Yeah that was just the initial cut. Going to remove some more material, wrap the dash in matte carbon vinyl and likely do a small piece of trim on the opening as well.

Your initial cuts are much nicer than my final ones.

Milwaukee M12 Fuel 3" Cutoff is the business. Everyone needs one.

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Produc...inders/2522-20

Pedal mount and brackets are done. This was a total pain in the ass to weld in such a confined space. Tig on the places I could reach with it and mig for the rest. It looks like garbage but it's solid.

I don't know if I mentioned that I got a new mig welder but this was the first time trying it out. Primeweld Mig180, and it's a fantastic machine. It seems like welding with 220v is much smoother and better than my little Lincoln ProMig140 on 110v.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...58c5c22610.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fa47d0f448.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a25bbf154a.jpg

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Car looks awesome! Love the colour combo, especially with the gold in the engine bay.

I'm by no means an expert, but the dash supports look like they could be really dangerous in a high-speed crash (pierce right through your torso).

If those touch my torso I would already be dead. Steering column would have already went through my chest. They're a lot further away than the pictures make it look because the dash isn't installed.

I forgot how much I hate tig welding under a miata dash, feels good to have pedals again though, huh? Looks like we're both about to enter the hardlines stage, I'm hoping to get rolling on mine this weekend, I think I have just about everything for the brakes at least

Im procrastinating this because I know how bad its gonna suck......

Yeah that part sucked big time. The way I have it set up too is basically rammed up against the cowl tray as well, I cut access holes to get at some of it but there are a couple small 1/2" sections on the square tube that were not accessible at all. Not too worried about it though. I need to acquire ABS stuffs then hard lines are on the list.

Shouldn't be too bad with the right tools, but I am thankful all of my braking shit like MC, ABS unit, etc are all inside the car. Just need to do four bulkheads out to the corners instead of messing around in the engine bay.

The new Nickel/Copper brake line is really easy to work with compared to the old stuff. You can do everything you need to with a hand bender. I also picked up one of the Eastwood Flaring tools... expensive, but fantastic as long as you can do the work on the bench.

Eastwood flaring tool

^ I splurged for the Eastwood flaring tool as well. It was well worth the money IMO, it made locating my rear brake bias adjuster into the cabin where the handbrake used to be so much easier.

Appreciate the tool input, pos cats awarded accordingly.

So did you install/remove the line from the car for every bend you wanted to make?

In my case, I was making new lines from a Wilwood MC to the T fitting for the stock front lines, and to a proportioning valve for the stock rear line. I was able to manipulate the stock lines to get those fittings where I wanted them, so I didn't have to remake the lines to each wheel.

If you're making all new lines, I would suggest aluminum TIG rod for 'prototyping'. Just be careful to leave enough 'wiggle' room for final fitting. And speaking of fittings, don't forget to put them on the tubing before you flare the end... :p

I think I shared this in my build thread, but for my money, the best stuff for 'prototyping' was aluminum armature wire. Amazon link $12 for 10.5 feet. If the link goes wonky, the ASIN is B0025TV5AI

This stuff is close enough to the right diameter that you can actually use your bending tools to make the prototype bends. Be sure to mark the starting point of your bends. I also put a stripe on the tube/wire that indicated the orientation of the tool for a particular bend.

It's a painful process no matter how you do it.

So, made the jump to a new career path and I'm back on a day shift with 3 and 4 day weekends. More time to actually work on the car now.

Also this showed up from Germany. Excited to try it out on the 6 speed.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...26cfdd7191.jpg

So does that shifter have a positive reverse gate lock? Very interested in how it works for you.

Yeah that's a reverse lockout. You need to pull upwards on the collar below the shift knob to get into reverse. I'm excited to try it out as well but it's going to be awhile.

Feel free to ship it here and I'll test it at NCM in 2 weeks.

https://www.gracingshifters.com/

I installed this in my 6-speed NC. They have versions for the NB transmissions, too. They have a unique reverse lock-out that requires you to twist the knob clock-wise to get into reverse. It auto-centers once you pop it back to neutral to shift into 1st.