So I've had my car for almost a year now and I've never made a build thread. I wish I would have started this earlier but I have a few pics from when I first got her till the present day. So this is how my Miata journey begins...
I bought Miaka at the end of March 2011. I was in search of a fun to drive project car and was open to many types of cars. I was originally looking for an oldskool Toyota Corona or TE corolla. The reason I was looking for this type of car is because they were the types of cars my family had when I was a child. After realizing that finding an old 2 door corona would be almost impossible and finding a 1980's corolla in good condition would not be cheap, I decided to search for other options. There begins my craigslist search for a Miata.
I found Miaka on a Saturday afternoon on craigslist. She had 111k miles and I picked her up for 2700.
I made arrangements with the owner to drive out to socal to pick her up the next day. I got to Cali on Sunday and found the car had a back plastic window that was completely destroyed (I did not bother to ask the owner about this before leaving Vegas). Her interior/exterior and engine bay were in great shape so I thought wth I already drove out here, let's take her home. Miaka made it from North Hollywood, CA all the way to N. Las Vegas and as soon as I exited the freeway the clutch goes out (throwout bearing failed).
At this point in time, I thought I was sold a junk car but I did not want to give up on my project so quickly. I soon replaced the clutch with an Exedy OEM clutch kit. After replacing the clutch, I drove the car around for a few weeks and noticed I had a slight oil leak. Soon after that, I changed the valve cover gasket and spark plugs but had no success resolving the leaks. Finally, I pinpointed the leak to a cam seal which was replaced along with a dried out accessory drive belt.
It was late May 2011 and this is when the modification bug hit me...
First thing I did was get a new steering wheel. The guy who sold me the car had a deep dish NRG on the car but had it bolted directly on to the short hub. He told me he couldn't get the horn to fit lol. I went and got a gen II quick release and woodgrain wheel. I thought it looked much better.
A few weeks later, one of my coworkers was selling his Alpine CDE 9xxx CD player with an HD tuner for $100 and I thought it was a pretty good deal. I installed the deck but didn't install the HD tuner. Maybe one day I'll put it in but for now it is collecting dust in the garage. I also found some 5.5in Infinity speakers I installed in the doors. It was a major jump from the stock speakers! The headrest speakers are blown but i'll get them replaced later on.
I started looking for wheels and found a used set of xxr513's they were on 185/55 tires so went ahead and purchased them.
Monster truck
The same night I installed the wheels, I got a little sticker crazy (don't ask me why it was just a phase).
The start of June 2011, I started to look in to purchasing coils. After doing some research on budget coils, I figured I'd give the racelands a shot. Me and my old roommate put them on the car. Everything went smoothly until I took the car for a ride afterwards. My coils rear coils were making contact with the half shafts! So I took them off and dremels a little off of the coil collar. Haven't had a problem since!
Around the middle of June, I started looking for a hardtop for the car. Summer in Vegas can be brutal especially with a car that has no back window. Thankfully I called project-g at the perfect time and they has a red hardtop for sale that they didn't even post to there sight yet. I made arrangements to pick it up that weekend. Another roadtrip! While I was out in Cali, I picked up a Touge Run lip too.
How she looked after i got her back and put the wheels on:
I decided to upgrade to HID's but I got the worst housings (black projector) They looked great but were poop when it came to light output. I smashed the HID harness after a month of driving. Apparently there isn't much room in the headlight for extra stuff.
So after a month or so driving the car around, I got bored of the wheels. I wanted something a little different and really liked Work Equips but didn't have the funds to buy them. I thought the drag dr-20's were nice, but I wanted 15x8's. I found the stance emotions and I was hooked. I sold my XXR's and got new wheels in August. They were 15x8 +25 offset with 195/50 nitto tires
Around the same time I found a Nardi steering wheel that I thought would be a great upgrade to my interior.
I wanted to change my turn signals and get some LED's. I found a company called V-LED's and purchase their switchback 1157 bulbs. Found a set of smoked housings and reflectors that went perfect with the car.
I also had a local shop install a magnaflow catback exhaust. I can tell a little bit of difference in power and throttle response and it's a tad bit louder than stock. I'm pretty happy with it but the only drawback is he welded the exhaust straight to the cat
I wasn't very happy with the fitment and wanted to be a little more flush. In September, I had motorsport tech make me some 20mm adapters. Had to cut the stock studs to run them tho :-( I was alot more please with the stance after installing them.
Then I installed the R package rear lip to complement the front lip:
I went to visit my brother in Cali at the end of Sept. and I thought it'd be a perfect time to take Miaka. I wanted to pick up a G-wing anyways. I ended picking up more than the wing that weekend. I found a set of rear mudflaps and a new center console piece. I really wanted the Project-G sideskirts and planned on picking them up by the end of the year. My girlfriend (who is my voice of reasoning) said "well you might as well get the sideskirts now so you can save on shipping costs!" This is how Miaka looked when I drove her back to Vegas.
Got the side panels painted and the is what she looked like. I ditched the crummy black projectors and got a new set of HID's.
Interior bits: LE door speaker cover, Miata door sills and revlimiter vent rings and window switches, garage star shift knob.
I found myself looking for another set of wheels... Again... I wanted something classy and something I wouldn't want to get rid of so quickly. BBS wheels were it. I started looking for wheels on vwvortex and found some RM006's with tires for a decent price. I knew I would be refinishing these wheels if I bought them. After a month of waiting (I honestly thought I wasn't going to get them and someone stole my money) they finally came! this is the test fit of the gold bolts:
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Originally Posted by adamvanxxx
