Point of advice having painted two hardtops with drastically different results:

Remove literally everything you can unbolt (obviously) but I would also suggest taking off the trim around the window and the trim on the bottom/edge of the top. the black plastic stuff.

my '00 I masked that stuff off, and it turned out mediocre at best, and I'm sure it will peel.

my '01 I did what I'm saying and it came out flawless. had a window place install a new window trim, charged me 40 bux. win win

I'm sure you were gonna do that anyways, but that's my .02

 

 

I think you give me too much credit. It will be a very nice Miata but some of those folk over at the Wine & Cheese club do some impressive restorations back to "OEM"

Thanks, I was going to do all that sans removing the window in the back but that makes a lot of sense to, just wanted to resist spending even more money haha.

Question, I remember reading the brackets on the hard top used red loctite on the screws and to be careful removing them, does this hold true?

I'm going to see if the shop that painted my car will cut me a deal on painting the hard top since I gave them 4 figures to paint my car. They should...hopefully.



Going to start assembly of the rear subframe now.

 

Yep, red locktite, but if you don't fat finger it Fae style they should come out fine. Use properly sized screwdriver.

Also I didn't remove window. Just the rubber seal. The window place had a bunch of it in stock brand new so that was cool. Its all nice and new now

 

How did you go about removing the seal without the window? First time I tried that on the first car it cracked the glass. Does the seal not go under the window like the windshield glass?

Sorry for the questions Vlad, just don't want to ruin a expensive top,

 

weirdly mine came right out without damaging anything or having to do any cutting or anything. I was very very careful with it, took forever. it just slowly slid out, even from behind the window edge.

the window was completely intact and completely installed and even the silicone was still there sealing it. then they "popped" the new on in after cleaning out a nice amount of the old stuff, with more silicone as lube and to seal put in.

I dunno, be careful with it. Mine was surprisingly easy and its flawless right now. Like from the factory.

Be careful though

 

I think the best way to go about this is to take your car back apart and have it painted to match your new top.

 

I think this is the only way. That color is SEX

 

I think I'd rather have a window shop do it to avoid punching myself in the face if I break the glass.

I'd have to dress like this if I drove the Miata.

 

Ok got the dashboard mostly wrapped up, need a couple bits and bobs to install but after I put the wiring harness on it I should be good to go.

Took a lot of cleaning and vinyl conditioner to restore the black back to the vinyl. I don't like a shiny dash so once there is a little more moisture in I'll do a matte finish.

Front dash parts were from the spare dashboard, since the one I'm using had tears and dents in it. Also had to clean a lot of muck out of the air vents.



Put some vinyl foam tape on all the HVAC joints.

 

 

 

 

Jeff, I'm curious. If this car hadn't been flipped, what would you have done? I mean... Dave built a great car but not even remotely close to what you're building here. Would you have just been driving and enjoying it?

 

Funny you should ask. My dad is down at the house where I've been working on the car and he asked me the same thing.

Nope. Hell no. It has been fun and I don't regret considering I know how my car works now and if there is a problem I can tear the car apart in a day to fix it.

In a way, it has been a unfortunate blessing in disguise. My practical knowledge of cars and how to work on them has increased 10 fold.

As I've said in the past before this I'd never done more than a simple coilover install on my Volkswagen. Hadn't don't much more wrenching other than basic maintenance and detailing.

If the car wouldn't have been crashed I for sure would had cleaned the hell out of it and detailed it but that would have been the extent of my tooling. The reason I bought Dave's car I'm the first place was because it was a perfect turn key 300 HP Miata with everything I would have done already installed.

Granted his car was more, "because race car" quality. Tons of rattles and noise and was almost unbearable to drive with out noise cancelling headphones. 2 hours into driving I back from Alabama I pulled into a Best buy and bought a pair since I think I'd having hearing loss right now if not for that.

The car now will be a LOT more civilized in terms of comfort and refinement but the base of it is still the excellent job Dave did with the huge huge list of parts he put into it.

I just wish I was able to get more seat time in it before I had to do this.

It is funny though. My attention to detail was pretty high before this build but I'm not sure where the injection of "ludicrous" came from in terms of compromising, or the lack thereof. Even I was shaking my head at myself yesterday while putting the dash back together.
[/word vomit]

 

Your Dad must be proud. Heck, this thread makes me proud. LOL.

 

Thanks for sharing. Part of me wishes I had bought Dave's car. but despite the crash, it's being put to MUCH better use.

Just props. Be prepared to have a higher prop count than post count once you post pics and vids of it completed.

 

Looks like the window guy finally came through. About a month a go I had them try to find a clear windshield without the tint on it and they couldn't find one.

I don't remember giving him my address but my dad called and said they installed it today.

Kudos!

 

Have you showed your dad this thread? You should. Your build is so inspiring that I might finally redo my window trim (lol) instead of putting it off indefinitely. So many of us are living vicariously through you.

Given your OCDness, I feel more more than compelled to try your bread and baked goods.

 

He has seen the car in all its glory so no need to see the thread.

The bread is excellent but if you have a Great Harvest Bread Co by you you can experience it. I am not sure if their bakers are as well trained as mine but it could come close. Not to toot my own horn but I am in the top 5 in the entire franchise in bread quality.