Looks great. Which headlight NACA duct do you have?

 

Thanks! That's exactly what I was concerned about. There's so many layers in there, and when you cut for the Singular vents most of the attachment points between the skeleton and the skin in that area go away. It seemed pretty flappy in there, and I hate buzzing!

Just make sure they are the reenforced ones, they cut through it pretty quickly actually. Probably went through 6-7 of those little disks so just take your time and you'll get a good result.

Thanks! Well.. there's a story behind that. First I bought the CCP lid, thinking i'd support the US company (and I've always lusted over their hardtop), so when I saw they made a bolt in lid I got that. That was last september or so.

That lid did not fit at all, the tabs were not wide enough to slip over my headlight bucket. I thought they would flex and fit, but one of the tabs snapped off.

Fortunately I bought it through goodwin, and they worked out a return for me. I felt bad because the part was damaged.. but in the end not my fault. In hindsight I should have shipped it back right away, it was pretty clear it wouldn't fit, I was just being optimistic.

The next one I bought (pictured above) is the CarbonMiata piece. I chose FRP instead of carbon because I wanna body match it eventually. This one BARELY fits over my headlight bucket (which is totally original and undamaged). If I had to guess, there must be some pretty major tolerances for that part, hence why the OE covers have easily pliable metal tabs. If I were one of these manufacturers I would have stuck with metal tabs anchored into the fiberglass weave to allow for this, just like the OE does.

That said, I did mock it up and it does appear to fit. I gotta hit it with a coat of black and actually mount it up before I can judge the fitment though, so I'll keep you posted.

 

Haha, I went through the exact same process as you. Bought the CCP for the same reason, had fitment issues, and contacted CCP to resolve the issue. After a little back and forth they refunded me, and took the product down from their site. I ended up cutting off all of the tabs and JB welding some steel tabs to mount it with. Debating buying the CarbonMiata piece since it isn't JankFabbed by me. The CM NACA duct looks slightly larger in your picture than the CCP, but it's hard to tell.

 

Oh wow, glad im not the only one! I thought of jbwelding my own tabs on, but it broke in such a way that it cracked the top gel coat and I didn't think it was fair that I was left with a non fitting part that needed repair and modification to fit so I sent it back.

When i got the CCP lid i hit it with flat blflk immediately, which was a mistake. I had no idea it wouldn't fit, always mock up the part first!


You can see the tabs are way off, easily and 1/8th inch.


I tried to slip it on, cracked the tab and ruined the gel coat:



So that one got sent back. Carbonmiata one i ordered on black friday and it came in Feb. More than 2 months wait, which is crazy. I was skeptical for a bit there.

I didnt like how the inlet choked down so much so I opened it up by connecting the opening to the holes you can see i drilled here.



The carbonmiata piece is much lighter than the CCP one, the CCP piece felt super beefy and I dug it other than the fitment. Ill update here once i get carbonmiata one fully fitted. The tabs are also super tight but flex a lot more and i was able to get it on in my test fit.

 

Nice work! Vent install looking good. FWIW, on my NB (maybe different with where the structures are) it was floppy with the vents out but once I bolted the vents in they stiffened the hood a lot, never felt the need to add additional reinforcement/stiffness.

 

Thanks! The NB hood structure is definitely quite a bit different. For one, there's only two layers of metal, and on the NA hood there's 3 layers sandwiched in there that you cut through. And the hood itself never felt "floppy", but if you tap on the top of the hood you could hear it sounded loose and flappy. Now with the panel bonded panels, and re-enforcement, even without the vents in there you can knock on the top hood skin and it sounds like an OEM hood. Definitely needed on the NA at least, IMO!

 

Hood project is done. No gripes here, really psyched with the outcome. The hood came out super solid, and I'm really happy with the OEM-like finish underneath.






The next task will be working on the brakes and hubs! Stay tuned..

 

Looking good!

 

Nice work dude. It came out so clean!

Wanna do one for me?

 

Thanks man! And no, I'd rather not do this ever again . My OCD definitely kicked in a bit, I don't even want to try and tally up the hours I got in the project, lol. It's too many for some hood vents.

That said, I'm happy with how it came out. My concern was that I'd **** up my hood so I really took my time to do it right. Stoked to work on these brakes, ended up going with the 1" wilwood M/C because of you too. Maybe some good progress this weekend, I hope!

 

Nice job on the hood vents! The first time I cut into my oem hood on my honda I cringed but it is what it is.. I might be crossing that bridge later this year as well after I put the turbo on. Interested to hear how the hood vents affect coolant temps on track compared to pre-hood vents.

 

Hahaha I feel that. I spent way less time on mine (and it shows) but still felt like I never wanted to do it again haha. You did it right for sure!

Also, heck yeah. I sincerely hope you’re blown away by the difference with the master cylinder, since I’m partially responsible for it now I think you’re gonna be stoked on it.

 

More stuff happening.

 

Looking good! I’m ready to hear how much of a monster it is on track once you’re done with this upgrade haul.

 

 

Glad to see you are farther down the rabbit hole with this, Nate!
Also, jfc those rotors!

 

Can you please post details of the "Loctite" tube in that last photo, I'm curious about the details since it needs to handle high heat and am wondering if it could be used to mount a turbo to the exhaust manifold?

Resbond is "unobtainium" in Australia and needs to be imported.
Unfortunately the smallest size available is about 50x more than an individual needs so you end up wasting 98%
In hindsight I SHOULD have on-sold mine to a car shop to get "some" money back while it was still "fresh".
When I need it again, I'll probably "tee-up" with a shop in advance to get the best on-sale price.

 

Looks like its just Loctite "red": https://www.loctiteproducts.com/en/p...kerred271.html

I have no direct experience with trying to use it on exhaust/turbo parts but I doubt it'd hold up. Specs say it starts giving at 500F.

 

Can you get rockset in auzy land? I know its got more of a firearms usecase so maybe not.

 

Those rotors are so chonky, I was sure they were going to weight more than the OEM sport brakes. To my surprise, they weighed almost exactly the same total (maybe even a touch lighter):

Sport brakes: ~19.75lbs
O


Boxmount setup: ~19.lbs



Rotating mass is what matters though, just the rotors:

Sport rotors.. ~13lbs


SM 11.75 AFCO thiccbois: ~12.5LBS?





These recent upgrades are making my budget bilsteins look downright poverty.



Fitment with the Konig Countergram 15x9's. Looks hawt. Enough clearance all around.




I had to look up which direction to mount these things, but some google told me smaller piston on the leading edge:


Started working on the M/C install.


Gonna make the NAPP motorsports M/C brace work. It's tight but I think even a regular hex head bolt there up against the master would work plenty well.