THE REAL FUN STARTS HERE: https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...6/#post1351579

Picked up my 1990 a while ago but just bought a turbo so I have finally committed to spending some more time on this forum. Its going to be a while before I get it in but I wanted to start this to have a place to keep track of my work and get some comments/hate/advice on my build. I'm still learning as I go so be sure to be as critical as you want, I won't mind. The meaner you are the more I learn.

Story Time:

This all started in march when I had finished most of the projects I wanted to do on my truck that were in my budget and time frame. I started getting bored and decided I wanted a new project. It needed to be cheap, relatively good mileage (compared to my trucks 6mpg in town), and fun to drive. I started searching around and looked at MR2's and some Nissans before I realized that a Miata was what I needed. I started searching on CL and came upon one that I liked. The paint was beat up but it seemed mechanically fine and had 160k on it. Talked the guy down to 1800 and had my dad pick it up for me the next day. After some BS with the title and searching for some previous lein holders I got it all sorted out and began working on it.

Here are some pictures from the day it came home:






Before I even started researching I picked up a set of 100 dollar bucket seats off CL and promptly mounted them sky high on the stock sliders. Farther along you will see where I go back and remount them but they did add much needed support.





Next step was to remove this so called "lip" and replace it with a GV style front lip from Ebay




Before:


After:


Exhaust
I got lucky and scored a broken Corksport Drift Exhaust on CL. It is a little loud and ricey for my liking but it was 30 dollars plus some TIG time at my friends and that's hard to beat.

Excuse the **** welding, first time TIG and I haven't gotten much better since.

First fix:


Second attempt (about 2 months later):


Since the last one it has once again cracked, I need to grind it down some more and use a bit more filler I believe.

Rollbar
A rollbar was one of my first purchases, and I did almost no research on it. First mistake. I bought a Hard Dog Ace. Nothing fundamentally wrong with the Ace, but it was too low, too skinny and just not what I wanted. Either way I installed it and ran it for a couple months.

Pictures:





Well get back to me hating the look of the Ace later when I waste more money on fixing it.

Right around then I also plasti dipped the wheels gold. It turned out a little more bronze but I ended up liking that more and what has led to my current wheels (which you will see shortly)

PlastiDip:



Suspension
Take one:

First day I had it I looked on CL and found some flyin miata lowering springs for sale. I immediately jumped on them and went over to the guys house. He was a great guy and I still get advice from him all the time. I actually just bought my turbo from him. But he and I both failed to realize that he had NB FM springs, not NA. After attempting to install them and actually having to cut off a shock because of corrosion (I replaced it with bilstein HD's) the car sat higher than before. WTF?

It rode great but I hated how it looked. You can kind of tell in this picture.



Take 2:
I decided to go with ebay coilover sleeves, on top of bilstein HD's. When I first put them on it sat low and rode like crap. Cut springs civic style. But this was because of my NA top hats and having no shock travel. So I bit the bullet and bought some ISC racing top hats. Mother of god they made a difference. The car rides perfect right now. In the future I see some summit racing springs and new sway bars but I am happy with the ride and the height for now. I started way to low and have brought it up to a level I am happy with.

Here are some pictures:







And some with my truck:





And one of just my truck:




Right around that time a torsen came up on CL. No axles or DS, but the price was right and the guy said he would deliver. I picked up some axles and DS at a local junkyard for less than 100 and did the swap in a weekend.

Torsen Swap:





Wheels and Tires

Lets start off with I hate wheels and tires. Too expensive, too many options.
I decided I wanted to run used slicks on the track, and cheap tires on the street. Got these spec miata toyos for 100 a set, and from the same guy a set of Team Dynamic 15x7 for 400. Which was a steal for being brand new.





For the street I really wanted bronze flat-outs but they were out of production. And konig told me they wouldn't be making a Dial-in 15x8 in bronze. So instead I bought the 15x8 in grey with free shipping from good-win and had it powder coated bronze. I have a guy near me that will do 4 wheels for 100 so it was a really good deal. I am picking them up on Friday and will have more then.

Here are some pictures of the Dial-in's before I had them powder coated:





And the tires:

205/50r15 Hankook V2 Concepts



I also got a Cloth top from a 2006 and put it on to fix my ripped vinyl top. I love the cloth top and it was only 350 dollars with a frame which saved me so much effort over a robbins top.









After cleaning with 303 fabric top care (which worked amazingly after I followed this guys instructions and didn't have to mask anything.)



Also this is what old *** tires with too much camber look like after too many burnouts.



Next I installed a NRG quick release that I got from a friend (install thread here)



After a few months I got tired of looking at my bad decision and being pissed at myself all the time I bit the bullet and bought a Hard Dog Hardcore M2. Its what I should have gotten in the first place and I love it. On another note, I have a Hard Dog Ace for sale in Portland if anyone needs one.

Pictures of the M2 installed:







Also got this deal on a 6 point harness:



And how I carry my kayak on my miata:



Then my gf backed into the bumper with her jeep, oh well the paint is **** anyways:



And that kind of brings me up to where I am with it right now. I am putting together a shopping list and plan to get the MegaSquirt in December and move on from there. Any advice is always appreciated.

I will update it as I find pictures and have time to write more out.

 

Wheels and Tires!!

Just got these pictures from my powder coater:





Ill update tomorrow when I pick them up.

 

Reserved2

 

And the most important part of the build:

The turbo.

TD04HL-15g from a Volvo:

 

Well against my better judgement I pulled the trigger on a bunch of new parts. I had them all shipped to my house at school and I just got back so it was like christmas morning.

This should also help me keep track of actual spent.

Pile of parts:



RX-8 fuel injectors ($60):



Toyota COPs and Pigtails ($110):



Power steering Plugs:



BMW TPS ($35):



ECU Connector from TE Electronics (Free sample):



Innovate LC-2 + gauge from Amazon ($165):

 

Looks good, but not a fan of powdercoating cast aluminum wheels. Any idea what temp your powdercoater operates at?

 

Hmm didn't think about that. He seemed to know his stuff though and did an amazing job.

On another note ms3x just came in. Pictures shortly.

 

If he uses the low temp stuff (around 250 F) you're fine.

If he uses the regular stuff at the low end of the temp range (375ish), you're probably fine.

If he uses the regular stuff at the high end of the range (400+) or has a poorly calibrated oven and doesn't realize he's above 400, your wheels might be somewhat more brittle than before.

Good thing you have track wheels.

 

I'll stop by this week and see what he says.

MS3!!

I'll be building it off of Frank Westfield (and Braineak's) guide. Frank's guide has been up and down and we all know Brain has too much to do so I will be carefully documenting the build and taking lots of pictures. A full writeup will go in the megasquirt section.

Pictures:

Everything:



MS3:



MS3x:



Bundle of components:



Mainboard and Case:



Total: $520 with shipping

 

Seems like you're off to a pretty good start. Welcome to the forum.

 

Thanks, I saw you're from Portland. I just went back to school but I was born and raised in Portland. Wouldn't mind checking out your build sometime when I'm back.

 

And I totally forgot! New clutch!

Thanks to greddygalant I got a new FM Stage 1 clutch.



Didn't know how used it was so I called FM to get their new clutch specs. This one is actually thicker than what they say their new one is so I'm stoked.

 

Very nice. I take it you're at OSU?

Greddygalant (martin) and the other Portland miata peeps are awesomesauce. Get boost and join us.

 

Yeah, senior in electrical engineering. I should be back in Portland next summer with a real job so it will be fun.

 

Nice, sounds like fun!

 

Officially Started my ms3 build!

 

I like to see you're not afraid of trying things. Plus i like the fact that you went from building a custom ford pickup(which i really like) to a miata.

 

Building this has really started to make me consider doing efi on that truck. Never heard of a megasquirt on the engine in it.

 

Lol, build that MS and tune the miata to the point where it's better than the factory ECU and rethink that last statement.

 

Resistors in: