Oh boy oh boy oh boy ... I didn't think the day would ever come. Look what showed up 2 days before I was told it would be here! (with no call ahead, lucky I was there)

Guy heading to the front to roll it out.


Couldn't wait so I jumped up in there and took a pic.


The first time I get to see it in the sunlight.


And finally it is mine, in the back of the truck.

 

Cool!!!

 

Gratz dude! Looking forward to seeing them on the car!

 

Proud Papa has lots of "Baby" pics! Keep up the good work!!!

 

They look great. can't wait to see them on the car too.

 

I was delayed soooooooo long waiting on that body kit, that I lost motivation and started working on my Jeep. So now I need to finish that project (for a trip in a month) and will then be back full force on this car. I will get a little work done between now and then, but it won't be a lot. Thanks for the interest guys!

 

OK you just totally pegged my envy meter!!! That is sooo cool!

 

I do read all the post.
Thanks for not mentioning I sent your oil pan to Florida.
M

 

Welcome Martin. Looking forward to starting my project shortly.
Brad - the dude from Canada

 

That oil pan is a work of art. Just like everything else I got from you. I can't wait to get back on the project.

 

North Carolina residents, please chime in. I will be moving to the Charlotte area in the next year. My Miata will be joining me. I have recently found that NC has annual vehicle inspections. SC (where I am) does not. I am wondering if I will be having any issues getting my Miata (with a 1979 carberated 302) through the inspection process. Or if I will just have to leave it registered at my SC house and avoid the whole deal.

 

I'll let you know within the next 3 days when I get my '94 inspected in Wake Co (Raleigh area) for the first time with its new-to-me LS2. Don't hold me to it, but I think 1995 and older (pre-OBD II) are exempt from emissions testing. So the older pre-95's should just get an approx $10 safety inspection - not the $30+/- emissions and safety inspection. I have 6.5 miles on mine as of RIGHT NOW - drove it home from the shop 6 miles away about 2 hours ago. These cars are crazy-fun... just plain nasty.

 

Nasty Fun!,,,,it's amazing how my lit'l car always wants to leave friends houses,,,,sideways.

 

Well, as reported in my build thread here on V8M.net, I took my Mazda in for NC state inspection. Wake County, which utilizes the most stringent emissions testing along with the other major NC counties, had my 1994 only go through a safety inspection. ...Check lights, horn, and confirmed it had 4 round tires -- that's about it! $13.51 was the total damage to my wallet. I think pre-OBDII cars are exempt from emissions testing in this state...

 

Just a quick update ..... no changes. I have spent the last couple months working on my jeep while I waited for my Monster Miata body kit to arrive. Well, I'm done with the Jeep for now and I'm about to get back to work on the Miata for a bit. But unfortunately, not for long. In about 2 months, I will be pausing to move my shop to the Charlotte area. So it may take me a bit to get organized and back on track. I am hoping to have the shell of the miata to the body shop before the move so it is there being worked on while I go through the moving process. That way not a whole lot of time is wasted. I'll keep you posted.

 

Finally back to work. After the Body Kit delay, I got side tracked working on my Jeep. Then had to take time to remodel the new place in Charlotte. Now that is done, back to work on the Miata. Went to the shop tonight and spent some time cleaning up, then got to work on finishing the seam welding. Got that done. Now I just need to clean up the mess and put down some seam sealer. Then prime. After that I think I will continue on the body work. Fixing some small dings and I think I am going to try my hand at replacing/repairing the rear corner damage. If I get bored with the body work, I will pause to mock up the engine and trans so I can massage the tunnel where needed.

It's good to be back at it. I will be spending at least two evenings per week at the shop from now on. So we'll see how the progress goes.

Add another 3 hours of my time to the clock.

My Time: 92 hours
Friends & Family: 6 hours
Paid labor: $0 (this number does not include the mods made by Monster Miata)

 

Found a nice rear quarter section on eBay and purchased it. It should be here right as I finish the cleanup and sealing of the seam welding. That will be my next project on the body.

 

Completed the clean up of the welds and put down the seam sealer. That was my first time dealing with that stuff. No fun. I know that my seam sealing job is probably embarrassing but I don't really care. I'm just glad it's over. Here is a pic of one section.



I then took the car off the cart so I can mock up the engine and trans while I wait for the rear corner to show up.



Add another 4.5 hours of my time to the clock.

My Time: 96.5 hours
Friends & Family: 6 hours
Paid labor: $0 (this number does not include the mods made by Monster Miata)

 

Some lacquer thinner on a 1" paint brush will smooth that seam sealer like butter.

 

Had a great day at the shop. It's nice to be moving forward.

My main goal was to temporarily install the engine and trans to see what kind of trans tunnel modifications I needed to do. So, I first put the new bellhousing on. I just put it on for this mock up. You may notice that I didn't install the new dust shield yet. I will do that after the engine is painted and ready to go in for good. I didn't feel like taking the clutch and flex plate off.





Then the new transmission



I'm going to split this post up into a few posts because I have quite a few pictures. After these pics I took a few moments to remove some stuff that would get in the way (mechanical fuel pump, fuel line, Oil pressure sending unit, distributor cap). And I pulled the chrome oil pan and installed the modified pan (temporarily, I didn't have the new pickup, I must have left it at home).

 

Now time to see if it fits.

I don't know how this would be done without the little attachment on the hoist that allowed me to tip it in. At least not by myself.















At this point, the shifter was hitting the tunnel because I had not enlarged the hole for the shifter yet. I was waiting until this point so I didn't over do it.

 

Wolf, you are doing a lot more than most people do so the seam seal looks great. Once painted no one will even notice it. That in itself sucks because of the time you have into the job.
As for inspection, most emissions goes by the newer of either the engine or body. The older engine will have to meet the body's emission standard so you might be looking at adding hi flow cats to run clean. Check local laws to be sure...that part is free!
Nice work, keep it up!

 

So I hopped in the car and used a cutoff wheel to enlarge the shifter hole. (I didn't take a picture of it when the trans was in, but here is one from later)



After the cut, I was able to mock up the transmission support and level the engine off.



So now I was able to look around the engine, bellhousing and transmission to see what needed to be modified and I was surprised to see that I wasn't even close to contacting the body anywhere. Not even close. The only thing that I saw that didn't look right was that the oil pan was sitting on the k-member. A small shim will fix that. So since I didn't have to clearance anything, I moved on to adding the headers to make sure everything looked good (and also help myself visualize the exhaust routing), I lifted the engine a bit to allow me to get the headers in there. And here they are...

Driver


The exit on the Driver side


Passenger


I then pulled the engine out and primed all the seam sealer (OK, actually before I pulled the engine I had to get in and pound through a few gears making my best v8 noises). Then I cut off the radiator tabs.

 

I heard you.... you have a bad plug on 7...or you were eating sunflower seeds it was hard to tell!

 

I was on a roll and wasn't ready to stop yet so next up was the rear diff. I needed to weld on the supplied diff support bracket. I bolted the diff to it so I could make sure it was in the proper spot. Centered up the front support and noticed the same thing that many others have commented on. The brace that needs to be welded on sits about 3/8's away from the actual support brace. Of course you can weld along the bottom and that is pretty substantial, but if you look at the pictures in the manual it shows that the support is welded up the sides too. But the way it lines up there is no way to do it. So I welded the bottom (top when flipped and installed) and then pulled out a little trick.

I am noticing now that I didn't take any pics of the main welding. But here is what I did to fix the edges. Once the main weld was done, I jammed a 3/8" socket extension in the gap and C-clamped it tight. This would give me a spot to bend the bracket. Then I just worked it with a sledge to bend the tip to meet the main support. Then welded it up.





Then I threw some primer on before I remembered to take a pic but the welds turned out pretty good (for my limited welding experience). There was nice discoloration on the thick metal showing good penetration. I was pleased.



And that concludes the day and week. I will be back at it next monday when I will most likely be working on the rear quarter panel. The new one is supposed to be arriving tomorrow.

Add another 5 hours of my time to the clock.

My Time: 101.5 hours
Friends & Family: 6 hours
Paid labor: $0 (this number does not include the mods made by Monster Miata)