My name is Zico, and this is my Chaste White NA8 build

Greetings! and what great timing.. exactly one year since my last post! Hoping everyone has been well, and sending off 2023 in style :thumbsup:

Here are some updates from the car build this year.. unfortunately, the K SWAP has not been completed, but not long to go!

The old powerplant was removed from the engine, along with the wiring from the entire car.

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I also removed the diff and fitted a FC3 RX7 Non Turbo Diff housing. It's thicker in all the places it needs to be, and does not have the relief cut out that serves as a weakpoint in the diff.
The diff housing was vapour blasted before hand so it looks minty fresh. Some new seals, filler and drain plugs, and a breather valve to go with it all

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Comparison between NA8 vs FC3 diff housing thickness. The housing is alloy, so the weight difference is negligible

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All fitted

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Pulled the refreshed engine, and new gearbox out of storage, and we got to work mounting the new powerplant and drivetrain into the car.

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The K20 engine has its' coolant exiting the back of the engine, similar to how coolant rerouted Miata engines work.
The original coolant housing exit was pointing towards the firewall, so it was replaced with one that exited sideways, and introduced a filler neck as well. This placed the fill point at the highest point of the engine bay, making bleeding easier and hides the coolant neck from plain sight.
Couldnt help but throw on a Spoon radiator cap too

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A custom radiator was fabricated, solving multiple things I had on my mind.

I got the radiator tucked under the radiator support, increasing the available space for routing a cold air intake. The radiator now sits 2" more forward, and hidden from plain sight :)

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A bleed nipple was also incorporated, to assist with bleeding air out of the radiator

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AN fittings to be used on both inlet and outlet, allowing for easier and cleaner coolant lines. No need for multiple couplers, clamps and joints, minimises points of failure/leaks

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-A 40mm PWR radiator core was used, a cross flow + twin pass design, 13" slimline SPAL fan.

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And here she is, all mounted up with 4x rubber isolators to aid with vibrations

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Now that the coolant fillter neck sat at the back of the engine, I opted for a customer coolant reservoir tank, mounted it on the firewall.

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Finishing off the engine bay fabrication work, here is a customer 3" titanium intake, mounted to a Hypertune coupler and Bosch DBW TB adapter.

I cant wait to hear what VTEC sounds like! I'll fabricate some aluminium plates to guard the filter and engine from hydrolocking

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The fabricator also made me a 4-1 header, using an ASP 4-1 collector, along with a 70mm exhaust.
I had some issues with the header so I removed it and decided to get it remade by a friend of mine who wanted a little project. More on that later..

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I also got the him to mount my PDM and ECU in the OEM location. Here it sits on its own rectangle mounting plate, rubber isolators used to assist with vibrations, and mounted to a secondary plate on the car. I'll most likely install some form of heat resistant insulation in between the plates, and car.

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Also got a battery mount made for the lithium battery. Still amazed at how little it weighs... 1.7kgs (3.7lbs) !!

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Next up, was one of my favourite parts of the build. I had a theme of trying to keep it 'Honda Inside' (engine and interior), and Mazda outside / exterior.
As I was going for a drive by wire setup, it was a good opportunity to find a DBW pedal system from a Honda to start my Honda Inside theme.

These pedals started out in 1996, in the Honda Civic EK9 Type R, and are a signature interior piece across nearly every type r model, ranging from the EK9 Civic, DC2 Integra, Accord EuroR, S2000, and even in the FK8/FL5 Civic type R's until this day (albeit, slightly different).

https://classicregister.com/sites/de...?itok=Svy_nocF

I found a DBW version of this pedal from a 2011 UKDM Honda Civic, which was perfect for my needs. The OEM Mazda Miata accelerator pedal was cut off and this was fabricated and reinforced to hold the new DBW pedal.

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Next was the clutch and brake pedals. Due to the narrow width of the Mazda pedals, I had to modify the pedals and widen them, before mounting the pedal covers from the EK9/DC2/Euro R

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The pedal boxes were also reinforced with gussets from Nielex. This should reduce flex and improve pedal feel

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I also fitted a brake booster delete kit from Honed Developments, but I cant seem to find any photos of that at the moment.
But here are all the pedals now fitted to the car.

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Carrying on with the 'Honda Inside' theme, Mazda does not share the Shifter/Gearknbob thread pattern as Honda.
I reached out to Bill at Miataroadster to get him to make me one of his short shifters in the Honda thread pattern so I could utilise some Honda shift knobs I have planned.
Looks like every other short shifter kit from Bill, except with a Honda thread :)

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There are a few more 'Honda Inside' bits I will share over the next few posts!

The car came back from the fabrication workshop, and we got to work mocking up coolant and fuel lines.

As the fuel rail now sits on the opposite side of the vehicle, i wanted all the fuel lines to run on the same side, rather than come up from the OEM places and run long hoses across my bay.

The barbed fittings on the tank side were converted to AN fittings

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All the OEM hardlines were tossed out, in replacement of new braided lines, and serviceable fuel filter

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This photo shows how it sat for a few months, with the fuel and coolant lines made up, brake booster delete kit installed, firewall marked up in areas I wanted to fill / brackets removed etc.
This is also the original header the fabricator made. I waited for my friend's schedule to clear up then sent the car his way to get the new header made..

Original header
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I got the car back after about 10 days, with a new header, new valve cover, and radium catch can fitted as well. This is pretty much how the engine bay will end up looking :)

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Those photos were taken during September 2023, when we held the World Time Attack event.
Spoon Sports brought their Spoon FK8 Civic type R to demo and put on show.. and along with the influx of international racers, came the Spoon Sports representative Jyamoto san. Spoon sports president, Tatsuru Ichishima, has retired now, and JYamoto has taken over the majority of operations at Spoon Sports.

Being the official distributors of Spoon Sports products for Australia and New Zealand, the guys at JDM Yard held a Spoon Sports meet and geet with all the Honda fans in Sydney Australia.
Safe to say my car didnt really belong haha, but we pushed it out of the workshop to put on display anyway.

Here is Jyamoto san taking a peak at my car

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Couldn't pass up the chance to get him to sign my new Spoon seats as well :) I only got him to sign the passenger seat, whilst I hold out on any future possibility of president Tatsuru Ichishima, one day making a visit down under.

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Here are the seats infront of the Spoon Civic FK8 that had made its way all the way from USA!

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After going through so many different seats and not being completely satisified, I finally feel like I've found the seats for my build. The Miata profile is very small, and the interior cabin doesnt leave many options for great looking seats to fit properly.

The Spoon kevlar seats are made by Esquletto, and I've mounted them to some Maruha rails. Esquletto being popular amongst the Mazda community, I felt like it was a fitting seat for my car.. a collaboration of the two manufacturers Mazda x Honda, and continuation with my 'Honda Inside' theme

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If you're thinking they look familiar, you're absolutely right!

Here are some M2 1028 seats for comparison

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or how about some Corn's seats?

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The spoon seats are a larger seat, both in width and height. The higher bolsters and wider shoulder width gives an increased level of support.
I threw the seats in the car to get an idea of how well it sits, they're looking right at home!

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As of a few weeks ago, the car was then stripped all the way back down to get the engine bay cleaned up and repainted.

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I did a minor shave of some holes on the firewall, and left the rest of the holes around the chassis rails. The washer bottle will be relocated to the window cowl, so I removed the bracket at the bottom.
The NA miata also had some brackets for the charcoal canister solenoid, which are no longer in use and marked up for removal / to replicate the opposite side.

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Stitch welded the front chassis arms as recommended by Flyin Miata, and painted it in grey to match the OEM colour

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I don't think there will be any more work done to the car this year. The two biggest eye sores at the moment are that one singular brake hardline running across my firewall, that will be removed and remade, and also the orange XIDA tophats. I'll remove those and get them anodized in the new year

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The plan for the car over the next few months:

January - Engine and drivetrain to be reinstalled.
February - Custom wiring for engine and chassis harnesses
March - Car will get tuned, test drive/shakedown for a few hundred km's, install Supermiata bronze bushing kit.
April onwards: Hit VTEC as much as possible :)


Thankyou all for following along with me. Apologies for the bulk, photo heavy updates. I do have some great personal news to share to round off the year...

I got selected for the USA green card lottery! I have submitted my application, and am awaiting my interview (expecting it to be around April - Jun 24'), and may possibly be moving over to the US of A sometime 2025 :)

Oh yeh.. and I got married too haha

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Until next time!

Regards,
Zico

First things first, congratulations on your new family! Hope that you live many happy moments together.

Super excited to see build updates, this is what I love about forums, reading all about what actually happened. Love the attention to detail, and how clean that car looks. Cannot stop thinking on how nice a red interior carpet would look on it, Honda and all ;)

What battery are you using? LiPo for sure, but which one?

This is the reason I miss Forum activity. so great to read through and watch the progress. Amazing work, so far!

Congratulations on getting married!


Oh, and the car stuff - Good job ;)

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Originally Posted by HarryB

First things first, congratulations on your new family! Hope that you live many happy moments together.

Super excited to see build updates, this is what I love about forums, reading all about what actually happened. Love the attention to detail, and how clean that car looks. Cannot stop thinking on how nice a red interior carpet would look on it, Honda and all ;)

What battery are you using? LiPo for sure, but which one?

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I must admit, the red carpet idea has been on my mind for a while. What stopped me though, was there wasnt a red version of the M2 Console delete carpet. If I got the red carpet, it'd be a little strange with a black carpet piece ontop of the red.

At one point last year, you could still order the OEM red carpet new from Mazda Japan, but now they've only got the rear parcel tray, and the rear firewall available. The main floor piece is no longer available.

As for the battery.. its a LiFePo4 battery, specs: Shorai LFX27L3-BS12. 405CCA, 27Ah, 1.69kg/3.7lbs

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Demon I Am

This is the reason I miss Forum activity. so great to read through and watch the progress. Amazing work, so far!

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Martin

Congratulations on getting married!

Oh, and the car stuff - Good job ;)

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Thankyou guys!

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Originally Posted by zco

I must admit, the red carpet idea has been on my mind for a while. What stopped me though, was there wasnt a red version of the M2 Console delete carpet. If I got the red carpet, it'd be a little strange with a black carpet piece ontop of the red.

At one point last year, you could still order the OEM red carpet new from Mazda Japan, but now they've only got the rear parcel tray, and the rear firewall available. The main floor piece is no longer available.

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Ooooh! I can maybe help with this (and also because I love seeing a white NA with a red interior). I wish I'd bought a few of them when they were on offer, but there is a seller on Buyee.jp who will list red/tan/black M2 carpet kits (I have two of the black ones in Maine in a box).

Link to his Buyee here: https://buyee.jp/item/search/seller/...ler_sp&lang=en

Great stuff, keep it up!

-Matt