iamdallas's Constant Project - Daily Content

[I<3flippyheadlights]

Car looks good man. How is the turbo treating ya?

[iamdallas]

It's treating me great so far. I still need more tune time, but it runs very good. And I'm still getting 26mpgs!

[iamdallas]

I never did a post about finding my center caps... so here it is.

These things are beautiful. The day that I bought the Wats I knew I wanted these centers. That only problem was the Watanabe no longer manufacture silver center caps. Either way, there are no U.S. retailers to buy them from. So after months of checking every single weekend online and only finding the black ones - which in no way go with my wheels or car -



or



I came across a single set of 62mm (the size I needed for 4x100 wheels) on REV9 Autosport -- Roadster Love!. In no way am I affiliated at all, but I just wanted to thank them because they MAKE my car for me. It's the little things that count.



I also never did a post about the new OEM mudflaps I found either. But there are plenty of those fish in the sea - and you've already seen pictures of them.

And... Oh yeah.

[Johnnie]

<3

[blenderblast]

I like those wheels!

[iamdallas]

I like those wheels!

Thanks!

Well, it looks like it's time for my procrastination to take a rest!

We last left my car like this:



Soon after I bought some Fortune Auto 500 Series coilovers at a good price and raised my car up to 12.5 in the Front and 13.0 in the Rear. I decided that I wanted to keep the suspension geometry as close to stock as possible so that the car would handle properly. G'bye lowness.



Along with the 500s came 205/50 15s to replace the 195/50s that were on the car previously. I'd rather have some 225/45s but the car will not accept those tires at this height with these wheels... and the wheels aren't going so 205s it is! I've considered buying an extra set of higher offset 15x9 wheels to wrap in a wider tire but it seems like a lot of expense for a car that has never seen a track day (yet) and is a daily driver. I am not a big fan of the Neogens, but they are much better in the rain than the old z1s. It is a better daily tire, and the price break doesn't hurt either.



After that was all settled I spent quite a while tuning the car and struggling with my IAT. I have finally sourced the problem and plan to have it fixed FOR GOOD this week. The connection of the pigtail isn't very good to the prongs in the sensor. I have been determined to make the DIY pigtail work, but the connection keeps breaking down causing a super annoying fuel cut at high RPMS. I'll be ordering the GM pigtail tomorrow morning.

For a few months I had been trying to decide whether or not a blue top was a good idea. I sold the Honda, so the Miata was my daily again and the top wasn't perfect. It was mostly waterproof, mostly being the keyword. Although only a drop or two would get in once in a while, I decided to replace it with a cheap top from RSPEED... Problem was choosing the color. Black was boring, NA tan is basically orange (and I wasn't going for that again), NB tan seemed like the obvious choice, but I couldn't get over imagining what blue would look like! So, I pulled the trigger and did it.



Here it is test fitted over the tan top right after I bought it.

Installation was a cinch and only took be about 6 hours lunch and breaks included. There was so much information online that it all just got confusing and jumbled together in muh weak brainz. So, I decided to carefully take the tan top off the blue frame, then just reassemble like I took it off. It worked great!



I don't know what that face is. haha



Took a nap with the dog and his favorite toy.



Went out and snapped a pic or two!





I picked up a cut 1.8 VC and powder coated it this crazy purple metallic vein color. I like it for now, but I'm going to do it a different color as soon as I work up the guts to strip this one.



Here she is and her ugly sister. I only owned this car for three weeks, and only drove it twice. Home, and for a test drive after I fixed it. I wish I kept it, but a mutual friend made an offer on it that I couldn't refuse.

Annnnnnd... these are pics from yesterday. They only thing I've done is put on a TDR Radical Air splitter. I hope to follow in this vein now and make the car much more agressive looking.

[iamdallas]

Over the past couple days I decided to switch back to my old unmodified valve cover. I powdercoated it wrinkle red and taped and shaved the letters.

Sorry for the crappy night time photos.





Then tonight I finally decided to modify my BEGi brake line heat shield to work without their coolant reroute. I basically cut a pasage to allow the stock heatercore line to go above the down pipe. Not optimal, but my brake lines were baking and needed something. I am satisfied. I also powdercoated my wiper arms and coilpack bracket!



Before



After

I didnt take the time to prep it perfectly because it isn't going to get tons of attention. All the visible spots were scrutinized but the corners were crudely stripped. It came out great imo!



Knicked it with my 1/4 swivel ratchet going back in... should have used a wrench. Oh well, it's just a coil pack bracket!

[WASABI]

WOW, you are putting a lot of work into your car, and it shows! Love the new top color. The wrinkle red valve cover looks great too. Keep up the good work and pictures.

-Jim

[wannafbody]

Blue top looks great

[iamdallas]

Thanks, fellas. I am having tons of fun with the car lately and have decided to stray away from the norm just a bit. I am enjoying every second of it!

[—tsingson—]

I love your wheels man. The top looks great also! Keep up the great work.

[— Grip Driver —]

I like the blue top as well, something you definitely don't see too much of.

[SpeedWorks]

your car looks really nice and the blue top looks great. i think you need some kind of extra color on the side of the car to help accent the blue top though.

[iamdallas]

your car looks really nice and the blue top looks great. i think you need some kind of extra color on the side of the car to help accent the blue top though.

Thanks everyone!

I placed an order for matching blue rocker stripes with r2-limited quite a while ago but he may have lost my order. I'm really enjoying the blue top by itself and now I'm questioning whether or not I want the stripes. Haha.

[—RuckkehrMiata—]

Reading this entire thread made my life savings dry up. Thanks a lot.
Anyways, I love the car and how you tackled it.