Not another Miata build thread - BoxheadTim tries to build his '95 Miata for road and track use

Well, I can now confirm that you can't make a 1.8L Maxim Works header fit a USDM Miata by using a 1.6L test pipe or cat, unless the test pipe I have is completely wonky.

Short (err?) version - the 1.6 one is about 10mm too short and the flanges are at the wrong angle, the 1.8 cat is about 10-15mm too long (minimum) and has the flanges at the wrong angle, too. So I now better find a shop in town I can tow the car to ('cos I'm not taking that damn header off again) that can take the cat and reweld the flanges into the correct position. Problem is that most exhaust shops in town aren't necessarily set up to weld stainless steel and/or insist welding the whole exhaust together, and I'm not having anybody weld anything to a $1k+ header.

On hopefully better news, there should be a really big parcel showing up tomorrow with a couple of Recaro Profi SPGs in there - those seats should go further back than the Brides I have (on the same mounts) and they'll either fix my seat position problem or I've just blown a large chunk of my car buying money on new living room furniture.

Final post on the build thread .

I couldn't get comfortable even after buying new seats and all that fun stuff, so I ended up selling the car to a member on here.

bgkast is already live posting his journey back home .

I plan to continue the thread. the thread needs a subtitle: "then bgkast makes it into a daily driver" The title might get a bit long then though...

For now the Miata has to live outside. The garage is taken up by the Midlana, my Wife's super leaky 560SL and my wife's other car. Mother nature tested out the soft top's sealing ability last night and it failed. Passenger foot well was soaked, and a few drips on the driver's seat. I just massaged the window seals and adjusted the top latches, then poured a few jugs of water on the top of the car...so far so good. It's supposed to rain all week. At least I got to try out some top down driving for a few minutes on the way to emissions testing yesterday. The car passed the sniff test.

I got my plates! (Exciting build thread, I know) I decided to support my alma mater and get plates that go with the red accent theme.

I took the miata out for date night tonight. it took me about 10 minutes to get the passenger harness adjusted to fit my wife, and I had to put the top down to adjust it and it started to rain. She was a good sport though, and liked her first ride in the car...she even brought up doing some track days together.

Glad to hear that worked out .

I spent most of the day yesterday working on the Miata. I installed the Flyin' Miata trailer hitch and the butterfly brace. The butterfly brace ranked 9 expletives out of 10, what a PITA. Even though the frame rail reinforcements seemed to be lined up on the body the butterfly brace holes were about 1/8" off and for some reason none of the holes on the brace have any play fore and aft, only in every other direction. I got out the trusty cutoff wheel and dremel and widened up the holes. Once I got the bolts to line up it's nearly impossible to get the bolts in because there is no access from the bottom, or the sides due to the ribs on it. The ribs are also too narrow to fit a ratchet between. If you are installing one of these GET A GEAR WRENCH! The brace also fell onto my face at least once while trying to get the bolts started. I really think that Flyin' Miata has designed the perfect mechanic torture device here!

The trailer hitch was much more straight forward. The kit comes with 10mm bolts to replace the 8mm bolts that secure the stock tow hooks. You drill out the threads so that the larger bolts fit, then put the new bolts all the way through the unibody (the stock ones only thread into one side). I did not like that the bolts that were included were threaded the full length, and since the holes in the back side of the unibody and the holes in the hitch were over size I bumped up to hardened 12 mm bolts to the tune of $10/bolt. Ouch! I also had to modify the aftermarket tow hook to fit the larger bolts.

Here are the money shots:

Since the seats were out to install the butterfly brace I went back to the stock ones when I put the interior back together. Not nearly as supportive, but much easier to get in and out of. Timo was right about the seat belts being wonky. I'm either going to try to make a bracket to re-locate the stock guides or try these: http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Performance-Part/30-1036g.html

While the interior was out I also discovered that the passenger carpet padding was SOAKED, probably from the leak a few weeks ago. I stole my wife's hair dryer and let it run with the carpet pulled up while I was working on the rest of the car to get it all dried up/

I filled up from a full tank of commuting with the top down at least half of the time: 27 mpg. That's 10 mpg better than my RX8 would get, and on regular instead of premium. I love this car!

I'm thinking it need some wider wheels. Anybody have any thoughts on these:

Here is a similar Miata with the non-machined face version:

Looks like the Drag DR20 version of this style is available in 15x7 et 40 and 10. I don't care to be hella flush or deal with rubbing and fender rolling, but I want something that fills out the fenders more than the stock wheels. Which offset should I be looking at (or none of the above)?

....crickets....

Anybody?

IIRC the best offsets are between 25-35. The 15x7 Rota Grids I had on the car (hint, hint ) are 35 offset and seem to fill the wheel wells nicely.

Oh, and in 99% of cases you'll need hubcentric rings to fit the wheels properly.

I wired up the trailer lights last night. I didnt have to feel too bad about cutting the stock light wiring...somebody had done most if it for me. The brake lights on both sides had been cut and spliced with crimp on female spade connectors with a piece of scrap metal and tape to hold them together. The left tail light wire was cut, stripped and twisted together...that's it...bare wire sticking out.

I also soldered up the wire that I had noticed was broken off the AC pressure switch.

The car needs a bath, but it's ready for a road trip this weekend!

Gave it a bath tonight, and added a sticker to the roll bar.

15x8 +36 is the ticket.

I haven't come across that size/offset yet, especially in something similar to the style of the above wheel.

The car made the trip down to Eureka without issue. We took the ling way, cutting over from Corvallis Oregon on hwy 34. Look it up, great Miata road! We camped at the Oregon dunes to break up the drive.

Tomorrow we are heading home and trying out the Flyin Miata hitch.

bgkast wrote: I haven't come across that size/offset yet, especially in something similar to the style of the above wheel.

949 6uls. Jongbloeds. Various Konigs.
FFDs.
TRMs.

Goodwin carries a bunch.

In reply to bgkast:

So you're going to have the boat push the Miata?

350 miles, no problem! the car didn't miss a beat!

Not much of a build thread, I've mostly just been driving the wheels off of it!

Today at the junkyard I grabbed the airbag plugs from a protege and a 323 and made an adapter so I could mount the NB wheel and airbag.

I also cut the horn button plug off of the NB wheel and soldered on the orange NA style plug from the 323. This allowed the NB wheel to be plug and play, and the stock wheel can be swapped back in with no changes needed.

Looks good

Bah, got the wheel one spline off. My steering wheel was at the 12:30 position on my way to work this morning.

I got a compliment on the car today. A woman came up to me and told me she used to have one almost exactly like it....only hers was a MG.

It was sunny this weekend so I put the top down and took a drive in the hills.

That steering wheel looks good in there!

Still haven't straightened it...