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Thread: Better late than never

  1. #181
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Alrighty then! A little bit of fun time in the garage today before work.

    One of the challenges of this install is that I bought the NB rear bumper garnish from Jetstream in Japan, but the NA diffuser from who-knows-who-made-it in China. Fot the several hundred dollar difference, I'm willing to do extra work (and take a chance it won't work at all).

    Here's what I'm up against:
    1) The rear edge of the diffuser has a curved lip that needs to be flat.


    2) The rear contour is too curved to mate up with the bumper garnish.


    Now, I have somewhere between zero ad very little experience working with fiberglass, so this is going to be an adventure.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  3. #182
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    The cutting and grinding is pretty much done. I got a pretty firm but not perfect fit. I was limited by how much I could cut off the rear end before I started to shorten the piece to the point that it might not fit anymore. I'll post pics of that later. In the mean time, I decided to do a quick and dirt test fit of the bumper garnish. I didn't want the white bumper showing through the mesh area, so I slapped a piece of black vinyl on that area to cover it up.

    As for the garnish piece itself, I just stuck it on with a few pieces of tape, so it's definitely not going to be driven anywhere like this.

    Before:



    After:




    Out in the sun to see it better:


    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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    HarryB (06-16-2019),MiataQuest (06-16-2019),tsingson (06-16-2019)

  5. #183
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    The "Eunos" lettering across the bumper doesn't really work with this on, so I peeled it off and cleaned up and sticker residue.









    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  7. #184
    Super Moderator tsingson's Avatar
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    I agree with the letters. It didn't look right with them on but now, the rear end looks amazing!

  8. #185
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Catching up with some overdue updates:

    My Miata has been down for a few weeks, waiting for me to get a chance to replace the dead fuel pump. I finally got time off with no other plans to get in the way, so I got it done today. I went with a Deatschworks DW200 fuel pump. The installation was pretty easy, with the only extra step being that I had to splice the two power wires for the pump.

    I also installed a new battery from Battery Mart along with a quick disconnect. My alst battery went completely flat while the car was sitting in the garage for a few weeks. I obviously have some parasitic draw that I need to track down, but the quick disconnect is an easy stop-gap fix until I find the time to do it right.

    After the pump and battery, she fired right up and I took her for a test drive. It could be my imagination, but the car seems to have more power than before. I wonder if it's possible that the failing fuel pump had been robbing me of power for some time before it finally died altogether. After my test drive, I gave her a much needed bath to wash off all the garage dust that had settled on her during her slumber. (Of course, about 20 minutes later, the Texas weather broke it's several weeks of 100+ degree heat to rain on my freshly washed car!)





    The final project for the day was to set up for tomorrow. I pulled her into the garage and laid out my shiny new MeisterR coilovers. I'm watching a few installation videos on Youtube to get ready for tomorrow's festivities.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  10. #186
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Well, nothing ever seems to go as easy as it should...

    I got into installing my MeisterR coilovers and hit a few snags. I started with the left rear and everything went pretty smoothly. Then I moved on to the right rear... One of the 14mm nuts in the trunk was rounded off, so I had to get a nut extractor set to finished removing the original shock. Then I cross-threaded the nut on the sway bar end link. At that point, it started raining sideways so I stopped working and closed up the garage. I need to order new endlinks... So, what should have been a few hour's work has turned into something that will take several days.

    Oh well. I'm going to order some adjustable endlinks, since these coilovers are going to lower the car quite a bit. In retrospect, I should have ordered them earlier and planned on replacing the OEM end links anyway. I just need to decide which end links to buy.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  12. #187
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Well, the Supermiata end links are on the way. Hopefully they'll get here by my next day off, Friday, so I can get the car back on the road.

    Busy day in the Warhammer Garage! Today, I finished up everything on the MeisterR coilover install except for the missing endlinks. When those arrive from Supermiata, it should be pretty quick to get the car finished up and back on the ground.







    I also got a new engine splash guard. I ordered a fastener kit from Amazon for $10 to replace all of the screws, so the splash guard will get installed tomorrow.


    After reaching a stopping point on the coilovers, I decided to fix something that had been bugging me for a while. When I installed the SARD LSR (Subaru BRZ) wing, I had to fabricate my own mounting brackets. I copied the brackets that came with the wing, but I didn't like the resulting angle of attack. So, I grabbed some aluminum angle stock and fabbed up new pair. I extended the length of the brackets, brought the wing a bit more forward and increases the angle. I like this version much better. The hardest part (at least for me) of making custom brackets from scratch like this is getting the two, mirror image brackets to be reasonably similar, if not identical. My metalworking skills and tools are rudimentary at best, so no pretty CNC machined parts here, lol. Anyway, here's what I came up with:






    I can't get a good picture of the wing angle while the car is in the garage, so that'll have to wait until I have the wheels back on. I still need to clean off the marker lines I drew as reference marks. While I have the brackets off to do that, I may elongate the three rear holes into a single curved slot to give greater flexibility of adjustment.

    Other goodness coming to my little rice burner soon:
    • Finally painting and installing my Jet Stream rear bumper diffuser.
    • Installing my Chinese knock-off Jet Stream under-diffuser.
    • APR GT3 carbon fiber mirrors mounted with a Slick Auto adapter kit.
    • Extended gas lifts for my Clark & Clark dual trunk lift kit (have to fabricate new brackets for this)
    • Replace rear sub-frame that I bent when I did and 80 mph spin off of the Austin Tollway
    • New alignment (due to new subframe and coilovers) and finalize wheel/spacer set up
    • Open up the front and rear side vents on my widebody kit
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  14. #188
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    I received my bolt kit from Amazon today, so I got the new splash guard all bolted up. I've been without it for a while and have experienced a few times when engine temps got a little high. I've read that that the splash guard directs air and can make a difference in cooling, so I'm glad to have a new one in place.

    While I was under the car, I installed modified front fender liners. I had to remove the full liners when I cut the fenders, so I cut off the front part that fits under the headlights and reinstalled them. This gives me some protection from the front wheels slinging water and crud up into the engine compartment, particularly into the headlight area.

    I should be receiving my Supermiata end links on Friday, and I can get the car back on terra firma.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  16. #189
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    I received my mirror adapter kit from Slick Auto today.



    The kit includes base plates with gaskets, new mirror stems and all of the bolts and allen wrenches to put it all together. The base plates will adapt the APR GT3 mirrors to the Miata bolt holes. The stems will make it so that the mirrors will sit parallel to the ground, instead of cocked at a weird angle.

    I need to decide what I'm going to do about the color of the base plates. I don't think I want a big black oval straddling the red of the tape stripe and the white of the door. I'm going to play around with either making the entire base plate red, or trying to paint it white (I already have some color-matched paint) then applying a red stripe to match the car. The smaller oval of the actual mirror base I will probably leave black.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  18. #190
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    I mounted one of the adapter plates and, to my surprise, I kind of like how it looks in black.






    The oval doesn't overlap onto the white nearly as much as I expected. Also, since the plate is so thin, it doesn't interrupt the view of the red stripe as much as the original mirrors did. I'll have to wait until I get the new mirrors mounted and see if the actual mirror bases are large enough to change my mind. But for now, I'm thinking black will look good. One thing I definitely want to change however are the bright silver stainless steel bolts. I'll need to either source black bolts or paint the heads of these bolts.

    Edit: Some black screw caps might do the job.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  20. #191
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    I received the end links and gt them installed this afternoon. You're supposed too adjust the length with the weight of the car on the hubs. To do this you either need to have hub stands (which I don't) or you have to put on the wheels and drop the car off the jack stands.

    So, I installed the links but left them loose and lowered the car... only to find that the new lower ride height wouldn't let me get the jack out from under the car, lol! I had to toss a length of 2x6 under the rear wheels to give me enough clearance. With the car like that, I was able to adjust and tighten up the rear links.

    The front links, not so much. I had to jack up the front wheels and put a 2x6 under each. With the weight back on the wheels, I was able to adjust them, but I couldn't reach them with two wrenches to tighten them up. So up goes the front again to tighten the links, then back down again. Finally, I have new coilovers and end links installed!

    I completely forgot to take "before" measurements, so I can't say exactly how much the car is lowered. My estimated is about 1.5 - 2 inches.

    Here's how she sits now:







    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  22. #192
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Before:





    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  24. #193
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    The MeisterR Zeta CRD coilovers feel great! Granted, my old shocks were the originals with over 100,000 miles on them and they were pretty tapped out. With the new coilovers, I have no bottoming out and much less roll in turns. It feels very smooth and confidence inspiring. Not harsh at all. I haven't driven them enough to start playing with adjustments yet, so they are set as they came out of the box.

    A bonus (I was hoping for this) is that lowering the car makes my widebody fit better. Before, my front tires would rub on the body kit at full lock. The new coilovers have dropped the car right into a sweet spot where the wheels and tires now fit with no rubbing.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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  26. #194
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    Wow, bunch of updates! New ride height has improved the looks dramatically. I think that some 1" spacers would improve things even further. Regarding the wing brackets, what I usually do is use cardboard as a template; cereal boxes are ideal for this. So you make one in aluminum, trace it on cardboard, then fold it the other way round and transfer to aluminum for the opposite side, works a charm once you get hold of it. I would not make the holes to a slot though, as then you will have to rely purely on friction to keep things in position.

  27. #195
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Warhammer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HarryB View Post
    Wow, bunch of updates! New ride height has improved the looks dramatically. I think that some 1" spacers would improve things even further. Regarding the wing brackets, what I usually do is use cardboard as a template; cereal boxes are ideal for this. So you make one in aluminum, trace it on cardboard, then fold it the other way round and transfer to aluminum for the opposite side, works a charm once you get hold of it. I would not make the holes to a slot though, as then you will have to rely purely on friction to keep things in position.
    Good point about the slot. I really don't need the added adjustment. Probably better to leave them as is.

    I already have some spacers, but I'll probably adjust them. I've just been waiting to get this done before making final decisions. I still need to replace my rear subframe before I finalize the spacers. The current subframe is bent due to spinning off of the Austin tollway at 80 mph.
    - Rex

    2003 LS Widebody, Pure White, Too many mods to list in a signature

    My build thread

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