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Good evening fellow gearheads! I'm going to apologize in advance for the length of this post. LOL
My name is Greg, I'm 39 years old and I live in North Georgia (Ringgold; a suburb of Chattanooga, TN) with my wife and 10 year old daughter. I've been lurking on this forum for nearly year and have already made the typical noob mistake of posting before I read (and read, and read, and read...) through the multitude of useful threads here (this was a few months back). For most of my life I've been a gearhead of some kind. Prior to my recent Miata purchase (I'll elaborate on that in a moment) I owned a Suzuki SV1000 sportbike that I used to take to take to track and twisty backroads. In addition to the mods I did to bike, I have also successfully restored a 1968 Mustang. I believe myself to be a (sometimes) competent "shadetree" mechanic and I love spinning wrenches on just about anything with an engine. I sold my sportbike when my daughter was born and have been without a motorsports toy for a decade (the Mustang was a project for a friend). During that time I did hours upon hours of research on the project that I would undertake when my family and career were in a place that would support such an endeavor. I always thought I wanted a Mustang until I discovered Miatas (thanks to Greg Peters of the Car Passion Channel).
As I stated above I purcahsed a VERY rough 1997 Miata back in March of this year. The car was not running when I bought it and I was happy to rebuild everything. Once I towed it back to my garage I removed the Hard Dog roll bar that came with car (don't worry, it's going back in) along with nearly everything else. The car was without carpet when I bought it, which gave me good look at most of the sheet metal. I'm happy to say that after spending several hours under it and in the engine bay, it's rust free and the chassis appears to be in good shape. The bad news is that the engine that was in it; that i hoped to rebuild, had a huge hole in the block behind the starter. I disassembled the engine to find that it had a bent rod and severe internal damage; I called a local scrapper to come and pick it up.
While going through the car, I discovered a receipt from a drift event and numerous other signs of the previous owner having abused the car. The wiring harness had coat hanger wire zip tied to it and the coat hanger was then connected to the battery. It had an ebay header and crappy "ricer" muffler welded to the rear section of the factory exhaust. At this point I decided to disassemble EVERYTHING to ensure that car would be safe to operate upon completion. The car is currently stripped down to it's bare "shell". I have wire brushed an epoxy painted both subframes, the rear control arms (the fronts were bent and have been disposed of) as well as the PPF, and have cleaned every part of the car. Last weekend I was fortunate enough to source an engine, trasmission, and Torsen diff (as well as a few other parts) from 96 M Edition for $1100. I was also able to secure a brand new (still in bag) OEM wiring harnes back in June for $50. Now I'm ready to move forward.
I intend to use this car for autocross and the occasional "Track Night in America" at Atlanta Motorsports Park. I'd also like to be able to drive some of the twisty mountain roads near my house (and maybe as far away as the Dragon). That said, I have roughly $2300 invested in the car to the this point (I realize I WAY overpaid for the chassis). I have a $10K budget to make this car into a 250 HP toy that will keep me grinning from ear to ear. I plan to begin by getting it driveable and learning to drive it while it is still naturally aspirated. So, initally I'll be focused heavily on chassis, suspension, and brake work. After a few months and a few events, I plan to add and MS3 PNP and tune the car. Then I'll add injectors and tune again. Then finally, I'll add a turbo (most likely from MK Turbo).
The short list for the time being includes OEM front control arms (Moog), poly bushings, Sadfab bushing sleeves, reman brake calipers, centric rotors, and Porterfield R4S brake pads. I also plan to add AWR front sway bar mounts (the OEM ones have been ripped out), a Racing Beat front sway bar, and a set of V Maxx coilovers from Flyin Miata. As far as the engine and drivetrain go, I plan to put in a new clutch and replace the timing belt and do all of the associated "while you're in there" items such as the water pump, front and rear main seals, and valve cover gasket. I also plan to remove and clean the lifters, clean all of the "gunk" off of the engine itself, and add a coolant reroute.
There are many intelligent and knowledgable people on this forum, I humbly submit my car and my plans for it to your scrutiny. I look forward to your feedback and to achieveing my performance goals. Thanks in advance!
Last edited by Sailor Jerry; 11-04-2019 at 09:30 AM.
Sorry for the long delay, but I finally attached a few pics of the day after I brought her home. I also included one of the hole in the block. I've since sourced a replacement engine and I'm working to get it in the car.
11-02-2019 | 10:00 PM
North Georgia Noob
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