Kilowhisky's Mighty Miata Build
 

I'm getting a decent way into my build and turning my attention to the engine finally, so I guess that means I need to make a build thread.

TLDR: Here's my build list https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

I've affectionately started calling her Enola.. short for Enola Gaaaaay.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9ddf04ebb9.jpg


Its been a long road so far and the plans keep changing but current thinking is that i'm aiming for a Kraken ERF-6758/6358 w/ E85, somewhere north of 300 hp. I've seen a few build threads here that light the path to that number, the only real question is how I manage to screw up bolting it all together. The point of this project is to give me something fun to do and learn some more about building a car from the base instead of just taking a car and modifying it. My goal is to do as much of the work myself as I can and at least try everything once (within reason). My wife calls it my midlife crisis project... which she isn't wrong..

She started out as rather well taken care of 94 that sat for 14 years after she developed a coolant leak. Since then everything that touched coolant had rusted. But besides that, the interior was nice and the body had almost no rust on it. I still overpaid by a lot, considering it was in pieces, but so far I haven't found anything bad.

I started by pulling the engine and tearing it down to send off to the machine shop. I ended up getting a new short block because the water jacket was just too rusted in the existing block. I decided to keep the head.

I then got a little addicted to powder coating and proceeded to coat the entire front and rear suspension. I tried my hand a de-rusting the nuts and bolts using electroplating but that turned out too costly, complicated, and messy.

I replaced literally everything as I went, new bushings, bearings, hubs, links, sways, everything.

I picked up a LSD, 6spd, roll bar, some bracing, and went to town changing all the gas lines for e85.

After sitting for so many years, the fuel tank was all gunked up and rusted, so a power wash and scrub were necessary to get that all cleaned up.

At this point I have all the suspension done and am now starting to move onto the engine which is where things start to get complicated. I was originally going to aim for ~250hp with a used 20G turbo but decided that since I’m going forged everything in the engine I might as well make some power out of it.

Now here’s where it gets complicated, I chose a local shop in San Diego to do the machine work, but after 6 months they had only managed to bore match the pistons and cylinder. They hadn’t even decked the block yet. With some threatening to pull the work, they managed to deck the block, cleanup the head, and laped the valves.

So now I’m stuck with a head that needs some more work and a block that needs to be inspected by a legit shop.

Link to full build photo dump: https://imgur.com/a/HBCslTo
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...14608e809a.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1f09a4aa2e.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f58763efb8.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1e7fbd1644.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ef08980b81.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...805298ff37.jpg

Awesome work, but PLEASE coat the rear sway bar!