n00b here! converting a wannabe stance yata...
 

Hi everybody! </Dr. Nick> I bought a 99 yata that was part way into a sad attempt at STANCE LIFE YO!! It was fairly clean and being sold at the right price. I began to quickly undo all the horrors that had befallen this poor old gal and began converting it into a decent but budget friendly street and track car. The sole purpose of this car will be to go on spirited mountain runs on the roads of the Blue Ridge in North Carolina and a handful of HPDE events per year. At 6'3" it is a challenge to comply with the SCCA broom stick test, but I'm fully committed at this point. Rollbar and race seat have gotten me part way to that goal. I regret to report that the Rokkor coilovers (aka Racelands... gasp!) are still on the car because I can't decide on what to replace them with. Hopefully the fine folks on this forum can steer me in the right direction. Below are some before and after pics.

Before (Craigslist ad pic)
Attachment 218411

After (on the Tail of the Dragon a few months back)
Attachment 218412

Wow, impressive transformation! I like the green, is it a wrap or paint? Also being generously statured (6'4" when I stretch) I feel your pain on getting low in the car. For fun I sat directly on the floor when I had the seats out for rollbar install...it was pretty amazing.

Welcome to the forum! Where are you located? Clearly also near the Blue Ridge...

This might not be what you want to hear, but unless you have a hookup with a Penske shock builder, or a high end shop (for a cnc cantilever setup) there is one choice for suspension.

What spring rates do you want on your XIDAs?

Coilovers

Welcome to the forum!

I met you at MATG after we got separated from one of the run groups. We ended up pulling over, discussing options, and driving straight to the destination brewery.

He's a good guy, everyone. And he never loses his car in a parking lot.

Im not usually into the bright colors, but the black on green is HOT

Thanks themonkeyman! The "paint job" is actually plastidip from dipyourcar.com. Its been on the car just over a year now and has held up well.
I'm in Charlotte, NC. I'm going to add that to my profile now.

Thanks for the tip, but XIDAs are unfortunately not in the budget. I'm looking in the $1k range. Might go with a DIY Bilstein coilover setup. Still need to research that a bit more though.

Thanks sixshooter! Our talk over some brews got me rethinking my suspension setup. Looking forward to making some of those changes soon.

The lime green was easy to spot in a sea of hundreds of Miatas at the MATG event! :D

Thanks!

Save up until your budget is enough for the Xidas. They really are that good and worth it.

What are people's thoughts on used XIDAs? Just saw some sets somewhat near my budget, but the spring rates seemed a bit stiff for a street/track car at 700/350. I'm still not all that familiar with spring rates, but wouldn't something more like 500/350 be better for street/track? I need to be able to drive this thing for like 8 hours on a mountain run day without it braking my spine. LOL!

I think used xidas are a fantastic option in your budget because they will have the longevity you want. I'll let the others answer for which ones you should get.
DIY billies are a great option, but unfortunately you're not starting with bilsteins at all. You're looking at spending 200ish for the shocks and then 300-500 for the parts depending on how baller you want to make the setup. I really like mine and would go higher spring rate next time, but they were more expensive than i anticipated to do things right.

When you say 200ish for the shocks, are you talking each or for a set of 4? Also, is the DIY billies setup done using the OEM Bilsteins or aftermarket, or it doesn't matter?

I was running 700/400 on my Xida race and they were fine on the street. I actually just pulled them last night to drive up to Charlotte tonight to deliver to a friend. I would not hesitate at all getting a used set of XIDA's. If you want to head down to CMP November 10-12 I can give you a ride in my car with XIDA ACE's.

For you the Xida XL/GS might be a bit better depending on how low you want to go.

Xidas are more comfy at higher rates than pretty much everything else. It's part of the magic that makes them the go-to shock for our cars.

New MSM valved Bilsteins will be ~$130 apiece.

I'm talking a set of 4 used bilstein shocks for the LS model cars, hard S model cars, or the mazdaspeed miata. Your best bet is to try to find a set of low-ish miles MSM shocks if you're trying to go this route.
And yes. OEM Billies.

See here: https://www.miataturbo.net/suspensio...2/#post1447095