SOLD! - 1990 Mazda Miata

10/2000

Bought the car out in Worcester, MA. Drove it home and the check engine light went on. Got home and tightened down the ground wire from the engine to the frame. It was loose and the engine was getting a bad ground. Engine swap was very careless. Multiple loose bolts and belts. Power steering tensioner bolt was bent and could not be tightened properly. Replaced, adjusted and tightened.

10/2000

Replaced the factory exhaust with a Full Stainless Steel Genie Exhaust. It is beautiful. Almost too nice to put under the car. Can not compare to stock because stock exhaust was leaking when I purchased the car. Catalytic converter was blown and clogged the muffler which then proceeded to fall apart. Will order the catalytic converter for next inspection. Not needed until September 2000.

11/2000

I let my friend borrow the car. He didn't know that you are not suppose to put the top down when it is below 40 degrees because the window is very brittle. Guess what.. the window cracked. I Replaced the soft top with the new Robbins top that the previous owner included with the purchase of the car. It was in new condition but it was sitting in the trunk for a few months and the plastic windows was scratched. It took about 4 hours doing it by myself. I had to remove the rain guard off the original and installed it on the robbins top.

11/2000

Yikes! The car is all over the place when floor the gas around corners... Damn... the wheels are wide, 15x8 Moda M1... I replaced the bald/miss matched tires with new ones. Since I am planning on getting 16" wheels, I just replaced the tires with some All-season Falken tires, cool pattern and pretty good wear life. I'll use these for the winter when I get the 16" wheels. Car still vibrates after getting the new tires and a full balance on all four wheels. Especially at 65mph. Not sure if this is the 65mph shimmy that I've been reading about on Miata.net

1/2000

I had the right rear wheel straightened and the vibration went away. Wheel was slightly out of round and caused the vibration that I was getting at 65mph.

2/22/2000

All Go! No Show! The turbo kit arrived and installed! It took me and my friend Chris about 16 hours on and off to install it. The most difficult part was getting the damn down pipe off the stock manifold and actually getting to the pipes bolts next to the Transmission. That was not fun. The car has this funny acceleration.. :) Leaves a funny grin on Chris's face every time the rpms go past 4K... and I'm yelling at him to chill cause it's not broken in yet! The instructions say to drive for 600miles under 4k rpm. This won't be too difficult since the clutch seems to be slipping when the boost really kicks in around 4.5k rpm. Still need to put the Greddy Blow off valve in. Every time I upshift, you can hear the turbo stop. Had to set the Timing to 6 degrees since I did not get the MSD Ignition control yet. That will hopefully be in next weekend.

2/29/2000

Installed blow off valve! the car makes a pfsssst when ever I shift and the car is under any kind of boost. Sounds kind of cool! Car really has a deep growl now. My friend Chris removed the stock resonator that leads into the throttle body on the stock intake and attached the Blow off valve there. Engine seems to have a slight backfire at low rpms. This is due to the addition to the Blow off valve. The stock air mass sensor stays open when the blow off valve releases the air and the engine thinks it is running to lean and increases the fuel making it too rich. I need to figure out how to fix this.

3/12/2000

Increased boost to almost 7psi. Engine is definitely more responsive. Still running rich under low rpm shifts which is causing some small backfires. Noticed a slight wear spot on the right side of the soft top. Don't know what caused this but it resembles the same wear spot on the old top. Need to investigate what is causing this. I will have pictures soon of actual car. Just purchased a new digital camera. Waiting for it to warm up!

2/5/2001

Well, my favorite upgrade, Hella headlight upgrade has disappointed me today.  If you own these lights, do not wash your car with them on.  Both lens cracked due to temp change when water was sprayed on them.  That was a very expensive car wash. 

4/6/2001

HAHAHA! An Integra GSR thought he could beat my car! It took him three tries to finally give up. Was cruising about 65mph past a Integra GSR. Slowed down to about 50mph right next to him. We both gunned it and he was in my dust. At first my friend and I didn't think he was trying but he caught up finally and he wanted to go again! So, of course we didn't hesitate. And again left him behind. I was starting to think he wasn't really trying. But again! he pulled up along side and tried again! You'd think after 2 times, he'd give up. So, of course one last time. The Integra got quite small in the rear view mirror. he followed us off the highway to a gas station cause he couldn't believe he just got spanked by my Miata. HAHAHA! He rolled down his window and asked, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE IN THERE???" It was quite amusing!

4/7/2001

Finally! I know what my car puts out! Brought my Miata to NEDYNO in Worchester, MA. The thing puts out 139hp at 6000rpm MaX torqe is at 123.2(ft-lbs) at 5200rpms. Here is the chart.

Home