I took a drill with a wire wheel to mine, and it came out surprisingly good. No cleaners or anything, just wirewheeled the crap out of it.

Where did you buy the stock undertray? And how much was it?

My car is missing it, and I should probably get one...

Use a soft wire wheel on the alternator that thing is quite easy to clean

Get undertrays from Mazda. About $60.

Hai hai, but which vendor? Or should I just go to my (semi) local mazda dealer?

Depends if the vendor is cheaper after shipping... That's a question only you can answer.

Rosenthal/Arlington/Finish Line or Mazda Motorsports are typically cheapest for me.

True, but it is quite soft. It's possible to scratch the hell out of it, hence the suggestion for chemical cleaners.

Harbor Freight sells brass wire brushes that look like oversize toothbrushes. Usually available two for a buck. I stock up on them whenever I go there, and toss them when the bristles start to get bent over. Perfect for cleaning up delicate car parts.

You could take your alternator apart and clean it ;) (even repack the bearings while you're at it)
Alignment marks are your friend...
This is from my mazda truck, but it should be close.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389204009

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389204009

Lebeouf that is baller. I'm not sure if I want to approach that.

Sending the intake manifold to get powder coated today. Should I do it wrinkle black to match the valve cover or a smooth solid black?

Also sending the dash frame and the door sill plates(wasn't happy about the vht finish on it.)

Also the rear main subframe, I'm really happy with how the front turned out.

Door sill plates will be wrinkle black for a little bit of a stronger finish.

You could send your alternator as well...

Would that mess with timing at all if i removed it?

whut?

My brain was thinking of something else

Never mind figured it out.

So I sent out
Both intake manifold pieces
Alternator housing with brackets/pulley
Rear subframe
Gas tank/fuel filter covers
Hard top brackets
Door sill plates
Dashboard frame

Can you tell I'm sick of sanding? Thank goodness this guy give me 50% off and doesn't charge me for blasting.

Your attention to detail is incredible! Favorite miata on this forum now :)

Intake same color as valve cover.

Took off the old frame rails and laid down a a coat of rubberized under spray. I wasn't happy with the truck bed liner in terms of noise and chipping resistance, so I decided to protect it with a coat of rubberized under spray to dampen noise and help things bounce rather than chip.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389245272

Internals of alternator

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389245272

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389245272

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389245272

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389245272

Gonna let the rubberized undercoating cure before I put the FM Rails on. Then once that is done I'll do all the sound deadening.

I knew from the moment I saw that other overachiever's disassembled alternator that pictures of your alternator, disassembled, were sure to follow.

And rubber undercoating? Saweet.

Yeah excited about the undercoating. I'm not sure why I thought truck bed liner was the better choice. Oh well, no one is perfect especially not me.

Yeah I blame a lot of you guys for projects going further than originally intended!

was it difficult to disassemble, or did you just have to undo the long bolts and slide it apart?

never played with alternators.

Hey man, I just told you to spray it. ;)

BTW, resist the urge to clean the shaft where the brush rides (copper section below the bearing). Sure, wipe it down (alcohol or acetone), but don't try to sand or wire brush it, as this will mean the brush has to re-seat, accelerating wear.

Those frame rails are a tight fit, and will likely scrape some of your freshly applied undercoating as you press them flush.

While the frame rails are off, make sure the drain holes in the car's rails are open.

One thing I did not like about the FM rails is that the mounting studs for the fuel/brake line clips are on the bottom. I've had off-track excursions where the frame rails got scraped. In fact, the main reason I put frame rails on my car was to act as a skid plate. I'm working on a safer track solution for the line clips. I'll let you know what I come up with. (In other words, I'm fully expecting you to race ahead of me and solve this problem for me :D).

Remind me on the door card material you used . . . ABS?

Nice one on the alternator! Glad I could inspire.

It really isn't that bad. Just don't be a fool like me and assemble the case backwards. Then after that don't forget to remove the brush holder pin before you re-install...

Undo the long bolts, then hit the philips screw heads with some penetrating spray(liquid wrench) and find a screwdriver that fits PERFECTLY. Then put it on the floor and with all your weight on top of the screw slowly loosen them, hell it may even help to tap the screw heads with a hammer a couple times. Mine were very seized and I stripped one head puling them out. Luckily I had a dremmel and recut the philips pattern and used a big-ass screwdriver to remove it.

Then after that is removed you'll think to try to pull the casing apart but first take out the middle assembly to reveal 4 more screws. Remove those and then you can separate the bottom of the housing from the alternator assembly.

Very easy, just need to be delicate

That you did! I'll blame my young age and less experience on that one!:rofl:

Thanks for the info rleete! Props!

I did it right this time and massaged, I.E hit with a big hammer, the rails so that they would go on really easily so that when I sprayed the undercoating it wouldn't cheese grate the protection off it.

I'm thinking of drilling a hole in the side of the rail and using my tap and die to match the bolt threads and relocate it to the factory mount locations. Or a simpler way would be to buy electrician stainless steel zip ties and zip tie it higher.

The door cards were abs plastic. Speaking of which I'm not too happy with the door pulls. They work yes but by protecting the exposed metal of the door from rattling via the door latch rod it binds a bit and doesn't give it a solid feel, I think I might just go back to the regular door handles. Especially since Revlimiter sent me his Leather door pulls for free in my order!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389292731

Yeah I'm going to approach this one slowly. Is it worth buying electrical contact cleaner over say brake cleaner to clean it up a little?

Also here are some color options I'm considering for the intake manifold.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389293767

I'm going for the far right, easier to clean since it is a smooth texture plus it matches the VHT wrinkle finish better.

Agree. A glossy finish is always more resistant to dirt/easier to clean.

A vote for the far right here. Moving right along, this has been a fun thread to follow!

do it in an aluminum color imo.

black im's I have personally never liked.

I agree, aluminum is good looking.

Personally agree with alum, i'd just brush the alum and call it a day though. That way, no matter how many times I pull and replace the engine (read: too many damn times), i cant scratch it and mess up the finish (LOL).

+1 on brushing the manifold. It lets the black valve cover stand out more and no chips.

Well the problem is, it is currently being sandblasted at the powdercoaters. Should I just have them do a clear coat of some sort?(not sure if you can do that with powdercoating) or maybe even an "aluminum" color.

TorqueZombie is a badass, sent this to me for free since he knows me to well and didn't want me to have a cracked diff spacer. Major thanks.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389340822

And as we all know you - that thing is going to be sandblasted, 24k goldplated and polished... ;-)))))

what I was suggesting was to p/c it in an aluminum color.

Come on Jeff. Ball hard.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389373678

http://www.speedhunters.com/wp-conte.../8_cshi_64.jpg

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389374409
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https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389374409

That is insanity

Like you aren't?

:laugh:

As for the IM, I actually did what they're suggesting: sandblasted it then clear coated it in VHT satin clear. Check my thread for visual, I think it came out pretty nice, and looks "natural".

I too don't think an IM looks all that great in black.

Oh I am, but in the words of spinal tap, "that one goes to 11!".

You guys didn't have me convinced on a natural look until I started looking at painted manifolds. It looks, as you said, just wrong. Not bad mind you, just doesn't look good. Called the powder coater and he recommended an actual aluminum Powdercoating color that comes off pretty exact, after researching issues with just clear coating I think I'll go with that.

Sweetness! Just sold my 18" wheels/tires for $1100 off my Jetta, now I can start looking for a hard top. I want to get the one in Sacramento but I honestly for the life of me can't think of when I'd get a chance to make a 20 hour round trip drive to grab it. Unless Vlad, you want to ship it via Greyhound for me!:giggle:

How 'bout in September? Tee hee... I know it's a long wait though.

I literally laughed out loud at the llama or whatever that thing was. awesome.

This is how you ship wheels and tires without damage and how I wish, when I bought used wheels, they would ship them to me.

Wrap wheels/tires in saran wrap then use packing foam on the rear lip and front face. Then use 2 pieces of cardboard on each side cut out to the size of the tire and tape it down several times. Then plastic wrap to your heart content and apply tape to all the seams/corners. Never once had an issue with damage.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389421503

Wheel/tire wrapping the Jeff way!

What's the story on those? Did you get new wheels?

I'm thinking of coining a new term . . . "Jeffo." As in "Ghetto" as off-the-scale bad quality, "Jeffo" as off-the-scale good quality, with a large continuum between. I'd like to think I usually fall in the "Jeffo" half, but I'm not sure. LOL.

:crx:

As long as we change the Jeffo part! That was a nickname growing up that made me want to destroy something beautiful.

I believe you have redeemed yourself to fall into the latter!;)

They were the 18" wheels on my Jetta but I got tired of the ride quality so I put my 16's back on and figured I'd try to sell them.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389453476

:makeout:

<3

It sadly hasn't looked that good in a long time. God I hate winter. Sorry for no updates, trying to catch up on paperwork at the bakery so I can have the rest of the weekend free.

I was going to say the rest of the weekend free to wrench, but I think it will be mostly rolling and gluing the sound deadening in the cabin. Also finishing the undercoating, fame rails, and hard lines

doesn't matter. Still the most perfect DD ever made thus far.

I am wrecked from work this week so not a ton done tonight.

Cleaned the alternator as far as I really wanted to take it. I could do more but I got all the loose crap off of it at least.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389514480

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389514480

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389514480

Also put the final coats of underspray on the car. It looks sooooo good in person. That stuff is nasty though. I've left both garage doors open all night and it still feels iffy without my charcoal filter mask on.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389514480

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389514480

Just "plinking" your finger against the metal gives you a much duller sound reflection than the truck bed liner did.

Hawt damn ... what brand is it?

I've been using SEM rustshield but it takes quite a while to dry on the OEM undercoating and is a bit too shiny for my tastes (even though I bought the matte).

-Zach

3M rubberized undercoating professional grade. Dries in less than 30 minutes and cures in about 12 hours.

I didn't get much done. I think I got sick from an employee that had bronchitis...anyways I feel like dying so I just sat on the couch most of the time wishing my joints and throat didn't feel on fire.

FM Frame Rails are in.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389601067

Sound deadening beginning. This stuff is a PITA to work with. Very sticky, doesn't want to lay flat, and you are in an awkward position so your body keeps seizing up.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389601067

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389601067

Bronchitis is just an inflammation of your bronchi. You can't really give someone else bronchitis, however, you could give them the cold/flu virus that caused it...

:party:

I feel you man, i was sick for a week straight and it was literally the worst week of my life in the last few years. Horrible.

Get better soon. The car is looking amazing.

Medically speaking you are spot on! :fawk:

Received a "care package". Bought some old side view mirrors off a guy on here for the hardware and trim rings.

Carefully removed the trim rings with my knife to take the glass off. The springs and nuts on the inside are still shiny gold anodized and not rusted hunks of metal that were mine.

If anyone wants the plastic housings just pay for shipping and they are yours.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389659188

Jeff - are you alright...? This is the longest cliffhanger in this thread in the history of the thread...

Sorry, I'm doing OK, just taking it easy. This cold/flu really knocked me on my ass.

Nothing to be sorry about, take your time and get well...

Ok here is the progress over the past 5 days, not much but it has all I have had time and really able to do.

Soaked the diff spacer mount in metal rescue, stuff is awesome, no labor involved and it just removes rust with ease. Looks brand new except for the paint.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389866771

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389866771

Painted it up

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389866771

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389866771

First layer of sound deadening done. Barely had enough for the entire cabin. Will probably need to buy some more if I'm going to do the trunk area. Any cracks in the matting I sealed with aluminum tape. Any holes I've covered up I'll cut out when I start bolting things in.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389866771

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389866771

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389866771

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389866771

Next layer will be closed cell foam followed by barium loaded vinyl barrier after. I didn't buy enough of both to do the entire car so I will only do the firewall/transmission tunnel/seating area.

Jeff: I'm sick, can't do much.
Still does more than most people do in a week.


We ought to make a meme out of you.

I thought this was a track car?

Sound deadening looks good. Most frustrating part will be getting things bolted back down that used to rest against the metal...cutting out the deadener will be the frustrating part-it sticks pretty well.