Shadow's 10AE Roadster #1027

[ShadowMX5]

This is how everything began...



A week before my first semester in college, I was car-less after having my '92 300ZX blow 3 piston rings. I found my 10AE in League City, just outside of Houston Texas via a Craigslist ad, and decided to jump on it, as I had very little time to find a running vehicle before starting college.



It had 114,000 on the clock, but was surprisingly well taken care of. No rust, and the body was very clean (except for the scraped up front lip!) The previous owner included a set of no name front and rear slotted/drilled rotors which I ended up installing the next week just for shiggles. It drove extremely well for having 114k miles, and I was extremely pleased with it as I drove it home back to San Antonio.

The build for this car actually started before I even had the chance to figure out what I wanted to do with the car; 4 weeks after purchasing the car, the stock radiator blew up and the way home from work one day, so I replaced it with a Mishimoto 55mm aluminum radiator that is still working out great today.



The engine bay in all of its stock glory!

I gave the car a good once over and got the lip repainted; really loving the roadster life and more importantly, the 10AE life!!!

[ShadowMX5]

Over the next few months, I purchased a Raceland header to replace the stock manifold that had developed a crack in it...$89 later, I was in business!



The header is still on the car, and I'm extremely surprised how well it has held up over this entire time. I haven't had a single issue with it.

I also purchased a Hard Dog Single Diagonal roll bar, which has been one of my favorite pieces on the car.



Before putting in the bar, I ended up painting it Nighthawk Black Pearl and it really looked great in the sunlight!



Got some carbon fiber vinyl and made some of the chrome pieces go away...



And I made the eyelids which are one of the best aesthetic pieces I've come up with

[ShadowMX5]

I got my first run in with the 10AE curse in May of 2010...

I was at a meet with some of my friends, and as I was leaving, there was a strange rattling sound coming from my engine whenever I let off the throttle. I immediately pulled over at a gas station, and decided that I needed to get the car home ASAP!

After I limped the car home, I looked over the motor to try to figure out what was going on, and finally concluded that I had spun a bearing of some sort. I got a hold of a local shop that was going to be able to look at the motor, so I decided to pull the motor myself to cut down on the cost a bit.

This was also the first time I had ever pulled a motor, so I was a bit nervous at first, but with the help of some of my friends....





It came out no problemo!

When I got the motor to the shop, they checked it out and told me that I had somehow spun 3 rod bearings!!! I was really surprised, as I hadn’t done any aggressive driving prior to the motor making the weird noises. The good news was that none of the journals were damaged, and it seemed that a simple rebuild of the motor should result in a healthy motor again. It was at this point, that I decided to NOT settle for a simple rebuild, but to put out the money, get some quality stuff, and build my motor to the specifications that I wanted, in preparation for forced induction. I ended up placing a hefty order with 949 Racing to get a set of Supertech 83.5mm 9:1 Forged Pistons, 949 Racing Forged H-Beam Rods, Mazdaspeed Intake Cam, and ARP Head Studs.

Thank goodness I had been saving some cash for a rainy day.

While the motor was being built at the shop, I also decided to get a new clutch, because the stock clutch was pretty old (I believe it had over 70,000 miles on it). I ended up deciding to try the new F1 Racing Technology Stage 2 clutch with the lightweight chromoly flywheel. As of now, I love the lightweight flywheel. It’s a great mod paired with the 10AE’s 6 speed. You can really fly through the gears like crazy with the lower rotating mass of the flywheel. I don’t really care for the clutch too much though. I’ll definitely be replacing it with something stronger in the future.

Anyways, the motor build took a bit longer than anticipated because the machine shop got backed up pretty bad, along with the Memorial Day holiday pushing a lot of their work back. So to “make amends” the shop owner offered to sell me a set of Tein Super Street coilovers for a reduced price. He had the set there, but the guy who ordered them never got around to picking them up, sooooo I just snatched them up with what meager cash I had left at this point.



While I waited for the motor to be finished up, I threw the coilovers on and got a good idea of all the features of an adjustable suspension system! I really love these coilovers; they aren’t too harsh for daily driving, and they have great height adjustability, as well as the dampening adjustability. They aren’t as legit as the Flex or Monoflex, but they suit my needs quite well…for now.

Somewhere in the whole mix of things while having the motor built, I offered to trade wheels with my sister who has a 2002 Miata. She liked the look of the polished 10AE wheels on her Crystal Blue, so we traded, and I had the crazy idea to paint my newly acquired stockers Takata Green!



There were lovers and haters of the crazy wheels, but I was just having some fun, and the green didn't last long

[ShadowMX5]

Over the next weekend, me and a couple of my buddies got the motor back in, and everything was running great! I was thrilled to finally have my roadster running strong again; after the 9 weeks that I was out of commission, I couldn’t wait to get it back on the road!



Everything was going great the rest of the summer; the car was running great, no school to worry about, and the weather was definitely top down friendly! I ended up wanting to try a different color on my wheels, so I painted them graphite right before my second year of college started.



I was able to enjoy having a perfectly operating roadster until…you guessed it…the 10AE curse struck again.

I was pulling into work one day, and as I was coming around the corner into the parking lot, a little girl on her bicycle rode out in front of me. I swerved out of the way to miss her, and ended up jumping over an 8” curb instead. Needless to say, there was extensive damage. The airbags had deployed, the windshield was shattered, the front lip got smashed into 3 different pieces, part of the subframe was bent, and both the oil pan and steering rack got busted. I had the car towed back to my house where I was able to start the tear down…all over again.







I was devastated...my stock lip that I loved oh-so-very-much was obliterated and I was yet again having to tear through the car in order to fix things. But as before, I used this time wisely to improve the car while it was apart.

[ShadowMX5]

I tore through the entire front end of the car and assessed the damage...





After going through a lot of hoopla to find a good oil pan, subframe and steering rack, everything finally came together, and it was time to put the motor back where it belonged!



It was at this time, that I got another itch to do something else to the car while everything was disassembled. After seeing the many Miata engine bays with wire tucks, I wanted to see if I could pull it off as well. It ended up being a lot easier than I thought, and the engine bay looks completely different with all the wires out of the way. At this time, I also painted the headlight housing Nighthawk Black Pearl, which ended up looking really good with the Carbon Fiber vinyl eyelids!

I also had to find a replacement for the airbag exploded steering wheel, so I got a hold of a Momo Monte Carlo 350mm wheel along with an NRG hub and quick release, which I have definitely fell in love with after installing!




(Don’t mind the green zip ties; my reservoir cap broke when I was reinstalling the power steering. )

After I got the motor running and everything back together again, I took a bit of a break from the car, as school was picking up again.

[ShadowMX5]

Fast forward to Christmas 2010…

I had been keeping an eye out for any new wheels that could be coming out, and the Rota Grid V’s definitely caught my attention. I loved the way the new Volk TE-37v’s looked, but on my budget, there was no way I would be able to get my hands on a set of those! I knew that I wanted to get the 15x8 et0 version of the wheel, as it had a bit more of a concave face, and it just looked downright awesome. I saved up a bit more, and debated for a while about which color I should order. I liked the color of my Graphite stockers that I was still rocking, but I had also seen some 10AEs with bronze wheels that looked killer. I decided to pull the trigger on a set in Gunmetal with the machined lip.



I also picked up a Garage Vary front lip to replaced the stock one, and with the Grid V's and lip on, I thought the car was looking rather good!





I was really pleased with how the car was looking and driving (besides the constant problem with rubbing on the Grid V's)





Now that I had become fairly content with the way the car looks, I wanted to focus more on how the car performs.

[ShadowMX5]

I started off by ordered a Racing Beat Tubular 1.125” front sway bar.







This sway bar really made a big difference over the stock bar. Responsiveness is definitely improved, and it feels like the front end of the car plants a little better in the turns.

[ShadowMX5]

I then purchased the Beatrush PPF brace, and what a difference that made!

[ShadowMX5]

The next big change to the 10AE happened when I picked up my Wilwood BBK











After bedding in the new brake pads and getting the system broken in slightly, I can see a huge difference in both brake feel and stopping distance. After going through the entire bedding procedure, I couldn't get the system to produce any brake fade.
I'm really pleased with how these have turned out so far! Just from driving to and from work, I have noticed how streetable these are, yet they still maintain incredible stopping power whenever you need it.
I think one of the most interesting things that I have noticed about this kit is that no matter how hard or suddenly I would apply the brakes, my tries never locked up like crazy considering that I don't have ABS on my car.

Around this time, I sold the Grid V's for a more suitable replacement

[ShadowMX5]

And said suitable replacement arrived a few weeks later!





Bronze 15x9 6UL's. I love these things SO much.

Test fitting!

[ShadowMX5]

I had to wait a few months for Hankook to get RS-3's back in stock, but while I was waiting, I began the forced induction parts compilation!

Beginning with a set of Deatschwerks 600cc fuel injectors



As well as a set of Magnecore Spark Plug wires (too bad they aren't blue!)





And then I found this little bugger on my front porch one day!

[stormin'norman]

Love this car.

[ShadowMX5]

AND THEN! The steal of the century happened...



I picked up this hardtop from a local miata owner for $325. It needed paint (obviously) and new weatherstripping, but other than that, it was in extremely good condition!

So I got the hardtop painted and weatherstripped, and at the same time, my set of RS-3's FINALLY came in! Got them mounted and decided it was time for some good photos! I called my buddy banzai and he worked his magic...

[miata5620]

This is one of my favorite 10AE out there.

[ShadowMX5]

I was and have been extremely happy with how the car looks with the hardtop and 6UL's



Turbosmart's 40mm v-band external wastegate!

At this point, I then sent off the turbo and wastegate to Abe at ARTech in Dallas to have my manifold, downpipe and screamer pipe fabricated