Tom’s Miata: Frankenstein Fun

Tom’s story began with his Mini Cooper in the fall of 2018. Then in high school, he cobbled together parts from forums and Craigslist Marketplace postings and ended up pushing a little 230 horsepower and 270 lb-ft from the 1.6-liter. It carried him through his track day foray, but the more he drove it, the more it faltered. He couldn’t keep up with the costs, the fuel, and the track day entries.

His friends suggested a simpler car to try and earn his driving spurs with. By parting out the Mini, he could put together the few thousand he needed to pick up an NC Miata with nearly 200,000 miles on the clock. The NC had lived an unloved orphan’s life; moving through seven households before ending up in Tom’s driveway. Somehow, it was still stock when he bought it. This basic package promised regular attendance at local lapping events, even with his college schedule limiting his time and his finances.

Tom didn’t have the means or the interest in going ga-ga with the mod list. The basic package of Feal 441+ Road Race coilovers, RX-8 sway bars, and Cobra Suzuka buckets did him just fine as he was making his way from novice to intermediate. The objective was to get good enough to feel comfortable at the limit and fix what broke.

Fortunately, little did. The only issue in that busy twelve months was the OEM radiator bursting. In the first year of racing, Tom and a few trusted friends logged over thirty DEs on the dependable little Miata. It actually helped him earn a few bucks, too, after reading Engine Management: Advanced Tuning by Greg Banish, he picked up enough to start tuning the factory ECU and starting a side hustle. That money went to his track fees, and it seemed like he’d found a self-sustaining system for himself. All was well with the world until it wasn’t.

After the engine blew, he borrowed his friend’s daily to finish out the final three weeks of his final semester at school, then bought the remainder of a friend’s parted-out NC track car, which fortunately still had its motor. It wasn’t an ordinary two-liter. His friend had swapped in a 2.5 from a Ford Fusion, a budget upgrade with minor architectural differences to the 2.0 it replaced. Swapping it into his car took less than three days.

Unfortunately, the stock 2.5 fell flat on its face at 5,500. With a set of OEM Mazdaspeed 3 valve springs and a set of Xero Limit “Boost” camshafts, Tom was able to raise the 2.5’s rev limit without any thinning of the functional powerband. The 170 lb-ft on tap starts around 3,000 and carries through 5,000, and the power keeps building to the 7,100-rpm redline, where it makes 197 at the wheels.

A comparison of the 2.5 on E70 (red) versus the 2.0 on 91 (blue).

“The objective has been to see how fast I can go without cutting corners or spending much money,” he elaborated. This is Tom’s main reason to try and use as many OEM components as possible. To avoid dealing with the factory rear hubs shearing, he upgraded to a set of hubs from its stouter older brother, the RX-8.

Though it required a bit of custom work to make it fit, the in-the-family RX-8 differential helped tremendously. Better, more progressive breakaway and improved acceleration from a 4.1 final drive originally suited to a torque-free rotary. After this upgrade, the car no longer lost speed going uphill between Turns 8 and 9 at Thunderhill East.

Because the RX-8 differential is taller, in order to sit in the same spot, Tom had to move the alignment area for the studs to sit in the same spot, which meant losing the alignment dowels. Without these, the powerplant frame eventually started sagging after a few months of hard driving. Eventually, this led to the powerplant frame contacting the midpipe under heavy braking and curb hopping. His attempt at notching the powerplant frame was one piece of trial-and-error that didn’t go his way, but he plans to put a set of custom locator plates to avoid this problem permanently.

Currently, he’s fighting the smaller issues like the one above which make the car hard to drive as regularly as he’d like. “Mostly just little gremlins from the engine swap,” he added. Other than that, it's the wallow from the original bushings which make the Miata a bit unpredictable at times. That’ll be relatively straightforward though time consuming.

If his first year out of school is as lucrative as he hopes, he might assemble a new motor to make the MX-5 a real S2000 rival with the following parts: a Fusion’s 2.5-liter Duratec block and pistons, and a Mustang’s 2.3-liter Ecoboost connecting rods and crankshaft, 12:1 compression and an 8,200 rpm redline, he’s hoping for 270 horsepower at the wheels. “It’s going to take a lot of development on my end, but I’ve got a small group guiding me. I’m in good hands.”

Along with the added speed comes a need for better deceleration, so in addition to a set of four-piston Wilwood calipers and RX-8 Sport rotors (which are only $30 per corner), he’s gone and picked another part within the Mazda lineup that takes a little innovation and forum-digging to swap. The RX-8’s ABS system is less prone to engage ice mode. Though this will be another trek down an unpaved path, he’s been given the schematics from others and feels confident the swap will be successful.

“It’s been fun to Frankenstein because I like doing things that not many have done, but I’m more interested in retaining a lot of OEM equipment since I don’t think it will have many issues in the long run. Hopefully, these parts will make it easier to go out and drive more miles. I still need seat time more than anything. Seat time, saving money, and keeping it reasonably streetable have been my objectives. I think I’ve achieved most of them."

Now, I’m considering making it more of a race car since I’ve got a daily now. But until I can afford a truck, there’s no point in making it a total pain to drive. The added torque is definitely enjoyable in the canyons, where I can keep it in third most of the time.”

How many Miata owners can say that?

Alex’s FL5 Type R: Best of Both Worlds

For Alex Peysakhovich, living in NYC had its perks, but easy access to track days was not one of them. When he relocated to Los Altos and found himself with a backyard and a garage, he decided it might be time to purchase that car he’d always wanted and take advantage of California’s temperate weather and multiple tracks within a few hours’ driving distance.

His heart was always with Honda, but the then-current FK8 Type R was too boy-racer for his liking. “I really loved the car, but thought about some things you have to do with your only car, like go to a business meeting or drive in a funeral procession, and I couldn’t really imagine doing those in an FK8.”

So instead he began tracking with an ND Miata. Heavy modification made it a capable cornering machine, but its impracticality became a constant pain; it needed a trailer for long drives and couldn’t be used to take his dog and his girlfriend on weekend trips. He thought about getting an electric daily that he wouldn't track or modify, but that idea didn't last long. “What’s the point of buying a car you’re never going to take to the race track?” he asked himself.

Enter the FL5 Civic Type R, which debuted after a couple years of tracking the Mazda. The new Civic traded its predecessor’s divisive looks for more subdued styling, so Alex had to check it out for himself.

“I used to think Type Rs were a little overhyped, but after seeing it in person, I recognized why the car has a cult following,” he said.

He appreciated the way Honda’s engineers made this fifty-grand Civic feel unmistakably upmarket. But more than presence or build quality, it had real-world usability going for it. On longer trips, the comfortable seats were a welcome upgrade from his Miata’s race buckets. The interior space, the fit and finish, and the performance made the FL5 a great candidate for a daily driver-come-sleeper, and once the premiums started to shrink, Alex pulled the trigger and brought one home.

Before his first track outing, he made a few adjustments. He’d learned enough to know that a ~3,200 pound front-driver would wreck its Pilot Sports fairly fast, so he ditched those for a set of 265-section Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RS tires wrapped around Apex VS5-RS wheels. Along with a set of eccentric lower ball joints to increase negative camber at the front axle, he replaced the stock pads with a set of Ferodo DS3.12s to help clamp the factory two-piece rotors.

He broke it in over 600 miles then took it to Thunderhill West for its shakedown, where he was pleasantly surprised. The steering was quick, despite a dead spot at twelve o’clock, and the gearbox was, well, Honda. If the interfaces were lacking in any way, it was the position of the throttle — as he put it, “in another zip code.” Thankfully, the auto-blip function facilitated heel-toe shifts despite the awkward pedal placement.

Being a front-drive car, he had expectations for how it might handle on a damp morning. Those were dashed on his first fast lap after mounting the dorito at Turn 3, when it hung the rear out in a big way.

“As far as a car that can pack a weekend of camping gear and do great times around Laguna, it’s a hard car to beat.”

The FL5’s mechanical LSD and brake-based stability control system do a commendable job getting the middleweight to rotate. What was less than impressive were the thermal problems which have been associated with the turbocharged Type Rs. Though not catastrophic, the heat causes the motor to pull timing by the end of a long session, but never puts it into limp mode. “I think there’s only so much you can expect from a turbocharged two-liter making over 300 horsepower,” Alex added.

Fortunately, these issues are not new to the Type R lineup and the FL5 was designed to make them easier to address than its predecessor ever allowed. The ducting routes have been established from the factory, along with a functional hood vent. Honda laid the groundwork, but more needs to be done for hot summer days. “It isn’t imperative, but it could use a bigger radiator and an oil cooler. I’ve got those sitting in my garage in anticipation for the summer.”

“The designers cared about the experience of the car; they wanted it to feel special, even when parked.” Alex added. Credit: Tokumeigakarinoaoshima CCA-SA 4.0.

Beyond that, any remaining mods are far from necessary. The FL5 is well-balanced out of the box and does not need much more power. “The engine is certainly strong. If it could use something to make it feel a little sportier, it would be an exhaust — it’s too quiet.”

That subdued exhaust note is part of what makes the car so versatile, and its wide repertoire comes at a premium. Besides requiring pricier fuel, the turbocharged front-driver is hard on its front brakes and tires, and it goes through consumables far faster than a lighter, better balanced car like a Miata.

There’s no denying the running costs are too high to track a Type R regularly — multiple track days per month will continue to be the Miata’s job — but the Civic will be doing daily driving, mountains, longer trips, and rear its head at Laguna and Thunderhill East a few times a year.

Four years ago, Alex thought fifty thousand for a Civic was steep, but he’s changed his tune as of late. “I know that sort of money for a Civic sounds crazy, but you really need to try it. It’s tough to think of something similarly priced that handles so many different tasks as well as the Type R. If I could only have one car, this would be it.”

Andy's NC Miata: How To Make 300 Horsepower In 3 Not-So-Easy Steps

“After five years of ownership, I’ve learned these cars only last when they’re basically stock,” Andy began.

Some of Andy Boskovic’s friend suggested he keep tracking his E92 M3, but it just wasn’t exciting him any longer. “I’d tried a few light cars, and I liked how playful they were,” he recalled. “No matter how much power a car has, if it’s lightweight, it will always be fun,” he said. Plus, the cost of consumables and its heft kept him from relaxing. Careful not to break the bank, he started looking for something svelte, simple, and reliable.

Because of his size and his cost constraints, he bought a mildly prepped third-generation (NC) Mazda Miata. For a third-gen Miata with Megan Racing coilovers, Hotchkis swaybars, and a factory hardtop, a mere five thousand was money well spent.

If there was one unforeseen problem at this point, it was that Andy did not know quite how limited the NC aftermarket was back in 2018, but, thankfully, this car was quick and reliable enough to not need to. The car ran well in stockish trim, and no real changes were necessary for the first two years of tracking.

The factory NC brakes are stellar: Castrol fluid, RB 2-piece rotors, and Hawk DTC-70 pads provided stable, reassuring confidence.

After getting to terms with the car, he could diagnose its few weak points. More confidence on the brakes meant harder laps and more aggressive corner entries, and those highlighted the one glaring handling issue.

Though fun, the car was a little too loose to be truly quick, and this was clearest in the faster corners. “The short wheelbase makes this car oversteer in Riverside,” he started. He first softened the rear bar, then removed it entirely. “I picked up a little understeer when I removed the rear bar, but I gained 1.3 seconds the next session on the same tires,” Andy added.

Another Half-Liter Can’t Hurt

After two years of trouble-free track days, the engine began to knock. Intent on keeping his costs low, he decided to try the 2.5-liter MZR alternative. This particular motor came from a Ford Fusion — a $200 find at his local junkyard that swapped into his car with minimal modification.

Swapping the 2.5 into the NC’s engine bay requires transferring oil pan and valve cover from the 2.0-liter to the 2.5-liter, grinding the front cover engine mount plate to allow the belt to spin without rubbing, and changing one pigtail for camshaft position sensor. Everything else stays the same; the whole harness, ECU, engine mounts work. What’s more, the transmission is direct fit.

It’s a good thing the swap was simple, because the excitement didn’t last long. After just three track days, the engine blew. Andy believes it was a lousy online tune which caused the engine to run too rich. Because he hadn’t installed any A/F meters, he’d been totally unaware of his pistons were getting washed over the first few months.

This setback didn’t deter him. In just a few weeks, Andy grabbed a new motor — one with which he would try a different approach.

Being designed for an SUV, the 2.5 MZR was never really designed to rev. The motor feels genuinely torquey—almost VQ-like—in the midrange, and calling the top-end lackluster would be generous. Extra cubes do help the car feel livelier in slower corners, but the disappointing final few thousand revs warranted a major change — even if the motor was never intended to buzz too high. With a set of Esslinger camshafts and a little headwork to enable 7,500 revs, he extended that top end to a point where things felt S2000-ish.

Another half-liter makes makes life significantly easier.

The 190 horsepower the new lump came along with a few complimentary additions to turn a mild street car into something focused and trailered. Version 2.0 sported a stiff set of Feals, a full cage, and a lot of unsightly bare metal. The stripping process brought the Miata’s weight down to 2,330 pounds, which is not much heavier than a Spec Miata, but with an additional 70 horsepower and 100 lb-ft of torque, those power improvements made the Miata much more versatile.

Compliance is Key in Southern California

The 13K/10K spring rates didn’t suit the bumpier tracks he frequented, so he consulted Karcepts, who tuned the NC cars which ran in the Playboy Cup from 2008-2013, suggested he try a softer setup. They supplied him with some MCS 1-ways, which came along with 10K and 7K springs. The improved compliance netted him a whole second on the same set of tires. Clearly, he was on the right track, though the setup was far from perfect.

In an attempt to try and minimize some of the car’s tendency to oversteer in high-speed corners, Andy cranked the front dampers and left the rears on the softer side. “It rotated when you wanted it to and the rear stayed stable. Still, when the rear finally let go, it was not very progressive.”

“I was never that interested in running aero because I didn’t like that Fast and Furious-look, but I couldn’t accept the snappiness at the rear, so I tried a wing.”

Following the first on-track session with Racebred Component’s 4” front splitter kit and their GT rear wing, Andy forgot entirely about looking like an attention-seeker. The aero bump immediately chopped 2.4 seconds off his previous best at Buttonwillow. Other than adding the wings, nothing else had been done to the car.

The unfortunate byproduct of greater stability in the fast stuff was a smidgen of push. Not so much to keep him from attacking, but just enough to feel the Miata was no longer the playful, adjustable thing it used to be. Cleverly, Andy chopped two holes in his front fenders and topped them with a set of Cockroach Concept louvers. These relieved pressure from the fender wells, improved front downforce, and helped the car regain its natural pointiness — now tempered by the rear wing. It’s extremely neutral in both fast and slow corners, and it’s still soft enough to soak up big bumps.

The performance of the front relative to the rear encouraged Andy to see if he could further strengthen the car at turn-in. With a five-inch splitter and front spats from Racebred, the front end was electric, but more importantly, he could still keep the car balanced aerodynamically, though that required doing something many Miata owners might be hesitant to do.

Trim Fast

Without much torque, Miatas have to avoid as much drag as possible, hence the preference among many owners to run only as much wing angle as necessary. He was conscious of overslowing the car on the straights, but he needed a more neutral balance to push hard. By increasing the angle of attack at the rear wing, he found a confidence-inspiring aero balance that, as he learned, improved the car’s cornering performance enough to incur a little drag.

For someone accustomed to trimming his Miata out as much as necessary, this was a shock finding. “I was losing about three miles an hour on the straights, but the car was so much faster in the corners that I saw a net benefit to this high-downforce configuration.”

Content with the aerodynamic and suspension settings, Andy started on the one area he was reluctant to try. Between a bad tune and his habit of revving the tits off his motors, he went through three engines —one 2.0 and two 2.5s — in the four years he’d had the car. Still, seeing a Mustang or Porsche walk away towards Sunset was a source of real irritation, so he decided to turbocharge his MZR.

Unfortunately, the aftermarket hasn’t provided NC owners with many different turbocharging methods to try. Yes, the MZR has been turbocharged for competition use, but the AER-built motor found in IMSA prototypes and Indy Lights cars is a far cry from the factory 2.5-liter.

Long story short, the turbocharging process has been, as Andy put it, “a world of shit.” The problems with overheating and oil starvation killed one motor quickly, and the current engine, built to maximize torque and keep the revs reasonably low, is still getting the bugs worked out.

However, parking lot tests have demonstrated real grunt, tractability, and promise. With a standalone ECU, a reinforced gear hub in the fragile gearbox, and a smaller wastegate spring, he plans to have a dependable 260 horsepower from 3,500 - 6,500 revs.

“I believe revving the 2.5-liter engine to 7,500 shortens the lifespan to forty track days or so. The turbocharged engine doesn’t need the same revs to make power. If you cap the revs at 6,500 and power around 260, I think it could last. I’m not betting anything on it, though,” he laughed.

Sam's Semi-OE Turbo Miata: Taking Advantage of Pre-COVID Pricing

I try to fight the occasional sting of envy when I walk through the Speed SF pits. One particular car made me want to crawl up inside a hole and cry—this immaculate ‘00 Miata. I’ve already bought and sold one NB Miata—a car I wasn’t completely enamored with, but after learning that Sam Tsui was able to get this car with such an incredible collection of parts for the 2022 price of a rough NB without a hardtop, I was kicking myself for not buying one a little earlier.

A couple years prior to the pandemic, Sam helped define the term “pre-COVID prices.” He’d had some fun over the prior five years in a Fiat 500 Abarth, but the high center of gravity, intrusive nanny systems, and cost of performance parts were too much after some time. He’d grown somewhat comfortable with the car, but its odd behavior in fast transitions kept him from pushing it harder. As he was starting to push hard on a regular basis as a Lemons racer, he started searching for a rawer car. Within a month, he came up on the steal of the decade.

The low costs of a Miata drew him to seek out a lightly modified NA or NB. “I wasn’t looking for something that had been pretty much completed, but that’s just how it worked out,” Sam said. At a barbecue, he learned of a sorted track car his friend was looking to sell. This car had pretty much what any track-oriented Miata needed, an immaculate exterior, and it had a special motor fitted.

The trials and tribulations of turbo Miata ownership are nothing new, but it seems that sticking to a semi-OEM route can keep the headaches to a minimum. What Sam’s friend had done was swap the entire powertrain from a Mazdaspeed Miata—the 1.8-liter turbo engine, six-speed gearbox, rear axle, and limited-slip differential. With a few bolt-on parts from Flyin’ Miata and a good tune on a standalone Hydra Nemesis EMS, the engine makes a healthy 210 horsepower and 200 lb-ft of torque. Best of all, that torque came on strong at 3,000 rpm. That really changes the driving experience. Now, the throttle is squeezed and not pounded like a veal cutlet.

It looks nearly factory because it is.

Having only a set of 15x7” Avanti Storm S1 wrapped in 205s to put that power down, Sam had to recalibrate his right foot pretty quickly lest he spin in a slow corner. “The Fiat was easier to drive; I could floor it in hairpins and it would hook without any wheelhop. With the Miata, I have to squeeze the throttle carefully in second and sometimes third gear.”

As he was looking for that added feeling of connection, he made sure to replace all the tired rubber bushings with polyurethane items. In conjunction with a stiff set of Megan Racing coilovers, the reduced slop helped him achieve a handling balance that verged on oversteer in most places. In fact, the Miata will try to spin if it’s thrown into the corner, so Sam learned to slow his steering rates down a little. Much more than the Fiat, the Miata is eager to rotate.

And stop. The brakes were replaced with the Flyin’ Miata Little Big Brake kit, which consists of Wilwood four and two-pot calipers clamping OEM rotors. For a car this light, the stock rotors are more than sufficient. On a set of 200-TW tires, the braking this 2,450-pound car is capable of will leave most folks with their mouth agape.

A basic lightweight flywheel aFactory ABS, a hard top, and a good amount of safety equipment help Sam push with confidence.

For how little he got this car for, you’d expect there to be a stripped interior, rust, or some other catch. I’m sorry to say, this car has very little wrong with it. Cosmetically, it’s about as nice as a track car should be. The interior is all in place, and there weren’t any hack cuts in the carpet to fit the rollbar, either. The hardtop is painted nicely, the wheel fitment is subtle but noticeable, and the generally understated appearance doesn't scream regularly driven track toy.

For a turbo Miata, it’s pretty robust. Sam has run nearly twenty track days with the car on the stock radiator and fan setup, only aided by a Flyin’ Miata FMIC, and it still runs cool. However, he has to watch the water temp when the ambient is pushing 100.

Though it’s been tuned to such a high standard and really doesn’t need much else, Sam left his mark on it. In addition to swapping out the bushings, he fitted the interior with an OMP wheel, a Hard Dog rollbar/harness bar, and a RaceDirect.com 6-point harness. Just a few tweaks, but enough to make it feel like it’s his. Without a doubt, this no-stone-unturned track car doesn’t need much more.