Fiona : NB Build

[— Phatmiata —]

such a sexy NB !!!!

[pacman 99]

door bars?

Ding Ding......yes!

[pacman 99]

Received my monthly shipment from Rev9 Autosport.

This time it consisted of Cusco rollbar padding, Roadster Bros Vol.08 mag, Joyfast seat belt extender, Nielex fuse box sticker(BRG).



My favorite item being the Nielex Fuse Sticker in BRG.



It goes well with the rest of the BRG items in the engine bay.



I plan on using the Cusco roll bar padding for the door bars. Its not going to slide over it since the door bars have plates on each end...so I'll have to make a slit and then use vinyl tape to wrap around the bar.

The Joyfast seat belt extender was meant for my passenger seat. I have a stock seat there but ever since I've installed the Blackbird Fabworx roll bar that seat belt keeps getting snagged or caught inside the seat belt guide. Its also harder to reach now since the whole seat belt reel was shifted over closer to the seat. I figured this seat belt extender would fix these issues. Unfortunately when I went to install it the long 17mm bolt on top wouldn't come out since its no longer using the original threaded hole with a captive nut underneath. There's no way of accessing the nut underneath now with the roll bar already in place. So this piece will probably go for sale soon.

[pacman 99]

Can' believe its almost 2 months since my last post! I've been waiting on some parts to arrive to finally install my DIY Roadster door bars.

Last week, I received my latest order from REV9 Autosport. Bride LR seat rail, Jet Stream NB2 Clubman R front mini spats, and Cusco roll bar padding tape.



The Jet Stream front mini spats was to experiment with a new look for the front end. They are meant for the NB2 OEM bumper only but they mocked up fine with my AutoExe front bumper. I'm getting them painted soon and will see how it looks without the APR canards.



The Bride LR seat rail was the missing part for my door bar project. My current RO seat rail wasn't centered to the steering wheel at all and would rub on the door panel. This part is why I didn't attempt to install the door bars. I didn't think there would be room for the beefy 1.75" DOM tubing.

RO rail on the left vs LR rail on the right.



If you look closely the LR rail is not as wide as the RO rail which was a good sign.



Since the rail was more narrow it meant we would be using a different set of mounting holes found on the Bride Stradia Sport seat. Unfortunately the original M8 mounting bolts are too short to be used on the new holes since there's a extra layer of metal there. Luckily I just had some longer m8 bolts from my front splitter project.



In order to get access to these new mounting holes the lower cushion needs to be removed. The holes in the rear were threaded so those were easy to tighten.



The only hardware the Bride seat rail came with was for the seat belt receiver. If you look at the previous pics ... the LR rail didn't come with a bracket for a seat belt receiver. However, the instructional manual mentioned to use a hole in the side mount bracket for the seat belt receiver.





Time to work on the door bars! These are the thickest door bars in the market and are specially designed to be less intrusive in the cabin. Packaging was great and everything was carefully wrapped and protected for any kind of damage during shipping. The black powder coating looks great and additional colors are available for additional charge. Hardware and instructional manual included.



Next up the Cusco roll bar padding and tape.

Since the door bars are bound to be hit by feet, legs, and used by hands I felt they need to padded just make them more comfortable. Plus, it will kinda match my flat black roll bar.

Unfortunately, the Cusco roll bar padding was meant for smaller diameter tubing. So, the only way to wrap the padding was to roll the tape completely around the door bar. I wanted a cleaner look but I managed to keep my rollbar tape evenly spaced to make it look nicer.



Installation of the door bars is pretty straight forward. I actually misplaced my instruction manual but felt I didn't need it anyway.

The first few steps are the obvious ones. If you've install a roll bar before your pretty much doing the same thing except the parcel shelf area.

For those who don't remember I have a BlackBird Fabworx NA GT3 roll bar that I'll be mating with the DIY Roadster door bars. I've seen this done before and was told only slight modifications were required.

First step is to cut the interior plastic piece covering the mounting point to the rollbar. I came so close to cutting up those wires! Totally forgot those were there on the driver side. There's another wire loom on the passenger side that's smaller in size.



After removing the bolts I mocked up the door bar and noticed the lower hole didn't line up. This was the slight modification that's needed.



With a silver sharpie I marked the amount I needed to elongate. Simplest way to achieve this is to use a unibit.



As I started to add the hardware I noticed this particular bolt didn't have enough room for a washer. Oh well.



The foot well area is pretty straight forward as well. A chuck of carpet needs to be cut and removed. Make sure to double check ur markings! I made a mistake since I was trying to do things pretty fast. Luckily, I stopped myself and noticed it was wrong before I went in and made those holes bigger.



For the backing plates I added silicone around the holes to make it water tight and prevent rust.



Lastly, cut the carpeting if you wish.



Here's a pic of the driver side once I was done. I only worked on one side at a time.



Installing the Bride Stradia seat required removing the lower cushion again to gain access to the rear mounting points.




The LR seat rail did shift the seat to the center of the steering wheel as much as possible. It really didn't lower the seat any lower than before but it did manage to give me a extra click back on the rail.



The door bars get really low near the foot well and really doesn't interfere with your feet while driving. Getting in and out of the car is not as bad either. Gf has been in the car already as a passenger and hasn't complain about them. lol



Its a super tight fit but everything worked out as planned!!!!



Keep in mind that on a stock NB the inner door panels would require some cutting. I made my flat NB door cards just for this moment!!

The car feels like a different car! Its doesn't feel flimsy or like its going to fall apart on crappy roads. I've noticed a few less rattles as well ! When you shut the door you hear a unique solid thud sound. I already have some chassis bracing such as Garage Star fender braces, RS Aizawa 3 point front strut bar, BlackBird Fabwork GT3 4PT roll bar and Ken Auto Door bushings but these door bars are by far the best out of the bunch.

I'll be doing a a more complete review soon!

[Greasemonkey2000]

Great additions! It seems the general consensus is the door bars make one of the most apparant changes in perceived chassis rigidity, can't wait to get a set but need a roll bar first!

[mx54life]

With the Autoexe cold air housing in place, is there a space for the " Thompson Oil filter relocation kit" ?

[pacman 99]

With the Autoexe cold air housing in place, is there a space for the " Thompson Oil filter relocation kit" ?

Eh, Looks like it would interfere.

[mx54life]

Eh, Looks like it would interfere.

Would you be kind to snap a top view pic? Base on some angles it looks like there is a space behind the air filter housing?

[pacman 99]

Would you be kind to snap a top view pic? Base on some angles it looks like there is a space behind the air filter housing?

Here's a pic I took a few months back.

[mx54life]

Thank you. You are right that looks a bit crowded for but then again what I can't tell is if an oil filter can sit under that carbon housing. So I may just be better off with an FM relocator then.

[Kmvguy83]

That autoexe intake looks like it's designed for nb2 headlights.
nb2 headlights are shorter and exposes the air duct underneath the headlights while nb1 headlights dont.

any plans on upgrading headlights?

BTW, your car is one of the best miata i've seen around

[pacman 99]

That autoexe intake looks like it's designed for nb2 headlights.
nb2 headlights are shorter and exposes the air duct underneath the headlights while nb1 headlights dont.

any plans on upgrading headlights?

BTW, your car is one of the best miata i've seen around

I've made a hole under the passenger headlight chassis to allow more air into the intake.

Thanks !

[turboedpickup]

I hate when I find awesome threads such as these.......end up reading the whole thing in one sitting. Yeesh. Also - your door cards have inspired me! On another note - I still have a few things to do until then. Great build btw.

[HarryB]

I hate when I find awesome threads such as these.......end up reading the whole thing in one sitting. Yeesh. Also - your door cards have inspired me! On another note - I still have a few things to do until then. Great build btw.

+1. Think I have a photoshopped version with black leather/tan stitch somewhere...

[Kmvguy83]

I've made a hole under the passenger headlight chassis to allow more air into the intake.

Thanks !

Ah~ Right on!

Can I ask you where you moved the coolant reservoir?
And are you still using the OEM plastic reservoir?