Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

Spent the last two weeks wet sanding and polishing the car. Its not a perfect paint job, but its a 10x better than what it was before. Hopefully I'll have everything back together today and ready for the road. I've got a few mechanical parts to install to get it ready.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

Got off early today, so I decided to wash her up and take some pictures.

Because everyone needs to see their radiator:


Interior shot:






Anyone looking to build a home?




Makes the "whoosh" noise a little louder now:




Because stickers are cool:

viperormiata

iTrader: (24)

I love that paint. Great looking car, man.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Car looks great. Functional and sexy. +1propz.

miata2fast

iTrader: (2)

I had to come in here to peak at your paint job. Really looks great.

What is the reason for the taped edges? Is that for assembly purposes, or for sanding?

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

The taped edges were to keep from burning thru the edges when I was buffing the paint out.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

Picked up an '01 with 59k on the clock for a VVT swap. Now the question is whether or not to stay turbo...

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

Pulled the turbo motor last weekend so it can go to it's new owner (going into an Exocet).



Pulled the valve cover on the donor motor to find the cleanest head I've ever seen:


Pulling the head off the donor motor this week to have it machined down 0.03" and install a 99-00 head gasket. I should have a big order for 949 Racing next week. Going to clean and paint the engine bay as well as install a de-powered PS rack while everything is out.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Holy ****, that head looks factory new.

If it's a track only car, i'd be tempted to go the N/A route with that motor.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

I am going the N/A route this time. My wife and I have plans for a family in the future, so to be able to keep playing with cars, I needed to reduce the cost of wear items (i.e. less HP). Luckily, if I sell the last of the parts from the parts car I got this motor from, this motor and transmission will have given me $16 to install it.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Sounds like a good plan, much better than getting rid of the toy altogether. Should be a mean track setup in the end.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

While I had the motor out, I figured it was a good time to paint the engine bay. I almost went with black, but my wife and friend convinced me otherwise. I picked up a few cans of custom blend spray paint to match the Toyota/Scion Cement grey. Everything is masked off and a light coat of primer laid down. I hope to get color sprayed today.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

That was probably a better idea than black. I'm constantly loosing the roll of electrical tape in the blackness.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

Spent two of these:


To get to this point:


After it dried, I started putting everything back in place. Painted the head light assemblies black because I ran out of grey paint.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

It's not warm enough for painting





at least not in my garage.


BLARF

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

It was only in the 50's here. It took the primer almost a day to dry. The color dried in a few hours though.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

Been making some progress over the last month.

Fresh coat of VHT black for the block:


The only "JDM" part going on my car. Decided that an oil pan baffle was a little bit of extra insurance. Picked up a Mahura for a decent price direct from Japan.:


Gates racing timing belt, new timing belt pulleys, new water pump, square-top manifold, and Garage Star water pump and alternator pulleys installed. I wasn't planning on getting the pulleys, but they came with my used header for cheap.


One my best friends came over and helped me depower the steering rack:


949 Racing clutch installed. I remember why I hate installing transmissions by myself after fighting installing the transmission for an hour, only to find out that I mushroomed the splines some and had to file them straight.


After which it was time to drop the motor in so I could start wiring everything:

Stealth97

iTrader: (5)

I LOVE this car! That's exactly what I want to do to my hood.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

I've been working on wiring everything the past few weeks. So far I've been able to us wiring from the '95 harness to do everything I've needed to do. I noticed that the '01 injector harness uses the same connector as the 95, so I just repined the connector to match the 95 harness. Now I don't have a crusty, broken injector harness. I also saved the wire carrier to run the cam and crank angle sensor wiring through as well. Not pictured is my VVT wiring. I used the purge control valve wiring from my 95 because it already had a 12V+ from the ECU and a trigger ran to the ECU. I'll just repin the ECU side to move the trigger from one pin location to another.







Ran my new fuel lines. 6AN Aeroquip socketless hose. They were out of black when I ordered it . I just plumbed the M-tuned rail as a single feed, single exit.


Wiring up the Toyota COP


Finished product. I still have some cleaning up to do on the valve cover. My Dremel died on me last weekend.




Hopefully this weekend I'll have the exhuast installed with a new "all flow cat" and v-bands, wrap up the wiring, and start working on the intake. Cross my fingers that 949 Racing gets trigger wheels and crank pulleys in stock soon.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

Its been a few busy, busy weeks.

I painted the valve cover wrinkle red and made a strap to hold down the COPs.


Fabricated my own intake:




My SuperMiata damper finally came in after a 4 months back order:




Bled the clutch and brakes. Picked up the steel fittings and brake fluid from TSE.



Finished product:


After a few hours of tinkering with the AEM and some emails to Savington everything is up and running. I'm pretty excited to get everything running and took it for a spin around the block tonight. Now time for tuning and enjoyment.