99 Miata Track Build

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Category: Projects
Published on Monday, 09 January 2012 18:06
Written by Jeff Lyon
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  • Not like I had enough going on but there is always room for one more (not really :-]) we added the '99 Miata of Shawn Reilly CEO of Zoom Zoom Track Days.

This is Shawn's 10th Anniversary Edition '99 Miata 6-speed with 78k miles.  The current mods list:

  • Spec Miata Suspension with somewhat softer springs (since this car will see minimal street duty)
  • Evil Genius Racing Roll Bar
  • New Rotors and Raybestos ST-43 pads on all 4 corners
  • New braided steel brake lines
  • Corner balance and 4 wheel alignment
  • New fluids
  • Track rubber
  • ???  I am sure there is more, there is always more!

Just finished up installing the Evil Genius Racing Roll Bar.  Check out the How-To Install EGR Bolt-In Roll Bar for installation details.

I talked to Jay Morris, owner of Ground Control, and they have some brand new part that should be coming in soon.  Hopefully we can get them soon enough to put them on Shawn's car.

Well we got the suspension from Ground Control.  We went with Koni single adjustable sport shocks and some moderatly stiff springs.  The front spings are barrel wound so they actually have a slight variable rate to them which will improve comfort on the street... a bit.

There are a few steps that just make doing this job easier, rather than fighting them I just go ahead and do them and will point them out here. 

First, when unbolting the top of the 4 shocks they are all easy to get to except for the left rear do to the gas tank filler tube.  You can try and work around this but it is easier to just remove the tube to gain easy access to the top of the shock. 

Here is a pic and as you can see there just isn't much room to work with.

After removing some hose clamps, one 10mm bolt in the trunk and then 4 - 8mm bolts at the fuel filler to remove the metal neck. (Note: when referring to the bolt size I am referring to the head size not the shank size.)  Here is the filler removed.

Now that it has been removed you have a much easier time getting to the top of the shock.

Another tip is to loosen the adjuster bolts on the lower control arms.  These can be marked but most likely it won't matter since the car will have to be realigned after installing new suspension.  Also disconnect the sway bar, this will allow the lower control arm to swing down so you can easily remove the shock assembly.

The fronts are a bit more difficult since they go through the upper control are.  Again loosen the lower control arm, disconnect the swaybar links, unbolt the bottom of the shock and then unbolt the lower ball joint.  This may seem like a pain but it is much less work than wrestling with the shock assembly.  After unbolting the shock, slide it back toward the engine about an inch and there is a bolt going straight down through the lower control arm into the lower ball joint.  Remove that bolt and then the outer bolt and slide the lower ball joint out of the lower control arm.  This will allow the lower control arm to swing down.  In this picture you can see a socket on the bolt beneath the shock.

Now that all of the shocks are out it is time to assemble the new pieces.  These units from Ground Control came with the height adjusters, bump stops, springs, shocks and upper rubber perches.  I had to use the hats and the rubber bushings from the original shocks.

In addition to the new suspension we added a set of Goodridge braided steel brake lines, new rotors and Raybestos ST-43 Brake Pads all the way around.  Oh yea, we also flushed all the old brake fluid out and filled it back up with Ate Super Blue.


The Eibach sway bars for a '99 spec a 26mm front bar but that is a bit too stiff for this setup so I swapped it out for a 24mm bar so I am waiting on the bushings to install the sway bar and adjustable swaybar links.  Then we will be ready to align and corner balance this baby!