wasn't as tired so I could actually think about what was going on and look for reasons why it would get stuck and fix them instead of just swearing at it and jamming it forward. The little rubber drain hose on the passenger side would catch, as would the stupid ear thing protruding from the trans. Once I got it in position, I would just push it slowly into the engine to see if it would mate, then back it up and adjust the height on the trans jack slightly and try again. Repeat. Repeat. Then, finally:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dc469accf5.jpg

Put a bolt in at the bottom, then ran to the top and put in another. Here's my set up:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bdb966f33a.jpg
Floor jack with a block of wood pushing up on the oil pan, then the trans jack positioned at the trans center of gravity. I don't think I could've done it alone without that thing, no idea how others manage to pull it off.

Then it was just a matter of buttoning everything up. Putting the starter in was fiddly, as expected. Installing the stainless steel clutch line was fiddly, which I was not expecting. The bracket under the hood where it meets the hardline was a huge pain in the ass. I had to take a hammer to it. I put the slave cylinder pushrod in backwards, but realized eventually. Installing the master cylinder wasn't too bad. Did a quick bleed, then adjusted the clutch pedal using FM's instructions. Not totally confident I did it correctly but we'll see. Moving the slave cylinder piston back into the bore took a lot of force and it didn't go back in very far.

Put in the new silicone heater hoses, with insulated wrap:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f2411c1eef.jpg

I'll have to work out a shielding solution for the brakes and clutch reservoir, but that's getting ahead of things. Need a turbo first.

Now today I just need to put the coilpack and wires back in, reinstall the exhaust, add fluids and hopefully I'll be back on the road. Half expecting that I messed something critical up and I'll have to pull the trans again. We'll see.

It works! Had a slight issue with an exhaust leak at the exhaust manifold / downpipe flange. I bought some copper clad locking exhaust nuts on amazon to replace the old nuts that I manhandled during removal. Turned out they were garbage -- I couldn't torque them to spec because the cladding fell off and they began to round. Replaced with stainless from the parts store and the exhaust stopped leaking. Other than that, no issues so far.

Burped the cooling system. It felt like the fans were coming on much less frequently and for a shorter duration.

New clutch is fantastic. It engages about 2 inches off the floor, whereas my old one would bite maybe an inch or so from the top. Huge difference. The pedal feels just as light as stock, Also, the engagement is so much smoother. Since this is my first manual transmission car, I always thought I was just a mediocre driver because I couldn't get consistently smooth shifts, especially from 1 to 2. Now it's smooth. I guess part of it was because I was using a clutch disc with no friction material.

Now time to drive for a bit and keep the car on its wheels instead of jack stands.

I feel your pain on reinstalling a trans alone.
When I replaced my clutch, I ended up using a regular jack on the front of the trans and the spare tire jack near the middle and manipulating it forward with the car jack, holding the trans up with my leg when the tire jack needed to be moved.

this is an excellent, clean build and I cant wait to see where it goes, especially when you start applying more power. 5 stars.

Thanks! I'm excited for adding power as well.

Just did some easy stuff today. It's nice to be able to work on the car while it's on the ground and not get filthy.

Swapped the steering wheel. Mine was pretty beat and the leather would flake off if my hands started sweating. I got a stock wheel off a 15k mile NB from the Parts Group a while back.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4689499bbc.jpg

I want to find a Mazda sticker to cover the Nardi badge on the horn. I'll have to check ebay or revlimiter.

Replaced the soft top latch striker plates. Mine were very worn down.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...07f9326a62.jpg

Got new bolts as well. Couldn't find a torque spec so I just got them good-and-tight. I also used loctite blue on them because I had one of my old ones rattle loose.


And here's whats going to be keeping me busy for the immediate future. Planning to install this in a couple weeks after I do more reading:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f60fc1e813.jpg

MSLabs MS3 basic with CAN wideband interface. Purchased from a forum member along with ID 725 injectors. It's happening.

I'm going to install the wideband first, then the MS3 second. Currently planning out the details of the wideband install. I think it would be easiest to the controller in the engine bay, near the clutch master cylinder. I can cut a hole in the grommet that the main wiring harness comes through, and slip the serial output cable through there to plug into the CAN module. Innovate sells a 4 ft serial cable extension that should work:
https://www.innovatemotorsports.com/...roductid=16339

I still need to figure out how to power the controller. I know the MS3 has +12V to power a wideband, but I want to be able to power the wideband independently of the MS3. Partially because I want to get it installed and running first, but mostly in case I need to remove the MS3 for some unforseen reason (car won't start and I need to put the stock ecu back in to go somewhere before I can remove the wideband sensor, etc). So I have to find switched 12V somewhere in the engine bay that's relatively easy to access without making a mess. I previously installed an auxiliary fuse panel, so I can easily get power from there but it's always hot. In order to power the LC-2 and any future mods that require switched 12V, I'm going to set up another smaller fuse panel attached to a relay and powered off the always hot panel.

Doing some research now but I haven't found anything too promising. Here's what I've got so far.
Option 1: Use an add-a-circuit on one of the fuses in the cabin, then run the wire through the firewall grommet and up to the relay
Option 2: Splice into a wire, likely the wiper motor power. Not sure what the least sloppy way to do this would be. Cut and crimp?

Thanks! I did do the rear main, it was the last rubber oil seal on this engine that I hadn't touched. Telescopic mirror is a good idea, I'll have to pick one up. I didn't know they existed when I was doing the coolant reroute or I would've definitely bought one. If you're thinking about doing a coolant reroute/revisiting the leak at the back of the engine, its 100x easier with the transmission out.

Oil change today. Rotella T6 and Mobil 1 long life filter.

I changed my mind about the windeband install -- I'm just going to get an add-a-circuit fuse tap and put in on the CIGAR fuse, wire up the LC-2 and mount it behind the airbag switch, then run the sensor cable through the shift boot. Simplest way to do it.

Drove the car to work this week. I've traded my bus pass for a parking spot so it's on commuter duty from now on. It's been great so far. Had a slight issue with some stuttering and a weird idle droop. I thought it might be the coilpack going out, but when I popped the hood I noticed that the ignition wire for cylinder 1 wasn't pushed in all the way. I put it back in place and that seems to have fixed it. We'll see.

It was hot out today. Over 100. No cooling issues whatsoever, thankfully. The duty cycle on my fan is way down after fixing that leak. Now that the system can actually hold pressure it appears to be more efficient.

Waiting on the LC-2 wideband and a DW100 fuel pump to arrive. Hopefully those will keep me busy next weekend.

Idle droop and hesitation have been have still been happening off and on so I replaced the coil pack today. I went with a cheaper aftermarket one since It just needs to last until I convert to COP. I'll need to drive it for a few days to see if the issue is solved.

I dealt with my battery today. I have an AGM battery from O'Reilly's that's supposed to be Miata-specific, but the stock tie down is too high to prevent it from moving. I also stripped the threads for the bolt that secures the tie down when I first bought the car, so that didn't help much. The battery would slide back and forth and jump up a bit when I went over bumps.

Ordered a steel battery plate from advanced autosports to replace my cracked plastic one. There are actually 2 holes in the floor of the NB battery compartment, so once I popped out the factory grommets the plate bolted right in:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...46e3066951.jpg

I looped 2 tie-down straps underneath the bracket before tightening the bolts, then cranked them down on the battery.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...03f0c15960.jpg

Not the cleanest solution, but it holds this battery down much better than the stock setup did.

Robbins tan cloth top with zipperless glass window. I always wanted a tan top instead of the black one that came with my car. I was undecided on what color NB I wanted to buy and was leaning towards British racing green until I saw an ad for a black and tan. Someone else ended up buying that one, and I tried to hold out but I got impatient.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...89315bcb33.jpg

I noticed that it's a little quieter inside on the freeway with the canvas top. Every little bit helps.

LC-2 arrived but I didn't get to it today.

LC-2 wideband installed.


I hate thinking about where to source power when adding things to the car. Decided to put in the second fuse panel under the dash.

Got a bunch of wiring supplies and a 5-pack of 30 amp relays for this project and a few others.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a4ebc0b70c.jpg


Poked through this firewall grommet near the clutch master cylinder. Ran 12 gauge +12V starting from a fuse panel I put in earlier that's fed from the battery with 0 gauge wire, through the grommet, to a new smaller panel under the dash. I also ran vacuum tubing for the MS3 install while I was in there.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d7e66d7747.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0c488066a5.jpg


Since the +12V wire I ran was always hot, I put one of the relays up under the dash and used an add-a-circuit to trigger it off the radio fuse. Now I have switched power for any future additions. Thinking about an inverter to plug a laptop into and an auto-dimming rear view.


Pulled the downpipe off and brought it to a muffler shop to have a bung welded in. I could've used the factory location, but I wanted to be able to run the stock ECU without a check engine light while leaving the wideband in. Also the main reason I went through all this pain-in-the-ass wiring instead of just powering the wideband from the MS3 -- if I ever need to go back to running the stock ECU on short notice, I don't have to swap any sensors or worry about the wideband getting damaged because its left in the exhaust without power.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0b66c70f06.jpg


I don't know if I did a poor job marking it, or they didn't drill where I marked but when I installed the sensor I had maybe 5mm of clearance between it and the transmission. That was almost a day-ruiner. Ran the sensor wiring up through the shift boot as suggested on many threads here. Worked great. I put the LC-2 controller behind the little pop-out piece of the dash in the driver side foot-well. This way I can take a quick look at the status light for troubleshooting, or leave it covered if everything is working.

MS3 install should be pretty straightforward now that this is sorted out.

I also swapped my accessory belts. I had done this a couple years ago when I first got the car, but I used parts store belts. My alternator has a noticeable whine which is quite annoying and I wanted to rule out the belt. Here's a difference between the Dayco alternator belt I had on (left), and a new OEM one (right):

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3f6d4639e3.jpg

Tightened it up to 110 lbs using a kricket belt tension tester tool. It's much quieter now. Unfortunately I've noticed that I'm getting voltage drops. The battery light hasn't been coming on, but occasionally when coasting to a stop the battery voltage reported through OBD2 will go from the normal 13.6 to 12 or even 11 for a few seconds, then back to 13ish. I guess I'll try to tighten it more, but it felt really tight.

Not sure which project to do next weekend. I'd like to get my FM spal fans off the stock harness and power them through relays. It might help with the voltage issue so I'm leaning towards that. But I also have the MS3 to put in, and a set of FM frame rails that I FOMO'd into a couple weeks ago when I read about the pending price increase. And the DW100 from Trackspeed came in.

Wideband controller install:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dc7a8501b6.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...71a047223f.jpg



Installed relays for both spal fans instead of running them through the factory wiring. Glad I decided to go through with this. Installing the fans was one of the first car mods I did that involved wiring and I did an awful job. Ground wire for the driver's side fan popped right out of the crimp connector when I lifted it.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3776aceb5b.jpg

The passenger side fan was just as bad. There were maybe 2 strands of copper making the ground connection and the wire insulation as well as the electrical tape I wrapped everything with was melted/burned.

Put in a 40 amp relay for each fan. Fed both with 12 awg power and ground.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f268523078.jpg

Got some nice high temp rated wire as well as braided heat-resistant loom. I got +12 V for both from my auxillary fuse panel next to the factory one on the passenger side near the firewall. For the driver's side fan I just ran back to the firewall, then across behind the head. 30 amp fuse for each fan. I'm not sure if this is the appropriate size - I may go down to 20.

Fabricated, in the loosest sense of the word, a bracket to hold my relays on the passenger side.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...83ba784f0c.jpg

Re-purposed clutch hardline bracket with some home depot perforated duct strap. Rattle can'd it black.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bdd970f3bf.jpg

Makes removing the fan relay and the HID relay much easier. Wiring is a rat's nest because I'm troubleshooting my HID setup. One of my headlights occasionally won't turn on, so I've been swapping components from side to side one at a time to find the problem. Left everything everywhere for easier swaps.

Similar bracket for the driver's side.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...710d88e70a.jpg

Turned it on and the fans worked. The tone at startup actually sounds different. Before, when turning on the a/c, it sounded as if they were almost ramping up -- the pitch would change a bit over the first second. Now they seem to get up to speed almost immediately.

Tightened up the alternator belt. Either the belt had stretched, or I didn't crank down enough on the pivot bolt because it was much looser than when I installed it. Went for a drive and unfortunately I'm still getting voltage drops. They seem to occur when I'm letting off the gas and the fans kick on. I'll see 11-12 V for a second or so, then it will go back up to 13.6. The battery light on the dash never comes on. I think it's just taking the ECU time to compensate for the increased load. It seems to have started when I changed the main relay, the belts, and added the wideband. The belt tension is good, so I don't see what could've triggered it. But it really doesn't seem to be an issue for now, as the battery is charging just fine so I'm going to leave it alone.


Next week will be either the FM rails for the DW100.

Thanks for the in depth details on all the work you are doing. I picked up an NB1 about 2 months ago, and it is nice to see what others do or headaches they run into while working on their car.

What was your deciding factors to determine the purchase of the Fox set up vs the Xidas? Sorry if I missed it.

Congrats on your NB1 and welcome to the club!

I was really torn between the Fox and Xidas. I almost pulled the trigger on the Xidas a few times. Aside from just drinking the MT.net koolaide, based on Emilio's multiple posts about them here and on m.net it sounded like he put a ton of time and effort developing and refining them and was proud of how they came out. Obviously, he sells them so he's going to paint them in a positive light but if you go through a few posts you'll see what I mean. A whole lot of effort went into making them, they're very well received on here and therefore most likely worth buying. I did more research and ultimately decided that although the Xidas were a great product, they just weren't right for my application. I needed a taller ride height that would put me outside of the ideal operating range of the Xidas.

In order to get to my garage I have to go down one of the worst alleys in LA. Here are a few photos. These are just the closest potholes to my place, there are many more that are way worse. It's about a 1/4 mile gauntlet of bumps from the entry to exit:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6f1b1b4f2a.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1c05a78d79.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f7aa78cd60.jpg


After that, I have a pretty steep ramp to get into the garage. On my blown stock suspension at factory ride height, I needed to use a set of plywood ramps to avoid scraping when pulling in. The rear of the car would dip after the nose cleared the ramp, causing my rear brace to scrape.

Anyway, the point is that I just couldn't go low and daily this car without a bunch of headaches. At the time, the Xidas XL weren't available. So the Fox from FM which offered quality on par with the Xidas but more travel and the ability to run a taller ride height was a much better fit for me. I haven't posted much about the Fox since I bought them, but I absolutely love them. I haven't done any track/autocross with them yet, but they're amazing for a DD. I'd like to post a full review once I get the chance, since there aren't that many out there. I can go down the alley-from-hell at a good clip and not touch the bumpstomps. I did a trip up to northern CA with the gf and they were plenty comfortable on the freeway for 5 hours. You can tell that the car has stiff springs, but they're exceptionally well behaved. In my opinion these are a really solid option for a street car. They fit my needs perfectly - a performance suspension that wouldn't compromising ride quality, or cause headaches when navigating everyday terrain like potholes, speedbumps etc.

I haven't been in a car with Xidas to compare (maybe at MLS), but for what it's worth I would fully recommend the Fox.

Thanks for the info.

You do realize we also offer Xida XL, which are the same length as OEM right?

We would agree, that the shorter Xida Race would not be appropriate for your application.

I picked up my coilovers back in 2016 before the Xida XL were available. It would've been a much tougher call for me had they been around when I was buying. It's great that you guys saw there was a market for longer shock bodies though.

Frame rails installed.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...df18ae344d.jpg


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bd47351df9.jpg

Passenger side took a lot of massaging. Tried to align them well enough so that adding the butterfly brace later on would be possible, but I doubt I'll go for it. It would make doing lots of work under the car a tremendous pain, so I'm willing to give up a little stiffness in exchange for less hassle. I already dislike taking the under-tray off all the time but it's a necessity.

I lost some precious ground clearance, so now I'm scraping on the entrance to my garage again. Sounds horrific when I pull in.



https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3d8695bf05.jpg

I had set up my ride height with the Foxes so that I was just high enough to clear it without issue, but apparently I cut it a little too close. Put plywood ramps down. Now I either need to raise my ride height and get a new alignment, or just take a sledgehammer to that bit of concrete. Leaning towards the latter.

DW100 fuel pump installed, along with new OEM sock.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4151a8ee72.jpg

Mostly did this as a preventative measure, and it I've read here that it was recommended to replace the fuel pump before adding boost. Not because the stock flow rate is inadequate, but because they're mostly old and tired.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3ece1a4f73.jpg

I did a quick test drive tonight and everything seemed fine. I'll take it out for a longer drive tomorrow. I think I'm going to return the DW hardwire kit. I'll run as-is for now, then maybe pick up the trackspeed hardwire kit. Need to e-mail and ask for some details on it. I'm concerned about getting a good crimped connection on the pump power wire. It's in an awkward place and there's not much slack in the harness to pull free, so there's very little wire to work with. I'm not sure if there are any of the metal pieces on the vertical wall behind the seats can be removed to expose more of that harness or what.

Took the car out for a long ride and it didn't burn to the ground. It actually felt smoother. Might just be placebo, I'll need to drive it a while longer.

Here is the plywood ramp that I'm using until I can clearance the garage entrance or raise my ride height.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2d028103c8.jpg


In the true spirit of this build, by fixing one thing I introduced another issue -- the new relays that I added to run the cooling fans are causing noise in my amplifier. Whenever either relay clicks on, there's a moderately loud pop from both speakers. The same thing happens when the power door relay activates, but that wasn't as big a deal. With the a/c on, I'm getting these pops very frequently and it's annoying. First thing I tried was checking the ground on the amp. It's using thick cable, and the connection was good. I moved it to various places and couldn't get an improvement. Even tried grounding it to the battery using jumper cables and still had the popping. Next I tried unplugging the head unit from the input of the amp and connecting my phone. I played some music and there was no popping when the power door lock relay or the cooling fan relays activated. So the noise is coming through the RCA cables from the head unit. Ordered this:


We'll see if it helps. If not, I'll try grounding the head unit to the same place as the amp.

Alright, I've run out of parts except for the MS3. Next weekend? Excited but worried I'll run into a lot of issues. We'll see.

Did you put in a new sock and fuel filter at the same time? Those could have been your issue as well.

I did replace the sock with a new OEM one, so it's possible. The old one seemed fine visually. The fuel filter was replaced last year in an attempt to fix the hesitation, but didn't have any effect.

Sending the ID 725s off to be cleaned.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ba35eb20ba.jpg

I am really liking this build so far; the long term goal and general use is similar to what I have in mind as well.

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it.

Had to take my fuel pump out again. This past week, the car was extremely slow to start after it had been sitting for a while. Pretty sure the issue was it was losing fuel pressure. No gas smell at all, so the leak had to be in the tank. I had re-used the OEM spring clamps on the short section of hose connecting the DW100 to the pump assembly hardline. Apparently it wasn't sealing well enough. I pulled it out and swapped in the worm-drive clamps that came with the tank. Seems to have worked.

Put the MS3 in on Saturday, but I couldn't get the car to start with it. Multiple issues. Firstly, I couldn't get the CAN wideband module working with digital output from the LC-2. I bought the module used from a forum member along with the MS3. He hadn't been able to get it working and basically threw it in with the MS3 at no cost. I was hoping I could get lucky and find the issue. Connected it and opened the housing. It has 4 LEDs: green and red, which should be solid if the unit is receiving power. Then two blue ones which blink if the module is communicating with the wideband and the MS3. Solid indicates no connection. The one for the wideband was blinking, but the other was solid. Unhooked the DB37 to open it and have a look and found the issue:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1a2d5731f1.jpg

Pin 9, CANH had broken off. Thought about what I wanted to do and decided to order a new DB37. I didn't feel like making one so I just bought a pigtail from DIYAutotune.

Previous owner of the MS had been using a GM 3 bar MAP sensor. I bought a 1 bar to replace it and use for barometric correction. I assumed it would be a plug-and-play swap since there was already a pigtail wired to the DB37, but annoyingly the connectors are keyed differently for the 3 bar and 1 bar GM MAP sensors even though they have the same pinout. Ordered a 1 bar connector pigtail to put on my new DB37.

Tried to just use analog wideband input, but I couldn't get a reasonable signal from the LC-2. It would read very low, around 7, when I first turned the key to on and the LC-2 was warming up. Once the LC-2 was fully heated, it would jump to 15 or so. This is with the engine off, so it should be reading full lean. I put the stock ECU back in to get the car running again. Planning to have another go at it next weekend.

The CAN wideband module will take a little bit of fiddling to configure. I haven't seen any write-ups that say exactly what settings need to be changed. I've only set up one myself, and the few explanations I did find didn't cover everything.

You may want to connect to your LC-2 with innvotate's serial cable and software, and make sure your outputs are programmed correctly. MS is assuming it's 0 volts for full rich, 5 volts for full lean, but with LM Programmer you can change that. Make sure it isn't.

Thanks curly. I read your thread on setting up the wideband module as well a few others and found some instructions that Reverant posted and was able to piece together most of the process, but couldn't get too far because of the connector issue. I'll plan on messing with it a bit once I have the new db37. Hopefully once it's configured it's a set-it-and-forget-it type deal.

I will take a look at LM Programmer. That's a great suggestion. I was thinking the error in the AFR was too high to be due to a voltage offset caused by a ground or something like that, so it's probably a calibration issue.

Gentlemen, behold!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2cb3f42028.png


Wired up this abomination. Wideband CAN module, GM 1 bar MAP sensor for real-time barometric correction, and serial to wifi converter. It ain't pretty, but it works. Installed it and I was able to communicate with the LC-2 over CAN.

Still can't get it to start. The car never seems to catch. Adding throttle didn't seem to help. I could smell gas after the first few attempts, so I used flood clear and then tried again. Attached a datalog for that attempt as it was the closest the car got to starting. After cranking, the CEL began to flash and I heard some misfiring, then it died. Have to do some research and troubleshoot in the morning.

hope you get it figured out

(can you link the wifi to serial you are using?)

Love the build so far, KEEP IT UP!

Thanks! Here you go: Serial RS232 Wi-Fi Adapter with Advanced Functions


Still no luck getting it to start. Attempting to adjust the cranking pulsewidth but I'm not sure if I'm adding too much fuel at a time or what because it doesn't seem to get any closer to catching. Composite log attached.

It started! Swapped ignition input capture from falling to rising edge after reading a few threads about similar issues on here.

Took it out for a couple hours while running VEAL. Overall the car feels great. Reverant's base VE table is great starting point. Interestingly, I noticed that the pinging I was getting before with the stock ECU is gone. Before, if I applied more than 30% or so throttle in 2nd at around 2k RPM, it would hesitate and ping like hell. To get around it I just waited longer to shift into 2nd, then was very ginger with the throttle right after getting into that gear. Now the car just accelerates without any pinging.

Still needs some work of course. It was very apparent when changing between some cells in the VE table, so I'll have to smooth it out.

Having a little bit of an issue with hot restarts. The car will start, but idle will dip very low for a few seconds so I have to give it some throttle to keep it alive. The other issue I noticed is that when stopping at a light and beginning to idle, the engine will go up to 2k rpms for a couple seconds before dropping down to its normal idle rpm at 850 - 1100. Tune attached.

Another week of commuting with the MS3. Zero major issues so far, this thing is amazing. I took it out this weekend to remount it and do a little cable management. The replacement DB37 I got from DIYautotune is super beefy so I added a spacer at the lower stud that the singular bracket mounts to. This way the wires can make a little gentler bend.

Set up adaptive timing at idle for more stability. I'm running 10 degrees by default, then -5 to +5 depending on RPM delta from my target of 850. Car starts perfectly, both cold (as cold as LA gets) and warm now after tuning afterstart enrichment and warmup enrichment a bit. Next I need to switch the idle duty cycle from "last good value" to the CLT/duty cycle table. I think that will sort out the last little quirk of sometimes getting a little surge when I come to a stop and start idling in traffic.

ID 725s came back from cleaning. They're still very well matched:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d76efc85eb.png

Going to Laguna Seca next weekend so hopefully won't be doing any work on the car. I think I'll put the ID725s in the following weekend.

Just to recap, status on the journey to boost:

Fix car
Fix car again
Stronger clutch
MS3
Injectors
Turbo

Made it to Laguna Seca and back in one piece!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1521dc19c7.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a09067fbdd.jpg


Next to no drama from the car, except when it refused to start as we were rolling out for the parade laps. Panicked for a moment, I was shocked and hurt that it would do me dirty like that after all we've been through together. Then I realized it wasn't even cranking so it might be the clutch interlock. Took a look and it turns out the vacuum hose to the MS wasn't routed far enough away and had flopped over enough to stop the clutch switch from engaging. Pushed it out of the way and it started right up and we got to do a few laps. Journey home was uneventful.

Our first weekend at MLS. It was a really great weekend overall. Arrived/registered a bit too late to catch many of the events, like the bbq and Saturday night party. But we got to check out the vendor garages in the paddocks and I did a ride along. Got enough of a taste to want to go back next year. We stayed at Asilomar over in Pacific Grove, about 30 mins away from the track. Really beautiful conference grounds right near the beach. Made for a nice little trip.

Alternator whine got really bad. Swapped out my pioneer head unit for a JVC and now it's totally gone. Cleaned up the wiring back there a bit, and ran an additional ground to the chassis just in case. Happy with it so far.

Finally got the serial to wifi adapter working. The spec sheet says it can be powered from pin 9 of the serial connector, but it wasn't working. Picked up a dashcam hardwire kit with a 12V to 5V mini usb converter and that did the trick. No more serial cable draped across the center console.

Still working on speeding up the starting times. I have cranking idle pwm duty dialed in much better now, just playing with cranking pwm now. I also set priming pulse to a flat 4 ms instead of the 1 ms it was before. Hot restarts are great now. Cold starts have a lot of room for improvement. It still starts on the first try every time, but I'd like to get it as fast as or better than stock

Changed the oil and checked the brake pads. First autocross next weekend.

I've been looking at roll bars since coming back from Laguna Seca. Leaning towards Blackbird Fabworx single diagonal.

Great progress!

I just bought frame rails and I'm hoping to get them installed in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for your help with my headlight issue btw. It turned out to be a relay that had decided to corrode pretty much right after it was installed.