6strngs's project drift miata Options

[6strngs]

So, somebody suggested I should make a build thread for my miata in the off-topic section, so, here goes.



I got it from a speed shop in santa clara, basically what happened was someone brought their car to this shop, the shop pulled the cylinder head to see what was wrong, found a chipped valve, the customer couldn't afford the bill so he sold the car to the shop and the shop sold it to me with a rebuilt cylinder head for $1900. It needed a few things, but was mostly sound. The only bad thing is the car was totaled on the passenger rear quarter panel, the damage is cosmetic only and the car is a drift car now, so it really doesn't matter. Anyway here's the first round of "fixes" I did:

rewired the stereo (it was staying on even with the car off, haha)
painted the license plate panel black (it was silver which clashed terribly with the red)
reconnected the left side speaker
broke off the wheel locks since I didn't get a key with the car
Made my own battery tie down, it didn't have one before, and I really needed one...
removed the stock antenna
added a new convertible top, the window was pretty much ripped out of the old one


New top being tested out in the rain


And a pic of the "before" ride height:


Next was a set of coilovers of course! Here's a pic of the megan racing EZ street coilovers that I got for it


slammed... my buddy josh in the car, he was visiting from hawaii where he is stationed, and told me this car would still be considered needing "moar low" if it were there


And just to say that I could... I had about a 1/4" clearance,


I drove it like that for a few days before deciding it was just too low to be practical, so I raised it about 3/4 of an inch which gave me this:

[6strngs]

Hopefully will be finishing the car up today! it's been too long since I've driven it! Here's a couple of pics of some of the things I've done in the last week:

Got some tow straps, the rear one may need a little adjusting still, not sure I like how low it hangs.



Next I deleted the armrests on the doors for a little more leg room, oh and a few ounces of weight reduction! Then I had to make some pull handles to be able to close the door still.



Then I got an idea to make something that this car REALLY needs!


Next I installed a sparco steering wheel and sparco wheel hub. I got the steering wheel for $30, just the padding on it was all cracked so I got a cheap $6 "sew-on" wheel cover off ebay and put it on. Still have to trim the pastic column cover so it'll fit back on and get a horn button.


Then I went to town cleaning and painting the transmission.





Then my friend Justin polished this brace for me, this bolts to the transmission and to the rear diff to keep the drive angle straight. Here's some before and after pics:





Some new parts! Needless to say the old clutch was thrashed! So many heat spots on the pressure plate and the friction material was worn past the rivets. I'm using a clutch and flywheel out of a 1.8L miata so it's a slightly larger diameter clutch too. I ended up going with the flyin miata "happy meal" package with a stage 1 clutch and a 10.3 lb flywheel



Next to cut down on heat I am insulating the transmission tunnel. After removing the carpet from this car, the cabin gets unbearably hot in the summer time unless you have the A/C on full blast... I plan on removing the A/C so I had to cut down on the heat. I saw a few other miata guys talking about this stuff called "reflectix" so I got a roll and lowe's and I'm trying it out. I stuck it up there with a combination of DEI high-temperature spray adhesive, and foil tape. If it doesn't stay I'm just going to pop-rivet it in place though. I also replaced the rear main seal and camshaft position sensor seal to fix 2 of the oil leaks on this car. Now just have to replace the front seal and I think I'll finally be leak free.







If any of you ever do a clutch on a miata, I highly recommend removing that front exhaust pipe, it would've made my life SOO much easier. Anyway, that's what I've got so far. I pretty much just have to put the driveshaft back in, that brace that we polished, the exhaust, fill the transmission fluid, plug a few sensors in, and then I'm done and ready to drive it

This post has been edited by 6strngs: Jan 8, 2013 - 3:24 PM