Newb to Socal from Houston

[Jumbosrule]

Thanks! And yeah I'm proud of that cover!

500lb/in fronts, 400lb/in rears, all four springs are 7in length. FCM red (soft) bump stops.

[Tkblazer]

Car is looking great!

[— Malibu Q —]

Beautiful work. We'll done.
Polishing the intake is hard work but very rewarding. It's not only for looks though, removing the sharp edges and casting marks makes the engine bay a much kinder place on your knuckles.

[Jumbosrule]

Beautiful work. We'll done.
Polishing the intake is hard work but very rewarding. It's not only for looks though, removing the sharp edges and casting marks makes the engine bay a much kinder place on your knuckles.

True dat. I'm willing to bet anybody with a stock IM is jealous of my oil filter access!

I've added a few more parts - lower ball joints, tie rods and end links are all brand new. I followed that up with an alingment and corner balance since I had not done that since the FCM install. The old stuff was DONE.







And I also got a whole new Koyo radiator complete with the FM airflow shroud/fan setup.









Installed the Moroso coolant overflow tank, project G oil cap and dipstick handle. Also painted the throttle body.



Ever seen a shaved fuel rail? I had not until I made one; removed the center bracket & hardline, then flipped the FPR 180 degrees to feed from the firewall (which is where the RRFPR is located). It's clean - and it hides the wire harness well too.

[— Phatmiata —]

wow this miata is coming along really nice!!

[Jumbosrule]

Well I finally caved in and bought the Wilwood little big brake kit from Flyin Miata.



Four piston calipers on all four corners, plus a rear parking brake, all braided stainless steel brake lines, a proportioning valve and new pads all around. I opted for stock sized rotors so I'm using what I just recently installed. I've never had any brake performance problems - even on track. The motivation behind them was the unsprung weight, in combination with some really nice racing wheels made with the proper offset so I can lose the heavy 30mm spacers.

Front caliper


Out with the old rubber lines (240,000 miles) and in with the new braided lines.

Rear caliper installed with parking brake


Rear


The kit from FM was about 95% perfect. The only thing that did not work out were a couple of cable clamps needed to secure the two new parking brake cables. The hole in the clamp was too small to fit the bolt I was supposed to use so I had to make a small aluminum L bracket in order to use the provided clamp. Also, the (purple) caliper adapter bracket made contact with the dust shield on three out of four corners. I had to bend the shield out of the way in order to install the brackets; then it could not be bent back. Not noticeable and I doubt it matters very much. It was just sort of a pain to fix without any mention there could be an interference problem with the dust shield.

Still need to torque all the bolts, bleed all the calipers and then set the proportioning valve. I couldn't bleed the calipers because the damn bleed screw is 6mm! Who the hell carries a 6mm flare wrench??? Guess I'll be looking for one tomorrow.

Wheels should arrive before the end of the month. Can't believe they are finally going to be on my car. Good thing too because I have a track day on the 22nd at Willow Springs!

[Jumbosrule]

Got everything torqued down yesterday and bled the entire system twice. I used a 1/4" 6pt wrench I found at Autozone. I worry about using these bleeders more than just a couple times. They are just so small and delicate.



After the second time bleeding the system I finally got a firm pedal. I was starting to worry. I sort of figured out a system as I went along and got a lot faster and more organized as I went, using a mightyvac vacuum pump and caliper bleeding kit. Because the bleeder screws are so small, none of the adapters that came with the brake bleeder kit worked. I had to make my own interface using a random vacuum fitting I found in an autoparts store. Anyway, it worked out. Went for a test drive and everything is working, there are no leaks and the brakes are definitely more firm and grabby. Even the parking brake is working as it should with just a minor adjustment at the handle.



I definitely cycled the brakes a few times to bed the pads but dont think I got them hot enough. I'll just have to work on that before the track day.