Sokool's Miata

[Nealio]

I have been helping my friend and fellow 6'er Kyle build a Miata for track use,

This is how he got it.



A local friend bought this car with the intent to make it a track car. Well, he never got around to it and ended up giving it to Kyle as payment for replacing the transmission on his MX-6 (I did half the work and all I got was some fast food, but moving on).

First thing first, we took an inventory of the car. The top was trashed, and because of that, there was plenty of crap inside, the seats frames were rusted out, and the door panels were destroyed. Also, the rear tray support panels, carpet, stereo, as well as some of the trim were missing.

The exterior is a nightmare. Rust spots all over, both front fenders were creased, driver's side mirror was broken, front bumper was tweaked, windshield cracked and of course needed a new top.

Suspension was covered in heavy rust, every bushing was shot, struts were shot, springs heavily rusted, and brakes were rusted in place. Tires were heavily dry rotted, and the rims were also rusting.

Luckily, the engine and electrical still worked with the exception of the fuel pump that was missing. The exhaust has some holes, and there are some slight oil leaks, but that's no biggie.





First thing first, he needed to install that missing fuel pump. So after pulling most of the trunk out, we shined a flashlight in the fuel tank and of course we find more rust, which means we have to replace that also.



Which was made a lot easier by the fact that we had already pulled the suspension in order to clean it all up.



All the components were then disassembled, then what was left of the bushings were burnt out, and the parts were cleaned up and sent to sand blasting and powder coat.




An Energy Suspension Eurothane bushing kit was installed into all of the suspension components, and the control arms were installed to the subframes before being mounted to the car.



Before we could reinstall the subframes, we decided it would be a good idea to clean up any surface rust, and lay down a coat of black paint on everything.

While we had the car disassembled to this extent, we decided it was a good idea to swap out the puny 1.6 open diff, for an LSD from a 1.8, and the axles that when along with it.

We then installed Ground Control Coilovers and Koni Yellow struts.



Along with rebuilt calipers with new rotors, Porterfield pads, and SS lines from a 1.8.





The whole system was drained, and filled with ATE Super Blue.

[Nealio]

Even though the motor ran great, the clutch was slipping, and had minor oil leaks, it was decided that the motor needed to be pulled.



(Kyle is in the white, I'm in the orange.)





The transmission was then removed so we could put the motor on the stand. And it was revealed how badly the rear main seal was actually leaking.





And once again, another big pile of parts showed up in order to repair it all. both main seals, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, cam angle sensor gasket, water pump, and timing belt.



Some of you may have noticed that the original engine bay shot had quite a bit of rust on the drivers side firewall. From what we figured, it involved brake fluid. It had either leaked from the master cylinder, or it was simply spilled, but either way, it stripped the paint off, and there was some decent rust making its way around the engine bay. So the engine bay was sand blasted and painted.




Then the fun stuff, a Flyin' Miata happy meal. 10# flywheel and clutch. Along with new OEM motor mounts.

[Nealio]

The body had seen better days, so he felt it needed a little fixin' up. So the first thing we did was scrap the parts that couldn't be reused which meant the fenders and drivers door had to go.




The new parts installed including a top. (Don't mind the wheels, they are temporary rollers until he can order rims.)






Small damage on the rear finishing panel was repaired.



And so was a small bit of damage on the front bumper.



And then the rest of the sheet metal rust spots were cleaned up.






Pretty much the last thing that needs his attention is the interior. You can't really tell, but it used to be black. (I thought it was supposed to be blue.) The car came with this rollbar and we tried forever to try and line it up to no avail. After while I took a wire brush to it and found out if was for an S13 coupe, not a Miata, so that immediately went into the for sale pile.



Random pictures of the interior before.





Basically brand new seats out of a '99 were the first to go in. They look as good as they do because the previous owner wrapped them in seat covers from the day he bought the car.



It then got a dash that was in much better condition than the previous one.





Since the original roll bar did not fit, it was time to look for a new one. To his luck, he found a local Miata clubber who was selling a used Hard Dog Hardcore roll cage. The paint had seen better days, and was powdercoated black before being installed.







There is a bunch more planned for the interior, but there just isn't he money in the budget at the moment. Plans for a nice removable steering wheel, FIA approved seats and harnesses to come. He is also installing roll cage padding as I type this. He also plans on revamping the interior by using either aluminum or dry carbon door panels and rear tray area.

[Nealio]

Another little update.

He decided to trim the timing belt gaurd off the valve cover and paint it while he was at it.





Of course while he did that he fixed the motors timing, and the rough idle it had been having. He was putting the new spark plugs in by hand when the #4 cylinder got firm then started free spinning. He pulled the plug out to see only 1 thread was left in the head, and that he had pulled it out with the plug. So it was time to helicoil it. Unfortunately, the tap wouldn't fit in the plug galley. so he had to make a new tool in order to do it.



It's a tap welded to a cheap socket and extension, severely ground down in order to fit.

[Nealio]

Today he sanded the intake manifold, with plans to paint it. Painted the air box black, and polished the VAF. Along with some other general engine bay clean up.




He also got the roll bar padding on.

[MrTea]

damn....i wish i had a garage to play in!

[Nealio]

QUOTE (MrTea @ Apr 7 2009, 07:24 PM)

damn....i wish i had a garage to play in![/b]

So do we! lol

The garage is full of stuff, and all this gets done in the driveway. He actually had code enforcement bitch and whine about the car being on jack stands for more than a couple days.

[MrTea]

rephrase...

Damn....i wish i had a garage or even a driveway to play in!

[kidsr4diner@yahoo.com]

damn quite a hefty project you guys got going on. cars coming along real nice though you guys r definitely doin a good job.

[Nealio]

QUOTE (MrTea @ Apr 7 2009, 08:02 PM)

rephrase...

Damn....i wish i had a garage or even a driveway to play in![/b]

Well we wish we had Brembos on all our cars. lol