Stimulus Check Miata

The dirty secret of restoration :) But now you have a basically new engine in your $4k car, which is hard to find on the used market.

As for the fuel lines - if you're ever not sure, just disconnect them and give the fuel pump a bump. The one that squirts goes to the end of the rail that doesn't have an FPR. 

Looking back through this - we have a new product that was just released (I didn't even know it was underway). Too late for this build, but it might be useful for someone else: https://www.flyinmiata.com/NA/thermostat-neck-blanking-kit.html 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

That's way cool and a elegant solution for that problem.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Yeah, I would have totally dropped the ten bucks on that.

In-house design by our own Kyle Tigar. It's actually got a bunch of clever little tweaks to it. Sorry I didn't know it was coming.

No worries. My scrap and glue works fine.

I'm mighty impressed with the (edit:FM's)recent 3D printed stuff. The door bushings are to be among my first luxury purchases for this car. 

Not much of an update, but for a build thread moving as fast as a glacier, it is an update.

I got Falken Sinceras in the stock size (edit: -1 size, stock for a NA6) mounted on my NB 14" wheels.

These are something ridiculous like a 735 wear rating. I could have done better, but blah blah Covid, Local tire shop, blah, convenience, lazy, etc. They should be fine for the car's intended use, and some real tires/rubber are on the someday wish list.

In other news, I have to give credit where it is due. Flyin Miata sent me a care package.

They sent a new, better fitting top hose for their coolant re-route kit completely on their own initiative. I feel with the non-stock hose clamp I used, the other hose would have been fine, but now I potentially can use the fancy silicone hose currently on the car for my challenge car. Stand up stuff that.

In more mundane, yet totally necessary banter, I'm on to painting various interior panels that had lightly rusted,

and mold remediation...Yay!

I still had a mild top leak-not so minor with the hose, but almost dry during fairly heavy rains, so I pulled everything apart to try to improve that situation. 

So, mold remediation. Fun.

From what I can tell, the old top had a leak, and this car was largely garaged. So, when I replaced the top, and parked the car under the deck on the north side of the house, the inevitable happened. That explains my Spanish moss steering wheel. 

I've been using vinegar, the pressure washer, and some heinous bleach based stuff from the hardware store. Well, the top is watertight now, I hope all the mold is gone, and I reinstalled the interior.

I made a new shift boot out of a suede skirt:

and I got some tools for future activities.

Next up, registration, insurance, and what the heck, I think I'll drive it.

Mojo applied over the worst damage on the rear bumper.

Registered, insured, test driven.

The good news is the engine seems solid. I only went 15 miles,but it ran strong-no weird noises or smoke. The bad news is the check engine light came back on maybe 2 miles in.

Annd, the rear wheel bearings are shot.

I have long suspected that I suffered a bit of the old "detail it to sell it" syndrome, because A Lot of stuff has reverted to berked in a very short amount of time. I mean, look at the grease from the wheel bearings, and the mold, and the check engine light...Caveat Emptor. (I'll be honest, the wheel bearing was not subtle today. I may have been starry eyed when I test drove the car.) Oh well,I've got new hubs/wheel bearings for all four corners, and a scanner on the way. No regrets. It is only money, and this car deserves to be brought back.

My new headrest speakers work, but the door speakers do not, so I'll have to check that out. There are lots of rattles in the dash to sort out, and I still need an alignment. Inching closer...

Things were going great today...

...until they weren't.

I got the two front bearings/hubs replaced in short order, But had problems at the back.

On the driver's side, I couldn't get the hub flange to move, and on the passenger's, I screwed up my puller, and eventually broke a caliper mounting ear off the upright, and still couldn't get the axle out.Heat didn't help. I left everything soaking in PB Blaster for the night, some of it with quite a bit of pressure from the press on it. I'll come back with a clear head tomorrow.

My initial search turns up no rear uprights, so if anyone has a spare, please let me know. Good times.

Bummer about the uprights. It seems like the axles either slide right out or take a truly ridiculous amount of force to get out of there.

The rest of the car is looking great though, and once you're over this hurdle I hope you get many trouble free miles!

So, I've been struggling. Above is the passenger's side rear upright. Yep, bent the table on my 20 ton press, and still no love from this axle. Somewhere in there, that little voice in my head started asking me if getting this apart was worth my jiggly bits.

So, I made a hub puller for my slide hammer, and bolted the uprights back to the car.

This pulled two out of three hubs no problem (the old, broken passenger's side is the odd man out, and I have an ebay replacement in hand).

I put the stubborn one back on the car, and hammered away...

...to no avail. Admitting defeat, I called it a night and came back in. If this thing gives me the slightest trouble in the morning, I'm going to order a new axle. For what it's worth, this is the wheel with the noisy bearing.

More obsessive/excessive purchases include a FWD bearing puller/installer kit that I appear to no longer need(its still in the mail), two new rear splash shields, of which I now believe I only need one, a new handle for the glovebox, and a leather steering wheel cover. 

Donuts, bacon, mimosas, and now stuffed pork chops are my consolation on this lovely Thanksgiving Day in Tennessee. Soon, we drive.

I never could get the passenger's axle out of the hub, and that led me to ordering two brand new axles. You know, as long as I was in there. 

While I waited for those to arrive, I figured I'd do new window bushings. Good thing, too, because on the door cards, I found... more mold! 

I also found the door speaker cones had separated from the cages.

So, I glued the speakers back together with some silicone, and used vinegar to clean up that pesky mold. After that, I clear coated the backs of the door cards to hopefully make it harder for the mold to take hold again.

The hubs got new bearings, backing plates and seals.

The diff got new axle seals,

and after a coat of paint, the whole lot was put back together. 

I also put a leather cover on my leather steering wheel cover.

Then, just moments ago, we did a maybe 20 mile test drive. It went well. The internet told me to simply unplug my EGR sensor valve, or some such thing. There were no returning check engine lights on this short drive! Everything seems as it should be. 

Still need an alignment, some more break in miles, to track down some rattles, get the radio working again,etc. 

That's great!

I really like what you're doing with this car.  I know it's all simple stuff, but still fun to see you going thru and old car and making it better again.

Did you find a used spindle?

and did you ever dislodge the stuck axle?  Once I had decided to get all new stuff I think I would have lined up a sledge hammer and gone to town

In reply to jfryjfry (FS) :

I did find a used spindle on E-bay for $150. 

I only have gas for my Mapp Plumber's torch at the moment. Once I get some oxy acetylene, I'll revisit this problem, and maybe rebuild the old stuff for spares. For now, the car has good parts

How deep does the mold wormhole go? Pretty deep.

You see, my sunvisors were wet and moldy. Like foam and cardboard inside a plastic sheath wet. So I got the brilliant idea to put them in the dishwasher. Then they were really wet. Like no amount of time in the sun would dry them out wet. So I peeled them down to their rusty frames.

I cleaned them up, hit them with paint, and covered them with the material from the same suede skirt that gave its life to become my shift boot.

They're quite dainty.

In other news, I took a 60 mile romp this afternoon, so I'm up to 103 miles on the rebuild. Everything feels good.

There is a bit to report.

First, the stereo is fixed. I reverted to the stock harness, and that did the trick. My glued door speakers were a success, and it sounds quite good, especially considering the bulk of it is almost 24 years old.

I celebrated with a stubby, fixed antenna to replace the power unit.

In other news, the shocks are leaking fairly extensively. So I'll do new ones all around in the new year.

As such, I threw the old wheels back on, and have been driving in the afternoons. The heavy wheels are awful. 

Today, as I was getting really near 500 miles on the rebuild, the slave went. In city traffic. As rush hour was beginning. Suffice to say, I made it home with no major incidents, but it was an adventure. 

So, yeah, I've been going for afternoon drives. I passed 500 miles, and did an oil change. Nothing shiny, but I'd describe the oil as cloudy. 

I have to admit something. I overfilled the oil, and was too dense to recognize that fact. I finally noticed after a particularly spirited romp when the engine was smoking. Since then, there is a strong smell of oil burning, particularly after a hard run, when I come to an Idle at stop. It does persist, but seems to be clearing out. Hopefully, I just have to burn the excess oil out of the exhaust. Otherwise, I popped valve seals, or broke rings. Going to keep driving, and probably do a compression test. I am an idiot.

Also, the new slave cylinder didn't handle my clutch woes. This was full when I left it last night: (the clutch pedal has not been touched since)

I could find no sign of it leaking down, neither inside the car, nor here at the reservoir. Today, the master cylinder body was wet, so a new one is on order. You have to hand it to the PO, he drove everything to within an inch of its life. Maybe he drove just a bit easier than I do.

I feel your pain on the rust restoration. Feels never ending but great job so far! 

What are you going to do with your second round of stimulus checks? 

To russ_mill: Honestly, the only rust is the interior bits. Repercussions of a leaky top, and garage storage. All in all, like the mechanical fallout from 265K miles, I count myself lucky to dodge the bodywork bullet.

To Scotty Con Queso: Funny you should ask, there is a deal on a '94 auto parts car in the works. I'll update when things progress a little further.

One thing I haven't mentioned, my headlights are possessed. A bit of internet sleuthing, and I have some potential fixes. First up, the linkage bushings are worn. I already broke my "Take it easy on the Postal Service during this Christmas Hell" rule by ordering the clutch master. Once We're past the holiday, I'll order shocks, headlight linkage bushings, and what not, and try to get this thing "finished". 

New clutch master cylinder installed. All seems well, but I'll have to drive a bit before giving it the A OK.

It was a white Christmas (I mean, for TN)

The parts cannon has been reloaded. Next up: shocks.

We made a quick run over the border into Georgia, and brought home this:

Let me introduce Buck the tragic Miata.

Why Tragic? Other than the smell and the fact it has no title, there's this:

A major thanks to HoserRacing for another awesome, trouble-free GRM transaction. 

We did a banzai run over the 200 mile trip, stopping only to pick up the car, and fuel it up.

This thing may eventually get its own thread, as I detail how I plan to use every part of the buffalo. If I had bought this 6 months ago, I could have saved major cash on the M, but what the heck, spare parts are always good. The engine runs strong, and the suspension feels better than the other car (for now). It's got decent brakes, and a good set of wheels. 

Don't forget,  x19 parts donor too! Challenge budget free!!!