Building the free miata
 

Started to build a Miata and so I figured I'd log the build here. Long story short an 18 year old kid bought a 1994 miata with the intent of turning it into an electric exocet and was probably way in over his head...he had to leave for Colorado for college and was told to get rid of the car. So he posted it on Craigslist and 30 minutes later it was mine. He didn't get far in the tear down and everything that was pulled off basically went back in place without any problems. Whoever had it before him pulled the motor, trans, and diff. The front bumper was missing, hood gone, all the under hood fuses missing, and no lights. The compressor and power steering pump were left in place and plumbed. So that's the state I got it in. Oh and it has a title...

I had a 97 motor I bought for a another project which I've decided to leave with it's original motor. So that motor is going in the free car.

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Bought another parts 1993 car for $300. It had the differential I was missing and slotted rotors, koni adjustables, and racing beat springs. Rotors are going on the ghettocet. I'm going to try to get the windshield out of the donor car as well.


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Holy OCD headache.

Got the motor in...new seals, timing belt...etc. cleaned the transmission and installed a stage 2 clutch with ss clutch line. Put the radiator in (may go ahead and upgrade)...installed new coolant hoses. Removed the windshield. And a few other odds and ends. The motor will turn over and the electronics all seem to work once I replaced the fuses. So here's where I am at today:

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I will admit after building a some what nice turbo miata over the last 2 years, it's nice to buy a $500 beater miata and not really give a shit about how clean things are.

also screw you for not having to deal with rust

Yeah no rust on it....just a lot of spray paint.

Electric Exocet...

Electric excocet might be cool?

So if anyone reading this wants the 1993 shell and can pick it up from near Atlanta it's yours free. My tow guy will deliver it pretty much anywhere in Atlanta for $100. It also has a title.

koni adjustables on a car for $300?

I live too close to too many spec miatas and miata fanboyz.

I misspoke they are kyb agx shocks.

Got the calipers cleaned up and mounted. Used hawk brake pads and cheap rotors. Just got flyin miata SS lines in the mail today. Hoping this will be a good budget brake setup.

Purchased a pair of fans and a shroud and new door panels on craigslist...hoping to get them installed tonight.
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Got a few things done since my last post. Finished installing the flying miata SS lines and then bled them. This was the first time I've used a vacuum bleeder to bleed the brakes. It was very painless. Also bled the clutch slave cylinder.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a9de5cff44.jpg


The next day I installed the accessory belts and a few other small things under the hood. Tried to tighten the main crank bolt with only the emergency brake keeping the motor from spinning. Couldn't get near the required torque before the axles started to spin. Will try again once it's on the ground. Pretty sure the last things I need to do under the car are to refill the transmission with fluid and install an exhaust. Going to wait on the exhaust, but went ahead with filling the trans. Ending up plumbing a hose out the hood and filling the trans that way. Worked ok. So now the car can go on the ground and hopefully I can torque the main bolt. Also filled the oil.

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Had to splice the inner door harnesses from the 1993 parts car and the 1994 build car to get the wiring to work in the door. Previous owner cut through the wiring right outside of the door. Got the dash switch/toggle in the mail and now the power mirrors work. Don't believe I have a photo of this. Really happy the mirror motors work.

Got a pair of fans for a miata on craigslist for $10. Don't know how I want to wire the fans. Toggle switch or to the car's harness. Wired the fans directly to the battery to see if they spin. They do and I think I got a deal.

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Purchased some hack job door panels on craigslist, but I just need them for the bolster/top plastic piece. Right now the bolsters are wrapped in a white faux carbon fiber wrap. Luckily I think it's going to come off pretty easily. Planning to have the bolsters upholstered in a leather and then attach them to new panels. Can't decide if I want aluminum or abs plastic panels. Still focusing on the drive train, but starting to work on the interior too.

Biggest hurdle I have left is to figure out what to do with the ignition coils. Putting a 3 pin motor (1997) into a 4 pin (1994) car. Have another thread just on this topic. Figured I'd bring it up here in the hopes someone who's dealt with this might chime in.

4th pin is just for tach. 90-95 was coil driven (well ignitor on 90-93), 95.5 and above is ecu driven. So the plugs are identical, just missing the tach pin. Stock engines will start and die since they don't see rpms (I think), and aftermarket ecu setups wont have a tach, but should have an option to give a tach signal to the dash.

These are the connectors that I have. With a dremel I might be able to get them to fit together. Maybe I'm attempting to connect the wrong plugs? Figure I need to go ahead and buy the proper coils, but I still won't be able to use the connectors.

Larger connector is the chassis plug. Smaller is coming from the coils.


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Oh yeah that's the subharness. The black one pictured is the injectors I think, but that yellow plug im not sure. Is it just 4 pin vs 5? That'll just be the tach wire then, and yeah you'll want a 95.5+ harness.

I know I have ran my 94 with the 3pin coil packs before. I think I was running MS1 in parallel with my stock ecu and I don't remember there being any issues besides the tach not working. I don't think I ever tried a 3 pin coil pack on a completely stock 94/95.

That's correct...the chassis plug has 5 pins and the plug coming from the coils has 4. I'll have to look at the wiring schematics when I get home (I'll post these later) but I'm pretty sure the 5th "extra" pin in the plug is for the tach. So if I want to purchase the coil harness for my car where I can I get it? I can find the correct coils, but cannot find the coil harness with a 5 pin plug. Would anyone have a part number I can search for? Maybe I'm better off buying the coils and universal 5 pin plugs and do away with the factory coil plugs altogether?

Thought I'd post a better shot of the connectors. The top connector is from the 1994 car harness and the lower connector is from the 1997 coils (expertly labeled). Also put some photos of a shop manual schematics for each years ignition wiring.

I'm tempted to cut both of the factory connectors and use something like these amazon connectors to run the coils. If I do this and it works how can I drive the tach?



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1997:
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1994:
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I might have one for you. You need the 5 pin coil harness?

Oh it's a injector harness too, didn't think they were seperate. And yeah I have a 5 pin harness for you.

Awesome. What do you want for it?

First off I want to say Curly is a good dude. Hopefully I'll have a complete harness soon and be able to post a video of it running. Still not sure what I'm doing on the exhaust side so I may just put the stock exhaust manifold in place to drive it around the neighborhood. Eventually I'll want to turbo the car, but I want to shake the car out before making that leap.

Made a little more progress yesterday and today. Nothing too exciting, but things I've needed to do nonetheless. Got the front right fender bolted back. Everything lined up pretty well. Ironically, the only good that comes from all the spray paint on the car is that I can use it to realign body panels. Helped when I had to mount the door a while back too.

Also received the dash button for the cruise control. Going to use this car for driving to work on a regular basis so I want all the modern conveniences and comforts. Very satisfying that I've finally installed the last missing dash button. I don't know if I mentioned it previously, but all of the dash buttons below the gauges were missing when I got the car. The parts car had the dash light dimmer, but everything else I've had to chase down. Still need to figure out what I'm going to do about the gauge bezel. I do a lot of sheet metal design at work so I may get creative...

Last thing for this update...I cut the rear window out with an xacto knife. Going to go the cheap route and glue in a piece of vinyl type plastic film...going to see what I can find that's slightly tinted and good outdoors. Really just needs to last until I find a hardtop.


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Some of the other toys. Next project is behind the pickup. :skid:

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Well learned a lesson the hard way today. Took the 94 off the jackstands and finally put the car on the ground....the stance is not so good. After putting the racing beat springs and kyb shocks from the 93 on to the 94 the front is too low and the rear is too high. Checked to make sure I didn't somehow install them backwards and they're right. Maybe with some gas in the tank and driving it around a bit the rear end might lower a little?

So I guess for now I'll use it as is. If I was building a drag car it would actually be ok I bet. Luckily I had planned to swap the racing beat setup to the ghettocet (which is a 1990) eventually and put something better on the 94. Now that may happen a little sooner. Don't have a good photo of the stance as it's been raining...will back the car outside when the weather permits and see how bad it really is.

Pretty easy to swap front and rear springs, I'd double check that before you do anything else if you haven't already.

Well I checked and I'm fairly certain they're correct. Long springs in the rear....short springs in the front, right? Might reach out to racing beat and see what they suggest.

Edited with a side view photo. The front is definitely lower and the rear is at about stock height. Not so sure how this will handle. 93 springs and shocks on a 94.

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Didn't take a photo, but last night I took a look at the springs while the car was on the ground by turning the wheels to full lock (will add a photo when I get home). I removed the dry rotted dust boots before installing so the piston rods are visible. Because I can see the rods I can tell they're almost completely compressed. Is this common for lowering springs or are the shocks bad? My understanding is that the springs should support the car and the shocks just control the nature of the springs so it makes sense by installing lowering springs you'd lose some of the shock stroke. So if the shocks were bad they still wouldn't be compressed because the springs would carry the weight, right? I've also left the sway bar loose while tightening the main crank bolt so maybe that's part of why the front is so low. There's no gas in the tank so maybe it's light by ~60lbs in the rear and the car will sit lower in the rear with fuel? Either way the rear springs and shocks appear to be ok.

While removing the engine harness that'll soon be replaced with a 4 pin harness I had a plug disintegrate in my hands. Looked to be damaged by heat. Pretty sure this is the sending unit for the coolant temp gauge. I've already ordered a new sending unit, but wouldn't mind a confirmation. At the rear of the block just above the transmission bell housing. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...899cd7a290.jpg

RE Front Shocks
Depending on how much is left, it sounds normal. The shock do not support to car at all, just dampen the spring. Spring has all of the weight. Car doesnt look overly low in the front, but the rear look HIGH. Also, sway bar has zero effect on ride height.

Ok, that's what I thought.

Photo of front passenger side suspension....hard to tell in the photo how much the shock is compressed.

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Yes that's the gauge sender. Ditch the egr pipe, that'll help.

That can't be right.

Yeah I don't think it's right either. I guess I'm pulling the suspension off and putting it on the ghettocet. Red suspension will look good exposed on the red car anyway. Have quite a few parts on the way for the engine, but most aren't showing up until next early to mid next week so I might put the 94 back on jack stands and swap the suspension over to the 'cet this weekend. Will need to decide what suspension to put on the 94. Might as well change the bushings out while I'm at it....time to invest in a shop press. All said I will have installed shocks and struts 4 times now!

I'm very tempted to remove the egr.....but need to make sure I can still pass emissions without it. Pretty sure it's a sniff test in GA. In two years it won't be required.

Well I guess part of me was looking for any excuse to NOT remove the suspension today. Procrastination is usually the downfall of my car projects, but today it actually paid off. Got on the local miata forum last night and found a hood. Was a good price and the seller was willing to meet me half way so I got a hood. On the way to meet him I passed a junkyard I recognized from a craigslist post and knew they had a miata there so I decided to swing by on the way back on a whim and see what parts I could get off the car. The car was pretty smashed, but I got a hardtop off of it. The fiberglass will need a bit of work, but it should be salvageable. Convinced the guy behind the desk to only charge me for the rear glass since the fiberglass was damaged. He agreed....$100 for a hardtop. Pretty sure I can fix the rest so yeah....this project just got a little more interesting!

I still need a rear finish piece between the tail lights, a front bumper, and a windshield. The junkyard had the finish piece for $75, but I think I can do better. Might end up trading my parts car when I'm done with it for some of the parts they have there....especially if they'll come get it.

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Installed the hood. Fits pretty well, but may need a little massaging. Between the 3 miatas I have at my house not one of them has a hood support. Did not realize that until today...

Also gave the hardtop an initial cleanup. Got the writing off of it and all of the shrink wrap removed. Shrink wrap adhesive is a bear to get off. Ample amounts of degreaser and scotchbrite got it all cleaned up. Fiberglass is a bit more crunched up than I initially thought, but I still feel pretty good about saving the top. The driver side latch is broken (thought it was bent originally) and the fiberglass at the front mounting points is cracked. Beginning to wrap my head around how I'll want to repair it....where to cut, etc.

Going to buy the garage star mounting brackets. Figure the best place to start is to secure the top to the car and cut at the breaks to make the shape right. Because the top is cracked at the mounting points I may have to run bolts all the way through. Then sand, glass, etc. I really don't want to do the fiberglassing while the top is on the car as I'll want to go from the inside out, but I'm not sure how else to hold the parts rigid and in shape without it being on the car.


New body parts installed. Rear isn't as high anymore thankfully. With a tank of gas and battery in the trunk it may actually be close to okay...
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Drivers side crack. Passenger side has a similar crack, but not as bad.
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Driver side latch...if you look closely you can see it's broken.
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Passenger side latch operates okay, but the fiberglass is still cracked above it.
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Tried to remove the screws from the hard top front brackets, but they're bent and won't come loose. The grinder made quick work of the screws. Passenger side was bent, but not broken. Pulled some of the sound deadening back to get a look at the damage from the inside. Still haven't lost hope I can save this top! Might hold off on the garagestar brackets as I'm pretty sure the factory hard top mount locations have to go. They're too far gone. Can probably fab up some brackets myself anyway. Also pulled the weatherstripping off. Passenger side looks ok...driver side inner metal lip is a bit mangled. Scrounged around and found the frankenstein bolts leftover from the ghettocet teardown. Glad I held onto all the hardware.

I got the 4 pin ebay coils in on Friday. Harness Curly sent me should arrive soon. C'mon UPS!

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Still waiting on the harness so in an effort to continue making progress I kept working on the hardtop tonight. Broke out the 'ol dremel tool and got to work. Had to remove some pretty big pieces to get all of the cracks from the top side. Attempted to leave the edges of the top intact as I'm worried those will be hard to replicate. Tomorrow night I'll flip it over and begin working on the underside. The good thing is that before the top didn't side even across the windshield structure before. Now it looks close to normal.

Definitely going to have to fab my own brackets....also definitely going to need a cold shower tonight. Itching like crazy. Might invest in the proper PPE before continuing this hardtop part of the project.


Driverside post hack job:

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Passenger side hacked:
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Front crack removed:
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Front lip resting against the windshield frame much better now.
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Didn't do anything to the car tonight, but did get some harbor freight stuffs for more hardtop work. Not sure if I'm getting older or wiser, but the main reason I went to HB was for some better PPE.... Damn that itchy crap!

Tomorrow I'm to go check out a local hard bar for sale. Seller wants $100....not sure if this is even worth the effort to install or the $100. Anyone have experience with this sort of bar? I feel like it's "better than nothing". Please speak up if this is a poor purchase to make!


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Style bar. Even the most basic hard dog has better mounts.

Gotcha. I thought it might've been a hard dog...thanks for setting me straight. Not looking for "style" on this build.

It runs! Half-assed putting the new engine harness and coils on. Checked to make sure each plug was getting spark. Turned the motor over with fresh gas in the tank until I could smell gas (no exhaust manifold). Hooked up the plug wires...and it started. Still have some work to do to make it driveable, but damn it's good to hear it run.

Ok so I've got the car running fairly well now. Took the harness back off and cleaned it up really well. Got the coolant sending unit tidied up and connected all of the hoses. Fans are now working properly. I can't find anything electrical that's wrong with the car. Everything freaking works to my amazement....didn't know what I was getting when I originally started on the car so I'm very relieved.

It should be driveable now and of course the radiator that came with the car leaks like a sieve. So one last hurdle before I can take this damn thing for a drive around the neighborhood. Trying to decide if I should just get a stock radiator unit or splurge for the koyo/mishimoto. I do like the bling factor of the aluminum rad, but I don't know if it's worth the extra money. Money might be better spent towards other goodies. Anyway...hopefully a donut video is in the near future.

What that harness wasn't good enough for you?

best I can tell is it was on a car that lost a battle with the Exxon Valdez.

Haha....well I noticed the harness had two small spots of bare wires when I first got it and I fixed those before initially putting it on the car to see if it would start. When it did start I put the exhaust manifold on and then the car would start for half a second and then die.

At that point I checked everything I knew to check and ultimately ended up removing the harness and going through it wire by wire. Everything checked out. Then I cleaned the maf sensor and plug. Swapped the intake tube to another I had. Still did the same damn thing. Would start and then die.

Hesitate to admit this after spending the better part of a day seeking a solution, but ultimately it was out of gas! Anyway....that's why its cleaned up.

Slight update...still haven't made a decision on the radiator. Probably gonna splurge on a performance radiator.

Did get a HUGE sheet of aluminum today. 7475 48" x 144" x .063" from the Lockheed C130 line. Apparently Lockheed puts a 6 month shelf life on aluminum so I got a really good deal on the full sheet. Really only needed about a square foot for what I'm doing next. Guess I'm making some door panels, gauge hood, splash guard, rear "diffuser" (maybe), rear finish piece, etc etc. Have a big enough sheet to do about 3 miatas worth of the aforementioned parts.

If you're in Atlanta Mid South Supply has a couple of metric tonnes of this stuff for next to nothing. Good guys too.

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I've done a lot and probably forgot to take photos of most of it. Car is finally running and driving after buying a new radiator. Decided to go with a stock one. Went ahead and purchased a set of raceland headers to hold me over until I go to a turbo setup. Hopefully they arrive by Friday so I have the weekend to get them wrapped and installed. Picking up an exhaust tomorrow from craigslist. It's an ISIS exhaust and hopefully sounds ok. Not sure what to do about a cat yet...maybe a junkyard or steal one from the ghettocet to pass emissions.

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Last weekend I purchased some 15" x 9" wheels. Tires are seriously too narrow, but I got a good deal on the wheels (I think) and destroying the tires should be fun. Still not sure what brand the wheels are. Maybe someone will recognize them. I'd guess the new wheels weigh around the same as the stock wheels so I'm happy with them.
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Lesson learned the hard way...if draining the gas tank go ahead and spend the extra $0.25 on a new crush washer. Had a leak and ultimately had to drain the tank again to put a new washer on.

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Parts are starting to stack up. Have a 4 day weekend so I need to take full advantage. Starting to think I have a craigslist addiction.

ISIS exhaust, raceland headers, exhaust wrap. Hopefully my cat arrives tomorrow.
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Just so happened a man 1/2 a mile from my workplace was selling two pairs of sway bar adjustable end links, a cobalt short shifter with a new dust boot and spring washer. He also had a SS clutch line which I don't need since I've got one already, but I picked it up anyway. Pretty sure it's for a NB. Maybe it will work on the ghettocet? All the parts are still new in the package..however they're discontinued so they must've been sitting in someone's garage for a while. Seller has never owned a miata (pretty sure he couldn't as he was a large man). Called moss miata about the end links just to confirm they'll work on my year. Thankfully they do.

Install of end links seems straight forward, but I'm not sure how to properly dial them. Probably need to drive the car more than 1/2 mile before I start trying to tune the suspension components. Same goes for the adjustable shocks...

Shifter kit didn't include a ball bushing. Ordered an OEM bushing which should be here Sunday. I've never had a short shifter in a car. Looking forward it.
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Been a somewhat eventful weekend. Picked up a few more parts yesterday from a local miata guy. He had a lot of cool parts!...some of which hurt a little to walk away from, but they were out of my budget. Still bought two windshields, a front bumper, nardi steering wheel (still need the adapter), rear finish piece, an intake heatshield/maf bracket setup, a hood prop rod, and probably some other parts I'm forgetting. Also picked up a new cat, gaskets, etc.

I've found a hard dog "sport" roll bar locally. Hoping to pick it up tomorrow. Going to leave the car on jack stands in hopes the deal goes through. I've touched so much of the suspension and brake systems at this point I fee like I need to come up with a system to ensure everything is tight. Maybe a bright colored paint marker method will work ok...just don't want a control arm coming off at speed. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Polished up the shifter before installing the bushing since it had a small burr/lip on it from the lathe. Figured the burr would eat away at the bushing prematurely. New ball bushing, spring washer, upper plastic washer, and dust boot installed as well. I don't feel like the throw was shortened all that much, but shifts feel a lot more precise. Probably more to do with the new bushings than the shifter itself. The old shift bushing was super loose.

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Pretty much got the entire exhaust installed. Getting the old exhaust out was a pain in the ass. Ended up breaking one of the bolts at the collector. Obviously raceland headers are not the best on the market, but mine were very difficult to get into place. Ultimately, had to loosen the motor mount and lift the motor on the exhaust side with the cherry picker to give me enough clearance around the steering shaft. The egr tube doesn't line up correctly. After reading up on it this is pretty common. Going to tackle this tomorrow. I'm probably going to have to remove the coils AGAIN in order to get to the rear egr tube bracket. Went ahead and extended the wires to the O2 sensor since it's further back. Was worried the sensor would be in a bad place...it's actually easier to get to now than the factory location. Have a DEI wire heat shield deal on the way. Need to figure out a way to keep the O2 wres off of the headers. Not much in the the area to zip tie to....

Last exhaust photo shows the exhaust tip hitting the bumper bracket. Probably going to be really annoying to listen to when driving. Looks like I just need to trim the bracket piece, but I'm going to fit the bumper cover on tomorrow to be sure. Could be the hangers from the exhaust need a little massaging.

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Got the front sway bar end links installed today. They were still new in the package which is cool since the instructions had a 1998 date on them. They still look new and seem to move freely. I'm glad they came with new hardware as the stock sway bar bolts are now holding my cat in place. Links were set up to original length and orientation out of the package. Going to put the rears on tomorrow.

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Didn't get as much done this weekend as I had hoped. Mainly due to (insert string of expletives here) raceland headers. Headers are on and EGR tube is connected after a lot of effort. Engine is running well now and idles okay. Probably need to adjust the TPS to get it just right. I tried to record the exhaust sound, but it's too loud for my phone's microphone and makes it clip. It sounds good to me.

Sway bar end links installed front and rear now. For some reason I like the way they look on the car. Purchased a factory shifter dust boot on letgo....original was disintegrated. It was cheap and still in the package so might as well while I'm in there.

Also bought a hard dog roll bar this morning. It's used and at least one of the bolts has damaged threads. Going to purchase new hardware on McMaster where necessary. Installation of the bar looks like a decent sized job so I may wait until I've finished a few other things with the car. Since I'm not in a hurry to install the bar I may look into replacing the fuel pump "while I'm in there" ...gotta research what makes sense for my future turbo dreams.

Began thinking about what I want to do for an intake. I've priced some things on siliconeintakes.com. They have everything I need in one place so I'll probably purchase from them, but it seems overly expensive for what I'm doing. $94 total with shipping and no filter. Photos below.

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More intake configuring. This is what I want to do on the throttle body to maf side....on the opposite side I'm not sure what I'll do yet.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...af206c4c2b.png

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...88891b6f20.png

Finally have a windshield. Pretty big milestone as now the car can be left outside and the interior won't get soaked. I've got two windshields and BOTH have the zoom zoom sticker across the top. My "helping hand" today claims they're factory stickers, but I'm not so sure. Going to leave zoom zoom on it for now...

Bought a gallon of primer today so I guess I'm going to start prepping for paint.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...61d047c15e.jpg
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The body work begins. Sanding the spray paint gums up sand paper pretty quickly. Going to have to buy a few more discs than I originally thought. I'm glad I have a palm sander....removing the spray paint by hand would be nearly impossible.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...78b2378970.jpg

Been a while since I posted an update. Still waiting on some fiberglass repair stuff to arrive to begin working on the hard top. Also taking my time to research more about painting cars. It's a steep learning curve... Made a decision this weekend that I'm going to either fix the hard top I have or buy another. Not interested in a soft top...at all. That being said I went ahead and removed the soft top while I was installing the roll bar. Not sure how the sub floor and rear shelf get so dirty...I guess after 240,000 miles dust and dirt gets trapped in that space. Spent some time cleaning it out since I probably won't be in there any time soon.


Stole the fuel pump cover from the ghettocet since the one from this car was very corroded. Painted the rain rail (I believe that's what it's called) even though only part of it shows with the carpet installed.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...92bd7c7bfe.jpg

Tool aftermath and my new to me nardi steering wheel. Missing the horn button, but I really like the wheel.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3b1e63d52b.jpg

Bar installed. I bought the bar used from a kid and it had a lot of stickers on it....removed the stickers and hit it with some flat black paint. I think the flat black looks good. The c pillar brace installed with the roll bar in. Only had to trim the pillar brace covers a bit, but it's not visible. Really tired of looking at the lack of door panels...
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0b04456944.jpg

Making progress slowly....been focusing on the hardtop lately. Had to reinforce the inner "channels" that were cracked. Didn't take photos of this. Once they were fixed I glued the front lip of the top back to its inner frame. Used some Thixo 2 part marine grade epoxy and every clamp I own to hold the two together. Structurally the top seems ok now....still need to address the cracked attachment points at the front. Probably going to get creative with this.


Last night I used some spray foam to begin shaping the missing parts. It seemed to work ok. I had to add a bit more foam to the driver's side so hopefully it'll be ok when I get home tonight. Passenger side looks good to me.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2e0580863b.jpg
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While I was waiting for the spray foam to dry I decided my bumper needed to be cut. Still need to cut the bumper support underneath. I guess with it cut there's less to prep for paint. Intend to finish this up tonight along with the first layer of fiberglass over the foam. While the bumper support is off I need to trim the tab that's hitting my exhaust tip. Should be quick work for the sawzall.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8afcdbe4c5.jpg
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Oh forgot to mention I think this is the color scheme I want to go with. Anyone recognize this car?

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ae5d492bf0.jpg

Is that vash? Don't remember him having that hood scheme.

Apparently it's the creation of Corey from Calgary. I'm now wanting my hood to have a "reverse scoop". Beginning to feel like this project will never end...

Artofstance Featured: Corey?s Blue Miata |

So yesterday I put the hard top on the car for a test fit. During my repair to the inner channels something may have warped. After adjusting the location of the mounts at the Frankenstein studs and "massaging" the top with a mallet until it fit the front windshield frame I think it will be water tight. I definitely got lucky working on the top with it off of the car so going forward I'm only working on it while mounted to the vehicle (or a vehicle...). Debating if I want to do the top work on the project car or pull my parts car down to use as a template. Last night ordered the Jass performance hard top brackets. Compared the few options available and these brackets look like they'll work best with my top. Hoping they'll be here soon as I'm ready to finish the fiberglassing...

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f4edd8bdb6.jpg

Continued working on the bumper cut tonight. While I was in there I went ahead and painted the inner fenders and rear flat black. Wasn't very methodical with the spray paint, but I think it's better than before. You can see in the second photo below that I also trimmed the bumper body mount that hit the exhaust tip. Ran out of time tonight to get the exhaust back on, but just by eyeballing how much was removed it should clear now. Will find out tomorrow night...

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7bd4a0f12b.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d075563173.jpg

Cut the bumper support down. Was a bit of a pain in the ass...one of the bumper support mounts and the nut insert was damaged. Had to pull the bumper support off of the parts car to get a working mount. Cleaned the support and mounts up.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2cd249776c.jpg
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Right before I gave up for the night I slapped the cover back on to see what I've done to my car. I think it's going to look good. Starting to forget what this car looks like on the ground so I will probably put the wheels back on and see how it looks again soon.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bd18283e95.jpg

The Jass hardtop brackets came in. Got them installed Saturday morning. No photos as I have the car masked up and forgot to take them. They look good though...everything pretty much lined up. Was a little difficult to get the rear brackets on due to the roll bar being in the way, but those kinds of things are to be expected I guess. The top feels very secure now.

Started on the fiberglass yesterday afternoon. Did a first layer very wet over the foam and over the tape underneath. Will do a build up layer today to match the thickness of the hardtop. After that I still have one more hole to fill at the front edge of the top. Wrapping my head around how to approach it as it's probably the most critical repair I need to make to the top.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8d4dd77712.jpg
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Went to steal some bolts off the hard top brackets from the parts car and got a pleasant surprise. Almost bought a set of visor blanks about a week ago and it turns out I had them already. Don't see the point of visors in a hard top Miata so the visors are going in the pile and these are going on today.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a8e8d3e49b.jpg

Got the second layer of fiberglass on yesterday. I built it up higher than the top so that I can sand/file it down to a smooth transition. May have gone a bit too high...not sure. The patch is standing about an 1/8" proud over the actual top surface. In an attempt to use less hardener than I've been using I may have used too little. It was still a bit tacky this morning before I left for work so I may have screwed up. Been looking at ways to help it cure...maybe a second thin layer of resin with A LOT of hardener or even something like saran wrap tonight under a heat lamp? Also considering a heat gun from the inside of the top? i don't know....gonna try a few things before I rip it out and start over. It definitely has cured underneath...just not the very top layer

More photos as per usual:

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