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Old 03-20-2017, 10:24 PM
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Hello from Granbury Texas,
New member here, only recently joined the Miata crowd after fixing a customers 00. Wife though it was cute, looked on Craigslist and the first car she found was a 05 ti MSM. It was CHEAP and I bought it for myself and my 19 year old son.
It didn't work out...
Car was too valuable to modify highly.
Turbo, manifold, placement of turbo, all the stock MSM stuff was too small and poorly engineered IMO.
Came to conclusion that if I really wanted a fast Miata better to start with a non MSM and provision it with properly sized equipment.
My son (who is one of the track marshals at Motorsport Ranch) thought it was fun, not fast enough, and had WAY to much exposure for his tastes.
Everyone and their Grandparents wanted to race him at every light..
If he got within 1/4 mile of a Police car it ended up on his bumper and followed him to where ever he was going...
Too much exposure. He wanted to return to his 04 Odyssey (completely invisible to everything- you can pass a cop doing triple digits and they don't see it).
All of us loved the way it drove, the feedback it provided, it was a great car; just not a good fit for us.
I sold it to another customers grandson who absolutely loves it...

Enter the 99. Another customer drug in a 99 5spd that had been sitting in a garage for over 5 years. I did a resurrection, got it running on B12, made a list of all the stuff it was going to need to be road worthy again, and the customer decided they did not want to sink that much money in it.
An offer was made and accepted...
The car is a bit of a roach. Needs fuel tank (yep, not cleanable, open the fuel cap, take a big wiff, and puke all over the shop- bad bad gas tank) Entire fuel system is suspect.
Just before it was entombed a deer killed it. Pretty good hood hit which broke the cam sensor. The deer ran away from the accident. The Miata did not. The cam sensor was fixed before the big sleep.
It ended up with either alternator issues or a bad battery and it was garaged and forgotten.
My intentions were to get it road worthy, do some autocrossing, and run it in the GRM 2017 challenge (1008 class- super cheap cars)
I've been watching Craigslist and this site for the last 6 weeks, learning and plotting.

Old Japanese sports cars are like potato chips, you can never have just one...

I recently found another. A 2 owner 86K mile 02 LS that really was a "barn find". It was a young mans "track" car and has been seriously gutted. It was missing most of the cool bits as the pervious owner had parted the car out.
It still has the VVT motor, the 6 speed, and the 3.9 Torsen.
The body is near perfect (besides the 1/2 chopped front and rear caps)
It has a WB02 sensor and guage.
It has a nice thick aluminum radiator.
It sat in a garage/barn for the last couple of years.
It had 5 lbs of rat **** in it. The carpets are toast. It is pungent...
No rust or major damage anywhere.

Going to take the interior, top, shocks, wiring harness from the 99 and fit them in the 02. Probably going to use the 99 engine, megasquirt, china charger, intercooler, COP, e85 to make appropriate power.
Run it this year NA in the Challenge (1008 class) and next year boosted (2018 class).

My qualifications:
Been wrenching on Imports for 38 years. Own my own auto repair business. Have a central heat and air conditioned 2400 sq foot shop.
Competent fabricator.
Magical electrical capabilities
Ex ASE double master (auto and machinist).
Ex Mazda Senior technician. Late 80s, before the Miata.
I was one of the last "factory authorized" Fiat mechanics in the early 80s (if you can fix Fiats you can fix anything- when something is difficult or a PIA I call it "Fiat bad", I can usually make a Fiat run with nothing more than electrical tape and some B12)
Taught engine performance at local community college.
Helped my mentor Corky Bell edit Maximum Boost (manuscript was WAY funnier than the book)

Miatas are new to me but Import performance is not. I've been a die hard Z car freak for years.

Other projects currently involved with:
91 turbo MR2- My 75 year old Dads car. Building 350 WHP on original motor, using ATS stuff
98 E36 M3 Museum quality restoration, may lightly boost the stock engine, would rather install my LS1/T56 but the car is really too nice to swap.
Multiple Z cars all pre ZX
1976 GMC motor home (seen the movie "Stripes"- that's what we have, ours has "Team McClaren" painted on it- with the correct Kiwi birds in the correct colors which are hideous. We don't have documentation yet but it may be a "hospitality coach" from the Indy car attempt in the late 70s)
1969 E type convertible Jag, at one time this car had triple turbos, 12 injectors, and port nitrous. This is the car in Jeff Hartman's book, Dad traded Jeff a turbo MR2 years ago for the Jag. Massive restoration project we are probably just going to sell...
SAE car. 600 lbs Ninja motor, old defunct SAE car, way cool.

At some point I'll start a build thread on my car which we may call "Ratt" due to the condition we got it in.
I do more lurking than posting and I'm pretty good at searching so I'll try to keep the questions relevant.
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Old 03-21-2017, 02:58 PM
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Welcome to the forum. We are looking forward to getting to know you.

Somebody else is on here from Granbury, TX. Trying to recall who.
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Old 03-21-2017, 07:51 PM
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@hornetball is from Granbury.

Welcome.
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Old 03-21-2017, 08:29 PM
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Howdy! Welcome to here. I've got 3 Miatas and a bunch of other interesting stuff. Member out at Cresson. Give me a shout sometime.
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Old 03-22-2017, 12:56 AM
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Thanks for the welcome guys,
Hornetball- you probably know my son Michael, he signs you in for your sessions at MSR (young, blond, looks military)
Stop by the shop sometime, your always welcome. I'm 200 feet from the north gate of DeCordoba estates 3421 Acton School Rd.
I "specialize" in automotive AC repair but end up doing a bit of everything. Current play-prettys in the shop include
a MSM getting head work and a large serving of Mexican food...
A big block Cobra replica getting a clutch
A real 32 Ford truck hotrod
My two Miata turds

I looked through Honey Badgers thread. Once again I find the people who really should be professional automotive technicians aren't. You have competent fabrications skills. Bad assed Sir!
I think we will get along fine, please come by
Oh I'm a Rick as well
I just love beating up on "super cars" with old Japanese sports cars. I'll never forget the look on the new ZR1 Corvette (the first one) owners face when a crap box 280Z stayed even with him to 135 MPH. Priceless...
Have a good one
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Old 03-22-2017, 08:56 PM
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Guess my reply didn't post like I thought it did. Ok here it goes again
Thank you kindly for the welcome guys
Hornetball, you probably know my son Michael, he signs you in to your sessions at MSR (he's young, blond, looks military)
I looked through Honey Badgers thread. You have competent fabrication skills. Hotel Sierra Sir...
Please feel free to come by the shop anytime. I'm 200 feet from the north gate of DeCordoba Estates. 3421 Acton School Rd.
I usually have interesting stuff in progress.
I too am a Rick and although I was not a fighter pilot I was raised by one. I believe we will get along just fine and I would appreciate your input with Ratt
Stop by the shop sometime
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Old 03-23-2017, 10:45 AM
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I know Michael. He'd probably recognize my eyes (only part he can see through a balaclava and helmet, LOL).

I'll definitely drop by sometime!
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Old 03-23-2017, 12:20 PM
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We need pics of your other cars!
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Old 03-23-2017, 12:34 PM
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TL;DR
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Old 03-26-2017, 01:08 PM
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In for pics of E-type. Beautiful cars but I used to work at a british shop and I've pushed more of those cars around the lot than I can count
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