The Project
 

Disclaimer: I've debated whether to do this and I've finally decided to move my build thread to this forum.

A quick introduction.
Minnie (I know it's a dopey name) is a 1995 MX-5 which I purchased a few months ago. The car came mainly stock, with 209k miles on the clock. The only aftermarket parts are a set of wheels (not sure what they are) and an upgraded radio receiver and speakers.
I purchased the car as my project to basically learn to DIY and eventually enjoy some track HPDE events. For now I'm teaching my gf how to drive manual, while I'm adding mainly handling mods.
The final goal would be to turbo the car. I initially planned for an LS swap, but it would require way too much knowledge, money and time... and I might not have none of the above.

Ok cool but now, can you show us some pics?
Here is Minnie on day 1.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4443/...035f6983_c.jpg

The good

• Car drives, no overheating, passes SMOG
• Every job done is documented
• Tires in acceptable state (for a while)
• Transmission, clutch and timing belt were replaced fairly recently
• Fairly new soft top in great condition
• Working A/C and stereo

The bad

• Engine leak. While the engine bay was fairly clean, the underneath was a complete mess of fresh oil and old black grime
• Lots of vibrations. May be the tier alignment, the exhaust (see below) or something else
• Hood doesn't latch completely. This is mainly due to a minor accident the car had been into. Apparently this wasn't reported or wasn't enough to get the car a salvage title
• Front passenger fender is bent
• Brake pads are done, possibly the shocks may be done too (some clunking is coming from the rear shocks)
• Exhaust rusty, one hanger is missing, possibly making it wiggle too much
• A bunch of minor things: paint imperfections, some broken parts, aftermarket fuel cap not fitting under the lid

I don't have a specific format for this journal. I'll try to update this thread on what I've been working on and there won't be a particular order that I follow.

Journal update #1
 

After the first inspection, I was surprised with a big leak and a great amount of old gunk underneath the car, mostly towards the front of the car. Transmission, oil pan, cross-member, etc were covered in this sticky pitch black grime. So I decided to arm myself of elbow grease and start tackling this.

First step was to pressure wash the engine. I used an engine degreaser first and just dish soap after. Thinking back, I don't think I used the engine degreaser correctly but oh well, time to move to the bottom of the car.
I used a combination of heavy duty wipes, carb cleaner and plastic bristle brush. It took me two days, but fairly happy with the results.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4474/...bbb34696f9.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4507/...afbdc3ee6a.jpg

I then decided to swap the battery (no idea how old it was) and clean up the trunk. Again, here found a lot of dry mud... not really sure where that came from. Heavy duty wipes, shop towels and the usual elbow grease did the trick again.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4463/...a66199dfef.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4493/...7eb7ac221c.jpg

Next, I tackled swapping the spark plugs and spark plug wires with the recommended NGK setup. Not sure when the spark plugs were last changed but the car didn't seem to run fine, the engine was pretty jerky. This could have possibly been caused by pressure-washing the engine bay though. Anyway, this is where I had surprise no. 2... spark plug one had oil on its threads and in its well... All the spark plugs don't seem in great shape, either.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4478/...b8600b8acf.jpg

Journal update #1.1
 

Well, while I'm waiting for parts to come, I decided to do some more cleaning and prep.
This in-the-middle update is going to be titled: Fuel lid and undercoat.

There was a problem with my fuel lid and fuel tank cap. The previous owner installed an aftermarket cap that was way too tall to fit under the lid. Of course, instead of doing some researched they just decided to force close the lid. This bent the OEM lid and almost broke the open/close latch... and here's how I fixed it.

New (Used) OEM lid (Ebay) + OEM fuel tank cap (Amazon):

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4472/...3823686d0e.jpg

Then I moved under the car and recoated some parts with 3M Rubberized Undercoat.

Before:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4446/...fa1c69eb_n.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4502/...8cebff19_n.jpg

After:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4513/...1f6c9d0f_n.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4484/...760c911f_n.jpg

Btw... this makes me think of installing frame rails... mhm... https://forum.miata.net/vb/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

And now, more restoring. Found a bunch of the same dry mud in the trunk in the rear wheel wells https://forum.miata.net/vb/images/smilies/frown.gif

Before:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4486/...ac36ca94_n.jpg

After:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4454/...67c4b71d_n.jpg

Ok and now, a preview on what's coming next https://forum.miata.net/vb/images/smilies/wink.gif

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4472/...83f6d5b9c8.jpg

Nice. Welcome to the forum. I wish I had the patience to restore cars like this. I hate working on cars, because I always break something or I don't have the right tool when I am in a hurry lol.

Welcome.
Your car is in good shape considering the mileage.
Perks of living near the coast I suppose.

Thanks! I guess it's my being OCD. I'm just using the car as a playground for everything from body work to engine maintenance to parts upgrade.

Thanks! Yeah, I was surprised of the little amount of rust that I found. The messiest part was the 25 year of road grime and oil, which I attempted to clean. I still have to remove seats and carpet and see how the bottom of the car is doing rust-wise. I've gotten FM frame rails on "Brace for Monday", which I'll be using as an excuse to pull out the interior.

Smart idea to rustproof early!

Journal update #2
 

After bunch of elbow grease, I finally got to open the VC and change the CAS o'ring. But first things first...

Finding the leak
I did found where the leak is coming from... the transmission "weep hole":

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4444/...7857e3bd_n.jpg

Advanced troubleshooting skills helped me find the infamous leak. Paper towel to the rescue!!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4502/...f6774a44_n.jpg

Action item here will be to use some engine oil dye to identify if the oil is leaking from the engine or transmission. I already believe it's the engine as I've been told transmission oil would stink.
Awesome peeps pointed me to a possible cause: the engine rear seal. For this job, I'd have to pull the transmission off. Ok, so that ain't happening right now. At some point I'll get to change the clutch as pre-step for an eventual turbo, so for now I'll keep an eye on the oil level.

Cleaning the fenders
And now, moar elbow grease pics! :nuts:
I found again a hole bunch of mud in the front fenders. So I decided to take them off, clean-up and revive the undercoating. Here's the Before // After:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4448/...b976b7eb_n.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4487/...227e8461_n.jpg
I guess I might have to use more undercoating in case when I'll roll the fenders and take the plastic wheel well mud protection off.

VC and CAS
I decided to remove the VC cover, paint it lime green, change the gasket and the CAS o'ring since I was already there.
VC sanded and ready to be painted:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4445/...dcbac167ea.jpg

Changing the Cam sensor o'ring was a :bang: I struggled to remove the CAS from behind the engine and I could not put it back in. Well, until I found a post, on a different forum, that made everything easier.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4505/...8791ec6fe7.jpg

See the circled piece? Removing that made the re-installation a breeze. No more wiggling between the engine block and the firewall!

Here's Minnie with her new green VC
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4444/...98067cf6_z.jpg

Nice work. I’d be willing to bet the new valve cover gasket will keep oil out of the spark plug well.

If you have no history of a timing belt/water pump replacement, id also suggest doing that. Although your RMS may be leaking, oil doesn't travel forward. So if you had a lot of grime on the bottom of the oil pan, it's most likely cam seals and front main seal.

Fingers crossed!

I actually do have a Carfax that came with the car, which strangely stopped at some point, and I did get also all the receipts for work done to the car. Timing belt was not done so long ago that I should be worried; I checked it when I opened the VC and it seemed to be in good shape. I might tackle this in a few months, just to be on the safe side. I saw that TCM has some Timing belt and water pump kits with OEM components for a reasonable price.

Journal update #2.1
 

Radiator flush
Before changing the oil, I decided to go ahead and do a radiator flush, following one of the many online tutorials that use distilled water and a specific cleansing fluid. Is is effective? Time will tell.
I also took the opportunity to swap the stripped drain plug.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4452/...72d5e482_n.jpg
And this is what's waiting for me to reflush and add proper 50/50 coolant:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4515/...c643a66641.jpg
Canton Racing alumnum coolant overflow tank, because racecar.

Idle drop
Then, yes, I got hit by the infamous idle drop. Basically I would come to a stop and the engine RPMs would drop below 500 and even stall at times.
After some reading, I decided to change the air filter and clean up the MAF... see if that helped. I also used this time to replace the four bolts holding the filter box together with new ones, as the old ones weren't the same... (again, an OCD thing..)
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4457/...8e5b5d5662.jpg

Cleaning the MAF helped, although the RPM would stay still low. At least car would not stall. Tuning-up the idle helped bringing the idle up to the recommended 950 RPM, just below the 1k marker. Issue removed.

Journal update #3
 

Bluetooth and new speakers install.
Btw, this was a totally unnecessary upgrade, but my geeky side wanted me to plug my phone via Bluetooth. So, why not upgrade the speakers too, right?

Initial status:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4548/...b42333cb_n.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4575/...cd3c8163_n.jpg

Here's some new gear:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4561/...4d8da7d344.jpg

I first tackled the speaker installation, made sure they worked and then swapped the radio. Speakers were "relatively" easy to install except that I needed to re-drill holes on the doors.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4540/...0abf54c3_n.jpg

Being a 95, I had to pull the door panel off to do this job. So what better moment to grease the manual window hardware than this?
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4556/...de0c2091_n.jpg

Polk Audio DB652. 100 Watts RMS with a nice low frequency of 40Hz
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4571/...1d7b513214.jpg

Some work in progress for the new radio.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4562/...901c34ff_n.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4535/...bd8c1538_n.jpg

JVC KD-R88BT. 50 Watt RMS on 4x channels. Bluetooth support (yay).
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4581/...a0133fde23.jpg

Great start!!

Keep at it.

Quick update on what's going on, so this thread doesn't look dead. I've recently received a premium Timing Belt kit from Treasure Coast Miata with Water Pump, cam seals, front seal, Mazda competition engine mounts and fuel filter.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4572/...bbb029b056.jpg
Hopefully I won't mess anything up, doing the job. I suspect my FMS is leaking as I just found traces of fresh oil in the front of the oil pan.
On top of this, I'll be swapping the OEM radiator for an eBay aluminum one. Since at some point I'll go turbo, I figure I'll invest in the right radiator when the time comes, and for the time being just go eBay. I will also be swapping vacuum hoses with a set from Silicon Intakes (red), radiator and cooling system hoses (some of them look fairly dry).

Here is an easy mod I decided to go for since I was at it. Window wiper wash tank removal. Wow, much space.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4680/...230c3e06_z.jpg

Interim update. As I started removing things, I've been bitten by the bug of hey since I'm there let me also do ...
So together with all the previous stuff, I decided to paint my headers with "VHT Flame proof" and refresh the whole exhaust and gaskets there, since at least one bolt is missing the head and I'll have to drill it out or something.
Also, I hope my tagging game is strong :noes:

Btw... those water bypass hoses under the intake manifold are :bang:

Some Work In Progress pics.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4600/...11ac523f_z.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4633/...832df8cc_n.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4681/...3ac0267eff.jpg

Finally some over-due updates. After having taken apart lots of engine accessories, I've started cleaning and rebuilding the intake side of the engine.

Intake manifold was cleaned outside and inside, and repainted green to match the VC. Still waiting on some new gaskets to rebuild the T/B + IAC... hopefully coming soon.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4588/...84889d38bc.jpg
(before)
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4598/...52eeb165_n.jpg
(cleaning)
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4736/...a7d1739c40.jpg
(after)

Fuel rail was cleaned and repainted red. Replaced fuel hoses and hose clamps with some new Jegs fuel hose and clamps.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4731/...fba67c3dd1.jpg
(before)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4729/...fc7734abd7.jpg
(after)

Motor mounts swap and injector cleaning
 

I finally got to take enough parts out that I could easily access and swap the motor mounts. I picked a set of Mazda Competition motor mounts to swap the old ones that were in a bad shape:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4741/...898aaf499b.jpg
Some scrubbing and respraying later...
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4694/...d800feae10.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4650/...0319976417.jpg

Last week I also picked up a set of OEM injectors with almost half the mileage of mines (125k vs 210k)... not too bad considering I will be upgrading them in the future.
I used my home made cleaning kit to clean them up (the amazing Simple Green is missing from the pic).
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4602/...00ba371b3d.jpg

And changed the seals with some new ones coming from Amazon.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4717/...1991d3c3a6.jpg

Next on my list is: change the oil cooler gasket, do an oil filter reroute (waiting on the FM kit to arrive) and replace the water bypass hoses to the oil cooler with new OEM ones. That should be enough for me to start assembling the intake back, unless I keep going crazy and finding more potential stuff to swap... :noes:

RIP cluster gauge hood
 

Oil sender and gauge.
I decided that the stupid 94-97 on/off gauge wasn't really for me, luckily Craigslist brought the opportunity to get a used 90-93 sender and gauge.

A minute of silence for our cluster gauge hood that'll never see the car anymore.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4651/...96cb11dcfc.jpg

New oil pressure gauge going in!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4757/...9e296dafe1.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4617/...fb680e5b9f.jpg

The cluster will stay like that for a while anyway, as I have a set of new Revlimiter gauges ready to go in (at some point...)

To my surprise, I realized I did not take any pic of the sender... but there's nothing special about it. Just an old unit taken off from an older Miata.
After that, since I had the cluster off I went ahead and swapped the speedometer cable, which was making the speed indicator bounce around. Btw, it seems that new OEM Mazda cables have plastic in the connector on the gauge side, instead of metal.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4750/...27ab2afb_m.jpg

Flyin' Miata oil filter relocation kit
I changed the oil once, and it was enough to make me go ahead and get a relocation kit. In order,

• swapped the water bypass hoses that go through the oil cooler with an OEM kit from GoMiata
• changed oil cooler gasket
• mounted the FM filter relocation kit

Test fitting the relocation kit.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4750/...f254f050fb.jpg

Intake manifold goes back in!
This is the part I'm genuinely the happiest about. The intake manifold going back in. First though, I had to repair some connectors that broke when taking them off :doh: , a Denso injector connector and the CAS one.

Removed the manifold bracket which won't go back in.
I think it looks pretty good. I'm sure the green paint is at least +6HP.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4652/...6f7941d0_z.jpg

I am not sure what I'll be working next, probably replace the timing belt while there is still some good space in the engine bay, before I put the rest back in. We'll see. :bigtu:

Subscribing, that is looking really good. Keep up the good work.

Engine refresh is finally done
 

This post is overdue, but since my last update a lot of more work went in, coupled with vacations, waiting for parts, various struggle-buses, redo things multiple times and the likes.

Timing belt, AC/PS belt, alternator/WP belt
First I replaced all the belts. Together with that I replaced belts, cam seals, main front seal, pulleys and tensioner, water pump.

The Flyin' Miata timing belt toolkit came extremely useful, especially since it was my first time doing this job.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1776/...1f75beeb_n.jpg

Cam seals time!
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1815/...ba0818fa19.jpg
This turned out to be quite tricky when remounting the cam pulleys. Although I used the cross-wrench method, the cam pulleys wouldn't sit in the original position. :dunno: I had to wiggle the cams to make everything fit to the markings I had made. YouTube was very helpful in this process. This is also the part where I had some help to understand whether the belt was tensioned correctly.

Belt is mounted and new water pump in. I also decided to paint the water pipe black.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1762/...58719ca471.jpg

Things going back together...
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1804/...9147310cea.jpg

CXRacing eBay radiator
Time has come to get the radiator in, together with new black Samco silicone radiator hoses. Radiator and fans were purchased off eBay. Honestly I was positively impressed by the quality of the CXRacing radiator. I'll be getting a better radiator when I decide to make more power.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1761/...460a45f076.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1826/...c81f1cee19.jpg

Overflow tank: a sad discovery
Remember the previous picture showing off the Canton racing radiator? That was supposed to be a direct fit, well, it wasn't. The radiator holes weren't aligned with the holes in the car and it had clearance issues with the light. Shout out to Summit Racing that gave me a full refund even after 3 months since the purchase.

After a lot of thinking, I recently decided to pull the trigger on the Moroso overflow tank. Fit like a glove.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1771/...8d05561085.jpg

First engine startup: injector gas leak
I don't have any pictures of this, but after putting things back together I tried to start the engine. Fire extinguisher ready. The engine turned on, but the injector on cylinder #4 was leaking gasoline. I di f*** it up when putting the fuel rail and injectors back together and basically destroyed the injector. After swapping it with an old one few days later, I tried to start the engine again.

Second engine startup: massive leak from the back of the engine
Surprise! Coolant started to flow from the back of the engine. This is the moment where I began to get worried and suspected this leak was coming from the rear highly inaccessible water pipe, underneath the coil pack. Some investigation confirmed my suspicion. A nut was missing, letting coolant flow free (out of the engine).

Yes, from there...
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1810/...b6ace2577c.jpg
If you've ever tried to access that location with the engine in the car, you probably know already how fun that must have been. Couple that with old grime and the old gasket being melted in between the cap and the neck of the pipe, and you get the full picture. Patience, cursing, cutter and sandpaper were abundantly used to remove the old gasket.

Since I had to remove the coil pack, I took some time to clean it up and hack up the old grommet that disintegrated itself.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/900/4...3722b81f_n.jpg

New full exhaust
Last, but not least, I decided to swap that rusty piece of junk that's called exhaust. Got a pair of Jackson Racing headers, a Magnaflow high-flow cat and Fujitsubo cat-back. Pretty sure I've lost like 10HP, but the car sounds really good...
:skid:

Jackson Racing carb legal headers (putting the EGR pipe back together was a f***ing pain).
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1839/...4626778d9f.jpg

Fujitsubo tailpipe
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1796/...278ed855_z.jpg

Before and after

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1830/...f247161e_z.jpg
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1790/...ee99e5cc_z.jpg

Revlimiter gauges
 

Yesterday I took a break from engine and drivetrain rebuilds, to finally install a set of Revlimiter gauges that I purchased back in November as a Black Friday deal.
The manufacturing of these gauges is top notch. The whole process is fairly easy and deeply documented. Putting the needles back was likely the part that took the most time.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1821/...3cdb1596_m.jpg https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1818/...de0963d7_m.jpg

And here's the new gauges
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1770/...0e50d6ee29.jpg

Which guages are those? I may need a set for that 80's/90's futuristic look (if I get them in green they will look amazing for that).

They are called FC, backed by LED: Version FC NA Miata gauge set | revlimiter.net Store - if you switch to LED make sure you test the cluster gauge lighting up before mounting the new gauges on. LEDs have polarity and you might find yourself having to take them off and rotate to be able to light up (the doc explains that well). Good luck!

Great progress! Nice job chasing down all the leaks first, I know how much of a struggle that can be.

I noticed in one of your earlier posts you had a quickjack, how do you like it? The more work I do on my car the more tempted I am to pull the trigger on one.

Recap of engine refresh
 

I decided to put a brain-dump of everything I've done so far, related to the engine. Mostly to document these past five months I've spent working on this car.

• New sealed battery (might swap for vented one at some point)
• New VC gasket and CAS o'ring
• New OEM heater hoses and new OEM water by-pass hoses
• Flyin' Miata oil filter relocation kit
• Swapped oil pressure sender and gauge with pre-94 one
• New OEM oil drain plug installed
• CXRacing "Ebay" radiator and low profile fans, new Samco silicone radiator hoses and Moroso aluminum overflow tank.
• Installed new water pump and gaskets, new thermostat and o'ring, new gasket on water neck-pipe in the back of the engine.
• New CAS and injector connectors (broken while unplugging them out)
• Swapped injectors with lower mileage ones; injectors were cleaned and rebuilt (new grommets)
• New fuel filter and fuel filter hoses
• New intake air filter
• Removed and cleaned throttle body, IAC valve and intake manifold (this solved the idle-drop issue). Installed new gaskets for intake manifold, throttle body and IAC valve.
• New OEM 323 GTX/Turbo PCV valve and PCV valve hose
• Swapped stock exhaust with Jackson Racing headers, Magnaflow high-flow cat, Fujitsubo cat-back.
• Installed new exhaust gasket and hangers. Installed new exhaust studs and bolts.
• Installed new Mazdaspeed motor mounts
• New timing belt, alternator and AC/PS drive belts, camshaft seals and front main seal
• New woodruff key (old one had been installed on the wrong side and I had stripped it trying to remove it)
• New NGK spark plugs and spark plug wires
• All new red vacuum lines from Siliconeintakes
• Removed window washer bottle and lines (it's California)
• New OEM speedometer cable
• Swapped all hose clamps with adjustable ones (used Oetiker hose clamps for water cooling)
• Painted VC and intake manifold green. Painted front water neck-pipe black.
• Lots of sanding, cleaning and anti-seize. Removed rust from all the bolts and nuts used.
• Torqued (almost all) bolts and nuts to torque spec and marked them with oil-based paint marker to easily spot if anything comes loose

I guess that's it. I'll edit in case I remember more.

The cheap visual mod #1: carbon fiber wrap
 

Decided to take a break from tinkering with the engine and do some interior/exterior mods. I decided to paint the central tunnel and tombstone blue and do some wrapping experiments with carbon fiber wrap.
Since I fu**ed up the interior painting job - and the plastic - I'll write up some mediocre success with carbon fiber wrapping the fuel tank and the retractable headlight covers.

Disclaimer: please refrain from the this looks ricey type of comments. I am very aware of it. I am not posting about it because I think it looks cool. It was just my attempt at experimenting with wrapping car parts. This car it my project car and anything I do is just for fun and learn. :likecat:

Ok, let's start. The original idea was to actually wrap some interior parts. When I tried to wrap the NA OEM cupholder I suddenly realized what an impossible job for my skill that was. Props to whoever is able to do something like that, professional or amateur :bowdown:
So I started looking for something of an easier shape... the fuel tank lid was my next target. It turned out to be way easier doing that.

The job isn't perfect by any means, but I'm quite happy with the result to be my first time wrapping anything really:
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1764/...3fbb3be394.jpg

Next I decided to challenge myself and attempt to wrap a pair of headlight lids I had previously purchased as spare parts.
Lids sanded and primed.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/847/2...5c72346fd7.jpg

My original goal was to paint them black, same as the car as they were originally red and painted gray from the previous owner. That did not turn out great as even with a gloss clear coat the black still looked flat compared to the car's paint.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1769/...e59f44d762.jpg

So wrapping it is!
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1764/...b0fff9c7ae.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/842/4...481f4c90_n.jpg

Job turned out decent and I'm quite happy with the result.
Lesson learned: I will not do a car wrapping for a job.

Front frame refactor
 

The Miata had previously been in a front fender bender. In fact, this was its initial status:
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1888/...75449992_c.jpg

Since I removed the front bumper for some refactoring as well, I decided to take care of this and its rust:
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1845/...2e5c9d8b_c.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1861/...74872b07_c.jpg

Some sanding and repainting after
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1860/...6310a491_c.jpg

And the job finished
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1884/...ec1c3b8d_c.jpg

Aerocatch hood latches
 

Side note: It happened that I bought two more Miatas (2001, yeah I love Miatas) and basically not worked on my "project" for a while, so I'm trying to catch up in here with some old work I did before I get back into it.

aka: No more hood opener!
Hood latches have somehow always gotten my interest. Be it the easy access to the engine bay or the because racecar look. So, together with the fact that the OEM latch hook was in bad shape because of an infamous "fender bender" the previous owners had gifted to me, I pulled the trigger on cutting the hood and installing Aerocatch latches.
Disclaimer: it was my first time (like almost always with this project) that I was doing this type of installation. If I had to do it again, I would cut the under parts of the hood before measuring where to put the latches... as the final adjustment took a lot of wiggling and modifications to make the pins fit the latch :hsugh: So, here we go:

Step 1: taking measurements... such engineering, much precision
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1873/...c6f2da34_c.jpg

Step 2: cutting & coating (e.g. rust prevention)
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1852/...3e93e2f496.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1894/...0580711939.jpg

Step 3: installing the hood pins
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1854/...a2404cb636.jpg
Again, this step was the most challenging because of the f*ed up measurements I initially took... nonetheless I made it work by drilling the holes in which the pins sit and using washers to move the pins around to mate with the hood. It worked but took way too long.

Here's some random bonus pics from cleaning and refactoring the front bumper.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1886/...bf97254c57.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1851/...127dae2c74.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1881/...fd10819a24.jpg

Suspension work
 

New suspensions are in. I decided to throw some more money away and went for the following:

• MeisterR ZetaCRD coilovers
• Extended Lower Ball Joints
• Racing Beat front (tubular) and rear sway bars
• 949 Racing adjustable toe links
• Konig Dial-In gloss black 15x8

Before the install:
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1945/...8ae5253492.jpg
I have to say that so far the installation and initial setup was quite easy. The MeisterR are ready to go and the initial height would be a good start for anybody wanting to just drop the car. I don't have an opinion on how they handle yet because I am still waiting to get an alignment. I actually installed the ELBJ because I want to try to get as close as possible to the 949 Racing Dual Duty one. Some work travel and other delays have stopped me from finalizing this... hopefully soon.

Out with the old, in with the new:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4908/...6db1977a30.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4855/...beabd38a36.jpg

One mistake I had made was to start lowering the car to get a 4.50'' at the pinch weld in front and 4.75'' in the rear... it goes without saying that the suspensions did settle and found the car way lower than I wanted. It took a lot of QuickJack action to get it to where I wanted... here's a pic at "stock" height:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4904/...2b71cf532c.jpg

Next (days later) I got to install the Sway bars. I went with the recommended setup found on 949 Racing. Did I say how much I love their site, articles, etc on Miata? [If any of you guys happen to read this, thank you, you rock :bigtu: ]
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4826/...16d05fa63a.jpg

And finally the links:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4828/...9809e3448a.jpg

When the job is done..
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4828/...cd0988126c.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4904/...1cc19d3308.jpg

Bonus points if you guess the car next to it :wavey: