thanks guys. as to the cause of the fire, an electrical short behind the dash caused the fire to start. once it hit the gas tank it was all she wrote.

so i've got an update on project miata:

you guys won't believe this. i went to pick up the police report for the car fire. WOW. it couldn't be more wrong. check it out.



for starters, i'm quite obviously not a woman.

 

I know it was a short, but they occur for a reason. You don't just see random miata's busting into flames from dash shorts, and you mentioned you wanted to kill the PO, which made me wonder if you knew how the short occurred.

 

i THINK it might have been caused by his craptastic install of an aftermarket stereo as i had just traced out all the wires in the factory harness looking for an ignition problem that turned out to be the igniter. but i have no proof

 

that sucks man hope you get it cleared up

 

got police report fixed meeting with the insurance guys tomorrow. hoping to have a check before the week is out so i can spend the weekend driving all over the country to find the next project miata.

 

so two months later i finally settle things up with my insurance company. took much longer than expected on account of the aftermarket goodies and all the "restoration work" (those were the insurance companies words not mine, i was just fixing broken things) in the end they cut me a check for a touch over seven grand, for my busted old wore out girls car.

they ended up pricing the car for the fully restored NADA value, minus $400 salvage value since i kept the burnt ruins of the car. and that same afternoon i replaced project miata with project maita 2.0, a red 1990, which cost me a whole whopping 2 grand with the hard top. so that leaves me when a pile of cash to start fixing the laundry list of things wrong with this car. (though its not near the list that needed to be fixed on the original project miata)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater


(more pics to follow trying to fix some issues with the site currently before i can upload them)

anyway so question for all you hard top owners. omg they get HOT. i don't mean it gets a tad warm in there. i mean "holy crap my bald head is going to blister being so damned close to the thing" hot. now granted it was 110 outside today in the wonderful summer heat wave we are having in texas, but there's no way i can live with a hard top if i can't find a way to cool it down. there was 30 degrees diff in temp between 4 inches from the top and level with the ac vents. unacceptable.

so i guess in short what to you do to insulate a hardtop?

 

well if you cant live with it will you sell it and ship as well just checking

 

@nuroski got it fixed with a little diy liner. i'll be posting the step by step up in a few days. worked like a charm.

anyway it's time to start the suspension build up for project miata 2.0. my goal is a capable budget build that will be mainly used as a street rod but will see the occasional track day. this is what i've come up with.

first order is coming from flyin' miata


I'll be picking up the following from Track Dog Racing Tomorrow as well.



V8 Roadster Order



Parts Geeks Order



So the total will be $1618.17


you guys can read along as see how i came up with this set up over on the m.net.

will also be picking up zerk fittings to add when i install the bushings so i can grease them as needed. SAY NO TO SQUEAKS


I already have the fm butterfly brace and frame rails as well as a strut tower bar. i'm also going to be fabbing up a set of door bars and i'm thinking about either purchasing or making a set of frog arms.


so what do you guys think? solid budget build, or am i just pissing up a rope?

 

interesting story. Thanks for sharing and glad you are okay. Gook luck with the new project.

 

More build pics are up! Finally getting around to posting all the pics from the suspension and brake build up. So here's first round of the pics. These are a step by step on removing Project Miata's brakes. Look how gnarly that under carriage is! I'm so glad Project Miata 2.0 is no where near that nasty.



Project Miata: Removing the Brakes

 

Salvaging the Harddog Duce Roll Bar from the crispy car.


Project Miata: Salvaging the Harddog Duce Roll Bar

 

If you want a balla build post your parts polls here on miataturbo.net instead miata.net. I would have spent that money on a balla set of shocks instead of "restoring" the factory bushings.

 

factory bushing were turning to powder. they HAD to be replaced. other wish i'd have gone for better shocks.

 

so been meaning to get this posted for a while now. but here's the build pics from us tearing down the old suspension. :thumbs:



Project Maita: Suspension Tear Down

i should have the rest of the pics edited and on the site later today. (you know the ones with all the hot new suspension components )

 

Alright got the old bushings pressed out, and the new prothane bushings installed with zerk fittings to keep everything nice a squeak free. check the link below to see the step by step



Project Miata: Prothane Poly Bushing Install

 

and with this our control arm restoration is complete. next time we'll see if we can put humpty dumpty back together agian.


V8 Roadsters Rebuildable Upper Ball Joint Installation