Don't hate me, but my Miata is going off road!
 

Hey all, thought I would drop in and say hi. This is my first Miata, but not my first turbo car. Also not my first off roading vehicle, but definitely will be the smallest, haha!I bought this one specifically for the Texas Gambler 500. If you aren't familiar with the Gambler 500, check it out! I plan on jacking this thing up on 29-30" tires with a Paco Motorsports 3" lift, adding a giant LED light bar, welding up some tube bumpers for the front and back, cut the fenders to fit the tires, tire carrier on top of the trunk....you know, just your basic stuff. Anyways, here are a few pics, but I'll try to post some more along the way!

Plan this weekend is to pull the motor and start replacing lots of stuff (timing belt, water pump, all the seals, inspect heads and pistons, inspect tranny/clutch, etc.... should be a fun start to this project!

Welcome to the site, seems like this could be a fun project.

I'm curious about your power plans though. Are you keeping it stock-ish power or adding a turbo? The reason I ask, is that taking a motor apart just to inspect things doesn't seem terribly productive to me. Maintenance is one thing; timing belt, water pump, seals... but pulling the head and internals is not usually advisable unless they're coming out for forged stuff, even pulling a transmission/clutch to inspect seems like a lot of wasted time and effort (assuming it works now).

The car already had a turbo on it. It's been on for at least 40k miles. Looking at the car, I am not completely satisfied with the way things were installed. For one, the oil return bung in the oil pan is spitting oil out. Looks like it was poorly JB welded on. Because of that, i need to pull the pan to put a proper bung in there. To pull the pan, it's pretty much either drop the sub-frame, or pull the motor. Since I need to do the timing belt and water pump anyways, pulling the motor is my preferred option. I also need to put a new exhaust manifold on, and I want to check out the clutch. On top of all of that, one of the guys I work with used to be a mechanic at a speed shop, and my boss races SCCA Spec Miata. With all of the tools and knowledge at my disposal, I figure why not take it out and pull it apart. It will also let me play with the motor to see how it is built. This is strictly a play toy for me, so I am using it as a learning opportunity.

That make more sense?

Excellent plan. Welcome to the forum. I'm curious where this goes. A certain other guy on this forum keeps talking to me about building an offroad rally miata.