i'd suggest using toluol or toluene rather than mineral spirits. when i was working on my airplane years ago i'd clean parts with mineral spirits and when painted i'd have these little "pits" in the paint job. an old aviation mechanic steered me to toluene and by golly it worked. no more pits. i was using zinc chromate primer (that's where the pits would first appear and sometimes they'd not be completely covered up by the color coat. looking forward to seeing you at matg.

 

Got the block/head all painted with a high temp ceramic flat black. Definitely looks better as one matching color from what was a corroded up Midwestern engine. I'm hoping I did good enough with the prep work that it lasts. Ended up having my brother and me cleaning it for an additional hour tonight before paint to really get it contamination free. The paint laid down wonderfully. Lots of details to nail down from here, but it's a start.

 

Took off the valve cover last night for paint. The valvetrain looks nice and marinated. Nothing more than typical wear and tear you'd expect on a 94k longblock, so I am just going to leave this well enough alone.

 

Another simple project out of the way; painted the valve cover. Trying to get an idea for paint theme in the engine bay and so far like where this is going.

 

It looks like someone has upgraded the upper timing chain guide to the superior (wider) K20Z3 version.
I like the paint, suits the car well.

 

Pos cat given for the sharp eye. I figured there would be some benefit to posting the valvetrain photo. There always seems to be someone that knows more than you on here....

 

Might be my OCD coming out, but bought a wire wheel and bench grinder today for the sole purpose of polishing up all of the corroded hardware from the engine. Did a few test pieces today with promising results. Before's on the right. After's on the left

 

Need to replace the grinder wheel with a buffing wheel so you have a wire wheel on one side and a polisher on the other, haha.

 

It crossed my mind as I was in the abrasive wheel isle at the store, but then my mind flashed to the jeffbucc path of PPF polishing detail. After cringing at that thought, I promptly said to myself that wire wheel was good enough.

 

Haha, good point. I purposely don't begin detailing projects for similar reasons.

 

well, if you're going down the jeffbuc path, when do you get your steam cleaner?

 

It's funny you mention this. I did buy a steam mop for the woman of the household at the same time I bought the bench grinder. No intention on using her new favorite cleaning tool on the NB however for reasons any man in a relationship should understand

 

Have been waiting on a friend to swing over with his cordless impact to zip the crank bolt off before I can make a ton more progress on the K. In the meantime, cleaned up all of the timing cover hardware. I hate to actually think about the time it took to do seemingly so little, but I'm happy with results. Should be making more noteworthy progress with the K24 soon


Tire Rack dropped me off new rubber after an agonizingly long wait, so I'll have to get that mounted up before MATG.


Started working on another headlight build for Left Lane Designs. This one is kind of unique. Buddy of mine has a 5th gen Camaro. Made a tickle over 1000whp and wanted a ducted headlight to help with some intake temps. Give me a Dremel and some PVC pipe and say no more!


Cutting a 3.5" od hole in a complex curvature clear lense by hand is a fun one.


I'll be sure to post up completed results when it's done.

 

Time elapsed vs visual progress is the reason my cars so rarely gets things done as nicely as I'd like. Stuff on other people's cars? All the nice detail work in the world. Le sigh. Good on you for taking the time to do things nicely on your car!

 

I know that feeling all too well. The excitement of getting it done is overwhelming! Who cares if i just have to rip it all apart next week to do it right...haha!

I am slightly better now.

 

If I had the budget to buy a pile of new shiny parts, I'm sure I would not take as much time to focus on the small details. I have more time than I do money however, so this is the end result.

Slow and steady will win the race

 

Slow and steady won't be ready for race day, haha!

 

Cant be late to race day if you never sign up! This summer has been nuts, only have made it to one event so far and its already mid-July

 

Even though it's not Miata related I know you guys like seeing random projects, so MT gets to see it first! Vented 5th gen Camaro headlight is all sealed up and ready to drop those big turbski inlet temps.

 

Seems like a trivial part, but the first step in making any k series look clean in an engine bay is a coil pack cover. Found a wrinkle black powdercoated piece without any branding on it on good ole eBay for $40 shipped. Not pictured well, but got the timing cover and oil pan off as well as all the old Hondabond sealant.


Also got the new RS4's installed, and greased all of the bushings in prep for MATG-2019. I had an odd intermittent low speed creak noise from the rear end and it appears the grease was the solution. Took the car out to the beach with the girlfriend for a 50 mile cruise to ensure its ready for the trip. No major issues to report! This is so much more relaxing than last year when I was in the midst of a head gasket job, interior swap, and aero updates a week out from MATG-2018