XMIKEX Laguna build thread

[XMIKEX]

Welcome to my build thread! To start off, I have been a car nut for as long as I can remember. Growing up, my dad always had something cool in the garage. This sparked my interest as a young boy, and really made me the car guy that I am today.

Here are a few pics of his recent cars:

91 Acura NSX 5 speed



2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray w/paddleshift




2007 Honda S2000



The S2000 was the car that really got me hooked on roadsters. My dad and step mom purchased theirs new in May of 2007 from a local dealer that my dad had managed in the past. I flew out that summer to visit, and was able to drive this car on some of the best scenic roads that western Washington had to offer. From that point on, I knew that I needed a roadster in my life.

Fast forward to March, 2008.....

2001 Honda S2000 Spa yellow with 28K...All stock



I was passing a dealership in my hometown, and some how I spotted this car in the far back lot...Maybe it was the bright yellow that gave it away lol. I worked at a Chevrolet dealer at the time, so I had one of my sales managers call on the car and get the details. A couple days later, I was the proud owner of my first roadster!

A couple of years had past, and I finally paid the car off. It was time to start modding!





Then I was introduced to boost.........





This car made 459WHP & 298TQ @ 16PSI tuned on E85. At this point, the S2000 was an absolute beast! I had a ton of fun with it, and hurt a lot of ego's.......Unfortunately, I started running into issues with the turbo setup, and the turbo studs backing out of the manifold. I was getting frustrated with the car, and I had just purchased a house the year prior, so I parted the car out and traded for for this.....

2008 Acura TL Type S W/paddleshift




The TL was a very nice car, but it was boring.....I needed another roadster in my life.......


At that time, my In-laws had a very nice 95 M edition that they purchased from my dad back in Washington State. The car had less that 50K on it, and was in perfect condition..


My In-laws, and my wife's aunt & uncle were all part of the local Miata club, so we figured we'd join as well......

1994 Laguna Blue w/black interior 5 speed 115K miles 2 owner car from Washington State. The car came with a matching hardtop as well!




It's hard to find a clean, rust free Miata in Nebraska, so I knew I had to use my resources and pick up a west coast car. My wife actually found this car while searching the Seattle area craigslist site. I called the owner, and set up a time for my dad to go check it out. A few days later, we were proud owners of our first Miata! The next challenge was to get the car back to Nebraska......

[XMIKEX]

The Miata had some serious lifter tick going on, and i was unsure about the drive back to Nebraska, so my dad and I hauled it back with his Tundra....



We made it to Nebraska safely, and I immediately started to go through the car and make sure that all fluids, and serviceable items were addressed. The previous owners did a good job at keeping up with maintenance, so the car really only needed a few things.

Here are some pics of our first road trip to Arbor State Park in Nebraska City, NE...




and a few more from another drive with the In-laws....





We drove the car like this for a while, but I'll be honest, I really missed the power that my S2000 had......This is when the build really started to take off. I will update this thread later today with all the fun stuff....Stay tuned!!!

[—tsingson—]

Looks like you have a great start! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[— Vegard —]

Good read so far, those wheels on are the BOMB, need close ups (not really, but kind of really).

[XMIKEX]

Alright guys, lets continue on with this journey......In the previous post, I mentioned that I was in need of some extra power. I called the team at Flyin' Miata, and picked up the Voodoo turbo kit with the GT2560R turbo, Flyin' Miata hybrid 3 inch turbo exhaust with high flow cat, and all the necessary exhaust braces to prevent things from coming loose.




I opted to use the OEM injectors, and tune with Flyin' Miata's Voodoo box to get the ball rolling. I ran the car like this for about a year at about 7 PSI with 91 octane. This was a great setup for my local autocross events, as well as for trips to northwest Arkansas......






This was my first time flyin' through the amazing roads of northwest Arkansas...Look at that enjoyment!








But like everyone else, I got used to the boost and decided that I wanted more out of this car....So I bought more car parts!!!!

ID 1000 injectors
Walbro 255 fuel pump
MSPnP2
Flying' Miata happy meal with lightweight flywheel
6 speed trans from a 99 with 35K
205/50/15 BFG Rivals
Kong Wideopen 15x8 +20
949 Racing lug nuts
Tein flex coils (had these before but forgot to mention)
949 Racing rotors, braided lines, pads kit
I.L. Motorsports center console
Momo 320 Monte Carlo steering wheel
Boss hub
Flyin' Miata sway bars
Flyin' Miata frame rails
Voodoo Shift knob (purchased a while back)
upgraded radiator
delrin door bushings
Katskin leather for OEM seats(installed in Washington at my dads dealership)
Garage star gauges
Garage star cooling plate and wiper cowl plate
upgraded the sound system with alpine head unit, JL audio door speakers, JL tweeters in the headrest, and Alpine amp to power it all

I had a local guy dyno tune the car, and it put down 222WHP & 209TQ at 12 PSI with 91 octane. The car felt so much better with a real tune! I drove the car like this for about a year and a half, until one day during a wide open pull, my car made a loud bang! and the car died....I was able to pull to the side and fire up the car again, but this time it sounded like a subie! Fortunately, I was only about two blocks from my house, so I limped it home. After inspection, I found that one of my vacuum lines had come off, which made my car run very rich. I pulled the plugs, and found that #4 plug had metal on metal contact with something. I replaced the plugs, reinstalled the vacuum line, and drove the car for another several months....

I started to notice that my car had a ton of oil leaks, and that it was starting to smoke quite a bit. We had an upcoming Eureka Springs, AR trip coming up and I felt unsure about taking the car this time due to the issues that I was having, so I pulled the engine....

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the tear down, but I do have one of the #4 piston...




I bought more parts from Brian at Fab9 tuning and took the engine to Speedway Motors in Lincoln, NE to do the machine work and assembly...
Wiseco pistons 84MM
Manley H beam rods
boundary oil pump
M tuned coolant reroute (Flyin' Miata)
new OEM head gasket
new seals
timing belt kit
Mazdaspeed comp mounts




At this time, I also ditched the cruise control, power steering, and A/C. I broke the new engine in per Flyin' Miata specs, and decided to have a buddy of mine tune the car for E85! We turned the boost up to 18PSI.....My god this thing moves lol! Buttttttt the fun was short lived due to transmission/clutch issues. I had been dealing with clutch issues for quite some time, and I feel it was due to me not setting up the Flyin' Miata happy meal kit correctly. The car did not want to go into first or reverse, and at times the car would just lock up/wouldnt move if I tried to proceed forward. I was pretty bummed out about this, and even considered selling the car or parting it out.....But I have been down this road before, and I gave up too quickly on my S2000, so I couldn't let that happen again. I bought more parts....

Competition clutch Stage 4 6 puck

I installed the new clutch, and put several hundred miles on it with no issues! It was a good feeling to get that issue figured out, as I was very close to just giving up on this car......

And now we are up to date! This is what the car looks like as of last week. I have recently purchased more parts, which have either shown up already, or are in transit...








15x9 jongbloed wheels
225/45/15 Nitto NT01 tires
949 Racing valve stems
hub rings
Joyfast Short shift knob
I.L. Motorsports wiper cowl
Cobalt pedal set
20mm wheel spacers
Carbon Miata fender flares
3.63 ring and pinion
Delrin diff bushings


My good friend is a service advisor at a local dealership, so I had him install the 3.63 ring and pinion. Once I got the diff back, my Delrin diff bushings showed up in the mail! I was able to get everything put back together today, and even mounted up my new wheels and tires! I took the car for a drive and it feels great! Maybe its me, but the car feels more solid after replacing the diff bushings with delrin. My car has 140K miles on the chassis, so a lot of the rubber items are starting to fade. I noticed that my shifts were more on point, and I really didn't have to force the shifter into gear during hard acceleration. I will be driving the car to work tomorrow, so I'll get a pic of the new wheels and the current state of the car. Stay tuned!

[NCGreasemonkey]

Welcome and WOW!

[woahmiata]

Oh man that nsx... Love those cars, unfortunately so does everyone else haha $... I love the Laguna Blue, that is quite the build!

[Greasemonkey2000]

Fantastic work so far Mike! Sorry for your woes but glad you pushed thru them!

[XMIKEX]

Looks like you have a great start! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Thank you sir!

[XMIKEX]

Welcome and WOW!

Thanks!

[XMIKEX]

Oh man that nsx... Love those cars, unfortunately so does everyone else haha $... I love the Laguna Blue, that is quite the build!

The NSX was a great car, but was traded off for the C7 stingray.....I had an opportunity to purchase the car before the trade for $25K, but at the time I wasnt in the position to make another purchase, and the cost of the NSX hadnt skyrocketed yet so I wasnt in a hurry to buy it.....Had I known that this same car would go for $35K+ today, I would have made it work lol.

[XMIKEX]

Fantastic work so far Mike! Sorry for your woes but glad you pushed thru them!

Thank you sir! It's been a great car for the most part, but when you deal with the same issue for months and pull the trans several times with the same result, you tend to get irritated quickly.

[—Martin—]

The roads around Eureka Springs are fantastic. I wish I had more time to fling my car around them.

Love your Laguna blue!

[XMIKEX]

I was able to get the new wheels and tires put on this past weekend, I really like the look of these wheels!





I'm getting anxious to see how the Carbon Miata fender flares and 20MM wheels spacers will look with this setup, I don't think i've seen Jongbloed wheels with flares.....Anyone have any pics?

[— Vegard —]

I like the wheel design, and used to have the flares carbonmiata knocked off (jubiride) with slightly lower offset (0) but otherwise same size tires and wheels and I think its going to look good with +16, and you'll have enough clearence all around.

If you need more traction and/or grip you can get the 15x10 +15 BMW spec jongblood wheels and mount the New 245 from maxxis!

Check out Ryans car, he runs the 10" +25 http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/89-...thread-65.html