3 Miata questions. Possibly more to follow.

1. Undertray. Mine is beat to hell, although possibly salvageable. The thingy in front of it though that sorta sits in the mouth of the grill. That thing is shot. Broken pretty much everywhere. There are some aftermarket pieces I've seen that I believe (?) replace both of these at once with aluminum. Worth it? If not, what's the other piece called? And what fasteners do I need to attach it to the front bumper again? Bustified piece: http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a216/ProDarwin/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-07/35D640D6-A214-442D-A5B7-E14402CD609E_zpszrnov0wx.jpg
   Salvageable piece: http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a216/ProDarwin/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-07/26FB02CD-1BE2-4224-A4B4-CBF79614F554_zpsiztpq9fb.jpg

2. Windshield cowl/vent area. What's the piece/ part # for what is missing here? Do I need it? http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a216/ProDarwin/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-07/688E7277-E028-4DC5-93E0-C33C8F706AE8_zpsquys8og8.jpg

3. Is it possible to replace engine mounts without removing the header + downpipe? This job looks E36 M3ty.

1. No idea on whether the aftermarket aluminum undertrays work, or not. Kinda wanted to try one on my turbo Miata, but it's a Helluva lot easier to cut the OEM piece to fit around the IC.

2. Hard to tell by the pic, but I'm assuming the "bustified" piece is the "air diverter". Mine was busted as well, ordered a replacement thru Moss.

C. No idea, as I'very only replaced them when the engine was already out.

Get thee a Mazda Motorsports account and get the real stuff. I'm not convinced of the aftermarket parts.

Yes, you can change the motor mounts without pulling the exhaust. I think. I've done it on turbo cars, anyhow.

1. See Keith's answer above
2. I don't see anything missing. Are you talking about something to cover the area where the wiper arms are? There is no cover there.
3. See #1

In reply to Keith Tanner: Yeah, the aftermarket stuff looks cool, but to me is nothing more than a shiny skid-plate type of thing. That's another reason why I never tried them.

Back to the OP... Somehow I lost count on your three questions...

The answer to your second question about the cowl piece, no, you don't need it... And yes, they all break.

And heed Keith's advice about signing-up for Mazda's parts program.

BTW, Mazda "Team Support" (I swear, they change the name of this about every two years) is going to be available for track day drivers soon. I'm still hashing out details, but basically if you run two track days a year they'll give you the same deal the racers get.

I'm not a marque-specific auto guy - but wow, Mazda does love us.

Stock undertrays are shockingly cheap from Mazdaspeed, like $20 or so IIRC.

+1 on the Mazdaspeed parts program. Very convenient to be able to look up and orders the parts online, fully automated.

Keith Tanner wrote: Get thee a Mazda Motorsports account and get the real stuff. I'm not convinced of the aftermarket parts. Yes, you can change the motor mounts without pulling the exhaust. I think. I've done it on turbo cars, anyhow.

Real stuff it is then.

CGLockRacer wrote: 2. I don't see anything missing. Are you talking about something to cover the area where the wiper arms are? There is no cover there.

Thanks. It just looked like there should be. One more part I don't need to buy!

Yeah, I need to get a mazda motorsports/mazdaspeed (same thing?) membership - but no results racing this car in the past 12 months :( I guess I'll make up a future date and renew my SCCA membership.

In reply to ProDarwin:

ON second look, there is supposed to be a cover for the blower air intake. You can probably find that at a pick-a-part easy enough.

My advice on question #3: Don't use OEM motor mounts. Mine were original and one was completely seperated so I bought new OEM. Motor still flops around like a landed carp, I truly love the 2nd to 5th shift

When I get around to it I'll be replacing them with something firmer.

ProDarwin wrote: Yeah, I need to get a mazda motorsports/mazdaspeed (same thing?) membership - but no results racing this car in the past 12 months :( I guess I'll make up a future date and renew my SCCA membership.

They will give you a membership even if you're building a competition car now and haven't run it yet. Basically they give you "time served" for the current year's results.

KyAllroad wrote: My advice on question #3: Don't use OEM motor mounts. Mine were original and one was completely seperated so I bought new OEM. Motor still flops around like a landed carp, I truly love the 2nd to 5th shift When I get around to it I'll be replacing them with something firmer.

Wrong. Use only OEM mounts or AWR mounts. The stiffer OEM style rubber mounts like mazda competition mounts tear out just as fast as the OEM ones without making it much stiffer. The poly ones in the OEM style dont really make it all that much stiffer than stock but make wicked vibrations. The Delrin mounts in the OEM style do make it stiffer but it'll make ever single bolt vibrate out of the car. The 70 duro AWR mounts almost limit engine movement as much as delrin but the vibrations arent back, they're just loud inside the car.

For a street car or a car driven on the street in general, I would not run poly or delrin motor mounts.

I've had the Mazda Motorsports 40% stiffer rubber mounts for 4 seasons of Spec Miata racing and they are holding up just fine.

I have the mazda motorsports mounts on my street driven STS car. You get a bit more buzz inside the car, but its not hateful.

The Flowmaster DBX catback on the other hand...

The Mazda Motorsports mounts suck. Still nice and comfy, you'll notice a little more vibrations in an NA model Miata.

And they'll tear apart just as quick as the stock pieces of junk. They also don't seem to limit motor movement anymore than stock torn mounts, from what i can tell.

Leafy wrote:

KyAllroad wrote: My advice on question #3: Don't use OEM motor mounts. Mine were original and one was completely seperated so I bought new OEM. Motor still flops around like a landed carp, I truly love the 2nd to 5th shift When I get around to it I'll be replacing them with something firmer.

Wrong. Use only OEM mounts or AWR mounts. The stiffer OEM style rubber mounts like mazda competition mounts tear out just as fast as the OEM ones without making it much stiffer. The poly ones in the OEM style dont really make it all that much stiffer than stock but make wicked vibrations. The Delrin mounts in the OEM style do make it stiffer but it'll make ever single bolt vibrate out of the car. The 70 duro AWR mounts almost limit engine movement as much as delrin but the vibrations arent back, they're just loud inside the car.

AWR mounts are THE E36 M3.

We tried the AWR mounts in an NC. For about a day. Yowza. Not a popular thing amongst our staff.

I think the NC has different mounts and a different engine than the NA/NB. It would be nice if AWR made a rubber street version of their mounts for guys with >150ftlbs of torque that change stock style rubber mounts as often as they change their oil.

Well, both of my mounts were completed separated. So anything should be a huge improvement at this point.

I had to take the header off to get to the bolts. It sucked major ass. Had to move the steering rack to get the header out.

Anyway, my header could use new gaskets. The one between header/cat is half gone, and the manifold gasket I berkeleyed up just trying to get things out. My question is: What gasket do I need between my header/cat? I have the Raceland header. On the end of mine, I see the remains of a gakset that looks like a traditional exhaust gasket - flat, 2 holes for bolts, 1 big on in the center for exhaust. When I search online and try to find a replacement, many sites/forums are showing a single ring like this http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Performance-Part/61-0370.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjwo82eBRCR1Yr2u-G-sK8BEiQAbrSjVIEdpLOnH_35QtWJvyGyUHGXSlqXZLMIe5KRCVM02aUaAoa98P8HAQ instead.

Which do I want?

Single ring is NB. NA is a flat oval. Raceland is a wild card.

Its probably a standard 2 bolt flange gasket for the riceland.

So, I neglected this forever, now I'm putting it back together.

Does the exhaust gasket direction matter? I have the racingbeat gasket. It appears to be symmetric, except one of the square holes in the center is blocked, the other is not. Neither of those holes is there on the header, so I'm guessing it doesn't make a difference.