2004 Mazda Speed Miata 1.8l turbo

2004 Mazda Miata rebuilt at Granbury Auto AC and More.

Longtime customer was looking for help to make his nice used Mazda Speed Miata (MSM) work better and go faster. The car had an active overheat issue that had been miss-diagnosed by the previous owner’s mechanic as a thermostat issue. After we looked the car over carefully it was evident that the issue was related to a bad fan, not the thermostat. From there, Rick assessed the car for performance upgrades and helped research the options available. As a part of this, we did a leak down test on all of the cylinders and were able to determine that even though the car ran well, it was in need of a valve job to be able to achieve the customer’s power goals reliably.

With a goal of roughly 225hp at the rear wheels we went to work. The head was removed, and sent to Automotive Machine and Supply where the machine work was performed. While this was being done, we worked with the customer to pick the performance parts needed to bring the stock motor up by about 60Hp. Most of the parts were sourced from Flyin’ Miata. Stay tuned for updates as the car comes back together.

For reference, here is the stock engine assembled, lots of plumbing on this Miata:

Here are a few pics of the work in progress, interior removed to allow the body to be modified for the roll bar mounting points. The carpet was carefully marked so that the customer could have it fit around the roll bar on re-assembly.

While the car was there for the head work the customer also asked Rick to install a roll bar for added safety.

Here are a few pictures of the car just before the re-assembly process begins. The new intercooler and other new performance parts had to be test fitted before re-assembly, great opportunity for a really deep cleaning!

Update, the car is back together and on the road! Rick improved on FM’s intake by leaving off the last piece of the intake that routed the air cleaner to the back of the engine compartment where it would in taking really hot air. Rick fabricated an aluminum separator that allows the air intake to pick up air at much closer to ambient temperature through the inner fender. Here is a pic of the air cleaner.

Rick’s attention to detail is evident everywhere you look, anything he touched is probably better than it came from the factory. Here are a few more pics of the completed car.

While Rick was sorting out the upgrades and completing the head work the customer had the seats redone and had the original Racing Hart Wheels refurbished.