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Thread: The Slow Pursuit of Vintage.

  1. #106
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! OBD1 kenobi's Avatar
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    Hey Jamie,

    Just wanted to give you a shout. Thanks for posting the zoom gas lid link to the store and installation instructions. I got mine installed today. It looks great. The whole buying process was smooth and easy. Recommend it to anyone that is thinking about doing this mod. Here is a pic:
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1424990362.059056.jpg

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  3. #107
    Super Moderator atank's Avatar
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    That looks great!

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  5. #108
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    So, while on my way to meet a friend to see Unknown Hinson perform, I felt my clutch engaging sooner than it should. Felt Betty bog off the line while leaving a light as the clutch engaged way before I started to add throttle. Immediately began to suspect the clutch master as it's the only mechanical piece I hadn't replaced in the system. The engagement point was nearly directly off the floor, no bueno.

    To play it safe I stopped at another friend's place to check my suspicions. No visiable leaks, but maybe an internal leak. Regardless, had to cancel my plans and ended up hanging out with my friends in the area. Ended up adjusting the pedal enough to get home.

    Ordered up a Daiken OEM replacement clutch master from ebay ASAP... and a clutch bypass and flexible slave line from 949 Racing. Figured I might as well get rid of the coiled hardline while I was at it and the clutch bypass because why not? Oh, and I finally ordered some fresh lug nuts from Amazon as the ones that came with Betty were toast. Chrome on them had been flaking off and the nuts were rusting, much ugliness. My friend Zach has been hounding me about them every week for months now.



    Got everything installed late last night. Didn't really think to get pics as I went. But pretty much just straight forward maintanence stuff. Zach helped me and had a fitting his dad had made to bench bleed the clutch master. Once the coiled hardline was out and the new 949 flex line was in, I slipped a large piece of vacuum line I had laying around over the entire length of the flex line as an extra precaution. And because I rather not have the orange color of the new line standout. It all went mostly smoothly, except for when I wasn't thinking and pressed the piston of the slave in while it was in my hands... effectively money shooting myself with it directly in the center of the chest like a dirty whore. And we think it could have been the original clutch master as it had what looked to be a squashed piece of insulating foam stuck to the mounting surface. If so, it survived 170k miles. And the last 40k+ with me haven't exactly been easy going miles either.

    I did get a couple of pics of the freshly installed lugs once I had Betty back in the garage.





    We also cut half a coil out of the rear springs of Zachs 10AE. He wasn't happy with how high the rear was compared to the front. Looks like it's going to be just right once it settles.

    Oh, and I ordered a few stiffening bits from Garage Star last night too. Really looking forward to them getting here and onto Betty. Hoping they'll help reduce some of the typical NA rattles and tighten her up a bit.
    Last edited by JamieH; 05-21-2015 at 05:32 AM.

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    BRGNA8 (04-19-2016),fwdtamiya (05-21-2015),Phatmiata (05-21-2015),tsingson (05-21-2015),WASABI (05-31-2015)

  7. #109
    Super Moderator tsingson's Avatar
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    Are you ever going to bring Betty down for a midweek meet?

  8. #110
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Maybe, make one happen on a Wed. and the chances are good. If my friends are free as well I could drag along at least 2 more Miatas and possibly up to 4 in the near future. Going to go look at a promising '00 SE in the Winston-Salem area with a friend and his wife today. We're really hoping it's the one, so many have been duds. It's going to be hers, he's still on the look out for a low buck project Miata, likely a NA. Zach and I have been doing what we can to convert those around us to Miata life.

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  10. #111
    Super Moderator tsingson's Avatar
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    We are planning one next week on Wednesday for some Korean BBQ. That's enough notice man. I also want to have a meet down at your area too. I am sure you have some cool local joints we can eat at and hang.

  11. #112
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power Tkblazer's Avatar
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    There is kbbq in nc?

  12. #113
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift Demon I Am's Avatar
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    Yuuuup

  13. #114
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Yeah! Boxes!



    Fed Ex dropped them off like a damn ninja.

    Now to get in them like your girlfriend's pants.





    Now those look great. Garage Star stainless frame rails and Garage Star fender braces.

    1st impression of the rails is that they're pretty damn accurately cut and bent. Very high quality. As for the fender braces, look to be very well made. But, I can hear MIG wire waste inside both. Not much, but it's there, no weld splatter what so ever though. TIG welding would have made the wire waste highly unlikely, but also made the braces likely more costly. The finish on the fender braces is great. No runs or trash, just a nice, solid, satin black.

    Looking forward to installing these tomorrow.

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  15. #115
    Super Moderator tsingson's Avatar
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    That's freaking awesome, Jamie!

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    JamieH (05-29-2015)

  17. #116
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Got the frame rails and fender braces installed with some help from my friend Zach. Pretty simple, just a bit consuming. First up were the frame rails. So out came the seats, center console, and door sill plates. With that done you can pull the carpet up enough to get to work.





    From there it's just a matter of getting the rails in place, drilling some holes, and bolting things down. I did one side at a time to help keep the carpet from fighting itself while pulled up. The rails will be a tight enough fit that once in place, they ain't falling. A rubber mallet came in handy for me, as long as a couple blocks of wood and a small 3 lb sledge. You'll want to position the rails as far forward as possible, otherwise you run the risk of the rear mounting points being beyond the rear bulkhead of the interior.

    I started with the passenger side, which has the fuel lines in the way. So the brackets for them were unbolted, which allowed for them to be pulled and tweaked out of the way just enough to slip the rail in place. Once in place I drilled the holes with a step drill then followed up with a 5/16" drill bit. The step drill just helped to quickly get the holes started so the 5/16" bit wasn't having to do a lot of work.

    OK, so there's the small issue of either being really skilled with a few magnets or having tiny hands or just cutting out a small piece of the rasied floor brace the front of the seat bolts to. I cut out a small piece between two of the factory holes in the brace. This is because one of the bolts will end up under the brace on both sides, passenger and driver, and access is limited. I used a pair of metal shears to do the cutting and a file to clean up the cuts. I also hammered the cut edges down a little to reduce the chance of them catching on the carpet. I forgot to get a picture of this and regret it. If I ever have the carpet up, I'll be sure to get a pic.

    With that out of the way, I used a piece of paper with a small hole cut in it to use as a quick mask for some plastidip. The plastidip was used to coat the freshly drilled holes and act as a small gasket to reduce the chance of moisture coming in through the holes. I then slipped the bolts in and and got the nuts started. On the rear two bolts I had to use the ball end of a ballpeen hammer to massage the area so the bolts would sit flat with the washers as they were very close to the rear bulkhead (also did this on the driver's side). Now, on the passenger side I had a small problem with one bolt not reaching far enough to get the washer and nut on. I made the mistale of thinking I could use just the nut to pulled bolt down and rail up just enough to allow me to take it back off and then put the washer and nut on. More like BIG mistake, as when I tried to remove the nut, the bolt snapped... fuuuuuu.

    This caught me by surprise as I'm not use to nylon locking nuts having that much grip. Thankfully I had some bolts and nuts in a similar size. But, it also spoke of the bolts strength. As once I was finishing bolting the passenger rail in place I managed to snap another one. Word of advice, once the bolts and nuts get tight, don't turn them much further. Regardless of how much threads are through the nut, once it gets tight, don't turn much more than half a turn.

    I feel like if I ever need or want to remove the frame rails, every bolt is going to snap. So the blame either lies with me just being a bit heavy handed or the bolts not being all that strong.

    Anyways, once the passenger rail was bolted in place, there was the small matter of modding the fuel rail brackets. All that needs to be done is to bend the small locator tab to line up with the main bend, flip the brackets upside down, bolt them back in place, and then bend them up to about a 45 degree angle. Then just snap the lines back into the brackets.



    And with that, the passenger side was done. The driver's side went much smoother. Granted when I drilled the holes I snagged a piece of the insulation. Tore it up a bit, but I was able to get the torn piece put back together with some masking tape and taped back to the rest of the still attached insulation.







    With the frame rails done we put the interior back together, washed up, and went for a test ride and a late meal at Waffle House.

    I was able to immediately notice a difference. Betty was a bit more firm, some shakes and rattles were reduced. Which is why I wanted them, NVH reduction. Frame rails are now a must for me on any future NAs or NBs.

    We both had the All-Star breakfast at Waffle House, it served it's purpose. Zach said the area by the gril looked nasty, to which I told him, "probably, but I know better than to look that closely at things in a Waffle House."

    OK, so the frame rails were in and our bellies were full. Time to get started on the fender braces. These took a bit longer as I wanted to be super careful and not, you know, screw things up. Betty's paint is pretty good for an old respray, and I'd prefer to keep it looking as good as I can.

    Didn't think to take many pictures as I went, only got some once the fenders were off and the braces on. But, here's a few things to help anyone pulling the fenders.

    Everything in the wheel well area is pretty easy to get at. But you will need to remove the splash guards to get at the two nuts up front holding the bumper and fender together as well as the one nut keeping the fender alighned near the center by the door. You'll need a few extensions to reach it.

    There's one nut up front at the corner of the fender that you'll need to pull the bumper forward to get at. Removing the bolts up top that hold the bumper to the core support will allow ya to pull the bumper far enough forward to get access to the nut in the corner. It's a little nerve wracking to pull and pry on the bumper to open things up enough to get to those nuts, but it's doable.

    If your fenders have never been off, seam sealer at the rear corner by the door and windshield, where the one bolt holds the fender there, will try to keep the fender from coming up. A little pressure will get the seam sealer to break free.

    Everything else is easy peasy and pretty obvious.

    My fenders had never come off. Breaking the original paint seal of the upper fender bolts felt dirty, but also satisfying. Also made realighnment way easier. I had also never pulled the mudguards. Pulling them revealed the respray either occurred before they were added or they were removed when Betty was resprayed.

    Once the fenders were off, 18 years of collected dirt and gunk showed itself stuck to the back side of the bottom rear of the fenders. Most of it fell off fromm patting the inside of the fenders. The rest rubbed off with just a shop towel. Once cleaned out, I sat the fenders out of the way.















    The fender braces go on very, very easily. Takes way less time to get them installed than pulling the fenders. Garage Star's instructions for them are on the money. I'll say this, when you go to tighten the allen bolts for the forward mounting point, be prepared to let them pull the braces into the frame. Go slow and keep switching between the two as you go.









    Chances are, once you have the braces bolted up, you'll need to slightly realighn the doors. Mine dropped ever so slightly. But enough that the smooth and satisfying door pop turned into a notched, worn out feeling. To realigh, loosen the bottom two bolts that were replaced on the lower hinge when the braces were installed. Then, with a helper, have them lift up on the door till it won't move up any more, then quickly tighten the two bolts back down. Your doors should be right back where they were. Mine were, and they sound great when you open and close them.

    Once we very, very carefully placed the fenders back on, got them aligned and bolted down, we cleaned shop and went for a drive.

    The fender braces are absolutely phenominal. The shakes and shimmies from rough bumps are nearly completely gone. Road irregularlities that would normally cause severe cowl shake and cause squeaks that came from seemingly every where, are now absorbed far more gracefully. Cowl shake over such bits of road is now non-existant in comparison. Now, Betty is still a NA, so she still has a bit of shimmy over really nasty rough roads, but she is a far more tighter and firmer NA now. Again fender braces are a must on any future NAs or NBs. The 65mph shimmy is reduced, but still there. Zach said I should look into a road force balance, that it should eliminate it. I'll be replacing tires soon, so I will defintely look into it.

    Steering response is also improved. Especially on turn in. I caught myself turning in too sharply on the curve on my short road. It also felt heavier, but that could have also been from just being tired from wrenching all night/morning.

    I've only been out with the fender braces the one time, so time will tell how they do overall. But I've got a pretty good feeling it's going to be smooth sailing from here on out.

    Oh, and Betty is still sitting pretty, can't even tell the fenders were removed. Alighnment is dead nuts on, gaps are perfect all around. Here's she is back in her resting spot.


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  19. #117
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here!
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    Why did you select the Garage Star fender braces over those from Boss Frog?

  20. #118
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce View Post
    Why did you select the Garage Star fender braces over those from Boss Frog?
    Less weight, slightly cheaper, powder coated black. It's silly, but even though they won't/shouldn' be seen, the green looks tacky to me and I know it's there.

    I've also dealt with Garage Star in the past when Ken first started offerring the brake master cylinder braces.

  21. #119
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift JamieH's Avatar
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    Almost forgot, sticker!



    Adds +5 rigidity.

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  23. #120
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! benpopham's Avatar
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    What a lovely roadster you have there, and a brilliant read. I will be keep my eye on your thread

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