Off-Road Miata Build
- Thread starter UNGN
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I'm about wrapping this one up... I still need to make a bull bar/light bar/tow bar and fabricate brackets to reinstall the sway bars, but that is down the road a bit. I put an NB (99-05 Miatas) spring in to see how much front end lift it gets and they are worth a solid 1.5", so this is a great $50 mod (for a set of stock NB springs). I added sparco mud flaps and blue shock boots and spaced out the front wheels for a more aggressive look.
It actually doesn't drive all that bad jacked up. A miata with no sway bars still handles better than most SUV's. I drove it home from work a few days ago and was disappointed that I ran over a guy a Audi sport sedan driving under the speed limit on a "scary" curving bridge. Dude needs to turn in his man card... said the guy driving the miata.
It's a "Texans in Colorado" thing.
Californian's and New Yorker have move to Texas in droves. We take their money with us to Colorado in the summer to 1) get away from the heat and 2) get away from the displaced New Yorkers and Californians bitching about the heat.
You get off "mainstreet" in most colorado towns and the road isn't paved. If you want to "go to the lake" from town, its an 23 mile, rough dirt road. If you want to "take the shortcut back to town" its a 11 mile rocky road.
The miata will flat tow behind our Yukon XL like there is nothing back there (with a Harbor freight tow bar and $10 magnetic light kit) and the teenager will have a car to drive when we get there.
It all make perfect sense.
What better way to show up and act you own the place than a jacked up Miata. The stoner Natives just think they are seeing things anyway.
Since DFW has run completely out of gasoline and this thing gets 28 mpg, I figured I'll not go anywhere this weekend and work on cars.
This is the car I prefer to take to the junkyards, but last time I took it to the junkyard the battery was stolen. It needs a radio, but if they steal a $25 dollar battery, they will certainly steal a $100 radio... So my solution is a hidden Bluetooth radio made to look like the radio has already been stolen.
I dug through some boxes and found my vintage Jet Sound equalizer amp from 1982. It has 40 watts RMS/ channel and a fader (to fade between door and headrest speakers), and more important RCA inputs from the Bluetooth device.
Then I bent up a sheet metal mounting bracket, false floor for the radio compartment:
And added a Cigarette lighter well and a lighted on/off switch:
Then added some black paint, the Bluetooth receiver and some fake "wrecked radio connector" wires:
Tomorrow, I just need to install it and make a USB power cable for the BT receiver. I tested it out and the sound is great.., better than my other miata with a $100 Sony head unit.
This is the car I prefer to take to the junkyards, but last time I took it to the junkyard the battery was stolen. It needs a radio, but if they steal a $25 dollar battery, they will certainly steal a $100 radio... So my solution is a hidden Bluetooth radio made to look like the radio has already been stolen.
I dug through some boxes and found my vintage Jet Sound equalizer amp from 1982. It has 40 watts RMS/ channel and a fader (to fade between door and headrest speakers), and more important RCA inputs from the Bluetooth device.
Then I bent up a sheet metal mounting bracket, false floor for the radio compartment:
And added a Cigarette lighter well and a lighted on/off switch:
Then added some black paint, the Bluetooth receiver and some fake "wrecked radio connector" wires:
Tomorrow, I just need to install it and make a USB power cable for the BT receiver. I tested it out and the sound is great.., better than my other miata with a $100 Sony head unit.
glad you're still playing with this! hadn't seen any updates on the build for awhile, and had thought about it again when I passed an identical blue one on the local CL.... started thinking about how I could fit myself into one! (also doesn't help that I'm hanging out with some of the local SCCA guys here... lol)
One trick to help fit into one is a "foamectomomy" where you removed 2" of foam in the butt/lower back area of the seats. It makes slippery leather seats grippy, because your lower body plugs into the seat like a puzzle piece and it gives it more leg room/head room than most new roadsters (like Sky/Solstice and the latest miata's).
On this car, I'm thinking of making a a quick disconnect for the seat wiring and a rack/tub set up that bolts in place of the seat for parts hauling. It would be funny to pick up a motor or transmission from the junkyard in a miata. I reinforced the frame rails so the body should be able to take an extra 500lbs and no worries of the suspension bottoming.
I added a front sway bar (by making 2" lowering blocks) and the handing is now better than EVERY crossover SUV without a rear sway bar (and every stock Tri-5 chevy, of course):
Some attachment bits on the rear bar are broken so I may have to wait for one to show up at the junkyard or craigslist to replace the broken parts. It handles fine for now and no longer feels like it will tip over with a typical miata-fast lane change maneuver.
Some attachment bits on the rear bar are broken so I may have to wait for one to show up at the junkyard or craigslist to replace the broken parts. It handles fine for now and no longer feels like it will tip over with a typical miata-fast lane change maneuver.
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