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James' Thrifty Nickel build thread

73K views 891 replies 59 participants last post by  chariot92 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm starting this thread to keep track of the changes my car experiences. Nothing major planned but we all know how that goes. Mild drop. Wheels. Lip. Some interior bits. The usual.

Here goes... I decided that I wanted a car to wrench on from time-to-time. My old S-10 was a fun vehicle and I missed it. I loved having a RWD 4-cylinder for some stupid reason so I kept that in mind. I thought about lifting and wheeling my Cherokee but I wasn't sure that was for me. I also missed my motorcycles but Washington weather is bad enough for a convertible, terrible for a 2-wheeler.

My S-10. One of the last pictures of it still running. Sad.


My last 2 bikes. Sold them before we moved from Missouri to Washington. 93 Classic (my dad had it painted when it was his) and an 01 929RR Erion Racing (miss the HELL out of this bike!).



My Jeep the day I bought it. I paid $3600 for it... NOT $5K!


I sold my Jeep (for $4K) and got my tax return, bought the wife a new Subaru, and started my search. It was pretty much narrowed down to an old Datsun 260z or a Miata. My sensibility always kicks in and the reliability of the Miata won me over.

After driving a few Miatas and looking at a few more I made my decision. Luckily the guy I bought it from works for the same company as me and we bonded on that test drive as I was trying to jew him down. I guess it worked.

On March 30th I picked up this bad boy (girl?) for $3700. A bit spendy to be honest but it had a lot of options and he was asking for $4500. Here is what I know about the car:

1996 Miata - Red with tan top and black/tan interior
148K miles when I bought it and 151K now
Features include power windows, cruise, A/C, TorSen rear, leather, headrest speakers,
Mods by previous owners include CD player, decent door speakers with small amp, dirty carpet and some random wires hanging here and there...
Mods by me include removed visors, dipped mirrors, new wheels (NB 14s)...
Maintenance by me includes tranny fluid, diff fluid, new plugs and wires, CAS O-Ring, replaced the coolant hose the CAS leak ruined, cleared the fender debris...

Here is the day I bought it. Yes, those are 17s. They didn't last long. Sold them for $500 with a ton of tread left.


Took it to see some flowers.


Bought the 14" NB stockers painted black.


Fenders were hiding a small tree in there.


NGK!


He hates everyone.


Dipped mirrors.


Polished up the nose a bit. Years of bra abuse tell me I need a DA.


Bought some RB Springs (bring on the hatred!) and this wheel. It's a Maziora JDM piece or something. It changes colors. Pretty.
 
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#2 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Collecting a few parts...

eBay hub...





No horn button so I'll work that out.

And now the cheap used shocks for poor old me.



Those shocks and the really ill advised used RB springs.



Hoping to order some 46mm bumpstops in the next couple weeks from Shaikh at FCM.

I'll probably do the wheel this weekend if nothing pops up.
 
#3 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Just ordered my FCM bump stops of the 46mm variety. About to order the air bag defeat from Garage Star... Sooooo hard not to order sooooooooo many more things from Kenjo.

Trying to decide on a horn button. I've been browsing eBay and Amazon like a boss this afternoon. The Mazda units have horrible font. The Mazdaspeed ones are ok but I has no MS parts. The JDM ones are just dumb. Hello Kitty is dumb. Dumb horn buttons are dumb.
 
#4 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Dat Egay Hub.. be careful those tend to break very easily. Could always buy an NRG Horn button to go with a "NEW" NRG Hub! lol and heya JR!

I wanna see some progress!!!

Those look like the KYB AGx I saw on CR like a week and a half ago for like 150$? I almost bought them!
 
#5 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Dat Egay Hub.. be careful those tend to break very easily. Could always buy an NRG Horn button to go with a "NEW" NRG Hub! lol and heya JR!

I wanna see some progress!!!

Those look like the KYB AGx I saw on CR like a week and a half ago for like 150$? I almost bought them!
I don't really care for a quick release and if I wanted to spend that much on a hub it'd be the Dakei piece that's 100% plug n play. Still deciding on what crap I want on my horn. It's either like $12 for Hello Kitty or $100 for something legit... Boo.

And yes, bought them on here. $175 shipped. Seem to be in pretty decent condition.

And just ordered this... R-Package rep lip. $55 shipped off the deal on m.net. Woot!

http://www.advan-emotion.com/mazda-...nt-bumper-lip-spoiler-p/LIPF-MAMI90OE-PP.html
 
#7 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Just be careful with it; all I am saying!

Nice! I want a lip but I would just break it and get mad XD

Ebay has some nice horn buttons believe it or not; mine was literally plug and play for like 20$
Awww... You no want me die. That's nice! And the lip was $55. I blow more on happy hour pretty often so I'll just pass one random thirsty Thursday and break even. :)

And I've been scouring horn buttons. They all look like knockoffs (because they are), are covered in JDMmadtyteswagyobuttons, or are legit and $$$$$$$$$. I'll probably pull the trigger on a red blank just to have one.
 
#8 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

My lip from Advan Emotion arrived today. Packaged nicely and with hardware.


(Plastic condom removed)

I wish that floor wasn't so cold...



Unexpected swag!



Will post installed pics and fitment details once complete.
 
#13 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

After a couple of emails and some persuasion I convinced my dad to make me a shift knob and extender. Pretty sure the extender is thicker than I hoped and not 100% sure I love the shape but I like custom one off things too. We'll see and for approximately $0 I can't complain much.


 
#755 · (Edited)
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

After a couple of emails and some persuasion I convinced my dad to make me a shift knob and extender. Pretty sure the extender is thicker than I hoped and not 100% sure I love the shape but I like custom one off things too. We'll see and for approximately $0 I can't complain much.


Extensions aren't my thing at least not yet, but the one your Father made is Just OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10 out of 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I hate how when you comment on something at the start of the thread it ends up in the back and makes you look like a Jack Wagon for commenting!!!
 
#14 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Installed my steering wheel today. Will provide some feedback after I have a chance to log some miles.




And then I left it floating in the garage so I can add my lip and start on the suspension tomorrow. Maybe. Or next weekend. Or sometime. Or something.

 
#17 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Finally got around to monkeying on my car for a few hours. Got the new-to-me springs and shocks installed, new Advan Emotion R-Package Rep lip, and a couple pics of the steering wheel. Took it for a couple of shakedown miles and didn't die.

Thank you fooschnickens (I think that's right) for the write-up that someone linked from here. Super easy. Took my time, ran to Mickey-D's, had to grab a couple parts, and it was about 5-6 hours start to finish.

Out with the old and in with the less-old



Just a couple of horrible night-time garage shots. It hasn't been washed and I've been groping her. A lot.



And a little flashlight love so you can see her lip.




Oh no! My license plate! Nobody touch me while I'm sleeping please!

Trying to catch my steering wheel doing flippy floppies. You can kinda see it's brown then purplish. Hard to photograph.




Plan to putter around a bit tomorrow. Maybe wash it. Get it back up in the air and wheels off to recheck all the nuts and bolts and go from there.

I have the shocks set to 4 (knowing that little knob doesn't do much). Feels better than the old stockers did but that may just be me convincing myself of that after this much effort. Definitely lower. Haven't taken after measurements yet. All the parts are used so they shouldn't settle much but I'll give it a few days and a few more miles before I bust out the tape measure.
 
#25 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Finished the roll bar install. Bolted in my new (to me) Momo. Changed the oil. Took it for a spin.



(sticker removed minutes after this photo was taken)

Tried to keep the carpet and interior panel modifications neat. I got a little frustrated and squared the carpet cuts but I'm ok with how it all turned out.




The Momo and extended shifter my pops made me.



Weight reduction!!

 
#27 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Looks like the roll bar went in pretty painlessly! I need to spend the money and buy a roll bar, too bad duties to Canada make a 400 dollar hard dog 700 bucks! :'(

Looks good buddy!
Thanks man. I scored this one locally for $250. Maybe it was $275 but definitely a lot cheaper than new.

And it was almost painless. I installed it about 1/4" too far back initially and had to put in work to line everything up.
 
#30 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Picked this up last weekend for a deal. I told the kid he was gonna need the MAF. He said nah because he's going turbo...



So today I took a drive to Whidbey Island to drop off the MAF and pick up my money. Free RB Intake!! Well... 5 hours of driving...

Stopped near Deception Pass to take a call and snapped a couple quick pics with the phone. Haven't washed it in a couple months... 0_o





I need wheels......
 
#31 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Well I bought wheels. Not likely that these are the forever solution but it's an ok stop along the way.

Also finished building my door cards. Now I just have to cover them. I have some tan fake microsuede that matches the dash well. Going to order some black leather door pulls with red stitching to match the gaiters I ordered.



The screws for the center caps are stripped so I didn't put them on. They look better with them in place.



Needs more poke...



Not bad for $235 I guess. Need some love and polish but no dents or curbs.
 
#33 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Looks good man. Coming along very nicely.
Thanks man! It's fun making it mine. It's also fun knowing that I can still probably sell it for about what I bought it for and have into it.

Now it's time to find some stuff to sell and make some moneys for exhaust...
 
#34 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

I'll get some real pics tomorrow hopefully but made some progress today...

Door cards. Made out of 1/8" birch covered with batting and microsuede. Still seeking door pulls.



Installed topgaiters from eBay.



Spontaneous cruise down to the beach.



Hopefully the weather holds tomorrow and I'll get pics all around...
 
#36 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

Loving the door cards! I've been loafting pretty hard on doing mine... :p
Thanks! I'm trying to find some black leather door pulls with red stitching. We'll see what I can come up with. I just think that would tie it all together nicely.

And the door cards aren't bad. Since I made mine from 1/8" birch there was a lot of cutting and sanding. If you're a normal human and use the factory cards or something thinner it wouldn't be bad. I did go through a lot of staples though, lol.

And I took some real pics of everything last weekend but let a friend borrow my card so we could get the pics of his car. I'll update with actual pics this weekend...
 
#37 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

My car is probably about 40% buffed with Griot's #2. I really need some #1. The POs neglected the paint on my baby.

I'll decide in the next few days what my next steps will be... I might just do another pass of #2, then #4, then seal. Who knows. Blah! So much work!
 
#41 ·
Re: Slow and steady... Tracking my progress

My car is probably about 40% buffed with Griot's #2. I really need some #1. The POs neglected the paint on my baby.

I'll decide in the next few days what my next steps will be... I might just do another pass of #2, then #4, then seal. Who knows. Blah! So much work!
Any other tips you could give to a fellow red miata owner who's struggling with oxidized paint, specifically on the plastic parts (bumpers, license plate panel)? Looks like it turned out well on yours.
 
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