Hello everyone, I picked up a miata in the summer and have been lurking here ever since, but I finally decided to start a thread to share my progress. I picked up Choo Choo Charlie's old miata (thanks again!) and have since started to go to town on it. It is, well...was, a stock 1990 miata in need of a serious makeover. And so it began! I forgot to take pictures of it until after I started ripping into it, but I'm sure you all can picture what a stock miata complete with steelies, dents, rust, and in need of paint.
These are the first pics I took; I was pretty deep into the disassembly before I realized I hadn't taken any yet!
yanked the tranny back out, cleaned it up and painted it.
yanked the motor back out
took off all the crap in the way of the oil pump and installed a set of billet oil pump gears. 8500 rpm better be worth it! Planning to have the motor back in the car by next weekend.
I was in the zone, so I forgot to take pics. Here are a couple:
I scored a low mileage TII tranny, so since I was pulling it anyways, I decided to go ahead and swap it in and use my current one for a spare. I swapped bellhousings between transmissions because I had to modify it so much to fit with the adapter plate
cleaned, and painted:
and the reason why I ripped everything out of the car- new billet oil pump gears to go in (stock ones are on the white pad):
yeah, been quite busy with other things so the miata got put on hold. It should be relativly smooth sailing from here on out. Once it's back to a car status and not a heap, it's off to the exhaust shop and then the next thing is hope it starts!
transmission is back in the car, hopefully for the last time now! I also topped off the fluid in the shifter turret and installed my shortshifter:
cleaned up the wires, put in the rubber boot and bolted down the center console:
bolted in the new driveshaft:
Then I plugged the wiring harness back into all the engine crap, finished up a few loose ends with the harness, and installed the front fenders, front bumper, and also the rear bumper.
It's finally starting to look like a car! I know I'm getting close because my hardware stash is getting less and less.
did a little bit today, spent more time running around than actually working on the car.
Installed my beatrush untertray. I had to get creative as from my understanding, these are supposed to be installed with out the r-package lip. Here's what I did. I got some 1/4" threaded rod, cut to fit, and sandwiched the undertray with bolts and washers, as well as the original mounting spot on the bumper. For the rear mounting, it wants you to use the space in the lower control arm bracket that my underbrace bolts to. The tray and the racing beat brace overlapped, so I just bolted the brace over the tray to hold it down in place.
Now it sits level with the bottom of the lip, and the brake duct holes can still be used
Most likely going to pack the car up tomorrow and get it ready to take to the exhaust shop hopefully this week, but we'll see.
installed all the new gauges, and also put in a 13 hour day with 3 of my good buddies to finish all the bodywork, and we got a coat of laquer primer on the car, and installed the rear flares. I will be calling my painter in a little bit, and if all goes well, it's off to paint friday! Pics to follow....
do yourself a favor and rip the starter out right now and replace that wire that travels between the solenoid and the rest of the starter. yours looks pretty corroded. my starter failed a while ago and that was the problem.
too bad it's already back in the car, it would've been super simple outside of it.
do yourself a favor and rip the starter out right now and replace that wire that travels between the solenoid and the rest of the starter. yours looks pretty corroded. my starter failed a while ago and that was the problem.
too bad it's already back in the car, it would've been super simple outside of it.
This was after all the bodywork/primer was finished. I measured the ride height, and it's currently at 11.25" from hub center to fender. Def have to raise it up some, I can't even get a screwdriver in between the tire and the fender. I'm also going to trim the lip on the flares for some more clearance too. That's me standing next to it.
bled the brakes and the clutch today, however I believe the slave is bad as the system doesn't seem to be building pressure. I bled all the air out of the lines. It sat for about a year w/o any fluid in the system.
it's been a while, but I have an update- miata is off to the exhaust shop tomorrow for 8am, I'm going to load it up tonight. Should have it back in the garage thursday if all goes well :twisted:
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
ClubRoadster.net
2.1M posts
35.9K members
Since 2006
A forum community dedicated to Mazda Miata MX5 owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about Mazdaspeed performance, modifications, troubleshooting, racing, maintenance, and more!