Page 14 of 63 FirstFirst ... 478910111213141516171819202124 ... LastLast
Results 196 to 210 of 938

Thread: Cars, Coffee and California...

  1. #196
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift oldgrayleather's Avatar
    Drives
    '90 Mariner, '92 SB, '91 BRG
    Location
    Manhattan Beach, CA
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Posts
    4,874
    Thanks Given
    4,157
    Thanked 3,787 Times in 946 Posts
    Was gutted to hear that Grip Driver was letting his smurf go but I’m guessing along with many of you was happy to have the chance to ease the transition when he was looking for good homes for some of his most special parts. Was super excited to receive the conveniently color matched M2 1028 Vitaloni mirrors last week~ Quick install ahead of the weekly ritual of diving out to yet another great KINOD.



    They’d been upgraded with blue mirrors and I’d already gotten used to the smaller Zoom mirrors so the transition was easy. Once set, they stay firmly in place which wasn’t always the case with the driver’s side Zoom. Took a little bit to get the passenger side lined up for optimum visibility but had the friendly co-pilot to help.

    This weekend also finally got around to sanding and painting the wiper arms. Not thrilled with how blotchy the air-foil piece came out (thus no “after pics” just yet) but will tackle those again next weekend.


    A clear benefit of having more than one Miata is that even when you’re upgrading parts you love, you can still enjoy them. As a matter of fact, there’s a whole lot of what Benny has been that will be on the BRG hopefully before long. Love this stage of the smurf and kinda chuffed to know it’s not going away, just gonna live on with another NA..



  2. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to oldgrayleather For This Useful Post:

    Agent☣Orange (08-17-2017),artcentermiata (08-15-2017),Greasemonkey2000 (08-14-2017),Grip Driver (09-05-2017),JamieH (08-14-2017),MiataQuest (08-17-2017),Paul B (08-14-2017),Roadster7 (08-14-2017),RustRat (08-14-2017),speedypenguin (08-14-2017),ueru (10-02-2017)

  3. #197
    4,000 rpm - entering the fun zone speedypenguin's Avatar
    Drives
    '94 Black
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    1,215
    Thanks Given
    1,057
    Thanked 946 Times in 322 Posts
    Those M2 mirrors look right at home on Benny. Also the BRG looks great. I'd say yours is further along than mine!
    My Eunos Roadster, Jazz

  4. The Following User Says Thank You to speedypenguin For This Useful Post:

    oldgrayleather (08-14-2017)

  5. #198
    Supporting Member artcentermiata's Avatar
    Drives
    Silver Fastback NB / Blue NA
    Location
    Pasadena, Ca
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    508
    Thanks Given
    33
    Thanked 254 Times in 91 Posts
    I only thanked you because of the dog man in the mirror picture

  6. #199
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift oldgrayleather's Avatar
    Drives
    '90 Mariner, '92 SB, '91 BRG
    Location
    Manhattan Beach, CA
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Posts
    4,874
    Thanks Given
    4,157
    Thanked 3,787 Times in 946 Posts
    So eldest son and I drove tandem up the 405 to see a man about a bar. A very specific Blackbird Fabworx Single Diagonal NB bar from Moti, the exact same as the one I have in Benny. We dropped the car off and took Topanga canyon back before I was dropped off at to my office in Santa Monica. The next morning we set out together in Benny back up the 405 but thankfully could make use of the carpool lane.

    Here was the first shot just before it was completed. Pretty pleased about the state of the rear shelf, thankfully these dry weather cars are blessed with a general absence of rust.



    The tandem blast back down Topanga was even better and then we parted ways for me to get back to work. I really have to figure out a way to mount a camera in the car for drives. My rear view mirror was almost completely filled with the ear to ear grin of someone discovering how much more fun these cars are to drive on the twisties with all that improved chassis stiffness (note to self, must stop putting off the frame rail install).




    I'm super happy with the roll bar pad and cover so have another on order from Martha at Bethania. Despite being a custom size it was shipped out the less than 24 hours after the request went in.

    As an aside, after a work dinner I was dropping a colleague off at the Ritz in Marina del Rey and stayed for a bit to chat. Wasn’t sure if they left Benny out front because it was a standard or if they didn’t mind having something more unusual out front for a change…


  7. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to oldgrayleather For This Useful Post:

    Agent☣Orange (08-17-2017),fwdtamiya (08-17-2017),Greasemonkey2000 (08-17-2017),JamieH (08-17-2017),MiataQuest (08-17-2017),Roadster7 (07-10-2018)

  8. #200
    Supporting Member fwdtamiya's Avatar
    Drives
    1991 BRG
    Location
    USA
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    8,365
    Thanks Given
    3,878
    Thanked 3,435 Times in 1,506 Posts
    The blackbird bar looks great

  9. #201
    4,000 rpm - entering the fun zone Slampen's Avatar
    Drives
    '95 BRG 1.8
    Location
    Ski, Norway
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    1,135
    Thanks Given
    1,287
    Thanked 441 Times in 237 Posts
    Super nice.

  10. #202
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift oldgrayleather's Avatar
    Drives
    '90 Mariner, '92 SB, '91 BRG
    Location
    Manhattan Beach, CA
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Posts
    4,874
    Thanks Given
    4,157
    Thanked 3,787 Times in 946 Posts
    My middle brother and his son did a roadtrip down from Vancouver in their A3 sportback to visit us. Gave me the chance to bring him to KINOD so he could see what this mad community is all about as well as experience the LA roads absent the typically horrible traffic. As a total bonus, also pushed for us to go out on a convoy in our Miata’s so we could take some group shots. Something we’d just never gotten around to before. Drove up to Palos Verdes for the views and found a couple spots to pull over and knab some pics…





    Good to have a camera vehicle…


    Probably our best family photo though I may be a bit biased…






    Also had Martha from Bethania make another cover for the Blackbird bar which was turned around lightning fast and fits as perfectly as the first one did


    School’s now back in session but enjoying a little time off before the end of year crush. Atleast there’s JCCS and MRLS on the near term horizon!

  11. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to oldgrayleather For This Useful Post:

    Agent☣Orange (08-24-2017),Greasemonkey2000 (08-25-2017),Roadster7 (07-10-2018),speedypenguin (08-25-2017),Thejohnson (09-19-2017)

  12. #203
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
    Drives
    '04 Strato Blue NB2
    Location
    Greece
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    5,933
    Thanks Given
    6,670
    Thanked 2,273 Times in 1,330 Posts
    Jealous, although I have to admit that I do not like the stripe in Benny after all. Looks kinda out of place to me.

  13. The Following User Says Thank You to HarryB For This Useful Post:

    oldgrayleather (08-25-2017)

  14. #204
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
    Drives
    1999 White
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    15,852
    Thanks Given
    2,791
    Thanked 7,202 Times in 3,433 Posts
    I agree. I understand the appeal of stripes, but I have difficulty with this one. I know cars like these are constantly a work in progress, so I usually reserve comments until it comes together.

  15. The Following User Says Thank You to kung fu jesus For This Useful Post:

    oldgrayleather (08-25-2017)

  16. #205
    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
    Location
    🍊SWFL🏝
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    21,588
    Thanks Given
    4,763
    Thanked 4,318 Times in 2,543 Posts
    That Sunburst is too nice.


    No todo que es oro brilla.

  17. The Following User Says Thank You to Agent☣Orange For This Useful Post:

    oldgrayleather (08-25-2017)

  18. #206
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift oldgrayleather's Avatar
    Drives
    '90 Mariner, '92 SB, '91 BRG
    Location
    Manhattan Beach, CA
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Posts
    4,874
    Thanks Given
    4,157
    Thanked 3,787 Times in 946 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by HarryB View Post
    Jealous, although I have to admit that I do not like the stripe in Benny after all. Looks kinda out of place to me.
    Quote Originally Posted by kung fu jesus View Post
    I agree. I understand the appeal of stripes, but I have difficulty with this one. I know cars like these are constantly a work in progress, so I usually reserve comments until it comes together.
    I had to give it a shot and even received replacement navy stripes (the first ones were essentially Mariner) as well as the additional red to do the hardtop, rear spoiler and the rest of the bumper. In my head the nod to the Martini livery had the potential to be great and if it worked in vinyl would have laid it down in paint. I was also reserving judgement but it just hasn't grown on me. Some body work and a little paint will be happening in the next month to usher in Benny's next stage.

    The point that probably sealed it was when some kid said "awesome Captain America scheme you've got going on".

  19. #207
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
    Drives
    1999 White
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    15,852
    Thanks Given
    2,791
    Thanked 7,202 Times in 3,433 Posts
    I generally try to stay away from vibrating colors on vehicles. It's not a flattering contrast.

  20. The Following User Says Thank You to kung fu jesus For This Useful Post:

    oldgrayleather (08-25-2017)

  21. #208
    Idling - Listen to it purr... Thejohnson's Avatar
    Drives
    Red 91
    Location
    Montebello, CA
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Posts
    5
    Thanks Given
    26
    Thanked 17 Times in 4 Posts
    Cars are looking great!

  22. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Thejohnson For This Useful Post:

    MX5Wisher (09-20-2017),oldgrayleather (09-19-2017)

  23. #209
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift oldgrayleather's Avatar
    Drives
    '90 Mariner, '92 SB, '91 BRG
    Location
    Manhattan Beach, CA
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Posts
    4,874
    Thanks Given
    4,157
    Thanked 3,787 Times in 946 Posts
    Been feeling really grateful for our collection, its perfectly suited to our family and we all have so much fun enjoying the hell out of these little roadsters…



    That said, this is an update I’ve really, really been looking forward to. For a while now, I’ve known the next direction I wanted to take Benny. It was going to require some cosmetic surgery that I know not everyone is a fan of, but with the BRG I felt I had the chance to take a bit more of an extreme direction with the smurf. It was also going to require time and a healthy dose of luck. There were some other benefits.. once I finally managed to track down my favorite bumper of all time, I’d be able to hand down the TSI’s to the BRG. I’ve also been looking for my dream wheels since shortly after getting Benny but knew the 4x100 set-up would mean I’d have to get lucky. Really, really lucky. Depending on the fitment, cutting the fenders and installing bigger flares might be necessary but I also knew moving the Rev9 flares and Mk2’s to the BRG would work very well. My dream was to amass all these bits and get them installed for MRLS in October. Then JCCS invited Miata’s so I had a new deadline that was a couple weeks earlier. With time scheduled at Seven Apple (an abso-bloody-lutely fantastic one man show for paint and bodywork in Torrance) it was time to move these parts over to the BRG.




    I think it works even better than on a Mariner. Only problem we had was the TSI’s kept blowing the fuse so switched back to the stock signals. My plan was to tackle that in short order but this week we had a pretty big set back. More on that later. While I was at it, I decided I needed to pay a little attention to the sunburst and put to use the learnings from 96BRG’s write up about clearing out the fog in the rear plastic OEM window.


  24. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to oldgrayleather For This Useful Post:

    fwdtamiya (10-04-2017),Greasemonkey2000 (09-24-2017),JamieH (10-01-2017),Roadster7 (07-10-2018)

  25. #210
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift oldgrayleather's Avatar
    Drives
    '90 Mariner, '92 SB, '91 BRG
    Location
    Manhattan Beach, CA
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Posts
    4,874
    Thanks Given
    4,157
    Thanked 3,787 Times in 946 Posts
    So I got lucky. Very very lucky. For the wheels, I’d recently lost two sets. One to a Montego blue owner in the PNW since I couldn’t figure out how to bid on an auction with Buyee when the seller had a really low rating. He got em for a steal but I was thrilled for him. There was another set a forum member was finally selling and I put my hand up but they were already off to a better home. I’d never been so close but wasn’t going to be discouraged. Then Sean’s car in Hawaii was totaled and he was parting it out. That’s where I got some of the tan parts for the BRG. While we were going back and forth on the parts I was helping him find a new home for, he mentioned he was having Barrel Bros in Australia work on a set of wheels for him but that he wouldn’t need them any more. They were my dream wheels and they hadn’t yet started the work. BB soon posted them for sale and I managed to get my down payment in before anyone else could try and knab them.

    I had these and was going to have to make some very important decisions on color and sizing…

    I’d never imagined that I’d actually be able to spec my own Star Sharks since I knew that if I ever sourced an original pair I wouldn’t imagine tweaking them. I landed on square fitment of 14x8.5 -8 after consulting with my most trusted JDM advisors (fwdtamiya and Brian from SF along with a load of other people). I also toyed with the idea of red but stayed with my original plan of going gold. Am I ever glad I didn’t get red as it was predicated on my Martini inspired livery idea. The one that didn’t really work. At all.

    Mark very kindly kept me updated on the progress which only made my anticipation grow. The lips were made…





    Then back in for paint…



    And the completed set. Just needed to jump a plane for ‘merica…



    Pretty soon these arrived at the door …



    Barrel Bros did such an amazing job with these. I couldn’t be happier!

    The R888's were ordered with square fitament.. 225/50/14’s. Pretty hefty next to the tower of daisies!



    After finding a shop I trusted to mount and balance the tires, they were ready to go…
    Last edited by oldgrayleather; 09-25-2017 at 11:51 AM.

  26. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to oldgrayleather For This Useful Post:

    fwdtamiya (10-04-2017),HarryB (09-25-2017),JamieH (10-01-2017),MiataQuest (09-25-2017),Roadster7 (07-10-2018),ueru (10-02-2017)

Page 14 of 63 FirstFirst ... 478910111213141516171819202124 ... LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •