Things I do with my '96 Miata

After quite some time of thinking about it, in the fall of 2011 I sold my Saab 9000 Aero with all my spare parts and began the search for a Miata. I ended up buying the first one I looked at. It was more than I wanted to spend but 100% rust free and being sold by a middle aged woman who had owned it for 11 years and tried to avoid driving it in the rain. Perfect.

Day 1:

Then I cleaned it up....

...and ended up with this.

And then I put it under a cover for the VT winter

Over the winter I acquired a Raceland header, 949Racing 6ULs in 15x8 ET36, 205/50 Star Specs, and Ground Control coilovers.

Got the wheels and tires on first:

Then I took the front plate off:

Next came the header:

Picked up an MP5 steering wheel for $50. Old and terrible:

Newish and MASSIVELY better:

Gave it a little tune up while dog sitting for my parents, then on the way home there was a smell of coolant and stuff

(at some point in here I got pulled over for no front plate, so I did that ^ )

Being the kind of guy who suffers from "while I'm in there...", I proceeded to order up all new coolant hoses, Godspeed aluminum radiator, Bosch water pump, OEM timing belt kit. All to replace one leaking heater core hose. Yup...

Shortly afterward I ended up doing the accessory belts (you know, the ONE THING (ok two) that I didn't do while it was apart...)

Everything was going great. I even went out and took some pictures of it.

Full set: http://www.brianleedyphoto.com/Cars/My-Cars/My-1996-Mazda-Miata/24181889_PGC8Fq#!i=1966514817&k=rXRdLbX

Which brings me to now. It began making a pretty noisy clunk/knock that increased with RPMs. Ruh Roh. Turns out my one month old water pump is going south NOT excited to do that again. Planning on ordering up a set of new Bilstein HDs to make me feel better

What brand header is that? I just bought a 1990 and the factory header is cracked right at the merge. Thanks,

J

My NA had a crappy replacement cat welded in between the hacked-off B pipe and the rear section.

As I'd already ordered the Flyin' Miata exhaust and cat I'd be needing a header to make it happen.

On the recommendation of a trusted friend I ordered a Chinese Racing Beat knock-off from Raceland. With fast freight it was barely over $100, and it fit perfectly once I'd clearanced on hole in the flange.

No idea on HP as I did everything on the car at once, but 2 years in it's in fine shape. I can recommend them without reservation aside from my general dislike of Chinese knock-off products.

They're more expensive now: http://www.racelandus.com/exhaust-headers/mazda-miata-mx-5-na-1-8-exhaust-header.html

I like the NB steering wheel in an NA. Is it the same diameter as the NA one?

Sucks to hear about the water pump. Is it possible to get any compensation for new replacements parts that fail like that??

Nice pictures of the car as you fixed her up. That later steering wheel looks right at home in there too.

It is a Raceland header. I think it was $159 when I bought it. Fit fine other than having to tweak the EGR tube to get that hooked up. No rattles or anything. Few thousand miles on it now with no cracks or anything. Pretty noticeable bump in power, too.

Boxhead - I think it is the same diameter as the original wheel, but the much thicker rim makes it kinda hard to say. From an MP5. MUCH more comfortable wheel.

Octane - I think Bosch has a one year warranty for it, but nothing will happen until I send them the defective pump. At this point the noise hasn't gotten any worse so I'm just running it.

Nitro - Thanks!

In other news, this being Vermont I have zero desire to drive this in the winter months. Picked myself up a winter beater/DD last week.

2001 Audi A4 Quattro 1.8T Auto 199k WELL maintained where I work. Have all the records going back to 58k. I think it needs rear brakes but is otherwise 100%. Doesn't even have any warning lights on!

$1100

Inevitable detail: http://www.brianleedyphoto.com/Detailing-1/My-2001-Audi-A4-Quick/24837547_kLMRcW#!i=2033026923&k=27HTFCv

FINALLY got my Ground Controls in with a set of Bilstein HD's. Install went well (except for getting the front and rear springs mixed up.... whoops...) I like these cars that have never seen a northeast winter :D

Absolute night and day difference in the corners. Unfortunately it also rides like total E36 M3 with it lowered (much worse than stock height with the new parts) but it looks good enough that I don't want to raise it back up ;)

that different steering wheel makes a HUGE difference inside. Is the airbag still hooked up?

It rides poorly at that height? Mine is lower than that on FM Vmaxx's with the NB tophat conversion and is comfortable in most situations. What are your spring rates?

DaveEstey wrote: with the NB tophat conversion

I think that is what might make a big difference there. That gives you more travel, he is probably hitting bumpstop a lot.

I need to get the tophats for mine (and stiffer springs)

Just getting home from my favorite bit of twisties, which has some very less than stellar pavement, the ride is absolutely horrendous at this height Like, ass leaving the seat over the nastier bumps bad. It also feels a lot more bouncy than it did at stockish height. Raising it back up after work tomorrow. As much as I love how it looks like this, it's just not fun to drive.

Maybe what I'm feeling is the bump stops? I'm not sure. If so then for the love of all that is holy the NB top hats are my next mod. Spring rates are 440F 250R

I like that mp5 steering wheel. Assuming you mean mazda protege 5 door? And does the airbag still work?

Your issue with ride is the same as my own. Which is why whatever I do with suspension I actually want to give up the at limit traction for more ability to deal with imperfect conditions. I am guessing bump stops might help you a lot

Correct. Steering wheel electricals do NOT work.

Bought FCM shock mounts and bump stops to combat the ride issues and got them installed today. Was not expecting them to lower it this much

Then tore it apart in preparation for replacing my defective Bosch water pump. Should be here tomorrow.

Wow, this didn't get updated. Nothing major happened until it went into winter storage mode. I bought a used roll bar at some point in the winter. Which brings us to the latest update.

Oh hey.

So a few weeks ago now this happened...

It lives!

So I bought these...

...and Plasti-Dip'd the roll bar in preparation for installation. I then promptly destroyed that. Saab 9000 headliner: 1, PlastiDip:0. Then it got more and more destroyed on the trip to my parents'.

Goodbye, stock!

Hello, problems!

My cars' glass rear window must be wider than what is normal for Miatas. The rear bars were completely in the way of it folding in.

So this happened...

The bars were offset on the feet which mount to the rear of the car. Originally the bars were on the inside of those, so we swapped the two bars side to side so that the two bars were further apart.

Tacked:

Protected:

Welded:

Ground, smoothed, and primed. Note that the main hoop apparently got warped slightly in the welding process, so it needed a little help for bolt holes to line up.

The finished product!

And in! Finally.

Massive thanks to my dad for doing most of the work while I watched, realizing how clueless I am when it comes to these things!

Finally got to get down to business with this thing this weekend! Went out to St Lawrence Motorsport Park with the SCCV and had a blast, as usualy. For those that don't know the track is pretty much an overgrown go-kart track. Tons of fun for everyone except tires and brakes Of course I did camp (too cheap for a hotel) and didn't plan for it getting cold at night. That wasn't the most pleasant thing, but oh well.

There was a unanimous opinion that the track does not have the grip it used to so my times were actually running around a full second slower than last time I was there, with my (then) stock suspenion 9000 Aero! That said I was running pretty consistent 61-62 second laps.

Was very happy with the car. No issues FTW. Well balanced, tons of grip. The only thing I was complaining about is the open diff... gotta get rid of that thing! Even with stockish power and 205 Star Specs on the rear I was spinning on corner exits. Could use some decent brakes, too... these are exactly as they were when I bought the car.

Arriving:

Some variety here...

Racecar'd:

Waiting behind some more racey racecars:

OhE36 M3! Oh wait we're at the track

Couple shots of me driving:

My brother came out on Sunday and did some driving too.

My dad came out for Sunday as well to hang out, so we got him in the passenger seat which was fun

At the end of the weekend I spent a fun run or two trying my hand at drifting, which actually went better than expecting with a stockish power open diff Miata with sticky tires. If nothing else, I learned a hell of a lot about the car in those few laps.

Oh!

...or not.

Getting ready to depart after an excellent weekend. Unfortunately the black car got rear ended on Friday, which is no fun, but it still made the trip and the event and he will be buying it back (99% totalled) and fixing it so it's not all bad!

Some windshield cleaning...

Sure sign of a successful weekend!

Totally slacked on pics, but here's what I got: SLMP 1 2013 - a set on Flickr

The car looks really low in the earlier pics. The most recent pics look like you raised it a little, but you're probably riding the bump stops most of the time with those spring rates.

This where my car sits with Tein Monoflex coilovers and 700/500 spring rates. This is about 13" from the fender to the center cap.

It was low for a while. Looked good, sucked to drive. I raised it a bit and am going to raise it a bit more next time it's on a lift.

Still not much new to report. Replaced the tensioner for the water pump/alt belt because it completely disappeared from the car for the second time (wtf?). Got a couple more maintenance items coming up, maybe a fun thing or two but nothing too exciting.

A dirty roadster is an enjoyed roadster.

And then there was two..

Picked up this '94 M Edition on Friday, drove it home for $800. It's going to donate its good stuff (torsen) to the white Miata, not sure what I'm going to do with it after that.