Time to start a build thread for my miata. Her name is Maggie and she is a poor neglected 1996 miata with 200k on the chassis. She was my daily driver for almost a year. My friend totaled his car and I lent him Maggie. Well Maggie proceeded to be blown up by putting her on the rev limiter for to long on a 200k motor and bye bye motor. scored cylinder walls and blown out head gasket. So it was time to build Maggie or sell her. After much debate even though she was a turd nugget she was my turd nugget and I really miss driving this car as current time of this post she is still not running. But there are plans and things are in action. This thread will be Maggie's story of her journey from becoming a daily driver to a turbo miata.

First things first lets go over the drive line plans.
I was putting Maggie up for sale as parts or a project in my local miata classifieds and I saw a post for the motor, trans and act clutch out of a 2002 miata. It was a fantastic price and after a short chat I was on my way to Philly to pick up the new heart of Maggie. The motor has 120k on it and is in very good health. I have been reading and re-reading the official vvt into a NA chasis swap and getting familiar with what is involved. I'm quite mechanically inclined and with the write up on this site it seems very doable.

6 speed to hold more power and an act hds clutch. Now I have 2 stock 1.8 flywheels but I think I'm going to go for a lightweight flywheel. That is a decision for another day.

Turbo manifold. the home brew awesomeness. I really like the manifold wittyworks put together and I will be making something similar to that. I bought a high quality 1.8l exhaust flange and a have been mocking up exactly how I want the manifold to be. I have not decided on a turbo yet so I'm keeping it in cardboard and ducktape for now until that part is decided. I do have the stainless weld els to make the manifold from.

I don't have any set goals in mind for this car. I want it to feel fast but I don't want it to be built to a certain number, I'd rather build the car to a certain feel. I think Maggie has had a plenty hard life and I think its time for her to be a little bit spoiled. I will update this thread as progress is made as I really want to document the build on this car as it rises from the ashes of her tomb under a pine tree right now.

 

You should post the 'RIP Motor' video you have.

PS: That garage is a mess. You should clean it.

 

Alright so its been 5 months since I started this and have updated it exactly 0 times lol. But I have been busy, you know working on ridethecliche's miata. I kinda have myself to blame for that because I convinced him that turboing it was a good idea.... lol. Anyways a bit more about me and the build of Maggie.

So after building some of my other cars to be properly set up for road racing and serious driving I've decided Maggie is going to be a drift car. Why? because shenanigans, it is going to be the embodiment of the car I would have built if i was 12 and was allowed to make whatever car I wanted. Now I know how to build a car properly, I work as a technician at a Subaru dealership and have some Subarus that are overbuilt to a crazy level for the power that they make. If you dont believe me ask RTC. he rode in my 185k mile stock block 05 LGT wagon that makes 290whp and 315ftlbs at the tires on the original ej255. And im currently in the process of putting together my 05 LGT sedan that will make 450+whp when done. How does this relate to Maggie one may ask. Well I want her to be a hoonigan mobile, something I can go out and have fun in and be a little bit less serious than the other builds and cars I have in my fleet. Is it exactly the build most people want for their miatas? No it is not what most people go for and I get some people may not like that all I want to do is make the car go sideways and burn tires but its what I want to do to MY car. So that is what I have been working twords.

Since the last update Maggie has been pretty well stripped. Dashboard and wiring harness are out. Original seats are out. Carpet is out. This weekend I'm hoping I can get my new wiring harness installed and start making brackets for the momo corse seats I have for this car. Also I finalized my turbo choice, Bloush 440xt from a subaru. I'm in the process of welding together my own manifold with a spot for an EWG. I'm trying to follow ideas from old absurd flow manifolds. Ordered a dash flocking kit and started repairing my gauge hood just well enough so I can wrap it in the same material my tombstone and center console lid are wrapped in, my old batman pillowcase. I'm sure I'm missing some stuff I've done because this is a big project but RTC has convinced me that keeping the build thread more up to date and active will help with possible advice.

 

Paragraphs are your friend.

Post pictures of your other projects!

 

Sammie the 87 supra swapping 7mgte to 2jgte with vvti
The Blubaru
Gramps the daily
Blu looking pretty
Rebuilding Kelseys motor outside in the snow.
Gutting Maggies interior
Seat mock up before interior was completly stripped
VVT, 6 speed and ACT
Miata work station
This is gonna take awhile....

 

just buy the rails from OG Racing. I built mine and would gladly buy my next set. Much more complicated than you are imagining to get it to sit right.

Twords? what is this word?

 

I put BRZ seats in maggie before I bought the momos and I spent weeks messing with the adapters to get the seats to be in a good position. I was looking at wedge rails but I will look into OG also!

Probably not, I was just a little tired writing that lol. Rish kept me out late returning tools to a friend from his build weekend.

 

Cats for LGT builds. I really liked our '05, and wish Subaru hadn't turned the Legacy into a Camrycord...

Your going to love the VVT motor in an NA. It took me a year to do the swap, you should be able to beat that. Get to work!

 

Yeah I've had 3 2005 LGTS and currently own Blu and Kelsey. Had a red one but she got totaled :( Subaru as a whole hasn't made anything super exciting for a few years, even the new WRXs I'm not a fan of. But I agree the decline of the legacy chassis is a bit sad.

This weekend I should have an update of getting the new harness all laid in, picking up a dashboard friday night and will be flocking it while its out of the car. Then I can start putting Maggie kinda back together.

 

I'll say this because Chris probably won't.

This car could have been parted and sold months ago. He's had offers from interested buyers and a friend even offered him a rust free shell.

Chris is just pissed that someone else broke his car so he's damn well going to fix it instead of abandoning it. Call it stupid, call it a misplaced sense of loyalty, call it what you want. But you've got to respect that. Lost cars seem to follow him home...as you can probably tell by now.

I also can't ******* wait to ride in the supra once its ready.

 

Loved my LGT until it developed a suspension knock that I couldn't diagnose. Replaced ball joints, bushings, tie rod ends, tighten and re-tightened everything and still it persisted. It was around 100k miles, I needed a tow vehicle, so rather than dump more money into it (wp+timing belt due) I just sold it. My MDX has a better AWD system, but I do miss the power, and the handling was great.

 

Hey, if the OP ever parts this 96 Montego, dibs on the front fenders!

 

You're going to start a fight lol.

 

Dude, I've got -22 cats, guess I have to keep the course...

 

Fenders have a date with an airsaw lol.

 

?

 

was probably your lower control arm bushings. The ones closest to the rear of the vehicle or strut mounts. Id argue the AWD system point as the LGT had symetrical awd and if it was a manual a limited slip center and rear diff.

 

was probably your lower control arm bushings. The ones closest to the rear of the vehicle or strut mounts. Id argue the AWD system point as the LGT had symetrical awd and if it was a manual a limited slip center and rear diff.

 

Replaced both lower control arm bushings, still had the same problem. I was at a loss. Trust me, the MDX system is better - the manual LGT has a viscous limited slip center and rear diff but an open front diff. In other words, one wheel peel accelerating out of low speed corners. MDX has active torque vectoring in the rear diff (think Evo, Focus RS) and an "e-diff" in the front (brake actuated). It works.


Good luck with your VVT build. If your car won't start after all is said and done, try switching the coil pack plugs. The wiring diagram in the VVT swap thread was backwards for a while - I'm not sure if it ever got fixed.

 

You should start by not replying to old *** threads. and just search this site for what ever questions you have and read, read, read.