Hello folks
My name is paul. I am the owner of stacy. I purchased her in December of 2014. i had just gotten home from my trip to SEMA and before i know it the custom car itch hit me like a freight Train. I am by no means new to the car world however i am very new to the Miata world. (always bashed them until i drove one) however i come from a family of 1/4 mile drag boat racing are boat runs mid 4's at 200mph in the liquid 1/4 mile so of course I have to build something with lots of power. but enough about that what about Stacy. Well my search started for a cheap project car. the car had to follow these 3 simple rules, Cheap, Rwd, And must be a manual. well guess what popped up in the search. Coming from a chevy mechanic family i was raised fairly biased to say the least. did my research got past the gay girls car stereotype and went and test drove and fell in love with how fun the car was. started more research and came across the gearz episode on the monster and said i want to do that with an ls! more research lead me to here, flyin Miata, v8 roadsters etc. i decided then i wanted to build a Miata. Started looking around went and looked at a few between 500$-1000$ price range all had some issues, title missing, engine issues, o firm on price for junk etc. I started talking to the local club and met a guy who had this 95r sitting around that was his step sons however son had said car stopped building boost and he parked the car. the owner told me he asked the son what issues it was having got no real answer (owner also owned big turbo nb and 5.0 na and a stock nb.) we discussed the issues he said sounded like a boost leak car started right up no issues that you could tell from car idling. we worked out a deal for 2500$. the car was boosted with a megasquirt and full fm 3" exhaust. the deal was owner got to keep all the turbo goodies ecu and wheels car was on. i agreed with the deal because i was receiving hardtop, roll bar, a set of stock hollow spokes and a rollbar, and also parts car(just in case engine was blown) that had been rolled over and still had low milage drivetrain with spare torsen. i had gotten approval from the wife to purchase the car got cash in hand but i was told had to wait until son had time to remove turbo system and bring his other 95 over to swap parts off of. i got impatient and ended up removing all turbo system and returned my car back to stock so i could drive it home. however once we got it back to stock we discovered why it wasn't building any boost. Coil pack was dead allowing the car to only run on 2 cyl. bought a new coilpack car fired right up and i drove away in my new to me 112k mile Miata.


ok now that the intro is out of the way the fun begins. i drove the car did typical Miata maintenance, changed oil, ordered a short shifter and rebuild kit, did timing & belt water pump, trans fluid just normal maintenance to keep her running. couldn't stand the 6 colors of faded red paint tried to buff it only ended up making all the scratches more noticeable so i decided to rattle can the car od green. and bought some -offset wheels and coilovers.

Day one at the previous owners house taking turbo stuff off.


Bye bye turbo



Right after the car was home and got its first bath



Once I got the car home drove it a few weeks ordered timing belt supplies and master/slave cylinder and extended clutch line.. In the mean time I got car inspected and tried my hand at plastidip hated it then started painting the car green was over the faded red..




At this point had started painting, changed the steering wheel, and was driving it to work on occasion


The steering wheel I changed to..



Was still working on painting slowly was having to much fun driving it


Had started painting the valve cover and intake wrinkle black after I had sandblasted both of them
This was right after timing belt and maintenance



Car exterior was fully painted by now



Painted the wheels black and just kept driving her



Bought some fat heavy stance wheels off craigslist for cheap brand new
15x9-0

Car looked like a monster truck so had to fix that bought some ez streets


Had a lot of fun car was fun ran great trans was going downhill but I had the master touch apparently everyone else made it grind.


Had fun cruising with a friend




This is the car meet that started this whole downhill spiral of a mess I'm in!

Just a normal Miata meet and one of the guys with his flyin Miata ls3 stopped by as always and of course I go to chat as always and he nudges me and says wanna go for a ride?




I Was hooked to say the least and left with the biggest grin on my face! I had an idea of what I was getting myself into as I bought the car to eventually swap just had no plan of doing it this soon. My poor little stance car with a slowly failing trans was about to be in for a world of change and I had no clue it would get out of control in a hurry!



Please stay tuned i will be updating and filling this in as I have i have 2500 pics of Stacy's life since she has joined my family and i plan on sharing all of that with you fine folks! She is so close to driving yet so far from being complete i like to call this Stage 1 of stacy's life

 

Did I forget to mention carbon lol! Thanks to a buddy I got myself into a beautiful mess there.. I look back and wish I saved the money for performance but o well I love this car!






By this time I had made a bunch of emails with v8 roadsters (yes I took the easy expressive way but I went that route and I am very happy with what I'm building. So I kept driving the car v8 parts arrived before carbon but I wanted to show off carbon before I took car apart and I had lots of fun with my Miata buddy Kyle working on our cars and going to meets.. Now both cars sit apart and not running..





Now the stuff ou folks care about


Parts! The first things to arrive

Complete ls2 gto pull out got everything (ecu,maf,throttle pedal, wiring) for 4500$


T2r 31 spline Torsen


eBay score 8.8 non locker from markVIII but just wanted case anyways.


These gorgeous things but my great friend who enjoys watching me go down hill convinced me to powder coat these!

Had to test fit! Some one here mentioned open these alone in an solitary place this is true so gorgeous


Will see how this works out if idk if this gear combo will be terrible! For now engine is stock. Final goal for this car is a full built na motor making roughly 700hp to the crank na with a loving touch of nitrous so she makes around 850 to the wheels.. goal is a healthy "street" car to take to the Texas mile and beat gunpilots 176.6mph pass.. Then after that idk just enjoy what I built.. But for now learning curve and find and flaws from my poor building and wiring..



All done
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Sold these to a Canadian buddy from my paintball adventures got basically what I paid for them..


That green and carbon mix




Miata friends..


When you have more carbon than the gtr!


Last meet I attended someone took this pic of my
Car.

 

Disassembly time..






Yuck


Going to miss this full throttle everywhere.


Good parts go home from buddy's house.




Where did it go!


Yay what a mess.


Nightmare


See what I mean


Interior apart


Cuts made

Bam both cuts



I may have had a stance car but I like to properly repair things if I can..



Sandblasted and new hubs (studs have been changed to arp)


Parts just waiting


Fire wall cut! Wouldn't recommend running a grinder with out a shield on it but I've used this one for a long time with a heavy duty face shield, safety glasses, and badass cut resistant gloves..



Old pic I forgot about! That coilover change out time bough I've gotten pretty good at it!


Regular old drill bit I made it work kinda!


Go wide


When you take your gloves off cause your just swinging a hammer nothing bad can happen right! Pinched between freshly cut firewall and the hammer handle as I was pushing trans tunnel outwards! This is about a week later

 

This is escalating quickly!
After almost knocking off your thumb you need a break..




Por15 parts



More Parts! Arrive

All laid out


Test fit!


One very happy moment


Sits on its own with clearance!




New fenders arrive


Only took 7 months for fenders and quality was lets just say carbon Miata was excellent and love them these parts not so much!




Frame rail/cross member mock up



Prob won't work for aero at all but works for shows! Guess what you stare at! When it's complete!


Local shop I love apex auto works was in middle of Ls Exocet build called the apexocet and offered me these


Forgot on install. Removed I think 3-4" off of windage tray was told to just saw entire front half off and basically make it equal the f body windage tray..


That steering rack clearance


Rear fender install.




Beer time!


Taking turns between 2 of us.. Not the best welder at all and nor do I claim to be! I'm a grinder not a welder lol.. Had 4 years of working at a classic car shop all through high school but that was almost 10 years ago so I've lost a lot of what I have learned.. First car I've built since I left that job and sold my bagged truck and older dually..


Quick Close your eyes don't look directly at it!
a mess! Hate this part! Will never do it again!


My stance wheels were sadly not going to work unless massively spaced..


But looked so good!

 

Moving right along! So many times I just needed to sit with a beer and ponder my next move or best approach..
Painted the bay with por15 would not reccomend the way I did it with a brush came out terrible..


Hated that when it was done lots of tiny bubbles and didn't like it so covered it with undercoating. (Any paint on car is temporary car will eventually be sandblasted body work done and a expensive but beautiful midnight purple will be sprayed)


Someone order grip!


Friend convinced me on this and I love the color I picked!


Almost matches the future color..




Room of parts.. Luckily my fiancé and I have no kids


So hard to capture color



I hate rivits


Are little cheap welder needed a break


Let's just say I loved my carbon fiber parts from carbon Miata! these from a different company were not the quality I was expecting.. And took 7 months to arrive.


Painted the pesky red door jam.


Pure sex!


New rear main seal thanks to my dad! We don't get to hang out much any more due to my work schedule. And the fact I moved from home at 18. Lived in corpus for 5 years then moved back to Houston and only time I see him is when I go bug him at work or we race his awesome boat!
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Where my car addiction comes from




Subframe


Painted the mess..


Fresh undercoat






Clutch master installed

 

so whoever it is here that has the blue v8 roadsters parts I also blame you for mine being done but I love them!




She has gained some weight in her hips lol (wait you can't say that about a lady you love)




Parts just hanging out the pile is shrinking


Probably creates drag but looks good for shows



So pretty


To stretch or not to stretch this required some more beer




Hey there good looking..




From day first engine test to 5th engine fitment..


It's just so natural Looking..


Secret storage compartment lmao..


They arrived! Finally! Someone else got my first set of stage 3 apparently.. So they had to make me a set then the stub shafts came 28 spline so had to disassemble and send stub shafts back. V8 roadsters was very helpful after all I just order through them they outsource to the driveshaft shop so I know who was at fault and thank v8 roadsters for being very helpful.. I would put his name if probably misspell it but you all know..



Had some spare time at work. I work a weekend shift so when it's slow.. Bring a side project lol..


Wish this would have worked but o well..


Rear mount!




Wow you drove on that lol..



Bye bye stretch hello grip..








It was beer thirty and pic time





Bit of a difference after a About a year of owning car.


Christmas present from
Fiancé.


Still making progres

 

Stub shafts finally came in

The downside of working at a friends shop and you have to bring your own tools..


Umm beer time!

Flat floor/side skirt thoughts


Traded my rear canards which no longer fit for this poor thing

Wiring mock up

Took me an me arising amount of time with these darn wires


Axles final installed

Ls harness waiting

What nightmares are made of

Good morning! After lots of beers and thinking came up with a solution to stretch the bumper..

Wait what!

When it won't fit in car yet makes a great in house chair

More wiring

Beer time before I set it all on fire

How about no wires

Fuel time!



Just laying under here


Beer fridge


Long tubes and powder coat




More wiring



Love my fiancé

By this time had sold the heavy stance wheels as I did not want to run spacers to clear the brakes

Really didn't want to go this route but if you can't beat them
Join them.. And they show off the wilwoods nicely

 

The difference

This nightmare lol


15x10 and 245/40


Talked to bp automotive and ordered a j1 plug and diy standalone kit for my
Ls2.. Excellent quality..

Started on the Ls wiring

Long process could probably do much much faster now

Might Miata kart this

Have to change from gto to corvette water pump and crank pulley..

So much wider. Stock wheels vs new fenders

Love these new wheels

Almost done after a chat with a few mechanic friends my dad works with


19lbs of wiring removed

Standalone Ls wiring

Dash and cluster wiring hard to see terrible
Pic

The wiring works!

Had to adjust the arms on the headlight motor

I love looking back

Doors got a little dusty in garage

All clean

Had to drag her outside


Driver side wire tuck had to lengthen this side..

Had to shorten headlight wiring on passenger side


So made mistake of mounting all wiring to dash bar don't do that had to cut it all off dash and this is what was left afterwards..

Mounting it all the firewall

Nice and all tucked and hidden connections under headlight each side has its own set of grounds


Just need a grommet for the hole I cut

 

Still a mess but will work for now I'm not happy with it but it's usable

Dash can be removed easily and neatly now

Neatly on firewall

Easy access through glove box. Small Miata fuse block is over by column one way will change but was way to much work to try and move it and lengthen wires

Ford starter really I used

Power wire was longer than I wanted but will work till now will fix a few things when cage goes in later down the road..

How she sits now

Still haven't changed steering wheel yet

 

hi paul. I see you finally made it over here. lol

 

Thanks steve! and thank you for your build thread and a few others that I drool over. the builds here are what made me want to finally create a true build thread instead of just using IG. Many of you here have helped me and had no clue as I silently lurk the threads as a guest lol

 

About time Stacy made her way in here....

 

Thanks it is about time! guess a lot more ppl know my car than I think

 

These are just random pics I'll post them down here

Miata engine from the rollover parts car in the trunk of my daily driven Chevy Cruze


Miata trans in Miata trunk is this a 10speed Miata

The rollover car j received in the deal when I bought Stacy for its drivetrain

 

Welcome to the forum, I don't use Instagram but I assume thats where some of these guys know you from? Its not normally my style, but I'm digging that OD green, you should keep that in future.

 

Thanks and welcome to the mess.. The green is only temporary I'd like to think all of the body work is temporary.. The car will be going through stages and evolving later on but this is the first go around.
I really like this color but final color will be a Nissan midnight purple that almost matches control arms..

 

Welcome if you are new here! Just keep starting over when you start reading hell sometimes might help to refresh I'm adding as fast as I can. Thanks for being patient folks..

 

Wow, enough said

 

WOW indeed !!! Looks like a great build man ! Awesome progress so far. So are you running non power brakes then? Or did I miss something?

 

Thanks guys appreciate the love lol. It's been a lot of head scratching and beer drinking late nights..
I deleted the brake booster using the fab9 booster delete kit.. Now I need to make new lines for the front and rear and install the in line hydrolic e brake and prop valve.. Kinda hard to explain. Since there is only a single out let we are bringing inside the car then going to t the line the t it again.
so the first t will have a single line running to the rear with in line ebrake and prop valve then to the rear factory hardline splitter and 949 lines to the calipers the other t will take 2 lines to each front caliper I hope this works!

 

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Your build bring back memories of building my V8R. I can tell you and I am sure other will concur that some of the lessons that I have learned since completing my build. 1) You will never complete the build, it will always be a work in progress that makes the car better. 2) Upgrading the fuel pump wiring directly from the battery to relay and on to the fuel pump using larger wiring makes a big and positive difference. (I bought the Summit Racing Fuel Pump wiring kit and moved all wiring that could be moved back to the trunk.) A fuel pump relay failure at the wrong time has convinced many of us to make the change. 3) The LS7 air intake has proven to be the best method to provide the engine with ambient air temperature.
Great to view what you have accomplished.

 

Thanks for the tips and your time to read and help!

Question my fuel pump is wired through the Ls standalone wiring system on its own relay and had its own wire that I ran and connected to the Mazda blue red wire at the door. Is this not ok should I change the wire from door to pump?

 

Sweet build. Love the powdercoated V8R bits.

One request/suggestion: maybe it's my browser, but this shows as one page LONG page on my devices. Everytime I come back to check out this awesome thread it takes forever to load up the pics again. Possible for a Mod to split it up a bit so it doesn't eat up as much of my data quota? Cheers

 

I apologize for the layout that is my fault! Would love if a mod wanted to come in and sepperate everything over a few pages.. However I did all of this from my iPhone it's rather difficult to figure out how change anything from my phone.. And I'm not sure I can add pages maybe a mod can help out!

 

Ya, i think a mod would have to do it. Not a big deal anyways. Love the build.
You've done a pile of work in one year.