The *Offical* Frankenmiata Build Thread '08

[alchemy will]

This first post is still a work in progress. -Will

Small update with an action shot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/s1deways240/DriftDay7/dday7_8.jpg

The Goal: To hit at least 6 OSW Drift Days in 2008 and having the car street safe to drive to and from the track.

Current Setup! (Will be edited as changes are made.)

The Chassis:
1991 Mazda Miata

The Engine:
1997 BP 1.8L engine powered by stock 1.6 B6 ECU (no tune!).
Bosal 4-2-1 header, gutted cat, stock muffler.
Relocated to cold side RX-7 AFM, custom steel piping.
Magnecor spark plug wires 8.5mm thickness.

The Suspension:
Ground Control sleeves with custom springs (unknown rate, came with chassis).
Koni Yellow adjustable dampers.

The Safety Gear:
Sparco Sprint racing bucket.

The Wheels/Tires:
Falken Azeni 615 tires on stock '94-'97 hollow spoke alloy wheels.

The Body Work:

The In Car Electronics (ICE):


To-Do List:

Megasquirt PnP ECU.
Alchemy Autowerks ITB kit.
Rollbar that clears glass window soft top.
A clutch that hasn't been abused by countless clutch kicks.

[aMaff]

You gonna do ITBs on the B6 or are you dropping in a BP?

If you want some 'medium' aggressive spring rates for the ground controls that are very well balanced for the miata, I've got some 550/375s that will soon be looking for a good home. If you're going to the 24 @ Daytona, I can bring them with if that's what you need.

And to find out what sizes / rate springs you've got, you can note down the part numbers (should be in white on the red paint of the ERS springs if they're indeed the ERSs), call ground control and ask. I did :)

[alchemy will]

The BP is already in it. I'll be running the Megasquirt PnP for the 1.6 ECU with some fine tuning by me. (Fast forward: HELP I BLEW MY ENGINE!)

I know all about the proper way to setup a suspension. I know that I should corner balance with weights in the driver's seat after I make any height adjustments and all that... But frankly I just have the sleeves cranked down all the way to make my car as low as possible and still get into my drive way. :)

[aMaff]

The BP is already in it.
ah, gotcha. I can't read.

I know all about the proper way to setup a suspension. I know that I should corner balance with weights in the driver's seat after I make any height adjustments and all that... But frankly I just have the sleeves cranked down all the way to make my car as low as possible and still get into my drive way. :)
what's that got to do with proper spring rates? lol

If it's anything to you, with my setup, having the car tail out around a sweeper was cake. Without a rear sway bar. I guess if I was going for more sideways action I could put the stock rear back on, but that's not really what I'm going for ;)

[alchemy will]

The welded 1.6 differential and clutch kicks are all I am using right now, no ebrake.

[aMaff]

Uh................................................ ................. ok? Everytime you answer something, it has nothing to do with what I posted. I quit.

[alchemy will]

I am not worried about fine tuning the suspension so much right now because I am practicing with brute force methods, such as clutch kicking. The welded fully-locking differential pretty much makes the FRANKENMIATA as over steer machine to begin with.

Jeez!

[aMaff]

see, now we're clear.

[alchemy will]

see, now we're clear.

I am not used to talking about my car to people who don't see it regularly, sorry. :(

[aMaff]

it's all good skrawdy

[alchemy will]

Small update while I wait on some parts to come in.

I wanted to take a peek at what my suspension looks like these days and found out that one of my lug nuts has fallen in love with my passenger side front wheel and refuses to come loose. I gotta go borrow my neighbor's air tools tomorrow or something. What a waste of an hour.

[Raider]

What are you doing working on your car when we have a website to design? :)

[alchemy will]

Update: The engine finally gave up the ghost. It had a hard life and the oil consumption was getting really crazy. It drank 4 quarts in an hour of driving and seized up. The crazy part is that it only smoked under full throttle and had barely a drip coming from the whole car.

I'll tear it down and see what was the damned problem was. Am I going to put in a 1.6 or 1.8? Who knows.

[aMaff]

99 1.8 w/ the high compression head and VICS. Ready go.

:p

[alchemy will]

We towed the car back, here's a run down:

We can hot-wire the fuel pump to come on but the relay is bad. The oil has returned to the engine some how (?) so it turns over no problem but I am not getting a spark so I think my ignition is on its way out. I guess easy fixes if I can track it all down.

There's a good car in here, but the whole project has me really rundown. I don't have a good dry place to work on it and this car needs someone with time and resources to button up all the loose ends without having to worry about being able to back it back out the drive way every night.

Anyone with a stock Miata want to trade for a pretty bad-ass one?

[Protege v2.5]

A inspirational video perhaps


Drift Miata (http://youtube.com/watch?v=kPyZ-_v9BmQ)

[alchemy will]

Ha, who HASN'T seen that video.

That Miata has a 13b which is a whole 'nother can of worms.