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Thread: My 1995 Brilliant Black NA8C Build Thread

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by HarryB View Post
    Where is that grounding point BTW?
    Looks like the negative battery cable to me

  2. #32
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! LagBlu's Avatar
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    Good progress. Reminds me what i still have to do.

  3. #33
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift oldgrayleather's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HarryB View Post
    Every time I read this thread I feel that (a) I do everything wrong and (b) this puts Mazda's restoration programme to shame.
    SAME!!!

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  5. #34
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! zco's Avatar
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    Even though I know what progress has been made on the car, I still look forward to reading the documentation of it haha
    So satisfying!

  6. #35
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power BRGNA8's Avatar
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    Long time no update!

    Decided to fix the power window bushings and re-grease the tracks as they were struggling to go up and down (common problem). I did this with 96-BRG and after giving the tracks a good clean and a dollop of ShinEtsu grease with new OEM bushings installed, they have a new lease on life.

    Taking out the window regulators.




    Window out. You can see the old bushing (which to be fair wasn't all that bad) and you can see the dirt on the bottom of the glass.




    New bushings.






    Bushings fitted and windows cleaned, ready to be re-installed.




    Video of regulators in action.




    The Thermocure had been in the car for about two weeks or so now. I had given the car a decent drive as much as I could and I decided that it was time for me to flush out the Thermocure and fill it back up with coolant. At this stage, it was also time to install a brand new overflow tank.

    Old overflow tank.




    New overflow tank.




    This has seen better days...






    Dirt and dust buildup from underneath the coolant overflow tank.




    Cleaned up.




    Lovely.




    OEM coolant concentrate to flow through the cooling system.




    Filling the cooling system with coolant and removing air from the system. Left the car running for approximately an hour on idle as well as giving it a rev from time to time and squeezing the top radiator hose to burp out any air which may be in the system.






    I also did an oil change but before I did, I used this. LiquiMoly engine detox. Add this to existing oil, turn the car on and either let it idle or drive for about 15 minutes or so. Then, drain the oil and replenish with your favourite oil of choice.




    I had a NoPro washer bottle to relocate within the scuttle tray. I never liked the OEM placement of the washer bottle and I like the fact that this frees up some real estate near the exhaust manifold of the engine bay. It's a clean replacement in my books.




    Beautiful.






    One thing which I absolutely hated on 96-BRG was the piss weak horn that the car came with from factory. I upgraded the horns on 96-BRG to Hella Sharp Tone horns and the sound is so good and so loud. Definitely a necessity on such a small car such as the MX5 in my personal opinion. These next photos were taken when I did the horn upgrade on 96-BRG but I followed exactly the same process, even down to repainting the grilles satin black.




    Hella Sharp Tone Horn set. They come with a yellow "grille" around the horn module and even though I know that the horns will be hidden behind my bumper and no one will ever see them, I had to do something about that yellow.




    Scuffing up the paint so that it can be repainted.




    Ready for a professional rattle can satin black paint job.




    Much better, even though I know no one will ever see these behind the bumper.






    I was also very lucky to score this. A NOS Nakamichi MB-VI Headunit. I wanted something factory looking, yet somewhat modern. 96-BRG has the Nakamichi CD-400 and I love it. This is one of the last true Nakamichi units which still focused on high quality SQ before the company went under and was acquired by Grande Holdings, a Chinese based company based in Hong Kong. This one features a 6 stacker CD changer and it came with a Bluetooth module which is discreet enough to hide away and uses the AUX port to connect the tiny Bluetooth unit so that it will be able to not only make phonecalls but be able to stream my music/podcasts via Bluetooth. All of this in something which looks factory and OEM. I personally haven't found one modern day headunit which doesn't look like robot vomit.

    I will be installing this at a later date.




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  8. #36
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power BRGNA8's Avatar
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    A new undertray went in as the old one had broken tabs and such.






    Decided to clean the underside whilst I had the chance.




    Brand new OEM handbrake handle and spacer.




    As my Momo Prototipo steering wheel had white stitching on the leather, I decided to match this with white stitching on the handbrake and gear boot. I also settled on the T3 stainless gear knob which has a nice weight to it (500g) and RS Factory Stage stainless handbrake button.




    The hard top rubber gasket which goes under the hard top mounts were not present and the metal plate which sits snug against the frankenstein bolt had worn down, so I decided to get new OEM plates and gasket.




    Worn and tired.






    The steering column covers and the cluster cover were also swapped out to brand new OEM items. The steering column covers which came on the car met an unfortunate ending when a dog decided to use it as its chew toy. I had taken them apart when I pulled the dash out. The cluster cover I had on was an OEM one from 96-BRG. However, a subtle difference was that these did not have the outer silver ring on the tach and speedo; a design touch which I quite liked and thought went well with the interior. That, and also the plastic was a bit scratched up so having it replaced really made a big difference.

    New one on the top, old one on the bottom.




    Old one.




    New one.






    Steering column covers.


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  10. #37
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power BRGNA8's Avatar
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    I have always wanted to buy a set of TE37's ever since I started modifying and playing around with cars. They have been a wheel which I had admired from afar, but never purchased for some reason. You may recognise these wheels. I will give you a hint:



    Yes, these wheels belonged to my friend Zico on his gorgeous 1995 NA8C in Chaste White. I bought these off him as he was selling them and I had said to him that if he ever decides to sell them, I would buy them. And buy them I did! I don't think it was Zico's intention to ever sell these wheels though since he searched long and hard to get these from Japan. However, I think the 14x6.5 size may have been a bit small for him as he told me he needed a 15x8 wheel if he were to take his car to the track and get a faster time.

    Anyway, the wheels were fantastic and it was now time to wrap them in rubber.




    Another flashback: The Black NA came with 14x7 Enkei RPF1's wrapped in Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Spec tyres, which had 95% tread remaining.




    I decided to take the tyres off the RPF1's and put them on the TE37's. Once I got them on the wheels, it was time to remove the RS-Watanabe's. As much as I love the RS-Watanabe's, I currently run them on my 96-BRG, and personally I feel the set I have on that one suits it more than this set on the Black NA. They're both fantastic mind you, but variety is the spice of life and on a black car, bronze TE37's always looks so damn tasty.

    In the process of removing the wheels. Got to admit, both wheels look good on the NA.




    Result:




    Before...




    ...and after!








    Many thanks again to Zico for allowing me to buy his wheels and helping me pop my TE37 cherry (...that sounds a bit...wrong? hahaha)

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  12. #38
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift oldgrayleather's Avatar
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    My 1995 Brilliant Black NA8C Build Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by BRGNA8 View Post

    I personally haven't found one modern day headunit which doesn't look like robot vomit.
    [/img]
    Fantastic updates and literally laughed at this. So very true, can’t understand why as it feels like there is a market. Porsche is remaking their classic head units with discrete GPS screens but supporting an aesthetic that still fits.

    And the bronze TE37’s? Absolutely perfect in the black car!!!
    Last edited by oldgrayleather; 06-16-2020 at 10:54 AM.

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  14. #39
    6,000 rpm - mere mortals would shift HarryB's Avatar
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    The most discrete ones are the ones without too many buttons on them; there are a few Android HUs that are just flat glossy surfaces and look half decent.

    I also quite like these offerings from Continental (minus the orange lighting)
    https://www.continental-automotive.c...-USB-Bluetooth

    The Clarion M508 is also decent
    Last edited by HarryB; 06-16-2020 at 01:50 PM.

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  16. #40
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! LagBlu's Avatar
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    Lovely wheels and the best size for them in my opinion.
    Would love to have a set in the future. Nice update!

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  18. #41
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! zco's Avatar
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    Great updates! Wheels are looking great! Glad to have seen them go on a well deserving car, looks much better on a black car than my white one
    The Wats look awesome on both cars I say, but 'spice of life' indeed.. can never have too many wheels!

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  20. #42
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    Congrats on the new wheels! Must say, the black on bronze combo tie in perfectly!

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  22. #43
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power BRGNA8's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oldgrayleather View Post
    Fantastic updates and literally laughed at this. So very true, can’t understand why as it feels like there is a market. Porsche is remaking their classic head units with discrete GPS screens but supporting an aesthetic that still fits.

    And the bronze TE37’s? Absolutely perfect in the black car!!!
    Thanks mate! Im loving how the TE37's look. So light as well.

    Quote Originally Posted by HarryB View Post
    The most discrete ones are the ones without too many buttons on them; there are a few Android HUs that are just flat glossy surfaces and look half decent.

    I also quite like these offerings from Continental (minus the orange lighting)
    https://www.continental-automotive.c...-USB-Bluetooth

    The Clarion M508 is also decent
    Yeah I saw the Continental ages ago but I hate the way the text reads and the amber backlit is a bit too much. Plus, i feel that it's still has too many buttons.

    Although it's a few years old now, I still really like the Pioneer DEX-P99RS



    Such a great minimalistic design and whilst it doesnt have modern amenities like bluetooth or android/ipod connectivity, I could careless since my MX5's are not daily drivers by any means.

    Quote Originally Posted by LagBlu View Post
    Lovely wheels and the best size for them in my opinion.
    Would love to have a set in the future. Nice update!
    Thank you!

    Quote Originally Posted by zco View Post
    Great updates! Wheels are looking great! Glad to have seen them go on a well deserving car, looks much better on a black car than my white one
    The Wats look awesome on both cars I say, but 'spice of life' indeed.. can never have too many wheels!
    I've been eyeing a set of BBS RS001's that I can take to Mark at BarrelBros to rebuild with all new hardware, as well as some CMC 14" wheels *Sigh*

    Quote Originally Posted by roadster2 View Post
    Congrats on the new wheels! Must say, the black on bronze combo tie in perfectly!
    Agreed! Thanks man!

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  24. #44
    3,000 rpm - starting to feel the power BRGNA8's Avatar
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    My photographer mate David had asked if he could take some photos of my car as he had been sitting at home for a few weeks as he recently had an ACL surgery and was itching to get out of the house and get back behind the lense. I was only too happy to oblige.


































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  26. #45
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! MikeA's Avatar
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    Looking really good!

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