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Impulse Buy: Drift Miata

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  • Impulse Buy: Drift Miata

    Introduction


    Some of you might have seen my other build thread on my 1973 BMW 2002. That project has gotten out of control, and while I will finish that car and make it perfect, I've come to accept that's a year or two out minimum. It's my dream car, and I want to take my time and get everything right. In the mean time, I've been itching to drive something fun. I've been tossing around the idea of getting a dedicated drift car for years now, but I've never been able to commit.


    A friend of mine sent me a link to the video above. I had written off Miatas as an option, because the short wheel base makes them twitchy. I had set my sights on an E36 or 240sx, because they are good at what they do. But I reconsidered after watching a bunch of Miatas hot lapping a track over and over, and then leaving with full tire tread and still running cool. I've had one Miata in the past, and it was a bit of a pile, but I figured I could give it another shot. The same day I found this car on Craigslist.


    It's a 1990 Miata, which at some point received a long nose crank 1.6 swap. The main draw to this car was the hard top. Effectively for the price I paid, I bought a hard top and got a free Miata with it. The story goes, and we'll see if that's true, is the owner before me started to do the timing belt, got stuck at the crank bolt, and gave up. He just bought a new Mustang and just decided to cut ties with the Miata. It's bone stock minus some LRB door cards (which he sticker bombed), and weirdly enough an HKS intake.


    Normally I wouldn't pick up a non-running car for a project like this, but his story checked out. We were able to turn over the engine, he had every single part to do the timing belt job, and that crank bolt is notoriously tough to remove. On top of that, I happen to be friends with something of a Miata expert. My friend (@nhammon) is in the middle of a nut and bolt restoration of his own NA. He came with me to check the car and gave it a clean bill of health. He's also helped a ton in selling me his spare parts and answering any and all questions I have.


    So here's the plan. Basic track mods such as seats, steering wheel, cooling etc. Welded diff, coilovers and angle kit to follow. I'll be fixing the AC, and adding in a new headunit to keep it semi-streetable for the AZ summer. All in, I'll have a very low buck drift car. My total cost in this car will be less than one totaled out 240sx. I just want as much seat time as I can possibly manage this year, and have a fun car to play with while the 2002 enters the boring parts of restoration.

    Starting Point






    The first thing I did was take inventory of what the car came with. As mentioned, all the new parts were included, timing belt, thermostat housing, bearings etc. There were a few seals missing, so a quick order later and everything will be in. The front main seal has clearly been puking for a while, so I also took the time to scrub everything clean to make working on it a little easier.


    I also picked up some parts off of my friend. New Mishimoto rad hoses, Advanti Storm S1 wheels, his old 1.6 open diff (to be welded) and driveshaft, as well as some other misc. bits. These were just sitting on his shelf, and will go a long way to getting this car on the road. I'm on the fence about the wheel choice long term. For now they're absolutely perfect, they weigh ~11lbs a piece and will be great for drifting. But I can't help but want some SSR Mk2s some day. I'm a wheel nerd deep down, I want all my cars to be on three piece, OG wheels. Something to look forward to I suppose


    I could only test fit as it turns out I need new lug nuts. No biggie, it looks goofy at stock ride height anyways. With a drop, they'll look fantastic and the unsprung weight drop is definitely a bonus as well. I've noticed these are a fairly common Miata wheel choice, so I'm not expecting any clearance issues. Especially with stock angle right now.


    If you've gone through my 2002 build thread, you'll know I bought some Car Make Corn's seats for that project. Since I've decided to take the restoration even further, I've borrowed those seats for this Miata project. Saves me some cash, and they're not doing me any good in a rolling shell. Technically speaking the Corn's seats were designed specifically for Miatas, so this is their proper home anyawy. I just plopped the seat in to get an idea of fitment. I'll definitely need a quick release steering wheel to get in and out. I'll be putting both seats in as well, drift missile or no I'd like the car to look nice.

    Side note, I think I'm going to de-stickerbomb those door cards. I'm just not feeling it.




    Since I'm basically just sitting around waiting for parts to come in, I decided to do some cleaning. I was just going to paint the valve cover black, but it was so disgusting I had to take a wire wheel to it. An hour later, I ended up with this. I don't know how I feel about it, but I've spent too much time on it to actually bother doing anything else. So brushed valve cover it is.


    So that's where we sit now. I've put a weekend worth of work into the car so far. This weekend we're aiming to have it running and driving. Once I know it's mechanically sound, I'll order some coilovers, buff out the paint, and get ready for some drift events. This is a change of pace for me, I'm very much a BMW guy. But I'm looking forward to having some fun with this little Miata at the track. I can't promise anything crazy in this build thread, the whole point is to keep this project budget so I don't detract too much from 2002 progress. But I'll be doing the basic bolt ons to get this thing sliding properly.

  • #2
    I can't wait to see this!

    I love NA Miatas so, but their size scares the ever loving crap out of me. Some day, I'd love to own one! Looks like you got one in pretty good shape body wise. The nice thing is, they don't seem to expensive to fix up!



    Static 1986 Guards Red NA Porsche 944
    P O R S C H E P A I ~
    The Poor Woman's Porsche

    @kenznotmercedes

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    • #3
      "Crusty engine" to "somewhat clean engine" shots always make me happy
      I'm following for sure as always, only thing I feel is not a good idea is using your expensive&cool seats on a "beater" car, my experience is they will quickly age with all the entering/exiting the car in a non very careful use

      FB: @DumbassCarCrew - IG: @fruttolo_dumbasscrew

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      • #4
        Love that video, I am planning on doing a Miata drift car soon so I will be keeping an eye on how this goes. Looks like a great start!
        grimegang_cody on insta if you want to follow my build

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Kenz View Post
          I can't wait to see this!

          I love NA Miatas so, but their size scares the ever loving crap out of me. Some day, I'd love to own one! Looks like you got one in pretty good shape body wise. The nice thing is, they don't seem to expensive to fix up!
          It's surprisingly straight. No rust, no damage, almost a shame it's getting turned into a track rat.

          Originally posted by Fruttolo View Post
          "Crusty engine" to "somewhat clean engine" shots always make me happy
          I'm following for sure as always, only thing I feel is not a good idea is using your expensive&cool seats on a "beater" car, my experience is they will quickly age with all the entering/exiting the car in a non very careful use
          I thought about that, but ultimately seats are for being used. If I have to reupholster them, that's alright. I rather use these seats and enjoy them, than spend on another set to abuse.

          Originally posted by xxcody2130xx View Post
          Love that video, I am planning on doing a Miata drift car soon so I will be keeping an eye on how this goes. Looks like a great start!
          Thanks, it's going to be a fun project!

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          • #6
            I love Miatas. What part of AZ you in? I am in Mesa. I have a 89 Nissan Laurel RB25DET swap. Just moved down here looking for like minded JDM lovers.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Frisbygolf View Post
              I love Miatas. What part of AZ you in? I am in Mesa. I have a 89 Nissan Laurel RB25DET swap. Just moved down here looking for like minded JDM lovers.
              I'm in Gilbert, so not too far from you. Welcome to the neighborhood!
              I can suggest a few different meets and events if you're interested, shoot me a PM! The car scene in the east valley is a little hit or miss, it'll go through periods of high activity and then kind of disappear for a while.

              Extra Bling

              Last night was a bit of a fail working on the car. While working on the seats, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't make the Sparco brackets bolt to the stock sliders. After some research, I have to buy Sparco bases, which is nearly another $300 in parts, so for now... we leave the stock seats in. While putting the stock seats back in, I turned on a flash light and watched a scorpion crawl under my dashboard. The next two hours were spent tearing apart the dash to try and get it out, but that bitch is in there now.

              During the process of tearing apart the dash, about 90% of the plastics crumbled to pieces in my hand. They were already worse for wear, but now my tombstone is in two pieces and my gauge hood in about fifty more. Granted this was bound to happen eventually, but it's a shame it had to happen before I even got the car started. All thanks to a scorpion...

              Ah the joys of living in Arizona.


              I did manage to mount the wheels last night. Picked up some lugs, again courtesy of @nhammon. I wasn't motivated to take any good pictures last night, on account of the scorpion incident, so... This horrible photo will have to do for now. It truly is awful and I apologize. But that's the best I had energy for at that point. The car sits like a monster truck, it's disgusting at stock ride height. But, that'll be resolved soon enough.


              He also gave me the Circuit Sports overflow tank. It's a little extra for a dedicated drift car, but my stock plastic tank was cracked and showed signs of leaking. He happened to have this on the shelf from his build, and threw it my way. So now I have a very shiny piece in a very crusty car. I pulled the charcoal canister as well, as it's big, heavy and in the way.

              I'm itching to clean this car too. We're convinced this paint will buff out pretty well. It'll never be perfect but I think I can kill a lot of the oxidation with a good buff. So maybe I'll get that taken care of this weekend as well.

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              • #8
                It Runs


                So buying this car was always a little bit of a gamble. That's how I bought it, pictured above. Like I said before, the previous owner started the timing belt process, got stuck, bought a new Mustang, and dumped the car on Craigslist. Though his story seemed to check out, you never really know if it's accurate until you actually get it running. The good news is, it's a healthy 1.6!


                Last night we went from bare engine to running and driving. Interestingly enough the car came with an HKS intake, which is kind of cool for the JDM scene points. But otherwise serves to be nothing other than a pain in the ass to put on. I have some fresh Mishimoto silicone hoses, new water pump, new timing belt, new cam seals, new front crank seal etc. etc. It's just all fresh. My front timing covers had a small issue where the lower plate was rubbing on the water pump pulley. We just let that "self clearance" for a bit and it was fine.


                Took my first drive last night after getting it mostly timed up. It made it to the gas station just fine. A couple of things I learned on the way there:
                • The trans is probably very low on fluid, it's unhappy with fast shifts
                • It needs an alignment pretty bad.
                • Miatas are slow as hell. My 2002 has spoiled me.


                Mentioned prior, but worth mentioning again, my friend @nhammon has been an immense help in getting this going between parts and knowledge. If you like Miatas at all, go look at his build because it's way cooler than this one. I'm just farting around until my 2002 is 100% again . This weekend I'll be tying up some loose ends, cleaning the car up and making a final parts list to get ready for it's first drift event. Seeing the power I'm working with, this is going to be an steep learning curve.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I'm jealous and now I want one too

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by DawsonLiri View Post
                    I'm jealous and now I want one too
                    Haha they do seem to be going through a cheap streak right now. I’ve seen quite a few good deals for Miatas lately. So now is the time to buy I suppose!

                    Too Nice to Drift?

                    When I picked up this Miata, we commented on the fact that the paint might be savable. Looking at the previous photos in this thread, it might seem unlikely but that’s the beauty of single stage paint. With no clear coat pealing, you just need to knock off the oxidation on the paint and you can get a decent shine going again.

                    So, with the car running and driving, I decided to spend an afternoon cutting and buffing the car. I borrowed a good buffer, spent $80 on some cutting supplies, and setup shop in the driveway. I’ve never actually properly buffed a car myself to this extent, so I made some rookie mistakes.

                    Also I apologize for the massive oil stain in the driveway you see in some shots. There was an incident, I’m going to clean it .


                    My setup for the next 4 hours


                    Before


                    Before


                    So it’s in pretty rough shape. Not photographed are the in between steps, because it was a subtle transformation in between each pass. But here’s what I did.
                    • Strip wash (to remove grease an oils)
                    • Clay bar
                    • Three passes of cutting (finer cut each time)
                    • Sealed with carnuba wax


                    This is a very time consuming process honestly, and I started around 10am, and was cleaning up around 3pm. That said, the results kind of speak for themselves. I put a few before and afters, which I think demonstrate the difference best.




                    The faded paint has gone from disgusting, to presentable. To be clear, the car is far from perfect. For example the hard top simply wouldn’t buff out well no matter what I did. I think it was resprayed with some other paint at some point, and it just powdered up. I also took the lazy route and didn’t remove tail lights, mirrors, handles etc. I just wanted a broad cut and buff to make the car look a little nicer.


                    Horrible oil stain aside, the car looks better!


                    Post deep waxing.

                    I’m starting to feel a little guilty for planning on drifting this Miata. It’s rust free, crash free, 90% stock. That said, I rather work with a car like this, clean and trouble free, than waste seat time on a basket case. Maybe I shouldn’t have made it so pretty, but I’m happy with the results all the same.

                    Up next, I need to figure out some interior bits. I absolutely have to get a steering wheel in the car, the stock one is disgusting and too big for my knees. I also want to get my bucket seats in, and I think I have zeroed in on a solution for this. I’ll be dropping off the spare diff for some gear melting this week, and next weekend plan to get it in the car. Also a few coolant lines that I didn’t replace started weeping. Best to fix them now before they explode. Then, minus coilovers, the car will pretty much be track ready.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Nice project. Don't feel bad, I had super rare JDM import, numbered Mazdaspeed build NA, showroom mint with low mileage, AC, leather interior and fully build Mazdaspeed engine, exhaust, roll bar, suspension, KAAZ LSD etc and it became crash'd and trash'd track whore. Trash it.
                      But have to say a good luck with 1.6 diff. I've broken one (and I'm not alone), standard N/A power, ring and pinion will shat them selfs. I would start searching 1.8 diff with axles to go with it asap.

                      Last edited by samulis; 05-07-2019, 03:23 PM.
                      btdt 4xmiata, westfield, ae86, 944, 2x951, mini, mk1 golf

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by samulis View Post
                        Nice project. Don't feel bad, I had super rare JDM import, numbered Mazdaspeed build NA, showroom mint with low mileage, AC, leather interior and fully build Mazdaspeed engine, exhaust, roll bar, suspension, KAAZ LSD etc and it became crash'd and trash'd track whore. Trash it.
                        But have to say a good luck with 1.6 diff. I've broken one (and I'm not alone), standard N/A power, ring and pinion will shat them selfs. I would start searching 1.8 diff with axles to go with it asap.
                        Oh yeah, I'm still moving forward with tracking this car. But I can't help but feel a bit of guilt the cleaner this car gets. Regardless this is what I bought it for, and for the money I wouldn't get anything better.

                        I've put out a feeler for a 1.8 diff, several people have warned me that the 1.6 will shatter sooner or later. So hopefully I can find a setup locally and get that swapped over. I want as much seat time as possible with this car, so any weak spots will need to be taken care of to prevent down time.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by bwwaaaa View Post
                          Oh yeah, I'm still moving forward with tracking this car. But I can't help but feel a bit of guilt the cleaner this car gets. Regardless this is what I bought it for, and for the money I wouldn't get anything better.

                          I've put out a feeler for a 1.8 diff, several people have warned me that the 1.6 will shatter sooner or later. So hopefully I can find a setup locally and get that swapped over. I want as much seat time as possible with this car, so any weak spots will need to be taken care of to prevent down time.
                          NB 1.6 has same "big" diff too. BNFL has so called "super fuji" diff that isn't all that sturdy, but should be ok as long as you dont turbo it. Friend had super rare JDM special 4.88 with torsen, that was fun, hitting the rev limiter at 180km/h 110mph, but it pulled quite nicely. You can swap 4.7 ration ring and pinion from Kia Sportage front diff into 1.8 diff.
                          Also you can remove the crash bumbers that are hidden under the bumber covers, nice weight reduction.
                          Last edited by samulis; 05-12-2019, 02:00 AM.
                          btdt 4xmiata, westfield, ae86, 944, 2x951, mini, mk1 golf

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                          • #14
                            Big Fail

                            Right, so a lot to unpack in this post, and very few photos. I've been swamped lately, so what little time I've had to work on the car is always kind of a thrash. That basically means no photos.

                            I ended up going to my first track day with the Miata, and it was a bit of a disaster. To rewind a little bit, since my last update, I gave up on the Car Make Corn's seats. The Garage Star seat bracket I purchased for them doesn't work with the XL version of the Corn's seat. GS swore up and down that this seat rail would in fact get me to fit well in the Miata. I ended up picking an OMP Champ R, something a local distributor said they had installed in a Miata, with a GS rail, and it would fit me well. Sure enough, no luck. The GS rail kind of sucks, simply because it sacrifices reward mobility for a fairly useless adjustment system.

                            The problem is my legs are so long that I have to bend them substantially to place them on the pedals. This puts my knees into the steering wheel. I ended up getting an NRG hub and quick release, but even that didn't put the steering wheel far enough away from my knees. So I borrowed a deep dish steering wheel, and while that finally cleared my knees, the steering wheel was now practically in my face.

                            This about made me give up on the car entirely. I was now two seat setups in with no results, and getting frustrated with bad information from companies. But, I had already swapped in the welded differential.


                            This last weekend I decided to sign up for a local drift clinic and evening drifting event. I figured I may as well get some seat time out of the car before I get rid of it. Two things happened.
                            1. I almost blew the whole thing up.
                            2. I absolutely fell in love with the car.


                            I'll address the second point first. As it turns out, just doing some dumb donuts around a cone in a Miata is absurdly fun. Took me a bit to get a hang of it, being on blown stock suspension and fighting a short wheel base wasn't ideal. But towards the end of the time I did get, I was starting to get the hang of it.

                            To the first point, about 1.5 hours in, the instructor sitting in the Miata with me looked out the window and asked me if the car leaked. It hadn't up until that point, I just redid most of the seals on the engine. But sure enough there was a ring of oil spots where I had been going around the cone. I went into the pits, tightened the valve cover, and went back out. Worse this time, puking oil, and I finally shut it off when I lost all oil pressure. Back to the pits, the engine bay is COVERED in oil.

                            Some more poking around, and sure enough it looks like my brand new front main had failed and vomited oil onto the timing belt, which in turn flung it everywhere. I was at the track alone, drove the Miata there, and didn't really see myself successfully repairing it track side, so what was supposed to be a ~11 hour day at the track, ended at about 2 hours. Bummer, but it happens. I then had to uber to the nearest AutoZone to pick up oil, uber back and pack up my things. Fortunately with the oil topped off, and not under heavy load, it didn't spew oil and seemed to hold oil pressure. So I limped it home, stopping every few miles just to make sure things hadn't gotten worse.

                            That evening, someone suggested that it wasn't the seal that failed by itself, but rather I had a faulty PCV valve that was building up too much crankcase pressure. This would cause the oil to push past the seal, and result in that failure. A friend had a new one on his shelf, so I picked it up and plopped it in the Miata in about 30 seconds. Sure enough, full oil pressure and no more spewing under heavy load. Annoying that such a simple part ruined my first go at a track day.


                            You live and you learn, now that I know what caused the problem, I'll clean the engine back up and make sure there wasn't any damage to the seals. I'm going to make a couple of changes to the engine bay to make it easier to monitor leaks and spills, and get a seat in. Hopefully I'll have coilovers in soon, and I'll get this thing a little more dialed. This weekend was a learning experience, and I came super under prepared for such a long event. Now that my schedules are a little more normal, and I'm not traveling so much, I'll take more photos and update more often.

                            If you read through that wall of text, thank you for bearing with me

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                            • #15
                              Glad to see it was an easy fix for the oil issue. Sucks about the seat situation.
                              Insta Mintyhinrichs

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