Another Kirby car.

These first few posts will be a summary of what I've done so far.

1996 Mazda Miata.

I got this car so I could do my college auto classes with something to do. Hey, if another classmate is building his 600+ AWHP Audi S4 in the classes AND gaining credit to do so. Why not me in the Kirby car?

Here it is. 210k + Miles, original top. But in good condition. Hopefully I can fit a Roll bar WITH a welded in Harness bar due to the fact I have a glass rear window. I heard it was possible.

I'm going to build it for the track MOSTLY. Not really into a cruiser or a garage queen (if you can call it that). Unlike other things, racing never goes out of style. Function=Form for me.

My plans are as follows.

Built long block.

Forced induction of SOME kind. (WAY down the road)

Mega squirt PNP ECU.

New seat. (Cheap Authentic FIA Approved bucket seat.)

New steering wheel.

A crapton of bracing.

Willwood BBK. (Hopefully.)

Still deciding on coilovers.

ETC.

I went in to rebuild the shifter, change the tranny fluid and diff fluid. I bought the entire shifter kit to do so from 5xracing, Instead of the plastic bushing that goes at the end of the shifter I bought the bronze bushing instead to reduce shifter play. Wasn't expecting much going into this.

O....kay. I understand that both these shifter boots go bad in these cars constantly. But these boots looked original to the car. The upper one. Shown above. And a smaller one below sealing the shifter turret.

Both were obliterated.

Here's a side by side between the new and old Upper boot.

Oh well. I was Glad to do this now than later.

I took off the lower boot to look at the condition of the turret fluid. There should be about 4 Ounces of fluid in there. Or enough to just cover the shifting mechanism.

Nothing. As dry as a chick who's paying for dinner.

It's a good chance that this is the first time this transmission (and diff.) has been serviced in its lifetime. Both the Trans and diff fluid were dark brown.

It looked like feces.

Here's a pic of the shifter itself with the lower boot still attached. The thread on the shifter are cross threaded but I don't mind this YET because my shift knob still fits tightly on it. When The time comes, I'll replace that as well.

The plastic anti rotation bushing had literally disintegrated. Here is a pic of what was left of it after picking it out of the shifter itself.

I don't have any pics after that. But after everything was put together.

OMG. The shifting was...the same.

Huh.

Don't get me wrong the new Bronze bushing and the new OEM parts really made everything tighter overall. BUT.

I wanted my shifting to get smoother with the new fluid in the trans (and shifter turret.)

I was kinda disappointing.

Fast forward about two weeks and the shifting has MASSIVELY improved since then.

All that was needed was the new fluid working its way into the syncros by driving it a lot.

I am happy.

The fluid I used was Redline MT-90 GL4 for the trans and Redline 70w90 for the diff. Both are Synthetic.

Got new parts yo homie ballin keepin it real yolo hayhay.

Flyin Miata Frame Rail reinforcements, Clutch hydraulic rebuild kit including steel braided hose. A new speedo cable and stickers.

STICKERS!

I changed all the clutch Hydraulics today.

Here is what the fluid looked like.

I figured since the fluid looked like a bunch of poopy ass farts covered in chocolate feces, the seals in the master and slave cylinders were shot as well.

I changed out everything and replaced the rubber hose and the curly Q hard line with a stainless steel braided line from 949 racing.

The pedal now feels consistent throughout its whole travel and the shifting is a lot smoother now.

NEW PURTS!!

I looked outside my door and saw Tiny box Tim.

Energy Suspension Hyperflex Master Kit.

And Hella E-Code headlights. Which I installed five minutes ago.

I took some before and after pics with my rank ass camera.

Here are the old Sylvania Halogens on low beam.

And here they are on high beam.

Low beam.

High beam.

...it really does, every time someone rode in my car at night, they would ask if I had a burnt headlight.

So I got to work.

The whole install was schvucking cake. The hardest part was finding the two screws that I dropped.

HOWEVER.......I did something else as well. Every time I went over a bump, both of the headlights rattled. This was-a pissin-ame off. It turns out that BOTH headlight frames were loose. I just tightened the bolts up and now the rattles are gone. The headlight cover lines even line up to the body lights now.

Here are the after pics.

Hella E-codes.

Low beams.

High beams.

Low.

High.

I dun E36 M3 myself with happiness, wonderment and all that other Disney crap when I drove around and tested them out.

My camera is a pile of Sasquatch feces, so in the after pics the light cutoff on low beam is MUCH more apparent than the pics show. The Sylvanias had NO cutoff, you could see in the pics that the low beam was basically high beam pointed down.

Overall its MUCH better in real life and a poop ton better than the Sylvanias.

In short these lights are HELLA fine.

Welp I detailed the gosh darn thing.

So.................Look what I got for $75.

MSM Gearbox.

But......

There is a catch.

It was run low on oil.

I bought it from Treasure coast miata. And they told me that it shifted fine when it was pulled out. But the input bearing made a whining noise.

No matter.

I'll be taking this gearbox apart in my Manual transmission class and putting in a new bearing, or rebuilding it all together.

It's a winwinwin scenario for me because I get the credit in the class for working on MY gearbox and it'll cost less to rebuild it than to find another one online. And even if it doesn't, it'll go towards passing my class.

http://treasurecoastmiata.com

Check these guys out if you're on the Treasure coast. Or near it.

There is a lot of fecal material being flung around in these parts.

I did laugh several times while reading this.

Good work!

And if the gearbox is junk. Oh well, it was a $75 dollar gamble for a MSM gearbox.

And the list of parts grow.

I'll be going at this car from a different angle.

My primary concern is to build the engine. Even before the suspension. Weird I know. Especially if the car has 200k+ miles on it. But i'll be doing this in my automotive classes. I already took the steering and suspension class and the brakes class. So those are things that will have to wait until I'm done with my classes.

It's not like I'll be driving the car on a track anytime soon.

How can you tell it is an MSM trans? It looks like a regular 2nd gen RX7 trans to me (which is closely related to the regular miata trans).

I checked out the VIN number on the trans.

Still......only $75 even if it isn't a MSM gearbox.

I also got new Mazda competition Motor mounts and a Oil pressure sending unit so I can FINALLY change my Oil pressure gauge to a real one. I already have the new gauge from Mazda waiting in it's little box.

I just installed my new real oil pressure gauge and deleted my charcoal canister.

I was bored.

I rebuilt my Window switches. Easy job if you follow: http://www.miata.net/garage/CleaningSwitch.html

Here is what the contacts looked like after 200k+ miles of lowering and raising the windows.

I cleaned it up and now my window motors feel stronger. Next step will be to rebuild the regulators.

I just received an RX7 rear diff housing for $90. That will be the base for my new rear end that I have planned in order to go with my MSM gearbox. 3.3 rear end and the same Torsen diff for now. Of course adding the Poly mounts.

More parts for the pile.

Just bought an Oil pan, dipstick and MBSP from an 01-05 Miata.

N7Prime wrote: I just received an RX7 rear diff housing for $90. That will be the base for my new rear end that I have planned in order to go with my MSM gearbox. 3.3 rear end and the same Torsen diff for now. Of course adding the Poly mounts.

3.3 ??

http://miataroadster.com/miataroadster/miataroadster_331_ring_and_pinion_gears/mrraps33/i-1875521.aspx

It's not cheap but considering I got the 6 speed for 75 bucks. And the gearing sucks on a six speed without the proper rear end. I'll bite the bullet sooner or later on this.

Neat build. Keep the updates a'comin'.

Ahhh... sounds like the elusive Diesel B2200 gear. Thanks!

First 'breakdown'.

The heater hose split. Now the car is sitting until I replace EVERYTHING with the cooling system. I noticed that there was a lot of mineral deposits in the coolant when I took off the cap.

I'll get it flushed and replaced with just distilled water and water wetter.

Why?

Because Florida.

BUT! I have a question. What is a good change interval for JUST Distilled water and Water wetter?

Unless you're adding a sacrificial anode to the cooling system, I wouldn't run distilled water, and I would run antifreeze with water in about 50/50 mix. Maybe you've got data that says otherwise but I don't think the water pump bearing will enjoy water + W. Wetter only.

Okay. I'll put in a 50/50 mix. Than When I go to the track. I'll do the Water wetter.

Sorry for not updating, here's what I've been up to.

This here be pics of current updativeness.

Literally EVERY hose that I touched was basically hard plastic at this point.

Brittle PCV valve. (I cut my nails. TEEHEE)

Guuuuurl that naaasty.

Learned something new about the car. This isn't the original engine. You can see the stamp on the block.

So I guess the engine doesn't have 200k+ miles on it so when they switched out the engine they also switched the instrument cluster with it? Yaaay?

BOTH my motor mounts were broken Clean off. Mother nature was holding that engine in place. (Old driver's side mount next to the new Comp mounts. When I remove the engine, I'll be installing Poly mounts because berkeley changing these again.

Here are some pics through the process.

Now ladies and gentlemaaaaaaaaan.

This next thing was the HARDEST thing I have ever done on a car.

That was the hardest thing to remove EVER. As you can see by my attempts. Including heating the thing up with a torch.

And you know what sucks? That's supposed to come off by hand. Like masturbation.

After my MONUMENTAL hissyfit. I was like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqIAVodYbJU

I did a one wheel peel over to Home-depot in my German engineered sport's sedan. and got a Short 3lb Sledgehammer and a big ass chisel. Two blows and it was free.

That can go have THE most of unpleasant times.

Everything else after that was smooth sailing.

Like masturbation.