Better late than never

[Warhammer]

I started with the red stripe around the sides and back. This was more difficult than you would think. Since the edges of the different pieces of weather stripping and mouldings don't line up, I had to do some bending and trimming to keep the outer edge of the stripe looking right. The Astons look to have used 2" tape. Since the Miata is so much smaller, I went with 1" tape. I had to do each piece about 3 times to get them right, but I'm liking the results so far. (I have a few bubbles on the drivers door, so Ill probably have to re-do it tomorrow.)







Tomorrow, I'll be working on the flat black parts of the hood and the windshield frame.

[Warhammer]

I came across this Razo RA68 shift knob while aimlessly surfing the 'net one day. It's a leather wrapped shift knob that weighs in at a hefty 400 grams. The shape is that of a .... um.... banana? But I've found many reviews on other forums that say the grip feels great even if it looks a bit odd. Hey, ergonomic designs don't always look "normal." Anyway, at only $38 on Amazon, I thought it might be worth a try.

So, here it is:


Inside the package you get instructions (in Japanese, of course), the knob itself, 3 plastic thread adapters, 1 spacer to adjust the overall height, a short and a long screw (with loctite) to hold the adapter in the knob, and some shiny stickers.



A quick test of the three adapters showed that the gray one was the correct size. Now, these adapters are not pre-threaded. Instead they are tapered to grip the shift lever and the threads are cut as you screw the knob on tight. The knob has quite a deep counterbore. You can stack the thread adapter with the blue spacer and use the long screw if yo want the knob to sit up high.



I prefer the knob to be as low as possible, so I used the short screw without the spacer.



To install, insert the tread adapter, then the screw with loctite into the knob and snug it all together with a Phillips head screwdriver. The twist the knob onto the shift lever. Once it feels good and snug, it will turn for 2 more full rotations. Since the plastic thread adapter is tapered on the inside, it grips the threads VERY tightly. There's no worry about the knob spinning when you don't want it to.



Here it is next to my Raceseng knob. The Raceseng is 495 grams, versus the Razo's 400 grams.




Pros:

• Weight - A nice, heavy 400 grams
• Leather - Feels much better to the touch than a metal knob, especially in the cold or heat
• Shape - Looks weird but fits the hand really nicely
• Installation - Easy and secure
• Looks - Totally subjective, but the back with red stitching matches my interior well.
• Price - Pretty reasonable at $38

Cons:

• Finish - The leather on the knob I received has a few wrinkles near the seams. (Amazon is sending me a second one, so I'll see if the next one is any better."
• Looks - I'm not a big fan of the little metal "Razo" badge at the base of the knob. From what I've read, its just a sticker and can easily be removed, which I'll probably do once I'm 100% sure I'm keeping it.
• Shape - looks weird but fits the hand really nicely

Well, that's about it. I've never seen this option on the forum before. If you're looking for a heavyweight, leather wrapped shift knob, this one might be the ticket.

[Warhammer]

Well, this new graphics project has turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. (Story of my life, lol!) I decided that the 1" red stripes I used were too narrow, so I stripped them off to replace them with 2" stripes. Now, the condition of the paint on my car has always been a bit dodgy. So, when I pulled off the 1" stripes, there were two areas, the passenger door and the quarter panel behind it that the clear coat stripped right off with the tape. Well, crap. Oh well, I've been planning on a repaint in the next few years. :dunno: Not going to freak out about something I can't change.

Back to the stripes! Bending 2" tape around curves is a LOT harder than doing the same with 1" tape! It took multiple tries to get it done, but I stuck with it (insert rim shot) and got the back and sides done.

I really like how it looks with the windows down. The red stripes and the red door bolsters look really cool together.


You can see the clear coat damage through the tape on the two areas, but it passes the 10 foot test, so I'm not going to stress about it.


This is the transition from the door to the hood up by the windshield frame. I used matte black vinyl to cover the white between the red strip and the windshield frame. This is one of my first tries at using knifless cutting tape. It turned out pretty good, but I ended up having to strip it off. More abou that later.




My goal with that little bit of striping was to curve it so that the door would transition smoothly to the hood stripes. I accomplished that, but then I had to curve the stripes on the hood as well. The hard part was getting the curve on both stripes to be mirror images of each other. After a couple of attempts, I scrapped that idea and laid the hood stripes out as straight lines instead.


But that makes the transition pieces a little more complicated. Here, you can see the issue.

Now, I'll have to make transition pieces from the hood to the doors, instead of just using 2" tape. That will entail using the knifeless tape to make a short piece off red strip that is slightly wider on the end that meets the door than on the end that meets the hood. I have some 3" tape on order to use for that little detail. I can't do anything with that until I get the new tape, so I decided to move on to the hood.

[Warhammer]

Now for the big piece of vinyl!


This is the biggest single piece of vinyl that I've ever worked with, and the first time I've installed vinyl with the dry method. Pre-cut strips are easy to float into place and squeegee down, but big stuff like this is best installed dry so you can stretch it. I watch a BUNCH of videos on Youtube to learn how to wrap a large panel like this. One thing that makes this job a little easier is that I only have to worry about two edges, the front and back, since I used cutting tap for the taper on the sides. It took me quite a while and lots of lift-stretch-lower-squeegee-repeat to get the results I wanted, but eventually, I had this:

[Warhammer]

After pulling the cutting tape:



But wait! What happened to the red stripes you already put on the hood?!?

I had actually already laid down the red stripes on the hood and used them as a guide for the cutting tape. However, the gaps between the black and the red were too large for my preference, so i stripped off the red and re-applied it, snugging the edges together. After that, it looked better, but not perfect. One tip I read online is to apply a pinstripe over the seam, which will cover any gaps and give protection to the seam as well. I considered a white stripe and a gloss black stripe, but I think the black will look best. Si I'll pick up a roll of glass black pinstripe tape after work tomorrow.

[Warhammer]

The next step was the front bumper. A much smaller piece, but with more complex curves. This time I didn't bother to remove and reapply the red stripes, since I decided that I'm going to use the pinstriping trick anyway.


You can see a little bit of white between the red and black on the left side of the bumper and at the leading edge of the hood on the right side.

[Warhammer]

Of course, she wouldn't be complete without her Eunos nose badge from Revlimiter.









I still need to wrap the windshield frame and take care of the hood/door transitions. Then the gloss black pinstripe. I'll also be adding a black/red stripe to each mirror and some details to the front bumper and side skirts.

[Warhammer]

Oh, I almost forgot! I got new pair of Continental Extremecontact Sports to replace my completely shot rear tires. Looks like somebody likes to slide around turns, lol!

[m00se]

that is awesome wear on the tires, I never accomplished to wear a set to zero this evenly I like the stripes, too!

[Warhammer]

that is awesome wear on the tires, I never accomplished to wear a set to zero this evenly I like the stripes, too!

You know, I hadn't really thought of that. You're right! The tread wear was about as even as it could get.

[turboedpickup]

I didn't know where you were going with the vinyl...but man - it looks great! Liking how the red wraps around the black. Hell...that pattern changes the lines on the hood - makes it almost s2000like...which is NOT an issue in my book ;)

[Warhammer]

I didn't know where you were going with the vinyl...but man - it looks great! Liking how the red wraps around the black. Hell...that pattern changes the lines on the hood - makes it almost s2000like...which is NOT an issue in my book ;)

I actually followed the existing contours of the hood. I was surprised at how much the graphics visually change the shape of the front end.It looks much more aggressive. I agree that it looks S2K-esque. I'm liking the way it's turning out even more than I expected!

[Warhammer]

I did a little more work on the stripes today. I closed up the gaps between the red and black on the bumper, then I covered the joints with a 1/8" gloss black pinstripe. I really like how it turned out! It's a subtle, but noticeable difference. It's easier to see in person, but here are my attempts to capture it with my camera.







I continued the pinstripe all the way around the car, edging the red stripe where it touches the weather stripping. I can't wait to get in the last of the red vinyl I need to finish the hood/door transitions! I'll probably wrap the windshield frame tomorrow after work. That should make a really big difference in the overall look.

[Warhammer]

More vinyl!

She started the day with a white windshield frame:



And ended the day with a matte black frame:



The windshield frame turned out to be easier than the hood. (Or maybe I'm just learning how to handle this material better as I do more.) It only took me about 30-45 mins to get it completed. I think it turned out really well.







The black windshield frame really makes the tan top stand out, and not in a good way. So, I'll be replacing my perfectly good tan top with a black cloth top this summer. It's going to look awesome with the whole top area of the car black, then the red border, then the white.



At least it looks good with the top down! (But then, ALL Miatas look best with the top down!)



Those little gaps in the red line at the top of the front fenders will be driving me crazy until I get more red vinyl so I can finish them!!!

[— Agent☣Orange —]

IMO, you may be overdoing it. Instead of filling in the gap on front fenders, I would remove the red around the cockpit. Problem solved. Just my opinion though.