joekitch

This is specifically about the trunk lid which seems even rarer, but it's really strange how difficult it seems to be find black panels locally. Of course there are a bunch on ebay for $300 with $250 shipping (closest one is in Virginia), i'm talking about local stuff.
It's just odd, NB panels in general are hard to find but black specifically just doesn't exist. i find more green parts than black for crying out loud (although BRG is a great color, mind you)
Craigslist has nothing
car-part has nothing, the closest one is 175 miles away
the new england miata facebook page has nothing as well
and I've been looking for six months

the reason i'm looking for one is the trunk lid has a nice dent on the rear vertical part. Getting that straight up dent fixed will probably cost more than those ebay trunks.

am i missing something here? are there perhaps tons of junkyards that aren't on car-part that i'd need to call all of them up individually? Was the black NB just not a color choice in the northeast?

chicksdigmiatas

iTrader: (11)

Because I hardly ever see black NBs.

There are a total of 10k brilliant black NBs out there, about 50% of which were produced in 99. Only about 10% of NBs were black. Given the fact they were mostly sold in 99, I would say a fair amount of them are off the road. Emerald was the most popular color. I never knew this link existed until I googled it.

https://www.miata.net/faq/production.html

joekitch

oh wow that's unfortunate.
of course that brings up the possibility of getting a non-black trunk professionally vinyl wrapped, possibly dark carbon fiber so i don't have to worry about paint matching?

chicksdigmiatas

iTrader: (11)

Vinyl wrap it yourself. I got a smurf blue aluminum hood for a steal, and I spent about $30 on vinyl from ebay. I would recommend using avery though. It costs more but is easier to work with.

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

edit for moar English funny stuff.

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

Is black paint hard to come by too? gherkins, torches, plain beans for breakfast and no black paint. you guys are funny over there.

"I need to go to the loo so I can wee, but I cant get up from the telli while im eating this giant gherkin." " If this flat was a we bit larger I wouldn't have to smell **** from my big lump of a cat, ******" hell!." did I get all that right?!

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

All miata body panels are semi hard to find and expensive because of spec miata. I know of several spec miata drivers who buy up all the fenders, hoods, and trunks that they can for cheap whenever they see them online.

dr_boone

iTrader: (1)

He said New England not England

joekitch

the NB trunk has some funky compound curves that would be hell to wrap. the NA trunk is far simpler

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

well crap.

chicksdigmiatas

iTrader: (11)

So does the NA hood, it still wouldn't be bad. Not as easy as a NA trunk for sure, but doable none the less. I've done the center panels before, now those were the pain. It is worth noting the only way I learned was $40 in cheap ebay vinyl and youtube videos. If you screw it up, you just peel it off and start over. It is like learning anything. You don't move up to the good stuff until you can manage the lower end stuff. Now I vinyl wrap the **** out of anything I want (if I have the patience).

Like, you don't start welding by trying to fab up a subframe or stainless parts. I started with BOV flanges and repairing broken cross members. Fixing the hinges on my smoker, then paid $300 for a local community college welding class. Then I got confident enough to make intercooler pipes, and I am going to make a better downpipe next.


It sucks rustoleum black doesn't match up with brilliant black (it isn't as brilliant, and looks really dark gray next to it) or that would be a easy/cheap option. Still, that duplicolor spray may match up, and I am sure you can buy a spray can or two of correct paint off fleabay or something.

joekitch

i would kill for a timelapse video of someone wrapping the nb trunk, just to get a general idea of technique.
a 5ft by 3ft piece of avery wrap, which should be enough for the trunk, is $60 on amazon