As noted in our last post, it was great to host the triangle miata club at Automotive Performance & Chassis for a spec alignment and corner balance clinic featuring a track prepped Miata. I really enjoyed the day, and a high point for me was the opportunity to check out all the amazing work that the club members had done on their own cars! Something drew me to Mike Gordeev’s wicked Miata.
A quick look under the hood confirmed that this was no stock Miata! The turbo gave that away, yet it was all the details that drew me into a deeper discussion with Mike. He explained the long radiator hose that re-routed coolant to the rear of the cylinder head to ensure better cooling, and how this necessitated relocation of the coils. I noted that his strut bracing looked like a custom fabrication – it was. A Mike original. From there, Mike outlined more of his fabrication – the roll bar, the exhaust system, all the turbo plumbing, including the trick custom header.
And what was this? That looks like a Honda intake manifold? Sure enough, Mike used a Honda intake and fabricated a new flanges to bolt onto the Miata head, and to correctly clock the Miata throttle body. This brought us to the topic of his great looking TIG welds and where he got the flanges. I learned that he had machined them himself, and I began to realize the level of talent out there in the clubs!
Mike graciously tolerated all my questions and was good enough to oblige an interview and passed along a few additional photos…
Mark: Mike, what was your first self fabricated part on this Miata?
Mike: A rollbar. Sitting in the car realizing that if something were to happen, my head was the closest thing to a rollbar that the car had. That had to change. Coincidentally, I was just finished building a tube bender for a friend to use on his Jeep projects and I decided to break in the bender by using it to make my rollbar prior to handing the bender over to him.
Mark: Out of all the things you made, which pieces are you most proud of, and why?
Mike: I am most proud that I have been able to largely re-engineer many of the most essential power train systems such that they perform as good or better than what the Mazda engineers produced. I am proud when something I make is mistaken for a factory part.
ChathamCNC miata engine bay.
Mark : Clearly you have gone well beyond bolt-ons and have a real vision for this car. What are your goals for this car?
Mike: The goal for this car is simple: bang for the buck power. I think I’ll be happy with 300whp, which on paper should give it slightly better power-to-weight than a c6 ‘vette. I have a turbo that will get me there sitting on my bench. The Miata is generally regarded as a cheap, unassuming, and generally slow car. With the added power it’s definitely fun to surprise a Mustang driver or two.
ChathamCNC Miata
Mark: I’m very impressed with your welding – you seem to do exceptional work with aluminum, stainless and mild steel. What kind of equipment do you use? What do you find most challenging to weld?
Mike: All of my welding is done using an old Thermal Arc 300 GTSW; an early industrial grade inverter TIG welder. I am trained in MIG and TIG, but prefer TIG over MIG as it lets me really focus on the quality of the weld. Welding as a skill is 10% knowledge and 90% practice. Every metal welds uniquely and so the hardest challenge is welding a metal on, which I am relatively out of practice. Often I will have a long period of work focusing on one metal and once it’s time to get back into another metal it will take me a little time to readjust my technique and way of thinking. In terms of pure difficulty, once you get a feel for each metal, none are any more difficult than any other, just different.
Exhaust manifold TIG welds.
Mark: The fabricated intake is really great. I understand you milled out your own flanges for the mount to the head and to adapt the Miata throttle body to the Honda intake (and fix the clocking). What did you use to mill this?
Mike: All of my milling work is done on my CNC mill. The CNC allows me to make complex parts, the thought of which would have made my head spin when I was turning dials on a manual milling machine. This machine in itself was an early project I designed and built a few years back.
ChathamCNC machined intake port block-off plate with integrated throttle cable mount.
ChathamCNC machined control link for vintage remote control truck.
Mark: So you built your own custom CNC mill? Why not buy a used commercial CNC mill? Did you just want the extra challenge of building your own custom tools?
Mike: It all started out with seeing what was available and then saying, “I can make that.” I had a very well equipped machine shop at my disposal at the time so I went from an idea to a functioning mill within a few months. At the time I started building my mill, I didn’t have any real use for it. I was basically building it for the sake of building it. I was a manual machinist and had no experience in CNC. Luckily the things that make a manual machine good also apply to a CNC machine, so I designed the CNC with my manual machine experience in mind.
CNC milling machine construction
CNC milling machine initial assembly.
CNC Milling machine.
CNC milling machine cutting chips!
Mark: So what other kinds of custom machining work do you do? What kinds of projects do you most want to take on?
Mike: I also do manual lathe turning work. Having welding, milling, and turning capabilities allows me to handle 95% of the projects imaginable. I am a mechanical design engineer by day and I offer that experience to my machining clients if they request it.
I generally enjoy doing prototyping and custom work. Small production run and one-offs. I generally favor work which aligns with my personal interests, so custom automotive and motorcycle work is always welcome! Keeping machining enjoyable is very important to me. Custom work allows me to do this.
ChathamCNC fabricated single carb conversion manifold for a 1976 Kawasaki KZ400.
If you would like to learn more about Mike, visit his site at http://www.chathamcnc.com/