Painting the Miata

Well i finally got around to painting the Miata.  With the help of some friends i was able to get most of the dents and dings out and the BIG door dent filled.

 My home made dent puller.  I welded some 10-24 threaded rod to the car and then welded some nuts together up to the size of the slide hammer thread.  It worked AMAZINGLY well.  Very little filled used.

 All sanded down and ready to be moved for paint.

 Taping...  Not fun but done.

 COLOR!  Thanks to my painter Eric!

Well some of my hard starting issues were related to a weak battery.  I replaced it and now it is starting MUCH better!  yay!

I've gotten the Miata on the road and driving (sometimes).  I've been searching for the cause of a hard starting issue.  I first thought that it was a "dirty ignition" which is common for Miatas.  But i took it all apart and cleaned it with little to no results :(  The next task is to check the starter i just have not had a chance to remove it and take it in for a testing. 

There have been odds and ends that need attention, one of them being the drivers side headlight bucket.  With a bit of work i went from this (not able to latch the hood)

To this, its not perfect but will do for now.

I've also had to replace the shocks in the front end.  They were pretty easy to change out, nicely designed Mazda! 

On one of my few drives in the car i was buzzing up a inclining twisty back road, and i got my first bit of power on oversteer, NOT understeer that i have been SO use to with all the FWD cars that i have driven.  The car felt VERY good, planted and very controllable. :)   Unfortunately i have not been able to mess with the starter, partly due to working on a friends car taking up what little free time i have, but it pays some of the bills... oh well.  Maybe "this week" i can get the starter off and checked out :'( 

Over this past weekend i was able to dig another trench and run the TV cable in my garage so when im out there this winter i will not be missing my Bills playing on TV.  I still have to run the permanent Natural gas line.  But i think that will have to wait a little longer.

This winter i need to paint the whole car and at the very minimum tires for the car... But i have a lead on some Ground control springs and koni shocks so that would be a LOT of fun on the Solo courses!

The Miata is coming along.  Ive got the front end in place, the fenders and the hood.  I'm currently trying to fit the drivers side headlight bucket and cover.  Right now they interfere with each other.  But in the may-lay of the miata and letting my friend use the garage i lost the key to the miata!  Ahhh I've got a new lower radiator hose bought, cut and installed.  I filled the system (i can't bleed it yet) and i noticed the res tank was VERY dirty so i took it out and scrubbed it up.  Wile it was out i noticed the pick up straw was clogged with goo.  So i cleaned that up as well.  I also need to finish the underside and get the exhaust removed (bent) and the new stock one installed.

A old'ish pic 

The wife and kids left town for a few days (long weekend).  So i was planning on getting a lot of work done on the Miata.  I got done what i hoped even though i had a pretty good Sinus infection.

All spot welded into place.

Fishplate on the outer frame rail.

Fishplate on the top of the frame rail

And since the rest of the welding was done, and the welder was still out, i figured i mine as well start to stitch weld the chassis.

I've still got a fair bit of work to do on the underside to the sub frame connector that was squashed in the accident.

I've got the frame section spot welded into place, wile i source the rest of the replacement parts and spot weld them into place to make sure that all the gaps are correct.

Another project?!

Yea so i bought a wrecked 1995 Mazda Miata with only 50,000miles.  I MUST be gluten for punishment?!  Wile it does need a fair amount of work i will have it done and driveable WAY before i can get the Locost done.  So onto the updates with the Miata.  A trip to the junk yard and truck full of parts i have most of what i need to make the repair, Hood, fender, Radiator and fans, bumper and cover.

This is how the Miata looked when i bought it... A bit rough, but fixable.

This is the main damage, the upper radiator support is bend the front bumper support, and the left side frame rail is bent.

Frame rail

Trying to pull all the damage out....

 Not bad after just a few hours

 

 This was completely collapsed from the accident.

With the help of a friend i was able to get the upper rad support off as well as the bumper support, i've also cut out the damaged frame in this picture.

New frail rail set in place, waiting for the other parts so that i can weld it in.

In the mean time wile waiting for the front end parts there is some damage to the drivers side frame rail , so im removing it and im going to repair that as well.

That is where im at to date.