I got em Friday. Thanks, Travis!

Check your hardward bags, I had one person who's bag got ripped and said they came up short. I will cut checks for missing fasteners, as they really are a cheap piece that would be 1/4 the cost for you to pickup vs me buy. I don't know what happened there, but we counted about 2,200 pieces of hardware there may have been some mistakes as well. That bean counting is a serious task of concentration.

I also did not include the 2 #10 self tapping screws. I just flat out forgot them and I appologize. So if you are going to utilize the brake brackets you'll have to pick those up.

I did notice the zip lock bag was torn open. I will have to check to see if I am missing any. Some advice, maybe next time duct tape the bag of hardware so it doesn't easily get torn up.

My bag was good. The rails look great!

I may install them before I go back to Afghanistan... But I think I just want to enjoy my car for my last few days.

They look great!
Thanks Travis

I got mine too - thanks Travis!

My bag didn't break, but it did feel a little thin. Maybe double bag it (like you would with some chick you just met at the bar or something).

mine had the trojan ultra thin "nut" bag also!.....it had a hole in it and all the bolts and washers were loose in the box....but no nut(s)......

Otherwise they look really good...best deal in town regardless of the thin "nut" bag

Thanks again Travis for taking over on the bargin frame rails

I.....haven't.....got.....mine......yet :(

TravisR, although the bag had a hole in it and the nuts n bolts were loose in the box, I didn't have anything missing. Nice! Thanks again.

I got all my nuts, but there is a screw loose somewhere(other than personally). Don't worry about it.

Sweet! I got mine in. Nice piece.

-AK

Just called and my warehouse on the US side got it on my behalf yesterday.

So I'm going pick it up tomorrow, top down, 82°F.

I don't know if I will be able not to install it when I come back.

:yippee:

I knew that today was the day the rails have arrived when I stepped out of the elevator on my floor. Excitement grew as I followed the trail of scattered hardware back to my door, feeling like a modern day Hansel and Gretel. Hunched over I followed the trail collecting each nut, bolt, but most often a washer. Cradling a carcass of thin, partially disintegrated cardboard, I crossed the threshold of my apartment. Tingling with anticipation I removed the flimsy shrouding to discover what looked like a torn prophylactic holding a few bolts, other hardware scattered throughout. Still happy I picked up a hefty chunk of metal only to discovered that a corner is severely bent! And not a a little bit bent through shipping, but bent like USPS launched it into fucking space and still superheated from reentry the fucking thing crashed down to earth.
WTF!

Calm down guys, they're only 99% effective, so hopefully he's sold over 100 pieces which have no problems.

I might suggest sliding the washers on the bolts, through the holes, and spinning the nuts on. It's an easy visual that you have all the hardware, and it's better than a zip-loc condom for keeping shit in place. A strip of duct tape will keep them from vibrating off during shipping. At least as good as a plastic baggie would.

I can pick up a few missing washers, but I don't have the tools to straighten out this gauge of stainless.

How in the hell did they bend a piece of stainless thats supposed to reinforce the frame of your car... Can you send me pictures?

Pictures sent. Drama aside, it looks like the bend was a result of cutting.

Wows, that is insane. Good description of your experience though!

Other than the ziplock bag opened by the attack of one rail that went through it, I am only missing one washer. The rails are perfect. I was surprised I wasn't missing that much bolts and stuff, because the box was open on one end by an inch.

A nice piece of work indeed.
Can't wait to install it, but now I'm moving so it ain't the time, and it's hot as hell in the garage.

My suggestion:
Tape the ziplock on a rail with masking tape (no glue residue from transparent tape).
They put the box "stand up" in their trucks. Since the bag is loose, it ends up at the bottom and the rail tears it appart.

Great experience with you Travis.

Agreed I was along for the ride. It was damaged in shipping amazingly enough. Future recievers of nuts, will have superthick ziplock bags for extra protection and some tape to keep things in place. :giggle:

Thanks!!

I have the worst luck with group buys. When it comes to shipping I need a sticker that says I'm special. :laugh:

Like the Olympics ;). I will try to hammer the corner straight Travis, see what happens. I just assumed that it was a manufacturing defect, as I could not figure out how they could bend it in transit. Maybe USPS tried to feed it through the mail sorter?

I have absolutely no idea how they bent that. I tried to bend mine. At a 3 foot drop right on the corner it was bent about 1/4 as much as yours. I would think they would of had to drop it from 6 foot and right on the corner to get that like your was bent up. Really it doesn't effect function, but its a shame it was damaged in transit.

The funny thing is that I actually joked with the lady when she asked me if I wanted insurance. I told her those were solid stainless steel, and if you damaged one of those you better look at what damaged it first. I tempted fate.

I would like to hear if anyone installed theirs yet.

How long did it take you? How is it now?

I should be able to tackle the task pretty soon.

No problem Travis. I straightened it out using two big pliers. Looking to install this weekend. Is there a link to instructions on installation?

can you use these rails as a jacking point to lift the whole side of the car up?

Install
 

Day off tomorrow so I am going to toss mine on, I could have sworn that I saw a thread on the install a while back but havent been able to find it since. anybody have a link....its not rocket science either way

when phil installed his he said that the passenger side was a little harder since u have to move teh fuel lines and such./

Got mine Travis....everything there, great looking pieces. Can't wait to get them installed. Thanks!

I'm going through the install process right now.

Basic instructions:

Take the seats out, the vinyl on the panel next to the door on the floor and the wall. Remove necessary weather seals to pick carpet up. Jack brace up, drill holes while someone holds the carpet up. Drop the hex caps in from the top while washering and nutting the bottom.

It takes some time, I probably spent a couple hours on it last night and plan to finish it up today. I also had significant main rail damage from someone jacking it up using the frame rail so this made things a little more complicated.

Just a couple of tips for idiots like me who might not think of it:

1. Bolt down the first hold drilled so that the brace won't move around as you drill the other holes. I had to 'widen' a couple of holes because of not doing this.

2. The hardware is top notch stainless. Passed the magnet test. But I used a bit of blue threadlocker to make sure the nuts don't back out.

3. I don't have sheet metal screws, but will be going to pick up a couple #10 for the hard line brackets, which will need a bit of reshaping.

4. Wear eye-pro and gloves for the upward drilling.

5. Get latex or nitrile gloves for the underbody spray if you use it. That way you don't need to clean your skin with acetone after.

I would have loved to have had a lift and a small friend to hold the bolts from the top. It just took a bit longer on jackstands with arms reaching around.

Observations: Excellent product. Simple, but very well executed from materials to machining. I had to do a bit of 5lb mallet straigtening on the factory rails to get them to fit under the braces. Even after, it was tight. I didn't get them to sit flush before torquing down, and there was a bit of deflecting on the brace flanges as I torqued. After driving last night and this morning however, they have flattened out nicely. The brace material is substantially harder and stiffer than the sheetmetal.

The suspension appears to be working harder now, as smaller bumps are more apparent. I didn't have much flex going over train tracks or speed bumps to begin with, but the hardtop doesn't complain as much backing out of the driveway.

couple of crappy photos from this morning.

You installed the frame rails on an NSX?

Yay, I've been quoted (gopeed81)!

Dammit. Wrong photo. Will fix it when I get home. The nsx didn't get the rails.

Rails made a massive improvement! Really happy with the outcome of the part... Kind of weird when the same vendor thats sells the part says that... ;)

so Travis, do you know if you can use them as a jacking point?

Any thoughts on welding them in?

I definitely wouldn't use a bottle jack. If you had a wide lift point jack then it would probably be ok.

Stainless to mild steel could be a challenge. Not impossible though.

yeah I was thinking about more of a floor jack type thing.

I just did on mine. No bending/warping. That stainless is pretty stout.

pics or it didn't happen!

I finally installed the rails today !! :yippee:

I followed the FM instructions for the equivalent product, and it went well.

Here are some pictures of the install:

Attachment 204782

The stock rails were damaged, so I knocked them back into place with a hammer, and to cover all scratches from these hits and scratches from past bottom-outs; I put some gravel guard before putting the BE rails.

Ready to rock this up
Attachment 204783

Seats, seat belt lower bolts and door sills removed (you don't need a picture for that)

Then it's pretty straight forward. I used a mallet to push them in place and the hammer to move them as far forward as possible.

Voilà !
Attachment 204784

A look of the inside, underneath the carpet.
Attachment 204785

For those with lowered Miata, I measured a loss of 6.2mm (¼") of clearance.
Attachment 204786

I hammered the front part to smoothen the front edge in case I (and probably will) bottom out somewhere. Obviously, the outter corner didn't move much under my hammer attacks.
Attachment 204787

I thought that the stock line bracket would remove some more clearance if I used metal screws as suggested.

Instead, I removed the line retainers from the two brackets, and just snapped the lines in it; like the other retainers.

Attachment 204788

Attachment 204789

Then I moved the lines as far up, one line rubbing on the bolts. That made all the retainers stuck to the rail, so the lines aren't going anywhere.

I saw on FM instructions' photos that there was 4 lines, so my trick wouldn't work on these. On mine, NB with returnless fuel system, I had only 3 lines so that made just enough space for the bolts to go between 2 lines.

Attachment 204790

Thanks again Travis :bigtu:

:fawk:

awesome hahaha

By the way I only have 2 unspoken for sets, and don't currently have new ones coming in yet. So if you want them, you should buy them soon before they are gone.

U mean CoPs or Frame Rails?

The Frame Rails, I wish I had the COP systems together...