Car:
2000 SE with about 90k on engine/chassis

Story:
While deployed to Afghanistan I bought a 97' Miata. My good buddy arctct (Tom) talked me into it. While since then I haven't been able to stop buying Miatas. Over the years I've noticed I spend more time working on them than driving them. I have learned a lot of lessons. I lost my 97' due to trying to run ALL THE BOOST. Ended up parting it out, and it never really became anything. Eventually it was sold. I inherited another miata which was already well sorted with an FM kit. I eventually parted that out in order to try out other cars. I purchased a 04' MR-S. It was fun, and a bit exotic. But I wasn't really happy with it. At the time I also had a 09' Honda Fit. I really missed having a miata, so I ended up trading my Fit for a 00' SE. It was a Northern car and had a bit of rust, which I knew about when purchasing it. Over the past few months I went back and fourth between whether I wanted to invest the time and money into a semi-rusty miata to restore it and possibly go turbo. Money was tight and I really just wanted to drive it.

Well after some luck (Found out I was owed $3700 from my job) I decided I would rebuild the Miata. The deal I made with myself was if I restored it, I would turbo it, and drive the hell out of it. No more being in a constant cycle of making more power. I'm shooting for 180-200whp, using only quality parts. I haven't decided on whether I will be going with a kit, or piecing it together. I like the painless assembly of a kit, but there are some sexy pieces out there that are just as good (ARTech).

Anyways so here I am, digging into the Miata again. I'm shooting for the first part of the build to be done this month, or very early February. I will be out of town for 5 weeks starting in January, which will put everything on hold. I will be doing the build in three parts. First will be everything to get the car prepped for the turbo. Suspension/bushings/maintenance/etc... Next will be the MS and Injectors... And finally the Turbo parts.

Goals in order of importance:
Reliable
Fast (Street)
Looks

Let the fun begin.

 

PART ONE
Maintenance:
[x]Timing Belt (FlyinMiata)
[x]Water Pump (FM)
[x]Acc Belts (FM)
[x]Shifter Boots (FM)
[x]Fluids (FM)
[x]Spark Plugs (FM)
[x]Alignment Bolts (FM)

Performance
[x]Full Polyurethane Bushings (Renown Performance)
[x]FM Sway Bars (FM dur)
[x]FM Happy Meal w/ 10.3lb Flywheel (FM)
[x]Megan Racing Coilovers (1xRacing)**
[x]FM Slotted Calipers/Decent Pads (FM)
[x]949 Racing Endlinks (949Racing)

** I know. They are ****. The one non-quality part. Hopefully it will hold me over until I get something proper.

 

Is that color called "black cherry mica"? If so, that is my favorite Miata factory color.

 

 

Mahogany Mica I believe.

 

 

 

 

That car is sooo sexy. I wish I had that front bumper on mine. Is that a racing beat header? What are your plans for that?

 

Car currently has a full RB exhaust. Also a RB intake. Plans are to sell it this spring when I go turbo.

 

My car has a 2.5" catless midpipe and a dual outlet racing beat muffler. It has served me well for years and will remain on my car. I see no reason to go bigger than 2.5" exhaust if your goal is under 300whp, but that's just me...

 

Got some goodies in.

 

I have Friday off, work Sat night, then have Sunday and Monday off so expect some good progress. Also have 4 days off next weekend too.

 

Bushing kit REORDER.

Lesson learned: Don't order anything from EBAY ever. Just go with a freaking forum sponsor and win at life because you don't have to wonder 7 days whether or not something has shipped. Thanks for the hookup Renown Performance.

 

Subscribed

 

great start!! saw you mentioned ARtech-highly recommend him

 

Was at it for about 2.5 hours today. It was cold, and I'm working in a storage unit...

First I fixed my compressor. The valve that adjusts line pressure broke... in the NO pressure position. Luckily there was a spare port on the tank pressure side... so I moved one of the connections to that side. Probably not the best for the impact gun, but I NEEDED air.

So I tried getting the end links off the control arm. Ball joint is just spinning. **** it, I cut that ****, my 949 End links were laughing at me, I'll drill it out later:


With that sorted out the front end was pretty much ready for the bushings to be removed. So I moved to the rear of the car and started prepping for the rear subframe removal. Exhaust had to come off first. The midpipe and muffler are basically one thanks to a bit of rust. So I pulled off the subframe brace that needed to come off anyways and dropped it straight down:


Only a few casualties, 2 bolts from the subframe brace. They were the ones that connected to the subframe, very easy to drill out. All good.


Easily disconnected the ABS, the harness that runs along the PPF, and calipers. Then went up top and unbolted the shocks. After much praying, I attempted to disconnect the brake line that runs to the sub frame. This must happen to drop the subframe. SO happy it came undone very easily:


Once everything was disconnected I threw the jack under the diff and hit the outer 4 subframe nuts. Those came off easy. Then slowly removed the 2 middle bolts. All came off easy. With the weight on the jack I slowly lowered it and all was good in the world.


I left the PPF attached, and drive shaft. The drive shaft will take some work... it's rusted to the diff. Figured I'd fix it now instead of just putting it off since I don't technically need to remove it.


It looks fairly rusty, but it's not too bad. Some sanding and paint will go a long way. The control arms are the worst. The rear subframe is worse than the front. Removing the bushings will be an experience.

Tomorrow I will attempt to disassemble the rear. Then I have a few heat shields to pull off for paint. From there I will start to drill out any of the broken bolts. After that I'll pull the trans off the motor and install the clutch. A few of the clutch bolts need to be drilled/tapped because they are bitches. Cross threaded like a **** and I want to not have to worry about that **** anymore. Then I still have to pull the timing belt off and fix the water pump. Going with RTV **** this time, that gasket is ****.

 

Not happening, it's cold as ****. Look for Sunday/Monday updates lol.

 

I give it 3 months before you get bored and part it out. Then another 2 months after that till you buy another miata and start the process over again.

You go through miata faster then strippers go through cocaine.

 

FRT_Fun = splitime?