BMWidmer's Build Thread - Life of the Mazita

[BMWidmer]

What's going on guys?

My name is Brian and I live in NY. I picked up a 95 Red Mazda Miata base end of September, 2010 as a commuter car while I built my Subaru. I was building a 00 2.5rs that was converted to a full 06 WRX conversion except a V5 STI RA transmission was installed with 4.44 gears. The car was a blast and eventually achieved high 300's on a very low reading mustang dyno. After all the work the car became non-enjoyable because there was always more improvements to be made and I never really got the chance to enjoy the car because it was always being tinkered on. Also, I quickly discovered that Subaru's require a lot more work then presumed to be reliable around the circuit but it took a while to really become discouraged.

210781_534685909946_195500875_30927440_2798498_o.jpg

After driving the miata around for the last year I have rediscovered what I enjoy about cars. The simplicity of the Miata has made me realize how great the car could be for double duty (nice weather driving/DE) while not stretching the pockets. Gosh, I wonder why this has been down before.

With my first year of ownership I threw on a set of 15X7 +35+- Koseis K1 that were laying around from a previous e30 build and slapped on a pair of 205/50R15 star specs for a few auto-x. I also got a great deal on a black HT with headliner and Defrost and installed Rennenmetal spec miata side plates. Unfortunately during this time i was in two small fender benders. The first one was last February I approached a stop sign up the block from my house and made a complete stop, after the complete stop I proceeded to go and was scathed by a brand new Mercedes GL550. She claimed to not be able to see me due to a snow embankment but she did not stop and we settled. Luckily for me there was barely any cosmetic damage but she got stuck on my GarageStar steel license plate bracket that was very tight on the stock tow hook. Needless to say it tore right down the passenger side and the bracket survived (Great Product). The second accident happened on the same block when someone turned right infront of me to go into their driveway. I lurched onto the brakes but did not have enough time to stop, the accident appeared to just be a fender and a headlight motor arm but i settled privately and was unaware of the extent of the damage till a later day. Roughly two weeks ago i decided that i would like to part with the Subaru and start focusing more on the Miata. I stumbled across a great deal on a set of Stewart Development NB revalved, shortened 1" Bilstiens with generic coilovers and swift springs. In order to run on the 95 miata i am utilizing ISC 1.5" front tophats and oem NB rear tophats. The coilovers were installed immediately and ride great. After this it went downhill.

The goal of the car is to be reliable, streetable but fun enough to do a handful of local DE's. I will be breaking the modifications of the car out into stages to learn the car and hopefully become a better driver. Over the next couple of weeks a 99 motor will be swapped in favor of the 95. While the motor is out i will be installing a stainless steel clutch line, Exedy Stage 1 organic clutch, Mazda Comp motor mounts along with waterpump/timing belt service including rear main seal and three transmission gaskets. The car will also see a refreshing of the brake system with PFC 97 pads, centric blanks, Goodrich SS lines, Trackspeed Engineering Proportioning valve kit and Motul RBF600. The car is also feeling very tired in the bushing department. The car is receiving energy suspension control arm bushings, mazda competition motor mounts and garage star delrin diff bushings when they come out.

I will keep this up to date with projects, adventures and driving event pictures and video.

Here are a few pictures of the car from when i first picked her up till now:
Racing Beat Type II front bumper, Racing Beat Style bar, Racing Beat Rear finishing Panel painted (not shown) & Razo 480 gram weighted knob.

OG, Front
OGFront.jpg


OG, Rear with friends 90 Smurf
OGRear.jpg

Razo Knob

Razo.jpg

Attempting to slide the Mazita (Open Fail)

Attemptingtoslidethemazita.jpg


Cruisin'

Cruisin.jpg


Didn't take any pictures of the car until a week ago when i lowered it, I was so amused by how low it was i couldn't resist the shot next to this lifted F150 on fox adjustables.

Stewarts.jpg

[BMWidmer]

Continuation:

Great Driveway, had to take a shot.



And one last shot of her peeking




Today i received a bunch of parts and have to thank FCM, MiataRoadster, TDR & GarageStar for fast shipping. I can't wait till the rest start to arrive so i can carry foward.

-Fat Cat MotorSports 36MM Bumpstops
-Mazda R package tie rods
-Mazda antenna hole plug
-MiataRoadster delrin shifter bushing
-MiataRoadster Powersteering rack plug kit
-GarageStar 2.75" shifter extender & TechnoToyTuning JGTC Delrin knob
-GarageStar Radiator Cooling Panel Brushed Aluminum
-Winziger Bolts







-Racing Beat Sway Bar Brace Kit
-AWR Endlinks
-RB 1.8 Hollow

Hello GarageStar 2.75 shifter extender & TechnoToyTuning JGTC Delrin knob



GarageStar Radiator Cooling Panel Brushed Aluminum


[/QUOTE]

Should have some more updates coming within the next few days.

Stay tuned'

[BMWidmer]

Reserving spot 2

[BMWidmer]

Reserved

[BMWidmer]

Why can't I edit post's? Weird.

Anyways,

Just had fun wrestling my new exhaust hangers in. I broke the rear one bottoming out and then the second to rear deteriorated. Didn't take any shots during since i was by myself.

Happy Mazita almost ready to go out for a drive.

Exhausthangerfixed.jpg

Well, i am going to test this out and then go to bed so I can go to a exotic meet tomorrow morning.

[BMWidmer]

Happy Belated Easter Folks & whatever other holiday you might celebrate!



Well,

I have been busy the past few days with the holiday and interviews but the mazita is not getting neglected. I received some more parts, this time it was a package from RennenMetal and Trackspeed. I ordered spec miata HT Brackets, Towhooks, Bigfoot Pedal from RennenMetal. I ordered the EGR blockoff plate, Trackspeed Brake Bias kit and PFC97's from Trackspeed.

The goodies


I took apart the shifter to install a trick delrin shifter bushing made by miataroadster, i did not take any pictures as the install was a breeze but i did notice that the boots are starting to tear. The part is
awesome and is a great combo with the garagestar shifter extender. My knotchy shortshifter from the land of the rising sun feels night and day. It is so much easier to find gears and with less effort too. Couldn't be happier, Thanks GarageStar and MiataRoadster! I also installed the rennenmetal bigfoot pedal and wow. The ease of heel-toe with this pedal is night and day, i am no longer trying to be a corntosionist to get a comfortable position to heel-toe, now i can relax and barely think about it.




I also went ahead and removed the racing beat style bar and brand new robbins soft top that i will be listing up for sale shortly. I am getting the car all prepped for roll bar install along with pads, rotors, stainless steel brakeline, clutchline and trackspeed engineering brake bias kit as i did not want to tamper with the stock.

Thanks 949racing & Trackspeed!








Hopefully next week i will have my hands on a BP-4W and will be heading to NJMP on the 22nd of april for a shakedown. Well, I am going to pick up my rollbar so i can finish install before dinner. Catch you guys later!

[BMWidmer]

The hdhc install is so much fun.

The threads were weak that held in the seatbelt assembly and cross threaded... now I am stuck!

Might be time for a premature order for a seat and harness if I can't figure this out.

[BMWidmer]

[BMWidmer]

Pretty sure i have my subaru sold/trade which is awesome since it will increase my racing budget for the miata. I am trading for a 01 subaru 2.5rs coupe that is stock which will act as my new daily driver. Its pretty funny since i bought bthe miata as a commuter car and now its soon to be my weekend car. I have been doing autocross with my local scca, which is the new york region or NRY and Motorsports Northeast at Metlife stadium which is the home to the Giants and Jets. The car is a blast and i can't wait to get it mechanically sorted and

My goal was to get on track in may but i have been getting caught up parting out a friends miata and doing work on my own. I have recently installed the flyingmiata clutchclip, bosch h4's, awr endlinks, racing beat hollow and racing beat swaybar brace. With my friends miata getting parted out i am receiving the torsen and motor. A lot of stuff will be happening to the car to make it mechanically sound for the track, including a custom intake and exhaust from my buddy Austin!

Once all the maintenance is completed i will be running Watkins Glen with BMWCCA on June 11 & 12th. Then i will be headed to limerock on the 16th and wrapping june up at NJMP Thunderbolt with Schattenbaum Porsche club.

Here is a picture i took the other week on a nice sunday cruise and some goodies i just recieved from Rev9.