Pen2_the_penguin

iTrader: (4)

I have been meaning to join this forum, but it took up until now to join.

I have been in the mNet for quite some time now, but I have somewhat felt that the people on there are a lil' old for my age group, so I finally checked out this forum and it seems to be more of a home for me than mnet; I mean dont get me wrong, I sometimes enjoy being on there, but they are a little boring for my taste.




I am 20 years old, going on 21 in May. I am married to my high school sweetheart, (you are all slapping your foreheads huh... but I love her to death!) I went into the military when I turned 17, been active in the Air Force for 5 months, deployed for 3 in Kandahar and Kuwait as an aerial transporter, then went reserves so I can finish my auto tech/ASE certifications. My civilian jobs are an on-call computer tech. for a realty office, and a part time vinyl specialist in a sign and design shop.


I went to a technology high school, where I learned a little machining and a whole crap load of welding skills that got me certs in all areas. I am proud to say I am good at modifications and fabricating when I have the patience for them.

I have a 1994 Mazda Miata AT (yes, a slush-box, lets get it out in the open) that I got when I turned 16, and started to REALLY modify it when I turned 18. Of course I had the retarded modifications like the DIY cromed plastic intake kit from Spectre and blue vacuum lines, but my first major mod was port polishing my intake manifold with a home-made tool (its one of those solid cable thingys that allow you to wrench stuff at odd angles, mainly used for spark plugs, but instead of a socket fitting, it got a retro-fit with interchangable dremel bits).

After HS I went directly into the community college for a couple of months to get the core classes out of the way, and took auto tech 101. In that class there was 2 ignorant ******** that had WRXs that couldnt for the life of them stop bragging how they are driving a WRX; yes they are good cars, but most people who drive them these days are ******! Well these two people were always turbo this and turbo that, and laughing how I had a "girl" car, so it made me be inspired to show em' what a tuned automatic miata can do! After all that I found a Garrett/AiResearch M10 turbocharger lying around my uncles garage, which sparked an idea to come.

Before I set out for BMT (Basic Military Training), I built myself a custom stainless steel 2.5" cat back OBX exhaust. After that and I got my first part of my bonus, I set out to build a DIY system, where the only prefabed parts were an ebay manifold, intercooler, and downpipe. I spent about $1200 total, and was happy for about a week... until I ignorantly blew my motor by overboost. So I spent $500 on a different motor from a 96', and adjusted my boost this time around and happy ever since, after all the wrinkles have been ironed out. I have beat one of the two WRXs from that very class, but I have yet to see the other guy around.

My current projects is building the blown motor up with the FM Stroker (parts are purchased over time) and polishing the head and another intake manifold, and to save money for a 4-door car or SUV, because we have a little one on the way that is due sometime around may 2010.

I am glad that I have finally joined, and it seems like I will be spending more time on this site than mnet, since this seems like more of a place I belong to!