[4str4l]

Hey all. Just wanted to share my car, as it has become an all out build.

This is what the car looked like about a month ago before all the car was taken apart.

Now, the car was all fine and dandy, for the most part. I had been itching for months to stop it's use as a daily driver and turn it into a more focused driving tool.
And then this happened. In retrospect I have to be thankful it happened, as it is what started the entire build off.

I backed out of my garage with my door half cracked as I always do (did), to easily get out of the car to close the garage. However this one time, the other car in the garage parked much worse than usual. This pushed me much closer to the left side of the garage. And that was that.


So I bought a door. It sucked, full of weird structural issues that I didn't notice when I bought it. So I bought another one. This time, super super clean, just unpainted (primered). It wasn't until I did research into the costs to paint this door, that I just bought an excellent condition OEM paint black door. So now I have 3 extra doors.

I swapped the lock assembly over in between all the other projects I am working on. Just need to get a new plastic wrap and the door is good to go.

In the mean time, I pulled the fenders off and installed some GarageStar fender braces. These were very easy to install watching the

video on it.

Next up was to get to work on the interior. I wanted to build the perfect interior, so that meant no more tan.

I ripped out the entire interior, dash included. I got to work with some soap and water, and a vacuum.
Clean-ish tub.

The next step here is to fully line it with Thermo-Tec Cool-It mats, before installing...

NA6 Dash!
I found a nice complete black interior set from a recently wrecked NA6. I scored the dash, black kick panels, rear deck panels, carpet and mats, seatbelts, trunk carpet, and some other random stuff for $220. All in great condition too. The dash had had a cover on it forever, so there was zero sun damage. Awesome.


Me disconnecting everything for cleaning and transferring wiring. Been following Adam's (revlimiter) guide very closely throughout.


Now as far as removing the dash, it didn't suck too bad. Pretty easy actually. Except for the this harness. I hated removing the passenger airbag harness. Ended up needing a small needle nose vice grip to push the tab on the orange connector hard enough to pull it out. Took about a day of procrastinating. :icon_cheers:

And that's about it for now.
To do list:

• Thermo-Tec Insulation
• Install NA6 Dash
• Install Carpet
• Install Currently Unrevealed Rollbar <--- this one will be good.
• Pull Engine
• Timing Belt/Water Pump/Seals on new solid used engine
• Install FM Stage 1 Clutch
• Install 949 Coolant Reroute
• Stick that thing back into the car

My ultimate goals for the car are to have a very simple and nice interior that is "all business", a solid drivetrain with some added forced induction power, and sticky tires. And of course to drive the **** out of the car.

 

[4str4l]

Here's a few photos of my car, while I get some update shots ready.

Here's a shot of me and matthewpak

 

[handballallday]

winlowe, humming, Chad and I say welcome to CR

 

[jkjones2005]

Awesome Ride!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[matthewpak]

Let the fun times continue!

 

[flooglemop]

Looking forward to seeing this progress!

 

[NA_emil]

lovin those gauges!

 

[4str4l]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. So I've got a few update pictures.

While I had all the ducting pulled out of the dash, I figured I'd refurbish it a bit. I flooded the insides with water to clean out the dust, and then redid all the foam. Pretty easy stuff, and it looks good. Too bad no one will ever see it. Got the stuff from home depot. Time will tell if it will hold up to heat/cold.

Working on the dash, swapping the wiring over.

 

[4str4l]

Finally the fun stuff comes in.. I've got about 6 packages, but this one had to get opened first.

What do we have here?

Yup. This thing is bad. All business. Gunmetal Grey Pearl Option.

Install is in progress.

 

[4str4l]

Updating the build here. I have got my blackbird fabworx GT3 and DIYRoadster door bars installed. Took a while, but it's done.

Blackbird Bar Being Test fit

Cleaning up drilled holes.

Cutting down the seatbelt spacers was probably the most misrable part. We spent some hour and a half on this damn part. It took even longer as this part of the installation killed my harbor freight angel grinder, and we had to go grab another from a friend. We spent the entire work night just cutting these inch thick metal spacers.

Fitment wasn't perfect, but hey. All cars are different, and both products are handmade. No worries.

Installed. Clearances are very tight on both products. Very impressed.

Final product.

Some rust repair while I've got the doors and fenders off (was off for the garagestar fender brace install)

And now the big project. In the photo above, the Thermo-Tec Sonic Cool-it mats were just being test fit. I have since started actually installing it. They have a pretty damn strong/sticky adhesive on the underside. This is a real pain in the ass, and it better be worth it haha.

Up next.
Schroth Harnesses
Sonic Motorsport VS3's
Reinstalling the interior.

 

[chanathon]

Nice! looking forward to your impressions on chassis stiffness. I'm planning to go the same route as far as rollbar/doorbar/seats

 

[4str4l]

Nice! looking forward to your impressions on chassis stiffness. I'm planning to go the same route as far as rollbar/doorbar/seats

I have a feeling it will make a dramatic difference. The clearances were so tight installing it. Moto's weld in door bars that weld into the quarter panel would probably be incredible, but this is about as good as it gets right now, not being an L.A. local.

I think when I drive the car again, it will feel incredible. I have been strictly driving only my Lexus LS400 for the past 2 months.

I really like the DIYRoadster bars.

 

[GreaseMonkey2000]

Great work Joseph! Going the 'extra mile' now will definitely pay off both immediately and down the road. :icon_cheers: I will be installing my DIY Roadster door bars tonight or tomorrow, excited! I guess you got in on the recent group buy? :dunno:

 

[4str4l]

Great work Joseph! Going the 'extra mile' now will definitely pay off both immediately and down the road. :icon_cheers: I will be installing my DIY Roadster door bars tonight or tomorrow, excited! I guess you got in on the recent group buy? :dunno:

Thanks a lot.
No, I bought them at sticker price. The last set that he had. Just in time. If you've got a rollbar installed, I would recommend having a buddy hold down the bar while you drill through both bars at once, so that the drill takes the easy route through both pieces of metal.

 

[4str4l]

Car is about ready for the major powertrain work to be done.

We've got a JDM sub 50k mile engine that's had it's surfaces polished, carbon cleaned, and leakdown tested under 2% with a cometic head gasket, ARP head studs, new timing belt/water pump, and fresh seals on everything. To support the engine, I've got a 949 coolant reroute.

Along with the new engine, we've got a FM Stage 1 Clutch with FM's lightweight flywheel (happy meal) to hold the power of the...

FM DIY Turbo kit. I went with nearly the entire kit, minus the injectors. I went with the GT2560R turbo with inconel turbo studs.

I went with the fuel injector clinic 650 CC injectors. Very nice product, came with a great chart showing the characteristics of each injector. So cool.

As far as engine management, I have went a route that few have gone down as far as I know with turbo miata's, a Haltech 750 ECU with the boomslang harness to make it plug and play.

I've got some fun new suspension stuff coming too, but I'll save that for another post.

Once the powertrain and wiring is all finished up, the fresh interior is going back in, and the car will be d-word.......

 

[4str4l]

I've had a few awesome days in a row.

 

[MiataMan00]

I like this. I like this a lot.

 

[onetwo]

Looks like the heat showed up, It's like Miata Christmas. Interested in how the Haltech works out.

 

[4str4l]

Sharing some progress photos from VL Motorsports in Livermore, CA.

And a couple photos of one of the owners cars.

Built 1.6 running the Begi Alpha Omega with a GTX2860RS, and a Haltech 1500 Elite. Ohlins, 6 Speed, the works.

Hope everyone is enjoying the photos!

 

[4str4l]

Here's a fun video of the engine being pulled at VL Motorsports.