8/30/10
Hosted a tech day at my house, ended up being able to pull the old roll bar out and installed my new Hard Dog M2HCHTDD roll bar. Also threw on my Beatrush diff. brace.
Here's a couple shots of the car with the roll bar, was losing my light after changing the oil and installing the brace though, so sorry for the noise.
9/4/10
Finally got tired of the foggy headlight syndrome, so I got the Turtle Wax kit and went to town on them this morning. Didn't actually need the pads they have in the kit, just used the compound. Was going to take the headlight housings apart and paint the insides black, but the GV bumper is going to have to come off for that and I'm not feeling that motivated today.
Before and After:
Now I just have to get the eyelids back on. The nylon hardware for the TDR splitter showed up today so the car should be in good shape for C&O tomorrow.
9/24/10
Things are about to get a little brighter:
They're Morimoto Mini H1 Bi-Xenon Projectors from TheRetrofitSource.
10/16/10
Got an I.L. Motorsport pedal set at R*Speed today and in typical fashion didn't waste any time installing them. Install on the gas and dead pedal is easy, getting the covers on the brake and clutch pedals is a little more difficult. Really small flat head screwdriver helps there. If you've ever installed a set of MSM pedals, you know what I'm talking about. Very nice parts though!
12/27/10
So I haven't really done much to the car, not much to do really unless I make it faster.But I did get a black MSM rear view mirror:
I also got a pair of MSM door sills. The stainless on the sills helps break up some of the solid black of the interior, I like them a lot better than I thought I would.
1/21/11
Last night I installed the D-Techniques kit which deleted the center console. I'm going to try it out for a bit to see if I like it more than having a center console, but so far it's pretty nice.
1/24/10
Meanwhile I've been silently accumulating parts to turbo the car on a budget, I've missed boost like crazy, and some good deals have come along:
So far I have:
- MSM manifold, turbo, and downpipe elbow (very low mileage parts)
- MSM water pump inlet
- MSM turbine brace
- Stock 99-00 "downpipe"
- Enthuza Turbo XR Lightweight from an MSM
- Walbro 250lph fuel pump
- Supra Green Top injectors
- FM Happy Meal w/ Level 1 Clutch Kit and 10.3lb flywheel (lightly used, about 3-4,000 miles)
- MSM engine mounts (Christmas present from Britt's grandmother)
The MSM turbo assembly bolts up to the stock 99-00 downpipe as seen and lets me retain my existing exhaust and the XR bolts up to the midpipe normally as well. So from the downpipe back I'll have my RoadsterSport midpipe and the XR, all 2.5". I'm going to send the turbine housing to BEGi to get the wastegate ported to prevent boost issues.
Right now I have very little total invested in the system, around a few hundred dollars. At this point I need an MSM EGR pipe, intercooler and piping, oil and water lines, and something for engine management. Should be ready to install after that. Hate to say it, but I'll probably go with a piggyback of some sort. Not going to be running a ton of boost on a turbo this small and I need to stay OBDII compliant, so a standalone isn't currently fitting the bill and no one has gotten a parallel setup running consistently without a CEL. The nice thing is I won't have to fight with the ECU as badly as MSM owners do.
The goal is to make around the same power as the MSM owners do with intake, injector, exhaust, and intercooler upgrades. So just a hair over 200rwhp, anything better is icing on the cake. Granted this won't be as powerful as my red NA was but it will be a ton more fun than n/a.
2/3/11
I has new steering wheel. Momo Competition 350mm. Can still see the whole gauge cluster but yet it doesn't rub on my knees. So much nicer!
2/15/11
I finally got around to reinstalling my ScanGauge since the center console delete removed its old mounting spot. I'll see if I like this new spot:
Snapped a quick shot of the car as I walked back inside (this was post projector retrofit, which there is a walkthrough for here on MiataRoadster.net):
4/15/10
I has more bracing! Thanks Dave!After last weekend's wheel rotate/balance and alignment I still had a tiny hint of "60mph Shimmy" between 60-70mph. Now it is gone.
And a red Mazdaspeed oil cap, which was given to me by a Honda tech because he didn't have anything to put it on. lol
4/18/11
Just because I take pictures of just about every project I do or part I install, I was going to take a picture of the new 3.9 diff but I realized it was pretty dirty (not caked oil, just normal accumulated grime from life on the road), and everyone who knows me knows I'm OCD about installing clean parts. Out came the degreaser...
Much better!
4/22/11
So tonight I decided to absolutely slam my car...
Just kidding... With the help of Danny (theothersawyer) we got my 3.9 TorSen installed, not much to show here, just the "old" vs. the "new":
And a shot of the 3.9 carrier hanging in its new home:
Danny's idea of helping was creating towers with sockets while the diff., PPF, ladder brace, and assorted other tools all fell on my face:
I kid, he helped a lot and I'm lucky since I asked for help at the last minute. Definitely appreciated! We knocked the job out in just a little over 5 hours, had a few stubborn bolts and those pesky PPF pieces, but no major issues thankfully. We got done, took it for a test drive, and while I was enjoying the lower RPMs we heard a horrible rattle. Got it back home, turns out I left the trunk unlatched. Oh well, that's what you get for being tired sometimes.
I'm also just planning to stick with the 5 speed. It keeps the gears longer which I enjoy for cruising at interstate speeds/keeping the RPMs down (it still accelerates nicely) and with the MSM turbo stuff I won't even be near the breaking point of this transmission. But I'll be able to stay in boost in each gear just a little bit longer.
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