What have you done to your Miata today?

[aMaff]

Finished up wiring The Box, buttoned up like, a BUNCH of stuff on the engine & trans, and terminated the wiring for the master cutoff switch.

I'm genuinely pleased with how the battery box came out. Not having to worry about the ECU while running or towing in the rain will be nice.

It's starting to look like a real car again:

Master switch tidied up.

 

[chiefmg]

Drove it home the last two days with the top down and again today over lunch. Hey, it's the little things.

Top looks great Chief!

Phen, don't hold it in, post your rants in the 'pissed off thread' and call it a day. Much better to let it out then sit and stew on it.

Thanks man!

Phen, if you need to vent there are plenty of us who I hope you consider friends who are willing to lend an ear. Or you can just give me a shout.

Took yesterday off, got back on it today. Cleaned up the marks on the flywheel with brake cleaner and a ScotchBrite pad. Put everything back together up to the passenger side of the engine. I need a plug for one of the O2 sensor bungs on the exhaust, have to go to my storage to get that so I decided to finish that tomorrow.

For anyone wanting to compare the FM clutch vs the 949 Racing one, here's a picture of the pressure plates:

The clutch disc is pretty much the same between the two (for the style I got anyway).

 

[JamesCH]

Started a super-serial DIY coolant re-route.

The first thing I did was start to clean up the old fittings. Hooray wire wheels on bench grinders!

Then I got a little creative with the bandsaw to get the two chunks to fit together.

A little something like this...

And there is still plenty of room inside each bit for the thermostat and coolant temperature sender.

Note that I've got a COP setup, so I can recycle a Miata thermostat housing. I have an extra engine or two, so all of these parts were extra.

The next step will be to fine-tune their fit-up, add chamfers to improve weldability, run them through an ultrasonic cleaner, and then TIG them together. TIG welding cast aluminum can be very tricky, but I've done it before, so I am optimistic that I can get them stuck together and water-tight.

I'm going to make the front blocker plate on either my CNC router or my buddies CNC mill.

 

[chiefmg]

That looks great. Just FYI, I've been having problems with getting the front blocking plate I bought from BEGi to seal (see below). Just make sure you make yours thick enough.

Picked up the O2 bung plug this morning, when I was opening the fastener package for the RoadsterSport midpipe, I found one in there! Anyhow, got the exhaust bolted up. It took a lot of movement between the middle and rear of the car to get the RoadsterSport pieces put in and lined up correctly. I left off the stock front O2 sensor and put the Innovate wideband sensor in that location. The stock rear sensor is in place but not connected (this is mainly to seal the hole into the cabin). Calibrated the new sensor before installing it. I had noticed a coolant leak which turned out to be from the blanking plate on the stock thermo housing, so I stopped by the dealer to get a stock gasket. Put that on and filled the system. Put the supercharger back on, while that was in progress I noticed the blank plate on the thermo housing was leaking again. Drained some coolant again, pulled the plate off and cleaned it up. Made my own gasket (one that covers the complete opening to minimize the chances of a leak), after cleaning everything up I used some blue silicone gasket maker to put it all back together. Going to wait to refill the system until it has set up for 24 hours.

 

[chiefmg]

Filled up the coolant today and everything was tight, so I finished putting it all back together. Getting the clutch pedal adjusted back to stock specs was more of a PITA than I remember. Started her and she fired up with no problems. For the first time since I installed the MP62, the drive belt stayed in place across both pulleys. Went out for a drive to check things out, the clutch pedal action is back to stock (no more tractor!). Now I just have to moderate the thrust for the 500 mile break-in for the new clutch.

 

[chiefmg]

Washed her dirty butt! Checked things over and it all still looks good.

 

[THE Phen]

I think I'll wash mine for one last time. Rumor is that it will disappear next weekend.

 

[aMaff]

Got it back up and running. In a week or 2, it's going back to the cage builder

 

[Reitrof]

Why? Is it getting out on it's own??(shrug)

 

[JamesCH]

That looks great. Just FYI, I've been having problems with getting the front blocking plate I bought from BEGi to seal (see below). Just make sure you make yours thick enough.

Picked up the O2 bung plug this morning, when I was opening the fastener package for the RoadsterSport midpipe, I found one in there! Anyhow, got the exhaust bolted up. It took a lot of movement between the middle and rear of the car to get the RoadsterSport pieces put in and lined up correctly. I left off the stock front O2 sensor and put the Innovate wideband sensor in that location. The stock rear sensor is in place but not connected (this is mainly to seal the hole into the cabin). Calibrated the new sensor before installing it. I had noticed a coolant leak which turned out to be from the blanking plate on the stock thermo housing, so I stopped by the dealer to get a stock gasket. Put that on and filled the system. Put the supercharger back on, while that was in progress I noticed the blank plate on the thermo housing was leaking again. Drained some coolant again, pulled the plate off and cleaned it up. Made my own gasket (one that covers the complete opening to minimize the chances of a leak), after cleaning everything up I used some blue silicone gasket maker to put it all back together. Going to wait to refill the system until it has set up for 24 hours.

Thanks. How thick is the Begi block-off plate? I was planning on using 1/4in because I have some scrap 1/4in hanging around, unless the Begi is more than that.

Welded the franken-fitting together. Disclaimer: welding cast aluminum is the shittiest welding ever, especially stuff that's spent the last 24 years soaked in oil and coolant. However, I think they're stuck together pretty well.

And I made a good bit of progress on a new stainless downpipe. The old one was made by the previous owner, and while it was functional it wasn't very happy, I had modified it a bunch to work. Starting from whole cloth is nice, it's even going to fit the FM downpipe brace I have.

 

[aMaff]

Breather installed.

 

[Reitrof]

Did some hinge lubing on the car. Doors, hood, trunk, and the top. The top is the hardest as it has multiple hinges and you have to move the top into certain positions to get to all of them. Bought a precision oiler from Amazon for 6 bucks. Makes the job easier.

 

[chiefmg]

Thanks. How thick is the Begi block-off plate? I was planning on using 1/4in because I have some scrap 1/4in hanging around, unless the Begi is more than that.

BEGi plate is 3/16" thick. What I tried seems to have worked (gasket covering the whole plate with silicone on both sides).

Borrowed my friend's polisher, turns out he has one of those that fits on a drill motor. I did some more researching and found that Meguiar's has a clay bar kit with white bars which is more aggressive than the yellow bar I tried previously. Today while I was deflooding my wife's 8, I clay barred the Miata. It worked like a charm. I haven't had her out in the sun as yet but from looking at it crosswise with a light it appears the overspray is gone. The finish is as smooth as a baby's butt. I used the polisher on the trunk lid and hood as they seemed to have some spots the clay bar didn't take care of. It did a good job, but I think it's time I invested in a Porter-Cable polisher.

 

[JamesCH]

Downpipe is done and seamed up! Hooray!

Might have to do some massaging to get it to not rattle against the transmission tunnel.

And by massage I mean hit s*** with a big-ass hammer.

 

[princess peach]

I'm just fighting the urge to put the new wheels on and only use them for events. My apt stinks of rubber, I have 14 wheels\tires in the living room...

 

[THE Phen]

What the hell dude? I have 5 cars here and don't even have that much laying around.

 

[princess peach]

hahha, there's another set in the garage...

 

[JamesCH]

I have 6 EXTRA sets of wheels/tires. And 4 cars in the fleet. For a total of 40 wheels/tires.

I need help.

 

[bazooka joe]

I have 6 EXTRA sets of wheels/tires. And 4 cars in the fleet. For a total of 40 wheels/tires.

I need help.

wow!

 

[JamesCH]

Rigged up a compressed air blast and coolant mist on my router. Made it a lot easier to cut aluminum. Designed and made a block-off plate for the coolant reroute effort.

Fits the gasket quite well.

Cut a port for the front sensor, going to weld a bung onto the plate once I know what size tap I need to get.