The Slow Pursuit of Vintage.

[JamieH]

Annnnnd........











































I was outbid.

Probably for the best for now.

[JamieH]

[JamieH]

Just a touch of oppo.

[JamieH]

It's all in the details. And this is one of those little thought of, and overlooked items. But in the Miata community once you know they exist, ya want one.



So how about 4?

That's 3 silver Pole Position and 1 silver Queens keys, all made by Royal Clover.

These have been out of production for a while now and all the sources for them have dried up. I've been hoping to find a silver Pole Position key blank for some time now. So when a fellow in Singapore posted a dozen or so various Royal Clover key blanks for sale, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Especially at the prices he was asking considering their rarity.

Here's another pic of the Queens key.



As I've done elsewhere, let me apologize to those that came across the same for sale thread with these keys hoping to get a silver Pole Position. No one needs 3 of them, but, the iron was hot.

1 is for Betty, 1 is a back up, 1 is for a future build. The Queens key is also for Betty, but special occasions.

Also, my order of Leather Honey came in, as well as another exhaust heat shield and a length of D-shape adhesive backed seal material.



Hoping the Nakamaes take the Leather Honey. Wanna protect them as much and as best as possible. Discovered my rain rail is likely leaking a little, so while I'm in there, I plan to clean the tank vent valve and shield the tank from the exhaust. Oh, and I've meant to do something about the cowl seal since installing the GS cowl panel.

Got some butyl tape on the way for the rain rail. Chances are there's no need to spend the money on a new rain rail. Should only need a bit of patching.

[JamieH]

Boring post incoming.



That little bugger is the headlight motor retractor relay. Well, it's more like a module. I'll get to that in a moment.

I've had an intermittent problem with Betty's headlights randomly retracting from a random bump or what have you, or not pop-up when I turn them on, but the lights themselves would illuminate. Since I could still get them to pop-up, and stay up, with the tombstone switch I've put off looking it int. My first thought was that the stalk switch or something had become worn. But, over the past month it's happened more often and I finally got annoyed by it enough to do some googling.

Out of all the things that could go wrong in the headlight motor system that little module has a tendency to just go bad/begin to fail to operate properly. It's located under the dash, just above the clutch pedal right next, and behind, the annoying NA door buzzer everyone unplugs.

Here's it's orientation as if it was still installed looking forward.



Once I first located it I flipped the lights on. Lights came on, but not up. I then lightly tapped the module and up the lights came. Well, well, problem found. Crap, where to get a replacement?

Luckily I've had a friend pick up a parts car here and there and helped him break them at my shop. Wasn't sure if I'd find what I need still sitting in my shop. But I did, and for now I've swapped them. Which, that was a little annoying itself. It's held to the dash on a stud and 10mm nut, but it's in an awkward place to get a wrench on. Thankfully, a 1/4" ratchet, ext., & deep 10mm got the job done, just still with a bit of under dash yoga. But, the one I swapped in has the same issue, just less frequently. Only seems to fail after repeatedly turning the lights on and off a few times. So it'll do for now.

Out of curiosity I took apart the one that came out of Betty. Maybe thinking I'd be able to clean some contacts to get it working properly again. Heh, nope.









Yeah... so ah, that's a bit more complicated than a simple relay. Hence why I see it as more of a module. Think I'll just put that back together and place it in the spare/stock parts drawer.

I'll probably eventually get up with Alex and see if he has one from a lower mileage car.

[HarryB]

Makes me wonder...this is a pretty simple PCB with components that can be sourced off the shelf. It could be fairly easily reproduced or even improved/modernized, and that holds true for a lot of NA components. Would anyone be interested though?

[JamieH]

Been about a month and a half since the last update. Haven't gotten around to installing a few things I've previously posted. Did apply the Leather Honey to the Nakamae seats though. Applied a generous amount and gave it a week to soak into/be absorbed by the leather. Even after giving them a good wiping down and ensuring all the excess was removed they still have a sheen to them, which I guess means it worked.

Anyways, onto why I'm posting. I got up with Maixme at Rev9 about ordering some Nakamae side protectors for the seats about 2 months ago. Decided on the synthetic leather option on the basis of price and durability/longevity. A week ago I got a shipment notice, and today they arrived.



Came with a chewing gum sized pack of lemon flavor Hi-Chew.



Detailed instructions... which are mostly understood thanks to the Google Translate app.



Left and Right side protectors.

And now a few installed pics. Which were taken with my phone and in the garage.

Flash:



No flash:



Flash:



No flash:



With the Nakamae side protectors installed, I can now say that my Nakamae Type R seats are done/complete. Total invested? Enough for a decent condition NA.

[JamieH]

More Nakamae!



Side step trim this time.

I was turned on to RHDJapan for Nakamae goods thanks to BRGNA8. They've got some good prices on Nakamae stuff, mostly the quilted pieces. And either they keep the quilted items in stock, or Nakamae-san is just that fast. As I got these within 12 days of ordering them, 5 of which were from shipping.

Anyways, here's a couple installed pics.




With those pieces I've now successfully hidden the mouse fur carpet. Still plan to eventually swap in the earlier, good hook & loop carpet.

Last key items Betty's interior needs are a 1.6 dash, 93LE speaker covers, and a "EUNOS" shifter trim ring. All in due time... eventually.

[BRGNA8]

That really completes the look Jamie! Looks amazing mate! The seats...omg those seats!

[JamieH]

Wanted to post these pics here just to have them in the build thread too. Minor thread update following immediately after.

[JamieH]

So, a couple weeks ago I decided to buy engine oil and filters in bulk. Just tired of buying 4 qts and a filter each time when needed. And as I have no plans of selling Betty, it just makes sense to pick it up in bulk. Also, it seems what I like to use in Betty has been discontinued, more on that in a bit.





Mobil 1 Super 10w40 oil and Mobil 1 M1-108 filters.

My choice of oil simply comes down to what I have found that seems to work best for Betty. The Mobil 1 Super 10w40 seems to reduce consumption and lifter tick the best. Yes, Betty consumes a bit of oil, usually about a quart every 3k miles of everyday driving. Much more if driven aggressively for extended periods. Lifter tick is also near non-existent with this oil in Betty. It is very rare that I have heard lifter tick on start up with it. Even during the current cold mornings. It also keeps hot lifter tick at bay. Which, hot lifter tick from last years MATG is what lead me to find this oil. It was very annoying having to drop my pace during a run and then have to wait for her to cool down before going on another run.

As for the filters? If memory serves, they're actually good for 10k miles, and I plan to at least get 6k out of each of them. I go by the old standard of every 3k miles for oil changes in Betty. At the very least every other oil change should be less work and time.

Finding the Mobil 1 Super in 10w40 was an absolute PITA. I think it has likely been discontinued since at least earlier this year. I can't find it stocked on shelves anywhere, period. Fortunately I found it on Wal-Mart.com. But even then I had my order canceled the first time around as it suddenly became back-ordered. Fortunately a couple days after my refund it was back in stock and my second attempt at ordering it went through. And I'm pretty happy it did since it was only $3 per quart. Everyone else online is charging an arm and a leg for the 10w40. The filters on the other hand were easy to find; it was just a matter of finding a deal on them. Found a 6 pack for $44 on ebay, so I snatched that up.

Anyways, I changed the oil in Betty Thursday morning. And while I was at it, I finally got around to installing another heat shield on the exhaust. This time on the midpipe. Another Thermo-tec pipe shield, this is the 3'x6" model.











This was done to help with fuel fumes, as documented by Adam. I will worry about cleaning the check valves for the tank at a later date.

[JamieH]

Oh, almost forgot, here's an updated mod list.

OEM Options:

PZ Brilliant Black paint
Tan leather interior
1.8L BP engine
5 speed manual transmission
4.10 Torsen differential
Power windows/mirrors/antenna/brakes/steering
Cruise control
A/C

Interior:

M Edition sill plates
Rev 9 Zeromotive 1002 replica pedal covers
Nardi 5-spd weighted wooden shift knob
Nardi 360mm Classico wood steering wheel
Nardi wooden handbrake handle
Joyfast handbrake button
Daikei Plug 'n Play steering hub adapter
Tan shifter boot
Tan handbrake boot
OEM V Special floor mats
Nakamae quilted console trim in tan
Nakamae quilted side step trim in tan
Nakamae Type R real leather seats in tan
Nakamae Type R seat side protectors in tan
OEM NA6 seat belt receivers
Eunos 5310 rear bulkhead bag
Unknown rear bulkhead pocket
RS Products meter panel
JASS Performance needle caps
Retro Modern HVAC knobs
Retro Modern cigar plug
R-Speed vent rings
KG Works door handles
Saizare dress-up kit (glove box & center console key holes and trip meter reset button)
Saizare ignition cover
Revlimiter retro flush mount black plate window switches
Revlimiter retro black plate hazard switches
Revlimiter gauges, modded Jazz Stirlings
Revlimiter HVAC overlay, modded Striling
Revlimiter HVAC panel, black w/ trim ring
Revlimiter sill plate inserts Type-R
RoadsterTech Teflon (PTFE) impregnated Delrin window bushings
Pioneer DEH-6300 head unit
OEM dash pocket B02A-66-9M0A
I.L. Motorsports console armrest cushion
I.L. Motorsports foot well lights
OEM cup holder
OEM ashtray
DIY acrylic windblocker

Exterior/Wheels & Tires:

R-Speed 15x7 +38 Chaparral wheels
BFG Sport Comp 2 tires 195/55/15
3mm wheel spacers
Garage Vary tail light panel
Mazda Porter Cab tail lights
Garage Woolery GV trim rings
JASS Performance lowpro headlights
OEM Round Eunos "V" nose badge
OEM "Eunos" 800 rear badge
Zoom retro fuel lid
Runabout M2 mirrors
OEM front & rear short mudflaps
OEM R-package front lip
OEM R-package rear spoiler
OEM Hard Top w/defrost in PZ Brilliant Black
Robbins NB tan soft top w/non-defrost glass
Project-G Bikini top in tan
Project-G EZ Instal center brace
Garage Star R2-Limited "Eunos" Side Stripes
Mazda Tribute windshield washer nozzles

Brakes/Suspension/Steering/Chassis:

Garage Star brake master cylinder brace
Garage Star frame rails
Garage Star fender braces
Garage Star delrin door bushings
Hard Dog M2 Sport double diagonal roll bar
Hard Dog roll bar padding & leather padding cover
Hard Dog hidden hitch
DIY driver's side trunk protection panel
Thermo-Tec adhesive backed aluminized heat barrier on trans tunnel
Centric Premium rotors
G-Loc GS-1 brake pads
Techna-fit stainless brake lines
NB front subframe
NB Power steering rack
NB Power steering pump + pressure line
'90-'95 Powet steering cooler line + reservoir
'93LE/R-package tie rods
I.L. Motorsports control arm bushings
Racing Beat 1" solid front sway bar
MSM 14mm rear sway bar
949 Racing clutch interlock bypass
949 Racing endlinks
949 Racing Xida coilovers 550/350
Ride height: F: 4-1/2" R: 4-3/4"

Engine/Transmission:

949 Racing stainless clutch line
Daikin/Exedy clutch slave cylinder
Daikin/Exedy clutch master cylinder
Exedy Stage 1 OEM organic clutch
OEM BPR7 flywheel resurfaced
'96 ECU
NGK BKR6EIX-11 spark plugs
NGK ZE21 (9160) plug wires
Koyo OEM-style replacement radiator
OEM intake brace removed
OEM chrome acorn valve cover bolts
OEM chrome breather cross over tube
RetroModern simplicity oil cap
Wrinkle black w/ polished letters cam cover
Garage Star cowl panel in wrinkle black
Garage Star radiator panel in wrinkle black
Racing Beat cruise control relocation kit
Monsterflow NA8 Intake
HPS intake couplers & clamps
Thermo-Tec pipe shield 2'x6" downpipe to cat
Thermo-Tec pipe shield 3'x6" cat to muffler
Goodwin Racing Roadster Sport 3 cat-back

Maintenance:

Mobil 1 Super 10w40 engine oil
Mobil 1 M108 oil filter
Redline MT-90 gear oil in transmission
Redline 75-90 gear oil in differential
O'Reilly Auto Parts Super Start battery part# MIATA
Gates timing belt
Gates water pump
Gates accessory belts
Prestone antifreeze/distilled water 50/50 mix
Viton CAS o-ring seal
OEM front & rear crank seals
OEM cam seals
OEM cam cover gasket
OEM PCV valve
OEM front & rear trans seals
OEM shifter rebuild
OEM bypass hoses
OEM heater hoses
OEM radiator hoses
OEM alignment bolts
OEM lower ball joints
Moog upper ball joints k500210
Exedy pilot bearing
Exedy throwout bearing

Waiting Installation:

Revlimiter Eunos "V" nose badge
Suzuki Cappuccino washer bottle

[JamieH]

Cleaned Betty's seat belts.

The set up:



Meguiars carpet & upholstery cleaner, a bristle brush, pot of water for rinsing the brush, and paper towels to wipe down the belts as I go.

Before & After:



I started at the end and worked down, doing about 8-12" section at a time, drying the belt with a hairdryer once about 2 feet were cleaned. Revlon, because I'm effing fabulous, darling.



And finshed results:




Oh, and yeah, I routed the belts through the outside bolster belt openings. Not quite as clean of a look but far more ergonomic.

[—Martin—]

[— kung fu jesus —]