March 25, 2018

Drunk drivers that cause hit and run accidents suck serious dong. I'll let this picture do the talking. Car did its job in protecting me and my passenger as we walked off without injury, but the V was not so lucky. Part out began. More details to follow
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a8086a48ba.png


NEW BUILD THREAD TITLE NECESSARY!

"BP's are baddd, MMMMMMK?"

March 26, 2018

While figuring out V details, my suede obsession continued... Kick panels..
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2d6f2d917f.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4eb976e0a1.png


April 9, 2018

V part out was well underway. Pretty much all of my free time was stuck pulling parts from this car and the miata was on DD duty.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...18026a7b23.png



April 28, 2018

Got the miata back into summer mode with the Jongbloed's, aero, and a nice wash. Hard to beat black.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...56ed62c743.png

Still debating how to make this happen... because streetcar
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a20af4597f.png



May 5, 2018

Never really cared for the 3 vent design on the NB singular hood vents. The 2 side vents always seemed a bit small if left alone too. Call me picky, whatever, but my solution was to use a 2006 STI Singular Hood Vent kit.

Measuring about a million times.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e4378f62f8.png

Cutting maybe a little extra on the hood bracing than needed.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0bc6fad280.png

Happy with the results
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4b1fc022e6.png



May 28, 2018

Got to ride in one of these to bed brake pads in and log the Ford Performance Tune. I now officially hate every car I will ever own.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e6486cc490.png



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June 3, 2018

My windshield frame trim was all scratched up and looked like hell.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9ca4f48d94.png
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...31a6ad6932.png

My solution? You probably guessed it. Suede!
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0d577265e0.png
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8551c3ebad.png

Made a suede blockoff pad for the sun visor delete as well. Simple touches.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...70e2198a4c.png

Seat belt pillar trim also needed to be installed and cut to fit. It was scratched up and ugly as well, so I did magical soft touch things.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6fb50bdeed.png
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f34976d97e.png



June 13, 2018

V was stripped of everything of value. Time to junk the shell and get my garage stall back.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...73fda02ba0.png
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...700190fe80.png
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8988209f2a.png

To say I'd be tempted to put the LSA in the miata would be an understatement... maybe for a different miata.. current intention is to sell the full LSA longblock with accessories. Haven't found the right buyer yet.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...94337f400b.png


June 16, 2018

Got a deal on an NA6 dash, tombstone, and console setup. Had been looking for a while for the right deal and stumbled upon a local one. Easy way to drop a few pounds off the NB1 setup and I like the look better. Wrapped the dash pad in suede to tie the interior together whenever i get time to install it.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3a732ae173.png

The previous owner even left a wonderful note in the glovebox!
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9d242080fd.png


June 19, 2018

Now that the V was gone and the situation taken care of, I needed a replacement for the miata to relieve it of its DD duties. Needed something more utilitarian and comfortable with some semblance of economy. The only solution to me was a truck. Shopped a long while for used market pickups and found that it didn't make a lot of sense to me given the crazy incentives GM has been offering on new pickups. Ended up walking out with a brand new 2018. Z71, 4x4, Crew Cab, LT2, Heated Black Cloth Bench Seat Interior, Trailer Brake Package, Tow Package, 5.3 w/ 6 speed trans. Absolutely love this truck. Will work great for future miata tow rig needs.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...37dd389de9.png

Further proving it's utility, literally the day after i bought it I went to go snag a hardtop that Cameron helped me find. 8 hour round trip later averaging a tick over 20 mpg in the truck at 80mph, and the miata is sitting pretty in the garage with a OEM black top with defrost. Need to pull the soft top once i get to the rest of the interior.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...99af1b0705.png


So thats all i have for updates so far. Its going to be a big push to get the car where I want it for MATG, but hopefully it'll be ready!

Wow, sorry to hear about the V.

Sucks about the V, glad no bodily harm though. Super jelly on the truck and excited to see you do the kswap!

That suede looks pretty legit..... is it expensive at all? Rather, do you think it would be less expensive to do black suede on say tan interior vs buying black interior pieces to replace tan pieces?

Nice truck. My V6 tacoma doesnt even get 20mpg, lol

Counting my blessings on the situation. It sucks but with the partout I'll likely end up making ok profit on the car if I ignore my labor rate for 2 months of disassembly. :bang:

I got the suede on a special online. it was something like $75 for like 40 square feet of it. After you toss in adhesive, I'll be in the neighborhood of about $100 total for all the suede throughout the car. I'd say it is far less expensive doing the suede route instead of buying black interior pieces that are in perfect shape, plus it looks far better imo. The only real downside is the time involved to do all of the wrapping.

Thanks! Yeah I'm happy with it for being a full size pickup. Maybe if I drive like a reasonable adult I can see a bit more MPG out of it, but after being used to the V this thing is phenomenal on fuel lol

7/8/18
Went to Shawano USAIR for an AutoX. Its probably my favorite place to run AutoX at due to elevation changes. It was the first time I had this car at this track, and I finished 9th out of 104. Finished 1st in class (CSP) out of the 3 cars. I coned away what would've been a 6th place overall run and after reviewing the video I really feel I could've had a 4th place (low 67.xx) run in the car. Overall, extremely happy with getting the car dialed in. I haven't touched a single powertrain component on the car and I'm up competing with cars with well over twice the power.

Results:
Final Raw Time Results

Video:

Unfortunately on the way back home, the head gasket let go. This didn't come as a huge surprise as I had symptoms of a HG letting go for multiple months, but for it to let go right before MATG sucks.

Wow, that's a really short update :giggle:

MATG Crunch time. Current status as of late last week
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9b25f4e9b0.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...48285e4891.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6900ff7920.jpg


Figured out the hard way that NB and NA A-Pillars are different. Had the option of tossing the NB pillars that I already spent time wrapping in suede, or trimming the NA dash to fit. I chose option 2 and it worked alright.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...879be3d14b.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d99b7e39ed.jpg

Made a shorty console out of a trashed NA6 center console. Made a quick and dirty delete panel out of HDPE material I had laying around. Not perfect, but decent enough to get by. Not sure I'll have time to wire in custom window switches. I don't have time to buy a double din adapter for the radio either, so its just ghetto-fixed into position.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dec107df1c.jpg


Black NA6 swapped interior is finally coming together though! Car looks goofy with carpet back in it.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ba103fa310.jpg

Good god your tail lights are hella doap

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eeda4f7a22.jpgHoly hell did last night suck. Got the head on, water pump, etc. Just finishing final details, filled up with coolant and it comes pouring out the timing cover. New gasket on the water pump got pinched.Had to tear it all back down, redo that gasket, re-time it, then put it back together again. Good news is it fired right up at 1:30 this morning


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b39a07aae5.jpgInterior is pretty much buttoned up


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0b0a20f60a.jpgBorrowed a set of NB2 seats from a buddy so the interior looks decent for MATG instead of having tan torn NB1 disasters

I must say, I'm a fan of the NA6 dash and flat doorcards. Do want. :cool:

Will never find another set like em! :bigtu:

Thanks! Short of just looking better imo, the amount of leg space compared to a OEM NB1 interior is ridiculous. Definitely makes the car feel a lot roomier inside while dropping a few lbs. Win-Win

I wanted to get LRB Hyrbid (uses NA upper bumper) door cards for my MSM, but they only do hybrid for NB1. You've got me thinking the full flat door card is actually quite nice, and much better than something I could craft myself. Man I want that extra room for my knee!

Nice progress! Did you do any debriding of the airbag harness while you were in there?

You could likely ask them to make a hybrid panel for an NB2 and they would help you out. I'd be surprised if they even charged you any more to do it. LRB was very responsive and great to work with when I needed some custom tweaks to my panels. That said, the full flat panel is very nice as long as you wrap it with something padded IMO. I was going to do the hybrid panels but was struggling to find a set of decent NA upper door pads for fair price, so I settled here. I can fit my knee comfortably between the steering wheel and door panel now if I'm cruising around, so definitely no regrets in the full flat panel decision.

I did not go through the whole process of properly pulling out all the airbag harness wiring at this time. For now, the airbag system is just completely unplugged. I more or less just needed to get the car slapped together as quickly as possible to make MATG. I didn't want to rush through a harness and accidentally snip a wire I wasn't suppose to in my rush then be scrambling to diagnose a wiring issue. There is A LOT of wiring that will be redone on this car in the next year or so with the plans I have, so it's on the long term list to go through and simplify the harness. I'm dreading pulling off all the electrical tape already (insert sore fingers from full NA6 wire tuck done a few years back here). In addition to the airbag system, I deleted the Bose system, cruise control system, and power mirror system, so there are many extra dash harness wires still in the loom. I don't have the NA6 interior lights on the dash hooked up and I need to get new toggle switches for window motors tossed into the shorty console, so that's all on the list of small projects that I just skipped over for now just to have a functional driving car at MATG in a week.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7549e47eb4.jpg1 day left until MATG. Got it outside for the first time in nearly 3 weeks. Need to pull the bumper cover and load it up on the trailer tomorrow, then do a final fluid check. Got the hardtop installed and reinforced the bfw wing with painted fender washers for the time being. Not perfect, but good enough I say!

Car looks great! Good job pulling it together at the final hour. :)

Update from MATG


Got the truck all loaded up. Made use of the quick release bumper/splitter setup to easily load it onto the U-Haul trailer. Bumper cover and splitter fit conveniently under the tonneau cover I just installed.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8a214a0288.jpg

GF was doing GF things and making sandwiches in mobile headquarters on the drive down to NC.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ace1401515.jpg

#truckstuff. Trans cooler included in the Z71 package was proving its worth while towing through the mountains
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d12868a989.png

Got the Miata unloaded and tossed the bumper cover and splitter back on in the Cabana parking lot.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f82c787c55.jpg

Got the car out for its first true test drive since all the work done in July getting it ready for MATG. No issues to report!
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5b96e34a8d.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0c2dfda791.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1f20a4c082.jpg

The common sight of seeing people surrounded around your car was a funny sight. Some of the comments I got included:
"Is that a stock airbox? Why didn't you spend any money making it fast?"
"[looks in disgust] is that plywood? Does it work" NOOO, I'm putting plywood on my car for show!
"Did you buy stock in BFW?" lololol
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8cbee9e67a.jpg

Stereotypical crossroads photo
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3085a75dd4.jpg

Found these 2 guys with 2000 SE's to cruise with and do hoodrat things. They are alright I guess.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...72d4d58d27.jpg

Favorite shot of the weekend. Amazing how a good camera and edit can make a haggard pile look like a show car
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8718462a78.jpg

Local friend ran into issues with his alternator on his 1.8 VVT swapped NA6, so I tore mine off after I loaded the car onto the trailer and let him borrow it in order to get home. I honestly haven't touched my car since as its been sitting in the garage. Laundry list of details to get through on it and ambition levels after the July extravaganza to get it ready for MATG has me a bit burnt out. We will see how progress for the rest of the season goes before the deep sleep of winter kicks in again.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eca43f51da.jpgMATG did a number on the car in terms of tire wear. Note right side. Before.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e10b54a983.jpgAfter. Quite positive my alignment is knocked out from street driving on pretty rough roads. Looks like it probably toed out on me. It's the end of the season, so I will be using up what's left of the tires this year and need to get new ones in the spring.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...edd9f64dcd.jpgWent to a little cruise in last week after finally getting the alternator tossed back on and the car washed for the first time this year. UV Ray's killing the anodizing on the singular vents, so I need to get those painted. I was a bit of the odd ball out being the only tuner there, then getting hate on for lexan and plywood but I'm used to it by now and take the comments in pride haha


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6d8a022af8.jpgClean car shots are rare


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5865190a1d.jpgRealized I haven't posted much on how the lights look lit up. Gives the car a pretty nice look.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c8e70f95ec.jpgGot the engine ready for work on the stand


Currently in a decision dilemma. Car could use seats, harnesses, and some aero updates and I could use a helmet and necksgen for next season if I intend on making it to big track stuff at Blackhawk Farms, Road America, AutoBahn, or Gingerman. OR I could start the K swap (at least the engine build part of it) and keep the car as a street car in terms of safety for another season. I haven't decided which to pull the trigger on first yet. Saving for a house means I cant do both this year. Hmmmm

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...53ffe3293a.jpgAs they say, once you go black, you can't go back. Gold vents were not looking good so took care of that issue last night


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...026582bc5b.jpgSo much better.

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I actually kinda liked em lol

I had a few people make similar comments. A couple wanted me to paint them red even which would've been obnoxious. It would've been one thing if they were a consistent shade of decent color gold, but they were all over the spectrum and looked like poo in person. For now, they can stay blended in.

in that case blend the rivets too, cause they now look like freckles lol

*edit: and fix the ht chipping. black 'er out proper :D

Rivets don't bother me enough to mess with seeing as the BFW wing and splitter have stainless hardware that isn't painted.

HT fix is a upcoming weekend project. It definitely looks like a pile of steaming poo as well, but still relatively better than the ancient soft top with scuffed plastic window that it replaced.

October 10th and the beginnings of the next round of revisions during the deep sleep of fall and winter in Wisconsin has begun. Poor weather and lack of late season events has provoked me to start a bit earlier than usual. Started with some basic disassembly. Going to improve upon some of the quick release methods I had designed on my v1.0 splitter. V1.0 splitter was made out of birch plywood and after a year and a half of daily driving 1.5" off the ground, it has finally met it's demise and started delaminating. RIP. The goal for v2.0 will be to be able to remove the whole splitter and bumper cover without tools. V1.0 currently requires (2) 7mm bolts and (6) 10mm bolts to be removed via tool for that removal to occur. Currently procuring materials to complete this.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fbe9464c9f.jpg
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Nearly a month from the last update so I figured it was time to show what's been going on.

Have had a fair number of inquiries in the last year or so from people asking where I got my tail lights from, or who did my retrofit headlights. I've been doing those sort of lighting projects on the side for friends and forum members on previous cars I owned since at least 2012. For reasons I can’t explain, I never decided to real make it an official side by advertising what I did on social media outlets. Finally decided that needed to change so I thought up a name, designed up a logo, got some decals made for the truck and miata, started posting content, and boom Left Lane Designs was born. The NB LED tail light post has already been a hit.

Feel free to check it out here:
FB: https://www.facebook.com/leftlanedesigns/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/leftlanedesigns/

As the saying goes, anything worth doing is worth overdoing sooo…

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4d83a6b996.jpg

In addition to custom lighting stuff, I’m hoping to market some miata specific aero goodies for very fair prices. As long as I'm designing it for my car, might as well make it easy to market to others. Work has been overly busy at my full-time job, but have been spending the little free time I have developing a barge board / flat floor design with the help from feedback on the thread on here dedicated to it in the aero section. Alumalite / aluminum construction for flat floor. I have an alumalite source and water jet source all set up along with packaging sources and plans. Without giving too much away on design until I prove it out, no welding required for install. It will be bolt on with standard tools and as flush mounted as can be done with off the shelf hardware. Other aero items will be released and designs are still in the works there.

Picked up my first load of alumalite. 2 sheets of 10mm 4'x8' and 1 sheet of 6mm 4'x8'

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fe3cd309ef.jpg

Got the decal on the truck because free advertising, why not?

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...50431c05a7.jpg

Got air dam material and these fancy little guys to help make the front bumper cover more of a quick release design

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a3ed2d32ee.jpg

Then finally tonight I had a scrap piece of birch plywood laying around that I used to start proving out the mounting concept. Seems like it will work great and sticks out approximately 8” from the pinch weld which matches up to my splitter and aligns well with the 10" wheels. Will be making full plywood prototype prior to final design being waterjet out of alumalite

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6a66db8d5e.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1cd91a1efc.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bd9c595f2c.jpg

And just because white alumalite is going to look good with the otherwise all black car, of course I have a solution for that as well

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...02b5163849.jpg

So almost coming on a 3 month update here, so figured I best inform all you strangers what's going on so you didn't think this build lost all hope during the blissful winter depression (ahem, I mean season).

First things first, saving for a first house is literally the lamest, most boring thing I've ever done in my life to date. Money I typically have to spend on "fun things" or "miata projects" is just banked paycheck after paycheck after paycheck. I'm in the home stretch (pun intended) all pre-approved and currently working with a realtor. Long term I know this is the right move, but I'll be so happy when this is over with.

Now for some positivity!

My job has treated me well and given me with the ability to travel to places I'd otherwise probably never go to. Got the chance to go to Shanghai China for a week in early November. Saw some crazy shit, ate some silly stuff (all of it delicious btw), got to ride on the 180mph bullet trains, went into the Shanghai tower which has a 40mph elevator, saw the fake clothes markets, bartered with people that didn't speak a lick of English, went to the Shanghai People's Square, went to the Yu Garden, too much to list.. one of the coolest travel experiences I've had, so if you have the chance to go. Just go. (FYI, if you have a google phone like i do, you're pretty much screwed as the great firewall of China renders your phone practically useless). Very brief pictures of China randomness below

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5567ddfaf0.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cf87fcc736.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...05ca480425.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...36d3dd9618.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c117570d08.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...85e9028a67.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a7a7d34b95.jpg

During the time between my Shanghai trip and Thanksgiving, Left Lane Designs started doing quite well given the effort put in. Slowly but steadily gaining followers on FB and IG and have sold multiple headlight sets as well as a handful of black LED NB miata tail lights like are on my car. We will see how things keep progressing as projects continue to develop.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ec303837ff.jpg

Thanksgiving rolled around and I did family stuff, ate turkey, watched football, gained weight, bought some black friday stuff (details below), you know.. the Murican dream.

A week or so after that, the GF and I decided to go on a 6 day vacation. Got a banging deal on flights, so decided to ditch the sad cold midwestern air in exchange for warm southern CA / southwestern AZ air. Stopped at the dunes, was tempted to take the rental car on them. Went swimming in the ocean and got weird looks from the locals whom all were in dry suits. Stopped at most touristy locations we could readily find. It was a nice relaxing break from work.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b15b9bae3c.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9f0e41cb45.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0f5f9d76b5.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...54b7d3d7d2.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d4e438b7f8.jpg

Before you know it then Christmas was knocking at our door. Insert more family stuff, more gifts, more food, more american gluttony and fatness. No regrets. Got a full set of huskyliner floor mats and a DU-HA tool organizer for the truck, so I was happier than a pig in mud.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8bf809f3d0.jpg

And then this leads us to January

Started working on some barge board and rear spat designs for the car. Still need to do final hard parts, but the cardboard templates are all done. No welding or major body alteration required is the goal here. Still trying to nail down final detail on how to pull that off, but its feasible.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9ba7d24598.jpg

Bought some GarageStar frame rails. They were the cheapest stainless rails on the market by a large margin. I wanted stainless for the anti-corrosion properties over mild steel rails that V8R offers. For the money saved over the other stainless manufacturer options, I can somewhat justify all the extra work i had to do, but overall i'm quite unimpressed with them. Let me explain why.

With the rail pushed all the way forward, the rear most hole in the rail wasn't even close to having the holes that I'd drill go into the cabin. I verified per their website photos that I wasn't crazy and somehow put them on backwards. I'd have checked install instructions, but they don't provide those via hard copy or online, which was slightly lack luster on their part.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eee931e3fa.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...79664722fa.jpg

Only solution here was to drill new holes further forward to mount into

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...97c6d6358b.jpg

From there, one of the bolts is located underneath the OEM front seat hump. I don't understand the logic behind locating a bolt here when you could easily move it 3" forward or backward and avoid this inconvenience of trying to wiggle a closed end wrench in there, but alas I got it done.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e1724f611c.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...51808d8299.jpg

Now that the GarageSh*t (ahem, **STAR) rails were on, my black friday purchase arrived at my door. Picked up an NLR 65" wing during the sales. Lead time was definitely a bit longer than expected, but no issues in regards to that seeing as I was in the off season anyways. Took off my BFW lexan setup, sold it to a local, and started bolting the NLR setup on.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...104a2fe7b8.jpg

Marked rain rail mount points and drilled

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...49006f9074.jpg

Started trimming the trunk lid to fit

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8dc13001a7.jpg

Probably 1.5 hours of messing around later.. perfect fitment! excited to see how it pans out for this upcoming season. Was pleasantly surprised to see that Johnny updated his standard endplate size to a 8"x10" instead of what I believe was a 6"x10". Besides the functional improvement, the general size of the endplate just looks more proportional on the car.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e40954a27e.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b1bf2f6cbf.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...db51ea6222.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0d197ababc.jpg

...and so far that's all for updates

I've got a hookup on a "less than minty" NB1 bumper cover to cut apart for air dam activities, so I can pick that up sometime soon, then I can work to finalize splitter size and mounting methods. Its all coming together pretty well.

In the final stages of getting the barge board and rear spat design complete. Transferred all my cardboard templates over to 6mm plywood and hdpe material. I used the plywood as a temporary material so I didn't accidentally screw up a more expensive piece of alumalite. I should have the plywood design with all the final hole locations transferred to alumalite this week. Really liking how this is taking shape after completely overthinking it and reading into just about every aero thread I could find for ideas.

I've managed to hit a couple neat objectives so far with the design. It goes to the inside edge of the frame rail per Gridlife and GTA rulebooks. It extends to just a tickle outside the track width of the car with my 10" wide Jongbloeds. It will work with all aftermarket frame rail kits to the best of my knowledge. It bolts tightly onto the OEM floor without the need for a welder. It does not require you to drill into your quarter panel at all so far (pending my wheel spat mounting works out when i receive some ordered materials this week). Given the idea works, the barge board / spat setup should be able to be completely removed in maybe 2-3 minutes by undoing 6 easy-to-reach bolts per side.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dd70acc0cc.jpg

In addition to the rear spat mounting materials, i've got some vinyl ordered to make it all cosmetically appealing. I also bought some locking aero catch latches to install on the hood because i'm not sick of putting holes in my street driven car yet. I've been looking into rad ducting and wanting to delete my OEM hood latch, so I guess these are the next logical step.

Last, and not least. I ended up selling my Morimoto MH1 retrofit headlights to a guy who was looking for a set. He traded me his stock lights for mine plus a fair amount of cash.. Just placed the order with TRS to update to their latest and greatest in LED automotive projectors. No relay wiring harnesses, no HID ballasts, no HID bulb warm up time, some newly released shrouds, and some fancy accents. Its gonna clean up some clutter in the engine bay a bit, drop a few pounds, be the cats meow, and really accent how the rest of the car will be looking!

Still using the same name from the old Cobalt forum days I see. Wanna meet up sometime? :makeout: :giggle:

Officially registered to go to the Kmiata Meetup at Gingerman May 11th, so now I have a hard deadline to get things done by. It'll be my first time as an official "track day bro", so I'm looking forward to experiencing the differences from AutoX first hand after nearly 2.5 years of owning the car.

One of the big items I need to look into is safety prior to the event. I've almost completely made it through the Race Seat thread, but still am struggling to decide the direction to go. I don't have the budget for the $700+ seats, but I'd like a fixed back name brand seat that I fit in and the shoulder bolsters don't interfere with the door panel. I had a Sparco EVO2 in the car with GarageStar rails if you go back a few pages in this build thread, but the shoulder bolsters on the seat were too wide to fit in the car even with pounding the trans tunnel in. It was a little narrow for me as well, so I sold it. Does anyone have a budget friendly (<$600) seat recommendation that fits in the car without this door card interference? That interference is not documented very well. I would like to stay away from Aluminum seats if possible as well due to the fact I will be daily driving this car in summer months as well as taking it on long trips to MATG (~10hrs). Swapping seats between street and track use is also unappealing.

The Sparco Sprints are an "easy button" if you want to stay away from aluminum seats, but they seem to be built for short torso folks, i.e. the seat backs aren't that high.
Disposable as well, since the covers aren't replaceable, but they are one solution.

Perhaps use one now for the driver's side and transition it over for passengers in the future?

I've looked at the sprints. They don't seem like a terrible option, but comfort is a concern there. I don't see a cheap steel framed seat being much more comfortable than an aluminum seat. At least with the aluminum seat, I save some weight. Still digging into the right option for me, but appreciate the recommendation.

I got the retrofit parts in the mail on Saturday, so work has started on v2.0 of the headlights. The shrouds just barely fit in the housings. Trimming them to fit took just over an hour alone. Got the demon eye led board mounted on the projector housing so the car should be looking pretty menacing on the track this season (for a slow Miata).
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c9ed7c0b64.png

You arent gonna find a seat that ticks all of your boxes without dropping a bit more coin. My personal favorite street/track seat is the sparco evo. But you already had them. And Im skinny so...

You can also look at the car make corn offerings. These are absolutely my favorite seats. Marrad also had nice seats.

The momo start is a FRP seat that is around 400 if all else fails.

I'm going to be running to a few local motorsports retailers to try out seats. I don't have a local sparco source, but I do have a local momo and omp source. Hoping something fits me well and measures out in the car decent.

I'm the meantime, retrofit v2.0 is turning out amazing.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e230d65071.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9ff48c4336.jpg

Can't say enough with how happy I am on how these are turning out. This is not a beginner retrofit to complete. Lots of shroud trimming to get to this stage and even then it just barely fits.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d2a47879ff.jpg

Looks really good! Totally worth the labor. I’m in the same boat currently. Lol

You need to look in to NB2 lights next

I actually did pull apart and paint the NB2 housings on Kmiata's white turbo NB2, so I'm familiar with them. Projector upgrades are a bit more of a hassle than it is worth on those lights due to the way Mazda designed the projector and the way it mounts to the housing, but LED accents and halo add-on's are always a pretty simple thing to do. Message me on the bookface if there's something you seriously may want.

Way too much overthinking appears to have paid off. Barge boards bolted right on very snug without a problem (and no welder required so woohoo!). They sit perfectly on the inside edge of the frame rails and will clear any aftermarket frame rail kit to the best of my knowledge. Still have the rear spat to finalize, then i'll tie them onto the rear portion of the barge boards. I wrapped the top half of the alumalite boards in a CF vinyl because i'm sick of everything on the car being gloss or semi-gloss black, and deep down inside I had a little F&F inspiration :riaa: I think it looks awesome on the car which is all that matters i guess. :flamesuiton:

Wrapped the pinch weld covers (also made of alumalite) in a gloss black vinyl to blend in with the car, then covered the visible cut edges in an edging for sick style points. Riveted it all together to keep some symmetry for my OCD, keep weight down, and add some rigidity to the alumalite near its cantilevered end and then you get the below results. They extend just outside my 10"/245 setup so i'm guessing if your running an 11"/275 setup on this it'll look great as well. I'll get some further away shots after my secret little design project for LLD is public next week. I have a feeling you guys will like it as it nicely blends function and form :)

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...04b634dde8.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b3170af668.jpg

CF vinyl wrap.. ha gggaaayyy!

Very cool progress. Interested to see how the rest of the aero turns out.

Looks good. Do you have a shot of what you did for the bolt points? And what is the width of each piece?

Cat's out of the bag!

I didn't really care for the looks of most of the fender vent options I've seen. Many look very hacked and unfinished. There's been 2 designs that have stood out to me. The Passey style and the Darby style. Passey style fenders involves cutting up 2 pairs of fenders to properly do. I've searched Craigslist long and far and couldn't find a black NB set to hack apart, so over time I lost hope on that option being budget friendly as I'd either be shipping a pair of black fenders or painting a locally found pair. The Darby style ones tie into the barge boards with a riveted in adapter piece which look great on her car, but my boards are more aggressive and stick out further so it wouldn't align in the same way. Due to her design intent, the gap between the fender and front door edge is also not as cosmetically appealing in my opinion.

So that leads me to what I came up with. I wanted to vent the air out of the fender, but wanted to keep it cosmetically pleasing to the eye. I like the OEM body lines of the NB and didn't want any awkward gaps or rough cuts. I borrowed the same design cues from many of the manufacturers of aftermarket hood vents, took some preliminary measurements, started designing away in Creo, made a paper template, double checked sizing, had my decal guy make a cutting template, found a waterjet business willing to work for me to jet them out of aluminum sheet, found a local powdercoat business willing to work for me, got the first prototype made, and got them riveted to the car last night. I have full capability to make more of these if anyone is interested.

I'll let the pictures do the talking, but I'm in love with the final product and how the aero package of the car is really starting to come together for this year.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...23f9e7e793.jpg

Car looks great, I really like the pinch weld covers on the barge boards. I may have to hit you up some day to have my nb2 headlights painted black.

I'm just across the WI/IL border, so you may be even able to drop them off and avoid shipping if you ever make it up this way!

Yeah I'm up that way all the time so that would be no problem. It would be cool to see your car too, not many people with Miatas around me that I really like.

Finding clean builds can be difficult in the Midwest. It seems that you only see high school owned, cheaply modded, hoonigan hero builds, something incredibly rusty, or a meticulously clean, elderly owned bone stock car around here. I've got a couple local friends with really nice street-able builds. We used to do a lot of Miller Park AutoX events, but now that the lot is shut down for automotive events as of this year, it will be a challenge to meet up with them as much.

I couldn't agree more, most of the guys I know have cars that fall into one of those categories. Once in a while I'll meet someone with a similar mindset as me but they're usually pretty far away and I haven't been able to keep in touch. Have you ever done/looked into any of the events at USAIR? I hear they can be pretty affordable and the track looks fun I've wanted to try out one of the events but can't really figure out what groups run there. I know Fox valley sports car club does/did but can't find much on dates/ registration. Seems like the drifting crowd has been taking over a lot of the event dates.

USAIR is probably one of the most fun events you can go to in Wisconsin on a budget. If you scroll back a bit in this thread you will see a video from last year there when I was up there. FVSCC normally releases information on events via facebook first then you see them pop up on motorsportsreg.com not long after. June 23 & Sept 22 are the event dates I'm seeing this year at USAIR so far.

Sweet, I'll have to follow the Facebook. I definitely want to get out to an event there.

GS has had the minimalist consoles on backorder forever. Managed to find one on a facebook partout, so the interior is looking somewhat finished (minus the carpet I still need to install)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ff7d36d7c5.jpg

OEM hardtop headliner was sagging really bad in the center. Tore if off and made a suede headliner. It's far from perfect, but for a first attempt at doing a project like this ever and the fact it cost me $5 in contact adhesive to do, I'll take it.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b5ac3dc7ad.jpg

Found a MP62 kit for sale locally.

To say I'm tempted to just buy a DIYPNP, clutch, this blower, and just send it on a super cheap budget is an understatement. Would give a similar power curve to a K24A2 for about $6k less. Long term its not what I want though so uncertainty is setting in. I'm thinking on it.