Project: 1995 Miata

[Sijray21]

You're doing it rong

hahaha - best day ever

[ScottyB]

i love that picture so much

[navin]

During all this, I noticed blue, green, black and dark silver paint come off. Story time kids... how many colors have these wheels been before?!

HAHA, Oh man - lets see... when i bought them off my friend they were OG Silver from Kosei. Then I proceeded to paint them black, was probably drunk and tested the lime green out (sooo hawt), and then settled on blue afterwards...

Never really spent much time prepping - looks like you are taking the time, should turn out dope!

[Jake]

HAHA, Oh man - lets see... when i bought them off my friend they were OG Silver from Kosei. Then I proceeded to paint them black, was probably drunk and tested the lime green out (sooo hawt), and then settled on blue afterwards...

Never really spent much time prepping - looks like you are taking the time, should turn out dope!

...and that's how many colors I counted

The stripping and sanding couldn't get everything off 100% evenly, so the finish isn't perfect. But, it's gonna look megabawlin from ten feet, and good enough close-up, considering it's all spray paint.

I managed to sneak two wheels' of paint and clear during the break in rain this evening. Hoping to do the other two tomorrow morning before I leave for Justin's place. They're going on Monday night, most likely.

Color schemin' below:

[DavidL]

Lookin good Jake! Meg and I will be swinging back through the area on Monday afternoon- we would love to stop by for a driving break/check out yo new rimz! Let me know if you will have some time!

[V1GiLaNtE]

Wow.. Seriously Jake that is hott with the red lug nutz... Keep up the good work man!!

[Jake]

Lookin good Jake! Meg and I will be swinging back through the area on Monday afternoon- we would love to stop by for a driving break/check out yo new rimz! Let me know if you will have some time!

Yeah definitely! Give me a call and see where I am... not sure when Goodspeed and I are heading back to HBurg after Sunday's autocross. Should be home early afternoon Monday at the ├╝ber-latest.

Wow.. Seriously Jake that is hott with the red lug nutz... Keep up the good work man!!

Thanks!! Hoping to get the other two done before I leave for Richmond, and have them on soon thereafter!

[JustinG]

Jake just as a heads up if there ever is a next time, they make that paint stripper in aerosol form, maybe a Little easier to work with. I know I've used it on wheels and valve covers easily. Looking great though, blue just wasn't my cup of tea.

[CaptainHenreh]

No index cards = fail.

[Jake]

I said I would wait until Monday to put them on. Well, I'm like a 5-year-old at Christmas so I wanted to put them on NOW. So I did.

Dig it.

[JustinG]

HOLY WHEEL GAP BATMAN!!!!!

[Jake]

HOLY WHEEL GAP BATMAN!!!!!

Haha yeah, wheel gap is ha-yooge and always has been. I'm hoping to do suspension work this summer to bring it back down to Earth.

[Mike]

HOLY WHEEL GAP BATMAN!!!!!

[Jake]

Pulled a Goodspeed and spent my time cleaning her up this afternoon after some BBQ action. Tried my hand at a Meguiar's claybar kit, and I think it helped some. The paint definitely feels smoother. I have some iffy swirls that according to DJ would be better treated by a good polish. Regardless, after the clay, wax, plastic window cleaner, glass window cleaner, interior detail, and (never complete without) tire shine, she looks pretty good.

[ScottyB]

looks good!

[Jake]

I really hated the stock steering wheel + airbag on the NA's. It's shared with the old-skool MPV minivan and is just too clunky for an otherwise good-looking interior. Wanted to retain the airbag functionality, so my solution was a wheel from a NB (1999-2005) with some custom wiring.

This is from a 99 or 00, since it just has the Nardi Torino logo and no Mazda emblems. Leather wrapped and airbag intact for $150. I had a hard time finding one for so cheap - usually the airbag goes for that much alone, if not more.



It fits right on to the NA's column. I had to drill two new holes on the backside of the wheel for the NA clockspring. The NB goes (hole)(column)(hole) whereas the NA has everything stacked vertically. No biggie, took a few minutes and worked fine.

Also had to splice the connectors from the NA airbag and horn to the NB wires. The wiring is the same, but the connectors are different. Got it all plugged in, re-connected the battery, and huzzah, nothing exploded! The Airbag light goes off, so the circuit is complete (good) and the horn works. Other Miata.net people have done the same swap, and in theory, the airbag will blow if I hit something hard enough. But, nobody who's done the swap has crashed yet. For now, the light is off and that's good enough for me.

[SlimKlim]

Spiffy, but you need a blue shift knob now. 8-)

[Goodspeed]

Cool, looks like a 10AE wheel :thumbup:

[Jake]

Cool, looks like a 10AE wheel :thumbup:

Same wheel, but no blue at all. The lighting makes the spokes look blue-r than the rest of the wheel. In any case, it's all clean now (used a good bit of leather cleaner, then conditioner) and it looks pretty good, and feels SO much better than the crappy stock wheel.

Better picture of everything - made B&W because my pocket cam sucks and made the colors funny.

[Jake]

Do work, get money :thumbup:

Got some paychecks under mah belt, so I bought little parts that I had been meaning to replace and never had.

Up first - oil dipstick. Guy at the Mazda dealer way back when broke the tip off because it was old and brittle. $16 later I have a new purdy one.





Next, washer fluid system. Unlike Mike's VW, mine worked flawlessly for oh, 14 years or so. Only then did it go bust. The little plastic routing tube/plugs things eroded and for the past two years, I have not had washer fluid. FINALLY addressed that.



I replaced both spray nozzles as well, because the stock Miata ones suck and were full of wax anyway. The nozzles from a Mazda Tribute & Ford Escape have a great spray pattern and plug right up, so I bought those.





And then the PCV system. One of the hoses broke so I painter's tape-d it as a quick fix. I bought the whole kit to replace, because the PCV valve/gasket thingy was letting some oil seep out very slowly. Not a big deal but why not fix it, it was cheap enough.