Oh wow, concrats man. Just read this whole story- cool stuff, sometimes I want my 1st miata back, it was a '91 Mariner Blue.
Oh wow, concrats man. Just read this whole story- cool stuff, sometimes I want my 1st miata back, it was a '91 Mariner Blue.
You can't valuate enough something, until you lose it, a saying says. Not sure if that's the case here, but it's nice to see you got your car back. Just read the full thread, too! Seems like you've been through a lot together
tsingson (06-25-2015)
Thanks everyone! It feels right having it back.
I just have a few items locked in to address. The previous owner and I are building a short block from his horde of parts. A freshly honed block, clean internals that we will weigh and group together, new rings, gaskets, seals, and front work (oil and h20 pump, TB, etc.). We will mate it with a low-mileage transmission and ACT clutch. I am not a fan of the F1 OE style clutch I put in just before leaving Cali.
I am adding a little more foam to the Lotus seats, adding heat insulation under the carpet, add some LED interior lighting, address the slow power windows, maybe improve the infotainment, and just go through the car to take inventory of any minor issues.
Long term, I would love to go back to 14" wheels for daily driving, RPF1s or maybe Watanabes. If I fall into a 4.3 LSD, I wouldn't mind swapping out my 4.1 for it. I also may be looking at a different coilovers. I also would like to have some PDR work completed and eventually a respray.
All of that sounds good. Will we see it out at track days this year?
I don't know. I have a lot on my plate. Trying to secure some steadier work, buy a home, so if I do it may not be until next year.
I had a bad rattle from my hardtop so I looked at the rear feet. All the gaskets are intact, but I had about 3-4mm of vertical slop. I want to remove the Frankenstein bolts, but I know there is thread lock on there. Not wanting to break off the weldnuts, I left them alone and fiddled with the landing plates under the caps of the feet on the back of the hardtop. I loosened the bolts and flipped the plates over. I also added a washer to each bolt under the landing plate to take up some of the vertical slop. It worked! No more low RPM buzzing around that area.
I am waiting for the previous owner to complete his move to get the rest of the car's stuff back and start rebuilding the spare engine. Should begin soon. I would like to send out the MSPnP to get it checked over so I can convert to the COPs I built a couple years back.
Last edited by kung fu jesus; 06-27-2015 at 09:48 PM.
I wanted 14's so badly, picked up a nice set of 93LE BBS, but the tire prices and lack of tire choices forced my hand into 15s... Good luck.
Just another cracka azz cracka with an Old Beat up '97
Yeah, it's a love-hate thing for me. I love the feel of the extra side wall and narrower tire on the 14" wheels. The car feels lively and slippery when pushed hard. The extra side wall is a bit more forgiving, too. I wish I could land a set of 15" Watanabes in similar offsets as the 14" type B.
Started a few small projects.
I ordered some self-adhesive LED strips to add to the cabin. Tired of not seeing anything at night. I also found my OE interior lights needed some attention. The contacts were corroded and the bulbs were dead. The driver's side had a lead broken off. So, a little time disassembling, cleaning, and re-soldering, it is ready for the new bulbs.
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I plan to use this switch to power the strips, so I need to attach some leads for them.
I will put one strip in each foot well, then one under each seat. Why the seats? I need to flood the floor with light so I can see anything under them, like my sub belts or anything that has fallen down there. ;)
I also ordered some foam sheets. It is FIA approved for fire resistance. I will use it to add some comfort to the back area of the seats.
I also added the floor mats back. The passenger side needed some trimming to fit with the FSS bolted to the floor. Looks decent, now:
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I will be reinstalling the tubing off the FSS so it will run under the carpet and secure them better to the chassis. I have a small mandrel tool for this kind of work, so although hidden, it will be cleaner.
I found a great write up by Adam to help me wire the LED strips to the OE lighting here:
http://revlimiter.net/blog/2013/03/let-there-be-light/
Thank you, good sir!
So, I tied in the leads to the driver's side light switch. It's a 3-way, meaning the LEDs will either be off, switched on, or turn on when the doors open. Exactly how I was hoping these to work. Now, I just need to lay in the strips and wire them to the leads I added.
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The green wire is connected to the switch.
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The red wire is 12v. This is for an illuminated mirror, if I retrofit one. I will cap this off until then.
Last edited by kung fu jesus; 07-02-2015 at 03:51 PM.
I started modifying the Lotus seats in the car. I am adding some foam to the backs for comfort. This is SunMate orthopedic foam (medium, 3/4" thick) from Dynamic Systems in North Carolina. This is foam used in airlplanes, racecars, even in NASA applications. ( http://www.sunmatecushions.com/colle...pedic-cushions ), it is also FIA-approved (bonus!). I bought one 16" x 37" foam for around $25 shipped.
The seats are pretty easy to modify for this. There are two Christmas tree-style fasteners, one in the corner of the the inserts.
You can carefully peel the insert back after that. Mine only had a thin, definition layer for the covering, to pop the stitching/quilting. My goal here is to add comfort and a passive lumbar instead of relying on the shell and the inflatable, pneumatic lumbar.
I started conservative, using bigger pieces I can cut down after I determine the comfort I like. This allows me to shift the foam around, try layers, then stick them in place and shape/contour it after I am satisfied with the placement.
The insert is a little more than 12" wide, so I am working with 12" widths so I won't need to modify the seat covers to hide the foam. I am also trying to maximize the sheet so I can do both seats.
In the picture above, I have a 12x16 piece in the back, and a 12x6 piece in front. When I lay the cover back over this, the loose pieces of foam will sort of stick to each other from pressure, but still allow me to reach under to position the lumber. When I am satisfied, I will remove the cover again, mark the spot the lumbar is in relation to the larger piece in the back, then adhere it to one another. I will then flip it around to see if the largerpiece can buffer the blocky ends of the lumbar or if I need to shape and contour them.
HarryB (04-21-2016),Phatmiata (07-14-2015),Rogue (07-09-2015),ScratchNSniff (07-09-2015),tsingson (07-09-2015)
I am actually liking my seats without cushion now. Now that doesn't mean when I get the redone that I won't add a tiny bit but you are right. There isn't much to the upholstery.
Some cars need it, some don't. Honestly, when I sold the car, I had a LOT more natural cushion on me. Now it feels a bit like my spine is slamming into the seat. The car is also stiffly sprung, which probably isn't helping. If anyone is trying this from home, maybe start with the 1/2" thick foam and a longer piece to build up the layers. I've designed seating for a long time, so my familiarity with the process is pretty deep.
For comparison, I suggest adjusting the position of the lumbar compared to a car whose seats you find firm, but ergonomically correct/comfortable (IOW, a car whose seats you have sat in for long periods without issue). Park the cars next to each other, so your memory is fresh when you go back and forth.
tsingson (07-09-2015)
Very, very interesting...definitely need to look into picking up a sheet of this to try, that price is not bad at all...Originally Posted by kung fu jesus
15" Wats w/ a +34??? Know it isn't the +14, but also know you are very detail oriented lol...
kung fu jesus (07-09-2015)
I would only buy the 2-3 piece if I could re-barrel them for custom offsets and width. I hear the Wat bolt pattern on their multipiece wheels is unusual and difficult to re-barrel.
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