Track day Bro?!

[mx5_matt]

Man o man, been a while since iv'e updated this, but decided it was time.

pretty much havn't touched the car too much since the last update, until about two weeks ago. the valve seals/piston rings slowly have been wearing down and iv'e been prepping for a 1.8 swap. while driving through some twisties, my clutch decided give out on me. Found a 1.8 and trans on a facebook group for a steal and picked it up that weekend. proceeded to tear down the engine bay for a much needed respray while i was at it. Motor will be in tomorrow and getting everything hooked back up. ill update some more once its done.

[mx5_matt]

Okay, finally gonna compile some of the progress of this build.



Got both the motors ready to transfer some parts over, and the entire front end body taken apart ready for paint.



dacrabmasta ( project hardshell ) unbolting the brake booster from the pedal in the most comfortable way possible.



ok, got rid of some rust and dirt, and etching primered the entire front end.



So shiny, decided on silver after seeing charlies time attack miata and fell in love. tad bit brighter than his bay was but i still like it.



I was tempted to make the effort of doing a harness tuck, but only had a week to work on it, and didn't feel like pulling the dash to tuck the fuse box, so settled for cutting out a few wires i no longer needed, and rewrapping the entire harness in fresh tape and looms.



How it looks with the body back together, still need to align all the panels. but ready to drop the motor in.



1.8 is in. now its time for a new radiator, timing belt/water pump kit. and some other minor stuff before it ready for the touge.

[TheCrabMaster]

Hey look i'm upside in a miata

[mx5_matt]

figured I'd do another update on progress on the car.
Got the 1.8 all put back together after doing timing belt, water pump. couple new hoses, new radiator, new clutch master / slave and a few other bits.



also got some new tires, 205/50 nitto nt05 on a 15x9



got my new coilovers installed as well. still need to adjust height and get an alignment and then she'll be ready to drive.



Just need to install a new test pipe, adjust a few things on the motor and then head out to the Autocombine in jax, FL april 1st.

[drifte]

My buddy has those wheels on his Miata but on 225's, turns like no other.



His cars gotta rough body, looks like you got pretty lucky with a clean straight shell to work from.

[mx5_matt]

My buddy has those wheels on his Miata but on 225's, turns like no other.



His cars gotta rough body, looks like you got pretty lucky with a clean straight shell to work from.

These wheels looks so good with 225's on em. I had actually bought some used 225 rs3's but decided to sell em to a buddy and just get new 205 nt05. should still be pretty grippy, especially compared to my old setup.

[mx5_matt]

so.... still workin on getting the new motor running 100% right. slight ignition timing issue and such. but also installed some new tein basics that i straight traded my racelands for. hopefully be able to drive this thing hard soon.

[mx5_matt]

Sooo.... Been quite some time since iv'e updated this thread but made a lot of changes / progress in the past few months.
Got all the ignition timing and motor issues figured out after tracking down an electrical issue for weeks.... turned out to be the coolant temp sensor for the ecu had depinned itself inside the harness connector and ecu was going into open loop mode.

but now the car runs great.

also picked up an OEM hardtop finally for a decent price.

DSC_0406-2 by Matt Maffucci, on Flickr


Now just need to get my headlight motors working / back in sync. and keep driving her. recently just did my first autox event and plan on doing another in November.

[Loaf31]

love the wheels! I had the same set for a bit, then sold them. car looks good bro, keep it up!

[I_Haz.:R32]

yesssss. Hardtop ftw. Looks good man!

[mx5_matt]

Just been driving the car lately. although just got a new well paying job, so a daily Lexus gs300 may be in my future, as well as some new racekor parts for this.

also think my head gasket may have a slighttttt leak or tear. coolant is disappearing at about a quart every 2-3 weeks or so. and car kinda smells iffy on decel.
just gonna ride out this "new" motor and save up for ecotec swap parts. not terribly expensive and good for about 175hp / 170tq Naturally aspirated.

DSC_0575 by Matt Maffucci, on Flickr

[EricT93]

Looks proper! Hows it driving? Have you done any sanctioned events?

[mx5_matt]

Looks proper! Hows it driving? Have you done any sanctioned events?

It drives pretty good, fun to throw around and very controllable.
I need to get some new steering components, tie rod ends etc and get it all properly aligned. iv'e done one sanctioned autox so far. got another planned for november!

[CDeez5]

up,down,up,down, Love to see a non stanced MX-5 every once in a while.

[mx5_matt]

up,down,up,down, Love to see a non stanced MX-5 every once in a while.

And the older guys at the autox still looked at me like a typical stanceboi since the car is a bit lower than most of their cars, even though its quite functional, just have to slowly go over speedbumps, don't really worry about scraping too much anywhere.