Maisonvi's Never Ending Build Chapter 2: Miata

[CorkSport - Derrick]

So full roll cage and some WRL racing? I can wheel a miata well (I have an SM already) which automatically qualifies me for the gay racer driver position...

-Derrick

 

[Maisonvi]

So full roll cage and some WRL racing? I can wheel a miata well (I have an SM already) which automatically qualifies me for the gay racer driver position...

-Derrick

Sticking non competitive track days for now. A cage would be great though.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[_Mazdarati]

Its decently deep, 16x24' but with my wifes car being a 4 door wrangler I dont think there is any space to put the car where I could actually work on it. Also as you can see in the pic, it has a door in the back that would be completely blocked off.

Can I pretty please have the sign? I also really like your garage, nice and quaint. Also you left your address/work address visible in a few of those pictures in case you weren't aware, not sure how concerned you are. Glad to see something I am familiar with. Was/am into the Miata platform well before I was in the Speed game. Looking forward to seeing this perform.

 

[neganox]

Ken buys a miata and I can't find the "I drive a miata. Me too bro." double handjob meme. The internet has failed me today.

 

[Maisonvi]

First thing I have made for the car (minus a knob).

Wasnt a fan of how the exhust was crazy close to the slave clutch cylinder, so I put some heat wrap on the hose and then made a guard for the slave. Was a pain in the ass to make, but came out well I think. Hopefully it will help keep it from getting to hot. Kinda hard to get a good pic of it installed.

 

[Maisonvi]

Hardest mod to date: valve cover breather. The intake was sitting right against the radiator, and wasnt a fan of the gorilla tape "coupler" that was used to hold the 2 parts together. One part had the maf, one had the recirc hose. Decided to just delete the recirc hose and put a breather on it. We will see if I have any oil seepage.



Finally got one of my belts in. What a pain this was. Had to order I-bolts and clip in for the 5/6th points. Drill holes and make some "washers" for behind them. Should be pretty secure now. Spent what felt like forever adjusting strap lengths to get it all set. Hopefully the new seat gets here soon and I can have to re-adjust them all again. haha.

 

[Maisonvi]

Pulled the miata out of her long winter slumber to try and get some work done before the season starts up. It needs a bath in a bad way. Hopefully I can get it to @LynzeC to do what she can with it. Really would love to find a way to fix some of the dents and dings in the paint/body, but thats a low priority.


Pulled it out and noticed it sounded kinda loud. Looked under and found the exhaust had a crack in it.

Well after pulling it out, it turns out it was worse than I expected. Luckily a buddy gave me a welder for free just a bit ago. Un-luckily it was a Harbor Freight $90 flux core welder. I did what I could to get it back together, and it will hold for the time being, but Im going to have a real exhaust made for it.



Lastly did a couple of things that I wanted before the season. New steering wheel and quick release are in. Getting in and out is WAY easier now. And of course, the fire extinguisher mount. 3D printed and carbon fiber for fancyness. I will be getting a full suppression system here at some point, just need to shop around and find what to get.



Before the season starts, needs new exhaust, brakes bleed, check all the fluids, and probably an alignment. Should all be doable.

 

[alexwlwsn]

Have any track days planned yet? You gotta break her in!

 

[Maisonvi]

Have any track days planned yet? You gotta break her in!

Registered for an all miata day on May 11th. Would like to get out there before then if I can.

 

[mr_mazda329]

Nice. I'd give her a good shake down at an AutoX to be on the safe side before hitting the track event.

 

[Maisonvi]

Yeah

Nice. I'd give her a good shake down at an AutoX to be on the safe side before hitting the track event.

Yeah, I did an autox at midwest meet last year. It did well. That's the only thing I've done with it

 

[Maisonvi]

Well, I havent made a post in over a year on this thread. I really have slacked there. Have just been lazy and just post to my IG (maisonvi_mx5)

Figured I would throw a bit up on here since its changed just a bit in the last year.

First up, spun a bearing on the track at Midwest meet last year, so the motor was toast. I melted some wires and I think that caused a fueling issue that made things not happy. Got all the pretty glitter in the engine from it.




Picked up a low mile LE5 out of a 2010 Malibu and tossed that in. Simple enough....well this is where it kinda spiraled....

Went to fix the melted wires and the previous owner who did the swap initally decided to wire everything with just blue wire, and not label anything. Tried tracing the wires and ended up just tearing it all out and making my own wiring harness. (25lbs of wire removed!) Well at that point I already had all the interior out so I figured why put it back in? So now I have a gutted car vs a street/track car, which Im 100% ok with.




Also ended up picking up some nice Xida coilovers over the winter for a hell of a discount. Decided while I was just going full ham, I would get myself some areo too, because...why not?



Few other things done to it. Just finished adding brake ducts and hopefully that will help with lap times. Hit a new personal best last time I was out around the local track, but I still want to shave another 2.5 seconds off that. I think the car has it, Im not sure it has the driver for it though.

Not much left to do on the car honestly. I have a fancy race hard top to put on it, but thats going to wait till winter. I made some diff bushings that need to go in, but those will likely not be till winter as well. Other than that, I want to make a guard for the electronics so passengers dont put their feet into my ecu, and maybe hood vents if I ever get a permanent place to keep it indoors.

I will attempt to do a better job of keeping the thread updated. All in all, I have a car that is already 4 seconds faster than my speed, and Im in it just over $13k total (ve been tracking every penny spent on the car to see where Im at) Plan here it to just get it to a reliable spot and enjoy it as much as I can.

 

[Maisonvi]

I totally forgot the most recent, and most important mod. Due to my history, I decided that maybe a fire suppression system is a good idea. Went with a 4L system. Mounted the tank in the trunk and have a pull hooked to my "dash" with 3 nozzles. On on the driver, one on the fuel rail, and one on the exhaust manifold. Eventually Im going to make a bracket to mount a 2nd pull thats accessible by a passenger/outside the car.

Here is to hoping I never have to use it.

 

[Maisonvi]

Small updated. Added a plate made out of some 1/8" aluminum that I had my work bend up. Put some grip tape on it and now I can have passengers not put their feet into my electronics.


I think at this point Im about done with mods. Its to the point where the car is WAY better than I am a driver, so adding mods is just because I have the need to tinker. Well I have about 500 other projects just sitting (as well as a whole car that will need restoring here) so Im going to shift focus to those things and just run the miata till I get better. Consumables only. That said, I have a few things that I already own to go on (carbon hard top and rear diff bushings) So maybe I will get to those this winter.

Last track day was fun. Got there a bit late and they started 20 min early on me. Rush out to the first session (of which I was about 5 min late) and on the 2nd lap a guy sprays down 90% of the track with oil before pitting in. Slick as hell, and shuts us down for an hour. Ended up getting back out, but it was still super slick, and my lap timer wasnt working. Just spent the night trying new lines and new techniques. So not a total loss.

Had the guy parked next to me lose a caliper bolt too coming into the pits. was pretty violent I guess.


Goal is to get out maybe 2 or 3 more times this year. We will see what happens. Pandemic life is weird

 

[Maisonvi]

Added a fire pull on the pass side so that either someone outside the car or a passenger can pull it if needed. Hopefully, it never gets used.

Trying to be "done with the miata" and just run it. Next project is rebuilding my mini baja from my college days. I have 30 ac of land and Im going to make sure this thing is good and ready for when my kids are old enough to drive it.

Pic of it in its heyday:


Pic of him starting to get stripped down. Need to go though a lot of 15 year old components to see what I need to replace.

 

[Mauro_Penguin]

You have a miata, jeep, and a baja go kart?

You Michigan guys get to have all the fun.

 

[Maisonvi]

You have a miata, jeep, and a baja go kart?

You Michigan guys get to have all the fun.

Dont forget the 67' lemans convertable...


And yeah, Michigan is pretty great.

 

[Easter Bunny]

You have a miata, jeep, and a baja go kart?

You Michigan guys get to have all the fun.

For five and a half weeks of summer....

 

[Mauro_Penguin]

For five and a half weeks of summer....

It's still better than the 2 weeks of summer in Buffalo NY

 

[Maisonvi]

For five and a half weeks of summer....

I'll take cold over 90+ any day. I can always put more clothes on, there is a legal limit to what I'm allowed to remove