Hi everyone, this is my car below.
It's a 1995 1.8 liter Miata that I've owned and drifted since April 2012. I don't feel like my style in this car is suited for competitions, so it has only seen daily driving and open drift days for the entirety of it's time with me.
I'm really passionate about drifting and forming my own style, so this car is kind of my time capsule that picks up character from every era of driving, breaking, neglecting, and reviving that comes with 70,000 miles of daily drift car duty. Seat time is king, so drift what you're comfortable in and enjoy. I personally like a street legal style so that's what you'll find below but I've been through stance phase, big wing phase, and currently more aggressive oem+ I think.
Feel free to ask me questions. I'll probably answer. If I don't for a very long time it's only because I'm not looking.
Pretty comprehensive breakdown of parts if you're curious:
Main chassis and drivetrain info (December 2023)
Engine: Stock 1.8L BP05, 200k miles. Stock intake and exhaust.
Clutch: XTD Stage 2 or something
Suspension: Fortune Auto 500 Series 12k/10k swift
Steering: Depowered rack/welded pinion
Knuckles: Danny George cut knuckles
Transmission: Stock NB 5-speed
Differential: Stock 4.1 Torsen
Brakes: Stock
Sways: Stock
Interior / Exterior
Wheels and tires it's had (I can't remember all of the details but I hope I can edit later)
Some photos to start the thread:
Driving it home onto a ferry April 1st, 2012.
130,000miles, 16 inch mini cooper wheels, and a style bar. Original cost: $2500
And here are some recent pictures that reflect where the car is at in 2023.
There's over 10 years between those photos, so potentially I have a lot more to share if interested.
I don't know where this forum is going to go long term, but I'm intrigued. I built this car in ClubRoadster days so I'm reminiscent of how forums used to be. After over 10 years of ownership I have a fair shake of knowledge about the MX5 chassis and drifting, so I'm willing to pay it forward to the next generation and document some stuff or help out.
I have fun plans for the powerplant next year, doing a BP4W swap with some sorta unique choices to go with it. I'll try to document that here instead of anywhere else, maybe make an effort to also document some of the technical stuff in other threads too if I can count on the drift club to host them forever.
That being said I'm an adult with a busy life so please just be chill and we'll probably get along.
Are Miatas cool?
YES
NO
Probably about 10 months since my last build post where I originally found damaged bearings and shavings in my new (to me) motor.
Engine has been rebuilt, is in, and running! Working out teething issues while performing break in, but she's running on Mikuni carburetors now and I've begun street driving it.
Some engine details:
1999 1.8L BP4W with 1mm overbore to 1884cc
10:1 Wiseco pistons
Eagle H-Beam Rods
ACL Race bearings
Lightly hand ported cylinder head
My engine control is ignition-only Nodiz Pro from Motorsport Electronics. The ignition map is a 1.6L Zetec ignition basemap from MEITE.
It's fitted with an Innovate MTX-L wideband and seems surprisingly driveable, but running rich.
The carburetors are Mikuni from a 1999 Kawasaki ZX-6R with a 3-wire TPS providing load. They are recently rebuilt and running 155 main jets. I upped the jet size in the main circuit from 150 to 155 as a baseline because I wanted to lean on the rich side.
For now, it stinks up the garage and I have to run my HVAC system in re-circulation mode.
Next up is tuning! I'll post about it in a year or so at this rate.