The life of a blue Miata

Eric and the final result.

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 23:31:24 -0400

He's overjoyed with how it turned out. He had a very strong vision for the car, and that's the key to a successful modification. Anything he considered doing was held up against that vision. This keeps the end result cohesive and consistent. Every potential change was compared against how it fit in, from the pattern on top of the shift knob to the choice of wheels.
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We also had a bit of squeaking from the hardtop as it scuffed around.

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:54:29 -0400

On a whim, I disassembled the rear mounting points to uncover this. The plastic inserts were badly worn where they contact the "Frankenstein bolts". We flipped this steel plate over to get a better grip on the bolts. Clever idea, but it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. A bit of silicone spray on the rubber gasket along the bottom of the hardtop would probably help as well.

After a test drive up the "Targa Simulation Road", the suspension with the new wheels proved to work very well.

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:51:58 -0400

The ride/handling compromise is excellent, exactly what Eric was hoping for. The car's set up for very mild understeer at the limit to keep things easy to control, but it's very responsive. Eric may never drive it as hard as we did on the test, but it's good to know he can!
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Right after I got back from Ottawa, Eric flew out to pick up the car.

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:48:49 -0400

We took half a day to do some final tweaks. First, we dropped the back of the car slightly to level it out. And because Eric was taking pictures, you see a rare shot of me doing the work!

I went back to Ottawa to visit family last week, and spent some time with Eric.

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:47:34 -0400

He sent me home with the final piece for Project 707: a Momo Prototipo steering wheel. It's one that's often used on Porsches (of course) and it really finishes the interior well. Most of the interior is stock, but the driver's main points of contact are the shifter, the wheel and the seat. They've all been altered, so the car feels special.

One last view of the car with the new wheels.

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:00:19 -0400

They look bigger than 15" for some reason. The light right now doesn't show the differences between the polished surfaces and the rougher cast surfaces, ether. You can see those in the picture of just the wheels and it adds a lot of interest to them.
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A view from the rear, showing the Fuchs and the dual exhausts.

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:56:28 -0400

The exhaust note is pretty much perfect now and the car is nice and quiet inside.
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And here's the end result!

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:50:26 -0400

The tires fit under the fenders - just. The correct way to check is to pull the springs off the shocks and move the wheel through its full range of motion. But that's a lot of work. I think I'm going to lightly roll the fenders just to be sure. It won't be visible at all, but it will ensure the front tires can't catch on the fender and pull them out of shape.
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There's a reason you've probably never seen a set of Porsche wheels on a Miata, and that's the bolt pattern.

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:48:09 -0400

The Miata has a 4x100 pattern. The Porsche 914 wheels have a 4x130mm pattern. The folks at Adaptit were able to put together a custom adapter to modify the Miata pattern.
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The final piece of the puzzle - wheels.

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:41:00 -0400

As I mentioned earlier, Eric is approaching this completely without restraints. He has a tendency to ferret out the oddball and unusual. The paint color is an example of that! Once he'd found a set of wheels, I'd have to figure out if it were at all possible. Options considered included Maserati Merak wheels, some Cosmics off a Triumph GT6, 5-spoke Fuchs wheels, Mahle "gas burners", BMW 2002 steel wheels, baby moons, Chevy Cobalt steelies, stock 1990 daisies with black centers and even the more traditional Panasport/Chaparral/Rota style.
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Since this car is bound for Canada, it needs to have daytime running lights.

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:40:36 -0400

Happily, the 1996 wiring harness already has the plugs needed. Simply plug this little guy in and remove the jumper plug found elsewhere, and instant DRLs. Thank you Mazda.
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The plastic in the front of the car usually gets pretty haggard over the years.

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:36:49 -0400

It's amazing how nice the original equipment parts are when they're not all covered in goo and banged out of shape. They're also not that expensive.

Time for a dual exhaust.

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:32:45 -0400

When the plug sealing the rear O2 sensor hole in the exhaust welded itself into place while I tried to remove it, I gave Eric a couple of options. First was for me to pull that exhaust off and get medieval on the plug. Second was for me to install a set of duals. Eric had a set of (discontinued) FM duals in his basement, and he decided to send them back to Colorado. So they went on today. Pictures of the exhaust on the car will follow.

Every Miata needs a Voodoo knob.

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:19:24 -0400

In this case, a black one with a shift pattern engraved. With this, the interior is done other than the steering wheel. Eric's going to bring that with him when he comes to pick up the car.
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After a few false starts, the car got a new windshield.

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:10:13 -0400

Okay, that's maybe not as exciting as a new exterior color or custom seats, but the car needed it.

The black sills make a huge difference to how the car looks.

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:26:54 -0400

It's such a small change, but the car looks lighter and longer. The mud is an optional extra provided by a construction zone just outside FM's office.

The aesthetics of the car are almost done.

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 22:37:44 -0400

All it needs are the wheels. Honestly, I think it looks better as a coupe for some reason. The big windshield banner will go away when the glass is replaced.

With some beautiful warm weather, I took the opportunity to paint the rockers black.

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 22:36:15 -0400

Wow, did that make a difference to the car. It looks far, far better. I used an off-the-shelf automotive enamel so Eric can easily touch them up in the future - they tend to get sandblasted.
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Here's how the seats look from behind.

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 22:34:10 -0400

It's not their best angle, but with the roof on you never really notice it.
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I've had a few requests for more pictures of the seats.

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 22:33:49 -0400

So here they are. I was driving the car around today and felt the driver's seat had over-aggressive lumbar support. Well, in the middle of doing something else, I discovered that someone had stuffed a couple of layers of foam in behind the center of the seat. I pulled that out, we'll see how it feels on the way to work tomorrow.