Shin Kaeru 神カエル-My build(-ish?) thread

[pacman 99]

Looks so good in person ! Can't wait to see whats next.

[Ihatecars]

Looks so good in person ! Can't wait to see whats next.

Your car is good in person. Gets better ever time I see it.

After the trap lip not much is going to happen with my car. I'm planning a trip for Japan and most of my money is going to saving for that trip.

[oldgrayleather]

Wow Nic, your NA is looking absolutely fantastic! I've had a Barchetta front at the top of my list a long while now and hoping '17 is the year I get that sorted. How long did it take for it to arrive? The 100mm Trap is the perfect complement but given what happened to Scrat and Pitcrewb I'm nervous about how low it sits especially with the crap LA roads. Can't wait to see the completed front. Very, very nicely done!

[speedypenguin]

Looks great Nic. The Barchetta bumper works well with the BRG. I think the Barchetta suits your car better than the RSA bumper.

Also, corgi!!

[BRGNA8]

Thanks man!

I'll be completely honest, I have no idea what the center bore is. I believe that the center caps I have are the Type-1 set. I purchased my wheels through Rod(Tetsuya Garage) I just told Rod what I wanted and he did the hard work.

Ah okay. Did you have to use spacers to clear your brakes at all? Also, do you remember using hubrings for your wheels?
And could you take some close up shots of the wheel cap? Im thinking of changing mine out

[HarryB]

Steve I have been running without rings for the past 3 months or so. No issues whatsoever. Centering is provided by the conical seats of the lug nuts, not by the hub. It just makes life a lot easier when installing the wheels. If you are running without, you have to be extra careful that everything is centered before torquing the nuts down fully.

[etikoner]

Whoa whoa whoa...
Awesome changes dude. Freaking love it, I kinda wanted to see you slap an r-lip on that bumper (not sure if it'll line up, though)

But yeah enjoy this Nic!!

[JamieH]

I am curious if there is a lower lip on the Barchetta bumper for an R-pack lip to bolt to.

But yes, quite envious of that Barchetta bumper. Looks fantastic.

[oldgrayleather]

I kinda wanted to see you slap an r-lip on that bumper (not sure if it'll line up, though)

I am curious if there is a lower lip on the Barchetta bumper for an R-pack lip to bolt to.

Indeed it does, the mold as I've understood it is based on the factory bumper. You'll find quite a few examples on the webs with the r-lip including at Rev9 (fourth picture along)...
http://rev9autosport.com/barchetta-c...t-bumper.html#

Doesn't look as good as the TRAP imho but may be more resistant to scrape-age.

[ueru]

Just gets better and better. Love this!

[Ihatecars]

Wow Nic, your NA is looking absolutely fantastic! I've had a Barchetta front at the top of my list a long while now and hoping '17 is the year I get that sorted. How long did it take for it to arrive? The 100mm Trap is the perfect complement but given what happened to Scrat and Pitcrewb I'm nervous about how low it sits especially with the crap LA roads. Can't wait to see the completed front. Very, very nicely done!

Thanks so much!
I'll be honest, I'm very worried about how long this lip will last. I'll just have to be extra cautious while driving around.

The bumper didn't take too long to get to me. I ordered it through Max/Rev9. Took about a month to get from RS Factory Stage to Max, then Max shipped it out mad quick. Something like 2 days to get from Japan via DHL.

I plan on getting the lip on today, so hopefully I'll have an update with the completed front by tomorrow.

Looks great Nic. The Barchetta bumper works well with the BRG. I think the Barchetta suits your car better than the RSA bumper.

Also, corgi!!

Thanks for the reassurance that the Barchetta was the right choice, Brian. I'm trying to go with a Showa era racecar look for my car now. Mixture of eastern and western vintage racer, which the Barchetta perfectly encapsulates.

And corgi is life!

Ah okay. Did you have to use spacers to clear your brakes at all? Also, do you remember using hubrings for your wheels?
And could you take some close up shots of the wheel cap? Im thinking of changing mine out

I didn't use any spacers or hub centric rings. Just making sure everything is seated correctly before torquing. Once I get home later this afternoon I'll take some close up shots of the wheel and center caps, as well as a few measurements for you.

Whoa whoa whoa...
Awesome changes dude. Freaking love it, I kinda wanted to see you slap an r-lip on that bumper (not sure if it'll line up, though)

But yeah enjoy this Nic!!

The R-Lip definitely fits. The bottom of the Barchetta is the exact same thing as an OE bumper.

I considered throwing the extra R-Lip my buddy had on the Barchetta while waiting for the Trap to arrive, but I didn't drill any more holes into the Barchetta than I need.

I'm really glad you're digging the direction things are going.

I am curious if there is a lower lip on the Barchetta bumper for an R-pack lip to bolt to.

But yes, quite envious of that Barchetta bumper. Looks fantastic.

There definitely is a lower lip! The bottom half of the Barchetta is molded after the OEM bumper. Nearly every lip that fits the regular bumper fits the Barchetta.

You should get one! A Barchetta would look great on your car!

Just gets better and better. Love this!

Really means a lot, Weldon. I've always loved your style when it comes to cars and photography.

[oldgrayleather]

ready for more pics!

[— Jimmy Vee —]

The 100mm Trap sits at about the same height as the r-lip. It's the shallower approach angle that is the killer, but I don't think it would really be that much worse than a GV lip. A 120mm on the other hand, that would be a nightmare.


With the fitment of the r-lips, I found that they are slightly off. I could never get the Garage Vary r-lip to fit right, especially in the back corners. The Carbonmiata r-lip fits a lot better, but still not perfect. Both needed to be hit with a heat gun to come even close.

Definitely made the right choice with the Barchetta though, looks incredible.

[atxsbigwalt]

looks so good. cant wait to get my car driveable and hang with all the cool Houston miata peeps come wekfest time

[Ihatecars]

The 100mm Trap sits at about the same height as the r-lip. It's the shallower approach angle that is the killer, but I don't think it would really be that much worse than a GV lip. A 120mm on the other hand, that would be a nightmare.


With the fitment of the r-lips, I found that they are slightly off. I could never get the Garage Vary r-lip to fit right, especially in the back corners. The Carbonmiata r-lip fits a lot better, but still not perfect. Both needed to be hit with a heat gun to come even close.

Definitely made the right choice with the Barchetta though, looks incredible.

Fitment wasn't too bad, actually. No need for a heat gun or anything. Things ended up lining up fairly well with only minimal amounts of... persuasion

looks so good. cant wait to get my car driveable and hang with all the cool Houston miata peeps come wekfest time

Dude, definitely reach out to me if you ever make your way down to Houston. Houston has a seriously great car scene, and lots of great Miata owners.