Not that it is directly project related, but I just ordered a 10x14' shed for the yard. I am going to be storing 3 ton of pellets to heat the house ad the rest will be shelving to store the car parts that have been filling the garage. I am moving all the non-project stuff there and freeing up much needed space. I can't afford to let anything happen to the frame because of slips/trips/falls. I want the car to have dedicated space and eliminate the "Where the hell did I put that" syndrome.

 

I am waiting for funding to straighten out and have been tinkering to keep busy.
I think I have the tail lights figured out. Took a 69 Trans-Am tail light and split the light box in half width wise with a piece of Aluminum sheet. Mounted it with Ultra Grey RTV. Then I ran yellow LED's in the top half for turn signals ad a strip of whites in the bottom for parking and brake lights. I have a guy making up a circuit board so I can have both intensities off the same LED strip. Once it is all here I can button it up and mount it through the rear fiberglass. Only the two lenses will show with the stainless trim around the lens. The reverse light in the middle will be a single 1156 LED bulb.

 

OK I was about to be crabby because I read this in my email and the photos didn't come through. But now that I see it here - well as the kids say that is sick! I'm pretty sure that means very cool but if not well those lights are very cool!

 

Front Upper control arms have bee de-bushed and painted. Once they dry I can install the Energy Suspension bushings and get them bolted to the subframe. I have a set of lowers that I have to sand blast then they will get the same treatment.
I have a set of lower rears already done and for upper rears I have some tubular control arms with roller bearing bushings. Once I sandblast and paint the rear subframe that will go together.
With what I have for parts now, the car should be a roller within a couple hours of it getting home. Steering parts are all set and the Wilwoods should bolt right up with no issues. I am using a de-powered NB rack with the BF NB subframe.

 

Got a new toy today... picked up a 40# sandblast cabinet from Harbor Freight on sale for $209 but then had a 20% off coupon...
Kind of a pain to assemble but worth the effort. Set it up and poured in some fine Black Beauty before going to town on a set of front hubs and spindles (properly tapped up of course). Took about an hour for all 4 pieces but they came out smooth and clean and ready to paint. So I did that too!

 

Huh I missed that step in mine.... No wonder you build such great cars!

 

Thanks Jim. Unfortunately the paint as a little more brown in it than the powder coat of my frame. I may end up blasting off all the paint and coating all of these pieces later.
Right now I am thinking of grabbing an old oven and wiring it into the 220 in the garage s I can coat my own small parts. I already have 220 out there for the air compressor and figure I wont be using air and the oven at the same time. Floor space is getting thin though. I guess I will just have to move more crap out to the new shed!

 

I got the steering knuckle in from Boss Frog today. That got me to working on the suspension again. I took my NB rack and de-powered it. Then installed the new lower ball joints and the outer tie rods. The entire front end is now just about ready to roll under the chassis...once it gets here that is! I am contemplating installing the rotors and calipers and tossing on some spare wheels. that means that the front suspension will be on the car as soon as it chassis comes off of the pallet.
I have 95% of the parts I need to get the rear suspension off the ground. I need to order the rear driveline and mount from FM, but the spindles/hubs/a-arms are done and ready to install. Again, this will have the chassis ready to roll right out of the box.

 

Not sleeping has it's advantages. I was still up at 1a so I went down to the garage and welded up the fittings to the rack. The I installed the front hubs, torqued them down, and got the Wilwood rotors/mounts/calipers bolted up. I finished the install of the rack and now the entire front suspension is ready to go under the car. I pulled the rear sub-frame out of storage and it looks like it will be ready to paint in the next day or so. Then I can mount the a-arms and spindles. That 12 ton press is going to get a workout installing new rear wheel bearings just to be sure they are up to the job.

 

For you picture junkies.... here is the result...
ignore the wheels and tires, they were the winter set from Nadine

 

LOL bout time you figured out all we do is look at the photos! Looks great!

 

Jim, I know some of you folks out in the woods only get to school a couple days a month so Pictures are easier to understand! LOL.... Once that damn chassis gets here you will see a lot of pictures and progress in short order. Since I wired Nadine I have become comfortable with electrical work. Having to change two harnesses in other Miatas also helped me figure out where things go and why. For this car there really isn't all that much to wire so I am going to mock it out first, then try to pull everything that needs to go to the back through one conduit. I was thinking about running 3/4" plastic but I'm not sure it will take the heat from being near the exhaust and power plant. The only things I am really using from the Miata are the ignition switch, driver controls (Turn/high beam/headlight combo switch) and the fuel pump/relay. Guess it's one of those thing I will figure out when the time comes.

 

Steeing knuckles? I didn't see that on the web site. Stock? Aftermarket?

 

Bob, on the Boss Frog kit the rack is moved forward just a bit in order for the pan to clear the K member. This also allows you to place the engine without having to slice and dice the trans tunnel as you need to do with some other kits. To compensate Ric designed the kit to use extended sway bar mounts that are reinforced and an extension to the knuckle at the end of the steering shaft. When you purchase one of his kits the cost of extending the knuckle is included, you just need to mail him YOUR knuckle as there are a couple different designs from the factory. I bought my kit new-in-box from another user and Ric kindly did the mod free of charge. As a gesture of thanks I mailed him a couple of the "Spare" knuckles I had here in the garage figuring he could have something on the shelf to make someone else's turn around even faster. As it was mine was only out for about 8 days. If you look closely in the center shot you can see the extension. If you PM me an address I will gladly send you pictures of the knuckle off and n the rack. I even have a stock one to compare it to.

 

I see. Since I'm using V8R parts, the stock relationship is maintained. Always on the look out for cool parts, though.

 

Opps I almost missed this post due to lack of photos...

LOL boy howdy! Nothing like 40 days of testing with a wiring harness to build confidence in wiring abilities!

 

MMM, no. Was less than 40 days for the entire build. The harness took me one weekend. I couldn't get the car to fire and went to bed. Woke up at 330 that morning and shouted "I got it!" {scared the crap out of my poor wife}. The ECU was hooked to a fuse that was powered in the run position, not the Start/Run position. At 7am I moved the wire one fuse and she ran like a charm!

 

LOL yeah my wife she can't read my mind either! It was suppose to be a tong and cheek biblical reference since God so often used 40 days as a period of testing or judgment. It made sense to me but it was pretty much just Jim being dumb!

 

Keep your THONG! And NEVER put it near my cheek!

 

Rear subframe is disassembled and ready to get sandblasted. It wont fit in my cabinet so it's off to a friend's place for a couple days. I am busy painting up the spindles and remaining pieces. I have new wheel bearings and seals on the way ad even found a place that sells NEW rear calipers for $32 each shipped! PM me if you need some, I don't want to **** off the sponsors.
My tubular upper and stock NB lower arms are ready to go with new Poly bushings where needed. I cleaned and painted all the cam bolts too. Goodwin Racing sent me their instructions for mounting the brakes. The set I got was installed but never filled with fluid. Guy started his project and life got in the way.
Once the sub is back in hand I can get rolling...literally!

 

Rear wheel bearings installed with new seals tonight, the Goodwin brake kit is installed ad the spindles are ready t bolt to the subframe. Pics when I get the center of the sub back in hand. This will make the car a roller with a little over a dozen bolts!

I bought a 2002 Miata today. The PO had me install a top last month. Now he wants to get one that is rust free and have me install a supercharger for him. He drove it from Long Island to New Haven CT with a loose negative battery cable and now the alternator is fried. I had to put my jump box on it to drive home. Just got into my neighborhood when they both ran out of juice. I had to hook up the Micro Start box to get the windows up when I parked it. This car will be my gas saver and fun car until I get the Exo running. Then it is up on the block and see-ya-later-bye!

 

Say what? You can't tell us you bought a Miata today without posting photos of it! Well I suppose since you are not going to keep it. With any luck you will blow up the motor and need to put something else in it... Hope it was a good buy and congrats on the find!

 

You need to follow me on FB for stuff like that.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

 

Update of all updates!!!! Finally got the issue with the missing check resolved (Sort of) and my chassis will ship next week! It's like Christmas all over again!!!

I was also able to score a lightly used set of tubular front lower control arms off of one of Keith Tanner's cars. They are from V8R and will allow better tuning of the front suspension. Once they hit the floor I can paint them to match the rest and swap in the Ploy bushings.

Let me take a moment to publicly thank Kevin and the crew at Exomotive for storing the car while I had to go through all this. They could have easily sold that chassis and made me go the rear of the line. Goes to prove that being patient and giving them the time they needed solving their quick growth issues pays off. They have earned this customer's loyalty.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IeH...ature=youtu.be

Here... Hopefully that'll encourage some of you guys to finish up .