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Thread: Brap-Brap's (Mis)adventures version 2.0

  1. #1
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch
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    Red 97' Daily Driver
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    Columbus, OH
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    Brap-Brap's (Mis)adventures version 2.0

    I did this to my last NA:



    Not gonna do that again.

    So I bought another one:



    Meet Riley the 97' NA. 77,264 on the ODO when I bought it. 100% bone stock, right down to the factory soft top. AC/PC, power windows, power mirrors and a torsen. AC still works surprisingly. Not a spot of rust on her.

    If y'all have seen my first build thread you know how I roll. If not, go read it. "Brap-Brap's Miata (Mis)adventutes"

    Time to do it all over again, but better this time.

  2. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Brap For This Useful Post:

    Agent☣Orange (10-30-2018),HarryB (10-30-2018),MaRcOp01o (10-29-2018),MiataQuest (10-29-2018),MX5Wisher (10-29-2018)

  3. #2
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! MaRcOp01o's Avatar
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    Christ Thank you god you're alive. and congrats on the beauty! I have a 97 too that just hit 90k.

  4. #3
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch
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    Red 97' Daily Driver
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    Thanks man. Mechanically she is a beauty but the exterior leaves a little to be desired...



    I ordered this stuff from Summit on Saturday night and it arrived Monday afternoon. The perks of being in Ohio.



    Mmmmmmmm Billies...



    Can you figure out what i'm doing yet?

    Also, funny thing is the "Summit Racing" branded springs on the website are just QA1 springs with the labels rubbed off.

    Plenty more to come this week.

  5. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Brap For This Useful Post:

    Agent☣Orange (10-30-2018),HarryB (10-30-2018),MaRcOp01o (10-30-2018)

  6. #4
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    That's a solid suspension plan.

  7. #5
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch
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    Red 97' Daily Driver
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    So as it turns out I ordered the wrong Bilsteins. I needed NB B8s, not NA B6s. I didn't realize until I tried to stack up the tophat bushings and the threaded shaft was no where near long enough.



    Advanced Autosport coil sleeves.



    Orange tophats means I have Xidas right?







    Fab9 COP kit installed. Seemed to fix my idle dip and issues I had with her breaking up in the higher RPMs.



    Sticker panel makes a return.

    I saw someone on Miata DIY use a 90mm halo LED ring to turn the ring into a driving light. Figured I had a spare set of tails and I would give it a go.



    Foil keeps the heat indirect and prevents the coils from burning something.



    People complain about these Chinese LED rings breaking and cracking from vibration. So I used some clear silicone to glue them down into the ring. The ring in the lens fits the LED ring perfectly, almost so perfectly I would say you don't even need to glue it.



    Running lights



    Running lights + Brake lights.



    Also put back in my LED headlights. This time I went with Cibie Housings instead of the Hellas. Cutoff and light throw seems a lot better.



    And finally the old shell going away.



    Moving on from the past.

    For those wondering about the vanity plate, this is the meme is came from:


  8. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Brap For This Useful Post:

    HarryB (11-07-2018),MiataQuest (11-06-2018)

  9. #6
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    '04 Strato Blue NB2
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    Yes, NB B8's is what you need. Also consider extended top hats on the rear; Maruha makes some very nice quality stamped steel ones for quite cheap. And who actually machined pedal covers from billet?!

  10. #7
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch
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    Red 97' Daily Driver
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    Columbus, OH
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    I had a set of the pedal covers on my old car, didn't feel like paying $70 again for some so I ripped the design off CAD Grab and used the schools CNC to whip some up real quick. I put the bend in them after the milling.

    I have a set of FM rear tophats that I saved from my old car. I need to turn some spacers to adapt the 14mm pillowball ID to the billie 10mm shaft OD.

    Took the time to get some quick mods done before I put her away for the winter. Just usual driving/comfort things.



    Did a massive foamectamy. I left a 1" piece of foam on the bottom for my tailbone, but otherwise this gets me VERY low. Also adds a ton of lateral support.

    A friend gave me a set of headrest speakers so I transplanted them, but the plugs were different. A quick set of spade connectors fixed that. Also allows me to add rear speakers when I want to down the line.



    A friend also gave me this Whiteline shock tower brace. I heard they don't do much on these cars, but it looks nice and was free.



    Also installed a FM brake master brace. It fits with the Whiteline STB. The brake master brace got rid of my semi-squishy pedal on the street. Braking just feels better all around.

    Also (not pictured) I installed Garage Star door bushings. Wow do they make a difference on a stock car. Bumps are more solid clunks and less rattles/shakes. Car just feels overall better.




    Got rid of the Walmart special radio. Dropped in my Clarion M508 unit I saved from my old car.



    What wonders a new head unit does to the sound of a car.

    Also ordered a new I.L. center console, polished the shifter like before, re-installed my Redline Leather shift boot, re-installed the trim ring and put back my flower shift knob.

    Now I just have to find my damn wooden e-brake handle I made and the interior will be close to done.

  11. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Brap For This Useful Post:

    Agent☣Orange (11-19-2018),HarryB (11-13-2018),tsingson (11-19-2018)

  12. #8
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch
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    I was sitting around on Sunday with no homework. So I said to myself "i'm gonna build my billies today"



    So I did.

    NB B8 Billies, Advanced Autosport sleeves, FM rear tophats, NB fronts, QA1 550/350 springs. should work nicely.



    Interior is coming along nicely as well.

    Also, the allure of Fashion keys caught me recently. Unfortunately my wallet hasn't caught up. So like usual I took matters into my own hands.



    Just a sneak peak into what I have in the pipeline.

  13. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Brap For This Useful Post:

    Agent☣Orange (11-19-2018),HarryB (11-19-2018),MX5Wisher (11-18-2018),tsingson (11-19-2018)

  14. #9
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    Wood handle keys; me likey!

  15. #10
    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
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    Can’t wait to see the end result with the keys.


    No todo que es oro brilla.

  16. #11
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! MaRcOp01o's Avatar
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    Your coil-over setup looks so nice. I bet they'll feel great!

  17. #12
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch
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    Quote Originally Posted by HarryB View Post
    Wood handle keys; me likey!
    Should be fun. Time to get comfortable with my files...

    Quote Originally Posted by Agent☣Orange View Post
    Can’t wait to see the end result with the keys.
    I'm excited too. I think i'm the first to do this too.

    Quote Originally Posted by MaRcOp01o View Post
    Your coil-over setup looks so nice. I bet they'll feel great!
    I hope so. I only wasted 3 weeks of my life reading every suspension thread on every forum I could find to determine a setup.

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    MaRcOp01o (11-20-2018)

  19. #13
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch
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    Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you: Fab Week.

    I'm on spring break, and have committed myself to getting the car ready for track season.

    Below is my to-do list. I have an alignment scheduled for Saturday. Lets see how much I can get done.





    There was a puddle underneath her when I went out to the garage. Brake fluid. Clutch master reservoir was bone dry. Oh well, I have new ones anyway.



    P.O. Didn't use a washer. Yay, now I can add "Cleaning oil gunk" to my list.

    CAS O-ring was also done for. Entire trans bellhousing is caked in oil. Good thing I bought one.



    Original T-stat?



    Adam over at RevLimiter posted about making his own charcoal canister to cut down on gas fumes. If you remember I took my old car down to Atlanta in May of last year. I had serious gas fume issues then but chocked it up to just being an old car with less stringent emissions control.

    But, seeing as there is a way to fix it I might as well. $20 Mishimoto Compact eBay special catch can, gutted then filled with activated charcoal pellets from the local aquarium store. 3/8 NPT to 5/16 Barb on the bottom is the EVAP in, and a breather filter on top keeps any ingested air clean and tidy. The plan is to mount this under the car and run a hose from the rollover valve to the can.



    Belts, radiator, reroute, coolant hoses, etc. The usual for track-duty. The small coolant hoses are made by Vibrant, its this trick rubber lined silicone hose.



    I re-did all the auxiliary coolant hoses with this stuff. Head to oil cooler, etc. 5/16 Fuel Injection hose clamps work great to keep it together.



    Managed to get this thing in there.



    You can see EGR *barely* clears. Its a very tight, well designed piece of kit that works very well.



    Found these sick T-bolt clamps on amazon for my heater hoses. I hate gear clamps and spring clamps.

    Lets see how far I get tomorrow.

  20. #14
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch
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    Red 97' Daily Driver
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    Columbus, OH
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    Progress is a slow and cruel mistress. Life also caught me off guard.



    New evap can installed. Hose goes through the fuel pump wiring grommet, around, next to the trunk latch cable, down into the jack well and through the forward most body plug. Bolted behind the fender liner to avoid direct spray. Gas fumes should be eliminated for good.



    These were a much larger pain to install than expected. New SuperPro bushings are nice, stock rubber ones crumbled in my hand when I removed them.



    Crossflow rad installed. Also trimmed up the engine bay a bit. Real track-ready stuff.



    Centric Premium coated rotors, refreshed calipers, Hawk HPS pads, Techna-fit SS lines, stiff RB front bar, stock rear bar, FM endlinks, and built billies installed. Basically wrapped up the suspension and brakes. I still need to fill them with Motul DOT4 and bleed them. Numbers also came in, and I couldn't resist slapping them on.



    Testpipe came out nice. Since its right below the drivers seat I figured some heatwrap would be good. Too bad this pipe is for a 1.6L car... Stupid FB sellers.



    These were VERY easy to install. Line up, slap on with a rubber mallet, drill, screw and repeat. Also got the BBFW rollbar in but it was late so no photos.

    Unfortunately due to life I couldn't get the car done. She'll be on jackstands for the time being until I can finish it up and tie all the loose ends.

  21. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Brap For This Useful Post:

    HarryB (03-18-2019),MiataQuest (03-18-2019)

  22. #15
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch
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    Red 97' Daily Driver
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    Columbus, OH
    Join Date
    May 2017
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    Long time no update eh?

    [/url]

    Prop valve in. This should be fun to play with.

    [/url]

    This is the greatest invention every created. Took less than 10 minutes to bleed all 4 brakes. I also made an adapter for the clutch master out of an old master cyl cap.



    Nice pedal set, makes driving a lot easier IMHO.





    Seatbelt turned Rev icon. Why? I'm wiring in a Bee*R rev limiter box, and I want the icon to light up when its on to let me know I have the rev limit engaged. e-brake will engage a lower rev limit for launch control (4500 RPM or so) and the upper limit will be set however I feel.

    [/url]



    Sound mat cuts down on the noise from the rear of the car and the rattle trap that is the parcel shelf panel.



    Hood vents in. I love seeing the heat rise out of them at stoplights.



    Got her back from the alignment shop. Went with a 949 Dual Duty at 4.00" Pinch height. I tried to set some rake but the springs settled in even. So I had -3* of rear camber with the eccentrics maxed. I jacked the rear back up to 4.5" and it brought my camber back into the -2 region where it should be.



    Meeting up with some friends to cruise to Cars and Coffee. The S2K is from my buddy Tim, he's a bodyman at Autobody Specialists here in CBUS. He just finished respraying the car about a week before. There is not a single defect in it.



    At C&C Lennox. The MK7 GLI is owned by my friend Frankie. @iamsuperfrankie on insta. The thing puts down 400 to the front wheels.

    I signed up for NWOR Auto-X @ TEA on April 28th. We'll see how she performs.

  23. The Following User Says Thank You to Brap For This Useful Post:

    HarryB (04-20-2019)

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