Sharka

[★ revlimiter ★]

Poor Sharka just sits while I thrash about madly trying to update all of my gauges to Gen3. I've not had a chance to drive the little guy for a few weeks.

Could be worse. Poor Bucky has no engine. No time to work on him while making gauges from morning till midnight...

[NCGreasemonkey]

Adam (AKA : RevLimiter) = Customer-centric Def. < Is more about the community he helps than his own herd of Miati.

Back to our normal programming...

Adam

[TNRooster3]

I 2nd that motion!

Adam (AKA : RevLimiter) = Customer-centric Def. < Is more about the community he helps than his own herd of Miati.

Back to our normal programming...

Adam

[★ revlimiter ★]

I've not done a photo shoot with Sharka for a while. No big event or parts install or anything. Just some pix on a nice summer day.





The inspiration for these pix was actually the incredible interior cleanliness. Last Friday, my daughter and I Leather-Honey’d Sharka’s interior. And then the weekend passed and I forgot about it. On Monday afternoon, I went to run an errand and found the sticky leather.

An hour of buffing later, Sharka’s interior looked… fake. It looked so clean and shiny that it looked like a CG model. I’ve never let Leather Honey sit for more than a day. It really nourished the (apparently somewhat dry) leather surfaces. Pix were needed.

If you’ve got leather in your car, go ahead and google Leather Honey. It’s fantastic. You apply it with a paint brush and then let it sit overnight. Buff with a non-fluffy cloth the next morning. Your leather will thank you.











Check out that Watanabe horn button. I’ve been hunting a legit black one since buying this wheel. One popped up on yahoo Japan. I enlisted the help of my buddy Bo (of Bo’s Garage) who sold me the wheel. A few weeks later, 3 little birds were in my hands.

The yellow/gold background. The jeweled red cranes. Yummy!!

I need a black Falcon to finish up my collection.







I didn’t forget to take a few exterior pix. Even though he’s not clean, Sharka still posed proudly for some pix.

He’s got the Star Sharks back on for the summer. Nothing like the grip of the 15x8s with 225s mounted, but life is not always about grip.

[★ revlimiter ★]

Sharka's alternator was getting weak, so I went to a huge amount of trouble to figure out how to mount a non-stock one.



I did a http://revlimiter.net/blog/2017/08/n...at-fit-miatas/ with 30 pix. Some of which have Iron Giant in them. But man... I don't wanna retype or even copy and paste everytihng, so I'll just be posting a summary.



I got an FD (100 amp) and a Kia (110 amp, 99-01 Sephia) at the suggetion of MT. There wasn't any spoon feeding and I had to do some trial and error to make them fit.


The FD needs a longer bolt. I used a spare power steering bolt. It's slightly too long, but 2 washers make it work.


This is how it bolts on without modification. That's as close to the block as it can get without some hacking.


If you grind and cut these parts from the case, it bolts up well and can fit a stock belt.


the Kia...


Without modification, it cannot be tensioned at all. The Kia bolts up and uses the stock lower bolt, but no joy in tensioning it.


Once you grind some away from the mounting tab, it works well.


The Kia mounted. Pretty happy with this photo.

Sadly, the Kia alt I got sucked. It couldn't maintain voltage and was worse than the stock alt I pulled out. Fortunately, the FD works great. That's what Sharka has in the bay now.

More on the blog if you wanna put an FD alt into your NA.

[★ revlimiter ★]

Sharka's rerouted again! The new QMax kit from 949 Racing was just too awesome looking. I bought it the first day it was out.

I found myself with four reroutes on hand, so I did a photo comparison of each. It's a huge blog post with, I think, 38 photos. I'll just link to it instead of copying it all here.


Qmax vs the old guard.



949 gives you everything you need except for a jug of coolant. It's an amazingly complete kit.



The snap ring only lets you install a Superstat. A regular thermostat has too large an outer diameter for that snap ring to clip over it.



On the back of a spare motor. Notice the room for sockets to fit? And it even lets you keep the stock lower stud in place.



Lots of clearance for everything. Lots of room to slide the hose on.



Smooth inner surface. No sharp edges to hinder flow.



Gasket goop applied.



Fully dressed and waiting for installation.



Front blog off plate. Sharka's FM hard lines require me to keep that water neck in place.



In place behind the motor. It was quite easy to get it back there compared to other kits I've used.



BURP!!!

[★ revlimiter ★]

California was calling again. Time to hit the road.


(shot by Corifto)



Parked with oldgreyleather's herd.

Yup - that's Sharka and Bucky in California. Corifto drove Bucky and I drove Sharka. MRLS was our destination.

I've wanted to drive Laguna Seca since Gran Turismo 1. Pretty close to a life-long dream at this point.











I just typed up a whole blog post about the KINOD caravan up to Monterey from LA. If you'd like to check it out, hit the blog. But I can sum up here: Bucket List Item achieved!!!!

[—Martin—]

Congrats on making the trip to MRLS!! I'm so happy for you and Corifto and Sharka and Bucky

[druz]

You were a busy guy Saturday, I never got a chance to meet you. Maybe next year Sharka in the metal is really too much for words to describe though.

[★ revlimiter ★]

^ NOOOO! I really wanted to meet you! Damn.

Next year? I'm hoping to go. Either MRLS or JCCS in 2018.

[oldgrayleather]

^ NOOOO! I really wanted to meet you! Damn.

Next year? I'm hoping to go. Either MRLS or JCCS in 2018.

Or both!!!!

[druz]

^ Serouiusly! Given the new date for MRLS, there's a good chance JCCS will be the following weekend if they keep with their traditional schedule.

[theothersawyer]

Doing a track day at Laguna Seca is a bucket list item for me, for sure!

[Corifto]

Congrats on making the trip to MRLS!! I'm so happy for you and Corifto and Sharka and Bucky

Wooo! Thank you. But a huge thanks to Adam for trusting me with Bucky. I definitely was driving Bucky very aggressively in corners once I got comfortable.

You were a busy guy Saturday, I never got a chance to meet you. Maybe next year Sharka in the metal is really too much for words to describe though.

You may have met me, I was often in the garage and was asked numerously if I was Adam.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

[druz]

I don't think so, although it would have been great to meet you too, lots we could have talked about. Adam was pretty recognizable with his love for all things Star Shark