Sharka

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Now that is badass! Well, amongst everything else that's badass on Sharka.

[★ revlimiter ★]

Thank you sir.

[★ revlimiter ★]

Yuck.


This is one part of the bikini top that I’ve never taken pix of. And in… what, 5 years? I’ve never fixed it.

I am ashamed.

When you cut off the end off the soft top, you’re left with this jagged metal edge. There’s nothing to cover it. No caps or anything. Actually… I think I remember Project-G sending some cut pieces of ABS to glue over the ends. I didn’t use them for whatever reason. I believe they didn’t fit too well.

I did sand these edges down so that they weren’t jagged. But man, that rough end is the one sad spot on the whole Bikini Top. And they were starting to rust a little.

Time to fix it.


POR-15 Epoxy Putty!


This is POR-15 Epoxy Putty. It’s somewhat like a body filler, but more like a clay. It’s meant to be worked into an open area (a hole, if you will) and then formed and sanded. It cures hard as metal (so they claim) and is ready to be painted.

I found this surfing around on amazon looking for a decent clay or filler or putty. This jumped out and had excellent reviews so I thought I’d try it.

Spoiler: it works great!


Slice a bit off each log...


Twist, ball, repeat.


This Epoxy Putty is a solid two part epoxy. They describe how to mix it on the side of the package, but don’t include any photos.

You twist the two parts together and then ball it up. Then you stretch it out into a long noodle, twist together again, and ball up again. Keep going until the epoxy is a uniform color. I mixed up 3 batches total and found mixing to take about 5 minutes. The putty has about a 20 minute work time.


Before


I left the bikini top in place to actually do this work. It seemed like having Sharka hold the top for me was the easiest way to do it.

I did fold the actual vinyl top back over the windshield to get it out of the way and give me room to work.


During


After!


There’s not much to it. Working with the epoxy putty really is like working with clay. It is easy to mold into a space, easy to shape, and pretty easy to smooth out.

They tell you to use gloves when working with this stuff and I’m not about to tell you otherwise. Mixing it up is definitely easiest with gloves on. … buuttt…. gloves make working the putty into any kind of smooth surface a pain. I stripped mine off.


Driver's side


Chunky.


After!


Once the epoxy is into place and sorta where you want it, adding a bit of water to the surface and smoothing it by hand works really well. I was able to get my shapes 90% of the way there just by smoothing with water. And the closer to the end of that 20 minute work time you are, the better it smooths out.

I left it to cure overnight and hit it with a sanding block the next morning. I also smoothed the edges with a dremel and sanding drum.

And then I painted.


SO MUCH BETTER!!!


A huge improvement.


I hit it with some satin black. It tends to be a good match for interior plastics and the primer/paint combo can makes life pretty easy. And holy crap does it look a ton better.

The new end caps make the rest of the latch area look a bit lacking. I might need to spend some quality time refreshing the latches and front bow to match now. I mean, the only person who would ever see it is me, but it would be worth it.

No idea how I let those unfinished edges alone for so long. At least they’re fixed now!

[— Phatmiata —]

Why you no hit me up for some epoxy? I even sell a black colorant to change the color of the epoxy from gray to black when you are mixing the A and B



Nice repair work though.

[Airbrush1]

Great little detail!

[—Bryan—]

That's amazing, Adam. You've inspired me to start saving up for a Bikini top now that I've got a rollbar

[NCGreasemonkey]

That was the one detail about the bikini that I didn't like. And you resolved it before I had to go head-to-head with it! Thanks Adam!

[★ revlimiter ★]

In an effort to gain some skills in video editing, I shot and cut this little thing today. It was a total of about 6 hours of work including getting cameras to actually record stuff, driving around, and editing. 6 hours for 1:30 of video. Is that normal?

This was all shot with one gopro. I dusted off my ancient Hero 3+ and stuck it on various parts of Sharka. This is apparently also the first in-car footage that's ever existed. 16 years and no in-car? I'm ashamed.

Anyways, I'm gonna try my best to do more video stuff. I've been embarrassed at my lack of video skillz the past couple years. Time to do something about that.

If anyone has tips, hints, or suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

As well you should be embarrassed but to be fair, I just keep pressing random buttons on mine until it starts working.

[★ revlimiter ★]

I tried that. It wouldn't work without a firmware update. lol

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Oh, even without firmware updates, I'm stuck using GoPro software and none of the sequences are automatically arranged in order by the time it comes to editing so I have to use my best judgement when a friend was screwing the taiplipe in relation to when another was burning all the meat on the BBQ.

[Ctsquid]

Boy does that color look good when the sunlight gets to it. Cool video Adam!

[★ revlimiter ★]

Huh. A while without an update.


I put one of these on Sharka. And Bucky. And Stormtrooper. And even my 3. Every car gets a shift plate!



And I got one of these. A shiny new kitty cat.


Old vs New.

I should have changed this out long ago. The old one was… really old. I have no idea when I changed it. It might be from the 97. I don’t even know the brand. I believe it was Jackson Racing, though I’m not sure.

It barely functioned as a cat anymore. The exhaust was really really smelly. It had also developed a leak which was pretty loud in the cabin. Time for a new one.

The replacement cat is from Goodwin. A RoadsterSport 2.5″ federal catalytic converter.



The old one was just “a cat.” Nothing special. I wanted something to do the job of a catalytic converter. I didn’t put much effort into selection, I’m ashamed to say.

I actually shopped for the new one. I wanted a 2.5″ unit to match Sharka’s FM piping. (I know I could make more power with a full 3″ exhaust, but I like installing the factory cat for a week every two years.) And I wanted a stock-flange cat. And… that was it.

The RoadsterSport fits the bill. It measures 2.5″ with a caliper and bolts onto a stock exhaust system. It even came with oversized gaskets.

I also measured the old cat and was surprised to find it was 2.125″ with a caliper. That’s a bit on the small side. I thought it was 2.25″.

Poor Sharka. So unloved.


Empty.


Full!

Installation was nothing to speak of. The old cat and new ones both go in and out easily. They’re a bit shorter than the factory one, so I don’t have to unbolt the muffler and massage the pipes into place. 4 bolts off and 4 bolts on. Super simple.

After installing the new cat, I fired up the engine and let things heat up for a couple minutes. Then I tightened the bolts down. And let me tell ya, it’s really really nice not having that exhaust leak right under the seat. So much quieter.

And I’m very happy to report that power is up! It was a very happy test drive after the install. 4th gear seemed to go by much faster than before.

[Greasemonkey2000]

Exhaust leaks are the worst especially on what is an otherwise great sounding exhaust. I agree about catalytic converters, pretty much a must have especially considering how well high flow units flow. I really need to make it to New Mexico one day to check out the Miata collection.

[Cermivelli]

Should have added the shiftpattern plate with my last order. Oh well, there will always be a next order for goodies at your shop!