my grandparents rocked a pair of red miata’s until my grandmother went blind and my grandfather died. my sis got my grandfathers car and i got my grandmothers. i always thought that miata’s are a bit on the girly/chic car weak sauce side of the automotive spectrum.
and then i drove one
The angels didst sing and the bluebirds didst lay bountiful eggs. tree’s did thus produce fruit and the sun didst shine triumphantly on newborn livestock. the livestock henceforth had a shimmer of hope in their eyes, and were spared the slaughterhouse. grass did grow, insects did chirp. dust lifted from the soiled and the blind could see once more.
the miata of revelation had come.
turns out this car is pretty sick, even in the base model stock form. quick enough (room for improvement, of course) and handles like you wouldn’t believe. not a bad first car for a 16 year old. however, i had to deal with two years of constant ridicule from highschool jerks, who were mostly driving beat up trucks and rusted out cavaliers. car was shaving creamed twice, countless snowballs thrown at me while driving, and once moved out of it’s spot and into another. throughout all that, i remained in love with the car.
my plan with the car has always been pretty simple. improve handling and power with reliable results. looks come last. of course, i eventually want to go forced induction…but i’m not sure i’ll do that with this miata. maybe another one.
car started super stock. mods are listed in chronological order, with my favorites in bold.
replaced dead stereo with kenwood unit
replaced crap door speakers with 6 3/4" kenwood 3 ways
Stainless cat-back Borla exhaust
Stainless 4-2-1 headers
eBay cone intake (imitation K&M)
upgraded plugs/wires (christmas present from my bro)
hardtop (beat up! polished it a bunch)
painted valve-cover
dual 10" Sony Xplod P5 woofers with 1600 watts running through them
eBay 3 1/2" speakers in headrest (two each)
eBay tweeter on doors
deletion of 10" Sony Xplods… woah to much!
Tokico HP handling kit (shocks/springs, aprox 1" drop)
cheapo Maaco respray to last me until i’m out of college and can do it right (christmas/birthday gift from parents)
incident with a guardrail at 50mph leading to a rebuild of certain parts
AAC flush mount carbon fiber Hella headlights
“Wizdom” style (ebay knockoff) body kit
moss turn signal intakes
trunk lift kit and electronic trunk release (key entry destroyed by accident)
16" wheels from 2nd gen miata (free!!!)
replaced crap eBay headrest speakers with siiiick 3 1/2" pioneers
kenwood “wOOx” powered subwoofer
replaced soft-top with glass window soft-top
some random e-tape on the drivers fender. wtf is that about.
ok, for some pics.
this is the earliest pic of my car that i’ve got. you’ll notice my sisters car in the background…
here’s what $500 bucks gets you for a miata hardtop (most run closer to $1000)
that doesn’t do justice to the scratches and gouges in it. it looked as if somebody stored it upside down on a concrete floor.
after a bit of polishing… what a difference!
some suspension bits:
fully installed:
OH NOES!!!
a couple of rebuilding pics… (for all of them see my photobucket album linked in my sig)
jacks can be used for many things…
this is supposed to be straight…
some test fitting. my my, that wheel gap simply won’t do. (undersized wheels make gap much larger…)
hai guys loo0k!!!1!
oh hey, thanks for the free wheels mister, think i’ll put them on my car!
doez this means i gots a hoodride?
just pretend there’s a picture of the new top. it’s kinda like the old one. cept the rear window is all hard and stuff from being glass and whatnot.
future plans: fab a functional front splitter. hack into rear bumper and add a custom diffuser (i’m thinking about fiberglass? if anybody has any skillz they’re willing to donate, i’d love to hook up sometime and we can hack into my car and make one). make a ski rack for it.
distant future: strip body kit, replace with something nicer (undecided). go FI. chuck the Tokico shocks/springs for full coilovers (mayhaps some Teins). pull fenders and throw in some 15" zero offset wheels and start up some autoX.
