Flier's 94 R'
02-08-2012, 10:49 AM
#1
MFz Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Knoxville,TN
Posts: 98
Flier's 94 R'
I found the car on craigslist for dirt cheap, at first glance at the car I just dis-regarded it. Then I thought to myself "wait, was that a spoiler and rear lip?!" I promptly called the owner, it was a female, I asked her a few questions about the car. How many owners, she was the second. Did she have any records on the car, she said yes all of them since it was new and in fact has the window-sticker from the dealer. This car was $19k new back in 94! My last question was "What color are the shocks?". Her response "Where are the shocks?". So after her boyfriend looked at them she tells me "Yellow." I respond "I'll be there tomorrow to get the car"
When I brought the car home:
I had a buddy's dad that has been doing paint and body for 30 years do the cosmetic work for me. He cut me an awesome deal since he was hurting for business at the time. Cut out the rust, welded on new metal, and smoothed it over. He mentioned this was his first miata and the body was actually pretty difficult because there really isn't any straight lines. I never noticed that until he told me, NA miata's got dem' curves as he put it, lol
The way it sits now:
The interior is surprisingly clean for an older car with 150k+ miles...
I've DD'd the car for quite some time, initially planning to continue modding my black 97 with my dad. After that plan fell through I decided to lightly mod my 94. Make it fun for trips to the Dragon and competitive enough, locally, in STR.
I gradually started to add things, mostly things that broke. Swapped over my 15x7s with 205 G-force sports. They have ok grip, usually last about 40k miles. Next, I added a Racing Beat front-sway, "race" with the thicker .188 wall. After one too many beatings my passengers side end-link popped out, it handled funky to say the least. Replaced the stock ones with some adjustable Racing-Beat end-links. I wanted 949's spherical, but they were out of stock
.
I've drooled over the next item ever since they came out, 15x9 6ULs! I wanted the nickel, but none were in stock. I settled on silver and I'm glad I did, they shine a lot more than I thought. I went with the standard street tire of choice for the 9s, 225/45/15 RS3s. The grip was unbelievable, seems to handle better on the 9s than a set of old r888s on 15x7s I ran a few times.
I dumped up the timing to 14* and added a little cone filter. Dropped maybe 1-2lbs,opened up some space, and made it sound better. Got new wires and plugs, the car came alive.....comparatively!
My stock radiator cracked right below the fill cap, pretty standard on older plastic miata radiators. Did the same thing in my 97. I swapped over my 52mm Mishimoto that was in the 97.
Somewhere during this process I bought Hawk HPS pads front & rear. Front passenger had a bent bolt, the bottom one that connects the caliper to the bracket, eekkkk
. Looking at the old pads you could definitely tell it had been that way awhile, pad was worn more sidewayz than hustler's....... Got a new bolt, put in pads in, bed them in, tested them a week later, no odd pull while under the brakes.
Went to the rear calipers and noticed the e-brake adjuster screw was stripped. I have not replaced the rear calipers yet, although it will be soon. I plan to run HP+ pads in the rear with new rotors and calipers.
Other near-future plans include new shocks & springs! The stock R-package Bilsteins have just under 190k miles now and they're still.......... connected and there! I will most likely end up with revalved Bilsteins, FCM bumps, tophats, and isolators, GC sleeves with #550/350 springs. Hoping to keep my stock R-package rear bar.
I plan to keep it simple the rest of the year after I get done with shocks & springs, I'll have the car aligned and corner-balanced. Hoping to keep up with the NCs and s2ks in STR. A fresh set of tires is on the list at the beginning of summer as well. I also plan to swap in the complete ES poly-bushing kit. I'm sure my stock bushings are worn out pretty badly now.
Wanting to source an inexpensive roll-bar and get some other safety items, 5pt or 6pt harness especially. Another big ticket item this year will be seats. I get thrown around in my stock seats now, it's become annoying.Having to brace myself and get distracted from driving. Hoping to source something local and not too expensive. Opting for something with harness slots, for next year's plan....
Next year I'm wanting to prep the car for HPDE/TT. Particularly for NASA's TTD. I'm planning on getting some more track experience this year on small HPDE's. I've already got a NB2 short-block, NB1 head shaved to I forget what. The head was warped pretty bad, so I figure close to 0.020. The head also has a slight port job, polished bowls, and a 5-angle valve job. I want piece that together with a MSM intake cam, EUDM square-top, basic I/H/E, run it on a MS2, tune for 140rwhp!
I've had a lot of fun with this car and I don't plan to stop. I even think boost is on the list for 2014
When I brought the car home:
I had a buddy's dad that has been doing paint and body for 30 years do the cosmetic work for me. He cut me an awesome deal since he was hurting for business at the time. Cut out the rust, welded on new metal, and smoothed it over. He mentioned this was his first miata and the body was actually pretty difficult because there really isn't any straight lines. I never noticed that until he told me, NA miata's got dem' curves as he put it, lol
The way it sits now:
The interior is surprisingly clean for an older car with 150k+ miles...
I've DD'd the car for quite some time, initially planning to continue modding my black 97 with my dad. After that plan fell through I decided to lightly mod my 94. Make it fun for trips to the Dragon and competitive enough, locally, in STR.
I gradually started to add things, mostly things that broke. Swapped over my 15x7s with 205 G-force sports. They have ok grip, usually last about 40k miles. Next, I added a Racing Beat front-sway, "race" with the thicker .188 wall. After one too many beatings my passengers side end-link popped out, it handled funky to say the least. Replaced the stock ones with some adjustable Racing-Beat end-links. I wanted 949's spherical, but they were out of stock
.I've drooled over the next item ever since they came out, 15x9 6ULs! I wanted the nickel, but none were in stock. I settled on silver and I'm glad I did, they shine a lot more than I thought. I went with the standard street tire of choice for the 9s, 225/45/15 RS3s. The grip was unbelievable, seems to handle better on the 9s than a set of old r888s on 15x7s I ran a few times.
I dumped up the timing to 14* and added a little cone filter. Dropped maybe 1-2lbs,opened up some space, and made it sound better. Got new wires and plugs, the car came alive.....comparatively!
My stock radiator cracked right below the fill cap, pretty standard on older plastic miata radiators. Did the same thing in my 97. I swapped over my 52mm Mishimoto that was in the 97.
Somewhere during this process I bought Hawk HPS pads front & rear. Front passenger had a bent bolt, the bottom one that connects the caliper to the bracket, eekkkk
. Looking at the old pads you could definitely tell it had been that way awhile, pad was worn more sidewayz than hustler's....... Got a new bolt, put in pads in, bed them in, tested them a week later, no odd pull while under the brakes.Went to the rear calipers and noticed the e-brake adjuster screw was stripped. I have not replaced the rear calipers yet, although it will be soon. I plan to run HP+ pads in the rear with new rotors and calipers.
Other near-future plans include new shocks & springs! The stock R-package Bilsteins have just under 190k miles now and they're still.......... connected and there! I will most likely end up with revalved Bilsteins, FCM bumps, tophats, and isolators, GC sleeves with #550/350 springs. Hoping to keep my stock R-package rear bar.
I plan to keep it simple the rest of the year after I get done with shocks & springs, I'll have the car aligned and corner-balanced. Hoping to keep up with the NCs and s2ks in STR. A fresh set of tires is on the list at the beginning of summer as well. I also plan to swap in the complete ES poly-bushing kit. I'm sure my stock bushings are worn out pretty badly now.
Wanting to source an inexpensive roll-bar and get some other safety items, 5pt or 6pt harness especially. Another big ticket item this year will be seats. I get thrown around in my stock seats now, it's become annoying.Having to brace myself and get distracted from driving. Hoping to source something local and not too expensive. Opting for something with harness slots, for next year's plan....
Next year I'm wanting to prep the car for HPDE/TT. Particularly for NASA's TTD. I'm planning on getting some more track experience this year on small HPDE's. I've already got a NB2 short-block, NB1 head shaved to I forget what. The head was warped pretty bad, so I figure close to 0.020. The head also has a slight port job, polished bowls, and a 5-angle valve job. I want piece that together with a MSM intake cam, EUDM square-top, basic I/H/E, run it on a MS2, tune for 140rwhp!
I've had a lot of fun with this car and I don't plan to stop. I even think boost is on the list for 2014
02-08-2012, 01:20 PM
#4
MFz Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Knoxville,TN
Posts: 98
lolwut?
02-09-2012, 04:47 PM
#8
MFz Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Knoxville,TN
Posts: 98
02-22-2012, 02:10 PM
#10
MFz Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Knoxville,TN
Posts: 98
Making progress on the car this weekend. This stuff just slows me down.....
Hopefully my XIDA clubsports will be delivered in the next couple of weeks. I'm extremely excited about them. Once I get the coilovers installed I'll be buying the ES master kit, swapping out my 190k bushings whenever I have an open weekend, lol.
Hopefully my XIDA clubsports will be delivered in the next couple of weeks. I'm extremely excited about them. Once I get the coilovers installed I'll be buying the ES master kit, swapping out my 190k bushings whenever I have an open weekend, lol.