on the advice of doward I decided to build a thread about the history of my Miata.

The Beginnings

Let’s start from the beginning. in 1989 my uncle bought the car brand new flew to New Jersey to pick it up then drove it back to Florida. In 1992 my uncle then went back to Mazda for a defroster hardtop before he was transferred from Florida to Chicago. From 1989 until 2013 (excluding 2 years in Chicago) it spent most of its time in the south east, most notably Atlanta, Ga. My uncle would drive the Miata nearly every day 150 miles round trip to and from the suburbs of Atlanta to downtown. In 2012, he parked it in his field to start driving a more comfortable Honda Accord.

2013 - 2014

Now to 2013, while talking to my uncle about cars he proceeds to tell me he is getting ready to crush the Miata because my aunt is tired of staring at it out in the field. So, I offered to buy the car from him. Instead he told me to find a way to get it before his wife kills him. At this time, I moved from Florida to North East Ohio to attend school and start my career. Luckily my parents moved to Birmingham, AL for work and my dad was able to pick the car up and towed it back to his shop for me.

Once getting back to the shop, it wasn’t in bad shape. The first thing he did before bringing it up to me in Ohio was:

* Remove all the extra speakers and wire
* Remove the neon lights from the interior and exterior
* Clean the care
* Replace the timing belts
* Replace the normal seals
* Replace all the hoses
* Remove the spring spacers to give the car a rake
* Replace tires
* Remove homemade butchered CAI
* Other misc. stuff, it was 4 years ago

There were though a few other items wrong with the car:

* No AC (but I grew up in FL with no A/C in my Car so it didn’t bother me)
* The rear zipper on the glass window was on its last leg.

Summer 2013

My dad was able to bring the car up to me in Ohio. At this time, I would autocross a 1992 Honda Civic Hatchback in completely stock trim. I continued driving my Honda throughout the summer at autocross events because the Miata didn’t have rollbar and shot suspension. Plus, at this point I never thought it would be raced.

[img] https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.ne...ock-garage.JPG [/img]











Winter 2013- 2014

Winter came and I wanted to continue keeping my Honda in its Stock 1992 trim so my dad and I talked through autocrossing the Miata. This is where I jumped into the deep end. Since Winter in Ohio is depressing, I would spend nights and weekend working in my garage on the cold floors getting ready for autocrossing in the summer. To start we focused on:

* Replace all bushings with an Energy Suspension kit.
* 949Racing End Links
* New Timken Front Hubs / Rear Bearings
* ARP Studs
* Cheap 13” Wheels with Hoosier Slicks on it!

UPS loved us at this point shipping suspension parts to my dad to press. I don’t really Have pictures of this point in its time. But I do remember not being able to use his lifts, presses, nice tools.

Then I talked to Mark McMahan at McMahan Autosport outside Akron, Ohio about a bolt in roll bar. After talking though the long-term goals of the car, and a possibility of putting a full cage in it potentially we decided on a welded in rollbar. He would also install a trans tunnel notch, center the seat on the steering wheel, install the passenger seat, and all the harnesses. His fabrication is amazing. Everything Tig welded and tucked as tight to the body as possible.














Once I got the Car back from Mark, I ran 2 autocross events and 1 weekend at Mid-O. On the way home, I called my Dad and told him we are building a car to race. Now I dove head first. The car went back to Mark to do the front part of the cage. We Added the side hoops, Nascar bars, firewall bar, footwell bars, remove all ac and heater components. I also gutted the interior minus the dash. And started planning where to start.














While the car was with Mark finishing up the cage, I found a deal I couldn’t turn away: a 2004 LS with only 24,000 miles that was totaled for $1,700 in Cleveland. Now we are going VVT, 6 speed, and torsen. I shipped the car to my dad’s shop and after keeping the running gear and selling the rest I made money buying the car.

 

Winter 2015

Now my Miata is in Alabama again, this time sporting a roll cage and ready to get torn apart to start rebuilding for PTD. Our motto was build it right the first time with the right parts. The goal was to make the NASA Mid-South Barber Motorsports Park event in October 2015.

At This point the decided to follow the tried and true build parts list:

* Energy Suspension bushings (already installed):
* Racing Beat 54106 Front sway bar
* MSM Rear sway bar
* 949 Adjustable End Links
* ELB
* Xida 800/500 with helpers and billet uppers
* 15x9 6ULs
* NB Subframe
* Megasquirt PNP Pro
* 2004 VVT Engine
* 6 speed trans
* Sport brakes Carbotech pads
* Steel braided brake lines
* Cold side intake
* RC-1s
* R package lip
* Install window and side nets
* install fire suppression
* install 4:10 torsen
* New axles


List of Tasks to complete:

* Remove drivetrain
* Remove suspension
* Fix the DIY CAI
* Clean and paint engine bay
* Remove engine bay wiring
* Rewire VVT Engine
* Refresh engine
* Refresh trans
* Refresh differential
* Plus more I am probably forgetting















[img] https://d3ue04kky3x5lb.cloudfront.net/img/miata/new-wheels.JPG[/img








































































































October 2015


We made it, but not without some short comings. In Birmingham, there is no known Miata tuners let alone someone with experience with a VVT engine. So, the car ran without VVT pretty well. The goal of this weekend was to test out the car for any issues. We did not receive the Xida’s yet but it was mostly for testing the drivetrain and my butt in the car. The weekend was great, it handled great rain or shine. The car had potential now I just needed to become a better driver. Afterwards, we found a megasquirt tuner that understood how VVT worked just had never tuned it on a Miata. He ended up getting us close.



October 2015 – December 2016

Nothing mechanically changed. I received the gen 2 Xida’s from 949Racing and all I can say is the hype is completely correct. They are amazing.

During this timeframe, we changed:

* Blackbird Lexan Spoiler
* Singular hood vents
* Used Hoosier R7 225/45 R15
* Trackspeed Oil Cooler

The goal for this year was seat time, a competition license, and a car in one piece the entire year. We did though come across some mechanical issues. With the 6-speed and 4:10, I was either shifting way too much or bouncing off the rev limiter. Well I chose wrong by bouncing off the rev limiter and took us weeks to figure out the issues.

After searching on here, we measured the reluctor ring on the intake cam and noticed it moved based on a good extra head we had. Since it moved, the megasquirt was not picking up the cam angle. Out came that cam and in went in the good cam. While it was out, we lined up the reluctor ring to the right spec and tacked a couple welds so it would never spin again. Problem solved and only cost us two Sunday’s at the track to figure it out.



For reference, when you align the intake cam with the timing marks, the reluctor ring is .100” from the machined surface where the valve cover goes. I wish I took a picture of this.

 

Current

My Family and I moved back to the Orlando area. The first goal was to get the car, spare parts, shop, plus my parents’ house and my townhouse in Ohio moved all back to Florida. I was excited, close (relatively) to different tracks, and from the 2015 events a good PTD crowd

Now that we were all settled into our new shop, we made the game plan for 2017 our goals were to qualify for nationals, keep the car in one piece, and make power that matched our weight.

parts list

* OS Giken LSD
* 4.77 Gears
* Air dam
* Squaretop
* Skunk 2 Throttle body
* FPR
* Quality tunes
* Lexan Windshield
* replace 6-speed with 5-speed
* SADFAB bushings
* Change all Redline fluid with Amsoil
* 1000lb Front Springs
* All the Singular Hood Vents



January – February
We only changed the oil and the transmission. But the car is reliable and we were too busy to tackle the rest. The goal was to complete the list by October. The car ran good and I was earning a P2 or P3 finished behind a 2007 Si Civic and a Ford Mustang on a 138HP TTE* dyno reclass only making 133HP. We raced a full weekend at Sebring, and a full weekend at Miami Homestead.

Both events only had one other PT competitor besides myself. So, I didn’t count those P1 finishes.













April – June

During the month of March and April we changed the springs to 1000lb fronts and completed the air dam. We are back at Sebring and running well in TT still behind the civic and the mustang. On a full course caution, I bunched up with the Spec Miata pack. This didn’t end will for two of us. The P2 Spec Miata driver got punted and I went to pass P4 and P5 Not seeing he got punted and we hit































We got the Car together to race in June, but I hurt myself doing God knows what and couldn’t put pressure on my foot, not even to shift. So, I sat out. In the meantime, we continued working on the car by installing the SADFAB NASA Compliant Kit and more hood vents and a FAST cooling system. Florida is hot and not having this in January – April Sucked.

July

I found an amazing tuner, Jeff Linfert at Linfert Performance. If you are in Florida and not taking your car to him, you’re leaving HP on the table. We took the car there and with not engine modifications done at the time walked in with 133WHP walked out at 145WHP. Another reclass came. After that tune, I ran a track day with Chin. We were able to spend the two days playing with the setup since we missed the June sprints.

August – Now

Now the good stuff. We installed the 4.77 and OSG LSD, installed the FPR, Squaretop, throttle body, new CAI and went back to Linfert Performance to get the car tuned again. This is a factory engine with a Squaretop, Skunk 2 throttle body, Racing Beat Header, Enthuzacar exhaust, and homemade CAI. On 2017-10-09 it made 158WHP at Real St. Performance’s Dyno.



























Now I can start the rest of this thread as changes are made. We are now installing a polycarbonate Teflon coated windshield for nationals, resetting ride height, and corning balancing the car for East Coast Nationals.

 

Nice. Subscribed.

Also it's funny, we have the same name and our builds are kind of a similar trajectory.

 

**** Son!!! This is frickin awesome! I am insanely jealous of that cage. Very nice work!

 

Thats funny! Your build is one of the couple I really paid attention to. I am really hoping ST5 will be finalized soon so we can plan where our engine program.

 

Thank you, Mark does amazing work. I noticed your location is Pennsylvania, if you are ever looking for cage work Mark McMahan is the guy to go to. I live in Florida now and he already has another car I shipped up there to have another cage done. He has done a few cars for members on here too. His prices are beyond cheap for the quality of work and craftsmanship he puts into every single car he does.

 

Very nice turn around on this thing!!!

 

Hey! I met you at Barber last October! Reading this makes sense of why your car looked so put together. Looks like you've put quite a bit of labor into the car, it's awesome!

Will you be making ESC nationals at Sebring this month? Hopefully I'll catch ya at an event sometime soon!

 

A++ build thread! Super clean and competition tested. Nice work!

 

I'll be There. I haven't received my paddock spot yet but I'll be on the Cement somewhere near the tire vendor. Stop by I'd like to catch up, a lot has changed since you saw it last.

 

Oh! Please check those bearings to see if they look like this:


Because then they'll end up like this:


And this happens:


Get hubs that looks like this instead:

 

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it. My engine developed a rod-knock at Mid-Ohio at the end of August, been working on getting that fixed. I should be at CMP in Nov and RA in Dec, I might even be at Roebling in Jan for comp-school and that event, depending on cage install time-frame.

 

Those were from 2014 and they are the correct Timken hubs with the Japan stampings on the bearings and all of that. On the other hand I was searching all over town for another set earlier this year and I ended up finding a correct set of Moog's with the same stampings as the Timken set. I had to pay an arm and a leg for them but luckily I could find a couple sets to last this year.

Since I saw the thread about this happening, we check all 4 hubs at lunch and at the end of the day at each event.

 

Hey that's pretty cool, glad someone is reading it haha. I need to go through the whole thing and undo the Photobucket damage though.

As far as ST5, I really don't know if they're going to implement it this year. It's getting late. Regions in the southwest already have 2018 season events planned for January, we get boned all the time by NASA's lack of planning and procrastination. My car is just kind of floating in limbo now. It's no longer legal for TTE/PTE (doesn't matter because PT classes dried up locally), doesn't have enough power to move up to ST4 (for now), SuperMiata S1 is tempting but I'm not switching to Megasquirt, etc etc.

It's still good to go for the wheel to wheel PS4 class at ProAutoSports and usually there are 5+ cars there so at least I have somewhere to bide my time while the turbo plans unfold.

 

Polycarbonate Windshield

On our way back from the Sebring event on Sept. 30th - Oct. 1st. a rock kicked up off the road and cracked the windshield. We were already prepared to replace it, just not quite yet. I reached out to Treasure Coast Miata and ordered a polycarbonate teflon coated windshield.

Today, we templated the windshield to make others in the future. We use these foam core boards for templates: https://www.officedepot.com/a/produc...dy-Board-Foam/.

Materials

* 7 M6x1.00 Stainless Steel button head bolts
* 14 1/4 neoprene washers (to squish the windshield between)
* 7 M6 Stainless Steel fender washers
* 7 M6X1.00 zinc nuts
* SEM Trim black
* Lots of Razor Blades
* Wire Wheel
* Tape

Tools

* 1/8, 1/4, 9/32 drill bits
* Drill
* Blue loctite
* 10MM socket
* Allen key

The first thing we did after getting the glass out was we tried to get as much of the urethane off the lip where the windshield sits. We were not satisfied with the way it looked so we taped the paint around the window frame and took a wire wheel to the lip to remove the rest of the urethane. We then painted it SEM trim black and let is sit to dry. Today it was nice and dry so we mocked up the windshield and it was a great fit. We drilled an 1/8 pilot hole in the top center of the windshield then a 1/4 hole for the bolt. We followed this process on the top curves, halfway down the A pillar and at the bottom of the A pillar. We decided 7 bolts was more than enough.



After all 7 holes were drilled, we took the windshield off and oversized the holes with the 9/32 drill bit. tomorrow Ace will have the remaining neoprene washers needed to finish the install

Cleaning Supplies

I know cleaning the windshield is pretty important and the cleaners are important too. So I am going to give these two a try:




Backup Undertray

While we are waiting on the washers, we used the left over wood to build a backup undertray from our template (made from that foam core board).We have two different undertrays, one that flares out to the edge of the front tires, and one the follows the body line. These are the standard undertrays everyone runs. I can take more pictures of it if people want to see how its mounted, etc.

Materials
- 1/2 Birch
- 9 M6x1.00 countersink bolts
- 9 M6 washers
- 2 angle brackets
- Garden Edging
- 2 Swageless turnbuckles
- 2 swageless mounts
- Stainless Steel braided wire
- foam core board template





Rear Differential Lube Change

We also received from 949Racing another liter of OSGiken OS250R. We wanted to change it after the last event because the LSD and the 4.77 gear were breaking in so some metal could be in the gear oil. May be overkill, Better safe then sorry.

 

Greg is really trying to fit a round peg in a square hole for ST5, I'll just leave me opinion at at that! My car has too many points for PTE because of the NB subframe (another stupid rule). Based on class sizes we have been having a few different thoughts.

1) ship the car and enough parts (engine, trans, diff, body parts, suspension parts, etc) to last a year to the west coast, rent a storage unit and run SuperMiata.(Most Expensive when adding cost for flights, rental car/trailer, etc)
2) take the car down to the bone and rebuild it for ST4 using the S1 template for build.
3) detune and removed what we have developed on the car to run PTE (the nuclear option)
4) suck it up and get as much seat time as possible and hope for the best.

Before I moved to Florida I checked out the classes sizes for PT/TT in 2014 - 2016 and it was always a good class size so I was excited. This year only 2 PT cars have showed up and there is usually always 5 cars in TT at Sebring. I prefer wheel to wheel over TT but I like winning tires too! Even worse no one has signed up for PTD at East Coast Nationals. If that stays the same I'm going to up class to C and try giving the one driver a run for his money

 

I was able to finish up the windshield today. Thats one more item off the checklist for nationals.



Nationals Remaining Items Checklist
* Get dyno reclass from Greg (submitted Tuesday 10/10)
* Pickup fuel
* Set ride height
* Corner balance
* Alignment

 

Yeah unfortunately NASA has done a pretty good job of emptying out the PT/TT classes lately with the way they are running things. West Coast champtionships had one car in PTD and two cars in PTE. That's it. And for TT letter classes only six cars total. Two each in D and E, one each in C and F. Lame. The one car in F even looked like a rental car from the airport or something.

A turbo would definitely give you the most flexibility and ST4 seems to be blowing up. I'm hanging out with option number 4 and waiting to see what develops.

 

Received a couple more items for East Coast National. Since no one decided to show up for PTD I decided to run PTC/TTD.

Phil's Tire Service is awesome. I can't thank Kim and Phil enough for the quick turnaround.




A few more things off the list.