Better late than never

[CollinMB]

I like the vinyl. And yes, that tan top sticks out like a sore thumb now...

...but what you should really do is get the CCP fastback to go with the rest of the kit

[Warhammer]

I like the vinyl. And yes, that tan top sticks out like a sore thumb now...

...but what you should really do is get the CCP fastback to go with the rest of the kit

Part of me agrees (the CCP fastback looks awesome), but I like top-down driving too much to go with a hard top.

[Warhammer]

I received my order of 3" red tape and finished the two gaps on the top of the fenders. The transitions from the hood to the doors took a tiny piece of flat black vinyl at the forward, top tips of the doors, then I used cutting tape to make the small black and tapered red bits on the fenders, then I finished the seams with gloss black pinstriping.



So now the red stripe runs continuously from the bumper, around the cabin and back to the bumper.





I'm pretty happy with how this part of my project has turned out.

[—tsingson—]

Great job on the vinyl! It looks amazing.

[Warhammer]

Amazon sent me another Razo shift knob, and the gaps in the leather around the stitching were just as bad as the first one. So, back to Amazon they both went.

The replacement came in the form of a Superklasse "Runabout" shift knob. It's wrapped a nice combo of smooth and perforated leather; really nice, soft, high-quality leather. The stitching (I chose red) is much nicer than the Razo, and is on par with a Nardi or Momo wheel. It weighs in at 350 grams, which is not the heaviest out there, but certainly not a light-weight. The shape feels really nice in the hand. It's kind of a modified ball/mushroom/pistol grip shape. It came with a thread adapter to fit the Miata. At $59, it's not cheap, but not crazy expensive, either.

[Warhammer]

I did a couple of small projects this morning. First, I wrapped the mirror pedestals in red like Mirage775 suggested. I think it helps with the continuity of the red stripe. With the mirrors all white, they break the line where they mount to the doors.





Next, I did a little bit of work on the air dam on the front bumper.

[Warhammer]

I installed new rear rotors and pads today. The left side had wore much more than the right, so I think that side may have been dragging. I followed a tip I saw on Youtube and removed the slide pins, then chucked them in my drill press and polished them smooth with some fine sandpaper. Hopefully that and a liberal layer of grease will keep everything moving smoothly.

[MaRcOp01o]

OK now I am really seeing an S2000. It isn't my style but I really dig how even and perfect you've put the vinyl on.

[HarryB]

I am not a huge fan of widebody kits, vinyls or any of this, but I have to admit that overall I like it very much! And I really admire your creativity, passion and craftsmanship.

The bits I do not really like are the bumper vinyl and the tan roof which IMO look out of place. Also the car needs wider wheels/tires or spacers to fill in the arches better.

[Warhammer]

I am not a huge fan of widebody kits, vinyls or any of this, but I have to admit that overall I like it very much! And I really admire your creativity, passion and craftsmanship.

The bits I do not really like are the bumper vinyl and the tan roof which IMO look out of place. Also the car needs wider wheels/tires or spacers to fill in the arches better.

I agree. I don't like how the bumper turned out. I'm going to strip that off and try something different. The tan roof will be replaced this summer with a black cloth one. I'm waiting to finalize wheel fitment until I've installed coilovers and finalized the ride height.

[Warhammer]

To further exacerbate my need for a few days to get into the garage, this arrived today from China:



It's the matching under-diffuser to my Jet Stream bumper diffuser.

Err.. well... kind of.

While my Jet Stream upper bumper diffuser is the real-Made-in-Japan-deal, the lower is a "Jet Stream Style" diffuser that I bought on AliExpress. I know I'm bound to take some flak for buying a "Chinese knock-off", but for a price difference of $562, I was willing to take a chance. Yep, $926 vs $364 including shipping. Jet Stream offers their diffuser without the four internal fins, then you can choose to add either two or all four fins for and additional $100 or $250 respectively. This version came with all 4 fins. My CCP widebody kit was clearly based on the NoPro kit, and I also like several models of Rota and Konig wheels that look suspiciously similar ;) to Work wheels. More options in the marketplace are better.



Anyhow, the order got here much faster than I expected; only 6 days from placing the order to having it in my hands! Quality-wise, I'd say the fiberglass work easily stands up to the Jet Stream part to which it will be mated. No voids or soft spots, nice smooth gel coat, no excess flashing... equal to or better than any other aftermarket fiberglass part I've purchased. This is about the 6th time I've ordered something through AliExpress and I've had a good experience every time.


It's actually the NA version, which is why it comes with the bracket piece for installation. I don't know if I'll be able to use NA bracket as intended. If not, I'll have to buy a pair of long bolts and some lock nuts, which is how the NB version installs. I didn't receive any installation hardware or instructions, but the needed bolts are cheap and the installation isn't rocket surgery, so NBD. The other negative is that the trailing edge of this piece has a more pronounced, rolled edge NB version, which is flat. So, I'm going to have to do a little bit of trimming to make it fit just right. I knew that was a possibility, but for the money saved I find that quite acceptable.

So now I just need to get my butt moving on painting and installing of all these cool parts I've collected. Hopefully, I'll have in-process and completed pics to post soon.

[Warhammer]

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.

[Warhammer]

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:

[Warhammer]

The "Eunos" lettering across the bumper doesn't really work with this on, so I peeled it off and cleaned up and sticker residue.

[Warhammer]

Too much work and a shoulder injury have kept me form doing any work on the car lately. Hopefully, I'll get to the suspension next week on my days off.

After a wait one month shorter than expected, I received the Jet Stream bumper diffuser I ordered through Rev9! I'm really excited about this piece. I
have tom compliment Rev9. Their communication was great from start to finish. I was fun following the shipment tracker as my part shipped, passed Customs and then came to my door.

Now, because we all like pics...

I got home from work and found a nicely made box with "Fragile" labels in English and Japanese.



Inside, the part was wrapped in copious amounts of bubble wrap and tapped to the bottom of the box to prevent shifting.




Inside the bubble wrap: bumper diffuser, hardware & instructions (in Japanese), Rev9 thank you card, and heart-shaped grape gummies.



Proof of authenticity. Also, you can see the tabs that hold the screen in. If I can make it work to my satisfaction, the screen will go bye-bye in favor of a center exit exhaust port.



It's a very nicely made part. There's only one small spot that will need a skim of filler to smooth out before painting. From previous experience with fiberglass parts, this is among the best I've seen.



While part of me wants to rush out and bolt it on, I'm going to wait a bit. I just ordered the bottom diffuser to match this part. Plus, I'm going to work on the center exhaust idea. If I can get the exit port and exhaust routing to work right, then I'll need to do some fiberglass work to do away with the original exhaust cutout on the right side of the bumper so the right ans left sides match. Plus I'll have to cut out the little divider in the center vent and then fill and finish the cuts there.