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Calebbel
05-25-2012, 10:19 AM
So here we go, time to start a build thread on my first car. This is pretty much a copy of my build over on Clubroadster.

Just before my sixteenth birthday I found out my grandpa was going to get me a car so of course to say I was excited was an understatement.

This is the only picture I have when she was completely stock, a one owner 2002 LS with 76,000 miles on the clock and a hardtop. The only downside was that it was an automatic :fp: but I sure wasn't going to complain about a free car like this.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/Stock.jpg

The first thing I did to the car was add the red strips on the drivers fender, and one of my friends started calling her Candy which stuck.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/hardtop.jpg

She stayed like this for quite a while and I was happy with the car. I saved up some money and swapped my stock muffler for a Flyin' Miata one and started looking for other parts.

Next was cleaning up the engine. I got a Racing Beat intake off ebay sprayed it black and painted the valve cover, along with a few other things. At the end of the day it looked like this
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/210412_219797338033706_100000103254296_971450_1590 039_o.jpg

Around this time she also got some stickers
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/005.jpg

I was also getting tired of how the auto shift lever looked and since a transmission swap was out of the question I looked for a solution. I soon stumbled upon the Zoom Engineering dress up kit for auto Miatas and after some work getting one from Japan. My interior looked like this http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/771.jpg

I was very happy with how it looked and since I had also spent quite a bit of money gutting the Bose stuff from my car, I was broke so it was time to start saving for the next thing a rollbar.

After a few months of saving and looking I had decided on a silver Boss Frog Clearview.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/192871_270027783010661_100000103254296_1226790_228 4217_o.jpg
and once on the car
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/324941_274163432597096_100000103254296_1246490_108 6940_o.jpg
Not only did this stiffen up the car a bit but I also loved how it looked.

I know you guys are screaming "Needs more low!":x but we'll get to that. Next was my first real DIY project and I started very simple. I found out that the turn signal stalks were aluminum and could be sanded down and polished so that's what I did. I was happy with how it turned out.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_20110612_190828-1.jpg

After a few months of not doing anything to the car I decided I was going to get a new steering wheel which came in the form of a wooden Nardi 330
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/nardi.jpg
I polished it up and put it in the car.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/004.jpg

The car now looked like this
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/Southside.jpg

...But I knew it needed something and its what you guys have been waiting on. I picked up some Racelands (I know, I know :fp:) and this is how the car sits right now 12" hub to fender
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/lowered.jpg

After much consideration I finally decided on wheels.
http://whatmonstersdo.com/blog2/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/enkei_apache2_silver_wheel.jpg
Enkei Apache 2 15X8 +25

They showed up wrapped in 205 50 S Drives
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/wheels.jpg


After a just a few hours I got my new wheels on the car and honestly I couldn't be happier. I feel like these go very well with my idea of a "Vintage inspired NB"
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0290.jpg
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0291.jpg
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0293.jpg

I know I've left some stuff out but this takes care of most of the big stuff that's happened in my two years of ownership of this beautiful little car. This will be a slow project since I'm not out of high school yet, but I'll try to keep it updated with whatever I do with this car.

shane
05-25-2012, 11:08 AM
Very nice man, awesome first car, i wish i had one @ 16, i ended up getting my first miata 10 yrs later lol. I think those wheels would go good on my 01SE.

Danger
05-25-2012, 11:35 AM
The car looks nice and clean. The dress up kit for the interior is cool, and the fender stripes look good. What was the inspiration for the stripes?

Calebbel
05-25-2012, 07:16 PM
Inspiration? That's a tough one. I thought about normal racing stripes but after seeing one miata with these I knew they were what I was looking for. On top of that I figured these would be a lot easier to install. I guess too, my uncle has always been a big chevy guy (98' Camaro SS, 02 Corvette ) so I was no stranger to grand sport style stripes.

Calebbel
05-25-2012, 07:17 PM
I bet those would look awesome on an SE. They'd go well with the vintage ish feel they already have going on.

Calebbel
05-29-2012, 12:08 PM
I got a package today
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0373.jpg

Hmmmm what could it be?
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0374.jpg

If you said "A woodgrain Carmate cigar lighter" then good job.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0375.jpg

This is a really nice piece I must say.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0376.jpg
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0377.jpg

And in the car it looks great and is a pretty close match to the Nardi stuff already in there.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0378.jpg
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/IMG_0379.jpg

shane
05-29-2012, 01:28 PM
^^ Nice touch, you only need the wood nardi knob to complete it :)

Inspiration? That's a tough one. I thought about normal racing stripes but after seeing one miata with these I knew they were what I was looking for. On top of that I figured these would be a lot easier to install. I guess too, my uncle has always been a big chevy guy (98' Camaro SS, 02 Corvette ) so I was no stranger to grand sport style stripes.


Technically they are Chevrons, used for old school racing days when if your car spun out on track, you couldn't tell which way it was facing. With the Chevrons, you could since they were on drivers side only. The other reason was to distinguish teammates from each-other branding different colored chevrons.

Well that was my inspiration, Dodge/Corvette, just copied off that....

Calebbel
05-29-2012, 04:02 PM
Hm never new that about the spinning out thing. That's intresting. I just always remember seeing them used on old gran prix cars (challengers corvettes etc) for distinguishing between team mates.

Calebbel
06-05-2012, 11:55 AM
So I finally got around to getting something done the car has needed for a while. An alignment. The car always tracked straight but the passenger side front tire has had some very unusual wear and since I just got new wheels and tires I thought it was time to get it done.

Front
Caster: Maximum
Camber: -1.5°
Toe out 1/16" per side

Rear
Camber: -2°
Toe in 1/16" per side

I must say I'm really happy with the "Icehawk" alignment settings. The car drives much better than before, I think it must have been much more out of alignment that I first thought and was defiantly worth the 60 dollars to have it done.

KAL
06-05-2012, 12:20 PM
60 bucks *sigh*.
Getting my alignment done on thursday — $245. Welcome to Norway!

Calebbel
06-05-2012, 12:21 PM
Oh wow thats crazy:shock:

WASABI
06-05-2012, 02:07 PM
Nice car. You're lucky to have this as a first car...and because the majority of the members here have never driven an automatic Miata, the fact is...it still handles like a Miata. My first Miata was an automatic, and I drove the piss out of her. Do you start from a stop in low, then move the shift lever up through the gears? If not, it's a good time, and that's how I drove mine for 4 years...of course, I had to put in two drive shafts, and one replacement transmission at 150,000+ miles.

Enjoy your car!

-Jim

Calebbel
06-05-2012, 04:56 PM
Nice car. You're lucky to have this as a first car...and because the majority of the members here have never driven an automatic Miata, the fact is...it still handles like a Miata. My first Miata was an automatic, and I drove the piss out of her. Do you start from a stop in low, then move the shift lever up through the gears? If not, it's a good time, and that's how I drove mine for 4 years...of course, I had to put in two drive shafts, and one replacement transmission at 150,000+ miles.

Enjoy your car!

-Jim

Haha that's exactly how I drive, it makes it much more fun. I'd love to eventually get a manual car but some people act like it having an auto somehow makes it completely different. At the end of the day it's still a miata.

Calebbel
06-21-2012, 01:25 PM
So I picked up some
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/99cdfd1a.jpg
Got the car up in the air.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/46e77e1e.jpg
And finally got around to changing the oil.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/3f777121.jpg

Calebbel
08-06-2012, 06:14 PM
Time for an update!
I got back from a trip to Myrtle beach with my friend Brittany, put like 800 more miles on the car but thats ok. Anyway I walk into my room and see this and open it up.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/0d6ca213.jpg

What could it be you ask???????

If you said "tire paint pen" you're correct.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/109ff574.jpg

I've been thinking about doing the white letter tire thing for a while and since Candy is getting a mini makeover, I thought I'd go ahead and try it out.
It needs a few more coats but I think I like it.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/20f917e4.jpg
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/8478a8c5.jpg
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/e12c5b4e.jpg

There will be more changes soon so I'll try to keep you guys updated.

Calebbel
08-14-2012, 05:03 PM
This mysterious box showed up at my door today...hmmm what could this be? Other than just a blurry picture.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/5128B4E8-8859-4E02-BB6D-DA7DABF7B19A-993-0000007056BC5F52.jpg

Well I'll tell you, its a new large factory front air dam.
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/B8C24798-499B-4943-B43A-BFDA16B171EC-993-000000705BEE5B80.jpg
You can't really tell in pictures but mine is pretty busted and hopefully I'll have time to get this on the car soon.

Calebbel
05-30-2013, 02:51 PM
Well yesterday I made a big decision. I had been thinking about getting another car for quite sometime and I went and looked at dozens of different cars. I finally got a good trade offer so I put her back on stock wheels and took her on her last drive as my car. It was definitely a bittersweet moment. :cry2:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/null_zps983222c1.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/calebbel/media/null_zps983222c1.jpg.html)

So with that Project Candy ends but don't think I'm leaving just yet...
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j384/calebbel/null_zpsa198d1d2.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/calebbel/media/null_zpsa198d1d2.jpg.html)