What have you done to your Miata today?
- Thread starter Antoine
- Start date
More fun with Plasti-dip last night. Got two of my wheels done. The other two need another coat or two of black, and 3 coats of glossifier, then I can swap the snow tires off this weekend! 
I might get crazy and dip the Mazda logos on the center caps with the tiny bit of blue I have left and a brush, but I haven't decided.
I might get crazy and dip the Mazda logos on the center caps with the tiny bit of blue I have left and a brush, but I haven't decided.
Plastidip is about perfect for wheels. I love it.
Finally got the spoiler done.
2 quarter-turn fasteners and I have trunk access too
That'll be good for those days you hit the golf course after an autocross.
All this progress getting done makes me jealous. I have another 6 1/2 weeks at work before I can touch mine again.
Right!?
Though pulling the passenger seat has helped with this. having space to put tools and what not is a Good Thing for sites where the paddock is fairly distant from Grid. I usually have a 7 gallon air tank, 3 gallon water sprayer, jack & jackstand, helmet bag with a bunch more tools & gear, a few gatorades and water. Throw in some weather where I may want to bring rain tires to grid and it piles up pretty quickly. Even more when I have a co-driver (so: usually) and their stuff to toss in the car.
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- 92 & 16 Meyatas
Looks great Andrew!
Picked up the MaximWorks / Mazdaspeed header. I'm so ready to get rid of the JR. The welds are gorgeous, the flanges are gorgeous...so good. It's a work of art by comparison. I'm waiting on 1 flange to come in so I can make a new midpipe (I needed to measure the header before buying it), and then I can make a midpipe up for it.
The finish is a bit rough with some surface scale, but I may have it blasted & ceramic coated at some point. Right now isn't that point
20160324_134329 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/141028605@N08/, on Flickr
20160324_125031 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/141028605@N08/, on Flickr
20160324_124953 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/141028605@N08/, on Flickr
20160324_124958 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/141028605@N08/, on Flickr
The finish is a bit rough with some surface scale, but I may have it blasted & ceramic coated at some point. Right now isn't that point
20160324_134329 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/141028605@N08/, on Flickr20160324_125031 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/141028605@N08/, on Flickr20160324_124953 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/141028605@N08/, on Flickr20160324_124958 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/141028605@N08/, on Flickr
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- 92 & 16 Meyatas
Ceramic coating would be great! Nice piece !
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I had one for the 1.6 motor. When I sold it, I thought chances of seeing another one in person anywhere other than the National Championships were basically zero, much less having one to put on my car. Again. And not go broke doing it. Again.
A little cleanup will probably go a long way. I might do a bit of that before it goes on the car.
A little cleanup will probably go a long way. I might do a bit of that before it goes on the car.
If you're wondering why I keep slagging off the JR: look at the massive hump on the inside of the primaries. It's... sub optimal.
Also, the fact that the flanges look like something I made with a sawzall, a 1/4" grinding disk and a hand drill with a dull bit don't help. Especially the rear flange. It's massive, and makes getting it in and out far more difficult than it should be.
Also, the fact that the flanges look like something I made with a sawzall, a 1/4" grinding disk and a hand drill with a dull bit don't help. Especially the rear flange. It's massive, and makes getting it in and out far more difficult than it should be.
A bunch of small stuff, but it's progress.
Got a couple coats of paint on the fabricated parts:
20160324_181254 by Andrew Maffessanti, on Flickr
When I fit up the crash bar, I realized it was going to need some clearancing for me to actually be able to attach the pins & cables to the forward mounts. Everything fit and cleared, but there wouldn't be any working room between them.
20160324_182600 by Andrew Maffessanti, on Flickr
Room fo' days:
20160324_183409 by Andrew Maffessanti, on Flickr
And put the rear mounts on for, hopefully, the last time.
20160324_201231 by Andrew Maffessanti, on Flickr
Got a couple coats of paint on the fabricated parts:
20160324_181254 by Andrew Maffessanti, on Flickr
When I fit up the crash bar, I realized it was going to need some clearancing for me to actually be able to attach the pins & cables to the forward mounts. Everything fit and cleared, but there wouldn't be any working room between them.
20160324_182600 by Andrew Maffessanti, on Flickr
Room fo' days:
20160324_183409 by Andrew Maffessanti, on Flickr
And put the rear mounts on for, hopefully, the last time.
20160324_201231 by Andrew Maffessanti, on Flickr
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- 2016 GT ST 47A
Very nice!
A nice top down drive to the Spring membership meeting with the local club. Then I cleaned the interior and vacuumed her out. After dinner I gave her a bath in the self serve bay at the car wash. On the way home I picked up some leather cleaner, protector and conditioner. Tomorrow Ill treat the seats and steering wheel.
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A nice top down drive to the Spring membership meeting with the local club. Then I cleaned the interior and vacuumed her out. After dinner I gave her a bath in the self serve bay at the car wash. On the way home I picked up some leather cleaner, protector and conditioner. Tomorrow Ill treat the seats and steering wheel.
Sent from my Galaxy S7 Edge using Tapatalk
Cleaned up and installed the Maxim Works header. It really was just a thin layer of surface scale, because a few minutes with a wire wheel knocked it off without much trouble.
I also sourced a couple of esoteric pieces for the exhaust. A flange with bolt holes wide enough to match the header I couldn't find anywhere but ebay, and to find the round and 'flat-in-cross section' gasket that fit in the groove of the MW header's flange involved taking a pair of calipers to NAPA (lol)
Fortunately, if anyone can help find something like that, it's NAPA. Good luck at most other Auto Parts stores, where the first question is "what's the make and model," and "it's not a stock application" is met with "the computer needs to know...." Useless. The guys at NAPA actually broke out The Book with all of their exhaust parts and pieces. Super helpful folks, and now I have the actual part number in case it ever needs to be replaced.
I also sourced a couple of esoteric pieces for the exhaust. A flange with bolt holes wide enough to match the header I couldn't find anywhere but ebay, and to find the round and 'flat-in-cross section' gasket that fit in the groove of the MW header's flange involved taking a pair of calipers to NAPA (lol)
Fortunately, if anyone can help find something like that, it's NAPA. Good luck at most other Auto Parts stores, where the first question is "what's the make and model," and "it's not a stock application" is met with "the computer needs to know...." Useless. The guys at NAPA actually broke out The Book with all of their exhaust parts and pieces. Super helpful folks, and now I have the actual part number in case it ever needs to be replaced.
Last week's projects:
Swapped the snow tires and wheels off, plasti-dipped my stock wheels black with Glossifier, and put them on the car.
Also replaced the inside rear-view mirror, because the two-position flip lever on mine didn't work.
I'm pretty happy with the wheels:
Swapped the snow tires and wheels off, plasti-dipped my stock wheels black with Glossifier, and put them on the car.
Also replaced the inside rear-view mirror, because the two-position flip lever on mine didn't work.
I'm pretty happy with the wheels:
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- 2016 GT ST 47A
Finally got the IL Motorsports center console that Mrs. Santa gave me for Christmas installed. But as you all know we can't just modify something without modifying it, so I added an LED to it. While at it, a buddy of mine helped me with fabricating some brackets for the footwell LEDs.
Almost got my hands on a used and local NC Mazdaspeed exhaust a couple of weeks ago but the buyer decided to keep it. My backup was going to be an RSII from Goodwin Racing but lo and behold the same day that the buyer backed out, I found a Mazdaspeed exhaust on Ebay. A looooong week later I was the happy winner of the auction and prepared for the long week of waiting for it to arrive. Much to my surprise, it was delivered today after being shipped yesterday! Thankfully I had an OEM gasket and hangers on standby. My left tip was sagging a bit so I figured it was a good time to just replace the hangers, can def. see a difference with the new ones. Oh yeah...loving that new growl too!
Pics!
Almost got my hands on a used and local NC Mazdaspeed exhaust a couple of weeks ago but the buyer decided to keep it. My backup was going to be an RSII from Goodwin Racing but lo and behold the same day that the buyer backed out, I found a Mazdaspeed exhaust on Ebay. A looooong week later I was the happy winner of the auction and prepared for the long week of waiting for it to arrive. Much to my surprise, it was delivered today after being shipped yesterday! Thankfully I had an OEM gasket and hangers on standby. My left tip was sagging a bit so I figured it was a good time to just replace the hangers, can def. see a difference with the new ones. Oh yeah...loving that new growl too!
Pics!
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Cleaned up and installed the Maxim Works header. It really was just a thin layer of surface scale, because a few minutes with a wire wheel knocked it off without much trouble.
I also sourced a couple of esoteric pieces for the exhaust. A flange with bolt holes wide enough to match the header I couldn't find anywhere but ebay, and to find the round and 'flat-in-cross section' gasket that fit in the groove of the MW header's flange involved taking a pair of calipers to NAPA (lol)
Fortunately, if anyone can help find something like that, it's NAPA. Good luck at most other Auto Parts stores, where the first question is "what's the make and model," and "it's not a stock application" is met with "the computer needs to know...." Useless. The guys at NAPA actually broke out The Book with all of their exhaust parts and pieces. Super helpful folks, and now I have the actual part number in case it ever needs to be replaced.
Had I known you were looking for that sort of exhaust gasket, I would have recommended a Mazda piece from a newer vehicle. I had a similar situation with the Cobalt 4-2-1 I put on mine, after making a flat spacer to use some other gaskets I tried a spare donut gasket from our CX-5's muffler and it fit right into the groove. Sealed up a treat.
Damn, good to know. I guess now I know what to tell them when they ask "what car does that go to?" lol
