The Black Spartan

[Spooncurve]

I grew up in the philippines surrounded by relatives who loves cars.. When kids my age play the homeland's staple game (basketball). I'm out with my brother and uncle tinkering w/ cars. i've owned a couple of old school imports from a Toyota starlet w/ a 3TC engine, to a Mtsu Lancer L type on twin mikuni downdraft carbs. They have all been fine machines, but I had always wanted a car that's more on the handling side. I first came across a Mx5 in one of the famous car spots in Manila. I instantly fell in love and promised I would own one. Fast forward 12 years later, migrating here in the U.S. Getting married, divorced, a fight w/ poverty and being almost homeless, sleeping in my POS MR2 on the school parking lot to finish Respiratory Therapy and get a career going. I've finally got my Mx5 and I daily drove it to get to work ( better than waking up 3 hours early to catch the damn bus). But now its a full weekend only/ track car project/ garage queen.

Here are the first few photos I took w/ drag Dr20s on FM springs mated to tokico blues, custom exhaust, and a hood lift kit unfortunately I didnt get to take photos when it still had 17inch enkeis from the previous owners.

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[Spooncurve]

Browsing in the internet got me introduced to M.net.. Sadly, even w/ so much technical info in it. The taste in aesthetics not my cup of tea. I came across CR.net and got introduced to Garage Woolery and KINOD.

Here are some photos on my first GW techday: by then I got a Momo monte carlo 320 CF hood goin and a stylebar.. Fresh from m.net catalog. After seeing some KINOD cars in attendance I started writing down some styling notes.

Here are some photos:

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[Spooncurve]

After GW tech day I ordered a lip on Rspeed, my first one.. (More to come) yep, this one evetually explodes to pieces in one of my jolly excurtions.

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[Spooncurve]

the car came w/ tokico blues on FM springs.. and its such a bouncy set up. So I started looking around for better coilovers. I came across these slightly used practically brand new KW variant 1 coilovers on CL. So in they go and out went the blues.

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[stormin'norman]

In for one of my favorite brilliant black NA's! I enjoyed the background story as well.

[Spooncurve]

Now, the style bar.. I bought em w/o researching about real rollbars. So a bit of a call at bethenia garage ended up w/ an Ace single diagonal and harness bar. 13 hours later of cutting and drilling and cursing it's in.

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Found me a hard top at a used car lot for 9 bills, pricy but since I still live in an apartment and want a bit better protection from theft that the hardtop provides. Oh and I ended up buying an Apr Gtu wing. Which I eventually donated to Garage Woolery.

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[Spooncurve]

Thanks for the support buddy! How's the new diff holdin up?

[The Platypus]

Nice. Really like this build.

[Spooncurve]

After getting the hardtop I knew it still would be easy to nab w just the stock latches. Some online searchong ended up w/ a purxhase from rennenmetal for some hardtop metal brackets and red tow hooks.

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After the brackets are done I ordered these from Mike Burlas @ autokonexion. Cf trunk ver 1

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[Spooncurve]

At this point Irealized I havent taken cared of maintenance and preformance yet. So, I had the water pump, timing belt, clutch slave, fluids, head cover gasket, rear main seal. And spark plugs.

Then took care of some transmission items.. Exedy stage 1, fidanza aluminum flywheel, goodridge SS clutch lines. Castrol gtlma (but long since flushed out w/ Ate super blue) and synthetic gear oil (now on motul).

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[Spooncurve]

I ordered these: fidanza short shifter. I had the boots replaced as well.

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[Spooncurve]

I got these seats as per recommendation from one of the KINOD senior members, unfortunately I made the mistake of ordering the vinyl one. which didnt holf up well later on will be replace w/ the cloth versions. oh! I got the broken oil dip stick replaced as well.

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I ordered these from corbeau as well. since I cant trust the Oem belts anymore w/ the new seat. later on though imma get rid of these because I wasnt happy w/ the material and I want a DOT approved press button Camlock for street use.

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[Spooncurve]

this is how the car looks like after:

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[Spooncurve]

At this point I have moved to a house and the car Is now garaged. my girl and I bought a Daily Driver (which she drives mostly) and I only take the Mx5 to work which is 8 min away. But one day a big accident on the 5 fwy had me driving around to avoid traffic and found this beautiful road that connects my house to work in a much more involved way. So, from then on I always drove this new found road going to and from work and when im testing something newon the car. Driving through the canyon 3 times a week surely decimated my all seasons Falken Ziex 912s. They are good tires for an all seasons but I wanted more grip as I got used to the twist and turns of my new playground.

and here they are :Bridgstone RE-11 195/50/15

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the grip on these tires are amazing! but I think Bridgestone's measuring tape was a bit off, because the tire is practically a 205/50/15.. so I had a ton of rubbing, so off to roll the fenders then.

post fender rolling photos..

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Me and my Girl's DD by the way:

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[Benbrg]

I love this car. Keep up the good work!

[Spooncurve]

just a few photos I took on the said road:

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[Spooncurve]

As I got addicted to driving on canyon roads I ended up realizing that my stock brakes weren't enough. It also told me they weren't cuttin it in a scary, piss on my pants kind of way. There is a part on the canyon road that will let you speed up all the way to fourth gear, heel and toe to second, then slam on the brakes and prepare for a really tight hairpin. I've felt brake fade before, but not like how it went down that day. The whole bite of the pads just disappeared, if I still had my Ziex 912's on I would have ran out of grip and slid off the cliff. And so here i was browsing online for pads, rotors ss lines an brake fluid that will do the job w/o breaking the bank, here's what I came up with:

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[Spooncurve]

I'm so happy I live in so cal, because one of my favorite events "Garage Woolery Summer Drive". Lets me drive some of the best Driving roads w/ some of the best roadsters in California. This event had me contemplating to further beef up my suspension, the Kw's felt over worked just by itself and was confirmed by one of the locals "RotaryRookie" that my car has a lot of body roll. The coilovers are tuned on the softer side of the spectrum, but at the same time I didn't wanna ditch it because I love how it rode on the streets. I began searching for supporting mods and tie everything together.

here are the parts that showed up inn the next couple of weeks:

Energy suspension bushings and Oem updated version eccentric bolts
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Miata cage Endlinks
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[Spooncurve]

more photos on suspension and body stiffening items:

Racing beat anti roll bars front and back including the whole brace kit.

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body stiffening items:

Cusco shock tower brace and Brainstorm's subframe brace.

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Energy suspension diff mounts and mazda comp engine mounts:

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And I would like to thank Pit Garage at El Monte for the wonderful install on the suspension.
as much as I would love to do the install myself I have limited amount of tools at home (thanks to my ex wife taking all my shit w/ her) and the fact that I was still semi DD'ng the car means I need it done in two days tops.

[Spooncurve]

I also took care of the aging steering parts.. unfortunately I went cheap and bought Ebay tie rods, and ball joints. the ball joints failed one day as I was moving the car out of the parking spot, lady luck was w/ me that week. becuse the day before it seperated I was driving up the canyon road in the morning trying to chase down a GTR R35 and a Gallardo. If it had happened while I was hooning that day, I wouldnt be posting my story here right now. After that ordeal, I scrapped all the ebay crap I got and bought moog parts and double checked each one for beefiness. I had to have the car aligned and corner balanced twice because of it.

lesson learned: (don't cheap out on moving parts).

here is the latest alignment and corner weights from the best: (West End Alignment)

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As you can see the car's total weight is 2402 w/ driver ( Im a fat ass of 200 pounds @ 5'11) and 2202 w/ the driver. I have done a bit of weight shedding on the Mx5 before the alignment, which was inspired watching Top Gear's Finding Driving Heaven episode in which they drove some lightened super cars. I took out the soft top, sun visors, all the audio bits. trimmed the under tray, washer bottle, passenger airbag, passenger seat, out w/ the spare tire and in with tire sealer bottle and mini air pump. original weight was 2355. so I lost a good 150 estimated pounds.

here are some photos of thing I did to reduce weight:

Package from japan:

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I know it doesn't lighten the car.. but it came w/ the package..

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took out the head unit and had the center console blocked and painted.

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took out the passenger airbag. and got these specmiata block off plates.

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sun visor block off plates by injoy:

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[Spooncurve]

heres more photos of the barchetta console and jet stream gas pull covers.

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[Spooncurve]

I have always wanted to put gauges to monitor the car better when im thrashing it around. but i didnt like the idea of seperate gauges that will clutter the dash. so I decided w/ this:

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[stormin'norman]

Scan gauge looks pretty slick mounted there. What all info does it provide?

[Spooncurve]

now I have wanted to make sure the engine can take the punishment it takes when driven hard. so I started beefing up the cooling.

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some better wires:

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better air intake:

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[Spooncurve]

A lot Norman. Air intake temp, engine temp, ignition timing, and so on you can even make it show horse power readings and boost. The best thing I like about it is that if the car throws a code, you can check what it is. No guess work on whats wrong w/ the car and you can reset it as well. obd 2 only though, but being my car is a 96-97 i can make it work.

[Spooncurve]

I had been wanting some lighter and more legit wheels for a while and was just waiting for the opportunity, a fellow CR member had just bought some new 6uls and has been trying to get rid of his enkei's. He gave me a good price, so why not? the wheels came w/ a pair of newer 615ks and an older 615s.. and it gripped kinda weird, so I chucked the older 615 and bought some newer 615k so it all matches.

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[wannafbody]

Bad Links

[etikoner]

This thing is awesome!

I love how focused everything is, and how it all comes together perfectly. RPF1's are just so nice.

Good job!

[Spooncurve]

I'm preparing a shakedown and need some in car footage, so I got this Gopro 960 to do the job.

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[Spooncurve]

Shake down at Adam's Motorsports Park:


http://youtu.be/KxsB0dBaC8s

[Spooncurve]

This is the b road I take from work to home:


http://youtu.be/Tc6nCFTG3mI

[Spooncurve]

I updated the Harness to a schroth profi asm, I wanted a 4 point harness that's street friendly and a camlock that EMTs would recognize how to unlatch in an event of an accident.

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After that shakedown at Adam's I caught the bug, I went like almost every week. I realized then that I needed to stock up on essentials, so I started hoarding maintenance / wear and tear items.

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[Spooncurve]

At this point I had been planning to go and do an actual track day, but I realized that I need a passenger seat and passenger harness for the instructor, so that was my next target. Then the gremlins got into my car.. I had to fix a leaky cover gasket, misfiring injector, exhaust hanger went out. Then finally my ebay ball joint separated, so I had to sort it out and then the car went into the back burner until i gather some funds again to continue.

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While its been parked and covered w/ a cheapo car cover and collecting dust. I started contemplating on what direction I want the car to end up.. I wanted to find the kind of driver I am, and lets face it I wont be a race car driver anytime soon. I just want a fun car for those special occasions when I wake up early in the morning and just go for a drive and at the same time competent enough to have fun and learn at the track. So I came up w/ the concept of a RS model, a racing sport version of the Mx5 if Mazda came out w/ a special edition, so this is my interpretation "a streetable track car".

so first, I sold the Kumho XS I have set aside and the 15inch RPF1s and went to a 14x7 +19 silver rpf1 on 615ks. I went down a size so I can keep a more "came out the factory that way" look.

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[Spooncurve]

Next stop, getting rid of the CF hood and changing back into the stock one. so a quick call at 2ndchanceroadster (thanks Alex!) and I'm back to stock, it was blue but it was the cleanest one he found.

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and yes its off to the body shop to be fully repainted.

[Spooncurve]

So while the mx5 was in the shop I got a 3rd car so I have my own daily driver and my girl can have the mazda 3 all to her self. I know it's not a Mazda, but w/ improved quality, 10yr 100,000 mile warranty, 40mpg and some amenities that I need to pamper me to and from work.. It was a no brainer.

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[Spooncurve]

I have here some older photos before the the hiatus:

Adventures w/ the Mr Woolery and some KINOD folks "Summer Drive".

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Maxpower's E85 turbo.. damn, he was brave driving it on public roads.. So cal public roads..

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[Spooncurve]

back to the program, photos of the shop prepping and paint:

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[Spooncurve]

painting part 2:

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doing custom door card

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deleted the antenna hole

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[Spooncurve]

painting part 3:

Semi final product. still need a bit more TLC

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[Spooncurve]

Then off to my tint guy, one of the best place to go for tint. all around at 33% 3m tint.

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Then off to my detail guy to finalize the paint shine:

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Went to super car sunday to look around fun day too:

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my car looks so puny next to an R35:

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Look who I found snoopin around as well Terry Pham:

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After super car sunday a few items showed up in the mail..

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passenger side harness from schroth:

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[stormin'norman]

Hmm I always wondered why you got rid of the 15" rpf1's. Now I understand. I like your "vision".

[Spooncurve]

look what came in the mail part 2:

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seats sponsored by my Gf:

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Clear TSIs:

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I try my best to rstrain myself when it comes w/ stickers but, gotta represent Mazdaroadster right?

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oh and painted these suckers too w/ the same exterior metallic black:

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Injoy door pulls

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[Spooncurve]

rspeed hood props are in, no more stupid broom stick to hold up the hood:

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I had bolted down the hardtop using rennenmetal's specmiata brackets, but im only using regular allen bolts to hold it down. I want the would be thieves to really have a workout trying to pry em off if they want my hardtop. Here's my solution:

thanks Garagestar (Kenjo):

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[stormin'norman]

Engine bay needs a header!! Looks super clean man. I'll stop cluttering up your thread now. D:

[Spooncurve]

With the new paint job done, I know I want to have it protected. I have always wanted quality car covers for my cars, something thick and heavy so it doesnt move around and scratch the paint on windy days, offers dent protection and breathable and water proof.

Evolution 4 car cover by cover craft: ( I'm so happy w/ this product I bought another one for my DD Elantra)

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perfect fit:

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[Spooncurve]

you? cluttering my thread? heck no! your welcome here anytime buddy :) about the header.. It's actually the next thing in the list, JR header matched w/ roadster sport cat converter, and exhaust. then oil cooler then Kaaz lsd then an mp62 supercharger. after that the car is complete..

ps: I want a bikini top too from Project G too, then it's finish. :)

[Spooncurve]

After the paint job was done, I end up staring at my autokonexion CF trunk spoiler.. now that it's painted I realized how much unflush the thing is. When it was still naked CF it was not noticeable, but now it sticks out like a sore thumb and the gaps don't line up properly. I decided it's time to part ways w/ it and go back to an oem trunk and a lip of my choosing. so off to the for sale section it went and sure enough one of the local guys picked it up for $200 and trading his trunk. which I think was a fair deal.

after all that was done I went online to shop for a wing, and even looked around at some KINOD meets to see the actual products. I ended up w/ this:

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Why not the more JDM piece KG works? because it looks too wide in my opinion and I've heard reviews of the extra piece that sticks outside the trunk rubs onto the body. With my car being black. I cant afford something rubbing and leaving a scratch to the clear coat.Last but not least I hate the grooves at the lower parts where your suppose to put rivets on, making the piece look like a foreign object and not something that came w/ the car.

here are the final product painted and installed:

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[Stealth97]

Nice looking car!

[Spooncurve]

At this point I'm finish for 2011 and this 2012 I have another project (buy a different house). This year is another Hiatus for me w/ the Mx5rs and will just do maintenance/ a few cheap items and just enjoy the car. thanks for looking and see you on 2013 for more updates!

next up on 2013

JR hearders, Roadstersport exhaust, polyurethane exhaust hangers, oil cooler, mp62 supercharger, Ohlins DFV.

Here are photos again from how it looked before and after:

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