GrassHopper, The making of

[Grasshopper]

As I never seem to have enough spare time, I thought I would start this off with the first picture I ever took of the car. Also, would like to thank The owner before me for creating such a pretty car. Here is to hoping I can make a pretty car into a pretty fast car.


IMG_2272 by Jinxonator, on Flickr

I Bought it at the end of last summer with 175,XXXkms. Way past any budget I had, but how can you turn down a turbo miata?

And it was LOW

IMG_2283 by Jinxonator, on Flickr
Great for a Sunday drive, but not a daily driver

IMG_2339 by Jinxonator, on Flickr

The Koni-yellows and Eibach springs drove well, but it was time to match the car colour. So I picked up some Tein coilvers.

IMG_2445 by Jinxonator, on Flickr
Out with the old

IMG_2443 by Jinxonator, on Flickr
In with the new

IMG_2446 by Jinxonator, on Flickr

And finally I could get my passengers over speedbumps

IMG_2330 by Jinxonator, on Flickr

More onto one of the next things I had happen to me at 190,000
REAR WHEEL BEARING!


Untitled by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr


Untitled by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

What happens when you have a new wheel bearing? You need new wheels and tires to make it even faster on the track.


Untitled by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

[Grasshopper]

I will have to update the previous post to show what I have done in the past, however this is the most recent turn of events for my car. Note to self, do not let an older fuel pump run dry. The side of the highway is no place to work on a car, so I had to ask for assistance.


photo-5 by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr


Tow by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

[Grasshopper]

So I after scavenging the lower mainland for a fuel pump. Derek from Aria Auto was able to find the only Walbro pump available to Vancouver. When removing the old pump I realized my car had gone on some sort of vacation to the beach. People always say you get sand in odd places if you "canoodle" on the beach, but i never expected it to be in the gas tank.

Here are some pictures of the amount of sand my father and I had removed from my gas tank. Gloves, sponges, turkey basters, pumps, french fries and elbow grease were all consumed during the removal.


Sand by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr


Sand by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

And after cleaning it out:


Sand by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

And finally have the car up and running again with a Walbro 255 (more fuel flow and pressure than I will ever need)

[crazycanadian]

Wow with all that sand you are lucky it didnt do more damage. Contamination and water are the 2 things I used to see a lot of when working in white rock. It was always contributed to people filling up at cheap places down in the states.

[Grasshopper]

There is something in the works! We all know my head would stick up past the stock OEM miata seat. If I were to be rear ended by anything larger than a bicycle, I would be struck in the back of the head with a fairly rigid steel roll bar. So far, I have removed the seats entirely to solve this.


Excited for something new by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

[Grasshopper]

New seats installed! Now i dont need to worry about the back of my skull coming in contact with the rollbar. A little beyond my budget, but If it keeps me safe, its worth it. The seats are out of an older Lotus Elise and purchased from VCMC's very own Fab. (thanks again)


Untitled by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

Some of you may know, my glove box handle has been broken for a while. I have since picked up some new hardware from a Mazda at a pick and pull.


Untitled by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

You can see the old broken one on the right and the new beige one on the left. A quick UBCSCC sticker later, it was installed

Untitled by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

[Grasshopper]

Well, its that time again. Time for something to brake. Yes it is a pun, purely because the brakes broke

Here is a picture of my buddy helping me unsieze the passenger side caliper.

Untitled by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

So, I kindly asked Don if he could help find some rear calipers, to which he was very helpful. So I painted them black.

Untitled by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

A little concerning about the finish on this one, but they are RE MANUFACTURED calipers.

Untitled by TheGreenGrasshopper, on Flickr

Not sure what the rent cheque will do next month, but at least Ill still be able to stop.

[Grasshopper]

I havent Updated this in a while, but there have been a few recent additions to the car.

A few weeks ago I took a lonely road trip into Kelowna, which started at the crack of dawn in Vancouver. I drove up to Kelowna to meet a guy putting in a V8 into his BRG 1994 Miata and he was kind enough to let me drive the car first.
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
The car drove great so we parked it and figured it was early enough on a Saturday morning to pull the motor. So thats just what we did.
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
I then packed it into the back of the family Ranger and proceeded onwards on the lonely trip to Banff.
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
It may have snowed while I was there, but after a day of skiing Lake louise, it was time to return home. There are some beautiful mountains up there.
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
After that weekend, I had made it back to Vancouver and with my Fathers help unloaded the truck late one evening.
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr

[Grasshopper]

After the motor was back in Vancouver, it was time to clean it up and prep it for the car. The internals stay stock on this motor (I will hopefully build the motor that came out of my car. The new motor only had 139,000kms on it.) Thanks to a few people for moral support I slowly made my way cleaning the motor.
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
I may have needed a bit of a stronger clutch if it was to hold back a little more boost from the turbo
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
It looked so innocent. Little did it know I was going to rip it from its home and replace it with a younger model (only by a few months).
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
While I was in there i sandblasted and repainted my snail. My dad graciously let me bake it in the oven to make some fine french cuisine, however I will not be using mayo on the new motor.
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Ready to go in.
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Black magic and it is in the car. If only it was that simple in real life.
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
That is the way the car currently sits. A few other things must be done before the old motor is rebuilt. Mostly getting the car ready for such a powerplant (rustwork, LSD, Injectors, proper cooling, suspension work to make use of the power, fixing any electrical issues, and finally I need to earn $ to be able to afford everything) By the way, parts laying around ARE FOR SALE if you would like to support my endeavours.

[Grasshopper]

A big thank you to Derek for letting me drive his miata in the Canadian Autoslalom Nationals a few years back. Thanks to some ok driving and Toyo contingency in that event and Mazda contingency with UBCSCC in 2014 I was able to pickup four R888 235/50/15 tires. To prepare the car for this, I had to put some sway bars back in. I was currently running a stock sway bar in the front and no sway bar in the rear. I ended up with a Racing Beat 1/8" wall tubular bar in the front and the stock bar in the rear. Now I need to wait until I burn off my current RS-3's before the R888's get mounted.

Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr
Untitled by Ryan Richman, on Flickr