road race miata

a friend and i bought a 90 miata early this year as a track only car, although it doesnt stop me from driving it to work. we split everything down the middle including race fees to keep costs down. so far we've installed a roll bar, frame rail stiffener (miatas need it bad!), wheels and tire for the track, stage 2 clutch and a 9 lb flywheel (stock is 18lbs). future plans include full suspension, turbo charging, a full cage, real seats and harnesses, among other things.

when we forst got it and were testing the tires


found cancer installing the roll bar, top was leaking, all fixed now










i scrubbed this bitch for 3 hours to get it to look this good. the whole thing looked like the inside of the bellhousing





flywheel vs flywheel, best upgrade yet


the master seized up one day



drivers school


little car amongst big cars

picked up a little rubber


frame rails



track vids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eymt-n3HxMA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6APYxPUj-vI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbRlN9EFm_U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n6vgNMgJHA

miatas are so much fun. i would like to get a clean na to put an ls motor in one day.

If you haven't found out yet.. be careful when shifting from 5th or rev to 1st. My miata was one of the lucky ones to have a bad spring in the trans & it would make the shifter go to neutral & lock the trans in rev. Common problem. Have to remove one of the sensors up by the shifter housing to access the shift rail. Took a 22 or 24mm wrench to get the sensor out & a stubby screw driver to pop the trans back in gear. Can only be done from under the car. Fun when you're alone in a parking lot. Curbs are your best friend to get under it.. ha ha ha. Love miatas & I'm not queer. Always wanted to put a wankel in one... an RX7/8 rotory is just the ticket & keeps it Mazda...

I don't really fit in them, but they're cute. I think I might have seen you on the little roadcourse at bondurant once a while back. I see PRO there pretty frequently. Can anyone just show up to their events and hang out?

My mother has an '01 and it's a fun car for sure.  I'm 6' tall and I find it has more than enough leg room once I'm in there.  Obviously everyone and their mom ( ) uses them for auto-x so I've raced against piles of them.  They're always fast, even in relatively stock form.  Someone ran a turbo version at one event I raced and it looked like it had some ridiculously abrupt power delivery.  It would accelerate for 3 or 4 seconds out of a corner like a normally aspirated miata and then explode into wheel spin almost instantly - needless to say he didn't do well.

Can anyone just show up to their events and hang out?

yes, its free and encouraged. ill post up when we do out next event. we toasted the brakes last time out so im working on procurring a wilwood setup.

an ls setup would be nice but i think it just unbalances the car too much .not that ive ever ridden in, or let alone driven one, so its just a hyposthesis. but i love turbos, so ill go that route and try to keep it light.

fortunately havnt been stuck in reverse, and havnt heard of that, i dont think our car has the "bad spring", or im sure it would have happened by now.

Love miatas & I'm not queer. Always wanted to put a wankel in one... an RX7/8 rotory is just the ticket & keeps it Mazda...

i agree lol

I have abnormally long legs for someone 6'1" tall, I'm like 2/3rds legs, I went and got measure once for dress pants and the guy wanted to give me a 38" inseam. Told him I didn't need my balls straddling a seam the whole night and to make it 32", lol.

If I'm not working, I'll definitely show up to the next one, I usually see some cool porches and mustangs when I drive by.

ew rotary.

you should run the numbers of weights against a rotary and an aluminum LS engine.

you might be suprised....

im more concerned with what an all aluminum ls would cost, but your right the rotarys are heavey for thier size. im curious what the 1.6+ a turbo/intercooler/etc weighs.

artos- there is some serious money out there everytime we go. last time there was 2 lotus elises, a brand new gt3rs, a cayman, some ferraris, lots of mustangs, audi a4, s4, s6, a race prepped viper, a stock viper, lots of kit cobras, a jeep and some big gm SUV. ill post the pics when pro emails them to me. its a great car show if nothing else.

im more concerned with what an all aluminum ls would cost, but your right the rotarys are heavey for thier size. im curious what the 1.6+ a turbo/intercooler/etc weighs.

artos- there is some serious money out there everytime we go. last time there was 2 lotus elises, a brand new gt3rs, a cayman, some ferraris, lots of mustangs, audi a4, s4, s6, a race prepped viper, a stock viper, lots of kit cobras, a jeep and some big gm SUV. ill post the pics when pro emails them to me. its a great car show if nothing else.

A 5.3L truck L33 or similar should only set you back about a grand stem to stern with harness and ECM.

im more concerned with what an all aluminum ls would cost, but your right the rotarys are heavey for thier size. im curious what the 1.6+ a turbo/intercooler/etc weighs.

artos- there is some serious money out there everytime we go. last time there was 2 lotus elises, a brand new gt3rs, a cayman, some ferraris, lots of mustangs, audi a4, s4, s6, a race prepped viper, a stock viper, lots of kit cobras, a jeep and some big gm SUV. ill post the pics when pro emails them to me. its a great car show if nothing else.

A 5.3L truck L33 or similar should only set you back about a grand stem to stern with harness and ECM.

but those are iron blocks. no?

Not all of them. There was an aluminum 5.3 later in the game. LQ3 is what I think it was called or something close.

Here is the break down for the 5.3L:

Iron block:
LM7
L59
LH6
LMG

Aluminum block:
LM4(very limited production run, identical to the LM7 other than block material, is considered GM's public beta test of the aluminum block)
L33
LY5
LC9
LH8(specific to SUVs)

Not all of them. There was an aluminum 5.3 later in the game. LQ3 is what I think it was called or something close.

There is an LQ4 iron block 6.0L and the transverse mount LS3 for the impala, but no LQ3 that I'm aware of.

interesting, but not hapeneing regardless. the ls swap requires a t56 or similar, motor mounts, swap headers, rewiring, special oil pan, higher capacity front springs, etc. the turbo is still complicated, but ill reuse the existing wiring, tranny and driveline, sans diff, you get the point.

people are running T5s in low weight cars and not having issues.

Sean, keep the updates coming! Always wanted a little Miata with some sort of rotory in it.

I don't really fit in them, but they're cute.

Jason (Hammerhead) is easy 6'-6'2" and don't call them "cute"...lol

I'm 6' and 220lbs, they're just not comfortable.