Last we met I was preparing for my first track day at Atlanta Motorsports Park in Dawsonville, GA.



A day or two before the event, I cleaned up the car and had it all prepped!

Although it was wet for the majority of the day it was an amazing experience. I learned a TON about driving and had an absolute BLAST!



Thanks to theothersawyer for the photo!

Unfortunately, I didn't remove my centercaps for the track day, and that was fine until the drive home. The heat generated by the front brakes distorted the plastic tabs that hold them in. I didn't even realize it was gone until I got home. Later the SAME night, I managed to hit some debris in the road and destroyed my brand new TDR Radical Splitter. Here are a couple shots to commemorate how amazing they were!







Luckily, TDR was nice enough to offer me a replacement at a reduced price as they were sympathetic to my sob story, haha. (this just recently transpired, so I haven't gotten the replacement splitter yet) However, for the Watanabe center caps, there was no hope. Rod at Garage Tetsuya informed me that Watanabe hadn't produced silver center caps in over 10 years. So, if I wanted to find some I'd have to get lucky again. At this point my love for the Wats started to want and my desire for something else grew. But, more on that later.

So, I decided that I wanted to ATTEMPT to get some direct air flow into my intake by making an air-box and using a vented headlight lid. Now, I don't know if it will work since air is a funky thing, but I'm going to give it a shot. So far I'd purchased a white carbon fiber lid from Carbon Miata.



Here, you can see the lack of splitter and centers as well.



My car spent quite a while in this mode, I ran out of inspiration for a while since I lost the Wat centers. I don't know what it was, but I just didn't like them as much. The car didn't have the same appeal. I know it sounds crazy to put that much weight into it, but it's true! I even posted it for sale for a short while until I realized what I was missing.

The car got a timing belt and water pump service at some point in here >>> but nothing new!





I began to worry about the health of my engine. I had a slight knock occasionally at startup and I couldn't diagnose it. I had some pretty seriously low oil pressure at hot idle (8-12psi at 900rpm), and I worried that I was cooking my oil. So, as a temporary solution, I stuck an adapter onto an oil-temp gauge and stuck it into my drain plug.



Oil temps were fine. Over the next few weeks though, I kept an eye on my engine and (upon a friend's suggestion) discovered some small metal flakes in my oil. Time for a new motor!

This BP4W still made good power and performed well, but it was a ticking time bomb at this point - and threatening the life of my turbo. It had about 195-205k miles on it, so I think it did its duty well!



Dirty.

I sold the Wats Some lucky gentleman in California is the new owner.



Before^



After^



Bye bye!!




My roomate very nicely color-matched my headlight lid for me (for free!). I broke my dremel, so the airbox is still incomplete.

Then - this nonsense.





Out with the old

...and in with the new.



35k BPZ3 block and BP4W Head. All OEM, just like I like em'. I know, I know, the 10:1 compression is not optimal for peak power in boost, but the throttle response is pretty epic. I expect to make 260 on a dynojet at 12psi, though. Plus, this was a good deal from a local forum member.

The engine is back in, and it's all buttoned up. I just haven't had any time for pictures. While the engine was out I properly tapped the pan to permanently install the Oil temp gauge. And I can continue to use my awesome magnetic drain plug from FM.

More pictures soon! Hopefully I won't neglect it again. :/ (I know I will. :banana: )