Gamble the Green Miata?
This seems like a logical conclusion when you friends that have ‘offroad’ vehicles like a Crown Vic or Volvo XC70 aren’t taking their whips to Gambler 500 OG this year. My little abused Miata has chased down supercars on Californian backgrounds, showed AWD cars how to drive fast in the rain and put down 1:55 laps at Laguna Seca. Next up is to see how she does in the dirt!
First action is to have a poorly thought out plan, which starts with a trip to Harbor Freight. The most important item when off roading is obviously your bright shiny LED lights, ground clearance or locking differential are minor details that don’t matter. While slightly sarcastic, it is also true that you’ll need lots of light to get home after someone (or you) break down in the middle of nowhere and thus must drive back to camp in the dark.
Next Step
Mount those fancy new lights you got for dirt cheap. Luckily I have scrap steel lying about the shop. Grabbed some welding rod and bend up a shape to hold the ditch lights. A bit of massaging with a hammer and voila a pair of brackets that almost look professional.
Should do the job and have enough clearance to clear the hood even when I inevitably have to open it for an oil top off.
Bit of paint from my collection of half full spray cans and its ready to #sendit.
Got Lift?
Yes I could have cobbled together some set of shocks and springs that might have lifted my Miata or could have built my own set of steel plates and hoped the holes lined up. However I cheated and honestly saved $$ by going with the basic setup from Paco Motorsports. They sell a super easy to install 3” lift kit. It even comes with new hardware and powdercoated parts for $250. I almost spend that much on my various lights from HF. Coupled with my abused coil overs I think I can get more than 3 inches. We shall see…
The obligatory measurement device must be something all Gambler’s would understand. No it isn’t metric nor SAE. BS (Beer Spec)
Less than 1 Modelo pre-lift
Post Paco we can clear 2 Modelo cans.
Noting my previous suspension setup for the street. Ya know so I can put it back to sane….
Need some off-road tires
Instead of taking the easy way out and scouring the web for a set of dirt worthy tires to fit my 15x6'“ wheels I decided to buy a tire grooving tool for $70 and make my own all terrains.
With a bit of work I’ll be ready for anything!
Marked up the tires with white to get an idea before the point of no return. Plan to keep the main bands of rubber that should help with highway driving as well as water. All other grooves are getting widened.
Not too shabby
This little section took around 20 minutes so I should get through all the tires in an afternoon provided my arms don’t get tired. Might need to refuel with a few beers during the process.
Adding Storage
As everyone knows, miata is always the answer.
However it could use a bit more storage so a rack was needed. The only place that might work is on my trunk….
From workbench sketch to reality we go!
