Hey all. I'm Ryan from the Atlanta area.

I just picked up a '91 NA in Virginia and drove it back to my house the weekend after Thanksgiving.

A little background - I have a '90 Jeep Wrangler that I've done some work on, but never anything of this magnitude. So I'm a bit nervous, but excited to get going!

As of now, I don't have a motor to put in it, but I have some prospects. I also bought Martin's guide book, plan on buying his kit and going from there.

That said, I've already got a question for you guys. What are your best tips for getting those rear axle nuts off? I've already sprayed them with penetrating lubricant and left them overnight, but they're not budging.

 

Welcome!

For those rear nuts, I had a prybar wedged in the studs (kept lugnuts on) and that ground to keep from spinning. Then used a 1/2 breaker bar with a 4' length of pipe on it to get leverage.

Jason

 

I just used my 1/2" impact gun. Blasted them off no problem.

 

I think I just kept on them with a impact wrench. Use lots of penetrating spray.

 

^^ A GOOD impact gun should spin them right off.

 

Thanks all for the suggestions. Here's what I ended up doing . . . after trying PB Blaster, air gun, 1/2" socket with 4' pipe, yesterday at lunch, I bought a 3/4" drive socket set with a breaker bar. End of story. Axle nuts are off.

Hopefully I'll have some time this evening to get a few more things done before attempting to put her up on jack stands for a while!

 

OK. First of many dumb questions to come. And before anyone says there's no such thing as a dumb question . . . just gimme a chance. I'll prove you wrong.

I'm following Martin's steps for disassembly and I'm supposed to disconnect the throttle cable at the engine. But I'm not exactly sure where he means. In the pic below, am I supposed to remove from the red circle area or the blue circle area?

 

Put slack in the cable and slip it out of (the side of, if I recall correctly) the pulley in the blue area. Then loosen one or both of the nuts in the red area and slip the assembly out of the bracket. Save the bracket in case you need it later.

 

Crack one of the 12mm nuts loose and slip it out of that bracket, that will give you enough slack to get it out of the throttle body. It comes out like a bicycle brake cable.

 

Disconnect at both area's. You won't need any of the engine brackets (assuming your 302 has a throttle cable bracket), but keep the nuts and washers assembled. The cable will get attached to the 302 bracket in a similar fashion, but the end will end up getting snipped and a hollow bolt attachment crimped onto it.

 

Thanks all. Got the throttle disconnected. Haven't had the time to work on it that I was hoping for, but I did get the front end up on jack stands and started tinkering a bit the other day. Hoping to lift up the rear either tonight or tomorrow. Then probably won't get to work on it again until after the holidays.

Everybody have a good one. We'll catch up in 2016!

 

After a successful Christmas break (ie happy kids), I finally got some time yesterday and today to get some work done on the car. I'm working slower than most on this site as each and every bolt on this car turns into a battle! But so far I've won them all

Here's a pic of this weekend's accomplishments:


At this point, I'm just following Martin's manual and removing parts in the order that he recommends. Here's what I have left before I remove the engine: condenser, radiator, half shafts, differential. The condenser and radiator should be easy enough, but the half shafts look like they're from the wreckage of pirate ship or something . . . totally rusted.



I sprayed them with PB Blaster before I quit tonight, but I don't have much hope of that working by tomorrow. Also, since I have the car on jack stands, they just spin when I crank on them. I'll have to figure out a way to hold them still - anyone have any suggestions before I get creative? I'll spray them again before I work on the radiator and condenser.

One more question for the group. I'd also like to remove the headlights, but they're in the down position and I've already disconnected the battery and pulled most wires. Here's the question - I suck at electrical stuff - if I reconnect the battery and flip the lights up, will I blow anything else up? I think it shouldn't be a problem, but I don't want to short anything . . . that's it for tonight. Hopefully more tomorrow!

 

On the first car I converted, I was able to pull the differential and axles out of the subframe as one unit. Drop the entire subframe with the differential and axles attached then you should be able to wiggle it out.

As for the headlights, I would be very concerned with lining them back up again however you can manually raise them with the red **** on the top of each motor. The **** may be concealed by rubber covers.

 

Do you have air tools Ryan? Looks like a job for an impact gun.

 

Kroil, spray it on all those rusty fasteners, or my favorite....acetone and transmission transmission fluid at a 50/50 mix. I find it's the best. I usually spray at least once a day for sometimes two or three days on really rusty fasteners before I get really serious trying to break em loose.

Interesting post on one of my forums. Penetrating Oil Showdown!!! | The H.A.M.B.

 

drop the whole rear assembly as one and work like a gentleman. as for the penetrating oil, like 5.0mx5 said atf and acetone is the best your gonna get, put it in a metal oil can, it kills plastic spray bottles.

 

Well, talk about much ado about nothing . . . I got the half shafts off on the first try. No big deal at all. The rusty diff bolts came right off with the impact wrench. The passenger side slid right out by hand. The driver side didn't budge at all. So I welded up a tool that Martin recommended. It's just the old axle nuts welded to piece of pipe. I had some square tubing laying around. So I used that. Screwed the nut back on, channeled my inner Mark McGwire, and pounded on it a few times until it reluctantly gave way.

Here's a close up of the tool . . . try to look at it without noticing the horrendous welding.


Heading out of town tomorrow. So won't be able to pull the motor until next week sometime.

 

Got the motor and trans out last Saturday. THAT was fun! I've never done anything like that before, so it was good to get that behind me! Next I'll work on the K member and rear subframe removal. Hopefully I'll get a few hours this weekend.

Added a timelapse video of the process. It ends at 2:26 . . . I just left the camera on and didn't edit the vid

 

You're in a great area for this build, tracks and v8miata guys nearby. Best of luck!

 

Haven't updated the site in a while, but have been getting some time on the car. It's completely apart at this point - drive train, front end, rear end and even the carpet and dash. I guess no more putting it off - gotta get serious on the hard parts . . . putting it back together.




At this point, I'm going to clean it up and then I'm going to look into the Lizard Skin insulation and sound control and also some sort of roll bar. Anyone have any particular recommendations or tips for either of those topics? I've been researching roll bars a bit and they're expensive!

Also, does anyone have any input regarding what kind of money I can get when selling my Miata parts - engine, trans, rear? Anything else worth selling?

 

Looks like fun!
I've got an autopower? Full cage, bolt in. Pro - harness bar curves behind the driver seat allowing seat to slide back most of the way. Con - removed front half of cage and the connectors on top stick out close to your head. Check Craigslist might be a deal on a used bar. As long as it has 4 - 6 mounting points it should protect you.

I'm guessing $1000 for your drivetrain, but that might be a bit low.

 

There's a roll bar and harness bar for sale in Atlanta right now for $450. It's on the Miata buy, sell, trade Facebook group.