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thejeans 04 MSM

15K views 75 replies 10 participants last post by  thejeans 
#1 · (Edited)
Since not many of you knew i no longer have the 3 and bought a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata, i figured i would post up a little build thread for you guys viewing pleasure, Im going to copy all this over from another forum so sorry in the dates dont quite line up

2004 Mazdaspeed MX-5 #3693
GT Package

Performance:
Flyin' Miata - FM2 Kit (GT2560 Turbo)
Hydra Nemesis 2.7
FM Level 2 Clutch
FM 10.3lb Flywheel
FM 2.5" Stainless Steel Exhaust
FM 36-2 timing wheel (to be installed)
FM Big Spark (LS3 Coil) Ingintion
700CC Deatschwerks Injectors
FM Cross Flow Radiator and Stage 1 Airflow kit (to be installed)
Hawk HP+ pads with slotted rotors (front) Blank Rotors (rear)
Stainless Steel Braided Brake Lines (to be installed)
NA 5 speed transmission (stock 6 speed with Miata Roaster Short Shifter to be installed)
949 Racing Extended SS Clutch Line
Mazdaspeed Acc Motor Mounts
Mazdaspeed Acc Diff Bushings
Track Dog Oil Pressure sender (to be installed)

Interior:
Ultrashield Rally Sport Seat and TDR Low Seat Rail
Greddy Weighted Shift knob
HardDog Sport M2 Roll Bar
Custom LED Blanking plates and Visors removed
Custom NA door Cards
Moss Miata Iphone Mounting System
Garage Star Delrin Door Bushings
NRG Quick Release Hub
NRG Flat bottom Wheel
2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse vents

Exterior:
16x7 5Zigen Imperio M05 (gold) (winter storage wheels)
15x9 Jongbloed Aero 500 wheels (bronze) with 225-45-15 Hankook RS3's
Tein Super Street Coilovers
Blacked out Headlights, Emblems, and Hardtop Latches
Front Emblem shaved.
Moss Miata Protective Grille
Moss Miata Rubber Antenna
Miata Roadster Vented wing windows
Lamin-X Yellow Foglight Covers
Lamin-X Smoke Covers on Front and Rear Bumper reflectors
Matte Black Vinyl Wrapped Windshield Frame (coming soon)

Others:
Custom Windshield Washer Bottle Relocation haha

 
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#2 ·
a week after buying the car, I spun a bearing on Easter. It set in my garage for a several months while i figured out what to do, but in July i started the rebuild....
i decided to just replace the bearings and try to get it back on the road this summer so i can atleast hit one or two autocrosses and learn the dynamics of the car, a full blown rebuild with forged internals may happen down the road but for right now its just not in the budget.


















got the engine out and found the rear main was shot, the clutch and flywheel were about shot, so they got added to the list for replacement.
I have a FM level 2 Happy Mean Clutch on its way, should be here Monday





 
#3 ·
once the motor was on the stand i started to tear it down











the damage....








Crank was still good, little dirty but no damage...



put the new bearings in, polished the crank and she was ready to start going back together (yes everthing was measured and checked, i just dont have pics of any of that stuff haha"



 
#4 ·
decided while im waiting on a few parts to come in, i would put the stock belts back in to give me the option of harnesses or oem seatbelts (mainly cause technically harnesses arent legal in PA) and while doing that i decided to do the foamectomy to the drivers side seat





I decided to cut straight across the bottom of the "seam" between the bolsters and the middle, took an 1-1.5" out and it seems much improved so far definitely lowered me in the car a little which being 6-1 ill take all i can get haha

the finished product, cant really tell too much from looking at it that i took much out but i could tell the difference when sitting in the seat


 
#5 ·
Well this weekend started the "get the miata back up and running" part of the whole phase

The motor is as buttoned up as can be and ready to go in the car






Almost there!



Got the motor in finally Saturday evening, put the hood back on and figured id start fresh sunday with all the electrical stuff, and reinstalling everything else





Got almost everything hooked up, there are some electrical gremlins that wont allow the car to start right yet BUT its close! just hope i can figure out what it is soon cause ive been aching to drive this car since it broke over Easter...
 
#6 ·
little weekend update...

new Coil packs came in Saturday, installed them and proceeded to take the car for a drive. it idles better and runs a good bit better as well, still something slightly off on the car BUT the coils drastically improved the car, could just be the gas at this point (its set since Easter and thats still crappy winter blend time in PA haha)

got the laptop set up yesterday to connect and monitor stuff on the Hydra, looking forward to learning more with that and seeing what its capable of.

So far the car has gotten 50 miles on the new motor and as long as there isnt too much rain this week ill drive it as much as i can to get some miles on the rebuild.

also tore into the dash and pulled a couple dummy lights out of the gauge cluster that no longer needed to be there to keep them from flashing at me.


did a little restoration on the plastic cover of the cluster, looked like Armor_All got sprayed on it and never cleaned off and as a result always looked dirty. wet sanding with 1000-3000 grit took care of all that with a light polish to finish the job.


the final product


After that i wanted to start working on a way to clear up a little more room, i started toying with the idea of removing the door handle and seeing what for leg room i could gain. I gained a solid inch of leg room without the door handle and that got me digging on here where i found a writeup (on TubroMiata) where the guy used NA door tops and fabbed up his own door cards with ABS Plastic in his 10AE, i think that will be the next step for me, Id like the added room and i think his actually looks really good as well, so good non miata people wouldnt know they werent stock IMO




Here is the inspiration
 
#7 ·
wheels and a handful of parts came in last week. im digging these wheels





did a more extensive Foamectomy over the weekend, pulled the headlights to black them out, going to get yellow Lamin-x for the fogs and a few other plans. i need to wait for some warm weather cause my garage isnt big enough to do all the work needed on the car, the list is growing and the weather just continues to suck :/
 
#9 ·
plastidipped the hardtop latches to see if i liked them black, plan will be to get them powdercoated matte black down the road.



started pulling all the emblems, I am bleaching the front and rear mazda logos and then painting them black. a few pics of during and after all the tape residue removal



After all that i decided to start cleaning and polishing the stock radiator cowl cause it was filthy. you can see the during and and after in these pics

 
#10 ·
Painted the heat shield for the intake black, did some serious scrubbing/cleaning in the engine bay and sanded all the side markers smooth so that they look good with the tint film I'm going to put on them. With the car down while the headlights are getting blacked out I've killed time tinkering with little things the past few nights







2 days down on the bleaching, i think another day should have them ready to be prepped for paint
 
#12 ·
Painted the Emblems Black Mica with touch up paint i had leftover from my 3..


lamin-x on the bumper reflectors or whatever you want to call them haha


baked the headlights open, then blacked out the housing instead of the old black chrome that was on them.




]

^ thats the best i can do with the car in the garage, hopefully i can get it out for some proper pics this week
 
#16 ·
^ i will do my best to keep you guys updated

more plans for the car this year are tires for the 15x9s (225-45-15- BFG Rivals) vinyl wrapping the windshield frame matte black, a flat bottom steering wheel and quick disconnect hub, tune and then just other clean up to make it more mine, relocating the boost gauge, maybe building my own center console and door panels and things like that
 
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