[miatapasta]

So if anyone is interested in the finished product, here are the fender markers as of yesterday:

Backside. It's a piece of scrap plastic with the middle hole cut so that the T10 socket base can slide in and rotate/lock in place. The edges are then all sealed up and waterproofed with a product called Goop. (It's also the adhesive that holds the trim rings in place.) The inside was made reflective with some crumpled tin foil.

Front side

Holes cut in the fender. Not pretty, but doesn't need to be.

Backside of the fender

Installed! They sit 2" from the wheel well and 1.5" north of the belt line.

Total cost breakdown:

Scrap plastic, hardware, sealant, wiring bits, etc: Free
2x T10 sockets: $3, eBay
2x JDM ASTAR LED T10 bulbs: ~$10, Amazon
Lucas L594 chrome trim rings: Free (had them laying around, but you can find them for $10 on eBay)
Range Rover Defender beehive style lenses: ~$10, eBay

Like I said, the only other clear side markers I could find were from eBay UK for $45 or so plus shipping, but they're hard to find in a clear color (you usually find an aged/dirty OEM amber set). My cost was about $10 because I was able to sell some other related parts off, but for $20-30, you can make a set yourself. Hope somebody else is able to. They're a quick and fun little project.

 

[GreaseMonkey2000]

They look great! Definitely the cheapest and most attractive diy solution! :icon_cheers:

 

[miatapasta]

Okay. So it's back from the dead. Holy text post with minimal images to follow:

It's in no shape to be photographed. The fenders are off (wiring up the side winkers), the bumper is off (still fussing with the S2 piece), it won't idle (TPS is dead, not going to replace it because I have a vTPS for the MSPNP), and it's dirty from sitting. Probably will need new paint soon for the 15th time in its life, but I'm replacing half the body panels anyways (trunk, hood, bumper, maybe adding fender flares, etc.)

The good? It runs. Yeah it won't idle, but it runs like a champ and doesn't leak anything. Also, we opted to replace the Megan coilovers with Tien pieces, put in all new poly bushings with zerk fittings, installed new Dunlop tires, replaced a ton of seals, and some more goodies that I can't remember.

I'm also looking to do this in the near future since I'll be simultaneously working on body, paint, and the supercharger.

To do:
-Fix body panels
-Wire blinkers
-Fender mirrors (yeah yeah yeah be quiet, I love them)
-Make front splitter, side splitters, rear diffuser
-Install the new intake manifold
-Clean the bay
-Install upper & lower rad covers (LRB speed)
-Install vTPS & 660 cc injectors
-Get it freakin' tuned
-Coolant reroute w/ new rad & fans
-Moar powah time

 

[100percentjake]

This is back! Yay! That front bumper should be rad. Kinda jealous of your ability to paint your car every 4 seconds

 

[miatapasta]

Pffft. Not like I want to. Man, this thing has never had good paint. It started with the 90s flaking OEM. The I spraypainted it. This current paint job would have been a good one, and it was for a while, but it's been neglected in the sun for so long, and the vinyl's fading...and and and...

But anyways, thanks man, glad to see you're still following along!

 

[miatapasta]

Alrighty, here we go! Fun stuff

So I laid all the body pieces together (nothing is bolted on in this pic) and can I say...I mean I just loooove how it's going to turn out!

Basically the hood, fenders, and bumper are just sitting there with no bolts so it's a quick mockup. But It provided me the inspiration I needed to get this thing put back together.

In that pic you can also see the new fender markers I made a few posts back, and also, the controversial fender mirrors! I know they're polarizing, but I love them, so whatevs.

---------------------

So after a couple of hours in the garage (my wife was out of town, so it was a me day), this is how it sits!

So new changes include:
-S2 bumper is Plastidipped. It will get painted when the car gets repainted for the 100th time.
-All lights are wired up, loomed, and plugged in. Lots of harnesses had to be made.
-Fender mirrors (universal eBay bullet style mirrors)
-Fender markers (DIY)
-Light rust proofing w/ POR15
-Ditched my windshield wipers: arms, links, & motor all removed (it's a good weather car now anyways, & RainX is a good backup plan)
-Also, all body panels are bolted back up.

So one of the things that I find utterly ridiculous are my blinkers.

I want you to look at that. It is so stupid how much of the car lights up, man. It's like a Christmas tree. And my inner ricer totally loves it. Let me break them down for you:
-S2 bumper's lights are 1157 switchback LEDs - white running, amber turn.
-Amber T10 bulb in the DIY fender markers
-Amber T10 bulb in the rear bumper's oval markers
-1157 switchback in the C3 taillights
-All bulbs are JDM ASTAR brand (so bright that you can see them clearly in the day time too)
-And...yes, look again. That is amber underglow wired to the blinker circuit. (Is underglow still lame if it's not on all the time, and used only as a turn signal? Whatever, don't care LOL)

What you can't see are all of the zip ties, looming, and taping that made it all a very clean install. I'm always meticulous about my wiring. I should take a pic sometimes (in fact Chris I owe you some photos still lol). Also treated some spots with POR15. It's been sitting in the sun sans fender and bumpers for 6 months, so it's seen better days.

Okay, so to finish up, here are just some random garage shots. This photo is kinda bad on a computer screen, but it looks really cool on mobile, so here it is anyways.

And just a few more.

So what's next in the short term? Obviously reinstall the hood. All it takes to be dependable again is just to raise the idle ~100 RPM and put some oil in it. I'm looking forward to a joyride soon. That big piece of material next to the car in the second photo is going to be turned into a myriad of parts (I'm working on a cowl area cover at the moment...planning on some aero later). I just ordered the LRB undertray, as the plastic OEM piece is long gone and my bay is pretty dirty now. Other than that...I just want to drive it, man. It's been too long.

Until next time!

 

[zzapultimate]

All of the DIY in this thread is top notch. Keep it up!!

 

[100percentjake]

WHAAAAAT? I love all of this.

Fender mirrors? Yes.

Switchback tail lights? I've never even heard of this but that's pretty sweet.

TURN SIGNAL. FREAKIN'. UNDERGLOW. You need to stick a camera on a tripod and get us some lighting videos because this stuff all sounds awesome.

 

[Caverly]

Hopefully your state doesn't have a headlight height requirement. I know some states require them to be 24" from ground level. Illegal or not, love the look

 

[miatapasta]

All of the DIY in this thread is top notch. Keep it up!!

Right on man, thanks!

WHAAAAAT? I love all of this.

Fender mirrors? Yes.

Switchback tail lights? I've never even heard of this but that's pretty sweet.

TURN SIGNAL. FREAKIN'. UNDERGLOW. You need to stick a camera on a tripod and get us some lighting videos because this stuff all sounds awesome.

Will do amigo!

Hopefully your state doesn't have a headlight height requirement. I know some states require them to be 24" from ground level. Illegal or not, love the look

Same in Georgia. I may just go with some Jass low-pros. The projectors seem to be kind of a PITA you know? Fabbing up the aiming brackets and all...

------------------

So here's a couple of vids I shot last night.

#1: This is without the taillight circuit on, so no halo ring on the taillight or white light up front. You can see how the switchback LEDs in the back serve as reverse lights and the blinker. There's also a little mini tour of the interior, heh

#2: The taillight circuit is on, but the halo ring in the taillight washes out the blinker on my phone's camera (in reality it's very very noticeable) but oh well! Here you can see how the switchback LEDs up front double as both DRLs and turn signals. The reverse lights are also on in this shot, but again the camera's exposure (?) can't handle all the brightness.

 

[CollinMB]

best use of underglow ever

 

[miatapasta]

So kind of a stream-of-consciousness day out in the garage yesterday. We had bad weather and even a few tornadoes touch down yesterday, so the school district shut down and we had the day off.

I had this idea to build a small piece of aluminum to hang down off the firewall and cover up the clutch lines, throttle, brake booster, etc. Easier than bleeding everything and tucking the hard lines behind the firewall. However, the brake booster was the one line that wasn't cooperating, so I went ahead and tucked that one away.

Grommet

Cut the brackets off of the hard line, made sure both ends were 90 degrees, and flattened it out (yes, I almost always am barefoot and in PJs in the garage, lol)

All done - super easy to do. There's a slight bit of kinking where I had to bend the line more but nothing that stops the vacuum flow.

Okay, so with that out of the way, all of these other lines are pretty malleable and can be bent out of the way and held together with some zip ties.

The top black part is the Garage Star windshield cowl cover piece. Quality fitment too. The bottom white piece is my prototype cover to hide the lines on the firewall. It is just taped in place so fitment is pretty loose, but it will be held down with some hardware and given some nice paint. Although it's taped in place, I think it's looking pretty good. Maybe some of you would want to emulate this, as like I said, it's so much simpler than cutting, bending, and bleeding all of those lines.

Comparison

I'll post finished shots when I get done. Should I paint it black to match the GS piece, or white to match the bay?

 

[miatapasta]

Oh man. Just found these gems from my spraypaint days. Had to share 'em.

2010:

2011:

2012:

 

[Bryan]

I've seen worse :lol:

 

[miatapasta]

I've seen worse :lol:

Ha. The photos made it look better than reality. So much dirt got embedded in the paint. :haiguyths:

 

[Bryan]

Ha. The photos made it look better than reality. So much dirt got embedded in the paint. :haiguyths:

That's fair. That said, though: I *have* seen much worse...imagine spray/dipped where they don't even bother matching panel colors...

 

[miatapasta]

That's fair. That said, though: I *have* seen much worse...imagine spray/dipped where they don't even bother matching panel colors...

Ooof. Yeah that sounds familiar. Currently the S2 bumper has a nice vibrant red stripe, whereas the vinyl on the hood has faded to pink. LOL!

 

[100percentjake]

I've *done* worse
*glances at Riviera and Mustang* :smile1:

 

[miatapasta]

I've *done* worse
*glances at Riviera and Mustang* :smile1:

Dude, check the first page. You see that white interior with the blue LEDs? I thought I was the coolest MF in the world when those lit up. The hilarious part was that I didn't even have them hardwired. I didn't know how at the time. I just kept them plugged into the "try me" battery/circuit that came with them. Hahaha!

But on to bigger and better things! The plastic undertray was missing from the Miata for the longest time and my clean white bay was taking quite the beating, so I splurged on something nice and got myself the LRB Speed aluminum under tray. Let me tell you, it's an A++ part. Completely CNC (?) cut so it's as precise as it gets.

Here is Greasemonkey's old post that got me interested in the part. Hopefully my post can do the same for somebody else. (link)

So I didn't take too many photos, but it comes in four pieces and all the hardware is included.

It's super easy to put together - pretty much common sense, but the instructions do help on some parts.

Here's another member's photo to show it all assembled. (DSHEP on m.net)

Sooo....here it is on my car!

It appears that this is an updated design, because while looking at Greasemonkey's piece, the sides slip into the bottom whereas mine are bolt on.

Here's GM's with the old design:

What I love the most is that the piece comes with a little flap that diverts air into the radiator. Between this panel and the top slam panel, my radiator gets all teh airz!

(GM's pic)

So as far as installation tips...really just use a jack to hold the panel up against the subframe while you work. Your arms will get tired as the blood drains out, so you know, there's that. Otherwise it's very simple.

The only concern I have is that it appears to contact the DS sway bar. We will see if the issue resolves itself once the car's off jack stands. Probably will be a non issue no matter what though. Do yourself a favor and buy it!

Until next time!

 

[miatapasta]

Took "the plunge" today. After this little period of heavy lifting, all this should be done:
-Intake manifold replacement (shaved/painted)
-Coolant reroute
-Oil catch can
-Shaved/painted fuel rail
-Cleaned up/shaved throttle body

So on to the pics!

Started by getting off the fuel rail, crossover pipe, and throttle body:

Then got some work done on the TB. I deleted the IACV, the shock absorber, the arm on the wheel, and enough material to be able to fit the 1.6 TB onto the 1.8 IM without the Flyin' Miata adapter plate.

And this is where it sits before I called it a night. The intake manifold is held on by four bolts. And even though it's not time yet, I had to bolt on the SC blower 'cause it's just good motivation.

One last pic of it being alive. Crooked Plastidip stripe and all, lol.