Soledad's 1990 Miata Build Thread

[Soledad]

I'm not sure if the title for this is entirely accurate since this car is pretty much 'built' already, but what the hell. Here it is.

I bought this car in March of 2010. I found her hiding in the back corner of a local wholesalers' lot. She was parked under a lamp post surrounded by a bunch of dilapidated old Corollas and Sentras. I saw her just by happenstance as I drove by with my wife (before she was my wife) and instantly turned around to go take a look. The light from the metal halide lamp shone down upon her as if it were some shining beacon from automotive heaven.

The poor girl had clearly been sitting for a number of months. I had to rescue her. The very next day I returned to the wholesaler lot to inquire about the car. The owner tossed me the key (which is the original key, BTW!) and let me at her. Her body was great. The top which was original was still in good shape, but has since been replaced with a Robbins with the glass rear window upgrade. The interior was in good shape but needed some love. To my surprise, she started right up after sitting on the lot for the better part of a year. I dug her out of her hiding place and took her down the road. She hesitated a bit, undoubtedly feeling disgruntled from having to exercise after sitting for so long but she quickly came around.

It was love at first drive. I bought her that day for the tidy sum of $2800 and since then the sickness has gotten progressively worse. Below you will find a list of all the stuff I've installed as of late.

Ralco RZ short throw shifter w/ Blox Racing 440g knob
Megan Racing springs w/ Koni STR.Ts
Fat Cat Motorsports 36mm/46mm micro-cellular urethane bump stops
Thompson Automotive front LCA brace
Flyin' Miata rear Cannon Brace
Flyin' Miata adjustable sway bars
Boss Frog frame rail reinforcements
Shock tower brace
OBX 4-2-2 ceramic coated header
Borla single exit cat-back exhaust w/resonated test pipe
Koyo 37mm aluminum radiator
Bosch E-code H4 headlight upgrade
DBA slotted/cross drilled rotors w/ Hawk pads
FM adjustable brake proportioning valve
Magnecor KV85 plug wires
Homebrew adjustable brake MC stopper
Falken Ziex 912s on 94-97 Miata hollow spoke wheels(11lbs/wheel)
Chaser Aero front lip
CF 'ram air' headlight lid
Spec Miata tuned AFM
Drifting Jellyfish delrin engine mounts
RevLimiter F1 style custom made guage faces
TDR header blanket
TDR radiator cooling plate

Pics can be found in the album in my profile. I'll add more there and to this thread as I install more stuff!

[Muti007]

Now youre missing the other rule; pics or it didnt happen :mrgreen:

[jnshk]

This looks like a promising thread, but I think that it probably belongs in the "Miata Builds" section of the forum? http://mazdaroadster.net/forumdisplay.php?74-MIATA-BUILDS

[Soledad]

Whoops.... Mods, please direct this thread to the appropriate section. Thanks.

[Soledad]

Well, here come the pics.

I'll start with the intake system. Yeah, yeah, I know. Intakes on Miatas are huge buckets of FAIL. But I couldn't help myself. I was uneducated to the ways of the Miata. I bought a Weapon R Secret system which you can see in the first two pics. I had to butcher it up to get it to work the way I wanted. Then I discovered heat soak. Heat soak is also rich in FAILboat-y goodness. So as you can see, I got my hands on a roll of intake and header wrap and wrapped the pipe with it. All the while, I was reflecting upon the 'ram air' concept and how I could incorporate that concept into my intake system. So I purchased a carbon fiber headlight lid with a 'NACA duct' of sorts to allow outside air to the filter. You can see it in unpainted, and painted guises in my various pics either here in this thread as it progresses or in my album.

The Weapon R system stayed on Soledad for a considerable amount of time. She roared like a lion when I mashed the gas, but she became even more of a torque-less wonder when I installed it. I loved the sound, and that was about it. I slowly realized that the factory crossover tube is in fact waaaaaaay better than the shiny pipe noisemaker I had on there when a few fellow club members with bone stock Miatas ran away from me from a dead stop. I was however, able to catch up and creep away as the tach needle swung higher.

I decided I was done with that mess, and obtained a factory crossover tube with the Helmholtz resonator since my stupid ass threw the original one away and installed it on the car. It was muuuuuuuch better. I regained my lost torque, but I still wasn't satisfied. I decided to go the route of the RX-7 AFM. I began my search and quickly stumbled upon a Spec Miata 'tuned' AFM. You may be thinking, 'WTF is a Spec Miata tuned AFM?' Well, the 'tuned' AFM is the factory 1.6L AFM that has had the potentiometer laser etched, and some circuitry changed and upgraded among other things. There is lots of dyno time involved in getting it just right. Racers spend hundreds of dollars having this done to their factory AFMs. It's basically good for 2-5 horsies guaranteed, and this little gem cost me a whopping $80.

$80 for a guaranteed 2-5 horsies? WIN! I installed it, took the car out on a long expanse of roadway and beat the piss out of it. The verdict? It works. There is definitely more power in the upper register as evidenced by my AFR guage going ape shit like it never had before with the un-tuned AFM. Now I can chase down another club members' MSM at highway speed, but he still has boost so there's no contest whatsoever if it ever came down to a balls out race.

Now let's revisit the heat soak issue. If you'll recall, I had my shiny pipe noisemaker wrapped with header and intake wrap to help combat it. Well, that's gone now so I purchased the intake jacket thing that wraps around your intake tube and closes with Velcro. In the third pic you can see that the crossover tube and the SM tuned AFM are covered with it; I have not decided if I am satisfied with it at this juncture. The Helmholtz resonator makes installing the jacket very irksome.

I recently decided I needed to clean my air filter, so I took it off and used the bottle of Weapon R air filter cleaning solution (which smelled a lot like Greased Lightning) that came with the intake to clean it. I couldn't help but notice that small pieces of the black foam material were coming off as I shook the water out of it as I rinsed it. More FAIL. I immediately hit up eBay and purchased an AEM Dryflow air filter which you can see in the third pic. I am happy now.

Well, that's what I've got for you for now. I hope you've enjoyed the read thus far. Stay tuned for more of my epic build thread of mystery.

[Soledad]

On to the next chapter of my epic build of mystery... the exhaust.

After the installation of the shiny noisemaker, it became apparent that attention needed to be shifted to complementing mods. Since the exhaust had a crack at the flange before the converter, I decided to hit up the interwebs and see what I could find. I was two spazzes away from pulling the trigger on a Magnaflow cat back when I stumbled upon a Borla single exit for a shade over $200. WIN. I bought that bitch, along with an OBX 4-2-2 header for the tidy sum of $150.

A week later, two big rectangular boxes showed up on my porch and I was excited to get started. The highly anticipated weekend finally came and I set to work removing the old header and exhaust. The converter bolts fought me every step of the way, and after a whole lot of grunting and swearing they came loose. The header bolts I found surprisingly easy to remove. Getting the thing out of the car was another story. The little band clamp that secures the headers' secondary tube and bolts to the transmission bell housing was rusted beyond belief and was not going to budge even a bit. Getting my Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel in that space proved challenging to try to get a nice, clean cut. I swore a whole bunch more and finally it gave way.

On to the next issue- since I was doing the entire exhaust system install lying on my back in my driveway, getting the header out from below was just not going to happen. The cars' hood only opens so far, so getting it out of the car without scratching the paint or damaging anything else required about five minutes more of swearing and twisting and banging around. At last, she was free. The OBX header went in with no problems at all but did present another that I was not expecting. The O2 sensor bung was located much farther down on the secondary tube than it was on the factory header. At this point, the only solution was to splice an appropriate length of wire on to it so it would be long enough. I was nervous about ruining the O2 sensor, but it turns out that my solution worked, and has remained issue free for nearly three years. Installation of the Borla cat back was very straightforward and took a whole ten minutes to get it on.

The next step- fire it up and check for leaks. I had to tighten down the header bolts just a bit more and I was on my way. And just like any other self respecting car guy, I instantly began to think of ways to free up the exhaust even more. Two words came to mind- test pipe. I went through probably five or six different ones ranging from the Boss Frog test pipe that fit like crap and ate up gaskets to a few custom made ones with shitty welds before I finally settled on a resonated one that looks convincingly like a normal converter. She passed two state inspections in a row before I decided not to press my luck any further.

With the header/cat back combination, the engine definitely felt more alive and sounded like so much awesome. It has a nice, mellow tone at idle and when you stomp on the 'go' pedal it screams. At highway speeds it drones a bit, but what do you expect? You can't have your cake and eat it too! I actually enjoy the sound of my exhaust and sometimes it's all I want to hear as I drive. I get comments on occasion about how awesome it sounds. I'd love to hear it how it sounds without me in it, but the driver's seat is for my ass only!

Here is a pic of the Borla tailpipe the day I installed the system. It tucks in nicely and looks like it came from the factory that way, IMO.

[Soledad]

The saga continues....

After installing the header and exhaust and spending countless hours and months trying to get my intake to a point where I was happy with it, I decided it was time to work on how I intended to rein in all those horsies. I began shopping for new brake pads and rotors. But not just any pads and rotors were going to do for me. The rotors had to look awesome, work flawlessly, and last a good long time without rusting to pieces in a few years as they typically do. The pads had to create a little dust as humanly possible, and provide good cold and warm stopping power.

I settled on DBA slotted and cross drilled rotors, and Hawk HPS pads. Now I know what you're going to say. 'http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-talk024.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php) cross drilled rotors suck, and http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-talk024.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php) all the track cars crack them, and http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-talk024.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php) Napa blanks are the best.' http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-signs056.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php). I've heard enough from the delightful old curmudgeons on the 'other' forum whom have nothing better to do since retirement than sit in front of a computer and bitch about what they think everyone else should do with their time and money. I chose the DBA rotors because they match the criteria I set for what I wanted to achieve with my car and I am happy with my choice.

But I digress. I installed the DBA rotors and Hawk HPS pads and was pretty happy with my selection. The car stopped great, the amount of dust was not too awful bad, and I saved a little in unsprung weight with the rotors. But there was still some 'squishiness' that I just couldn't ignore. I thought quite a bit about it during the months and a few AX events following the install. While talking to another Miata owner at a local Cars and Coffee event, the very same topic came up. He mentioned that under hard braking, the portion of the firewall that the brake booster and master cylinder are located can actually flex quite a bit, giving the driver that kind of 'squishy' brake feel that I had referred to earlier. He was right. The light bulb went off in my mind and I began to think of a way to fashion a brace to prevent that from happening. I had seen before on some parts vendor website that a shock tower brace exists that already has a brace of sorts to prevent the master cylinder and booster from moving as the firewall flexes during braking.

I went home and began to dig through my tool box for suitable parts to fashion my own 'brake stopper'. I produced a doorstop left over from when I replaced one of my interior doors in my home, and a few 10mm nuts. I removed my chintzy GoMiata shock tower brace and set to work. With the brace removed and the holes marked, I drilled a hole in the part of the shock tower brace that bolts down to the tower itself, threaded the doorstop through, and popped on the 10mm nuts. I bolted everything back down as it was and adjusted my snazzy new fully adjustable 'brake stopper' tightly against the end of the master cylinder. Pics of it can be seen below. I worked like a champ. The brake pedal is now hard as a rock, and the 'squishy' feeling I described is gone. But I still felt like I could make it better. I was able to do so by changing the front-to-rear brake proportioning.

Let's face it. Mazda was very conservative with the proportioning to the rear brakes so they never really offer much of a contribution during braking. This can easily be solved with an adjustable brake proportioning valve from Flyin' Miata. I purchased one and promptly installed it. In anticipation of having to work on my brakes again, I went to my local Harbor Freight and picked up a Mighty Vac so I could bleed my brakes by myself and eliminate any air bubbles that may remain during the process. Installing the valve was stupid easy, and brake line wrenches made it that much more so. Also, the Mighty Vac worked like a champ as well. Now I was faced with the daunting task of tuning the valve to get things just right. I carefully drove to the nearest big, empty parking lot and started the process. I started by turning the adjustment knob all the way in, and using a process of accelerate then mash the brakes until the rears lock up before the front, then turn the knob back just a bit, I was able to get it set in about an hour. Now the car stops soooooo much better. Braking is now way more confident than it ever was. Keep in mind that conditions such as tires and road condition can offset your setting, so you have to compensate for that by simply adjusting the knob. No prob.

Next in my quest for better brakes- stainless lines. I'm going to tackle that this fall. Pics of my brake upgrades are shown below. Visible in the rotor pic are my Megan Racing springs and Koni STR shocks with FCM 36/46 Micro-cellular urethane bumpstops. I'll touch on that stuff in the future.

[Muti007]

Very much enjoying this thread Sole, keep it coming :)

[tsingson]

No exterior pics?

[Soledad]

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-signs004.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)





Pics can be found in the album in my profile. I'll add more there and to this thread as I install more stuff!

[The Driver]

Whoops.... Mods, please direct this thread to the appropriate section. Thanks.

Per yer request! ;)

[Soledad]

The epic story continues....

Quite some time had passed by since the installation of all the aforementioned stuff when I began to experience the dreaded 2-5 WOT skipped shift. Very frustrating, and embarrassing in front of my fellow club members and AX participants. One of the Honduh tards that I work with suggested an engine torque dampener. I read up, liked what I saw and bought one. It's worth was 'meh' at best. It provided some degree of engine torque dampening, but when it came down to 'put up or shut up' time at my next AX event, it produced a big bucket of FAIL.

For the next few weeks I read up on how to combat this issue. The best way to go was with better engine mounts. The factory ones weren't too bad as far as condition goes, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to replace the 20+ year old ones anyway. So I shopped for a few more weeks. I looked at Megan Racing's mounts, MMD mounts, Goodwin mounts (a fellow club member has those on his MSM), and brand new OEM mounts. I was ready to purchase a set from Goodwin even though I didn't like the price that much, when I stumbled upon a FS ad on the 'other' forum for a set of Drifting Jellyfish (they don't even exist anymore) delrin mounts that had never been installed for the whopping price of $50. The seller has since left that forum, changed his name, and became a Mod here. That's right! I know who you are!

I sat on those mounts for a few weeks while I read all the horror stories from people about their respective delrin mount experiences. Each story ranged from bolts being shaken out to gauge needles rattling about and lost fillings among others. There was no way on God's green Earth that those mounts could cause that much vibration. Finally, I grew a sack and decided to install them because, you know, we all love wasting money, right?

So I got up early one Saturday morning and gathered my tools, jack stands, floor jack, and pieces of 2x4 and set to work. 'Work.' That's the operative word here. The word 'work' doesn't even begin to describe the amount of effort it took to get the damn mounts in place. There was a gratuitous amount of swearing; so much so that two of my neighbors came out at different times to see what all the yelling was about. There was also an astounding amount of sweating, and both skin and blood loss from my knuckles being busted again and again, which of course facilitated the need for more swearing. And swear I did. Gratuitously so.

Finally, after two and a half hours, and excruciating headache, several skinned up knuckles, and a few concerned neighbors I was able set the car down on the ground. After a quick shower and a bottle of Advil, I went outside to see how the car felt. I inserted the key in the ignition and turned, and the car roared to life with a tenacity rivaled only by the Northridge earthquake of 1994. I was astounded. I took off down the road for a joyride and was instantly happy with my new mounts. Gear to gear shifts were firm, direct, and precise. The shifter no longer moved a bit when I revved the engine. Instead, the whole car moved! The entire car felt more planted and confident, and I was able to confirm that after running down the windy back roads for a while. I am now able to exit turns way faster, and I find that I can brake a bit later as well. The only real issue I had with them is the fact that they do introduce quite a bit more NVH, which sent me rattle chasing under the dash for quite a number of months. Once I finally got that under control, I find that it's actually very tolerable at any speed. And best of all..... no more dreaded 2-5 skipped shifts!

Below are pics of the engine bay with the lame-ass engine torque damper, and the Drifting Jellyfish delrin mounts the day before I installed them. The engine torque damper can be seen in the second pic hiding under my shitty GoMiata shock tower brace and behind my first attempt at a cold air box.

[Demon I Am]

Those mounts are hard core, but worth it. panty shakers, indeed.

[Soledad]

While I was changing my oil this morning, a thought occurred to me- I haven't updated my build thread in quite some time. So, without further ado, the epic thread of mystery continues. This installment will be all about my suspension upgrades.

Mere months after I purchased the car, I decided I absolutely had to get rid of the factory 4x4 height. So I hit up eBay and purchased a set of Raceland lowering springs. Not the coilovers, the springs. I know, I know, I was ignorant to the ways of the Miata. But I learned. I installed the springs with the existing set of Tokico blues that were on the car when I bought it. I quickly learned that that was a mistake. The ride was so bouncy and uncomfortable that I have no idea how I managed to run around like that for the better part of a year. My wife absolutely despised riding in the car with me.

In another effort to better the handling capabilities of the car, I decided that I should try to tackle the subframe. So I bought a pre-loved Racing Beat rear lower control arm brace from a fellow club member that got his hands on a Flyin' Miata Cannon Brace. The Racing Beat piece had been on his car for quite some time, so he powder coated it before giving it to me. I installed it on my car and have been happy with the end result until I bought an FM Cannon Brace of my own. The FM piece is light years better in quality and I can feel a difference as compared to the RB piece.

Next up- sway bars. It had to be FM's acclaimed adjustable set. $200 and five days later I had my sway bar set and didn't hesitate to climb under the car and get to wrenching. Installation was a breeze and after a quick test drive I knew I had something special. This addition was by far the best bang-for-the-buck mod I had installed to date. The car felt so much more in touch with the very essence of what it is- a sweet handling machine that surgically implants a Joker-esque smile on your face every time you get behind the wheel. Shortly after installing the sways, Thompson Automotive released their front lower control arm brace, and I snapped one up in a group buy for $65. Installation of the brace was pretty easy; the only pain in the ass part was centering the mounting bracket so I could thread the bolts through. Man, did that thing really tighten things up under there. This was another bang-for-the-buck addition that I am very happy with.

The next portion of the suspension upgrade would have to be frame stiffening. The cars' chassis was pretty much like a wet noodle. I picked up a set of Boss Frog's frame rail reinforcements. The day Hurricane Irene hit Central Virginia, I was in my buddy's garage with a bunch a friends/ club members installing my frame rails and a roll bar in another members' MSM. While I had the seats and carpet out of the car and all the holes for the frame rails drilled, I shot the entire floor pan with a rubberized spray-in coating to prevent any rust from eating up the car. The frame rails took about three hours and another set of hands to get installed. The Boss Frog units are really some quality parts. They came with everything I needed to put them on and (surprisingly) descriptive instructions on how to install them. Once we got the interior back in the car after the rubberized rust preventive coating dried, I could tell that there was a substantial difference as soon as I sat in the car. On the way home that afternoon I couldn't really fool around too much since I was driving home in the middle of a hurricane, but after the weather broke the next day, I was out running up and down the roads (that were passable- the storm had toppled trees and power lines and strewn debris all over Richmond) to see how the car responded to the frame rails. It was absolutely amazing how much better they made the car. It responds to steering input so much better, it handles like a dream, and the chassis is nice and rigid as it should be in a roadster. This was another home run as far as bang-for-the-buck goes. Even my wife whom has no desire to share in my love for this car and could care less about it mentioned that the car felt different after I installed the frame rails.

Now, by this point I was absolutely sick and tired of my shitty Raceland springs and Tokico blue shocks. Honestly, the shocks were more the issue than the springs were because they were pretty much dead when I put the springs on. I had been mentioning to my wife that I needed to get new shocks for the car because the ones on it were gone. Since we were in the midst of planning our wedding at the time, money was clearly going to be an issue. The other issue is that if you are spending substantial amounts of money whilst paying for a wedding that is looming ever closer, your woman is going to be six different kinds of pissed. My woman just happens to have been born and raised in Puerto Rico, and one thing I have learned in the last seven months of marital awesomeness is that Hispanic woman pissed is a whole different kind of pissed. I'll just leave it at that.

After careful politicking, I was able to convince her to let me buy new shocks. I spent days scouring the interwebs for what I wanted, and much to the chagrin of the delightful old curmudgeons on the other forum, I ultimately settled on a set of Koni STR.Ts for the tidy sum of just a shade over $300 for the set of four. I had a bit of dough left over, so I decided that new springs and bumpstops were in order. After enduring more brow-beating from the curmudgeons, I settled on a set of Megan Racing lowering springs for $140. All I needed was the bumpstops. I opted for a set of micro-cellular urethane bumpstops from Fat Cat Motorsports- 36mm up front and 46mm out back. I anxiously awaited the arrival of the weekend so I could get out and get these parts on the car. I have to say- long bolt method FOR THE WIN!! The new shocks and springs went on with ease in about two hours with simple hand tools.

I couldn't wait to get the car on the road and see how she reacted with the new parts. It was as I had anticipated- awesome. Keep in mind that this shock and spring combination was put together with a budget in mind, and I think I hit the nail on the head with it. The ride is firm and responsive, yet comfortable. It handles exceptionally well. The combination of the LCA braces, frame rails, and the Koni STR.Ts/MR springs/FCM bumpstops has made for a fun little street/AX machine that has impressed the skeptical club members and the worst critic of all- my wonderful wife.

Weeks after the shock/spring install, a precision alignment was necessary. I took the car to a local alignment legend and asked for a precision 'Lanny' alignment. Any self respecting Miata enthusiast knows about the Lanny alignment, and I have to say that having that done made a substantial difference in how the car tracks. I was actually quite surprised at how much better the car handles with a precision alignment, and if there is any piece of advice I could give anyone, it would be to have a precision alignment done. It will change your life, I promise.
Sorry about the under the car POV pics....

[Muti007]

......and one thing I have learned in the last seven months of marital awesomeness is that Hispanic woman pissed is a whole different kind of pissed. I'll just leave it at that.....

I am so sorry for reading the entire post and only quoting this tiny part. Its just that I found it so thoroughly entertaining, just like the
a better class of asshole I just felt it deserved to be quoted by and for itself :)

[Soledad]

Well, it's quoted for truth I suppose. It's kind of funny you quoted my sig- that's actually a quote from Mr. RJS2005 himself.

[Muti007]

Oh I remember when Chuck said it, lol. I remember saying something to the effect of "someone PLEASE quote that as a sig!", lol. Hes a sharp one that RJS, thats why we all love em.