Grape Expectations
 

I'm here for my denoobification. Denoobify me miataturbo.net!

***Btw, the thread title will become relevant towards the end of this novel.***

I purchased my NA miata about 8 months ago to replace dd duties of my mess of a project HP10 G20 SR20DET swap (another story all together). I wanted something low mileage, good condition, got great gas mileage, and would be no fuss I started off my hunt looking for red NBs. Loved nbs. Loved me some red nbs. Yum. After a month of searching, I came across a photo-less craigslist posting for a low mileage red '99 SE 5mt with red hard top at the perfect price. After making several phone calls to the owner about it, we agreed to meet in hood river, an hour and a half away, to show me the car.

I arranged a friend to drive me and we left the next morning with a wad of cash in hand. Upon arrival, we noticed that the miata did not look as cherry as the owner had described. On closer inspection, the car was clearly neglected and had been left underneath a tree to be pummeled by tree debris. Every panel was dinged, the CEL was on, the passenger side window reg had issues... I couldn't believe it. I had to walk away from it. But I had tasted miata ownership and told myself that this was the day: the day I buy a damn miata.

I popped up on craigslist and called every car within a 100 mile radius that looked remotely good on the drive back. I saw this little 1994 A package in Salem and arranged to see it later in the afternoon. This is that car:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383361701

Purchased her with a semi-gutted drivers seat, single diagonal hard dog roll bar, revalved rpackage bilstein shocks with ground control coilover sleeves (fr/rr: 450#/300#), Racing beat hollow front sway, 949 endlinks, new Robbins top with a glass rear window, and a Racing Beat catback. I threw on an NRG v2.5, ebay hub, and 350mm Momo Monte Carlo for good personal fitment (I'm 6').

A new oil change, brake/clutch/trans/diff flush, and a brake pad/rotor swap and a set of new tires later, she was good to go. Everything was fine and dandy for 4 months.... then this happened:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383361701

Sitting at a gas station at 7 pm, a young girl (and attractive but I digress) decided to back her 2000 Landrover Discovery into me. She didn't seem to notice she was running over anything until her tow-hitch made it onto the hood. I fought the insurance company for 4 weeks before we agreed on the value. I bought my car back and fixed up the little bit of damage (non-frame related due to tow-hitch contact). I installed a brand new OE upper radiator support, Koyo 37mm radiator, front bumper, hood, driver side fender, and headlight bracket/assembly. Don't ask me how I found one, but the local salvage yard just so happened to have a sunburst yellow miata with everything I needed. I splurged and went ahead to purchase an R package rep front lip, rear lip, and Konig flatout 15x8 et25 with Dunlop Direzza DZ101 tires. I also placed an order for an Autokonexion V2 trunk lid and Planetmiata feedstyle sideskirts. After the repairs (sans the trunk and skirts):

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383361701

While repairing my miata, I was offered a barter I couldn't turn down: vinyl wrap of my choice for my photography services. Once the trunk lid and sideskirts arrived, the shop got to work. Here's how she turned out!:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383361701

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383361701

So that's the story of this car thus far. I have plans for this little car. I've now turned to miataturbo.net to get this car into the next stage of it's life. She has turned a new leaf: from being just a reliable dd to being a project dd thanks to the cutie with the Discovery getting gas that one fateful evening. I'm here to learn about boostin' miatas and more... and to lurk your classifieds ;) .

On a side-note, to any of you guys who are in the PNW, I'm open to arranging photoshoots for barter (any sort of parts would work, turbo related or not :) ).

Thanks for reading!

wow, that wrap came out nice.

:winner: A+ intro

Spurple now, huh? I get it.

That's actually a great intro post. Welcome to the forum! We have a pretty healthy PNW crew that track their cars regularly. It sounds like yours is nearly ready.

Thanks for joining, Stealthyfish!

Very Nice! one of the most impressive Wrap-jobs that ive seen!

Great looking wrap job. Nice find on the car. Where in the PNW? I'm in Tigard, work in Hillsboro (sell cars, including Mazdas). I don't currently have a Miata but always down for a drive.

And the DZ101's are a GREAT tire. Basically star specs.

:ugh2:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383435810

Wrap looks really good.

Looks awesome man, I actually really like the purple / bronze. Welcome to the forum.

Thanks guys. I'm in the Bethany area of Portland if any of you locals are familiar with that part. Sort of near tanasbourne.

And Do people love grapes. Grapes and grape drank.

Welcome fellow PNW'er. It's a shame that two tone silver/white paint job is no more, however I was never a fan of it. Nice job with the wrap, not sure about the color choice, but works well.

If I had need of photography skills and parts to barter with, I'd take you up on your offer, sadly I'm keeping all my turbo bits and have nothing worthy of being in front of a camera.

Any more info on the wrap? Link? Price?

That's alright. I sort of miss the two-tone paint job as well. It slowly grew on me and I almost reconsidered the wrap to just get the new parts maaco painted, but the convenience of wrapping the car and having new parts wrapped if anything went awry was pretty enticing.

The color choice was actually based off of my love for technoviolet metallic on E36 M3s. technoviolet metallic and midnight purple are two of my favorite colors on cars. When the miata was totaled out, I considered picking up a TVM M3 but decided against it and looked through the color swatches until I found the closest thing to either of those colors without having the car look to lame/flamboyant gay.

I5-designs did the work for me.

i5 Designs

It's usually around 1500-2000 depending on the type of material (chrome/matte/textured/gloss).

They did this car if any of you guys caught it running around Portland for the month or two it was finished and still here:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383573194

Their less flashy stuff looks good too though. I really liked their satin pearl white:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383573194

But in any case, they work exclusively with 3M, Avery, and Oracal.

I work for Orafol, parent company of Oracal.

Thank you for not using HDR. Unusual to find the lack of it in a car photographer today.

Oh sweet! Each company has a pretty good and different set of color swatches which is pretty awesome.

It's a personal pet peeve of mine when HDR gets used in the wrong way. I think we use the term so much, the acrynom gets completely lost with people. When used properly, it works really well. Most of the time, though, it just gets used and abused and looks nothing short of tacky, oversaturated, and radioactive.

Pretty good stuff. I too am a huge technoviolet fan on the M3. Welcome.

Just purchased a Goodwin Racing PPF brace and mazdaspeed differential mounts. Photos of the PPF will be posted soon. I have a little plan for building this car starting with the chassis and I may have the turbo setup figured out but I will post that up later for any suggestions or critiques.

Pics of the P10? I never modded mine but man it was a fantastic DD. Willing (if weezy) engine, comfy interior other than cupholders, and the best, absolutely the best suspension I've experienced in a relatively cheap FWD sedan.

I'll post up photos and the details in a bit.

First off....

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385101259

It's here thanks to JonB over at CR.net for selling me this thing and getting it to me so quickly.

And to the G20 story. So back when I owned an E36 and was at Oregon State in Corvallis finishing my undergrad, I met a guy who I thought was out of his mind and ricer as all hell. He owned about 10 G20s at the time; both P10s and P11s. I had a hard time believing anything this kid told me just because of the ridiculousness of it all. The day it all changed was when I got the chance to borrow his '99 P11 cloth package non-moonroof 5 speed vLSD. I had a blast in it. And when he gave me the keys to his SR20VE+T 94.5 OBDI S15 white P10, I was sold on G20s and boosted cars.

For a while though, I planned on selling my BMW for a 240SX. It was a bit hard for me to swallow owning an FF as an only car. I sold the BMW but had a hard time finding a 240 due to the inflated market and my college-kid budget. I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for cars. To add to this, my brother was also in the market for a car and this seemed like a fun car for him... and for me to bum my G20 fix while I looked for a 240. My friend managed to find me this G20 for sale for what seemed like a steal of a deal: 2300 dollars including a Nissan Avenir SR20DET swap built with eagle rods and replaced DET pistons. There's more to this part of the story but I'll save you guys the extended volume edition. I came home with the G20 and loved the potential of the car so much, I decided to keep it for myself.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385101259

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385101259

The build list:

Avenir SR20DET w/ bluebird ECU
Eagle Rods/turbo pistons
FMIC
Blitz BOV vented to atmosphere
Ksport RR Gen1 Coilovers
Short shift kit
Custom 2.5" exhaust to a magnaflow muffler

The honeymoon period with the car was fairly brief. For the next 2 years of my ownership experience, the car spent about 50/50 of it's life on the road and on jackstands. I gained a ton of practical experience in diagnosing and fixing boosted car issues but most of all, I learned to appreciate well-built/unmolested vehicles. Over this time, the car turned into a little sleeper project:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385101259

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385101259

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385101259

and again:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385101259

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385101259

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385101259

The resulting mod list ended in this:

Eagle rods
DET pistons
RMYC custom ITR projector headlights with 6000K HIDs
OEM Bluebird TMIC
WRX hood scoop
TWM shift knob
KYB AGX shocks
Tein S-tech springs
ACT HD Pressure plate
ACT 6 puck sprung clutch plate
Glowshift mechanical boost gauge
Custom Tach
Colbalt Sport Brake Pads
Blank face rotors
ATE Superblue brake fluid
New Axles
EDM smoked tail lights
Smoked front amber corner lights
Loco 90A polyurethane motor/trans/crossmember mounts
Custom front lip
Energy suspension bushings
Magnaflow muffer
Custom 2.5" exhaust

I just sold her about 2 days ago.