Greetings from RVA
 

Long time lurker of this awesome forum. I have a 96 NA 1.8 M edition, manual and I love it to death. I acquired it 4 years ago and have been slowly modifying it. Goal is to make it faster. And a daily driver that I can drive to the mountains, track or autoX on the weekends. Progress has been slow as life has gotten in the way (married, baby, moved, new jobs). I honestly thought that covid would mean more time to work on the car but it's amazing how little you can get done with a toddler at home.

I got the car stock with 212k miles, but with a newer engine with 80k. Everything was stock and original except that. Since then, I've taken my time to slowly modify things and on a budget:

• Tein street advance coilovers (these are fine cuz they were cheap but I will go xida in the future)
• Polyurethane bushings with zerk fittings (most painful mod to do)
• Hard dog m1 hardtop roll bar
• Hawley performance coolant reroute
• Koyorad radiator
• Supermiata sport clutch and lightweight flywheel
• Flying Miata sway bars and end links
• Konig hypergram 15x7.5 with Yokohama S drive 195/50R15 (I don't care what you say, these are fun tires and sizes for this stock powered car. U can get the back out in 1st and 2nd if u want and still plenty of grip in the corners)
• Double DIN radio to replace the broken stock unit
• Hardtop and tossed out the soft top, which was torn (kinda regret this, might put it back in)
• Supermiata stainless steel brake lines
• Lots of maintenance (water pump, belts, valve cover gasket, slave cylinder, pads & rotors, spark plugs and wires)

Originally plan was to turbo it but I am reconsidering that as I like the reliability of an NA engine. Will be slowly reading up on that (k swap with their newer kit maybe, or the lfx swap looks badass but pricey).
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ee47a4efe4.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2221f0fbcc.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e898bb545d.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...92cc279d8a.jpg

Welcome fellow Richmonder! Looks like you're off to a solid start for sure.

And I agree that putting zerk fittings in the control arms was one of the most painful things I've done on a Miata so far. I think it's worth it in the end though.