Cat ND Hat

No More Mr. Stock Miata

When we last left off, Mr. Milton’s 2020 ND2 Club Miata was bone stock as Mazda had probably intended. For the first few thousand miles that remained the case, but like any car in the hands of a couple of hooligans, that didn’t last long. Over the course of a year, several key mods were made to liven up “Mr. Miata” for a more entertaining driving experience. After nearly 20k additional miles, here is how we ruined…I mean enhanced Mazda’s famed roadster…

Bring the Noisemaker: Goodwin Racing Axle-Back Exhaust 

Right off the bat Milton and I agreed the stock ND exhaust was excessively quiet. Even with pretend noise pumped into the cabin, we felt it was not in the spirit of what makes a Miata…a Miata (aka RELIABLE British roadster). So off came the factory exhaust and in its place went a Goodwin Racing unit. 

Since Milton’s ND is a street car, we didn’t want to go too wild on the volume. This led us to the SuperStreet model, which is about as noisy as you’d want without being completely irritating. People will definitely hear you from a block away, but certainly gives the car the aggressive bark it craves. The real benefit however is the weight savings, as the stock muffler is still quite bulky–even for the “re-add lightness” mantra of the ND. Goodwin supplies a baffle insert to quiet it down a smidge, but I think that was tossed within the first 5 minutes. 

Marshmallows are for Campfires: Ohlins SakeBomb Long Stroke Coilovers & Eibach Sway Bars 

SakeBomb Garage is a local Bay Area shop that specialize in performance goodies for a variety of cars, and their Miata-specific arm, aptly named MiataSpeed, is no stranger to Mazda’s little roadster. So when it came time to upgrade the suspension, the chance to use custom Ohlins shocks designed specifically for the ND chassis, plus retain shock travel (which is often compromised when lowering many vehicles) seemed like the logical solution. 

Wanting to keep street manners civil, Milton went for the grand touring rates of 6kg front & 3kg rear (converted to cheeseburger units as 336 lb. front & 168 lb. rear). When paired with the Eibach sways and around 2 degrees of negative camber at all four corners, the ND is a lot more predictable and planted under cornering than the factory Bilstein setup. While we understand the factory suspension was set up to be “playful” at low speeds, the excessive body roll and ride height were never in the plans for Milton. Ride quality is firmer than stock, but certainly not harsh. If anything, we think the new suspension has brought back some of the raw feel that made us originally like driving the NA Miata.

Couch Shopping: OEM Recaro Seat Swap

Finding the Club model ND Miata was tough as is, which meant settling for a car with the base seats, wheels, and brakes. The wheels and brakes could be solved at a later date, but the seating situation needed to be solved ASAP as the base Miata seats were horribly uncomfortable in terms of lumbar support. There were two options to fix this: either find an aftermarket solution and deal with various airbag warning lights, or attempt to source a pair of the Mazda OE Recaro’s offered on the later Club BBS/Brembo equipped cars. 

After searching around Milton eventually found a local person who would part with their Recaro seats in exchange for cash plus stock seats. It was certainly expensive, but the seats were swapped into place in about 20 minutes. The comfort alone makes the Recaros worth the price, plus they retain the factory airbag sensors and Bose speakers so the car doesn’t throw any error codes. The bolstering is mildly more pronounced, but not overly aggressive like an aftermarket Recaro seat. Eagle eyes will notice the stitching color and piping does not match the rest of the interior, but beggars can’t be choosers.In anticipation of the rollbar, we added a lowering bracket from Paco Motorsports to gain additional helmet clearance (thanks to Red Hen Racing‘s suggestion). Install of the seat bracket was a little fiddly, but is completely reversible should the stock sliders need to be reinstalled.

More YOLO: Sparco FF-1 Wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport Tires

When Milton purchased the car, he commented on how much he didn’t like the 300tw Hankook tires that came installed on the car as they broke traction too often. I didn’t think much of it since I wasn’t the one constantly driving the car. Conveniently Tire Rack had a closeout sale on Michelin Pilot Sport tires in the Miata size so he scooped those up in anticipation of swapping out the tires.

As luck–or lack thereof–would have it, he lost traction one evening in a torrential rainstorm and curbed the factory wheels in the process. Fortunately he was ok and the car was simply knocked out of alignment, but the glossy black wheels weren’t so snazzy anymore. After searching for replacement factory wheels, we came to the conclusion that aftermarket wheels would be more economical given the prices people wanted for the stockers with so-so all season tires.

This led to another Tire Rack closeout sale on 17×7 Sparco FF-1 wheels. Marginally lighter, and slightly more aggressive offset meant the Sparco wheels still bolted right up to the Miata. As an added bonus, the gray color scheme adds some contrast to the otherwise all-black exterior.

Nearing the Finish Line…For Now

With most of the big ticket items checked off on the ND2, the car is nearly finished save for the roll bar install which will come in due time. As a street car however, the upgrades have enhanced the Miata without taking away its charm. 

So after 1.5 years and nearly 20k miles, what have we learned so far? Right off the bat the ND is our favorite Miata of the generations. Aside from passenger legroom and trunk cargo space, it’s been a trooper in terms of piling on the miles. Fuel efficiency has also remained consistently in the 30 mpg range despite having a lead foot. Outside of scheduled oil changes, the engine hasn’t really needed much in terms of maintenance. Milton did bump up the oil weight to 5w30 since that seems to be the suggested oil weight for hard driving versus the factory 0w20 fill. 

The next big hurdle will be getting the roll bar installed and some good brake pads for a track day outing. Only then will we really find out how well the Miata fares when pushed to the limit. With gas prices pushing $6 bucks a gallon, the Miata might be the only track car we can afford to run these days!