So I bought a 5.3 swapped NC...
 

(First try went into moderator pending which in my experience is a black hole, so let's try again?)

What's up miata people. I have a couple of "regular" miata's but I couldn't help myself with this last one. Have been going thru it fixing missing nuts and bolts everywhere. Was a semi-slammed, welded diff dorifto setup with a lot of bad welding that needs reflowed. Fenders are a wreck so I cranked the ride hide up until I can get some non hellaflush wheels on it. But all the full tropic thunder retard aside this is prob the most fun I've had in a car in a decade, so I'm trying to apply some patience.

The most egregious issue is that the cabin smells like fuel. Like, flick a lighter and go up in flames. First fix was to align the fuel tank gasket correctly so fuel didn't splash everywhere (rolleyes). With the fuel smell better but persisting, I looked into a few other things...
- My NB that I just pulled the fuel pump on has a piece of stamped sheet metal with a gasket above and beyond what is pictured below. Could that be contributing to the fuel smell? I couldn't find any good content on what the OE NC fuel tank cover setup looks like.
- The exhaust dumps just behind the driver (which makes it race legal for a lot of sanctioning bodies) but the short exhaust mixed in with the obviously rich mail-a-tune that's on it I'm sure that is a contributor.

Other than that, the car rips and seems to be happy/healthy. Oh yeah, the alignment and tires need serious work. Too much camber plus all seasons make this thing a mess unless you are trying to slide around. Anyway, I'm near Mansfield, OH if any other enthusiasts are out there. I'm trying to get back into doing track days and whatnot. Can't find tires atm, but still tryin...

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...e1abe88f25.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...b4304cc48d.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...fc65336d95.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...bbd822effb.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.v8m...a7e6e09cbd.jpg