I bought this car from GolfTDIBrad last summer after a 5 day misadventure with a nice responsible Civic reminded me how much I like cars that aren't Civics. I drove to Jackson, MS (halfway to Red Stick, LA) to meet Brad (who turned out to be a really nice guy) and drove it home to Huntsville. It looked like this:

https://www.miataturbo.net/cars-sale-trade-6/1994-mazda-miata-%246000-00-a-59092/



New radiator, timing belt, waterpump, hoses in last 10k miles.
Hard dog rollbar
Koni Yellow shocks
Ground Control Coilovers (550/350 Lb/inch rates)
Car has been corner balanced.
Flyin' Miata front sway bar
Energy suspension polyurethane kit on all the suspension. I Drilled and tapped all the a-arms for grease fittings, just in case it ever starts to squeak, but so far its been silent.
BRP MP62 supercharger. Blower rebuilt less than 5k miles ago, makes 7 PSI boost
TRD belt tensioner
Megasquirt PNP EMS
750cc RC injectors
Inovate LC2 wideband wired into the megasquirt.
Torsen LSD rear end with 4.10 gears. new output shaft seals.
2 sets of wheels. 14" with Falken azenias rt615's 50% life. 15" drag dr-20 with Kuhmo tires ~90% life.
r-line front lip
AXXIS ultimate brake pads.
sony cd player with ipod connector.
battery is less than a year old.



















I was more or less happy with it at the time, other than the fake Work Equip 03s, the oxidation on the paint, a minor oil leak and a noisy speedo cable (all of which I knew about before hand). It pulled ok, and everything seemed to work pretty well. I had convinced myself that I could do some maintenance, put some wheels on it and leave it alone... Yeah right.


Over the course of the summer/ fall I did a bunch of maintenance and minor mods:

New brake pads and fresh fluid
Modified RB front sway bar end links
Lowered the car some on the coilovers
Kosei K1s in 15x8 +32 with 225/45-15 Toyo R1Rs
Had the paint buffed (the trunk looks almost presentable now)
Cleaned up the engine bay a bunch
New wideband sensor
Greased the poly bushings
Replaced the speedo cable
Hunted down and fixed the oil leak that turned out to be a power steering fluid leak
Scored a black hard top for -$800 (bought a beater with the top which I cleaned up and sold for more than I had in the whole pile)








Then an ad popped up on here for a mostly new, mostly complete Flyin Miata Ubercharger Whipple 1.2L twin screw kit that I couldn't pass up, so I snapped it up with some of my school loan for the Fall semester, and the MP62 got sold to cover my irresponsible use of school money ().

Everything sort of started to spiral at that point. A stock Ubercharger kit will make enough power to punch the connecting rods through the block, so I horse traded my way into a Supertech 2L big bore motor, complete, machined and ready except for connecting rods. The same guy let me buy a '99 head to go with the NB Ubercharger kit. I also grabbed a Boig header from a local guy who had gone turbo, but the Boigs come with a 2" collector, which wouldn't even sort of do. Plus I just couldn't bring myself to put a spray bombed mild steel header on my car. This was the result:















I replaced the 2" collector was replaced with a 7 degree divergent nozzle, to a 3" v-band ring, and sent everything to Nitroplate in Nashville for their super cool magic coating. This obviously necessitated a new exhaust, which brings us to this weekend:




















I used a pair of Hindle Titanium Supersport cans, along with a Magnaflow 3" cat and all 3" 304 stainless tube. I spent 2 weeks getting my fits exactly where I wanted them with zero gaps for pretty TIG welds, and the day I had to get it all done to get the car off the lift, the pedal on my buddy's TIG decided it just wasn't going to cooperate. It went from no arc to blowing holes in the tube instantly, no matter how low the amperage was set. So I had to learn to MIG stainless in an afternoon, and... it looks pretty horrendous, but you can't tell that from outside the car, and it still took off significant weight, so I guess I'm happy with it, all things considered. It's a little loud for my taste, so I'll end up adding a resonator soon.


So, at this point I still haven't turned up a set of connecting rods for the 2L, or the little detail bits to finish off the Ubercharger kit. Before I do any of that, though, I need to come up with a clutch, some sort of charge cooling, and I plan to do some chassis reinforcement, aero parts, and some more weight savings. I have never really been one to keep a project long enough to finish it (chronic 60 day automotive attention span) but I've really grown attached to this one. Hopefully I won't get bored with it too soon...

 

Riddle me this, Batman: How do you seal up slightly loose slip fits when there isn't room to put a clamp around them?

The internet's opinion was to pack the slip with heavy grease or anti-seize, so after having trouble with super leaky slip fits before, I slathered the header and muffler slips with Permatex Copper Anti-Seize on the initial assembly of teh exhaust to head any issues off at the pass, but the first time it got hot, the grease/ oil/ carrier loosened up and most of the slips bled out some.

I'm not fully convinced that they're leaking, but the system seems louder than I think it should be, so I'm thinking it can't hurt to try to seal the slips up a little better. I really don't want to RTV them, as the collector has to come off of the header primaries to get the header out of the car, and RTV sets up like concrete after a few months of daily driving.

Any other ideas?

 

Nothing?

I at least expected hatred on the exhaust...


If anybody cares, I'm going to try Hylomar Universal Blue tomorrow, and maybe Walker Acoustiseal (had to order both) tomorrow before I go with more drastic measures.

 

ok i WILL comment.

You do realize that you $5000 header is going on a 200hp miata right?

 

Is that header made of diamonds? How much did it really cost new?

 

$5000 leaky header, that really doesn't fit on a Miata. Every tube had to be dented to clear something. And right now it's on a ~115hp Miata. I'm terribly aware. Luckily I have <$600 in it, including mods and coating, and it should make SIGNIFICANT horsepower over anything off the shelf for my application. FM had a project car with this blower that made 315whp on 93 octane. I hope to make significantly more than that on 110.

 

Holy cr*p, what makes that thing so special? Design looks weird/funky but I'm no exhaust pulse pro.

 

I really don't know how much they were new. Probably too much, seeing as how they're mild steel and you have to cut up the motor mount cup and clearance the subframe to get the thing to fit, and it's still a pain in the dingding to get it in and out of the car, even then.

Plus, you're going to have a hell of a time getting oil back to the pan from the turbo.

 

it dynoed with an extra HP.

 

1.75" primaries and voodoo. I imagine that I totally ruined it for the original intention (180+hp GT/ Production motors) when I modified it, but a 2" collector just isn't going to cut it supercharged.

 

what is it a 2.5" collector stepping up to 3"?

also I dont think there's many other equal length 4-1 headers out there...The Gibb one maybe, and that's expsenive too.

 

2" to 3"

The PO had a bunch of step sized tubes welded to it and a 2.25" flange at the end, but the original collector was about 5" of 2" tube with an O2 bung in it.

 

Fair warning...get a decently quiet muffler or that Uber + header + free flowing exhaust is going to be LOUD.

 

What constitutes LOUD? Like, can't leave the house before 8am or come home after 9pm for fear of violent encounters with the neighbors, or just drony on the interstate?

I already think it's loud, but all my buddies think it's fine/ too quiet (I'm an old man who won't drive a car that drones every day, period). I think I'm going to add a stainless Moroso Spiral Flow after I get the slips sealed up. I also found a couple of little exhaust leaks the other day that I'll try to get welded up this afternoon. I'm actually hoping it will be down to bearable today, and will be VERY quiet after the resonator.

 

I think its going to be insanely loud too.
Loud like "I can't drive on the freeway for more than 30minutes or I'll get a headache from hell" loud

 

The Hindle mufflers are remarkably effective. Like I said, all of my buddies think it's a perfectly reasonable volume for a street exhaust now. I'm just an old man who likes his cars quiet at cruise.

Not that I don't think you guys are right... It may very well become a problem. I'll cross the noise bridge when I come to it, I guess.

 

adding a header to my car is exactly why I ultimately went turbo

 

No experience with those mufflers, but I'll tell you that Uber + RB header + FM exhaust is well past the "a bit droney on the interstate" stage and well into the "embarrassed to blip the throttle in a neighborhood" territory.

 

Well... it's quieter. Maybe. A little.


I pulled mid pipe and rear section off and fixed about 20 irrelevant little pinholes, and maybe 2 actual exhaust leaks, went over most of the welds with the TIG, and sealed up the slips with Hylomar (which really is magical stuff; it must have asbestos and AIDS in it).

The car sounds is notably cleaner/ less raspy, and the total volume is down a touch, but not as much as I hoped it would be. I guess I was hoping to get the exhaust off and find that I missed an inch of weld some place, or something. Optimism breeds disappointment, lol. Monday I'll order a stainless Moroso Spiral Flow and see what happens. I've used the old mild steel ones before, and they worked great until the baffles rotted out. Hopefully the stainless ones are the answer, because I'm going to have a hell of a time fitting a real resonator in there.

I also got nice new stainless studs and copper plated lock nuts from ATP Turbo yesterday. I'll post new engine bay pics once I get them on and get it cleaned up a little.

 

Where are you guys buying head flange studs and nuts? I bought 10x1.5 nuts and studs from ATP because I'm stupid. Now that I'm looking for the correct thread, I can't find anyone who carries appropriate stainless studs and copper plated/ stainless exhaust lock nuts in 10x1.25.



I did find that Ballerbolts has some bitchin Ti jet nuts in 10x1.25 for ~$40/set