This ain't no build thread!

[—tsingson—]

BTW the 949 valve stems are beautiful pieces. Very lightweight and a quality crafted piece. Would have saved myself some headache if I had gotten these in the first place (although they were out of stock for a bit).

Have another set of these in my toolboxes just in case.

[Demon I Am]

Yay for being home! Now you can ship me that wing!

[chiefmg]

Yay for being home! Now you can ship me that wing!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha !!!

(pause for breath)

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha !!!

You're a funny guy.

Trunk lid is in my possession. It is a lot worse off than the pictures showed, so either there was some creative photography or it's been sitting around with crap stacked on top/dragged off. If I weren't already planning on having it painted, I would be now.

[NCGreasemonkey]

"Bah. Don't take anything I say too seriously. You're the only person who regularly posts in here, I wouldn't cut you off. I just like giving you a hard time."

And that is why I joke with you!

Glad you are on dry land for a bit.

Now get to work showing us some progress, again.

[chiefmg]

Started digging into mounting the wing. First I stripped everything off the trunk lid in preparation for painting. It was very hard getting the third brake light out, when it finally pulled free I found the foam gasket around it was badly deteriorated and was causing it to stick to the lid. Removed the license plate lights, Mazda emblem and striker. Took some acetone to remove the markings the junkyard had written on it (not sure why it had to be marked up so much, seems one spot would suffice). Then it was on to the always nerve-wracking drilling of holes in the bodywork.

First thing was to place the wing on the lid and get it in the proper position. There is a slight curve at the bottom which makes it easier to get it set in the right place fore and aft. I measured the distance side to side from the edge, that ended up being about 4 mm. I had to adjust slightly to get the same distance from the front edge of the lid (I measured to the nearest part of the bracket, that distance for me was 377 mm). Once I had that all laid out I used painter's tape to give me some reference points when I removed the assembly.



I went ahead and marked the hole for the forward fastener, it's a through hole so that was easy. Went ahead, center punched the marks and then drilled them out. I used a 3 mm for my starter hole, I didn't have any metric drill bits the right size so went to my standard drill index. In order to figure out which bit was the best match I drilled into a piece of scrap 2X4 and then tested the fit with a bolt. I ended up using 13/64" for my final size.

Next I took the brackets off the bottom of the wing:



There are two small Allen-head screws holding the bracket into the bottom of the wing. Those attached to the trunk mounts with two through-bolts. The after bolt is the one used to adjust the angle of attack of the wing:



You can see the paint on the mounts isn't the greatest so I'll have to get those sprayed up.

Once I had the trunk mounts separate I made a couple of templates from them on thin cardboard. I used these to locate the other hole needed to mount them. Pretty basic so no pictures of that (hard to take a picture when you are drilling anyway). If you have done this correctly the front hole lines up with a hole on the inner stiffening frame of the trunk for access to the nut, and the rear one will be close to the outside edge. It would be a lot easier if you had the templates, but if you take your time it is possible without it.

[chiefmg]

My wife told me today I should have the whole car painted the blue of the one I got, I love her dearly but she doesn't really understand about car stuff. Or my fixation with colors in the red spectrum (well she does, but she likes different things).

Right before I went back to work any readers may recall I had a leaking valve stem. Yesterday I found out I had another one. I tried replacing it today (I have a set of tire irons for motorcycles) but the sidewall is too stiff and I couldn't get access. I went and got my special wheels since I was going to change them out anyway, those are back on and the silver ones are sitting waiting for Monday when I can drop them off and get the 949 stems installed. Installed the driver's side rear sway bar link too that I took off for the last autocross. Since I'm posting in here already, I also renewed the tag today.

I was reading about people having issues running rich in boost similar to mine and someone said their IAT sensor had failed. I figured why not look at it and see if anything presented itself. I pulled that earlier, there was some discoloration on the upstream side of the plastic protector. I don't know how it was new, but the wire element inside was offset from center. I tried cleaning it with some MAF cleaner but it didn't really do anything. Just to be on the safe side I went ahead and ordered a replacement from DIY Autotune.

[NCGreasemonkey]

You have the Queen's approval. Paint it!!!!!



Nice work by-the-way!

[chiefmg]

You have the Queen's approval. Paint it!!!!!



Nice work by-the-way!

I will travel to NC and bitch-slap you. While there I will steal Tony's hood.

BTW the Queen has been shown to be fallible in matters concerning automotive style. She won't actively admit this to the world, but I have inside information.

Thanks. I may let you see some pictures of the finished result. Or maybe not...

[NCGreasemonkey]

I feel the love!

You wouldn't happen to have a GTC-200 wing laying about in your pile of parts, would you?

[chiefmg]

I feel the love!

You wouldn't happen to a a GTC-200 wing laying about in your pile of parts, would you?

I'm not a ricer, so no. Only performance parts here (well, some are questionable but I can make the argument for it). I'll put it this way, when my wife asked me to install undercarriage neon lights on her 8, I told her to get her boyfriend to do it.

[NCGreasemonkey]

Come on off the boat. You know you want to have the 'lil lady rollin' like this.

LightStrike_app_large1.jpg

[Demon I Am]

i will travel to nc and bitch-slap you.

yes!!!

while there i will steal tony's hood.

nooooooo!!!!!

[chiefmg]

I actually was in NC on my way home, flew through NC (Charlotte, that airport sucks balls). Carry on restrictions kept me from stealing your hood so you are safe (for now, BWHAAAHAHAHAHA).

[— Agent☣Orange —]

i will travel to nc and bitch-slap you.

yes!!!

Demon and chiefmg are now banned for violating forum policy against encouraging a known pervert and Demon specifically for taking it as a compliment.

[chiefmg]

You da man.