We goin’ 4 wheelin’. YeeHaw.

Do it right
 

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Figured while I’m in there, I’ll replace everything worn out. New Paco Motorsports extended lower ball joints, new serviceable upper ball joints, and new tie rod ends. A friend once told me,”If you remove something from the car and it’s in your hands. Take the time to clean and restore it before it goes back on”. With that being said, I’m going to clean and paint everything next.

Hoops with diagonals
 

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Installed the Boss Frog double hoops with Diagonals today. That was a pleasure! Lol. Very tight fit. Just waiting on coilovers, rims, and tires to arrive. Everything else is cleaned, painted, and ready to go. Sprayed all the inner fenders with rustolium rubberized black under coating. Looks really good. Stay tuned.

Axle issues
 

Seems like rear axles are too long for a lift. The new angle makes them bottom out on the diff side. Looks like I will be searching for a place to shorten and re-spline my axles by 1-2 inches. Boooooo. I did get the wheels on the ground and start fender trimming.

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OK, I'll bite. The new direction is???????? Regardless of the direction I'm betting it'll be a interesting trip.


RR

Paco Motorsports Buggy
 

Lol. Figured I’ve had a 302 Miata, an LS Miats, and I’m building ANOTHER 302. What can I do fun? Enter Paco Motorsports. Lift kit is on, new coilovers, new bushings all around, new tie rods and ball joints. Even used their rear upper adjustable control arms. The V8 axles were a bit long for new setup, so just disassemble, cleaned, and sent off th Dutchman Axles to be shortened by 1.25in. While I wait, I’ll be doing some cutting to make the tires fit and be able to flex in the space.

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Cutting into a perfectly good car!
 

Plasma cutter makes easy work of this thin metal. I was happy to find a second layer behind the wheel well metal. I’ll fabricate a piece of sheet metal to weld back in the shape I want. Will clean it up nice and give me the wheel clearance I need.

here is before

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Wheel well liner stock.

Here is after.

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Metal cut to round out wheel well to match tire

And I HIGHLY recommend this when you are welding or torching around things you don’t want to catch fire or melt. It’s AMAZING. it will keep styrofoam from melting under a direct flame.

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First time on all 4s

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now working on cleaning up wheel well areas. Welding in some custom mud flaps and inner fender areas. Custom shortened axles will take about 3 weeks, so time to knock out all the small stuff.

New axles
 

Just received my new 1in shorter axles from Dutchman Motorsports. Time to assemble and install.
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Bad axles
 

Small setback. New axles were cut a little deep. Meaning the splines were too long and allowed the roller bearings on the inside to walk out of the cup. Caused a catastrophic failure. I’ll call the shop I used to sort it out. You can see in the picture the gap between the bearing and retaining clip. It should be tighter than that.

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Gap from clip

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Difference in spline length. Original on left.

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Inside of cup all tore up

I have the exact same thing. I love'em. I watched an old video where they roll crash tested it. It bent the frame of the car and the roll bar didn't budge.

Inner fender liner
 

Had time to address inner fenders today. I had some large holes left over after I removed metal to clear the new tires. Laid in some sheet metal. I’ll weld it all in and then seal the edges with some 3M door skin adhesive. That stuff is amazing. Plan is to final coat with flex seal and rustoleum undercoating. That should keep all water intrusion out.


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Still chugging away at the axle issue on my Paco Motorsports Miata, but had to share the most recent project I just picked up. 1996 Miata on a Ford Ranger 4X4 frame. Engine and tranny from a Ford Explorer (5.0 V8) and transfer case from a Ford F-150. Stay tuned!

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Hey GunPilot..you are outta control :) I luv it!