From NJ, noob to Miatas
 

Hi-
I'm 37, recently back in NJ, and I work in rapid prototyping (3d printers).

I have a CRG TAG kart right now, but I barely get to run it--- so I just bought my first Miata, hoping to make it a bit of an occasional track car. Something that I can enjoy on the road inbetween track days.

http://rsjparts.com/chris/90%20mazda/90miata001.jpg

It's an 86k mile, bog-stock 1990 stripper model. Just what I wanted. No power anything, and no crazy previous owners.

All I've gotten to do so far was to put synthetic in the rear and the trans, remove the tow hooks, foamectomy, and repair the smashed radio console (botched cassette deck install).



In the past, I've been big into VW's. Since everybody just looks at pics anyway, here's a bunch of my current/ past rides:

1965 type 1, complete resto
http://rsjparts.com/chris/65/dougs003.jpg

1963 chopped, channeled, lengthend, and narrowed! (that's not me sitting in the car, I'm the dude in the back with the beer)
http://rsjparts.com/chris/63/chop-91.jpg

it was my daily driver for a while when I lived in AZ (nothing about that car would fly here in NJ...)
http://rsjparts.com/chris/63/classic-16.jpg

1958 Ragtop w/B&M blower
http://rsjparts.com/chris/58/tallandshort2.jpg

1981 Rabbit Pickup (with a Benetton F1 body sitting on the bed!)
http://rsjparts.com/chris/81/81_benetton_1.jpg

My Schoolbus/moving-to-AZ vehicle
http://rsjparts.com/chris/bus/bus24.jpg

2003 CRG Tag kart
http://rsjparts.com/chris/kart/kart-07.jpg

The current daily 1990 300TE
http://rsjparts.com/chris/90%20300TE/graf5.jpg


Glad to be a new member here, I've used this screenname on many forums such as VW Vortex, The Samba, GRM, iRacing, etc... so I may 'know' a few of you already.

Well goddamn, welcome!!! That chopped/channeled VW is sick!!

Nice find on that very clean '90. How much did you pick it up for? Did you find it in NJ or AZ? Normally they are pretty beat up after that long in our winters but maybe the PO kept it in a garage in the winter, especially with that low mileage. Where in NJ are you located?

rapid prototyping you say? what are the costs involved in designing something from scratch?

Wow. Nice set of cars. I personally like the Bus. Always wanted one.

Welcome to the forums.

Yeah that bus is pretty sweet as well. haha.

OP, what printers do you deal with? I run a dimension 3D printer at work, fun stuff.
I made a gage mount for my subaru when no one was looking :)
http://www.inoneear.com/outtheother/...usterobxt2.jpg

http://www.inoneear.com/outtheother/...usterobxt6.jpg

LOL @ Turbo Tim-
I'm probably one of your service reps, I work for Cimquest as part of the uPrint/Dimension/Fortus team. We do all the sales/ support for the tri-state area for Stratasys, Solidworks and Mastercam. Where do you work?

The 90 was bought for what I thought was a 'fair' price. It was bought on Craigslist by a friend for $1400 with a non-op clutch. He replaced the Slave cyl (that wasn't the issue) then the master cyl (bingo!) and he cleaned it up for resale. The car has been garage kept all it's life, but was used to go back and forth to horse stables... it was pretty damn dirty. I ended up purchasing it for $2k from him. He made a few hundred and I got a clean, unmolested car.

I just took it thru inspection during my lunchbreak with no issues.

If you're interested in the 'chop, here's the build thread from a few years back: http://www.volksrods.com/forum/showthread.php?p=53934

It was pretty sad to see how much I spent on the 'pretty' 65, and how much more attention that the 'chop got. I think the new owner is a pinstriper in Phoenix-- it's his daily, but it has windows and a roof now.

I work for Jesel Valvetrain in Lakewood NJ. We get our dimension & solidworks maintainence via Prism. I know we aren't too happy with the dimension support. I'll leave it at that. PM me any info you can and I'll look into your company :)

We also use mastercam and gibbscam, not sure who that is through as I don't personally use either of those.

I just checked your sig, you're at Jessel? I think you guys are in an area where there are other vendors like Prism. So maybe we're not your vendor... but we could be. :naughty:

The guy I bought the car from works here, too. He said he recognizes your name from 'the mob'.

foiled by 2 mins.

I can't PM yet. Gotta burn up the noob posts.

welcome to our nasty state.

here is our nj based miata group. http://mobbius.com/mobs/1
i hope to see you around.....if you ever plan on selling the Kart, hit me up first.

Welcome to here. Interesting collection there. Nice clean Miata also.

Thanks Racer-
I actually grew up here. I just left for AZ to get away for a bit and play with some cars. We had a son, so it was time to come back to where the family was.

As for the CRG kart, we should talk. I have had the kart for a little longer than 3 years, but I've only taken it out for 2 practice days- one at NJMP and one at E-town. I just don't think I have the time to dedicate to it.
Now that I have a new project, I was considering taking the whole setup and bringing it to Carslile at the end of May to sell.
Kart, 1 man folding stand, mychron 4 2t, HF folding trailer, vertical stand, suit, covers, lubes, gears, torsion bars, etc... everything in 1 shot.

Those are some sweet ass bugs! I had a 74 super beetle as my first ride. Sold it 12 years ago and still kick myself in the ass.

http://rsjparts.com/chris/90%20mazda/90miata006.jpg

Pulled the fenders this week to clean the nastyness on the bottom, I was surprised on how clean it was. The pinch welds on the bottom are straight and rust-free.

During the nights this week, I was colorsanding/ compounding/polishing 1 panel a night. I got the nose, hood, headlight covers and the driverside fender done.

Then...

Tonight, I had a 35 Ford back into me at a gas station. It damaged the DS fender and door. :facepalm:

After:
http://rsjparts.com/chris/90%20mazda/dents1.jpg

The culprit:
http://rsjparts.com/chris/90%20mazda/35ford1.jpg


I'm hoping to find a door and fender with original paint, with no rust or major issues. I'm in NJ, but I will travel a bit for the right parts.

Let me know what you have!

Damn I don't have anything. But hopefully the arse that hit you has money or insurance...with that car they should have both.

Got a call from his insurance company today, seems like things should go well.
I'll get a quote this week for the repair and keep looking for parts.

Maybe I'll give Planet Miata a call... they're a day-trip away.

Needs moar turboz!

Welcome!

Welcome, Nice line-up of cars! :drool:

Time for a 1 year update.

Some pics:
http://rsjparts.com/chris/90%20mazda/IMG_0417c.jpg

-$100 Hard Dog Hard Top Single diagonal.
-Bilstein HD's
-FatCat bumpstop / mount kit
-ebay coilover sleeves (#368 front, #275 rear)
-removed rear bar, stock front
-15x8 25et TR motorsports
Tire Rack made a mistake in putting on 195's instead of 205 Pirelli S-Drives. I'll probably just sell the whole package rather than pay to mount/ dismount. Either way, the car doesn't seem under tire'd... looks a little weird with skinny tires on wide wheels.


http://rsjparts.com/chris/90%20mazda/90miata018.jpg

-Red Hardtop (can't be picky!)
-Sparco Sprint jr seats
-removed AC/ airbag system/ stereo
-maintenance items (timing belt/ cam- crank seals/ plugs/ wires/ shifter bushings and boots/ filters/ synthetic, etc)

http://rsjparts.com/chris/90%20mazda/90miata014.jpg

Next up:
-Belts
-late axles so I can swap in my Torsen
-Pads and hoses so i can rebuild the brakes with the later brackets


I'm going to be entering 949/ EMRA's Miata Challenge Time Trials to get my feet wet. I'll start at the NJMP race.

I forgot to post some Rapid Prototyping stuff last time.
Here's some enormous pics:

http://rsjparts.com/chris/dimension/ap.caliper.JPG

http://rsjparts.com/chris/dimension/block.JPG

http://rsjparts.com/chris/dimension/turbo1.JPG

http://rsjparts.com/chris/dimension/turbo2.JPG

http://rsjparts.com/chris/dimension/turbo3.JPG

http://rsjparts.com/chris/dimension/skull.JPG
:eek4: