Antioch's OG Roadster Build

[AntiochOG]

I guess it's time I make a build thread.

On April 18th 2009, after searching Craigslist everyday for about 6 months, I found an ad for a classic red, 1990 Miata. It was being sold by the original owner, an older gentleman, who had always garaged it, kept every service record, and somehow managed to only put 84,000 miles on in last 18 years. The car was completely stock and included a factory hardtop. Fortunately I was the first person to see the ad, because by the time I had made the 25 minute drive to his house he had already received 3 other calls from people offering his full $2500 asking price. I hadn't really been looking for a red car, in fact it was somewhere near the bottom of my list; a red Miata just seemed a little too cliche. Being very familiar with the local Miata market however, I knew this was too good a deal to pass up. I pulled up to his house and saw the car sitting outside. It was immediately apparent that the car was in excellent condition. I knew barring a horrible test drive I was going to buy the car that day.
I did the normal walk around, pop the hood, kick the tires thing. There were a few small dings, but nothing unexpected for a car that was almost 20 years old. We took it for a test drive and everything seemed fine so when we got back to his house I offered him his full asking price. I bought the car that day, and this is where the love story begins.


Photography is a hobby of mine, so the first order of business was to go out and take some pictures (after a good waxing of course).

[AntiochOG]

It only took me about 2 weeks for me to realize that the front plate and visors need to go. Not only did that make the car look much cleaner, but it shed a few pounds too!


I think I also unplugged that stupid buzzing thing that goes off when you open door. I had actually totally forgot those things were there until a friend recently bought a Miata that had it still hooked up. I unplugged his too.
After another week or so it was time for another wax job. I pulled off the rear finish panel and cleaned out the dirt that had been accumulating there for the last 20 years.


By June I was doing my first autocross. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had a ton of fun. I was amazed at what this totally stock car on 185 all-season tires could do.


I knew eventually I would start modifying the car, but for now it was perfect. I spent the summer driving around and enjoying it.






Later that summer I went to my first mini Miata meet and drive. It's always fun to talk to people who love these cars as much as I do. We ended up having several meet-ups that summer, and I'm still friends with a few of the guys I bet back then.

[AntiochOG]

I'd been saving up to buy a roll bar, when my mechanical engineering friend mentioned we should just build one. He had all the stuff we needed, tubing bender, welder, band saw, etc. I took some rough measurements off a friends hard dog sport, and we got to work.






































When it was all said and done it ended up costing about $150 and took 2 of us about 3 days to build. As with most things it would be faster now that we know what we are doing, but it was a lot of work. Honestly if I were going to do it again I would probably just buy one. It was a good experience however, and not many people can say they made their own rollbars.

[AntiochOG]

At this point progress slowed for a while. Fall was becoming Winter, so I paid off my student loans, got a girlfriend, and did some maintenance stuff.






Eventually the quality of the stock sealed beams really started to get to me. For my birthday my parents got me some Cibies.




I rented a Canon 10-22 for an upcoming trip down to Monterrey for Miatas at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and had some fun playing around with it.

[AntiochOG]

My dad had gone down to the first Miatas at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca the year before, and I knew I wanted to this year. I was originally planning on driving all the way from Oregon to LA meeting up with the KINOD caravan and making the trip up to Laguna Seca with them. Unfortunately the guy who was going to drive down with me wasn't able to make it, and I didn't feel like making that whole drive down alone. I ended up driving down to my parents' house in Sacramento and making the trip to Laguna Seca with my parents who took my dad's lightly modded 2001 SE.


Miatas @ MRLS was a awesome. I got to meet some other Miata owners, see their cars, and do my first track day. I also got to ride in a couple of Flyin' Miata's shop cars, which was super fun. Unfortunately it rained on Sunday so my track day was cut short, but it was still and amazing experience. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.




































Hit some snow on the way back home, but after Laguna Seca in the rain it was no big deal.

[AntiochOG]

[AntiochOG]

Progress continued to remain slow. Although there are so many things I want to do to the Miata, it doesn't need anything to be fun. I just continued to enjoy it as it was.








I made a few small changes too. New speakers and an amp so I don't a head unit. !n-joy visor blanking plates, and new rubber shift boots were installed.






After many miles including a track day and several autocross events my 480 treadwear, all-season tires were finally starting to wear out! After going back and forth between Star Specs and Azenis I found a good deal on a set of 195/60R14 Falken Azenis RT515ks.


The plan was to throw the Azenis on my stock daisies with some 949 valve stems and call it good.


Then 14x7 RPF1s went on sale right as my tax return came in. The temptation was too great to resist. I ordered a set in +28 and never looked back. I knew at 8.6 pounds they were light, but it wasn't until I held them that I realized how light they really were.




I picked up a set of tow hooks from Ryoku Rob too.






Eventually my 949 lug nuts came in so I threw those on. These are amazingly light too. I highly recommend them.




After seeing a couple others paint the lettering on their tires white I decided to give it a try. I started out using a paint pen, but only got halfway done with one tire before it ran out. I switched to using some acrylic craft paint which worked pretty well. I'm really happy with how it looked when I was done. Unfortunately it took forever to do, probably about 3 hours, and started flaking within a few days.






With Fall and Winter coming I bought some Falken 912s for my daisies so I don't wear out my Azenis driving in the rain.

[AntiochOG]

A neighbor of mine was upgrading from his NA to an NC. He came by to ask if I was interested in buying his front R lip and Randall carbon fiber intake. At $200 for the pair I couldn't say no.

[AntiochOG]

Currently I've begun to stockpile some parts that need to be installed including some Ground Control coilovers, Raceland header, shifter rebuild kit, aluminum shifter bushing, stainless clutch line, rear R lip, and silicone radiator hoses. Hopefully it won't be too long until I can get those installed.

[AntiochOG]

Here are some random pictures from the last 6 months or so:

[ChrisJuliano]

Love your build! Once you get rid of that wheel gap or most of it the car will def look absolutely stunning!

[stormin'norman]

So clean! You need to share photos of your car more often. Glad you started a thread.

[etikoner]

Yeah, so far so good! I wonder if you can build me a roll bar

[morr]

I mentioned it in my build thread, but I love the simplicity of your car. Love your pictures as well... you could honestly just post pictures of your progress, because your photos tell the story just as well. Keep it up, man!

[sss1987]

thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread! keep up the good work buddy!