Progression of the Miata thread

I've procrastinated this for ages because I keep on thinking the car is close to being "done". However, I know that it will never be done so I decided to start this thread and update it with pictures, and new/coming mods from time to time. I'll kick everything off with a little history on the car:

The miata is a 1990, and I bought it from a guy in Vancouver around June, 2002. The guy had it repainted, and he put some eagle 14" rims on it. There were a few weird things about the car, such as the inside of the trunk being covered with battery acid, and some dings on the outside of the trunk from where the battery slammed into it. The drivers seat had cracks in it, and the soft top was a little haggard. He wanted $7500 for it, which at the time was a decent price. I talked him down $500 (tried for $6500), and then drove it home. Here's a picture of it a week after ownership:


About 6 months after I bought it, my crankshaft blew up inside the engine. It was pretty catastrophic. I decided to replace the engine with a factory refurbished unit, and I also had the engine tuned aggressively.
Old Engine:

New Engine:


To keep this thread from becoming too long, I'll just post the history in fazes. By late 2003 the car looked like this:


I added a real carbon fiber front air dam, Corbeau A4 racing seats, Racing Beat fiberglass deck cover, Racing Beat type I style bar, and a Racing Beat power pulse cold air intake system.

Here's the next phase:

This was in the middle of 2004. I had the carbon fiber air dam painted, deck cover painted, fog lights installed in the air dam, racing beat side fairings, and a spoiler painted and installed.

The next phase was in July 2005


I purchased a set of BSA 16" rims with Yokohoma A4 tires, custom flames on the side of the car, headlight conversion, turn signal intakes, chrome fuel lid door, black taillights, racing steering wheel, and custom interior paint. I also sold the Corbeau racing seats and refinished the factory ones and put them back in. They fit a lot better and looked better for the size of the car.

And now, the CURRENT phase!





So the car has changed a fair amount since the last phase. Exterior wise, I purchased a VIS fiberglass front end, I sold the turn signal intakes and went back to the original ones, I replaced the antenna, installed some fog lights in the new front end, re did my interior with a black / blue / chrome / brushed scheme, and added the all important revscene stickers. Under the hood I added a stainless tri-y header and catback exhaust, racing beat high flow intake, custom powder coated valve cover, stainless radiator cover, chrome covers for fuse box and brake fluid reservoir, dual radiator fans, and new engine grounds.

Just have to mention I've left a lot of crap out of the previous posts like interior junk and such. I'll get around to taking some interior shots once the hardtop comes off

Current plans include:

Tein S-Tech springs
KYB Shocks
Special lowering bump stops
New clutch
Possible carbon fiber fuel lid door

Just came across this on a miata classified site.


$190 US shipped. Apparently it's brand new, the guy bought it for his 1.6 and decided to drop a V8 in it instead. Seems like a pretty good deal.

[m1ataman]

Dustin, there are way nicer 4-2-1 or 4-1 headers out there. I doubt this one would give you any power gain over a stock exhaust manifold. Racing Beat make a nice one that's all stainless but of course it's more money. It's too bad Brainstorm is gone because the ceramic coated one I had in the old Miata was really nice.

Originally posted by m1ataman
Dustin, there are way nicer 4-2-1 or 4-1 headers out there. I doubt this one would give you any power gain over a stock exhaust manifold. Racing Beat make a nice one that's all stainless but of course it's more money. It's too bad Brainstorm is gone because the ceramic coated one I had in the old Miata was really nice.

I have a tri-y stainless right now that is great, but that is a turbo down pipe. I'm thinking I might want to start piecing together a custom turbo setup, and this seems like a really good deal. From just looking online like ebay, just the turbo header portion is about $200 US, and then I'd have to find a down pipe.

[m1ataman]

I'm a stupidhead. I know nothing about those snails in the engine bay. Now that looks like a much better deal. :/

Santa was good to me.



New shocks - I can finally install those tein springs now.

Goodridge braided clutch line

Official Top Gear t-shirt.

[metal]

I am the Stig, hahah nice shirt.

[RZZ]

why don't u buy the kyb agx or knoi yellow instead of those kyb gr2??

kyb gr2 is just little bit stiffer than stock tho...

Originally posted by dustinb
New shocks - I can finally install those tein springs now.

[m1ataman]

They were a gift Ray. Free is good! Congrats Dustin. If you want to do them yourself I have a set of spring compressors you can borrow (and a torch you'll need to get those bottom bolts out of the lower balljoints). If not let me know and I may be able to help you in trade for Beetle parts.

[projectcivic]

I have never been much of a Miata fan but the latest pics of your car look really good. I like the combination of the front end, hard top and the spoiler. Looks good.

Originally posted by metal
I am the Stig, hahah nice shirt.

Yah it's great. Has a picture of the stig on the back and the Top Gear logo. I love it. Oh yah, and the tag on the inside of the shirt says : THIS SHIRT WAS TESTED ON ANIMALS. IT DID NOT FIT.

Originally posted by RZZ
why don't u buy the kyb agx or knoi yellow instead of those kyb gr2??

kyb gr2 is just little bit stiffer than stock tho...

Well I would've loved to go AGX, but like Cornel said, these were a gift and I wouldn't be close to being able to afford agx's for quite a while. Plus I've also been very happy with how the stock miata shocks handle, so I'm not terribly worried about having a OEM performing shock put back in.

Originally posted by m1ataman
They were a gift Ray. Free is good! Congrats Dustin. If you want to do them yourself I have a set of spring compressors you can borrow (and a torch you'll need to get those bottom bolts out of the lower balljoints). If not let me know and I may be able to help you in trade for Beetle parts.

Thanks Cornel! I may take you up on that offer, however, I was thinking now might be a good time to finally visit the guys at $$$$$$$$s. I've just heard so many positive things about them.

That and I'd like to throw the car on the dyno to see what I'm actually producing.

Originally posted by projectcivic
I have never been much of a Miata fan but the latest pics of your car look really good. I like the combination of the front end, hard top and the spoiler. Looks good.

Thanks for the compliment. I modify my cars for no one but myself, but it feels good to get some positive feedback every once in a while

The new suspension was installed today at $$$$$$$$. Thanks to Chris for doing an amazing job, I'll definitely be back. As for pictures, my batteries died in the digital camera so no images are available. All I can say is the handling is awesome, and it's nice to get back to a lower height since the larger wheels were put on.

[m1ataman]

Don't forget to get an alignment done asap Dustin. I'm dropping mine in February with H&R's.

Originally posted by m1ataman
Don't forget to get an alignment done asap Dustin. I'm dropping mine in February with H&R's.

That'll look great with those H&R's. As far as alignment, the soonest I can get in is Wednesday. It's amazing how busy shops are right now.

[Black SC2]

Dude, your car is straight up wicked as is. With a little more oomph to back up the looks, it's going to be a killer package. We're happy to have had it in the shop!

[Demosthenes X]

That spoiler/hardtop combo looks great... wheels suit it, too.

Forced induction is calling your name, though...

[stevo911_]

Originally posted by Black SC2
Dude, your car is straight up wicked as is.

+1 I think I've said this before, but you really need to brush up on your photography skills, you cars way nicer looking in person than any of your pictures show

Originally posted by stevo911_
+1 I think I've said this before, but you really need to brush up on your photography skills, you cars way nicer looking in person than any of your pictures show

Heh, yah I suck at photography I think I'm getting a little better, but I need someone to take some shots of it.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

As for more go, I'm starting a new savings fund for the greddy turbo kit. I've put it off long enough.

[stevo911_]

the last few shots are deffinately better, but theres a few photonuts on here who take some nice pics.
glad to hear your gonna insert some zoom zoom into the miata

I had the car aligned today at Simoes. I was very impressed with the job they did and the price the charged me. Would definitely recommend them. I also took a few pictures of the miata (really dirty). It's amazing how different the car handles now. Not only is it more responsive, but it's also a smoother ride then what I previously had. The car was basically riding on the bump stops before.

So my suspension consists of:
KYB GR-2 shocks
Tein S-Tech Springs
Fast cat motorsports customs bump stops (adds an extra inch of travel to allow smooth ride with lowering springs).

[RZZ]

those GR2 is Gift!...that's nice

how much does Tein S-Tech Springs lower the miata?
I thought your car will look lower with the S-Tech...???!!!

[metal]

Same height with the S-tech's?!

Originally posted by metal
Same height with the S-tech's?!

Yah it's pretty close. S-tech's were supposed to lower the front 1.1" and the rear .75". Because my old suspension was original, the natural sag probably put it close to that. It is slightly lower, but not as dramatic as I thought it'd be.