.625" solid.
Well, im glad to report that the (black)car is aligned and feeling great. Vmaxx Track Pack feel solid on the street especially considering that the sways are not hooked up yet. I had the car aligned at the shop i used to manage, Tire Discounters in Grove City. In-ground, drive on alignment rack FTW! Specs are pretty normal. As much front camber as we could get and as little rear camber. Ended up around -2.8 F -2.5 rear, caster around 3.85-4.0, o* rear toe, -0.125 front toe. Received a fresh set of TRM 15x9 and RS3s last week. A pkg arrived today from 949 with pads and endlinks, and more stickers!
I had been trying to source a good condition 1.6 gauge cluster hood and center console stack cover for a while now. Picked them up a day or two ago. Time to get down to business and swap the dash in.
I plan on pulling some inspiration from Kendalls old na, but in a more classic/two toned way:
Dealer installed Alpine 6 disc cd changer from 1994? I pulled the actual changer out of the trunk years ago but finally got in here to pull all this crap out.
There are a couple great write ups on dash removal out there so I'm not going to load this down with dash pics. I did discover that the glove boxs/doors are NOT compatible. So I need to dig through some boxes and find my 1.6 glovebox.
Pulling it all out goes pretty easy up to this point:
You just start unbolting everything you can see. But then the heater control cables and wiring and airbag harnesses come in.
I left it for the night once I got the 1.8 dash out. Still need to go through the harness an pull all the airbag, stereo, power mirror junk out. I'm going to keep heat and blower. I plan on blocking all the eyeball vents and pulling those ducts.
Had a Buckeye Miata Club autoX event Sunday. Took the black car out.
Threw on the fresh set of 225 RS3s when we got there. I forgot to take a side pic like a dummy.
Car was set up great. But, during the third run I heard one of the right front lca cam bolts slip. Car was pretty tail happy turning left, which is kind of evident in the slalom.
Here is a vid of my fastest run, which ended up being the fastest miata of the day. Got edged out by an exo X on star specs by a couple tenths. The car launches really well with the rs3s compared to the r1rs. We run on pretty bumpy lots and the Vmaxx were great! The FM sways are actually pretty well matched, I like the front end to wash out before the rear comes around and with the track pack springs matched with the fm sways it does just that. I can be pretty twitchy during turn-in and was surprised at how stable the rear end was.
wow, this is a great build thread. Did you use suede cloth, or actual leather suede on the dash/crash pads? Very cool cars!
WARNING: A bunch of crappy pics from a dark basement are to follow.
So this is what i tackled this evening:
The last step in getting this thing ready to go back in the car. I needed to open up these vents somehow. As much as I love the look of Sharka's Target trash can trim, that wasnt really the look i wanted.
It was fairly simple. I just cut an "X" in each opening from corner to corner to allow me to wrap each piece down into, then onto, the underside of the dash.
I then taped off the general area to not get spray glue all over the thing:
Wearing latex gloves, I then folded all the little bits over and laid them down. I had to change gloves 3 or 4 times during this part. I was getting glue on my fingertips from pressing the material into the recessed line the vent is cut into. This fingertip glue could have gummed up the suede pretty bad, pretty quick. So I took precautions.
Close up:
Then i was on to figuring out a way to block certain vents from getting airflow. I will be running an AEM UEGO and Serial gauge in place of the two drivers side vents. With the gauges placed in the same location with the stock dash, the backside of the gauge would get blasted with full heat. Which, if nothing else, certainly wont extend the life of the expensive electronics. So I needed to put a stop to that. Plus I get to remove the super heavy plastic tube for moar weight saving!
I thought of using shipping tube endcaps, or silicone/pvc caps to block off the port right at the blower exit duct. But I found something free and barely-there light. A paint can cap. There are notches that these blower tubes clip onto on the blower distribution block duct thing, and I planned on using the paint can clips to lock onto these notches:
Unfortunately, the paint caps are 'just' too small to fit OVER the ends of the duct, even with the relief cuts added. So I tried the other approach:
From the inside, the paint cap nearly sits flush with the inside of this blower vent distribution block thing. I think this will work out very well. It should also force all the hot air to the passenger side for the woman.I ended up wrapping the paint cap in a couple layers of electrical tape to snug up the fit. It wont be going anywhere.
Tomorrow is install day for the dash, gauges, sideskirts, and smoked turns!
quick question, what Honda motor did you get that Intake manifold from? Notice any benefits?
And great job on the dash flocking!! looks stellar!
The manifold is a Skunk2 b18 piece. The shop deemed it would be easier for them to fill, plug weld, redrill and port to the miata head than to chop the flanges and weld the Skunk runners to a miata flange. They hooked me up pretty well on labor so i let them run with it.
Looking back I wish I had waited to do it. My turbo plans/funds fell through so now ive sacrificed midrange to have some ricer bling bling!!
This plot was with aem ems, full off the shelf exhaust and similar length intakes. Same tune just different mani and intake. I need to scan in the plot after touching up the tune and revving out to 8k. It made 140 from 73ish to 8k. but feels(and probaly is) slower on the street and autox because of the loss of up to 10ftlbs in the middle.But I like running it down the back-straight at MidOhio! And it sounds good as f-*k!
Thanks!Originally Posted by Demon I Am
It is just some cheap costume(synthetic) stuff from the fabric store.
I have to throw one more up of the dash, it looks amazing. I'm super happy how it turned out!
that suede dash is awesome! Nice work!
Paul | IG- @psulja
Build thread:
1991 Mariner Blue - Built 1.8 swap, EFR, Fab9Tuning, Tii drivetrain
So I've been buttoning up little things on the car this week, trying to get it ready for NASA this weekend at MidOhio. Bleeding brakes, rewiring my AEM Serial gauge, little shit. I have a buddy flying in from Nellis AFB in Las Vegas that i'm instructing, who hasn't ridden in this thing since he enlisted. So it ought to be a pretty freaking good time! He is also renting an h4 prepped civic to do his FIRST hpde1 event in.
I've noticed the hubs developing a little play during my last few post autox checkups. So i picked up a couple cheap hubs to tear down, clean, repack with synthetic grease and throw em on the car before Friday.
One problem, one these things isn't like the other:
Oh well. They are the same, just different studs, hub body molding and rear seals... I pretty much consider them a wearable item and for $47 i'm not gonna complain too bad
Nice build, jealous you have Mid-Ohio not too far away.
Oh, and also a fan of Passat wagons. Got an '03 W8 myself ;)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
