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Thread: My NB Daily Driver - Harbinger

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    Super Moderator RotorNutFD3S's Avatar
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    My NB Daily Driver - Harbinger

    I'm pulling my current journal over from our local Miata forum, so some of this are the older entries, starting from 3/14/10. I'll compile them into as few posts as possible. Pretty picture heavy though. Reading over this I've seen how much my goals for this car have changed. lol

    You'll see me reference someone named Dave quite a bit, he's known as OldGrayFrog on the forums. For a majority of the time I've owned this car, I was building his '91 from the ground up. Almost everything on that car has been replaced with something newer or better: built 1.8, GT2871R turbo, Hydra, LSx coil packs, 3.636 rear end, 6-speed, Nakamae interior, Racing Beat body parts, Simpson hood, Garage Vary rear panel, Wilwood brakes, 6ULs, Exige seats, you get the idea. I'll try to copy over that build thread too at some point.

    3/14/10
    Main Entry: har·bin·ger
    Pronunciation: \ˈhδr-bən-jər\
    a : precursor b : one that presages or foreshadows what is to come


    So after thinking about what I want out of my next project Miata and knowing that it will be another NA platform, I decided that I wanted a more enjoyable daily driver than my '91 Toyota Previa (aka The Space Egg). That thing is great for hauling parts or people, but not so much fun to drive. I love Miatas and can fix or modify most anything on them now, so it only made sense to get another one. I can enjoy the reliability and even though I'll have a Project Miata, I won't miss the fun summer months of top down driving.

    So here's my new daily driver, a 1999 Miata. Some will recognize this as OldGrayFrog's prior vehicle. It's in great shape, has 114k miles, handles great, and will work perfectly for what I want out of a daily. I really wasn't looking for an NB for a daily (it's well known I prefer an NA over an NB), but this one came along at the right time and is actually one of the few comfortable ones I've been in. I'm addicted to looking in the mirrors over the rear fenders and spoiler, same feeling as looking over the flares on my prior NA. Just something about the curves...

    Current Mod List:

    - Garage Vary Replica Front Bumper
    - IL Motorsports Eyelids
    - Track Dog Racing Front Splitter
    - KG Works Side Markers
    - MazdaSpeed Miata Rear Spoiler
    - MazdaSpeed Miata Rear Diffuser
    - IL Motorsports LED 3rd Brake Light
    - Spoon Fuel Lid
    - Bilstein PSS Coilover System
    - Flyin' Miata Front and Rear Sway Bars and Adjustable End Links
    - DBA Cross Drilled and Slotted Rotors
    - EBC Green Stuff Brake Pads
    - SS Brake Lines
    - OBX Header, 2.5" Roadster Midpipe, and Cobalt Polished Stainless Steel Exhaust System
    - Brainstorm Solo I Roll Bar
    - Katskinz Covered NB Seats
    - Innovate LC-1 WBo2
    - Gauge cluster with NB2 white faces and KG Works Vintage Aviation Bezel
    - VooDoo Smooth Piano Black Shift Knob

    This weekend I:

    - Installed 15x7.5 +34 6ULs wrapped with 205/50/15 Nitto Neo Gens
    - Swapped the tail lights for 01+ assemblies
    - Installed my Nautilus Air Horn
    - Installed a black soft top (Thanks Joe and Sean!)
    - Lowered the car (Thanks Mike and Sean!)

    In the near future, I'd like to tint the windows, install a stainless steel braided clutch line, a Cobalt 3-point shock tower brace, frame rail reinforcements, and a MazdaSpeed Miata pedal set. Maybe an aftermarket steering wheel. Probably not much more than that though, just enough to assist in handling and durability.
    I may have to pull the Brainstorm bar and install a more glass-window friendly rollbar. It didn't interfere with the tan cloth top with glass at all, but the vinyl top doesn't go down as easily.

    So enough talking, onto the pictures.

    Before shot:



    And now:







    With Doppelgδnger:











    Slapped on the SportMax 002s from my '95 on there just for sh**s and giggles, poor fitment:



    Editor's Notes: Right after I got this car and proclaimed it my daily driver, I had visions of an LSx swap and an NB daily. I set out to find an NA with a blown engine that I could swap the 99's engine into, but it didn't pan out then.

    3/21/10
    Installed SMT LED tail light bulbs from V-LEDs

    LED Bulb:


    Running Lights (LED on left, OEM on right):


    Brake Lights (LED on left, OEM on right):


    The brake lights almost look the same until you notice that you can see the gridlines in the housing on the right light, and not so much on the left light. And they're really red, not orange. lol

    Popped the SlickAuto APR CF Mirrors from my NA onto the NB:



    4/4/10
    Yesterday Sean (wonton) and I drove up to Panic Motorsports in SC to get the parts I needed to start my interior swap. Steve is a great guy to do business with and the drive was well worth it.

    This is what we saw when we pulled up, so we knew we made it to the right place:



    To the project at hand, the tan interior was nice, but I wasn't satisfied with it and I don't enjoy leather in a convertible. I'm also not a big fan of chrome and wood accents on the interior. I already had black floormats and center console, so it was looking a little mismatched. Here's the before pictures:







    And after the swap. I have to modify the inside door pulls so that they fit into the holes in the MSM door panels and I'll have to create new linkages so it all works, but that won't be too hard to do once I get the parts. Here's the after:







    If you look at the before pictures, you can see that there was a wood piece adhered to the OEM shifter surround. When I took that off there was hardened residue from the adhesive that wouldn't come off, even with a razor. So I sanded it smooth and wrapped it with the Neffy Wrap:



    4/13/10
    I realized I didn't have any pictures that really showed off the the mirrors against the rest of the car and I also got the windows tinted (38 on the sides and 18 on the rear). I installed my old Revlight and ScanGauge II last week too.









    I unexpectedly received a set of larger brakes so those will be going on ASAP.

    And yes, those are rock chips in the front bumper, the result of getting peppered with fine gravel during a mountain run combined with a not so hot paint job.

    5/3/10
    Snagged a set of NB Sport Brakes for an awesome deal.

    Here's a few quick comparison shots of the brakes off the car, shots of the car will come when the weather improves:

    Fronts:


    Rears:


    Rear Rotors:


    The brakes are a little more touchy and stop the car better than the stock setup did, both using EBC Green Stuff pads, so a pretty fair comparison. A worthwhile swap if you can get the parts cheap enough, but the stock setup does work very well. The fronts will soon be replaced with a set of Wilwood Dynalite calipers and Corrodo 11" rotors. Lots of weight can be lost there and I'm preparing the car for a lot more power.

    6/28/10
    Well the stock radiator's plastic endtank started separating from the core (no big surprise there), so I put up a few WTB ads and patiently waited. I just scored a barely used PWR for less than a brand new Mishimoto aluminum rad! Should be here this week, hopefully I'll get some time to install it so I can make Caffeine and Octane this weekend, I've missed the last two.

    It showed up and was installed on 7/1/10:

    Last edited by RotorNutFD3S; 05-10-2012 at 11:39 PM.
    I've got a lot less horsepower - luckily they are Japanese horses - usually in better shape and more motivated.

  2. #2
    Super Moderator RotorNutFD3S's Avatar
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    8/30/10
    Hosted a tech day at my house, ended up being able to pull the old roll bar out and installed my new Hard Dog M2HCHTDD roll bar. Also threw on my Beatrush diff. brace.



    Here's a couple shots of the car with the roll bar, was losing my light after changing the oil and installing the brace though, so sorry for the noise.









    9/4/10
    Finally got tired of the foggy headlight syndrome, so I got the Turtle Wax kit and went to town on them this morning. Didn't actually need the pads they have in the kit, just used the compound. Was going to take the headlight housings apart and paint the insides black, but the GV bumper is going to have to come off for that and I'm not feeling that motivated today.

    Before and After:









    Now I just have to get the eyelids back on. The nylon hardware for the TDR splitter showed up today so the car should be in good shape for C&O tomorrow.

    9/24/10
    Things are about to get a little brighter:





    They're Morimoto Mini H1 Bi-Xenon Projectors from TheRetrofitSource.

    10/16/10
    Got an I.L. Motorsport pedal set at R*Speed today and in typical fashion didn't waste any time installing them. Install on the gas and dead pedal is easy, getting the covers on the brake and clutch pedals is a little more difficult. Really small flat head screwdriver helps there. If you've ever installed a set of MSM pedals, you know what I'm talking about. Very nice parts though!



    12/27/10
    So I haven't really done much to the car, not much to do really unless I make it faster. But I did get a black MSM rear view mirror:



    I also got a pair of MSM door sills. The stainless on the sills helps break up some of the solid black of the interior, I like them a lot better than I thought I would.



    1/21/11
    Last night I installed the D-Techniques kit which deleted the center console. I'm going to try it out for a bit to see if I like it more than having a center console, but so far it's pretty nice.



    1/24/10
    Meanwhile I've been silently accumulating parts to turbo the car on a budget, I've missed boost like crazy, and some good deals have come along:



    So far I have:
    - MSM manifold, turbo, and downpipe elbow (very low mileage parts)
    - MSM water pump inlet
    - MSM turbine brace
    - Stock 99-00 "downpipe"
    - Enthuza Turbo XR Lightweight from an MSM
    - Walbro 250lph fuel pump
    - Supra Green Top injectors
    - FM Happy Meal w/ Level 1 Clutch Kit and 10.3lb flywheel (lightly used, about 3-4,000 miles)
    - MSM engine mounts (Christmas present from Britt's grandmother)

    The MSM turbo assembly bolts up to the stock 99-00 downpipe as seen and lets me retain my existing exhaust and the XR bolts up to the midpipe normally as well. So from the downpipe back I'll have my RoadsterSport midpipe and the XR, all 2.5". I'm going to send the turbine housing to BEGi to get the wastegate ported to prevent boost issues.

    Right now I have very little total invested in the system, around a few hundred dollars. At this point I need an MSM EGR pipe, intercooler and piping, oil and water lines, and something for engine management. Should be ready to install after that. Hate to say it, but I'll probably go with a piggyback of some sort. Not going to be running a ton of boost on a turbo this small and I need to stay OBDII compliant, so a standalone isn't currently fitting the bill and no one has gotten a parallel setup running consistently without a CEL. The nice thing is I won't have to fight with the ECU as badly as MSM owners do.

    The goal is to make around the same power as the MSM owners do with intake, injector, exhaust, and intercooler upgrades. So just a hair over 200rwhp, anything better is icing on the cake. Granted this won't be as powerful as my red NA was but it will be a ton more fun than n/a.

    2/3/11
    I has new steering wheel. Momo Competition 350mm. Can still see the whole gauge cluster but yet it doesn't rub on my knees. So much nicer!



    2/15/11
    I finally got around to reinstalling my ScanGauge since the center console delete removed its old mounting spot. I'll see if I like this new spot:



    Snapped a quick shot of the car as I walked back inside (this was post projector retrofit, which there is a walkthrough for here on MiataRoadster.net):



    4/15/10
    I has more bracing! Thanks Dave! After last weekend's wheel rotate/balance and alignment I still had a tiny hint of "60mph Shimmy" between 60-70mph. Now it is gone.



    And a red Mazdaspeed oil cap, which was given to me by a Honda tech because he didn't have anything to put it on. lol

    4/18/11
    Just because I take pictures of just about every project I do or part I install, I was going to take a picture of the new 3.9 diff but I realized it was pretty dirty (not caked oil, just normal accumulated grime from life on the road), and everyone who knows me knows I'm OCD about installing clean parts. Out came the degreaser...





    Much better!

    4/22/11
    So tonight I decided to absolutely slam my car...



    Just kidding... With the help of Danny (theothersawyer) we got my 3.9 TorSen installed, not much to show here, just the "old" vs. the "new":



    And a shot of the 3.9 carrier hanging in its new home:



    Danny's idea of helping was creating towers with sockets while the diff., PPF, ladder brace, and assorted other tools all fell on my face:



    I kid, he helped a lot and I'm lucky since I asked for help at the last minute. Definitely appreciated! We knocked the job out in just a little over 5 hours, had a few stubborn bolts and those pesky PPF pieces, but no major issues thankfully. We got done, took it for a test drive, and while I was enjoying the lower RPMs we heard a horrible rattle. Got it back home, turns out I left the trunk unlatched. Oh well, that's what you get for being tired sometimes.

    I'm also just planning to stick with the 5 speed. It keeps the gears longer which I enjoy for cruising at interstate speeds/keeping the RPMs down (it still accelerates nicely) and with the MSM turbo stuff I won't even be near the breaking point of this transmission. But I'll be able to stay in boost in each gear just a little bit longer.
    Last edited by RotorNutFD3S; 05-10-2012 at 11:32 PM.
    I've got a lot less horsepower - luckily they are Japanese horses - usually in better shape and more motivated.

  3. #3
    Super Moderator RotorNutFD3S's Avatar
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    4/23/11
    My windshield developed some nasty lines after an existing impact started spider webbing.

    New glass is awesome! It's almost as if the glass really isn't there, it's so clear.



    And I just decided to trim a convertible boot I had for the rollbar, much cleaner look IMO:



    5/5/11
    I got jealous of the Carbing tow hooks I put on Dave's car, plus some people kept asking why I hadn't deleted the "baby teeth" yet, so I got myself some hooks as well, although a less expensive option from RennenMetal. I have done business with him before and as always the customer service is top notch. For whatever reason the first shipment attempted never made it to me and the tracking information never updated from "shipped" so he immediately sent another set to me using a different shipping company. Don't get that level of service much anymore.

    Anyway, onto the quick pictures:





    The rear hook is bent specifically to clear the MSM rear lip and does require drilling one hole for installation (easy though):



    6/24/11
    I was walking up to my car today and I decided I finally had enough of the gap between the hood and the bumper. It's not as noticeable to most people, but I'm pretty sure I'm OCD and it bugged the sh** out of me.

    About a year ago the bumper was sagging because the big plastic bumper support piece wasn't installed when the bumper went on. Mike, having an authentic Garage Vary bumper on his NB, knew what needed to be trimmed/modified on the plastic piece and took my bumper off and fixed it for me. For a while it looked great but there wasn't much supporting the lower half of the bumper and the gap started to widen again, but not as bad as it originally had been.

    So tonight I adjusted the bumper where I wanted it to be, took my Dremel and drilled out 3 holes in the bumper that line up with the holes in the car where the forward air dam used to attach, and secured it with some nuts and bolts. Result: no more sagging bumper, even after pushing down on it, and a hugely reduced gap. Looks like it shouldn't move again. That should cure me for a bit...

    7/29/11
    Dave let me try out the SSR Type-C wheels he has (I really like them on my car), but tonight before they came off I took a few shots of them installed, just with my Sony PnS, but better than the cell phone:







    Now I'm back on my Nickel 6ULs.

    8/15/11
    I installed a set of Mitsubishi Eclipse vents to replace the eyeballs.









    9/6/11
    I finally installed my Pioneer radio tonight, I thought the Bose head unit died on me this evening, but turns out the harness unplugged itself somehow. Regardless I didn't want to drive without music and since I was already halfway through the install I decided to finish it. I've had the car for a year and a half and the radio has been sitting on a shelf the whole time, so it's about damn time I installed it.

    So now I have much better sound, satellite radio, AUX input (for iPod and Pandora), and I'm a happier driver because of it. Also pulled the power antenna and installed the Shark Attack II antenna that I had installed on Britt's car before it was totaled.





    9/22/11

    I snagged a set of brand new FM frame rails silly cheap on one of the other forums, I've wanted them for quite some time, and they showed up today:



    Because of another awesome deal I snagged a set of brand new Forged Wilwood calipers. The original plan was to keep these as a back up for the Billet Wilwood set that I've been cleaning up, but I'm going to just run these instead.



    These have 1.62" diameter pistons as opposed to the 1.38" pistons (comparison photo below) in the calipers that come with the standard $600 Wilwood brake kit. Probably won't be a huge difference in pedal feel, but the clamping force will be slightly more evenly distributed on the pads, which is always a good thing.



    And thanks to Dave for an awesome deal, I now have the Wilwood mounting brackets and 2-pc directional vane rotors to go with it:



    These should work great with the Sport rear brakes, although a bias valve (and maybe a larger master cylinder) is most likely in my future. Now I'll be ready when the extra power is added under the hood and this thing sees more track time (not that Miata brakes don't do a good job), whenever that happens anyway.

    9/26/11
    The Wilwoods were thrown on Friday night. Upgrading from standard 1.8 brakes to the Sport brakes was a very noticeable change, these even more so. They easily and very quickly stop the car, they'll give you whiplash if you aren't ready. lol I'm going to get a proportioning valve as it's very easy to lock these up before the rears, but relearning threshold braking with them was easy too.

    The install is straightforward and explained well in the instruction manual, anyone who has changed brake pads and rotors can tackle this job quickly. I had already assembled the rotors to the hats and safety wired the bolts, so that prevented delays too.

    Quick cell phone picture:



    10/15/11
    I got a great deal on a set of Morette tail lights and a while back I left the shrouds with a friend who works at a body shop, asked for paint whenever there was spare time and they came out nice! I think they're going to be nicer than the paint on the car though. We'll see how it looks later, for now they'll sit until I have time to reassemble, install, and weatherseal them. Also need to do a bit more polishing on the lenses, however, they look a ton better than when I got them!



    10/31/11
    I installed a set of 949Racing lugs along with a new set of Yokohama S-Drive tires:



    12/23/11
    Well I'm a sucker for abuse, aka more car projects. There's nothing wrong with my headlight retrofit but I apparently felt the need to change them as I brought this setup home with me after visiting TheRetrofitSource's new shop in Atlanta the other day. It's basically the same as what I already have except these new shrouds are slightly redesigned and are a smoked clear plastic. They are also compatible with CCFL angel eyes (the white rings in the picture below), which reside inside the shroud. I have a pair of Garage Vary eyelids on the way to replace the ILs so I'm hoping that it'll look pretty menacing when everything is done. We'll see I guess.

    I've got a lot less horsepower - luckily they are Japanese horses - usually in better shape and more motivated.

  4. #4
    Super Moderator RotorNutFD3S's Avatar
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    1/7/12
    This is just a crappy teaser shot but I was excited my GV eyelids finally showed up, so I set them on the car and took a picture, little more attitude on the front end and the projector retrofits really do look like eyeballs with them on there:



    1/16/12
    I got the eyelids back from paint today, it was too late for any decent light, but this is an ok preview. I think it looks mean.



    They're not "installed" yet though, I need to install my new projectors before I attach the eyelids to the headlights.

    1/17/12
    Took a couple quick shots in the overcast light this afternoon:





    1/25/12
    I picked up a Tein Flex setup from atlnb tonight (lucky guy now has Xida CS coilovers, they're NICE!), I won't be installing them until I get a set of 9kg springs for the front (currently 7/6), so I cleaned them up instead. lol





    Now I just need to find a new home for the Bilstein PSS coilovers that are on the car, they're a great setup, just don't have the adjustability I now want. I also need to find the time to work on my own car, the parts are piling up.

    2/3/12
    Got my 9kg springs for the Flexes in the mail today, I'm really itching to install my FM frame rails and the Teins, but gotta focus on Dave's car for the time being:



    2/14/12
    I made time to install my frame rails tonight:



    Ran into a couple of snags: one of the fuel/brake line retainer studs that FM welds to the passenger side rail was missing, so had to create a solution, easy enough with a drill bit and a self-tapping bolt. They also shorted the bag by two or three mounting bolts, but I tore through my parts bins until I found the spare bolts I had, fortunately the right size.

    I didn't drive the car tonight after finishing, but I remember the difference they made on my NA, so I'm prepared for what I'll experience tomorrow morning during the drive to work.

    And a word of advice, if you're doing anything that requires drilling through the body (frame rails, roll bar, etc.) pick yourself up a Dewalt Pilot Point bit or the set, I got the 16-pc set (up to 1/2") last night for $20 at Home Depot as it's the better buy than buying just one bit and I'll use them. But they go through our cars like butter, even the layered sections of metal, and they stay true to where you start drilling:



    2/16/12
    Just a quick preview, obviously not mounted or quite in the proper location, but it does give an idea of things to come.



    2/19/12
    Well, the Teins are in and the Bilstein coilovers have a nice new home. For once, I don't have any pictures of the install, but after some more adjusting today, they're finally where I want them and they are definitely an awesome setup!

    Meanwhile I got the painting done on the test retrofit shroud. The paint is curing, but as far as we can tell the light won't be able to bleed through the painted portion, so it looks promising. More work on that tomorrow, and some other projects, as I have the day off from work.

    Danny, being the awesome friend he is, ordered a set of the RevLimiter FC gauges for me and we installed those tonight (crappy night time shots ahead):





    I love them! Although I'm going to have to relocate my ScanGauge for the 3rd time. lol

    2/20/12
    Here's the gauges with some natural lighting:



    I also messed with the retrofit a bit today but didn't get to do much with it this weekend. I spent yesterday messing with my suspension and gauges and today helping Danny swap his radiator and his gauges.

    The original smoked graphite shroud is on the right, I didn't think I'd like being able to see through it when the HIDs would be on, so I set about coating them. I masked off the accents and the front ring and I painted it. I put an HID up to it and there was no light bleed-through in the painted portion, so that's good.



    Here's with the CCFL in place:



    You can see how the accents will light up with the CCFLs or the HIDs:



    And with one of the projectors in place:



    3/27/12
    I've had occasional issues with the radiator hoses sealing properly to my PWR radiator, at least one of them wants to seep fluid sometimes. I don't use worm clamps, oddly enough the OEM clamps weren't working and neither were the ABA reverse torque clamps (same as BEGi uses, usually work without issue). So I went to the next step: t-bolt clamps. Now there are no more problems. And hey, they look cool.



    4/19/12
    I was tired of being blinded in the mornings while driving into the rising sun, always seems to hit where the visors don't cover, so I got a 5% upper strip of tint installed. The installer talked me into a light tint on the whole windshield at the same time. Overall it's much better and I can still see clearly at night, I was concerned about that when we were talking about installing it, but now I don't get as blinded by jacked up trucks and cars with HIDs in reflector housings. And the car stays a little bit cooler during the day now too.



    I also decided to work on the Morette tail lights again, I had to make a repair on the shroud on one side, so while that was curing I polished the lenses and sealed/assembled the other side:



    Compared to faded lenses:



    Hopefully I'll be able to assemble the other side tomorrow after work. Maybe even install them.

    4/20/12
    The passenger's side part of the rear bumper has not always lined up with the rear quarter panel, it's been like this for about as long as I can recall having the car. While I had the tail lights out tonight I noticed that the clip on the inside of the bumper wasn't attached to the clip on the chassis. So I popped the wheel off, removed some screws, and put the bumper into place. Now it looks better and doesn't bother my OCD self anymore. lol I like simple fixes.




    And the Morette tail lights are installed and weathersealed. I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep them, at least for a while. I do like them though!





    And that's where the car is at as of today.
    I've got a lot less horsepower - luckily they are Japanese horses - usually in better shape and more motivated.

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to RotorNutFD3S For This Useful Post:

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  6. #5
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power morr's Avatar
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    Love this build! Your car is a perfect example of a clean NB. I've been considering the upper window tint myself since I ditched the visors.
    RoadsterLife<3

  7. #6
    Super Moderator RotorNutFD3S's Avatar
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    Thanks! The tint is worth it, I find myself not using the visors much anymore while driving. Now all they do is hold up the sun shade while I'm at work.
    I've got a lot less horsepower - luckily they are Japanese horses - usually in better shape and more motivated.

  8. #7
    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
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    This thread inspires wood.

  9. #8
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! psulja's Avatar
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    Great looking build! Definitely one of my favorite NB's out there.
    Paul | IG- @psulja
    Build thread:
    1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain

  10. #9
    Super Moderator RotorNutFD3S's Avatar
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    Now one step closer to boost:



    It's not a standalone but probably is one of the best piggybacks out there. For a daily driver that might make 225whp at the most and that also needs to pass yearly emissions without a fuss, this should work perfectly.
    I've got a lot less horsepower - luckily they are Japanese horses - usually in better shape and more motivated.

  11. #10
    Super Moderator RotorNutFD3S's Avatar
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    This thread lacks recent updates. So plans changed and my car went up to DIYAutoTune and was the test platform for the new MSPnP for the 99-00 chassis. A lot of people have been waiting for this to come out. So now I'll be using that instead of the eManage for engine control with the turbo.

    Meanwhile, the front bumper loses paint if you look at it wrong and the rear decklid wasn't painted correctly before the MSM spoiler was installed, two things that I've wanted to fix for a while, so they were pulled and taken to my paint guy while the car was up at DIY.

    Here's the new sporty look:





    I've also gained access to a blasting booth and powdercoating equipment, so I'm starting with a few small projects to learn with, currently in the raw state:

    VC.jpg

    My Carbing front tow hook was used when I got it, still in great shape, but missing its coating in some small spots. Daily driving with it has worn it a bit more. I'm also redoing the rear tow hook as the coating was damaged in the mail and I just put a coat of gloss red paint on it to cover that up. Both are getting coated gloss red.

    The valve cover had been painted well with silver wheel paint and then clearcoated, but aircraft stripper and some work with the sandblaster took care of all that. It's going to get a black base coat with a translucent red top coat. In dark lighting it will look black and in brighter lighting it will look red to dark red depending on the angle you look at it.

    And then last night (7/26), Harbinger took an *** whooping. It's not exactly how I would have liked my workday to end, this happened while sitting at the exit at work. The Silverado in front of me decided he didn't want to turn right anymore but instead wanted to get into the other lane to go straight, so he backed up. Onto my hood. Halfway up it. He says he didn't see me in his mirrors or hear my Nautilus horn. No one was hurt though.

    Fortunately my normal bumper hadn't come back from paint yet and I hadn't installed my GV eyelids yet either. But this will require a new hood, passenger headlight, probably passenger fender, and repair/replacement of the front bumper that is kindly being lent to me.

    All that got hurt under the hood was the cam angle sensor and luckily I had one of those at the house. The rear ends on those single cab, short bed '08 Silverados sit so high that its spare tire was the first thing to contact my hood and you can see where that started. Could have been worse, but damn.





    Going to have an insurance rep. do a shop repair estimate on Monday, but hopefully it'll be fixed soon.
    Last edited by RotorNutFD3S; 07-27-2012 at 10:50 AM.
    I've got a lot less horsepower - luckily they are Japanese horses - usually in better shape and more motivated.

  12. #11
    Super Moderator RotorNutFD3S's Avatar
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    Well, I brought it home today from the body shop. We figured that since there was already so much to paint with the bumper, trunk lid, and damage repair that we might as well go ahead and paint the whole car. Definitely worth it! There are still a few parts not back on the car yet (MSM spoiler, mirrors, etc.) but he'll have those done by the end of next week.

    I've got a lot less horsepower - luckily they are Japanese horses - usually in better shape and more motivated.

  13. #12
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! ctrench's Avatar
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    I love the car!!!

  14. #13
    1,000 rpm - releasing the clutch Big Red's Avatar
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    love what you have done with the car, its a pretty stealth looking machine.
    ~Gareth~
    -ROADSTERZOKU-

  15. #14
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power treeafodo's Avatar
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    This car is clean, functional and looks amazing! Very clean for a daily!
    Austin.
    Lexy (Little Hobo) - Transforming from Wreck to Race Car.
    Quote Originally Posted by Blueiii View Post
    Your priorities seem a bit messed up to me, although that's because I try to get my lap times to decrease.

  16. #15
    Super Moderator RotorNutFD3S's Avatar
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    Thanks guys!
    I've got a lot less horsepower - luckily they are Japanese horses - usually in better shape and more motivated.

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