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Thread: Better late than never

  1. #76
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    August 5, 2014

    First mod! The beginning of a long and never ending road!

    I did a quick and cheap visor delete using Nissan door panel retainers. Simply pull the metal visor arms out of the plastic brackets and pop the panel retaining plug into the resulting hole:


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    A new high-power LED in the sadly inadequate dome light.

    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  3. #77
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    August 9, 2014

    And so the madness begins...

    I started to install the new top today. The old top was pretty thrashed, with spots that were worn through along both sides, and no back glass. (The glass was falling out when I bought the car, so I just cut it out the rest of the way.) The PO told me that he couldn't understand why the top lasted such a short time, when he pressure washed it regularly to keep it clean.



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    I say that I "started" the install because it turns out that I need new tension cables, so I couldn't finish the job today. The cables have been ordered, so I'll have to wait until next week to finish. So, I completed the removal of the old top, and then dove into giving the interior a solid cleaning.



    With the top out, I cleaned the rear deck (which was already surprisingly clean) and made sure the rain drains were clear (which they were).

    Since the seats were already out, I gave them a good cleaning with leather cleaner and conditioned the leather. Man! This may have been the first time these seats have been cleaned! The difference is incredible. While I was at it, I cleaned and conditioned the steering wheel, too. The finish is pretty rough, so I think I'll order a sew-on perforated leather steering wheel cover. I just have to decide if I want to stick with all black, or do a black/tan two-tone cover.

    Next, I removed the center console and scrubbed the heck out of it with Simple Green and hot water. It was FILTHY, especially the cup holders, but it's as clean as new, now. While I had the console off, I noticed that the inner shifter boot was pretty torn up. Oh well... perfect excuse to order a short shifter kit from Moss Miata. :thumbs:

    The rest of the interior plastics, dash, door panels, door sills, etc... all got the Simple Green treatment, too.

    I soaked the seat belts in scalding hot water with Simple Green then power washed them to rinse out all the soap. It was amazing how much grime came out of them.

    The carpet got a crazy vacuuming! Apparently, one of the POs had a white, short-haired dog... Dang that fur is HARD to vacuum up!!! After a couple hours of vacuuming, I spot treated and cleaned every inch of the carpet. There were some spots from spilled cola on the passenger side, but they came right out. It looks almost new, now.

    I cleaned out the trunk and re-riveted the little plastic support to the tire cover panel, so now it doesn't rock around and come out of place. I'm debating whether to keep the spare tire or just replace it with a can of fix-a-flat.

    I removed the rear view mirror until I can figure out if I want to mount it on the dash or remount it at the bottom of the windshield. I love the increased forward vision by getting it out of my line of sight. Besides, with the double diagonal roll bar, you can't see much behind you with the mirror in its original position. I learned to drive in my Dad's 1966 Volvo 1800S, and I always loved the dash-mounted mirror in that car. I am sorely tempted to reinforce the underside of the dash and mount an auto-dimming mirror. Until I decide what to do, no rear view mirror is actually an improvement.

    Finally, I cleaned under the hood with Gunk and then let the car idle to dry out while I re-installed the seats. Then, of course, I had to take it our for a short spin since it's such a nice night here in Austin.

    Oh, I also ordered a 2004 MazdaSpeed stereo from e-bay. This will allow me to add rear speakers without resorting to an after-market head unit. (After I had my 3rd after-market stereo stolen from a car, I swore that I would never again have anything other than a factory head unit in a car.) Besides, I've already gotten in the habit of not leaving anything in the Miata and just leaving it unlocked. It's cheaper than replacing a soft top after some idiot cuts his way in with a pocket knife.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  5. #78
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    August 14, 2014

    Fixed the AC today. Just one hose (a total of 3 bolt) and it's fixed! I'll take it to the shop to have them put a vacuum on it and then fill it up next week.

    I worked on the top for most of the day today. Let me say for the record that the instructions Robbins send with their tops are HORRIBLE!!! They skip steps, do things in the wrong sequence, and half way through all of the reference pictures change from the left side of the car to the right side, with no warning. GRRRRR!!!! I've learned a lot that would make this job a lot easier to do next time. (The biggest thing I learned is to just pay someone else to do it next time!) Oh well, I'll definitely feel a sense of accomplishment when I get this wrapped up! I had to stop to run an errand that ended up taking several hours, so I ended up running out of light today. I'll finish it up tomorrow.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  7. #79
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    August 16, 2014

    I finished the top today!






    I still need to do final adjustments and reinstall the carpet on the rear shelf. I was JUST able to get it latched with the latches adjusted all the way out. I know that some time in the sun will allow the vinyl to stretch so I can tighten up the latches, but the sun was going down by the time I got done. It'll be around 100 degrees here tomorrow, so I should have no trouble getting it stretched into shape. I learned a lot in the process of doing this install. Did a few things wrong and had to back track to fix them. The biggest frustration was how absolutely HORRIBLE the instructions that came with the top are. Whoever wrote them should be flogged, fired, and then rehired so they can flog him some more. Overall, it was a tough job, but not un-doable. Having to work around the roll bar definitely made it tougher. I'm just glad these tops are supposed to last for about 6-7 years!

    I also got my new Ultimats from Lloyd. I went with solid black with no embroidery or logos. The mats are really nice and fit perfectly. They came with floor anchors (which I installed), but they also have a really nice rubberized backing. Between the backing and the perfect fit, the anchors probably aren't really necessary.

    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  9. #80
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Wow! Hard to believe it's even the same car!



    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  11. #81
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Got the 38mm spacers and rear wheels installed tonight. Backed her out into the drive for a quick wash up then a short drive.









    I can really tell the difference in ride quality with the 15 wheels and thicker rubber. Much smoother ride.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  13. #82
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    November 2014

    When I bought my 2003 LS, the PO had wrapped the car wih flat olive green vinyl. While I actually liked the color, his execution of the wrap was pretty poor. There were lots of unnecessary seams and obvious patches where he made mistakes. So I finally decided to dive into striping the vinyl off yesterday. I started with the left front panel, then worked my way around the car:
    20141031_144003_zps2wnbe932 by Rex Keely, on Flickr
    20141031_143939_zpsnifnqfgf by Rex Keely, on Flickr
    Then I stripped the hood and truck lid. I stopped with the bumper still wrapped, because I would have to remove the bumper and it was getting too dark to see what I was doing easily.
    20141031_143911_zpsyde9rt0l by Rex Keely, on Flickr

    Today, I pulled the bumper, and stripped off the vinyl. While I had the bumper off, I polished the headlights and installed my Morioto LED fog/DRLs. The headlights look new again, and the Morimoto LEDs are incredible!
    20141106_202300_zpssfwcfsfm by Rex Keely, on Flickr
    20141102_190414_zpszewdyyq8 by Rex Keely, on Flickr

    Overall, I am pretty happy with the condition of the paint under the wrap. Everything looked good except for the front bumper. I know the PO had smacked a curb hard enough that he had to replace the lip n the bumper. The lip is in perfect shape, but the bumper itself is a loss. It doesn't look to bad from 8 ft away, but up close you can see all of the cracks in the paint, and most of the mounting tabs are broken. So, I'll need to decide whether to go aftermarket or replace it with an OEM bumper, but it's nothing I need to do immediately.
    20141102_155847_zpsiqeylnyz by Rex Keely, on Flickr
    20141102_155830_zpsiw49bykk by Rex Keely, on Flickr

    I still need to spend some time scrubbing off all of the adhesive residue, especially where there were seams and where the edges of the vinyl wrapped around to the inside of the door sills. Oh, here's what a Miata's worth of vinyl looks like after you've removed it:
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  15. #83
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    So... SEATS!

    I've been wanting to replace the OEM seats for quite some time. I finally found some that I really like, aren't too pricey and should fit without too much trouble.

    Last night I got a great big box from CarID with a pair of Braum Racing "Defender" seats in black and red.



    I got home too late to play with them, so I unpacked them first thing this morning. The seats came beautifully packed. Each seat was wrapped first in clear plastic, then in a nylon draw string bag (the seats are sitting on top of one of the bags in the pic below), then in a tough cardboard box. No damage at all from shipping, which is always nice!



    The seats surfaces are a soft, grippy jacquard fabric, with the thigh bolsters, shoulder areas, center stripe, and back in "leatherette." I'll just link to Braum's website for further description of the seats: https://www.braumracing.com/product/...ts-red-stripe/ I didn't want all leatherette seats because of the heat here in Texas and the fact that polyurethane doesn't breath. Hopefully the black vinyl thigh bolsters won't scorch me too badly if I leave the top down when I park, lol! I love the design! They're going to look awesome with my interior.

    Sitting in the seats, I could instantly feel the difference in lateral and lumbar support. These are not super tight seats, but they REALLY hug you compered to the OEM seats. Of course, the difference in feel between brand new foam and 15 year old foam is amazing! Between the higher side bolsters and the jacquard fabric, I should have no trouble staying put while turning.

    The seats came with dual locking sliders (which I won't be using, more about that later) and I paired them up with some generic NB seat brackets from Amazon.



    The first step (obviously) was to yank out the 15 year old original seats. These guys have served admirably for almost long enough to be old enough to drive! The parchment leather is still in pretty nice shape. The original seats look quite a bit taller at first glance, but you have to realize that:
    1. they are sitting on the OEM sliders.
    2. you sit much deeper into the new seats.



    When mounted directly to the new seats bracket, the seats will sit just a shade lower than my foamectomied OEM driver's seat. I test fitted the driver's seat with the new sliders, but it sat too high for my taste. (But I'm getting ahead of myself...)

    Happily, the first seat bracket fit just fine without the need to modify it all! The reviews on Amazon were 50/50 on "great product"/"doesn't even remotely fit", so I knew I was taking a chance. All I had to do was trim a bit of carpet around the feet of the bracket. My carpet is aftermarket and custom fit, so I expected that. Then I inserted the rear bolts and stood on the bracket to make the front holes align perfectly.

    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  17. #84
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    I got a bit more done yesterday. Both brackets test-installed. They both took some downward pressure to make the bolt holes line up. I put in the rear bolts, then stood on the bracket and put in the front bolts. I torqued the bolts all the way down, figuring that this will make it easier to reinstall the brackets with seats on them later in the process.



    I also test fitted the seats. It's SNUG in there, but they're going to work out just fine. I absolutely LOVE how the double row of red stitching at the sides of the seats matches the stitching on my brake and shift boots!!!




    It took a little bit of work with my Fine Adjustment Tool to re-contour about 6 inches of the inside of the door sill to give enough clearance for the seat's tilt lever to fit nicely.



    Here, the seat sin't bolted down, but this is where I want it to end up when I'm done. I've got a pretty decent range of lean for the back. The wider then OEM shoulders stop the seat from leaning all the way back to the firewall, but it's got more than enough adjustment range for comfort.



    I had to make a run to True Value in Lockhart to get nuts, bolts, spacers and washers to make the seatbelt buckles work with the brackets. And going to Lockhart ALWAYS means stopping for BBQ, so that was a longer trip than it really had to be, lol. If you don't know about Lockhart, TX, it's known as the BBQ Capital of TX, and Black's BBQ has been in business and family owned since 1932!
    Last edited by Warhammer; 07-02-2018 at 07:42 PM.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  19. #85
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Since the hole in the seat belt buckle bracket on the new seat brackets was a different size than the hole in the buckle itself, I can't reuse the original bolt. Here's what I came up with:



    A dome head allen bolt to keep the bolt head from tearing up the seat. A fender washer. Two steel bushings to make the bolt fit the holes in the buckle and bracket. (I drilled both holes out to 3/4" to fit the new bushings.) Another fender washer. Then a nut, which I will secure with Loctite and cover with a black plastic nut cover.



    Last edited by Warhammer; 07-02-2018 at 07:43 PM.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  21. #86
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    The brackets really are intended for use with sliders. I found out that I can't mount the seats back far enough on the brackets without them. And there isn't enough metal further back on the bracket to drill new holes, either. So, I picked up a piece of flat steel bar. I plan to build extensions for each side so that I can place the rear seat bolts a few inches farther back
    Last edited by Warhammer; 07-02-2018 at 07:44 PM.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  23. #87
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Today didn't start out looking like a day to do much work...



    But I got a few hours of sunshine later in the afternoon and made some progress. The hardest part was getting the seat bolts into the holes in the floor. You can't see them, so the whole operation has to be done by feel, with very little room for your hands, at hard to accomplish angles. To add to the misery, I had to install and remove the driver's seat about 4 times, modifying one bolt hole in the bracket between fittings, before it finally fit just right. Or so I thought...





    Unfortunately, once I got everything tightened down, I realized I didn't drill the holes in the bracket far enough to the right, so the whole seats sits much to far over to the left. :realmad: Oh well, nothing to do but to remove it and fix the problem.

    I went ahead and installed the passenger seat before removing the driver seat again. As it typically goes for this kind of project, the lessons learned from the first seat made the installation of the second seat MUCH faster and easier. I mounted it as far over to the inside edge of the bracket as the seat belt buckle would allow. I had to do just a tiny bit of hammering on the trans tunnel with my Fine Adjustment Tool, and in it went.



    Here you can see two things:
    1. How much better the right side fits than the left.
    2. How much pollen an oak tree can drop on your black interior in a short time.




    So, the passenger side is done and I'm very happy with it. The driver side is back out of the car. I'll have to wait for another day to rework the bracket and remount the driver seat farther to the right.
    Last edited by Warhammer; 07-02-2018 at 07:44 PM.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  25. #88
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    After much pounding of the trans tunnel and drilling of the seat bracket, I managed to get the driver seat installed. It's still a tiny bit off center, but its barely noticeable. Thankfully, I was able to get the seat wing to clear the side of the car, so no squeaking or rubbing.





    I took it out for test drive and I really like the seats! Way for lateral support than the originals, and better lumbar support as well! They feel much better than my foamectomied OEM seat, and sit lower.

    Last edited by Warhammer; 07-02-2018 at 07:45 PM.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  27. #89
    Super Moderator tsingson's Avatar
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    Wow. Those seats were shipped with class. A+ product from the looks of it.

  28. #90
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    I did a quick, easy project that I've been wanting to do for quite a while. The stalks on my turn signal and wiper control had become pretty corroded. So, I grabbed some metal polishing paste and a strip of terry cloth and polished them up.



    Right stalk unpolished, left stalk after about 5 mins of work.


    Both stalks all polished up and the plastics reinstalled around the steering column.


    The next project will be polishing up the elbows on my sun visors.
    Last edited by Warhammer; 07-02-2018 at 07:46 PM.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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