my newish to me 1996 Miata

Last summer I bought a 2005 Passat 1.8t 4motion wagon as an attempt at a sensible dd. Three weeks after its purchase though the engine spun a rod bering. Turns out whoever replaced the oil pan last used too much silicone and the excess broke off into the pan and clogged the oil pump pickup. After rebuilding the 1.8t I was promptly rewarded by the tiptronic transmission going kaput. Following that (and many many other problems) I ditched the Passat and ended up with a cpo 2012 Jetta S with the 2.0 and a 5spd. That’s where the Miata comes in. Now that I’ve managed to hopefully free up some time this coming summer I wanted something to play around with while keeping the Jetta stock.

I ended up acquiring a 1996 Miata with the popular equipment package off of a family member who no longer wanted it. The car is rough around the edges but at least I know all of the basic maintenance stuff has been done since I was the one who did it. I did my first 2 autocrosses with it this past weekend and managed to place mid-pack in es and only 4 seconds back from the lead despite being on winter tires. Hopefully in next few weeks I’ll get a chance to freshen up the brakes and to get real tires for it. That being said I’m still on 14” wheels and only seem to be able to find either azenis 615k or zii star specs for it. I’m hoping I'm missing something, but fearful I’m not, so if anybody has and opinions between those two feel free to chime in.

In true grm spirit these are the only pictures I currently have of the car.

If you're staying on those wheels, get the ZII's. If not your options open a bit. Also, sell me your hardtop :).

I bought a set of all season Falken tires that were average, so I wasn't expecting much from the Azenis 615K. I happen to have autocrossed on them once, and they're great. I think they're a little slower than ZIIs, but if you're not a top driver, you may not be able to reach those grip levels.

The old Girl Looks pretty good Aaron!

I am running the ZII non- star spec, I managed 37th in PAX out of something like 190 at DCR in my underprepped STS car.

Azenis are actually about 2-3 generations old at this point. Street tires have been rapidly advancing of late.

Get the Z2 stars over the Azenis.

What class do you want to auto-x in?

I was planning on getting a leftover set of the non-star spec z2 but they all seemed to dry up before I got around to ordering. After calling around and some price matching I was able to get a set of 615k's delivered for under 300 so being a broke college student I went that route. I figured at this point anything is going to be a huge upgrade over what's on it now.

Right now I'm running in ES, but that's just for this summer. After that I want to either run in stu, or to strip the car out a little add boost and run wherever I fall. I'd rather have fun then be competitive.

In reply to sanyarcosean:

I don't think I've seen that picture before. That was probably my sophomore year of high school, so a good 6 years ago.

In Reply to Ratghia:

From your first gig as crew chief...

More shots of you in the Miata here... Page 2 & 3

Out with the old and in with the new.

Well I finally got tired of staring at the rocker rust on the car and decided to try my hand at some body work. It's hard to see in the before pictures but most of the outer skin was completely gone in the bottom half of the rocker. Once I got all of the rust cut out I had to patch the inner structure in a spot as well as craft a new outer rocker. Luckily I found a spare Ghia door (lots of bondo in it so don't worry I didn't ruin a good door) that served this purpose quite well. For having never done body work and not welding for probably 6 years or so I don't think it tuned out too bad..... plus it was free. Now i just need to find the right paint.

Well a lot has happened since I last posted here.

To start I autocrossed as much as possible.

After a couple autocrosses I decided that the old suspension had to go. I ordered a set of the V-Maxx coilovers from Flyin’ Miata. I installed them on a Thursday, got the car aligned Friday, and autocrossed that weekend.

I also built a low-buck STR legal intake out of stuff I had laying around (including a school bus bulkhead for the heat shroud). Total investment was around 10 bucks, and with the headlights up it has to be a decent supply of cool air. Eventually I’ll box in the area behind the filter, just every time I’m in the shop it slips my mind.

The car’s driver seat was getting fairly torn-up around the bolster from getting in and out of the car. One day after work I found a note under my wiper that simply said “call me, I have the seats you need xxx-xxxx.” It turned out that wasn't a trap and for $35 these became mine.

Please say the school bus rules sticker stayed when you installed the heat sheild.

Looks good, it has been too long since I've made it to a local autocross.

Why is there always a giant puddle at the end of the Farm Show lot?