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Thread: Building the Boosted Smurf

  1. #1
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! psulja's Avatar
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    Building the Boosted Smurf

    Figured I'd get around to making one of these now that I have some free time (aka procrastinating to do assignments). This won't be too much of a build thread because at this time I'm not doing many mods to the car but hopefully as time passes I'll be able to get some more stuff done to it.

    In June 2010 I was looking around to see if I could find any cheap 240's and found one in NJ for $900. Brought it back home, did a bit of work to it (clutch because I only had 2nd, 4th, and 5th, put the interior back together since it was stripped, and a few other things). While it was parked for the winter I was trying to decide if I wanted to keep it or not. It was during this time that I drove a friend's 1999 Miata and realized just how much fun I was missing out on. Sure enough I posted the s14 up for sale and sold it a couple weeks later for $3700.

    The S14:



    The same day I sold the 240sx I put a deposit on a 1991 Mariner blue Miata that was 4,000km (2,500miles) away in Santee, CA that I had never seen before and just had a friend that lived in San Diego go take a quick look at it for me. Bought one-way tickets for my brother and I and within a week I was flying out to California, in the middle of the semester. Got there and drove the car around a bit, everything seemed to look good so I went ahead with the rest of the purchase. After a bit of confusion at the DMV because the car's original title was lost, everything got sorted out and I was on my way, getting ready to do a 4-day drive back home in a car I had never driven. Everything went well on the drive back, other than running low on the oil after forgetting to check it for two-days, or 22 hours, of driving. More details of the trip can be found in this thread.

    First picture back in Canada at home:

    with the Smurf's little friend:


    The first order of business after getting the car back home was to take care of the zipper on the top. The zipper itself was fine but the material around it had ripped. To fix this I had a friend of my dad's who used to work in upholstery sew it up for me and then I used "Shoe-glue" and some strips of material to cover it up and strengthen it.

    Stitched:


    Finished:


    After finishing it I left it closed for a few days so the glue could harden. Unfortunately since the smell was so bad I couldn't really drive the car much in those few days.

    The next thing that needed to be changed was the horrible stock steering wheel. Hated driving around with such a big wheel. It really sucked for any hard driving, and the new wheel freed up some room on the driver's side.

    Removing the stock one:


    Getting ready to trim the clock spring:


    Installed! No horn button at that time because I got the wheel for free from a friend and he didn't have the horn button anymore.


    The wheel is a 330mm MOMO Champion on a MOMO hub.

    I then had the car professionally detailed by a friend of mine to take care of some of the oxidation on the hood and all the swirls in general. I was amazed by the results.
    A 50-50 of my hood:




    A couple weeks later I shaved the raised letters on the exterior lights just to clean things up a bit, here's a quick example of one of the taillights.


    I drove the car like this for pretty much the rest of the year until about September when I really started to get bored of the 4x4 ride height. Being on a university student's budget I got Racelands and regretted it shortly after. At this time I also picked up some BMW bottlecaps with good tires because my current tires were completely dead and really noisy around any corners that I took somewhat quickly.

    Doing shocks and springs on my friend's NB while doing the coilovers on the NA:


    Here is how the car looked around September of 2011:



    I got sick of not being able to handle as well at that height and hated the ride of the racelands so when I went to put the car in storage in November I took them off and sold them. Currently the car is sitting on jackstands without shocks or springs as I try to decide what I want to do with it this year.


    Some ideas I'm playing with for the car:
    Take the rollbar off my NB and install it on the NA for the summer.
    Sell the current shocks and springs on my NB and buy coils for the NA that both cars will probably end up sharing for now while I'm in school.
    Buy some decent tires and just run on stock wheels for this year.

    For coilovers I was thinking to keep the costs down to go with TEIN Street Basis.

    Hopefully I can take this car out to some autox or lapping days sometime this season as that was one of the reasons I wanted it rather than my s14.

    I'm trying to convince myself not to sell it in the spring because if I do I could probably end up making an even better profit than I did one my 240sx, but I think I would definitely miss it, and I would never get to see what I could've made the car into if I just held on to it.
    Last edited by psulja; 11-27-2013 at 12:42 PM.
    Paul | IG- @psulja
    Build thread:
    1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain

  2. #2
    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
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    Love that garage shot. I thought it was hard enough working on just one Miata at a time. ;)

    I love Dasies but those bottlecaps look surprisingly good!

  3. #3
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! psulja's Avatar
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    It was actually a lot of fun working on both cars at once. Always nice to have a garage full of Miata's lol.

    The bottlecaps really grew on me and looking back I kind of wish I had kept them. I might try to buy them back in the spring since I'm pretty good friends with the guy that bought them.
    Paul | IG- @psulja
    Build thread:
    1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain

  4. #4
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! blu92's Avatar
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    Clean mariner! My favorite color for the miata, but then again i'm biased.

  5. #5
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! psulja's Avatar
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    Car might be coming out of storage soon. Might put the rollbar from my NB in it as well. I'll have to see how much time I have to do the install.

    But it's alive and seems to be running well other than a weird idle issue. Drove it about 10km last week just to get it running and filled up with gas. I just have to get the emissions test done and then registered again. Once I start driving it I'll probably want to start doing some more mods to it but we'll see what happens.

    Here's a video I totally forgot I had:
    Paul | IG- @psulja
    Build thread:
    1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain

  6. #6
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! WASABI's Avatar
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    Love the video...how the heck did you make her do that? AND, imagine how freaked out other drivers would be if you tried that on the roads.

    Let's see you get this NA back in business. It's always good to have a spare Miata.

  7. #7
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! psulja's Avatar
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    That's what happens when you give a Miata a little too much to drink:

    Paul | IG- @psulja
    Build thread:
    1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain

  8. #8
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! psulja's Avatar
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    I was about to pull the trigger on a new set of wheels for the NA but before doing that I needed to borrow the daisies from it for my NB because the tires were so dead on it and I just needed something to roll around on until I get new tires for the Heliums. That meant putting the heliums on the NA. I think it ended up looking a lot better, so instead of ordering new wheels, I'll just get tires for the heliums and run them on the NA.

    Before I start driving the car again I want to lower it because the ride height is just embarrassing lol


    IMG_4524 by SuljaM, on Flickr

    IMG_4526 by SuljaM, on Flickr

    IMG_4528 by SuljaM, on Flickr

    Random pic of all 3 gens:

    IMG_4519 by SuljaM, on Flickr
    Paul | IG- @psulja
    Build thread:
    1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain

  9. #9
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift I<3flippyheadlights's Avatar
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    All the miatas!
    1990 Miata, she was red but now she is Spirit Green!

    http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....d-a-love-story <--- build thread!

    Also check out the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/IHeartFlippyHeadlights !!! Its a facebook page dedicated to the awesomeness which is flippyheadlights! Not me, but the actual headlights! High time someone noticed how awesome these things are; check it out!

  10. #10
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! psulja's Avatar
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    Somebody has offered me $5k for the mariner. I'm not sure if I want to let it go or not. Thoughts?

    If I sold it I would end up buying another na when I finish school and have money to drive both the na and nb at the same time in about a year and a half.
    Paul | IG- @psulja
    Build thread:
    1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain

  11. #11
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! moerdogg's Avatar
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    Not sure what the Miata market is like in your area, but that's a very healthy price for a stock one around here. These cars seem to get more valuable in non-rusted form the further north one travels, though. I've noticed a difference even between here (Boston area) and the Philly 'burbs where we used to live. My car would have been ~$1k more around here, I would estimate.

  12. #12
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! psulja's Avatar
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    Little update:

    Ordered Megan EZ Streets a bit ago and waiting on those to come in. Next is a front lip, either GV style or OEM r package. Undecided still.

    May also order wheels for it but I'll have to wait until after I buy textbooks before spending more money.

    Car might be getting insured and put back on the road for a couple months before winter comes.
    Paul | IG- @psulja
    Build thread:
    1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain

  13. #13
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power treeafodo's Avatar
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    Oh nice update! I can't wait to see the parts on the car!
    Austin.
    Lexy (Little Hobo) - Transforming from Wreck to Race Car.
    Quote Originally Posted by Blueiii View Post
    Your priorities seem a bit messed up to me, although that's because I try to get my lap times to decrease.

  14. #14
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! psulja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by treeafodo View Post
    Oh nice update! I can't wait to see the parts on the car!
    Same here!

    Ordered some more parts today. Smoked bumper lights that were for sale in the classifieds, decided on the r-package lip and ordered that. Will probably order some tinted turn signals as well in the next little bit.

    Might also replace the cracked tombstone after I pay for all my books for this semester.

    Playing with the idea of a KG Works spoiler again but I think I'd rather continue saving for a duckbill trunk lid after I order the wheels.
    Paul | IG- @psulja
    Build thread:
    1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain

  15. #15
    4,000 rpm - entering the fun zone Gene Rodriguez's Avatar
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    do you have separate switches for the headlights??

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