hornetball

iTrader: (4)

Since you're in there . . . question for you. Can the carpeting be pulled without pulling the dash?

Jeffbucc

Easily. Just remove the center console. The carpet on mine just slips under the center HVAC so no velcro.

I also cut the carpet in such a way that the door bar mounting point is under the carpet rather than bolted through the carpet. Just in case I ever want to remove the carpet and not have to remove the door bars.

hornetball

iTrader: (4)

Thanks. And agree with your mounting. You want those structural components in direct contact with the sheet metal.

Agp35

I spent so much time reading through this thread today. Jealousy is an understatement. 10/10

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

... what are you jealous of? his endless hours of work? skillful and creative restoration methods? ....... having his car stolen?

No jealousy here. Straight props.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

Blast. Double post.

Jeffbucc

He can be jealous that I have enough free time to do this amount of work in such a short period!

But don't be jealous of this build in general. It was more of a forced build thread than choice. I don't regret it, I've never had so much fun working on cars in my life. Yes, fun, oddly enough. Sometimes not so much when things won't piece together properly, or when I can't find that one. damn. picture. I need to put something together/understand how it goes together.(hence why I gave you guys that seat belt spacer picture).

I've had a couple people message me saying what a waste of a restoration on a Miata, you should be doing this to a Porsche so that when you sell it, you will get your money back....

I don't think those people understand why someone like me does this to a car. It isn't out of increasing the value of the car, it is only for my own personal gratification and enjoyment. I never plan to sell this car, I couldn't sell this car. When you put this amount of work and effort into something I could never imagine parting with it, let alone seeing someone else wrench on it/change what you did to it.

Besides, I'd rather learn how to work on a Miata before I decide to jump into the expensive world of Porsche. My brother just did a full Elephant racing bushing change on his old Porsche and the price of it nearly made me dry heave.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

But you're not really using free time. You're mostly just sacrificing sleep! Obviously it's not out of increasing value. It's epic OCD, as the tag says. I hope you do keep it forever.

Jeffbucc

True, but being 26 I might as well sacrifice sleep while I still can. As you well know as you get older it gets harder to do so. Saying that, being a baker for the past 7 years makes it so that I don't really notice sleep deprivation anymore. That in conjunction with my already terrible insomnia makes it seem worse than it really is.

I'm just trying to finish it fast. My employees are awesome, and can manage fine without me, but I think their patience with me not being in my store as much as I used to is wearing a little on the thin side!

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

Haha... as I well know? I've never been one who can function on little sleep.. and I'm only 27 :P

Can't wait to see this car at Miatas at MRLS. You registered, right??

Jeffbucc

I have not. Is there a cutoff for registration? I plan to, jsut haven't gotten around to it yet.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

:( All the track sessions sold out within 36 hours.

You get some sort of free gift if you register online before August 23rd.

There will be some attrition of the run groups, but if you want in I'd suggest emailing Keith to see if you can get on some sort of waiting list or something.

I want to see your car on the track during more than the parade laps.

Also, if you run in D group, I'll be on track at the same time. If you don't end up getting to register, you're welcome to ride in my car for a session.

Jeffbucc

Awesome I'll see what I can do. I'll try everything short of ********!

I too want to see my car on the track. I just hope with that many people on the track nothing goes down.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

The run groups aren't super crowded, I think there are only 20-25 at a time on the track which isn't bad. Just gotta leave people room.

/threadjack

in for track win

When's first start? You must be getting close...

Jeffbucc

Gonna start getting all the wiring hooked up and the engine components/hoses going this weekend. Then I need to fix all the wiring issues. So probably a couple weeks hopefully.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

Jeffbucc

Restoring the Momo wheel

The steering wheel had been bugging me for quite a while but since I didn't want to spend $300 on a new one, or $100+ to rewrap it, I decided to restore it.

I followed Revlimiter's little DIY that he did on his Prototipo steering wheel and it worked excellent. Time consuming, but excellent. (Momo Prototipo Restoration — revlimiter.net)

The only caveat is that the leather on newer steering wheels is not nearly as good as the older wheels. So you can only make it so nice.

Some before shots to show the wear and discoloration of the wheel





After 2 hours of rubbing the glaze and old top coat/dye off the leather with acetone. You basically want to do this till you feel the wheel is nice and soft and all the shiny old coating is removed.



the dye drying up. I divided the steering wheel up into three section when I did it. You want to apply it evenly to a section, then grab a clean rag, and quickly and lightly wipe off the excess to ensure even coverage. Do this for each section and touch up the spots that you missed. Apply another coat and do the same.





Top coat applied. This stuff was a pain in the butt. It would foam as you'd apply it, so you had to be very light. If I had to do it again I'd just soak a clean microfiber towel and apply it with that to ensure that there were no bubbles.



After some leather conditioner. It isn't fully cured. Takes about 20 minutes to cure before you can buff it off. I'm going to do several more coats of conditioner since I'm sure the leather is very dry after all that acetone.

Very happy with it though, any flaws can be fixed with another layer of top coat if I'm still not happy. Looks fairly close to brand new with a couple cracks here and there but nothing you wouldn't see in any older leather.

rleete

iTrader: (21)

Very nice. I need to do that to mine. Props for the link.

EO2K

iTrader: (37)

Gorgeous restoration on that wheel. I wonder if that process would work on my ratty stocker?

Jeffbucc

As long as it is real leather it should!

Here is the project for today, I just need to take a break for now. So many different revisions I've tried, and I won't bored you with the stupid ideas and attempts I made to see what works.

This is gauge placement V.9.

Buy a quilting cutting pad and ruler. It makes measuring all this stuff SO much easier. I believe it is the only reason I got it absolutely perfect.

I am so glad I held on to all my old ABS scraps from my door panels. It is the only reason I have been able to not put this project to the side.

Measured about 90 times and then I used a linoleum cutter to cut the holes. Every damn time I rush cutting holes with a hole saw/dremmel they never align properly. Pain in the butt to cut them by hand but a linoleum cutter is ultra sharp and they only cost $3 or so. I have a couple from redoing the linoleum floors in my bakery, super handy for making straight cuts in plastic and anything else that would melt using a dremmel.

Rough measurements



Cut to size. I have several vents left over from the CO car, so I popped the trim rings off of them and decided to use them as the rings for the gauges, rather than wait for someone to make me something custom. Also the nice thing about the trim rings is that they have clips built into them so the clip into the ABS plastic, I was so happy with that when I found out the locked into place!

The other panel is the backing plate.



And it goes without saying what I am headed towards here. The backing plate is going to make the flush mount sturdy, and give the gauge bodies a more secure mounting without having to make brackets.

After the mounting plate is on, I'm going to cover the front panel with more UltraSuede that I used on the door panels. After doing some measurements, with the suede on the front panel it is going to be pretty close to perfectly flush with the front of the tombstone.

Should turn out nice when all done. I need to go to a window place and have them cut a 2" circle of glass for the boost gauge. I some how broke the glass when I removed the trim ring.



Anyways, what do you guys think before I go to far with this? I think it is going to look really clean while still being visible.