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Thread: The Slow Pursuit of Vintage.

  1. #196
    4,000 rpm - entering the fun zone Roadster7's Avatar
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    Loving this build and build thread, will be using as a resource when I replace my bushings this summer. Bravo on the undercarriage restoration, it looks .

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    JamieH (04-14-2017)

  3. #197
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Last Wednesday was a pretty good day for me. Got a couple of things done and was able to eat out at Texas Roadhouse with some of my closest friends.

    So, when I called the place I had my wheels & tires road force balanced last to schedule dropping them off to have the new tires mounted & road forced balanced, I was told the road force portion of their machine was down and that it wouldn't be fixed for a month. Well, that wasn't going to fly for me so I started checking if there was another shop with a road force balancer... that wasn't a dealership.

    Come to find out, there is, Clairemont Auto Repair Service. And they're a nice friendly shop that is family owned. So, I scheduled to drop them off at 4pm Wed. and to pick them up that same day before they closed at 6:30. After talking to the owner for a little bit I believe I'm going to be going to him for the alignment. He understands that a small car like the Miata is particularly sensitive to an imbalance in the wheels. And he is perfectly fine with setting the alignment to whatever numbers I give him.

    And here's the wheels/tires after getting them home and in the shop.



    He marked each tire as to what poundage it balanced down to and marked which corner they should go on for the best results.









    Yeah, I'm going to guess that RR at 27lbs is probably the wheel that was bent and repaired last year.

    After I had picked the wheels up Wed., I stopped at a friend's place to steal a part off a '00 NB he was doing some service on before flipping it. And by steal, I mean he let me have it since it's not exactly a super vital part of anything but he knows and understands how I am about such little things.



    That is the 2 piece bracket/clamp that secures the ps hardlines together. And goes here:





    While at his place, I got to look at that '00 NB's ps pressure line fitting at the pump and got to see first hand that the fitting at the pump does NOT use any banjo/crush washers. And with that info, I would bolt the fitting on my car.





    Now, this bit of work was done on Friday and I was still waiting on the return line to show up. Which meant I couldn't wrap up the ps system until I had it. Which meant I needed to find something else to do.

    Adding another section of Thermo-Tec aluminized heat barrier would do the trick.







    Hoping that helps to reduce the felt heat coming off the trans tunnel near my right leg. I also plan to use some Thermo-Tec pipe shield on the exhaust both in front of the cat and after. Plan to follow Adam's example to reduce/eliminate fuel vapors during hot days and/or from heavy spirited driving.

    And before wrapping things up Friday night, I put the wheels back on and torqued them down.


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  5. #198
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Upon checking the mail Saturday afternoon I found this waiting for me.



    Yessss! The final piece of the puzzle.

    Which I don't have a pic of it installed. I just got wrapped up in finishing putting everything back together.

    During my final checks I decided to grab a pic of the damage the passenger side frame rail received last year at the Dragon. I dropped the right side off the road for a brief moment when I wasn't paying attention for a second. When it happened, it made an awful noise, and until I got to the look out I was thinking the worst had happened. That the pinch weld was totally fubarred, and worse, the rocker was toast. But nope, the Garage Star frame rail saved the day and took the brunt of the damage.



    After taking that pic though, I noticed something I hadn't before, there was a slight outward bend in the rail. Well, that won't do. So out came a C-clamp to bend it back straight.



    I know, fix that little bend but the rail still looks rough. But that's not much that can be done for the gouging/scratches. It just is what it is. And I'm OK with that. It'll always serve as a reminder not to get distracted on that road.

    Well, here it is, a completed NB power steering install into an NA.



    And the top side back together.





    Need to do a bit of cleaning. Will get to that likely tomorrow.

    And a couple of back on the ground pics.





    I didn't get her fired up Friday as I still needed to pick up some antifreeze and it was very late and everywhere in Kinston was closed.

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  7. #199
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    Nice work!

    Do you have an actual job or do you just work on your Miata all day every day?

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  9. #200
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Ah... Miata is always the answer?

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  11. #201
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    Maybe not this time

  12. #202
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Got the ride height set yesterday. 4.5"F and 4.75"R.





    With that out of the way I also got to installing the Garage Star panels.

    Removed the stock plastic panel.



    With the help of some Scratch-X I cleaned and polished up the rad support. The areas around the hood bumper will still be visible with the GS rad panel on, so those areas needed to be shiney.

    I started to fit it but wasn't liking the alignment. Tried a few things, like adjusting the bumper alignment, still wasn't liking how it was lining up. The latch hook was also rubbing against it. After closely examining things it looked as if the screws that hold the rubber flap to the bumper were keeping it from sliding as far forward as possible. So out came the Dremel.



    That's just an example. There's 5 total screws and that stud in the pic that I had to make notches for. I used a Testers paint pen to paint the cut areas. But, with that done, the panel fit just fine.



    I then got to working on the cowl panel. It uses the two corner fender bolts as well as the holes for the clips that attach the cowl weather stripping. So, that has to come off. Before intsalling the panel I cleaned the cowl area up a bit and did what I could to polish the plastic piece on the passenger side. The cowl panel fit pretty good, little alignment issue for the center bolt, but it went in without having to do any filing. Also, the passenger side fender bolt needed a few washers between the panel and fender, otherwise the plastic piece on that side was causing a gap. Anyways, here's the cowl panel installed.



    And both panels.







    While I was at it I cleaned/polished what I could of the firewall. Will probably do a bit more cleaning later.

    I noticed the steering is a little off center when I took her around the block yesterday, so I'll adjust that before getting the alignment done. Which yeah, the alignment is totally off, passenger side has a noticeable amount of chamber while the driver side doesn't. And while the steering isn't really a big deal, the place is about 30 or so miles from me, and it'll drive me nuts.

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  14. #203
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power BRGNA8's Avatar
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    one of my fav. miatas on MR...love your attention to detail mate! It's come up real nice! That underside is so damn clean. love it!

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  16. #204
    Idling - Listen to it purr... DarkSupra's Avatar
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    This thread makes me want to rebuild mine

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    JamieH (04-19-2017)

  18. #205
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Before getting an alignment on Wed. I had a few more things I wanted to take care of.

    First up was trimming out the bump/hump out of the fender liners and pop-riveting flat sections in.

    Before:



    Most (99%) of that rubbing, missing material is from the old 195/50/15s at 4" pinch weld up front.

    After:



    No more rubbing there.

    I also swapped out my friends 5mm wheel spacers that I have been borrowing since last year and installed some 3mm spacers in their place. While the 5mm spacers have worked just fine, the amount of thread engagement for the lugs has bothered me the whole time.

    By the time I had those fender liners trimmed, the exhaust had cooled down enough to install the Thermo-Tec pipe shield ahead of the CAT to reduce radiant heat in the trans tunnel.





    With those items taken care of she was ready for her alignment the next day.

    I gotta say Clairemont Auto in Goldsboro, NC is a great shop. No qualms about custom specs or requests, listens to the customer and treats them with respect. The owner Gary had no problem with setting her to my specs and was totally cool and reasonable with me about my requests to mark the alignment bolts and to use the torque adapter on the front bolts as well.

    Here's the numbers.



    Gotta say, I'm surprised the before numbers weren't further off than they were. I expected them to be completely wonked out. All the bolts were torque to 80ft-lbs. A bit more than spec, but I have had the fronts rotate on me.

    To finally have my girl back feels... right. And I can not stress enough how much I missed driving a manual trans. I love my truck, but driving nothing but it, while comfortable, is boring. Never m8nd the fuel economy. Not that a Miata has impressive fuel economy, but it's certainly better than a truck.

    Andd today? The rest of the couplers and clamps I ordered came in. So I wasted no hesitation on setting up a test fit and sound check of the Monsterflow intake.



    If on mobile, know that phone speakers don't do it justice. It sounds far better on a TV and makes me giddy in person.

    Gonna need a 2.75" - 2.5" reducer coupler on the throttle body side. Just not enough room to cheat it with a 2.5" coupler being used as an adapter to fit a 2.75" coupler on the throttle body. Can't get a clamp on otherwise. So I'll order those ASAP.

    Also, yeah I know, 'hot air' intake. But that'll be temporary untill I build an isolator box for it. Still, the sound alone is worth it.

    Waiting on a Racing Beat cruise control relocation kit now.

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  20. #206
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! Greasemonkey2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BRGNA8 View Post
    one of my fav. miatas on MR...love your attention to detail mate! It's come up real nice! love it!
    Agreed!

    The intake sounds great, Jamie! The best sounding n/a intake I have ever personally heard is the Password JDM Powerchamber intake, good night did that sound incredible! You could hear it from at least two blocks away! And it made 6whp(iirc) on a otherwise stock B16!! I want another B series powered Honda/Acura just to get another on of those!
    '01 NB2 aka MisF1re: http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....218#post207218
    '97 M aka Warbird, gone but not forgotten: http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....B&goto=newpost
    Instagram: @greasemonkey2000

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  22. #207
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Monsterflow intake and Racing Beat CC relocation installed.









    There's a lot of little details I want to point out with pics, as a lot of little tweaks were done to get it juuuust right. But, I'll do that later. For now, enjoy the pics... and the short video.


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  24. #208
    4,000 rpm - entering the fun zone Roadster7's Avatar
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    Monsterflow looks and sounds great Jamie! I'm glad you snatched it up quickly, or else I might have...

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  26. #209
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Alright, here's some details.

    On the Racing Beat cruise control relocation kit, I used a few washers to raise the bracket up a bit.





    This was done because the Garage Star brake master brace was causing an interferrence.



    That bit of vacuum hose is the piece cut from the breather hose to fit it to the Monsterflow. This is likely temporary, as I think the best solution will be to remove enough material from the brake brace to clear the cruise cable.

    Here's the routing for the cruise control vacuum line.





    Initially, I didn't plan to use the vacuum hose extension that came with the relocation kit or the zipties. But they'll do for now. And if I do continue to use zip ties to secure the vacuum line, I'll have the heads hidden better. When I run a single continuous length of vacuum hose, it will wrap around the cruise actuator so the built in clip can be used.

    I didn't think to get a picture of it, but I did rewrap the wiring after removing the old electrical tape to separate a bit more length of the cruise wiring so that it'd reach the new location.

    Now, on the intake, there was several tweaks. Cutting the silcone couplers to the right length, cutting off the excess threads on the T-bolt clamps, finding the right rotation for the filter, black silicone sealant on the two vacuum fittings.

    I thought I had found the right length for the throttle body side reducer coupler that would keep the intake tube from rubbing the upper rad hose.



    But apparently not. No big deal, for now a piece from an old hose will suffice to protect the upper rad hose.



    And here's the breather hose fitting.



    Forgot to get pics of the bracket to secure the filter side. Will do that when I can. But I made a few mistakes when making the bracket. Being that a simple straight bent piece of flat stock aluminum raised the inrake too high, I had to find the right angle to bend a piece that would be the right offset.

    I basically used the entire 3' length of bar stock I picked up from Lowes.

    As I don't want the bracket to stand out, I plastidipped it. Also, for the time being, I'm borrowing a friend's MAF... that only has 1 of the 2 threaded sleeves left.

    He ran into the same problem I did when atempting to remove the MAF from the airbox lid (he has a DDM intake). Except he got lucky and had only 1 of the sleeves break free from the plastic. Both of mine just rotate with the bolts. Being the stubborn and determined individual he is, he hacked away until he got it free. So, I'll be sourcing a MAF ASAP.

    Anyways, what this means is that I'll be fabbing another bracket so that the MAF can bolt up to it with both bolts once I have another MAF... that's fully intact.

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  28. #210
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    I had a spare MAF off my old '96 but I sent it somebody on this forum. It didn't solve his problem so he may have it laying around. I can't remember who I sent it to Maybe he'll read this and chime in.

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