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Thread: Rick's 91 Smurf - Rekindling the Romance

  1. #1
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    Rick's 91 Smurf - Rekindling the Romance

    I have been asked by a few people if I had a build thread... well no. So now after 21 years I guess its time.
    First I need to say that I am a rare bird... I am the original owner of this old car.
    As a kid I drove and loved MG's



    But when Miata's came out I really thought I needed something more practical like a Civic. My wife the girl in the first pic actually drove a Miata first. She got to drive one up in the mountains of West Virginia. When she came home "She" told me we needed to get one. Sorry no pic's of the car when it was brand new.

    Many things have been tried and have been removed in the years past, but I will give you a list of the major items.

    To start off the car is a late 1991 Mariner Blue with the AB option package. Power Steering, Power Windows, cruise control and AC.
    There were a few things we got right off the bat.

    Low profile Luggage rack... OK don't laugh this was 21 years ago and it helped us take several long trips
    A Great Water resistant duffle bag by a company called Atlantic Designs. They were one of the first companies to make accessory products in the US for Miata's
    we still use this today. It fit very well on the Luggage rack. Leaving a lot of room for my wife and I.

    The first added option after that was an item to make the shift shorter... no not a short shifter, Miata Magazine had a special knob they developed that would drop the shifting point down by about 1/2" over original. This came in looking like a knob off of a Farberware frying pan. The first shift up to 3rd gear bruised my palm...
    the knob disappeared, (FAIL)

    Next was a power remote trunk release. This worked great we still use it today.

    Then a swing out cup holder... another great little item, we still use it today.

    When the car was only two years old someone hit me in a parking lot... not much damage but it needed to get fixed. When I went to the body shop I asked the owner what could be done about the small little blemishes the car had. He told me that it was Acid Rain damage and that Mazda was repainting cars that had it... I took the car in to see the Mazda rep. Sure enough they gave me a new paint job. Its the paint I still have on the car today. The paint was a German paint called Glykin Plast. It has held up remarkably well.

    Shortly after that the BMW Z3 came out... I really wanted one... so instead I got Leather seats, these were from that same company Atlantic Design. These were all black leather and felt like a soft leather coat.

    To add to that I got a short ~16" power antenna.. I loved this but someone broke it off of the car.

    I also got a Hard Dog Hard Bar. This was the best thing for stiffening up the chassis I have ever put on the car.

    When the car celebrated its 100K mile birthday I gave it new Tokiko HP Shocks and High Performance Springs from (if I remember ) HKX..
    Along with the springs I gave it a set of MSW type 45 16" wheels and Dunlop SP Sport 2000's. The wheels looked great but weighed a ton.

    Then Disaster struck I hit a Pneumatic Actuator that dropped off of a truck at 80 mph. I just grazed the actuator with the front tire... it spun around and it caught it squarely on my back passenger tire. The actuator punctured the tire passed through the tire and pushed right up through the rim of the wheel.. The car was lifted up in the air and I was facing the asphalt. fortunately my girl remained more composed than I and came done flat on the ground... I was able to get her off of the road safely. The wheel as ruined and I had bent both control arms on the back passenger side. MSW no longer made the type 45's so I was forced to buy another set of wheels.

    I got a set of ATS Planets. These are the wheels I have on the car today. They are not too heavy and have held up well.



    You can also see the Hard Dog Hard Bar here.

    At 200K miles I got a wood steering wheel, Brake handle and Gear shift knob from Moss Motors. They are on the car today.

    I also added Fog Lights, and Daytime running lights. I copied a write up from Miata.net. on the running lights... H2 halogens went into the main portion of the turn signal lenses... I then put the turn signal lights in that little unused space. To top this off, I tied them into the lighting circuit so that they would turn on with the parking lights and off with the regular lights... they were cool but also hot the turn lights melted the plastic of the lenses... (FAIL)

    To add to this I replaced the Exhaust System with a custom one to allow me to place the spare tire under the car... I will get a picture of this later.. The first rendition of this exhaust used a small turbo muffler. The thing set off car alarms in my complex. So I went back and got a regular muffler off of an Isuzu if I remember. That was a little bit better but was still loud. This arrangement does not have any 90 degree bends so the gas is really flowing when it hits the muffler. I blew the baffles out of two more mufflers even after adding a resonator into the mid pipe. I finally had Midas Muffler make me a new setup with a resonator and canister muffler.. Sounds nice and has held up well.

    The car drove like this for years... The biggest thing I had to do was replace Soft Tops. I have gone through 7 in the 21 years I have owned the car. The first two replacements were done under warranty. The vinyl strip that holds the top to the frame kept tearing off. I replaced 4 of the next 5 tops myself.. I have done frame on and frame off... I like frame off the best. The last two tops were knifed! I did the replacement on the first knifed top... a year later when the second one was knifed I had it done.

    Then 5 years ago the rear dif blew out and the car sat in the parking lot of my office for 3 years... and rotted!

    The next post is my recent rebuild. over the last two years.
    Last edited by RoadsterTech; 09-29-2012 at 12:44 PM.
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  2. #2
    Admin / Pit Boss / Miataholic Phatmiata's Avatar
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    me gusta! Did you do the motor swap yet Rick? Post some pics of that new motor when you get it installed if you have not done so already.

  3. #3
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    Not yet I am still gathering things for it.
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  4. #4
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    Bringing my car back to life

    Okay, so the car sat at my office for 3 years, it's paint was very oxidized, the rear end was still broken and my sweet Atlantic Design seats were trashed. Way to much time alone in the Florida sun!

    I was moving my office to another new building so the car had to go.... It was a very troubling time. Do I get rid of this car after I had kept for so long? or try to fix it. I chose to fix it...

    Now the problem I was moving my office while doing projects so I had no time to work on the car so I took the car to an old mechanic that had done work on my cars for years. He wanted to argue with me about getting the car fixed. I actually had to prove to him that the car could be repaired and was wroth fixing. Six months later I get the car back with a new "used" rear-end, a new instrument pod (they broke mine) and a very leaky radiator. The paint was still oxidized and now had over spray from some painting the mechanic must have been doing.

    I looked at this sad car and again wondered if I should just get rid of it..... But I decided to rekindle the love affair... So the rebuild begains.

    1. I replaced the Radiator
    2. I found that the water pump was leaking so the car got a timing belt and water pump job along with new seals... It was leaking like an old pipe.
    3, A compression test wass done and the car was putting out 175, 175,180,175 not bad for 280,000 miles.

    Now the car was running but the thing looked like crap, Bad Paint, Rotted Seats, Cracked Dash and faulty AC


    Here comes the fun stuff:

    The Dash

    I called around with not much luck to find a dash until I got a hold of "The Parts Group" They had a 94 Tan dash that was in fairly good shape but the black top was getting sad looking and sticky. I bought it.

    The Dash came in with as advertised bad paint on its top. But it also had the start of cracks.

    Further inspection proved that all of the connection tabs were cracking as well. So I set out to fix them.

    1. I cleaned the dash first with Simple Green and then with a mixture of 50% Ammonia and 50% Denatured Alcohol. This mixture is great for pulling out the old plastic treatments like Armor-all.

    2. The Supper cleaner had the added benefit of being a paint stripper. It removed all of the old black paint from the dash.



    3. I Then went to work on the Cracks.

    Using a Hot tip plastic welder I tacked the dash crack closed.



    I then added some wire mesh and epoxied the back side of the crack. I also reinforced the mounting tab.



    Going through several types of epoxy I found Permatex Plastic Weld worked the best. Here are a few pics of the other tabs.







    After the Cracks were repaired I was still left with a Tan Dash. So, I looked for Paint... Krylon Fusion Paint looked promising so I chose to use it
    I used the Semi- Gloss

    The results were much better than I expected.







    I left the visible crack alone on the outside... I did not want to have to mess with matching the grain...



    Next Posting will be the seats...
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  5. #5
    Admin / Pit Boss / Miataholic Phatmiata's Avatar
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    that looks great! I would have liked to see the Tan interior inside the Mariner blue. That must have come from a 92 or 93 C-pkg car, the 94+ had the dual airbags didnt they?

  6. #6
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    I spent some time thinking "Tan", but cheaped out. It must have been a 93. When did power mirrors come along? It had a Power Mirror switch
    Last edited by RoadsterTech; 09-29-2012 at 02:21 PM.
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  7. #7
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    New Seats

    As I said before my seats were shot... not only the leather but the foam on the drivers side had broken down...
    So they were next on the list.

    First I tried to find Atlantic Designs again... no luck, they must have gone out of business.
    I then looked at Katskins these looked nice. I found that Crazy Red Italian had the best price on them so that's how I went.

    I wanted something a little different so I went with Pacific Blue inserts and Black on the sides.

    I had to do something with the foam so I contacted Treasure Coast Miata and got an old drivers seat foam insert... they were nice enough to just send the foam.

    I sit kinda high in the saddle so I decided a foamectomy would be a good thing to do. I used a hot wire knife and sliced the shovel off of the bottom of the foam. I then added back a 1/2" piece of very soft foam onto the top of the seats to fill in the space on the leather. This makes the seats very comfortable and keeps the leather smooth. The foamectomy helps lower me down some.

    Here are the results:



    I then added some extra leather from Redline Products

    Last edited by RoadsterTech; 09-29-2012 at 04:29 PM.
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  8. #8
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    Radio Surround

    Like many of you I changed out my radio for a new unit.

    The Panasonic unit that I have works nice and I was able to add in an Ipod interface.

    the big hangup was the crappy looking surround that was sent to make it fit with the Miata

    So... I decided to make my own surround...

    I work quite a bit with HDPE plastics and had a piece of plastic that looked like a good match with the Miata Plastic.
    So I designed up a replacement piece.
    Using a mill I machined these out to fit into the existing tombstone and match up with the existing screw tabs. Here are the results:







    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  9. #9
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    Paint

    The last big thing was the very oxidized paint. It also had white over spray on it. Ugh!

    I worked for seven evenings with a clay bar and polishing compound to bring the paint back to a shine.

    I then used 7 coats of Liquid Glass. This stuff is great in that it does not have cleaners in it so multiple coats really help.

    Here are the results:





    Here is another picture of the car when it was used in my God Daughters Wedding: (Thanks Gerry for the detail job)



    I would have to classify the car as a good 10 footer or perhaps a good 6 footer in the right light. The only problem is some chips and spots where I took the paint down too far, showing the old paint.

    Luckily the paints matched well but...in the right light you can see the transition up close...
    Last edited by RoadsterTech; 09-29-2012 at 04:32 PM.
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  10. #10
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    Coil-Overs

    As I said before I had Tokiko HP's and a set of performance springs which I thought were HKX's or was it HKK's.
    Anyway the Tokiko's were starting to fail... I guess almost 200K will do that to a shock.

    I started looking a shocks, Tokiko's, Konis, Bilsteins? I could not decide... the only thing is that I knew the HP's were too light.
    The old shocks were under damped for the existing springs...
    Along came Flyin Miata with the V-Maxx coil-overs. I thought cool... I can get a tuned package and get the ride height I want.

    I also decided to go with a set of frame rails while I was at it.

    Here are some pics:

    Sweet!


    Here are the Frame Rails:



    The fronts were a pain to do by myself but I managed using a coil compressor to get them out without disassembling the suspension.



    The rears were a piece of cake!

    I got the Miata to 12.5" front and 13" in the rear

    I thought that would work well but they started to sag a little... so back under to raise them back to 12.5/13 the FM recommended setting.

    My first Autocross with good tires and these coil-overs I was all over the place... I would get immediate under steer and the snap over steer... Ugh!

    After talking with Keith Tanner at FM we decided that we were getting coil bind. Keith recommended 12"/12.5" to get away from the coil bind...

    12"/12.5" works well at the Autocross I am not getting coil bind anymore but... I can't get over the speed bumps at my condo complex without scraping the new Frame Rails.

    I may come up with some spacers to put in front of the bump stops to raise the car 1/4".

    If it weren't for the very low max ride height I would rate these well. except for one thing.
    the shocks do not do well damping very fast compression strokes. Like raise concrete slabs.. a 1 inch slab will cause the suspension to go to the bump stops at parking lot speeds. This allows fairly stiff springs to have good road manners but is just a little to under damped for my tastes...
    I wish they had come out with the adjustable ones a little sooner!

    Next Flood... Rust... and Spaceship Miata...
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  11. #11
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    Next Flood... Rust... and Spaceship Miata...

    Just before I was going to put on the frame rails we had a major rain storm...
    But hey its Florida so whats new.

    Opening my trunk I found 1" of water... Argh! the car is flooded...the rain rail was shot...
    so I pulled out the carpet in the trunk to let it dry. There were a few places with rust... these I hit with some Rustoleum.

    Looking closer the inside of the car had water damage as well. So, Out comes all of the carpet... Not bad it needed to come out anyway for the Frame rails.

    If you are taking your carpet out on an NA you will either have to pull your dash or cut the carpet under the Heater... here is a pic of the offending area:



    The carpets out and here is the damage:

    Look at the soggy padding thats got to go!



    The back bulkhead cover is rusting through the galvanizing



    The drivers side foot well had the most damage... I used some rust chelator that dissolved the rust leaving bar metal it started to rust almost immediately.
    I painted on some Rust Inhibitor and all was well:



    I was able to get a new to me back bulkhead cover that looked pristine. It replaced the rusted one.

    I then painted the entire floorboard inside of the car with Flat Black Rustoleum... Sorry no pic's.

    All is well now in the car... I purchased a heavy duty rain rail from one of the guys at TBM. And Gerry came by to help install it.

    Now what to do with the carpet and padding?



    Anyone heard of Reflectix?

    I decided to pad the car with Reflectix... Under the seats and in the foot well I added 1/4" of closed cell foam.
    This made a very nice lightweight padding that was both a good heat barrier and a noise block..

    Space Ship Miata





    The carpet cleaned up nicely and no longer smells like a dorm room.
    When I put it back in I used strips of Velcro loop to tie the carpet together under the heater.

    The Reflectix works great... Interior heat is down and High frequency noise is drastically reduced.

    Next... Engine Compartment Cleanup
    Last edited by RoadsterTech; 09-30-2012 at 03:43 PM.
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  12. #12
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    Engine Compartment Cleanup

    Okay the Engine compartment looked like crap...
    what did you expect... it had 290,000 miles on it...

    I had Rust on the shelf under the Master Cylinders and oil every where.

    The valve cover was leaking, the PC Valve was clogged and the from main seals and cam seals were leaking.

    Add to that the water pump sprung a leak and the radiator was cracked and just got replaced.

    First I got the seals fixed and oil hemorrhage. while I was at it I did a timing belt and fixed the water pump.

    So the engine is running so now I look at the compartment .

    1. Rust removal:
    First I removed the loose rust.
    Then I put on the Kelating agent again this dissolved the rust.
    I then painted the offending areas with mat black rustoleum

    2. Cleanup:
    I used Contractors grade Orange Oil to clean up all of the oil on the engine compartment and the inside of the hood.
    The valve cover, intake manifold and cruise control aluminum housings were corroded and had oil stains that would not go away.
    I used a 3M pad and more orange oil to semi-polish the aluminum. The valve cover got the most work.
    I then cleaned the hoses checking for leaks. fortunately there were none.
    A new set of NGK spark plugs

    Here is a picture of the results:



    Not show room quality but not bad for 300,000 miles

    Next... I made a couple of plastic pieces...
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  13. #13
    Super Moderator tsingson's Avatar
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    I'm glad I got to see this thing in person. And now I am reading the story of how it came to be.

  14. #14
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    I made a couple of plastic pieces

    Miata Wind Blocker

    I really did not like any of the wind blockers on the market. They either looked cheep or did not store away very well.
    So I decided to make my own...
    Here were my guidelines:
    1. The top section had to be clear so it would not block view.
    2. The blocker had to be tall enough to really work
    3. The blocker had to fold down and fit under the top if not in use.
    4. It needed to be easy to remove.

    Here is what I came up with:

    A sandwich of HDPE with a sliding Lexan wind blocker



    Friction Hinges allow it to fold down:



    Magnets hold it up:



    A locking handle allows the wind blocker to slide up:



    Here is what it looks like up:





    Here are a few shots of it on the car:



    My God Daughter used it at her wedding:



    It works very well... no buffeting with a little air in the hair to let me know its a convertible.

    The next one will have more of a radius on the Lexan corners.


    Cooling System Shroud

    While I was at it I decided to make a shroud out of some ABS I had lying around.



    Next ....The Hardtop Conundrum....
    Last edited by RoadsterTech; 10-03-2012 at 06:02 PM.
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

  15. #15
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! RoadsterTech's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tsingson View Post
    I'm glad I got to see this thing in person. And now I am reading the story of how it came to be.
    It was good to met you and see your car as well, up there in Raleigh Land...
    too bad I could not have met more of the Raleigh guys...
    You may know me as RAB or BCT or Rick depends on where you look.

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