1994 Miata Track Toy

[AggieBlake]

Great work.! You're going to make me miss mine!

[theothersawyer]

I could go into detail about how much of a pain in the ass the car was to work on if that would make you feel better!?

[JupiterBMW]

Wow man, very cool car, lots of cool mods... I'm really impressed!

[BMWCurves]

I could go into detail about how much of a pain in the ass the car was to work on if that would make you feel better!?

I guess we haven't put that many miles on my father's, maybe 10k but it's been incredibly reliable. The only two issues are the A/C compressor doesn't work but that doesn't really matter, and sometimes it doesn't want to start, but that's an issue with the ignition I think. Mechanically it runs like a top.

[AggieBlake]

I could go into detail about how much of a pain in the ass the car was to work on if that would make you feel better!?

Lol! Yes, that would help

My '96 was actually quite reliable. I got lucky, I guess. 10 track events (HPDE's) and nothing failed except a front hub. But I have a friend with a '91 that crashed a valve and required a full rebuild. It's a bit of a crap shoot I guess.

By the way, that your ND in the pic? My current life plan includes picking one of those up in about 8-10 years when it should be an ideal used car for a weekend/track car. They sure seem nice!

[theothersawyer]

I think I have the only unreliable Miata known to man! Lol it's actually been great but stupid things break! I bought the car with 148,000 miles and now it has 217,000!

I wish the ND was mine! I was driving the car to make sure everything was all good and found that in the Kroger parking lot, so I had to get a picture! Mazda really did a great job with the ND! It has all the charm of an NA!

[theothersawyer]

I could go into detail about how much of a pain in the ass the car was to work on if that would make you feel better!?

Now that I finally have some time and am on a computer I'll go into detail!

So I was on vacation and my friend decided to surprise me by working on my car while I was gone! He knows WAY more about Miata's than I do! Can I work on them? Yes, but he will do it better and 10x faster than I would! So I let him work on my car a lot! As he was taking the front end of the motor apart he found out the timing belt pulley has seized to the crankshaft! It was STUCK! Tried prying it off and ended up damaging the area around the front main seal it just marred the surface and cause a little burr to get in the way of replacing the seal. So that had to be shaved off with a dremel!

Then we went to replace the front main seal and we hadn't dremeled off enough material and it cut the seal...thank goodness I ordered two of them just in case! Got the seal on and then went to put on the new timing belt pulley since the last one got destroyed. But....it didn't fit! It was mm too small! Banged it on with a hammer and we were afraid it wasn't going to spin freely since the fit was so tight. When we gave it one final blow with the hammer it spun freely! Phew!

Next up was to finish buttoning up the front of the motor and an oring for the waterneck was somehow cut while installing it! Luckily the old one wasn't in that bad of condition so we used that one! While putting the thermostat housing back on we noticed the oring didn't fit! Another part ordered from Mazda that wasn't quite right! We were frustrated at this point so I kind of jokingly said "f*** it, let's throw it in the freezer!" It actually worked though!

What else happened....Oh! went to start the car after it was all back together and....nothing! Battery must be dead, so I went to the trunk to look and the contacts for the battery were completely corroded and when I touched it it fell apart! New contacts picked up from Walmart and it fired right up!

Look everything over for leaks and didn't see anything, but there was a weird almost knock noise from the head...S***!!! It did go away, assuming it is just from the car sitting for almost 6 months and oil not getting where it needed to right away!

My PWR radiator does have a little leak at one of the welds, which sucks so I guess I need to look for someone who can weld aluminum!



Yesterday I took the car to the track! Drove the car about 40 miles the day before the track day! That is how you test to make sure everything was put together properly!








Car felt great on track and I was feeling more comfortable out there than I have in the past! I still have a ton to improve on and just need more track time under my belt!

[theothersawyer]

Wow man, very cool car, lots of cool mods... I'm really impressed!

Thank you! If you happen to be in town next April, you should go to Miatapalooza! I believe that I saw your friend with the Exocet say that he is going!

[san]

Looks like you had one of those days...
Pics look great!


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[theothersawyer]

Looks like you had one of those days...
Pics look great!


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For whatever reason this car always does this to me! I try and treat it well and it doesn't return the favor! haha