Midnight on Cooper Road felt detached from the rest of Columbus, like the city had fallen asleep and left the asphalt alone. Street lights flew overhead in rhythmic bursts, washing the hood in amber before disappearing into darkness again. The car settled into each corner with that perfect weighted confidence, tires whispering against the pavement as the next bend quickly arrived. Reflections smear across the windshield, the engine humming steadily beneath it all, and for a few fleeting minutes the world narrowed down to the glow of gauges, the sweep of the road ahead, and the feeling that nothing beyond the yellow and white lines really matter.
Early on, this car captured everything I love about driving. A connection to the asphalt through the machine as its engine hums and beats like the heart of a living thing. It did not take me long at all to find that I loved this car and wanted to do more with it. For the first year of ownership I made no modifications. I only pursued the standard maintenance while letting the car tell me through feeling, what I should change in the future. The more I drove the car, the more it spoke to me.
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| Fully stock |
History of the MX-5
The original Mazda MX-5 Miata was born from a simple idea that had nearly disappeared from the automotive world by the late 1980s; a lightweight sports car built purely for the joy of driving. Much of that vision is credited to Bob Hall, who pushed Mazda toward creating a modern interpretation of the classic British roadster after years of the segment fading into obscurity. Inspired heavily by cars like the Lotus Elan, the engineers pursued balance and connection over raw power or luxury, obsessing over lightweight design, responsive steering, and mechanical honesty. Every aspect of the car was built around communication between machine and driver rather than outright performance numbers. The result was a car that never aimed to dominate spec sheets, but instead made ordinary roads feel alive in a way few modern cars still can.
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| Lotus Elan |
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| Miata design team including a younger Bob Hall |
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| Bob Hall and his NA |
What car should I build?
I wanted to build a fast Miata for a while but everything about it made even more sense once I got behind the wheel of one. I purposely set out seeking the NB2 model because that generation is the most performant iteration of the original Miata before it was completely redesigned for the NC generation. All NB2's come with things like Variable Valve Timing (VVT) and reinforced chassis for stiffness, as well as other creature comforts in the cabin.
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| Test driving a completely different candidate |
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| My first time behind the wheel of an NB2 |
A low-mileage NB2 in perfect condition came into my possession, completely untouched by the previous owner, though it was only a base trim car. A great platform for sure but from the factory there were even higher performing versions like the LS trim or the Shinsen trim. I was only getting started in the world of modifying cars outside of the thumbpad and joystick. Anyone can upgrade a car in a videogame, but when you start doing it in real life there is so much more to consider than the straight-line hallway of upgrades which take you from stock to the extreme presented to you in a game. In real life every change comes with its own compromise. It is a balancing act between what the original designers got so right which caused you to fall in love with the car in the first place, and where you want to take the car. Early on the easiest way for me to walk this line was to go for an OEM+ type of build. This is where you use as many original parts from the manufacturer as possible or use high quality aftermarket parts which fit the original design concept for the car.
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| First time doing "the thing", other Miata owners know |
Stage 1 - Learning and Improving
For starters I did some basic, easy-win, upgrades.
- Stiffer door bushings help keep the car solid when going around corners. This is something convertible cars need to consider because the frame of a convertible car is basically 2 dimensional, where regular cars are 3 dimensional frames.
- My buddy Nate did an amazing job wrapping the front bumper in vinyl he custom matched to the paint. This helps keep the front of the car looking good because paint chips on some of the fun roads would otherwise build up from stones and large bugs.
- CoverKing provided some really nice seat covers to keep the OEM seats protected and style up the interior a bit.
- I got some stylish floor mats from MossMiata too.
This next upgrade kinda spits in the face of OEM+ and I later removed it. Although, most JDM enthusiasts typically grab the same thing for their first upgrade. This is a K&N Typhoon "cold" air intake. In Ohio, at lower altitudes and in denser air, this intake did a good job at moving power to the higher end of the rev range. Later when I moved to Reno NV, it just doesn't work properly at the elevation of the High Sierra's. At these higher altitudes it makes the motor a bit boggy at any rpm lower than 5k.
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| Installed and naked |
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| Aluminum space suite also |
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| OEM vs K&N |
"Car need stop fast more than need go fast" - Luck Lucid 2026.
The golden age of Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond taught me brakes are one of the most important upgrades you can do to any car. I went with these Brembo brake pads and I love them. They stop the car really well without fade and the best part; they don't create an excessive amount of brake dust.
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| Brembo branded noise gel |
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| pads after a bit of use |
One thing the LS trim Miata came with, which mine lacked, was a limited slip differential (LSD). My base model instead used an open differential, the most common and cost-effective design. A differential allows the driven wheels to rotate at different speeds while cornering, since the outside wheel travels farther than the inside wheel through a turn. For enthusiastic driving though, an LSD is far more desirable because it limits the amount of slip between the rear wheels and helps the car put power down more consistently. Depending on trim and year, Miatas came with open diffs, clutch-type LSDs, or Torsen units.
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| The classic differential demonstration |
Alex Todd over at Scratch and Sniff (SNS Mazda Parts) sent me a Torsen LSD, and with the help of Igor and a couple of his buddies, we managed to get it into the car on a random Tuesday after work at a shop belonging to one of his friends. This upgrade made the car so much more predictable and enjoyable coming out of tight corners.
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| Inspecting |
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| playing |
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| Igor and friend |
A few other upgrades I did later on in Stage 1 which basically speak for themselves...
- Speakers, head unit, crossfader
- Restored headlight finish
- Shifter and E-Brake boots
- Ohio Ricky reconditioned the steering wheel
- UV Tint (not pictured)
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| installing speakers |
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| restoring headlights |
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| shifter boot |
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| Reconditioned |
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| driving me nuts |
One of the stylish elements of all Miatas, which was inherited from the Lotus Elan, is the bottom feeder radiator opening on the front bumper. Looks great, but because there is no grill there stones can easily jump up and puncture your radiator. MossMiata sells a great solution for this. This is when my Miata lost its baby teeth.
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| Baby teeth |
Ask anyone, wheels and tires are one of the most significant upgrades you can do to any car. It was time for me to get into that action. Stock Miata wheels already are pretty light from the factory, so there is only a small handful of wheels which weigh less than the original ones. At the time I wanted to do something different from what everyone does, everyone goes with Enkei RPF1's or 949 Racing's 6UL (3rd gen at the time). I landed on these beautiful Konig Lightning's and paired them up with the tires best know for high performance in both wet and dry conditions (at the time), the Continental Extreme Contact Sport.
Did I mention stopping is important? Yeah so my buddies Alec and Gabe both talked me into upgrading my brakes further. High quality rotors and steel braided lines, both supplied by Dan at Tarmac88, helped to reduce fade. At the same time we noticed the stock radiator, which was made out of plastic, was turning brown and green so we replaced that with a high performance aluminum CSF radiator and an air cowl from BeatRush to help reduce wasted air.
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| Fresh rotor |
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| bleeding the brakes |
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| CSF radiator |
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| Radiator and Cowl |
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| Installed |
That was a heavy stretch of performance upgrades and so it was time to focus on cosmetics inside and out. SpecD headlights and Rev9 aluminum machined trim rings for the hvac components.
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| Fresh out of the box |
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| Out with the old |
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| In with the new |
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| Halo projectors |
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| Machined aluminum trim rings |
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| The whole dash |
Every Miata owner eventually wants more power. More air going into the motor gives the opportunity for more power. Compared to US models, Japanese-market Miatas came with an intake manifold design that flowed air more efficiently at higher RPM. We call this manifold the “Flat Top” or “Square Top.” I sourced one from SNS Mazda Parts and began replacing the factory VTCS manifold. The tricky part is that the stock ECU expects the VTCS system to remain functional, so simply removing it would trigger a check engine light. After digging through engineering documents and mapping out the factory vacuum system, I found a workaround that allowed the ECU to see the expected VTCS signals while eliminating the restrictive hardware entirely. By rerouting vacuum from the Purge Solenoid Valve through the VTCS Solenoid Valve and into the VTCS Vacuum Switch, the ECU continues to receive the readings it expects from the system. The end result was a noticeable improvement in airflow, a stronger pull at higher RPM, and an intake sound that completely changed the character of the engine. On the first rip after this I drifted an industrial col-de-sac with Nate chasing me in my 7th Gen Toyota Celica, pure fun.
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| Came dirty, and with goodies |
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| Disassembly |
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| Cleaning chems |
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| Scrubba dubba |
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| Cleaned up really nicely |
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| Color coded the stock diagram |
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| Color coded the stock configuration |
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| Successfully installed |
Stage 2 - The Nevada effect
Columbus was where the car and I first learned each other, but Northern Nevada changed the direction of the build entirely. The canyons and touges, elevation changes, and mountain roads outside Reno demanded something different from the car than the tight industrial corners and humid summer nights back in Ohio ever did. What began as a careful OEM+ refinement slowly gave way to a stronger focus on performance and capability. With my mechanical and driving skills reaching a new level it was time for the car to reach a new level as well. It's no longer about just preserving the character Mazda created, but pushing it much further without losing the feeling that makes the car what it was in the first place.
Car manufacturers love reusing proven engine designs across multiple models, and the Miata’s B-series motor is no exception. Originally designed for transverse applications where the engine sits sideways, Mazda instead mounted it longitudinally in the Miata for better weight distribution and driving dynamics. The downside is that coolant flow through the head is less balanced in this orientation, creating hot spots that become especially noticeable in Nevada’s dry heat. To address this, I installed a coolant reroute kit from 949 Racing, which improves coolant flow through the motor while also adding provisions for future upgrades like forced induction. Beyond solving the cooling issue, it also looks great.
From there, attention turned to the exhaust system. It’s one of the easiest areas to get wrong and I'd been tinkering with different ideas for a long time — endless combinations of mufflers, midpipes, and headers, all with tradeoffs between sound, power, and drivability. The ideal setup adds performance without introducing drone or harshness. After hearing Gabe’s Roadster Sport 4 system on his NB1, the choice became pretty clear. I ordered the same setup from GoodWinRacing, and with help from Nevada Ricky and Trevin, it went in without much trouble.
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| Headers |
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| Midpipe |
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| Muffler |
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| NV Ricky's garage |
After that a series changes quickly went into the car without any pictures:
- A lightweight flywheel and ACT clutch installed by Low Boost Performance
- Sequential LED taillights from Top Miata
- NA style sun visors gifted to me by Nate
- Roof latches from Flyin' Miata
The tires I purchased for Stage 1 were amazing, but I wore them out. At that same time 949 Racing released their 5th generation 6UL wheels, which are now the lightest wheels on the market which fit the Miata. Needless to say, I had to pick these new wheels up. Continental also released an even better version of the previous tire, the Extreme Contact Sport 02. It was like everything aligned perfectly at the same time and they were meant for each other on this car.
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| Best unboxing ever |
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| Matching lugs and stems |
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| Closeup |
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| 949 Racing 5th gen 6UL |
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| Continental ECS 02 |
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| So shiny |
After upgrading the wheels and tires I quickly realized the suspension was in dire need of upgrading to handle the forces at play now. When the car would try to settle coming out of a corner, the body roll could throw you in the opposite direction if you accelerate two quickly on exit. To tighten everything up I installed a Racing Beat front Sway Bar, 949 Racing Tecna Sport coilovers, and 949 Racing adjustable end links.
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| Branded packaging wow |
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| Looks expensive |
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| preload before tightening |
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| brisk spring morning |
Going back to the stock intake I mentioned earlier, wasn't part of the plan and I needed to do a different modification to feed that Flat Top intake manifold. Thankfully Flyin' Miata's Randall Style intake came back in stock and I jumped on the opportunity. This intake pulls cooler air into the stock box from a high pressure zone of the car. More air, and cooler air = MORE POWER BABY!
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| Mr. Pumphry and his famous catch phrase |
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| Cutting the firewall |
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| Engine side |
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| Cool side |
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| Randal to stock box |
I found that going up steep grades (especially Mount Rose Highway) at an enthusiastic pace for longer periods of time create a lot of heat. The coolant reroute does a good job but I needed to move more air through the radiator. Flyin' Miata has the answer to this with these awesome hood vents. Derek (the same Derek mentioned in my KoTH post) helped with the install.
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| Removed the hood |
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| Masked off the area |
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| careful planning |
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| Hours of cutting later |
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| rivetted in place |
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| Re-assembled |
The final piece to finish Stage 2 is very simple. Regular drivers have a tendency to not notice small cars, so its important to be able to make a loud noise if you need too. So I installed a second horn, this one has a high-power compressor as if to shout "HEY I'M DOWN HERE!"
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| wiring diagram |
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| dedicated relay |
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| dedicated button |
Stage 3 - Planning the Future
I don't want to give away too much of what I have planned for stage three, and why these things specifically, but here's a brief shopping list:
- Roll bar
- Engine Internals
- Standalone ECU
- Bodywork
Stick around if you want to see where this leads me.
The Shape of It Now
By the time the road unwinds back out into the open desert, the smell of hot rubber and sagebrush hangs in the air behind the car while heat shimmers upward from the canyon floor. What started years ago as a mostly stock Miata built around careful OEM+ refinement has slowly transformed into something far sharper and more capable, shaped as much by Nevada’s mountain roads as by the garage floors and late nights that built it. Every modification now feels connected to a purpose. The cooling system holds steady in the summer heat, the suspension stays composed through fast sweepers, and the car responds with a level of confidence that simply did not exist when this journey began. Somewhere along the way the build stopped being about chasing upgrades and became about creating a machine that feels perfectly alive on roads like these.
