[berrie]

That thing is an eyesore.

it is haha. the duce-style kit is done to death imo, but the spoiler kinda helps. but we also couldn't detach it from the trunk so we just put the white trunk on.

on the bright side, it's not missing an exhaust anymore and the steering wheel hub's actually attached now.

 

[berrie]

not much has changed (surprise) i wasn't working for a few months bc of the virus that america seems to be excelling at. but i'm back in now. bummed but it's also not a service job at least, but some of my coworkers like to be social still. so..****?

mostly been parts gathering over the last few months. no pictures cause i've been slacking on that and also don't feel like dealing with the new layout still.

parts that matter:
-FM frame rails from black friday, so i can feel less bad about being too low
-4.3 torsen swap
-rear diff cover from an n/a FC RX7, to make extra sure it doesn't get broken by my whopping 100whp
(if anyone crafty wants to buy an n/a FC 3.9 diff without the rear cover hmu)
-a front wheel bearing since it's been noisy for some time
-second front wheel bearing as an excuse to finally put on the...
-extended wheel studs that i've been sitting on for a couple years
-full set of NA8 front arms from a friend who recently switched to an angle kit (not friend from a few posts prior)
-RLCA's from a seller upstate

just waiting on RUCA's from zerekfab now. poly bushings are finally happening!! i still need to remove all the old bushings, and get zerk fittings in place, but hey progress.

then finally an alignment, so i can have a proper one, instead of one that has to work around having too much camber in the rear bc of the ride height.

lastly, random inspo since the jdm sub-forums have been barren for years

 

[Grumbles]

of wheels and car

mbn to have 4.3 torsen

 

[berrie]

of wheels and car

mbn to have paperweight

fixed*

i completely forgot that picture existed. unemployment was...nice. that's all i have to say about that haha

here's a picture from today, when i impulse bought spare set of door cards that popped up. mine are dirty from transporting parts too carelessly and have holes from closing the door on the seatbelt....fck.

speedbumps hit different when you haven't mounted your rear tow hook higher yet. it looks flatspotted bc JonB had it at the lowest position before i got it. ricer...lmao

 

[Tamale]

Good height comrade

 

[berrie]

last week was unusually eventful. i swapped out both front hubs during the week (still missing ARP studs lmao) and had the diff installed on friday. FC rear cover and poly bushings are on too, plus new fluid. that was also when the SGV earthquake happened, so that was a fcking experience. no damage occurred but seeing someone else's car start to wiggle around on the lift was pretty surreal. sidenote: having poly diff bushings really makes me wish i'd have gone with the innovate mounts over the mazdacomp ones

removing the stock bushings beforehand took a couple days but luckily my friend had a big saw which ultimately helped both times

when i bought the swap, it was pretty complete but i didn't think to get new axle seals, and the current ones are a little leaky, so i ordered some from mazdatrix and gonna head back to the mechanic's next week for that.

i also had the transmission fluid changed too cause i remember it was a nightmare when i tried it at home. i did learn after though that harbor freight has one that works amazingly well, so i definitely gotta pick one of those up in the future.

last week also yielded this frp thingy. i almost forgot i ordered this a couple months ago, thanks rev9!

plan is to eventually have it molded to a spare trunk i picked up for free99. it's p slightly damaged so i'm hoping that'll come out ok

lastly i'm still procrastinating on working on all the arms, as well as still waiting on the RUCA's. need to borrow the puller from my friend who used the saw on the diff bushings. i also took some light/mod front end damage from some heavy dumbassery on my part and the support needs to be pulled a little no questions thank you

 

[Grumbles]

if we come together as one, we will be able to eradicate oil seals for good. u know im excited for dat jet stream

 

[berrie]

4am, no sleep schedule, small update time! i was finally able to pick up my RUCA's from zerekfab this past monday after quite the wait. i'm hoping to run much more reasonable rear camber with about 7j +0 and not rub or hit anything.

at this point, my coworker and i have 5 of 8 RLCA bushings removed using the CarPassion method. it's especially slow going lately, mostly due to socal doing really fcking bad with covid, but also due to us not yet getting a blowtorch to warm up the bushing sleeves with, and him being in the middle of replacing his head gasket, which we're hoping will cure his overheating issues

 

[Grumbles]

i was finally able to pick up my RUCA's from zerekfab this past monday after quite the wait.

that is awfully polite hahaha

 

[berrie]

that is awfully polite hahaha

eh. i was alternating between frustration and being over it, but now that the wait's over i just want to move forward and forget about it lmao

waiting 5 months past the expected lead time is generally a bad time though, and i did have to open a paypal dispute just to get an actual update.

 

[berrie]

finally took the car to the body shop, and got it back this past week. up until now i hated the car and briefly thought about ditching it. but now maybe not, idk. it does feel good to have the car looking and feeling complete again. so good.

on that note i've really been wanting to go from 7j +0 to 8j +0 but we'll see

i had my friend roll the replacement fender. it wasn't till i got there that i learned that fresh paint isn't ideal for this kind of thing, but i wanted it done anyway,

so that the car could look relatively presentable at KINOD 15 the next day, since it was at mazda R&D this year. it was fun hanging out and looking at cars even though it was absolutely packed and gridlocked for awhile.

being tagged in and getting sent pictures from a meet feels so weird, it's def pretty cool but i'm not used to it. but @na6_96 did for the above picture

OH YEAH. and since the last update, i put on a new ~CARB legal~ cat a few years ago bc mine was starting to rattle and also i have smog due this year, and i had @turleys_workshop put extended wheel studs on a few weeks ago

 

[Grumbles]

i forget how sweet this looks since you never send me pichersssss. looks great on 7j, im sure would look great on 8j

 

[Bryan]

I still gotta get mine to a body shop

 

[berrie]

i forget how sweet this looks since you never send me pichersssss. looks great on 7j, im sure would look great on 8j

eh probably maybe. i gotta sleep on it a bunch, and focus on other parts of the car first. but i do really like the current fitment kind of alot

I still gotta get mine to a body shop

do it! it hurts the wallet but it's absolutely worth it

 

[berrie]

of wheels and car

fine, for you. i got 7j +0 TE's last summer. for no real reason i guess, i try to keep wheel stuff lowkey and off public spaces

but also whatever

 

[berrie]

this weekend's been cool. i passed smog first try and also stopped by rise garage to have the rest of the old bushings removed. it's amazing the difference fire and an impact make. i also ordered new moog ball joints for the front uppers.

 

[berrie]

things were good again and i've been procrastinating as a result, but also driving around alot and enjoying the car despite the hot weather.

a rundown:
-had the SPM crossflow installed so that's been cool. temp gauge has been solid in rush hour traffic since

-played around with tiny spacers recently and i'm much happier with the fitment now. rears can rub during aggressive cornering but that's ok

-finally tried out 15x8 +25 with 205/50 for a day thanks to a friend who had a set he was about to post forsale.

i was sort of into it but sort of not. 205's also hit the top of the wheelwell at times. ultimately, pass, at least until i maybe eventually change my setup to focus more on handling. it crosses my mind alot.

-never took off/preserved the nice, legal, expensive, BULKY cat after i passed smog and it smacked the ground one too many times bc of the ride height, so this one rattles now too 🥲

picking up a used one tmw and gonna try to be more careful now that i've experienced what can happen if i'm not careful.

anyways here's where i am now, see ya in another couple months

 

[berrie]

had the flyin miata frame rails installed at rise garage a couple months ago. probably years too late as the actual frame rails are pushed in, but yknow. something something second best time is now. but i gotta say i'm not a fan of how the fuel lines are secured as far as ground clearance goes. still have to do something about that.

i also did for a track day around halloween at Streets of Willow CW with some friends for one's birthday. I'D MISSED IT SO MUCH OH MY GOD. both hanging around the pits and actually driving ontrack. i felt much better prepared than last time with prep and setup (as in tires actually match this time) and managed a best time of 1:36.4. i'm really hoping for at least one track day this coming year

picture by caliphoto, advan number by heartbeat.la:

 

[Tamale]

this man zoomin

 

[berrie]

mods are asleep, time to revive an old thread

this might jump around a little but eh. still driving this everywhere all the time. the odo's coming up on 325k. most exciting thing i've done is drive 8/6 matsuri at grange with an FRS friend which was alot of fun. i'm signed up for an HPDE in january so we'll see how that goes. could've done a drift day the day after HPDE but not down.

right after my last post, i bent a wheel during ✨activities✨. i was lazy about re-alignment but did end up getting that taken care of, and i actually recently found a place from a friend's lead that would repair said bend and also polish the lips on both of the pair too. i picked them up not long ago and it looks as good as new, so i'm happy. just need to get tires back on those.

this year's also yielded new:
-RSpeed beltline moldings cause the old ones were hot garbage
-front brakes, blank rotors and g-loc pads again
-NGK plugs&wires to resolve the weird misfire during clutch engagement
-front SPM endlinks to try and troubleshoot a noise
-driver side front wheel bearing to actually fix said noise (we damaged a shank nut and an ARP stud during this part. rip) and the other side too bc it also had play
-finally put some goddamn stickers on the windows and hardtop

recently the passenger door seal (around the door skin's perimeter) had also torn at the top of the triangle so i had that replaced as well with OEM via treasure coast. that side's tracks were regreased and a new rear window bushing (3D printed by a friend) went on. it rolls noticeably faster than the driver's side now. (note: none of the old clips broke and the new one came with all of them. so now i have a number of spares. a pleasant surprise.)

slowly (very slowly) making progress in getting wheels polished, repaired, etc to where i want them and can use them. i also scored a new set of SS595's amid uncertainty about supply? idk but they came up at a good time for me.

lastly the jetstream ducktail finally went on, i had it molded onto the extra trunk i've been sitting on.

lastly x2, picture dump. photo 2 by @clappedcarmedia on ig