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Thread: This ain't no build thread!

  1. #16
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    The day after I bought the car (that would be 19 September for anyone who suffers from attention-deficit disorder. BTW you are probably not married if you do) I did a few small things. Put the wiper arms on correctly (PO had apparently painted them and didn't put them back on the right side), did a massive stickerectomy under the hood, set the tire pressures and generally just drove her. I only had a couple of days to do that before having to go to Dubai for a work-related conference. Talk about separation anxiety!

    Over the next couple of months I did quite a few small things. Replaced the god-awful yellow hose kit with a black one, replaced the chrome gas filler door with a stock painted one (forgot to mention the car had one of those when I bought it, the wife liked it better than the painted one. Guess I need to sign her up for M.net). Put in a cargo net. Changed all the fluids using the magical Motorcraft synthetic in the tranny (I really like it), I found the oil filter was barely on there so it was a good thing I did that. Raised it by 13mm which corrected the majority of the grounding issues. Did my first autocross a few days later and had a blast. Got a performance alignment at a place in Cincinnati run by a guy who has been around for years, he didn't give me my final specs and I didn't think to ask for them, but he told me I had toe out in the rear (which went a long way to explaining the tail-happiness of the car. Besides my heavy right foot around corners that is). Installed some Hella Supertones but wasn't happy with them so switched to my usual Fiamms. I went all out and bought a stock hanger for the driver's side one so it would look stock.



    When I was messing around with the horns, I discovered the driver's side headlight was missing a plastic spacer for the post that located the bottom of the light. Bought one of those to correct that issue. Someone along the owner's road had installed a bra which used snaps and they were still on the car, so those came off (and I found that the two at the front of the hood had been put on with screws that were just a bit too long, so I had two bumps from that). Flipped the passenger seat stopper around to get that precious extra inch of legroom.

    One thing I did that merits some attention was install a factory 6 disc changer. Ha, I can hear you say, you couldn't get one of those in 2000 on a Miata. True enough, but you could get one on a 626. I was looking around eBay and noticed the plugs in the rear of that unit were the same as on mine. After some research I found out the bar in between my stock radio and cassette player was just plastic. So I bid on and won a radio. Guaranteed to work, but upon receipt I found that wasn't the case as the CD player wouldn't. There was a CD stuck in it for one thing. I got in touch with the seller, who told me to keep it and reimbursed me my cost (in other words, a stand-up person). I messed around with it and managed to get the CD out, found the eject button was messed up so using some plastic steel and silicone built that up. After that it still didn't function. On to the next step.

    In case you didn't know, Mazda uses modular radios. This means you can swap bits around to get where you want (for instance, my wife's RX-8 came with a single CD player. I bought a beat up 6 disc unit, changed over the CD player and voila!). I knew this was the case with vehicles after 2001 but not earlier. I was able to find a 6 disc radio from a 2000 Tribute on eBay (listed for parts as it had a rattle inside). When it showed up, the rattle turned out to be 36 cents in loose change (someone's kid probably got a whipping for that one). Swapped out the changer unit and the faceplate, put it in the dash and it worked like a champ. Sure it doesn't play MP3s or have a slot for a memory stick, but I don't have to juggle CDs all the time either. Plus since it's factory with Mazda all over it, I don't have to worry about someone prying it loose.

    Last edited by chiefmg; 10-08-2012 at 07:28 AM.

  2. #17
    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
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    What's a CD player?

  3. #18
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    I'm just going to leave one of my favorite sayings here. It isn't necessarily directed at anyone in particular (coughalexcough) but I feel it might be pertinent.

    Everyone likes a little ass, no one likes a smartass.

    Just so you know, when I was a kid we had a '65 Mustang (terrible car although it didn't seem it at the time) that had a 4 track player in it. This was when 8 tracks were all the rage. So things do change...

    Where was I...installed a Cobalt front shock brace, this is the one that has arms to the firewall. Some say it's useless, I say it helped the cowl shake. Had a moment of excitement after that was in, I was out driving and had hit the brakes lightly. Went to brake harder a few moments later and the pedal was hard as a rock but the car wasn't slowing. Turned out the hard line from the intake manifold to the brake booster had been deflected enough to kink the hose on one side, so there was not a constant source of vacuum to make the booster work. That was an easy fix. Put in a set of IL Motorsports pedals to replace the set that was in the car, they said Miata on them which was fine but they were huge (very wide) which made it difficult for me to operate them, especially to heel and toe. The IL set has nice little rubber nubs on them to help grip.



    Bought a red Mazdaspeed oil cap (as used on the Speed3) and a Raceland windblocker. Thanks to Bryan for the suggestion, it matched the contour of my Ace rollbar perfectly. All I had to do was fabricate some extensions for the mounting points (a fancy way of saying I cut two pieces of aluminum flat bar to length and drilled two holes in each). I cut a piece of plexiglass to fit the space at the bottom of the windblocker and the wife was happy with no more messy hair.

    The final thing done, and only because I have an awesome wife, was sourcing and installing a set of Clearwater speakers. Yes they are expensive (I did save $50 by buying through them on eBay) but they clean up the Bose system a lot and I am more than happy with what I have now. I can't see spending a lot of time or money on a stereo for a convertible, especially with the job-related hearing loss I have. The Clearwaters go right into place, I did put one of the fixing wires for a tweeter in wrong but figured that out the next time I was home.

    So after a little more than two months of ownership, it was back to work. There went Thanksgiving and Christmas that year.
    Last edited by chiefmg; 10-08-2012 at 07:24 AM.

  4. #19
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Spent about an hour tonight copy/pasting stuff from my thread elsewhere (that one is what I did to my Mazdas today) so I could jog the old memory about what I did when.

    The wife and I went out to lunch in the Miata the day I left, so I got a little fix to tide me over. Good thing too, as I ended up being gone for four months that time. Over lunch, I told her I would try not to buy anything for the cars until right before I came home (please note I specifically did not promise). She laughed and basically told me, yeah right! I was serious, but I also know (as does she) that I have this tendency to see good deals and go for them.

    So four days later (I know, right?!) I managed to score the factory header off an '05. Over the next few months, I bought the following: Mazdaspeed competition diff mounts, IL Motorsports engine mounts (same stiffness as the MS units but cheaper), HID projectors, security bolts and Rennenmetal side plates for the hard top I was planning on, Rennenmetal crank holding tool, KG Works gauge face, Konig Lightspeed wheels in bronze, some Toyo T1-Rs in 205-50/15, Planet Miata shifter rebuild kit and stainless clutch hose, AWD needle caps from RSpeed with their closeout (took me a little while to make up my mind on those, now glad I did), couple of supercharger pieces from Moss (rotomolded crossover tube, 'charger outlet manifold, couple of small things that escape me), Cool Breeze scoop, oil change and coupler for the 'charger, Koyo 37mm radiator and TDR header blanket. Somewhere in there I got a hard top off a local Craigslist ad, thanks to a good friend of mine from HS who not only fronted me the money for it (I had no way to get him the cash) but he even went and picked it up. It was Merlot Mica which was close to mine, and had all latches and the defroster pigtail for an NB. I got home at the end of March, so it was time to install everything. First I had to track it all down. My wife had made piles of boxes all over the place, most everything I found no problem but it took some time to come up with the header (ended up being out of the way in the basement with a towel draped over it. Think she was trying to tell me something?).
    Last edited by chiefmg; 10-23-2012 at 02:36 PM.

  5. #20
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    First up I put on the crossover tube and outlet manifold on the supercharger. That cleaned the engine bay up some more. Had the tires mounted, when I got home from that the Gorilla lugs I bought had arrived so I could put the wheels on the car. Here's how that all looked:



    Last edited by chiefmg; 10-10-2012 at 01:18 AM.

  6. #21
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! roy obanion's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chiefmg View Post
    I'm late to the party, I know. Did you end up getting rid of those wheels? I forgot about them.

  7. #22
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    No, with my usual flair for procrastination they are still in my hands. Every time home I say I'm going to sell stuff, but then I don't want to deal with the hassle.

  8. #23
    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
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    Wow, that engine bay is superb! I'd post mine here too since we're almost twins but this is your thread.

  9. #24
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Go for it, my feelings won't be hurt. Of course your car has the yellow all over it that I purged from my engine bay . Mine looks quite a bit different now, but you will all have to stay tuned and see that as it comes along.
    Last edited by chiefmg; 10-10-2012 at 01:21 PM.

  10. #25
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! diabeetus's Avatar
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    those are some extremely beautiful cars you have there. so seductive
    Classic RED 90'
    cowabunga dudes!

  11. #26
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    Thanks, it's definitely nice having choices like this. These two are only half of my four wheeled garage, but I'm trying to keep this about the Miata.

  12. #27
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! roy obanion's Avatar
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    Let me know when you need another protege in you life.

  13. #28
    Nukuler banned! chiefmg's Avatar
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    A few days later (on 03/31/11) I installed the new shift boots and Beatrush lower bronze bushing. I could see no way to remove/replace the lower nylon (?) ring and wave washer, it is blocked by the two locating pins. My lower boot was torn right around, the upper one looked fairly new when I first pulled it off but then I found a tear in it. I also found the upper wave washer was completely missing which meant the upper nylon (?) ring was moving around and not doing much of anything as far as locating the shifter ball. Out and about, the shifter isn't a huge improvement but it is noticeable. While I was coming out of one store, a slightly modded Civic pulled up close to me. Two guys got out and walked over, then proceeded to display the most gratuitous use of the word "sick" that I have ever heard. Every fifth word was sick, as in, that's the sickest Miata I've ever seen. Nice to get the compliments though.

    On 04/01 I installed the Koyo radiator. Nothing too tough, I did have to bend the mounts for the A/C condenser a bit to allow the rad to go where it needed to be. I have read several stories about people having issues getting the air out of the car's system, but I didn't do anything more than I usually do and it seems fine. There was a 1" gap between the radiator and the support bracket across the front so I got some window A/C sealing foam and stuffed that in there. I am going to have to figure out what to use to seal the sides of the fans as well.

    On 04/12 during a round of my tireless research, I found out how to remove the lower bushing and wave washer for a 6 speed tranny (Google Miata shifter and click on the links for Mike's Place). So that got done. For any future readers who wonder, you have to drive one of the pins back from the inside, replace the parts then drive it back. I was able to drive the pin out with the piece it is mounted to in place, but had to remove it to put the pin back. With the two front bolts on that piece underneath the chassis it takes some wiggling to get things out, thin fingers help.

    No pictures of this work because well, it's already pretty well documented.

  14. #29
    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
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    Jees Chief, you sure did it the hard way. You only need a screwdriver to get the old one out and to get the new one in because they're flexible. Those usually don't need replacing either, just the lower bushing (the tiny one that goes on the lower shifter ball).

    Oh, here's mine from before: http://gearheadsmiataclub.net/vB/sho...hifter-project

  15. #30
    Admin / Pit Boss / Miataholic Phatmiata's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chiefmg View Post
    .........

    Before I swing back into what this thread is about, here is my RX-7 in better days (just for you Randy):

    WOW!!!!! This RX7 is so sweet looking!!! Just love it! Thank you for sharing!

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