Project Free

[AntiochOG]

Had some more time to work on the car yesterday. I got started on pulling out the dash and carpet.



The gauge hood came out without too much drama, and almost in one piece. Should be fairly simple to glue the tabs back on that broke off. When people say these are brittle they aren't joking.



Figuring out what needed to be disconnected to out the HVAC controls took a bit of time, but I got it eventually.



With everything disconnected I pulled the dash out. Not a tough job at all. Didn't even really seem to take too long.



With the dash out I could get the rest of the carpet out without having to cut it.



I was very happy to see that the water hadn't caused much damage below the carpet.



The only real problem is here on the ECU cover.

[AntiochOG]

Reuben came over to help with the car. He went to work scrubbing stuff down in the bay.



I also got to work in the bay. I pulled the airbox out and ran it through the dishwasher.



Once it was clean I went over it with some tire shine gel, and it looks great now.



I also removed the charcoal canister, cleaned it, and put it back in.



I threw my old exhaust manifold heat shield on since it was in better shape. Although there is still a lot of work to do, it's amazing how much of an improvement some elbow grease can make.



We also pulled the soft top out to make it easier to vacuum out and scrub down the interior of the car.





While Reuben was working on that, I found my wire brush attachment for the drill and started cleaning up the seat pans. Still not done, but it's working really well. I ordered some POR-15 and will paint them with that once all the flaky rust stuff is gone.

[AHHthatsJDMyo]

ohh man i spy a track miata!!!

[I<3flippyheadlights]

This car is gonna be awesome. Keep at it!

[JonnyD]

It's just a standard trap that snaps shut and kills the mouse. It does have a nice little plastic handle that flips up so you don't have to touch the mouse though. Not very humane I'm however.

Nice

[diabeetus]

hell. yes.

[AntiochOG]

I pulled off the front left wheel so I could remove the fender. Now I see why that corner was sitting so low. Anyone seen this before? Could it be caused by the rust alone, or would it take a collision or something to break the spring like that.


Finally got the fender off. Broke four of the bolts holding it on in the process because they were rusted in place.


A couple spider updates cause I know everyone loves that. Saw a big live one hiding behind the back left wheel.




Got to work with the POR-15. These stuff seems pretty great. I'm anxious to see how it turns out.


Picked up some carpet padding for $5 from a local floor shop. It has a rubber backing and seems similar to the stock padding, but is more dense. Had just enough to do the whole floor. The stock padding is still in pretty good shape in the area over the tunnel.




Got the main piece of carpet back in.



I notice the neighbor's cat sleeping in the car the other morning, so I threw my hardtop on to prevent that. Gets it out of my living room too, which is nice.

[I<3flippyheadlights]

I've seen a few springs shatter due to rust. It seems like a common sort of thing. Car is looking good man.

[iKhanh]

this is a fantastic project. i wish i got one. i have a spare engine that probably needs to be rebuilt and tested to see if it works or not. how come it took three years for them to give it to you for free? lol

[WASABI]

I pulled off the front left wheel so I could remove the fender. Now I see why that corner was sitting so low. Anyone seen this before? Could it be caused by the rust alone, or would it take a collision or something to break the spring like that.

I've seen a few springs shatter due to rust. It seems like a common sort of thing.

More common than you'd think! Both of my rear springs were broken on a car that was sitting for 4 years. This one was broke in two spots.



Keep up the good work, you are doing a great job!

-Jim

[AntiochOG]

Glad to know it's somewhat common. I knew I kept my stock suspension for a reason.

[samulis]

This is great project. Make it street worth and sell it on, it deserves it.

[AntiochOG]

I finally got around to bleeding the clutch system. Apparently a non working clutch was the reason the car was abandoned in the first place. When we first got the car the fluid reservoir was bone dry. The slave cylinder looks a bit greasy so I wouldn't be surprised if it has a small leak. I didn't have anyone working on the car with me so I took this video to make sure the slave cylinder was indeed working and there weren't any major leaks.

[psulja]

Great progress so far, have you decided what you want to do with the car in the end yet?

[AntiochOG]

Great progress so far, have you decided what you want to do with the car in the end yet?

Most likely going to get prettied up and sold.