Flares and hard top arrived from DG today. Fit on top appears to be good. Finish, I'd give a 7/10. Not show, or even OEM quality finish but it's a track rat and we're painting it anyway. Minor shipping damage too. Harumph.
My expectations were low, and they were met. Top is 26.8 lbs with acrylic rear window and all seals.
Eager to get the paint and body work done. Gonna be hot.

 

Last bits arrived so we can finally go to paint:
G-Stream Comp800 wing in 68"

Trackspec Motorsports bits
Hood vents are from their C5 kit. https://trackspecmotorsports.com/c5-...ide-louver-set
3D molded wicker for vents https://trackspecmotorsports.com/sho...-wicker-gurney
Fender vents are their universal 4x12 https://trackspecmotorsports.com/uni...l-hood-louvers

The foil in particular, is beautiful. Has a wickerbill integrated into the design.

 

No going back. First self tapping sheet metal screw to locate the flares. After paint, we'll re-attach with nutserts and stainless button head fasteners.



Hood vents from Trackspec Motorsports https://trackspecmotorsports.com/
These are C5 hood vents. The fenders and liner will be cut away under the fender vents so they'll be functional.



Cut here..



For big meats

 

Daaamn, those flares are huge

 

Pictured are 17x8 +45, 215/45
18x10 +35 with 265/35 going on. Hoping the flares are big enough.

 

This is going to be fun

 

Work in progress. Basic shaping done. Now to seal everything. The sharpie mark on the fender is where the DG flare will sit so the rough bits will be covered. Goal was to get max bump travel and tire clearance.
No paint samples yet. We're starting with a formula I came up with:
Mazda Racing Orange A8X
Add 1 part silver .004 hex metal flake
Add 1 part gold .004 hex metal flake

Just how much flake, remains to be seen. Vegas was our 949 Racing/ Supermiata Orange (based on a Fiat color) with fat orange bass boat flakes. I want a bit more pearly effect for Kaiko.

 

So anxious to see the final paint color. I miss my Spicy Orange Mica Miata - that metallic pearl shine was amazing.

 

I dig that color. That's essentially the effect that I'm going for.

Just realized its the 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege color

 

oh my

You can see both the silver and gold flakes. A bit pearly from 5' away when the light hits it so. Pure orange straight on. Exactly what I visualized when I planned the formula. So happy it turned out.
My formula:
Mazda Racing Orange A8X
Add 1 part silver .004 hex metal flake
Add 1 part gold .004 hex metal flake

 

I hope y’all have fun.

I try.. but in my heart… the NC will never be a real Miata. I just can’t like it. Took me like 10 years to accept the nb.


***Keep up the negcats... NA miata is still best

 

I get it, I was in the same boat (pun intended). I drove a few stock ones, one with crap lowered suspension and a 1st gen MX5 cup cars with Sachs race shocks. The HPDE cars all were boring, dull and had crap balance. The cup car was fast and handled well but I still didn't like it dynamically.
Then our team spent a year dialing in Xidas on Kaiko. We all fell in love with it. Shocks transform the car. A well maintained NA6 on stock shocks is still fun, has perfect balance, just slow. A well maintained but stock NC1 is dull as a butter knife. They really come alive with the right shocks.

My favorite bone stock Miatas, in order

1. NA6 C package
2. ND2 Club
3. NB1 Sport Package
4. NC3 club
5. NA8 R package
6. The rest don't matter

My favorite Miatas after a few mods, in order

1. ND2
2. NC2/3
3. NB2
4. NA6
5. ND1
6. NA8

My daily is a 30AE with Xida ACE, 17x9 with 245 Conti ECS, seat lowering kit and steering wheel spacer. The rest is untouched and I love it.

 

I must admit that I Googled "seal lowering kit" before I figured out you meant "seat". Yup, the ND2 will (knock on wood) likely be my last street Miata.

 

We have a lot of stuff to do when Kaiko gets back here. Painter is wrapping up. Lookin' hawt.



DG carbon top and flares in Flatout Orange

 

Man I really wanna try an NC.

 

Pre-pandemic, NC1 values were in the toilet. You could pick up a healthy, straight <100k mile donor for a project build in most cities for less than 7k. Now though, like all used cars that same craigslist beater is 9k+. Still a great value though. If you have the budget for an NC2/3 with a 6 speed though, that's a much better place to start. If you have an NA/NB now, the NC will be far quieter and more comfortable on the street, while being a few seconds faster on track with equivalent mods. Personally I think the NA and NB look better but I'm willing to compromise for the extra speed potential.

 

This is turning out real nice

 

I really love my NA. It's the closest thing I've found to a lotus I drove years back. (I can't afford a lotus lol) My car has definitely gone beyond the street car comfort stage. I think it would be nice to have a version of it that was better on the street. I often tell people I took my perfectly good miata and ruined it.

 

I'm on the same page. I love my NA, but it's a really raw car. I'm starting to feel like I wish I'd started with an NC and had something I could road trip in but still take to HPDE/autocross events. I'm happy to see someone else build one right so I can cook one up for myself later!
Sorry for the thread drift, but clearly a lot of people are excited to see this build haha.