What have you done to your Miata today?

[thejeans]

I looked into that insurance last year for our daughters car. Decided to pass on it though.

it made too much sense for me. as long as i have 90 days of consecutive storage in a year, it cuts my insurance on the car by half.
Normally it is very easy for the car to be garaged for December, January and February in Pittsburgh. just sucks on those rare 60 degree days in december or january and you are having boost withdrawal. haha

 

[aMaff]

Nakers!

Took everything apart so that I can make the final mods for the template for the air dam, strip the protective sheet off, and replace all the hardware with much shorter bolts (because an inch too long over 50 fasteners adds up to more than I want to give a free ride around the race track)

 

[aMaff]

Pro-tip: on DiBond, don't use an impact to snug up elevator bolts.

Since it's a relatively soft material, I used a spacer and a few stacked washers (and a nut) to get all the elevator bolts for the air-dam pulled into place. I was successful on a couple, but also chowdered one up royally (to the point that I had to cut the nut I was using off). When I ditched the impact and just used a ratchet, it was smooth (but much slower) sailing.








Because that one hole was properly boogered, the square shank on the elevator bolt wouldn't grab enough to tighten down a nyloc nut, but a little improvisation got it handled. All the surface area from the domed base of the bolt + the lock nut have a good hold on it, it was just getting it to that point that was the challenge.

 

[chiefmg]

Maff, your fab skills are amazing. You should start making this stuff and selling it.

Muffler showed up. More recently I bought a PS delete pulley. Not 100% sure if I will go manual but it will sure be good to have that if I do.

 

[aMaff]

Maff, your fab skills are amazing. You should start making this stuff and selling it.

Muffler showed up. More recently I bought a PS delete pulley. Not 100% sure if I will go manual but it will sure be good to have that if I do.

I have (and will), the problem is that there's a VERY limited market for this stuff.

 

[Reitrof]

Nice work but you must be spending a small fortune in fastners.

 

[aMaff]

Nice work but you must be spending a small fortune in fastners.

Honestly, a lot less than if I tried sourcing them from a hardware store. Considering specialized stuff costs well over $1 per bolt from Ace/Lowes/HD, it could be way worse.
Just looked over my McMaster orders and it's only about $30 in fasteners. Buying in bulk helps A TON.
~$20 in Elevator bolts (2 packs of 25)
~$6 in washers (1 pack of 50)
~$2 in Nyloc nuts (~0.5 pack of 100)

 

[aMaff]

Got it finished up:

 

[CTt3P5]

Damn! That looks great Maff!!!!

Sent from my Galaxy S7 Edge using Tapatalk

 

[aMaff]

Thanks! Compare it to the first effort and it seems pretty apparent that I've learned a couple things in the last year
The fitment on the airdam the 1st time 'round was garbage

 

[CTt3P5]

Don't be so hard on yourself. 1000x better than anything I'd come up with.

Replaced the rear pads and rotors with Stoptech Street Performance pads and Centric Premium rotors. Had to run a tap through the threads of the upper bracket hole as the damn bolt kept going in at an angle.

 

[aMaff]

Don't be so hard on yourself. 1000x better than anything I'd come up with.

Eh, I think the fact that I can do it is proof that any schmoe could do it with a little bit of application. It's less about putting myself down than it is a little bit of pride in being able to make tangible improvements from one version to the next

 

[CTt3P5]

Eh, I think the fact that I can do it is proof that any schmoe could do it with a little bit of application. It's less about putting myself down than it is a little bit of pride in being able to make tangible improvements from one version to the next

(thumb)

 

[CTt3P5]

Yesterday I replaced the rear pads and rotors. Today I installed the IL Motorsports brake fluid cap cover, Rich Velardo custom ECU Cover, OEM FSTB, HPS silicone intake elbow and removed the bumper to install a Moto-East CAI. Since the HPS elbow didn't have slots for the PSV bracket we made a small bend and drilled a hole so I could attach it one of the FSTB mounting points. I had the brake fluid cap cover, intake tube and FSTB coated mag blue to match the coolant tank and other misc. engine bits along with the wheels.

 

[thejeans]

i just ordered a Blackbird Fabworx "Limited Production Black Edition" Lexan Spoiler. i cant wait to see that come in.

here is a pic of what the spoiler looks like.

 

[thejeans]

i just ordered a set of Singular NC Hood vents for the MSM. Im looking forward to those coming in, im not looking forward to seeing how steady my cutting hand is when it comes time to install...

 

[aMaff]

What are you going to use to make the cut? Remember it's Aluminum, so you don't want to use steel cutoff wheels, as they'll load up with AL (as it's kinda gooey compared to steel)

My recommendation: 3" cutoff tool with:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

 

[thejeans]

What are you going to use to make the cut? Remember it's Aluminum, so you don't want to use steel cutoff wheels, as they'll load up with AL (as it's kinda gooey compared to steel)

My recommendation: 3" cutoff tool with:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

i havent figured out what im going to use to make the cuts, but thanks for the advice. ill look into it

 

[aMaff]

Rounded off a few rough edges.

 

[aMaff]

An autox buddy's son has been offering to wash cars to buy a new computer. This is about as good as it's going to look for the rest of the year (rlaugh)

Wash, claybar & wax