A local friend (oldgrayfrog on here) bought my engine, turbo setup, and the rest of my old drivetrain, which technically had just been broken-in when I parted the car. Originally it all was meant to go into the black NB that I now own. However he had just bought a '91 from FL at the same time, it had high mileage but had been very well cared for and included a hard top. After thinking it over he decided that he wanted everything to go into the NA, so I got to work. Along with an array of other parts, this car is getting completely redone, drivetrain, suspension, roll bar, interior, simple audio, etc., basically shoving half a garage worth of parts into one car. lol And a nice benefit is this allows me to save my money while getting to complete a full blown project car.

Here's a basic rundown of what will be in the car (I know this isn't a complete list, but basic idea):

Mildly Built Engine
- CAT Forged Rods
- Tri-Coated OEM Pistons
- ARP Head And Main Studs
- Main Bearing Support Plate
- MazdaSpeed Miata Oil Pan
99 Head
- Supertech Valves
- Viton Valve Seals
- Light Porting, Deshrouding, and Bowl Blending
6-Speed Transmission
3.636 TorSen LSD
BEGi Tubular Intake Manifold
Hydra v2.5 ECU
LS2 Coils
DIY Coolant Reroute
BEGi Log Manifold (Ceramic Coated)
GT2871R Turbo (Ceramic Coated Turbine)
FM Bellmouth Turbine Elbow & Downpipe
Enthuza 3" Exhaust - Metalcore Cat & Magnaflow Muffler
FM 19" Intercooler Kit
Hallman MBC
Snow Performance Methanol Injection
M-Tuned Fuel Rail
650cc Venom PnP Injectors
H&R Coilovers
Racing Beat Swaybars
Hard Dog M1 Hard Core Polished Roll Bar
Wheels/Tire TBA - Currently rolling on some Panasports with Azenis
1.8L Brake Swap - DBA Rotors & Greenstuff Pads
SS Brake Lines & Clutch Line

Here's the car when I took possession:







Lotus Probax seats:



Stock 1.6L (Previous owner did all the blue stuff):



My very messy project garage (once this project and it's parts are out of the way, the garage is getting cleaned out and finished):



Almost ready to remove:



And out with the old (This 1.6L was graciously donated to a local forum member whose 1.6L died, my friend Bryan and I completed the whole swap in about 8 hours):



The engine bay was somewhat clean, except down low, there was grime caked onto the subframe, so I got some Purple Power from Advance and went to work. You'll find as this thread progresses that I can't stand a dirty car, even if it's in places you won't normally see:





The steering rack, a/c compressor, and power steering pump came out looking almost brand new:



I decided to give the transmission tunnel and subframe the same treatment my own car got (satin black on the trans tunnel and gloss black on the subframe):

 

Then this nice part arrived. It won't get installed until after the initial dynotuning. BEGi requested before and after numbers.

 

We swapped downpipe elbows with Mike (Doppelganger) as there is already a divider cast into the turbine housing, so his bellmouth elbow was better suited for this application:





With the help of my friend Bryan (wildfire0310) we got the rest of the 1.6 drivetrain and exhaust removed, I coated the transmission tunnel (helps a lot with sound since Mazda didn't apply any there, helps with heat just a little), and we installed the 3.636 TorSen w/ the Energy Suspension mounts.

 

that part list makes me horny. Such a well rounded setup

 

The H&R coilovers got installed, completed the 1.8L brake swap, installed the rear sway bar and adjustable end links, and put on the Panasports to check clearances. I also cleaned the rear subframe, there was a lot of oily dirt caked onto it, little things that bother me. lol













Installed the muffler assembly of the 3" exhaust as well. The difference between polished and non-polished was pretty visible, so I polished the part of the piping that will be sticking out of the bumper and did a basic cleaning on the rest of the assembly.







The early NAs only had a plate covering the left side of the trunk space so I took the plate and carpet set I had from my '95 and installed it:

 

Last night I installed the Walbro 190lph:



Removed the dead soft top, 20 years of sun exposure had turned the clear vinyl black!



And then because I didn't quite want to start working on installing the roll bar, I cleaned the 20 years of grime off the rear deck and surrounding panels:



More to come...

Haha! Me too. I wish it was all mine... well, some of it used to be. lol

 

Jeez, that car is so clean. Nice build!
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looks like a good build! im in keep up the good work

 

Man that NA is so clean. This will be a great build to watch.

Keep it coming

 

Are these the ebay rods? Are these already in the engine, or is this what you are planning on using?

 

Thanks guys!

No, they're the same as the ETD rods, I can't remember who on here was selling them before M-Tuned came along. They're already in the engine, I broke-in the engine in my last car.

 

Are these the ones?
http://www.catpep.com/searchengine/s...Submit3=Submit

 

Sounds like them. I got them from someone on here a while back though.

 

those GA cars sure are nice.

How much was the intake mani? - if you don't mind me asking

-Zach

 

I honestly don't know, I'm not paying for the parts. I'm just doing the work.

 

Frame rails are in:



And Wonton (Sean) is helping me install the rollbar. The seatbelt tabs aren't lining up with the mounting holes in the car just right, so we're having to take care of that rather than stripping things out.

 

^ Did you trim enough of the parcel shelf off? I had similar issues until I really looked.

...I know you're probably a pro by now.

 

Oh yeah, plenty of clearance there. The tabs just didn't line straight up with the car for some reason. So I took my Dremel and bored the tab holes out a bit and then the bolts lined up better. Even the spacers didn't fit, we had to grind a bit off each of them so they'd slide in under the tabs. It happens every so often.

 

that was fun!

man......i still gots undercoating on me, dammit!

 

Well, I've neglected to update this thread in a while. Not much has really happened until today thanks to work and really cold weather here (garage is not insulated, so not very warm).

I installed a newer soft top:



Then after work every so often I worked on some small items that aren't really worth mentioning. Today my friend Bryan came over and helped get some larger projects done. We installed the 19" FM intercooler making the necessary modifications to make it fit with a/c, since I did the same thing on my '95, it was much easier this time around.



I get really tired of messing with the 1/2" nuts on turbos, all wrenches just seem to be too large and there's not enough clearance and... Anyway, I made a wrench that works really well:



Then we assembled the LS3 "Coil Pack" to check clearances, etc.:



And finally, well I'll let the picture speak for itself:



So it's getting there. Got a lot of wiring to do in order to make the Hydra control the LS3 coils, the 1.8 engine in a 1.6 chassis, 99 TB, etc. Then it's the normal home stretch of getting everything hooked up, fluids in, etc.