空白のスレート (aka RR's new ventures)

[RustRat]

Since I couldn't find motivation to finish my old MX5, someone dropped an offer of a red '91 being for sale, really cheap. I traded the guy also my rollbar, and I got my hands on a fairly standard, slightly rusty car for a very small amount of money.

Pics of how it was before I got it.

There is rust on the passenger side sill, but it will be addressed shortly.

Bad points:
Badly painted center console, tombstone, and cluster cover
NA8 cloth seats
half black half tan mat
bad tab vinyl top
240K kilometers on the clock
Faded paint
Some dings around
Exhaust sounds like it's leaking
Broken rear driver side tail light
Something's not mounted correctly on the passenger aide headlight and the whole mechanism is moving, so I have to leave then constantly up.

Good points:
Despite the high mileage, engine pulls strong
It's fairly rust-free, especially the interior
Has A/C, p/s, p/windows, ABS (but the small 231mm discs)
Functioning VLSD
NA6 dash, which I love
Unmolested fenders, still original pinch welds
Almost stock, no stupid mods.

I named it "Blank Slate", since it's a freah start for me.


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[RustRat]

First things first, on the way to pick it up, I got my Nardi Classico and a Daikei hub with me. So it went from this:

To this:

(In this picture I still use the Nardi hub the car was equipped from the previous owner, but I switched it later.

Then I went to town and started installing all the parts I was collecting for the past couple years.
First of all, swapped the center console and tombstone, with mine, and I added the Eunos shift trim ring, the Revlimiter shift pattern plate, Revlimiter window switches, Retrosound radio (can't remember which model, it was from Pandora, Chase's car), Retromodern machined HVAC knobs, and a zoom Cupholder in brushed finish. Also the car had a Personal silver carbon look shift knob, and the OEM plastic dooe handle. I replaced them with OEM Nardi ones, simce I didn't have anything in leather.

Before:

After.



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[RustRat]

Removed the cluster, and realised how badly the cluster cover is broken. I swapped over my Revlimiter gauges from my previous car, painted the needles red from a spare cluster I had, dialed the needles (everything work right with the first attempt!), and installed my KGWorks black panel.



To try and hide the broken cluster, I layed on top the Nakamae cluster cover I got from SnS (thanks, Alex!)


Finally, for the upper part of the interior, I installed the KGworks NA6 rearview mirror, which is like a jewel for our cars, it's gorgeous.

Unfortunately I could not fins the two screws supplied with it, and used the ugly OEM ones temporarily.

And a pic of the Daikei hub.



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[RustRat]

Next was the Nakamae glove box, and side pocket install.

Before:

After:


I tried to install the Nakamae trans tunnel cover, but the NA6 had the seatbelt receiver high next to the bolster, and it was rubbing against the tunnel.

Simple fix, remove seats, remove seatbelt receivers, install NA6 equivalent I had laying around.


Installed:


Last piece of the puzzle were the chequered floor mats.


All these were done in one day, the first day I brought the car home. And then I went for some late night driving, that I had missed so much the 1.5 year I didn't have a working Miata.


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[RustRat]

Some small stuff that I forgot, were also done: adding the seat slider bolt covers, and swapping the tan dash bolt covers with black.


Adding the Zoom start button.


And Jass Performance ignition barrel cover (which since then fell of because the suplied 3M tape was utter shit):



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[HarryB]

YES YES YES YES! Watching your stockpile of awesome parts getting bigger by the day and knowing you could not wait to have a solid basis to put them on was depressing. Even though I was against "killing" RustRat at first, this seems like the right choice for you. Hope to see many more great updates soon!

Happy to have you back Peter!

[Paul B]

What a transformation!! Well done.


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[— JamieH —]

Man, for real, what a transformation.

From dull, typical NA interior to stand out, detailed, personalized cockpit. And in a single day no less.

Impressive.

[RustRat]

YES YES YES YES! Watching your stockpile of awesome parts getting bigger by the day and knowing you could not wait to have a solid basis to put them on was depressing. Even though I was against "killing" RustRat at first, this seems like the right choice for you. Hope to see many more great updates soon!

Happy to have you back Peter!

Thanks, man. Thanks for the motivation all these years, and thanks for always being there for me when I needed your opinion.

What a transformation!! Well done.


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Man, for real, what a transformation.

From dull, typical NA interior to stand out, detailed, personalized cockpit. And in a single day no less.

Impressive.

Thanks, guys. It was nothing special, I had been collecting parts slowly for the past couple years, so it wasn't hard to put them all together in an afternoon.

It really is nothing compared to other great cars in the community, it's far from perfect, and probably will never be.

But it's mine, I get to drive, sit behind the wheel and stare at the gauges, feel every different texture. It's something I was waiting for years.


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[— BRGNA8 —]

One day and all those mods! Impressive indeed Peter! Really nice work!

Enjoy the process and looking forward to more updates!

[— oldgrayleather —]

Wow, fantastic work Peter!

[— TNRooster3 —]

That's looking good, nice job!

[RustRat]

Update time.

It was time to fix the broken passenger side headlight yesterday. Swapped the one from my old NA, and also added the surrounds, the the previous owner removed, and also added the Raybrig Headlights and Phillips Nightbreaker bulbs.
OEM Crystal

Raybrig

Before

After


HUGE difference for just some headlights and simple bulbs.



But wait! There's more.

Swapped the door cards with some off of a Japanese car, with Teardrop speaker covers. And bonus, the passenger side knee pad.

Driver's before


Driver's after


Passenger's side


Added a custom badge plate to cover the holes on the dash (EU cars don't have VIN plates), from Revlimiter
Before:


After:


Swapped the stainless sill covers for the ones with the Revlimiter Insert I had.

Before


After:


Finally, swapped the one piece sun shade things for the 2-piece JDM ones.
Before:


After:




And I received this RS-R 4-2-1 exhaust manifold I won at an auction


I found an unbroken 1.8 dipstick at a local shop, and I had to have it.


Outside was the NC of a friend, you might have seen it in Instagram or facebook. Really really good fitment on those VS-XXs




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[RustRat]

One day and all those mods! Impressive indeed Peter! Really nice work!

Enjoy the process and looking forward to more updates!

Wow, fantastic work Peter!

That's looking good, nice job!

Thank you, all of you, and the guys that commended previously. Every single one of you that commended in this thread, has been a huge inspiration for me, one way or another.


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[— oldgrayleather —]

The pace at which this build is coming together continues to be astonishing! A bit like when Netflix publish a whole season at once, I'm enjoying the binge watching!