Miatafications: project updates 

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion) 01/14/2018 at 16:18 • Filed to: None

3

16

Gave up my heater and in return gained two tweeters, and two full-sweep gauges. An acceptable tradeoff. Here are a few things I’m considering below

At least.... It will be an acceptable tradeoff. Stereo system still has about 40% of the work left before I can play some tunes, but I I need some kind of heat-resistant material to stuff behind the tweeters, some speaker wire to extend the drivers side speaker and tweeter to the amp, and a soldering iron to get everything connected properly (crimped connectors). Oh and I still have to figure out how to attach the damn head unit to the Miata tombstone in a way that looks halfway decent. Might be time to buy a dremal tool.

I’m waiting on an oil filter sandwich plate for the oil pressure sender. I do have a drain plug that will take the sensor... But it hangs pretty low so I think it’s better to wait. The coolant temp sensor I’m not 100% sure where to put yet. I did buy this hose splice thingymajig.... But part of mewants to avoid messing with the cooling system until I get a new beefy track radiator, do a coolant reroute, replace all hoses and swap in an aluminum overflow tank. To be determined.

Speaking of which, the cooling system overhaul will be the next major project, assuming no engine failure. Here’s what I’m looking at...

Coolant reroute kit. STOCK Miatas will overheat on track due to the terrible cooling design, so this is a must. Get everything flowing properly. There are about five well-tested coolant reroute kits available, and the supermiata one sounds like the superior product.

Along with that, a beefier radiator. My Amazon-special koyorad radiator is getting pretty beat anyways, and was literally the cheapest radiator I could find to get the car running when I first bought it. There are two good options for a heavy-duty radiator in high-power applications. The supermiata, and Track Speed Engineering‘s radiator. I’m undecided. The Supermiata radiator is fantastic, lightweight, and has tons of data backing it up as an efficient flowing design. The TSE is a duel core triple pass radiator built for very high boost settings, and is both heavier, and much more expensive. Either one would probably serve me well. TSE is where my turbo kit came from, and supermiata is where I try to get most of my other parts if possible so I have no problem doing business with either.

Who knows. Still a few months out. Fender tuck needs to happen soonish, hardtop would be nice... But really I’m just preparing for extra power at this point. Good place to be

pjhusa > AestheticsInMotion 01/14/2018 at 16:35

2

I like how well the gauges are integrated... but I wouldn’t sacrifice my A/C for them :p

AestheticsInMotion > pjhusa 01/14/2018 at 16:41

1

Pretty lucky break on the gauges. They’ll look even better once they’re pressed in all the way. And fortunately for me, this car came from the factory without AC!

Maybe someday I’ll look into ventilated seats... That would be heavenly

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > AestheticsInMotion 01/14/2018 at 16:59

6

Gave up my heater and in return gained two tweeters

Even in the PNW

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 01/14/2018 at 17:17

0

Might have done the gauges, but tweeters? In a Miata? No.

AestheticsInMotion > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 01/14/2018 at 17:24

0

Lol okay okaaaay. In my defense the cabin is so small that defrost (which still works) will keep the interior nice and toasty. And if the top is down.... The heater was useless anyways

AestheticsInMotion > RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire 01/14/2018 at 17:25

0

But my hifi system, yo!

Component speakers, the hi’s had to go somewhere and they fit sooooo well in the eyeball vents. Looks OEM with almost zero work, and totally reversible

Scary__goongala! > AestheticsInMotion 01/14/2018 at 17:27

0

Fender tuck?

AestheticsInMotion > Scary__goongala! 01/14/2018 at 17:29

1

With my winter tires there’s rubbing unless I set the suspension to full stiff, which isn’t ideal. A Tuck/roll would eliminate that. Even with summer tires, when I lower the ride height I can’t soften up the suspension too much without worrying about wheel clearance. Once I take care of the fenders.... I’ll FINALLY be able to use the Xida’s to their fullest

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > AestheticsInMotion 01/14/2018 at 17:32

0

The tweeters won’t fit in the doors?

I have a convertible too and when the top is down and it’s cold out 1) I need heat from the vents and 2) all the wind noise drowns out the stereo anyway.

AestheticsInMotion > RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire 01/14/2018 at 17:37

0

Haha I think working outdoors has heightened my tolerance for cold weather.

The tweeters would, but it wouldn’t be an ideal location for a good Soundstage (I know, it’s a convertible so the Soundstage is crap regardless but... ) plus I’ve got stainless steel door cards that I’d rather not cut up. I’m hoping that the component speakers, footwell sub, and a strong amp bump up the sound quality and volume significantly. We’ll see! Honestly I’m just really enjoying putting the system together, this is my first foray into car audio

TheRealBicycleBuck > AestheticsInMotion 01/14/2018 at 19:10

0

Wait. I thought you deleted the heater core. What exactly did you remove to get rid of your heater but keep the defroster? As far as I know, they both use the same heater core.

I’m confused.

Scary__goongala! > AestheticsInMotion 01/14/2018 at 19:13

0

Oh gotcha, wasn’t sure if you meant fender rolling or something I haven’t heard of. With my summer wheels/tires and FM suspension I have a little rubbing if I’m turning and hit a decent bump.

AestheticsInMotion > TheRealBicycleBuck 01/14/2018 at 19:29

0

The heater still functions. I just removed the eyeball vents. Heater core is the same for defrost and heat, but the piping to the vents is different, so when I use defrost there shouldn’t be too much heat hitting the gauges or tweeters. But I’d still like to get something heat-resistant behind them as an added precaution.

TheRealBicycleBuck > AestheticsInMotion 01/14/2018 at 20:11

0

Ah, ok. My cousin had a mid-’80s mustang GT convertible. The previous owner had bypassed the heater core for some reason. That thing was cold in the winter and without a heater core, the windows would fog up unless the windows were rolled down a bit. He felt it was more important t o spend money on a s tereo than get the heater fixed. I thought you were heading down the same path.

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > AestheticsInMotion 01/14/2018 at 21:40

0

It’s been ridiculously cold here for thos early in the winter. Weve seen negative Fahrenheit temps already. I’ll keep the heater vents....

Clean install though.

pjhusa > AestheticsInMotion 01/15/2018 at 10:46

0

Ah... in that case, the loss isn’t so bad. Losing a heater here in the Northeast would suck, but heated seat conversions aren’t that expensive. Plus, on hot days, you get natural A/C because Miata. I guess it’s a win-win.