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Thread: Samm's NC1 Sport project

  1. #31
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    So it's been a while and well a little bit has gone on while I've been busy with work over the last month.

    After much thought I decided that really the SSR's aren't going to work out for me. As much as I love them and think it looks god damn awesome! I just don't think I'll be able to run them and make them look good because I think I'll have to run them so long in order to make them look right to me. Which would mean that I wouldn't be able to enjoy the car as I wanted, as lately I've realised how I missed B road blasting with friends and my original intent for the car which was to be inspired by what I have seen on Hot Version/Best Motoring.

    So to begin this I put the stock 17's back on and raised the NC up an inch or so, including sorting out the rake situation.


    While doing this I also encountered a lovely stuck locking collar which was sorted out swiftly by putting it in a vice and using a 4ft bar on each C spanner


    And then we went in for an alignment as this is the height it'll be sticking at for a while now!



    And now the SSR Star Formula Meshes are up for sale (£1000 o.n.o for those interested).
    I did have a kid in a Suzuki Swift who was interested in swapping for his Fifteen52 Tarmac's.

    They need more tyre I know! But it doesn't matter as he turned out to be a time waster, he couldn't find the camber plates he needed apparently even with providing him suppliers for them.

    I also got the nice little paint cracks my neighbor put in taken out.


    And then finally my buddy Morgan let me borrow his Volk TE-37's from his S15 (Not like he's using them as all S chassis are always broken).

    And with TE-37's being a bucket list wheel for me, man this makes me want to make it happen in the near future! Possible in white, or bronze!

    That's all for now, I've got another week off coming up next month and a lot of little parts arriving in the mean time.
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

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  3. #32
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! LagBlu's Avatar
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    The wheels in the last picture would be awesome. Better than the SSR.

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  5. #33
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    I agree; they suit the car better.

  6. #34
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HarryB View Post
    I agree; they suit the car better.
    Thanks, I think in reality it's hard to make such a statement in a way with the two wheels being completely different styles.

    The SSR's looked good and suited the old school Kyusha inspired look I was going for which can be seen on some NA's out there.
    Whereas the TE37's are for all intense and purposes a lightweight be all and end all motorsport wheel.

    But I'm glad you like the look of them as a set of Rays of any form will be what I'm going after in future!

    The SSR's are now on eBay if anyone wants them.
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

  7. #35
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    So it's been a hot minute but thought I'd give an update on what's going on.

    The SSR Mesh's are now sold and will shortly be off to Canada.

    And I've been somewhat busy over the last month, but mostly on the little things.


    Stocking up on things before my week off work.


    Rear lights out and cleaned behind.


    I opted to spray tint the rear lights after a couple of attempts with film not going so well and I had a difficult time cutting out the reverse light. So I masked the reverse light off with a 75mm circle sticker and tapped off the edge of the light. Giving them 8 coats of tint (the paint was ...thin to say the least) and 3 coats of clear.

    And the result.

    I did also have a rather unfortunate incident one evening... I managed to destroy my splitter, turning it into three pieces. I had previously cracked it from the top after taking a bad backroad, but this time I was coming back home on the motorway and hit a bag of gravel, by the time I saw it in my lane it was too late. I heard the gravel fly everywhere on impact and it running under my car for the following mile. I also heard from scrapping but just presumed I was dragging the bag of gravel along with me. As I pulled off the motorway the dragging noise stopped, then came back until I turned the corner into the gas station. I decided to stop and as I hop out I hear the distinctive sound of plastic being ran over... I suddenly realised what had happened when I walked round to the front of the NC to see 1/3rd of the splitter remaining.

    Oh well, nothing I can do. The splitters are no longer stocked in Europe, so until I find something else I probably won't be running one.

    Anyway back to the positive things I've been doing with the NC.

    I grew very tired of how the stock NC1 headlights look and had been telling myself for a long time that I would restore the lenses.

    So I did a little more than that. After removing them from the car, stripping the harnesses off of them and removing any screws I placed them in the oven for a little while so I could split them open.

    Once they were open I painted the inner trim? in satin black and cut off the indicator tab as I didn't like how much it stuck out inside the headlight.


    Then once they were sealed back together I replaced all the bulbs, I was rather interested in trying out PIAA headlight bulbs (so far they've been great). I also opted from a chrome coated amber indicator bulb to keep the headlight looking clean and amber free after removing the indicator tab.

    Finally I used the 3M headlight restoration kit on them. I found that it's a good kit but you still need to use your own sand paper and sand from 1k up to 2k yourself before using their 'magic' disc and buffing pad. As the kit would have you go from 800grit up to the 'magic' disc which is approx 3k.

    The end result.

    The other thing I had going on was painting the brake calipers, again something little that had been on my mind for a long time. And yet again finally getting some reasonable time off work in order to do it.



    I decided to paint them on the car as I didn't want to have to bleed the brakes (never done it before, didn't feel comfortable doing it on my own). So I stripped the calipers down, took the pads out and removed the discs. masked accordingly and painted them. I'm not 100% satisfied with the finish if I'm honest, maybe in the future if I go to a different brake set up I'll send those out to get painted. They still look pretty good nevertheless.

    As part of some of the maintenance I was doing, I decided to order a Beatrush shift bushing. And as I ordered it directly from Beatrush in Japan, I thought I'd grab a shift knob too in order to make the shipping worth it.



    And well that's pretty much it for things I've been doing to the NC, I do have one more thing to show off but I think I'll give it a couple of days first.
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

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  9. #36
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! CollinMB's Avatar
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    Quality update. Too bad about the lip tho.

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  11. #37
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    So.... The evening has come, after many afternoons of running around getting sealing wheels, polishing 160 bolts, getting tyres fitted, rolling arches and trimming arch liners. The road day road trip from the east coast of England, all the way over the Wales to collect the wheels. I get them fitted!

    So enjoy!






    These are Desmond RE Amemiya AW7, wheels that Desmond made for RE Amemiya sometime in the early 90's I believe for early FD RX7's.


    (A exert from HyperRev RX7 Edition).

    They're 17x8.5 et35 with a 215/45/17 Advan V105, 17x9.5 et35 with a 245/40/17 Advan V105.
    I have recreated the spoke sticker and I've got a bunch of them being printed, just need to find some suitable center caps for them. But some all the research I have done they only came with plain and flat solid colour center caps.

    Anyway, I thought I've save the update until there were on instead of posting all of my test fit images.

    Until next time!
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

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  13. #38
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    So another week off work means a few things going on with the NC.
    The most important thing to me this week was to do a full detail, I'm keen on my detailing but never have the time to practice it as such. But with Players Classic at Goodwood coming up this weekend, I felt it was that perfect excuse that I needed to dedicate a bunch of time to doing.

    First thing was to take the wheels off and clean the barrels.

    As much as I love these wheels, seriously I curse the guy before me who thought painting the barrels white was a good idea. Maybe over winter I will get these redone in black to save my sanity.

    I then had to go back and address an issue I had made, when rolling my arches I had a bit of a mishap where I was hitting the roller against my freshly painted calipers... So I had some sanding a patching up to do. Luckily I did have some paint left over in order to do so.


    I have also purchased some blank center caps for the RE Amemiya's, although I'll still not sure on running them. I want to try and colour match them to the wheels but I have no idea on what white these were painted (despite being told these were powdercoated, if you look at the finish of these it must be paint).

    But for now I think I'm going to carry on not running any caps. Even though back in the day these did come with blank caps.

    Also my buddy Adam at 6Two1 gave me some fresh lug nuts so I chucked them on.

    I prefer the black of these than the chrome of my previous ones, it feels less distracting and gives back the attention to the wheels.

    With the NC now detailed, from being clayed, compounded, polished and waxed by hand (I really need to invest in a DA polisher as my arms are still recovering a few days later). The paint really does look so much better with a deeper shine again and faded panels closer to their original colour. And if you're familiar with NC1's you'd know how all NC1 front bumpers like to fade darker, I'd really love to know why.

    In these past couple of weeks I did also pick up a ducktail spoiler, not your typical CarbonMiata wedge for the NC, this one has been designed to flow better with the body lines of the NC1. And I really find it outstanding, I can't get over the improvement that it has made to the rear end.


    While the car may seem ready, there is still one big issue to address. That being the front splitter, now I do have one on order but there is a bit of a saga to it. Well, it is me after all so why couldn't it just be as simple as buy and recieve it on my door step a week later? Well I chose to go for this NOPRO NC1 splitter that was for sale and it was already in Europe, so I thought great, I won't have to pay customs on this and I'll get it within a week or so. Well after the seller taking a bit of time to package it (as long as he has taken care I'm fine by this), it eventually gets shipped out. I see on the tracking that it had been stalled at a depo somewhere in Greece for a few days. I'm then informed that it has been stopped as Greek customs due to a security breach, I think okay sounds a little strange. I then find out the following day that it is being returned to the seller because supposedly DPD have been banned from operating over the Greek boarder due to cigarette smuggling issues that have happened recently. In my head again I'm thinking this sounds fishy, if this is true why was the consignment allowed to happen in the first place. I'm then told I have options, either be refunded or pick a different shipping method which included paying additional fees. At this point I'm feeling rather outraged, I can't fathom in my head what has gone on here and why I'm suddenly being told I have to pay more in shipping when if this was the real case it shouldn't have been sent in the first place. Anyway after talking to the seller more I eventually agree to change the shipping, which is now resulting to me having to wait up to another two weeks (I've already waited two weeks so far for the splitter when I should have had it in a week). Which then to me really upsets me because in my eyes the car won't be complete for Players Classic which was a deadline I had set myself. I can get over it really as I know that it is still coming hopefully but this whole situation has left me a little more than annoyed to say the least.

    Anyway enjoy another shot of the freshly detailed NC. As you can see I did also add some I.L. Motorsport clear side markers, after painting the trim on them black as the chrome would have been horrible to have.
    Last edited by sammjoey; 06-21-2019 at 02:41 AM.
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

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  15. #39
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! MiataQuest's Avatar
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    Consider purchasing some custom center cap inserts by Revlimiter.
    I had a custom set made for me and they came out great!
    They could be shipped in a very small box which should be easy for customs and low cost.
    Linky: https://revlimiter.net/store/center-cap.php

    Love your NC

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  17. #40
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MiataQuest View Post
    Consider purchasing some custom center cap inserts by Revlimiter.
    I had a custom set made for me and they came out great!
    They could be shipped in a very small box which should be easy for customs and low cost.
    Linky: https://revlimiter.net/store/center-cap.php

    Love your NC
    Thanks!
    I had been considering it as me and my buddy Steve had been talking about that the other night. It's just that I would want to keep these to being as close to original as possible. Which is why I had the spoke sticker remade. And from the evidence I've got they only ever came with blank center caps, so I'd be worried that it could start to make the wheels look a bit busy with the spoke sticker as well.
    The only probably I'm going to have is like I say, colour matching them when I don't even know what the colour is.
    I could consider them maybe if it was something as simple as just an RE logo perhaps?
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

  18. #41
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    It's been a little while so time for another update.

    Recently I've had to replace the front passenger side brake caliper as it became sticky on the way down to Goodwood, while having to stop at my buddies workshop on the way to re-grease everything so we could make it on the day. It began sticking again a couple of days later. I really couldn't be bothered to rebuild the piston or sliders or swap them over to a new caliper, so I bought a complete brake from the wreckers and swapped them over (and I'll get round to painting it at some point).

    Remember my friend with the cool period correct 3rd gen Civic? Well he's now moved to Japan and has stripped that car, I now have his Broadway mirror so a part of that awesome little Civic lives on.


    Now for the real big update, the issue that I have been dealing with for a while. My new front lip has finally arrived and I couldn't be happier to finally have it!

    Ready to fit.



    And it's on! I couldn't be happier with this NOPRO lip!


    Sometimes you just need one of these photos to put things in perspective.

    Now I've been toying with the idea of having spacers in the front just to get a bit more of an aggressive fitment.

    Left is stock, right is with a 10mm spacer.
    I think I might get some 10mm's.

    But that's mostly it for now so enjoy some high res pics.





    But one last thing for this update, something that I had in my mind for a while that I was always on the fence about.

    But I think the Advan tire stickers really add to the look that I'm going for now since changing my theme with the RE Amemiya wheels.

    That's all for now.
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

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  20. #42
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    So some time has passed since the last post after being very busy with life. But time for a much needed update.


    Grabbed a RE Amemiya banner for the windshield.


    Another full detail ready for a show.


    I attempted to wrap the windshield frame black, but I burnt through the vinyl. This is definitely something I'll revisit when the weather picks up again next year.


    Full fluids change incoming.


    Wheel off again for a full clean, I think I will send them away next year for a refurb.


    Representing Team Boat at MX5 Show & Shine this summer. I won 3rd place Modified NC and my buddy Rich won 2nd.
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

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  22. #43
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    I painted the interior trims...well what an adventure. I had ordered Red Metallic Pearl....This is purple -.- So Now I'm facing a couple of ideas for this, Heavy flake silver, or True red with silver or gold flake.


    Turret oil.... Change or refill? Refilled this when doing all of the fluids, strange that Mazda say the turret oil doesn't need changing...


    Upon coming back home one evening I hit standing water as there was no other option....yet another lip killed. I was more upset this time being such an expensive lip, not sure if I'll bother with another at this point.



    Team Boat representing again at Broke Boys at the Arena.


    This is not the way round you'd think, at some point I didn't drive the NC for a month due to work as I had been driving my new daily. Did I forget to mention I picked up this low miles 1985 Mazda 323 for £500 this summer? I've been running around in this after doing 50x more miles per day for work (my commute only used to be 1 mile each way).


    So in the summer the passenger side caliper seized up, after replacing that and a set of pads the drivers side one also seized more recently. This was the main reason I hadn't driven the NC in so long because I just didn't have time to replace the caliper, and when it came to it the one I got from the wreckers had a lovely rounded bleed nipple.

    Anyway that's enough for this post, I have something very special to come in the next one.
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

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  24. #44
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! sammjoey's Avatar
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    So the special post I had to come?

    Well here we are.


    I had been following this on eBay for a while, it had only been listed as an MX5 Exhaust. When it suddenly became clear to me that it was for an NC I was sure it had to be mine. After winning the Full exhaust at starting bid (£160) and the intake also at starting bid (£20), I thought surely I was going to have a rather grumpy seller trying the usual methods to get out of selling. But no that wasn't the story, I arranged collection with him from Silverstone Circuit and took the 323 up there. Upon collecting the exhaust and intake I discovered a thing or two. Yes the intake is indeed a full Mazdaspeed Intake setup including filter sock, and the exhaust is a Mazda Motorsport Mazdaspeed race exhaust. As in the exhaust that Mazda Motorsport sold to race teams for Miata Cup cars? Yes that exhaust. Speaking with the seller who was the owner of Team Pyro here in the UK (a race team that participates in Clio Cup and GTC), he told me that he had had this kit imported back in 2005 for a MX5 cup car for a customer. Well for one reason or other the car didn't get complete, so the parts went into storage for 14 years until I bought them in early December. After a while I did wonder how on earth and why on earth is this in my hands.




    Oh how could I forget, I didn't go alone to Silverstone, my buddy Ian came with us and while we was in the grounds we took some shots of his NA.


    So time to install!


    Stock manifold off, this is a task I never wish to repeat in my life.


    Mazdaspeed manifold in.


    Mazdaspeed Intake on.


    And exhaust finished!

    Upon first start we had a bit of an issue...

    After giving the car a couple of revs oil started spewing out! Simple to say it was everywhere, like an explosion.

    I came to find the oil filter laying on the chassis bracing.

    And I think we can see what happened here really. So a new filter and oil change later and we're all good.


    Must say, the Mazdaspeed cup car exhaust tucks under there quite nicely!


    After driving it around I discovered it was vibrating against the diff on occasion as it was sat so close up to it, so I decided to wrap some heat wrap on that section to cushion it and it's made the noise go away.



    Also somewhere in the middle of all this I treated myself for Christmas to make the whole job easier.


    Still needs more going on in here I think.
    NC1 Sport, BC Racing Coilovers, RE Amemiya AW7 Wheels.

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  26. #45
    5,000 rpm - there be torque here! MaRcOp01o's Avatar
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    Well that is pretty bad ass man! I am sure it felt so good to have those fresh parts in your hands. At where I work we helped with the safety gear for the new MX5 ND Cup Car and they sent me the whole PowerPoint of all the part numbers for the Spec MX5 class. I nerded out big time. So for any of you ND guys that want a Mazdaspeed Catback I am your guy.
    Follow the Builds
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    http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....819#post222819
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    https://mazdaroadster.net/showthread...233#post244233

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