1 2
Osterkraut
Osterkraut UberDork
2/23/17 8:17 p.m.

Lookin' good!

NickD
NickD SuperDork
2/24/17 5:25 a.m.
Keith Tanner wrote: Just showed up on Moti's Facebook page. That's bold.

Just saw the photo. Hahaha, this is gonna be silly.

Feedyurhed
Feedyurhed SuperDork
2/24/17 5:54 a.m.

Loving the the bar and seats install. Looking good. I have a street Miata but I am leaning towards what you are doing.

NickD
NickD SuperDork
2/24/17 6:43 a.m.

This is the exact bar I just bought.

PMRacing
PMRacing SuperDork
2/24/17 6:44 a.m.
dyintorace wrote: More progress on the Miata. A pair of Sparco seats and harnesses. No hardtop latches yet...still need to order some of those. And a soft top. Debating vinyl or cloth, either with a zip out glass window. Damn they're expensive. (Harnesses are not fully wrapped yet) I like how tall the seat backs come up. Keeps me away from the bar.

Make sure you finish looping your harnesses. The 3rd pic down looks like you still need to run the slack back through one more time. Step 4 below. (Step 2 would be around your rollbar)

A lot of people skip the last step, and I have to make them redo it when teching cars at the track. Maybe this is what you meant by fully wrapped.

Stampie
Stampie Dork
2/24/17 6:55 a.m.
NickD wrote: This is the exact bar I just bought.

When you said purple I was not so sure but I like that. I like cajones when people do colors.

NickD
NickD SuperDork
2/24/17 7:21 a.m.
Stampie wrote:
NickD wrote: This is the exact bar I just bought.
When you said purple I was not so sure but I like that. I like cajones when people do colors.

It's going in this car, so it should be interesting.

Woody
Woody MegaDork
2/24/17 4:14 p.m.

In reply to dyintorace:

Nice! Which Sparcos are those?

dyintorace
dyintorace PowerDork
2/27/17 12:13 p.m.

@NickD - I love the color!

@Woody - They are the "Junior". Driver seat is mounted on Sparco sliders and then on a Planted bracket. Passenger seat is mounted directly onto a Planted bracket. The combo fits in the Miata well. They clear both the transmission tunnel and the door panel, although they sit in contact with the latter.

I haven't spent a ton of time in them yet, but they seem pretty comfortable so far. I'm 5'8" and ~165lbs.

dyintorace
dyintorace PowerDork
2/27/17 12:14 p.m.

Some photos of the seats (these are NOT mine but look identical).

Toebra
Toebra Reader
3/2/17 12:46 p.m.

It will be Smurferrific with that bar.

Keith Tanner wrote: One of the guys at FM rang his bell on a roll bar in a crash. It happens. But it's usually less severe than trying to hold a car up with your head, so it's the lesser evil.

I won't take this off track and this has been beaten to death elsewhere, so we will just have to agree to disagree.

NickD
NickD SuperDork
3/2/17 12:48 p.m.

In reply to Toebra:

It's Mariner Blue, it was already Smurferrific. The rollbar showed up today. No photos yet, but it is LOUD. I love it.

NickD
NickD SuperDork
3/13/17 12:15 p.m.

Started installing my Blackbird GT3 this weekend and ran into a curious problem. The instructions say that one of the rear leg bolt holes should line up roughly with an existing body plug, so that you know where to drill for the rear legs. On my '90, that body plug does not exist. There's a couple of rubber body plugs but none of them remotely line up with the bar. So, I ended up wasting an hour or two measuring all sorts of reference points and cutting a template out of cardboard to help me figure out where to drill.

Toebra
Toebra Reader
3/14/17 2:01 a.m.

Mariner Blue makes it a Smurf. Having the purple roll bar from The Joker's Miata makes it Smurferrific

dyintorace
dyintorace PowerDork
3/14/17 5:59 a.m.
NickD wrote: Started installing my Blackbird GT3 this weekend and ran into a curious problem. The instructions say that one of the rear leg bolt holes should line up roughly with an existing body plug, so that you know where to drill for the rear legs. On my '90, that body plug does not exist. There's a couple of rubber body plugs but none of them remotely line up with the bar. So, I ended up wasting an hour or two measuring all sorts of reference points and cutting a template out of cardboard to help me figure out where to drill.

I wonder if it is an NB thing. When I installed my bar, there was a body hole with plug that was close to a hole on the right rear back plate.

NickD
NickD SuperDork
3/14/17 6:26 a.m.
dyintorace wrote:
NickD wrote: Started installing my Blackbird GT3 this weekend and ran into a curious problem. The instructions say that one of the rear leg bolt holes should line up roughly with an existing body plug, so that you know where to drill for the rear legs. On my '90, that body plug does not exist. There's a couple of rubber body plugs but none of them remotely line up with the bar. So, I ended up wasting an hour or two measuring all sorts of reference points and cutting a template out of cardboard to help me figure out where to drill.
I wonder if it is an NB thing. When I installed my bar, there was a body hole with plug that was close to a hole on the right rear back plate.

The instructions are for NA/NB. But, my car was built in May of 1990, so maybe the earlier cars don't have it and there was a running change

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
3/14/17 8:39 a.m.

The cars gained all sorts of stuff back there as time went on - the late NBs have a big wiring harness that's a pain. The bar itself should work as a good template. On the Hard Dog bars, I drill one hole from the top with a long bit and then use the backing plates as a guide for the others. Due to convergent evolution, I would expect the Blackbird bars to attach the same way.

NickD
NickD SuperDork
3/14/17 9:11 a.m.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

We couldn't really get a drill in under the package tray, so we took some measurements, made a cardboard template to get one hole done and then use the bracket as a template for the other two. Time consuming, but it's worked for the one side.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
3/14/17 9:49 a.m.

Thus the long bit. A 12" tool really helps get into those hard to reach places, you know what I'm sayin'?

NickD
NickD SuperDork
3/14/17 9:58 a.m.
Keith Tanner wrote: Thus the long bit. A 12" tool really helps get into those hard to reach places, you know what I'm sayin'?

Yeah. Well, our method was a little more long-winded, but the guy making the template was a machinist for 20+ years and has programmed CNC machines for the past ~15 years, so it came out right. Just a weird little issue we ran into.

NickD
NickD SuperDork
3/17/17 8:24 a.m.

Wrapped up my install last night. I have a sudden craving for Wildberry Pop Tarts. Like dyintorace said, the fit and finish on these is awesome, and aside from the minor aforementioned installation issue due to the peculiarity of being an early car, the instructions were great and it went together fine. Minor issues is, my seat belts don't seem to retract great, despite the reangled retractor and guide.

Toebra
Toebra Reader
3/17/17 1:22 p.m.

Maybe the retracting spring is tired. Those belts have been in the sun a lot of years, maybe get a harness or the stock belts redone.

EvanB
EvanB UltimaDork
3/17/17 2:10 p.m.

In reply to NickD:

My seat belts don't retract well with the Hard Dog bar, they worked fine before. I just live with it.

Did you get my PM about the injectors? I sent it awhile ago but forgot about it until now.

NickD
NickD SuperDork
3/17/17 2:31 p.m.

In reply to Toebra:

It's less a spring tension issue and more of a binding issue

In reply to EvanB:

It may have gotten buried in my e-mail under the deluge of junk. Send another one.

EvanB
EvanB UltimaDork
3/17/17 2:42 p.m.

In reply to NickD:

Sent.

1 2

You'll need to log in to post.

Our Preferred Partners
zsxMLXxVVyy9RKOKTrFenq5q82kdbUSwvRbPZjDnUTWtqrqiM1LG2HdXKbGIpwnP