6strngs's project drift miata Options

[pandakid]

awesome i wish their were more miata drifters in my area.glad to see one getting sideways!

[SwissFerdi]

I have the same shift knob, yet to be installed. Do you like the feel?

[m0dd3d1]

Nice progress! Makes me want to finally pull the trigger on my own Miata I've wanted forever now. I think I have too many toys though... :sadbanana:

[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

[6strngs]

Didn't get around to taking any finished pics yet, but it's all done and I went for a drive yesterday for the first time in over 2 months. Feels good but the clutch pedal still needs a little adjusting... now I just have to wait through the 500-mile break-in period before I can really see how the new flywheel feels

On another note though, after driving around for a while the transmission tunnel still feels cold to the touch! Before, after it got warmed up it would be very warm, and in the summer you couldn't wear shorts because it would burn you if you touched your leg to it! I think that won't be a problem anymore

This post has been edited by 6strngs: Jan 11, 2013 - 7:51 PM

[Box]

Delete arm rests=more leg room. Interesting.

[6strngs]

So I got a couple seats the other day...



I was intending to only get one but it was a much better deal to get 2 so I did. I'm up in the air on whether to sell the second or mount it in the celica



With the bottom cushions taken out I sink into the seat another inch and a half or so and can actually sit in the car with a helmet on and the top up now, though I prefer it to be down still



Engine bay is slowly becoming less cluttered. Now with no AC I also put in a new clutch master cylinder because mine went bad, I can now say that every single clutch component has been replaced, lol. Drifting season starts next month!! The first 2 events are sold out already though unfortunately... But there'll be plenty of time to get some track time this season

[BonzaiCelica]

ooo nice.

i saw that an m coupe version of 1st and 2nd get miata was released. but never made it to the public. man those things look way better than the convertible.

[6strngs]

Well, the season opener at the drifts was a success Didn't get any pics but I did burn through my first set of tires of the season.



In unrelated news I also got a new gauge cover cause I broke mine accidentally a few weeks ago. Wrapped in printed duct tap for the luxurious appeal




Also, got a new finish panel for the back so my car isn't so ugly. Was too lazy to paint it right now so later on I'll paint it black again and get my ninja sticker back on there, as some of my friends call me Ninja Nathan, lol.



Lastly I got a new go pro hero 3 black edition! Good way to spend the tax return IMO. Unfortunately I was already having glitches with it and it kept freezing on start-up, even after updating the firmware. Apparently it's a firmware issue though and I just have to wait for gopro to release a patch. So I only got a couple videos and they were all early in the day where I was still warming up/getting back into things after 5 months off. I was doing a lot better towards the end of the day. I think I figured out a way around the glitch though so I should be able to get some videos tomorrow when I head back out there

Here's the best I of the videos that I did get: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpb7wz6kZx8

This post has been edited by 6strngs: Mar 19, 2013 - 8:46 PM

[Box]

DAT LUXURY.

Hey if you can't duck it, **** it.

[6strngs]

Got a compilation of my runs from last night thrown together for your viewing pleasure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZNzTYX3x3M

[6strngs]

Wow this thread needs some updating, my car and my driving have come a long way I'll try to keep this in chronological order as best as I can.

Foam-ectomy of the passenger seat. It's basically just ripping out some of the foam so you sink into the seat a little more giving slightly better head clearance and a little more "race-seat" feel



Water pump pulley with a bunch of holes drilled for lightness then painted green for drifter-ness? I got it for free in a trade so I figured why not?



Decals like every drift car needs




Then I started buying parts to piece together my own turbo kit, since I was not satisfied with any of the off-the-shelf kits, namely because I was trying to save a few bucks. I started off with this:




Tires at the ready



Turn signal intakes and no more A/C, washer bottle, and some other misc. stuff that I consider clutter in the engine bay


DIY alignments, I've gotten pretty good at them now



This post has been edited by 6strngs: Aug 27, 2013 - 11:43 PM

[6strngs]

The first turbo I bought, under the impression that it was a t3 50 trim. This was installed on my car for a while and wouldn't even START building boost until 4k rpms. The seals blew out on it in under 2 weeks! Guess that's what I get for ebay turbos. I later found out after dis-assembling it that it was a t3/t4 with a 70 trim wheel...



Ebay cast manifold and the worlds worst fitting downpipe... It hit the frame in several spots and was off by several inches... I eventually hacked it until it sorta fit and used it only for the intial test runs and to drive to the muffler shop.


Some more action shots (still NA at this point)




Let the work begin!


Here's that downpipe rubbing I was talking about... at least it bolted up well...




Adjustable fuel pressure regulator

[6strngs]

Car part porn...





Almost there





Custom made heater lines. I went to buy some braided steel line at a nearby specialty hose store but when I told him I wanted something that would be able survive in a prolonged high temperature area he talked me into buying some (expensive) push-loc hose with a fiberglass heat wrap. This is very thick durable hose, I'm sure it'll outlive this car.

[6strngs]

Then the modification of the downpipe to get it to fit:


Adjusting the FPR with a fuel pressure gauge


Then the new exhaust I had made. It's as straight through as possible. starts at 2.5" but jumps to 3" as soon as there's room to. I put a high flow cat in, but I had him put v-bands on either side of it so I could swap it for a straight pipe easily. It has a v-band connection at the turbo also.




VDO boost gauge and AEM wideband



Cut the valve cover to expose the cams and had the valve cover powder-coated wrinkle red by a friend. Also added a catch can


Next I took apart my differential because it was not as aggressive as I wanted it to be so I measured all clutches in it and everything was in spec, but the clutches were arranged incorrectly when I took it apart. I was able to re-arrange the clutches so it has a slightly more aggressive grab, but still not enough. I just got a spare open diff I'm going to weld though




This is me discovering that I had the wrong turbo on for the 2 weeks that it lasted

[6strngs]

apparently that's all the pictures I have on my photobucket. But long story short, I crashed the car into a cement wall (see video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTJttdpsEPU )



But I didn't care, just rip that crap off and keep going!


A few things have changed since, but I'll get some more pics up later. The miata is currently waiting on me to fix the frame, and it needs a new windsheild (headlight lid flew off on the freeway and cracked it)

Here's a video the night that I crashed it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGTfOSndXTA

And here's a video a few weeks later I took it back out, bent frame and all. If you only watch one video, watch this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_C2v4h3gNY

[Box]

I've been on and off again thinking about buying a Miata. Can't decide either way at the moment.

[SwissFerdi]

Can't decide either way at the moment.

YOU. NEVER. @##&$O#$. DECIDE.


Nice driving, even nicer modification. Some BEGi parts, I see. What are you expecting to put down with this, 160-190whp?

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Aug 28, 2013 - 7:33 AM

[6strngs]

Can't decide either way at the moment.

YOU. NEVER. @##&$O#$. DECIDE.


Nice driving, even nicer modification. Some BEGi parts, I see. What are you expecting to put down with this, 160-190whp?

LOL I've already posted in at least 3 threads where box was talking about all these cars he couldn't decide on, no offense but seriously just pick something lol.

Yep, BEGI FPR, stock injectors from a 1.8L, walbro 190lph high pressure fuel pump, ebay manifold, cxracing FMIC kit w/ bov, custom downpipe and exhaust, custom oil lines with russell hose, ebay catch can, HAD a tial wastegate but now am using the internal wastegate of the ebay t3 50 trim.

I was shooting for around 6-7 PSI and ~140-150 whp but this wastegate doesn't seem to want to make less than 10 PSI so I would guess I'm somewhere around the 160-180 whp range. It's not running lean at all but I am worried about timing slightly. I have it backed off to 7 degrees, which people say you should run about 6 without an intercooler or about 8 with one but those recommendations are still only meant for low boost set-ups. I plan to get a megasquirt and completely tune the car myself (I'm trying to do pretty much everything on this car myself, the only thing I haven't done so far is the exhaust) but the car has more pressing needs right now, lol. I've been bargain shopping and I got a new passenger fender for $20, a front bumper for free, and a hood and both headlights for $100. I've already bent the frame back mostly where it needs to be using a tow strap and my friend's 4-runner, I just need to get some hood pins, and weld a bar or two between my frame rails so the car doesn't split down the middle And it needs a new windshield. Once I have all that done I'll be back out there, hopefully by the end of next month.

This post has been edited by 6strngs: Aug 28, 2013 - 11:05 AM

[Box]

IT'S HARD THOUGH!!! It's a very life changing and important decision, I'm allowed to be indecisive. If it wasn't for people like you and their cool Miata with 150+ whp it'd be easier.