How NOT to make DIY fender flares on a Miata!

It’s been over 2 months since I posted on the flare project.  Not because I have not been working on them but because the endless hours of filling the low spots and grinding the high spots is about as thrilling as watching bondo dry.  Actually if I put the hours working on it into a part time job at minimum wage I could have purchased a wide body kit and paid to have it installed by now!  Well anyway here is an update on it. 

 

In my last post I had the rear frames welded up and ready for glass.  This time I used tape to make bridges between the slats hoping things would be smoother than the fronts.

This looks good at first glance but it was a colossally bad idea because that tape was near impossible to get the tape off after the glass went on.  But not knowing that I glassed them up.

It was better than the fronts but I still ended up with many hours making high spots low and low spots high. 

 

Fixing the rocker rust I did make a normal cap for it but decided to try making a cap that would push the rear out some to fit better with the larger wheels.  So I took a hunk of 3" exhaust pipe and made a support.

Then I formed a panel to cover the rust.

Tech tip a piece of 2 1/2" PVC pipe is the perfect radius for that rocker curve.  

I liked how it looked so I welded it in,

and started filling.

Speaking of filling I also took out the antenna hole.

Fast forward forever of working them and I rolled it out to check for tire clearance.  Crank the sound and check out the video.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSQ4Ry3kE9I

Yeah it was fun!

The clearance was fine but the photos from that trip reveal some problems. As you can see in the photo above I took too much off a couple spots when I ruffed in the radiuses.  Also the drivers front and a weird bump in it I don't like.  It took another couple of weeks of grinding and filling to fix all that. 

I finally got to the point I put a guide coat of flat black on it and rolled it out for another look. 

Yeah I thought the same thing.  GAG!  The fronts are OK but the backs look like a wart on the car.  It looked fine up close in the garage but when it was all one color and I could step back from it she was UGLY!  

So it was back to brainstorming and a few days off.  Solution - add another layer...

This is a hunk of plastic screwed and glued with structural adhesive.  

 And the panel

More glue and screw,

and welding where I could.

20 hours of work later and presto no more wart!

It's coming along but in a nutshell there are LOTS of different ways that are better then this for building flares!  Still it's been fun and there are only a few regrets in it.

I hope things are well with you and you are living large in the joy of the Lord.  Next post paint, but I can’t promise when that will be!

V8 Miata Cooling upgrade and other little stuff.

The flare sculpting is progressing slooooowly. Like all new things it is one step forward and 2 back as I keep trying to get things looking good and symmetrical 

Or in this case wipe on, sand off, wipe on, sand off, repeat....  I've used about 2 gallons of fiberglass so far and as you can see about half of it has been turned into dust!  I have a short video update I made a couple of weeks ago if you want to see it HERE 

 

More on that to come but this post is to update on the cooling system and other stuff I am doing to get ready for summer.

 

I decided to do a cam swap because for about a 100 bucks the new cam will give me 35 more HP, put less stress on the valve train, and well OK I'll be honest and it has a much more wicked idle!

Surprise the cam won't come out because it hit's the core support.
 

Yeah like that would stop me and out comes the saws all! :-)   I got it all back together and if you want to hear it check out the flare video update mentioned above.   

 

Also new this year I decided not to mess with the cooling issues anymore and went for broke on a HUGE radiator.  It's a beast at 5 inches taller and 2 inches wider than my old one!

It is an LS swap radiator for a 60s Chevelle and given that car probabaly weighs 4000 lbs I think I will be in good shape now. 

 It looks low but dosn't not hang down any farther than the AC condenser did.

I had to cut the radiator support quite a bit to push it upwards in the car. It clears the hood by just a hair.  I think it is the biggest possible radiator you could put in an NA miata.

 

This is the new cooling fan to go with the bigger radiator.  It is a 16" and the old one was 11".  It makes an absolute hurricane!

 

I set it off the radiator using a piece of fuel line because a little space between the blade and the fins moves more air. 

 

I finally put horns back in and these are the Camaro horns.  No cute beep beep in this muscle car!

 

The other thing I did under the hood was made a brake pedal support at the end of the master cylinder. 

 

The firewall flexes when you mash down hard on the brakes in these cars and this anchor at the end of the master cylinder is the fix for it.

 

 

I found a great deal on a metal strap mount fire extinguisher so I welded up a proper mount and put my old plastic strap wood mount extinguisher to use elsewhere.



 

I whipped up a couple luggage racks using the wing mounts for them. This one is a tire rack and I also made one to fit my bass drum so I can gig with the car.

 

That about brings you up to speed on the mechanical stuff. I have more body work to show you but will wait till next time so this doesn’t get too long.

 

I hope you had a wonderful Easter season. I always ponder which I enjoy more Easter or Christmas but always decide either would be useless without the other!

 

 

Important stuff for building a V8 Miata - what I would do different.

Tech overload alert!  This is a purely techie post intended for those considering building a V8 Miata and will have no entertainment value at all.

As people ask me questions about how I did this or that I have noticed I keep saying “if I was to do it again I would have…”   So I thought I would crunch all those thoughts down into a post.

Yeah that little bit of rust and all those door dings are a much bigger deal than you think it will be.  First up I would have started with a clean car.  It makes no sense to put hundreds of hours and 10 grand into a car that needs a bunch of body work.  It is far cheaper and easier to start with a good clean car than to do body work or fix rust.   If I was smart I would have bought a clean car, swapped the engine and suspension from it into Jenna to use a daily driver and converted the clean Miata.

Now I do have to point out there are exceptions.  If your grandmother bought your Miata new in 1990 and left it to you in her will that is a whole different deal.  

Kits are grossly overrated and grossly overpriced. The common perception is parts made from Flyin Miata, Monster Miata or V8 Roadsters are better than DIY because they have made hundreds of them and they are proven to work.  I thought that too going in and depending on the skill level of the fabricator that might be true.  However if I was to do it again I would not buy any kit parts except maybe the axles.  Let me give you a breakdown of some of the common kit parts.

V8R subframe is $1280 shipped. If you going to buy any part this is the one because it is the most complicated one in the build.  But you have the pattern with the stock engine cradle and it's not hard to make a plywood V8 to use for a mock up. I could have made the engine mount for $150 in steel and motor mounts and put that extra grand to much better use.

All the kit makers have the same type transmission mounts which is a couple feet of 1x2 with a pipe cut in half welded in the middle. They are priced around $400 but I built a far better mount for 45 bucks in steel, paint and a new Fbody trans rubber mount.

Monster Miata diff mount was $450 and sorry Martin but it is a stupid design.  I could have easily made a much better mount for 65 bucks including all new poly bushings.

Flyin Miata Clutch kit was $260 and the same parts from Speedway or Summit is $120 but you would have to make a simple adaptor to bolt it in.

Flyin Miata V8 radiator is a whopping $950!  Lots of options here but the the LS swap radiator I used from Griffin was $270. It is part # 8-00009-LS designed for a Chevelle but if you bend the mounts to 90 degrees it works fine in the Miata.

There are more but you get the point. 

Now there is no question building these parts is more work and generally the resale value of kit bought parts is higher than DIY, but kit parts are NOT better than DIY from a decent fabricator.  Actually just the opposite is true.  Click the links for the best transmission mount and the best diff mount I have ever seen and both are DIY made.  V8R, Flying Miata and Boss Frog are just normal guys in a garage building parts same as you and I.

Deadlines are satins idea and not good for you.  Most guys that build these cars are goal orientated males that envision themselves tooling down a windy country back road with a hot babe and a cool exhaust note.  Well I’m here to tell you one of the biggest mistakes I made was setting and missing time goals for the build.  It’s the wrong focus that leads to corner cutting and feeling like a loser when you miss.  There are so many things that are beyond your control that impact the time line to build a car like this and virtually everything takes longer than you think it will.  Savor the build process as you would any once in a life time experience and remember it may take a year or two to build but you will spend the next 5 to 50 years with that hot babe enjoying the car.

Tips on planning and building your car.  If you have gotten this far reading this I’m going to assume you are serious about building a car and I would like to give you a few general tips to make the process go better for you.

1 The old sayings around this subject are just as true as they ever were. There is no replacement for displacement. You can have reliability, tons of power or cheap pick any 2. And if the wife aint happy, nobodys happy. 

2 Marry well. If your wife doesn’t support this your build is doomed. Also if you have younger kids spend the time with them now while you can because I can tell you first hand it really stinks when they leave for college.

3 If #1 and #2 are not in good shape stop here, buy a sensible car, focus on what matters.

4 Planning is everything. Take at least a month and read every build thread you can and study the conversion web sites closely. I have yet to hear of any build costing what the builder expected it would so pay close attention to what parts are used so you can cost them in your plan. The big stuff is easy to figure but it's the dozen trips to pick up $20 items that eat you alive. As you weigh the decision to build factor in 30 to 50% more than you think it will cost to build your car and you will probably be about right. It's no fun having Visa own your build when it is done...
Also consider insurance for the car when it is done is rather tricky. See this post for info on that.

5 When you are confident you understand the process develop a build plan. The core of the plan should be a list of needed parts, tools and supplies in the order they will be needed. Consider carefully the lead time for parts in the sequence of the build. NAPA will have the new CV joints on the shelf but the custom axles could take months to get. It’s no fun overrunning your supply line and waiting for parts.

6 Get your shop ready. Now is the time to hang the extra lights and pick up the HD jack stands you have always wanted and don’t skimp on either of them. Also clean all the crap off your bench and from all the corners of the garage because you will have tons of parts to deal with. You are going to spend at least 200 hours on this so make your work space as comfortable and organized as possible.

7 Lay in supplies. It takes 5 rolls of electrical tape, 250 wire ties, 15 cans of brake clean, 1 roll of gaffers tape, 1 roll of masking or painters tape, 1 can of liquid wrench and a bag of floor dry to build a v8 miata. (note a 50/50 mix of ATF and Acetone works 3 times better than anything in a spray can like PB blaster or Liquid wrench) Also pick up a new set of safety glasses, another fire extinguisher and hearing protection. Beer, tea and piss bottle as necessary...

8 Stoke up the tool box. Beyond the obvious hand tools it is very helpful to some duplicates so you don’t waste time looking for tools. Assuming you already have a fairly complete set of hand tools I suggest you add:
3 each of wire cutter, LED pen light and utility knife. (Keep one set under the hood, one set inside the car and one set in your pocket)
2 each 10 mm combination wrench, 12mm combination wrench, 14mm combination wrench, 10 mm deep socket, 12mm deep socket, 14mm deep socket.
1 each 17mm combination wrench, 17mm deep socket, 13mm combination wrench, 15mm combination wrench, 13mm deep socket, 15mm deep socket

9 Prepare for the mental game. The 2 biggest things that trip most people up are wiring and exhaust but most builders don’t expect or prepare for the mental strain of the build. The warnings you hear about this being a marathon not a sprint are true. It is really easy to get down and feel like you are never going to finish when you see little progress with much effort.

I have found the trick is to take the big picture view when I plan but when I head out to the shop just focus on one job at a time. When I don't the enormity of the project freezes my brain like a deer in the headlights every time. With so many systems and parts in process at once it is overwhelming but if I leave my to-do list in the house and just focus on one task in the shop I know exactly what to do next and how to proceed. So even though my list is huge it makes no difference because I only have one thing to work on tonight. And slowly but surely the day will come when that list is down to just a road test!
Remember as you go your build is not going to be amazing someday when you are done - it's amazing now!

10 Your camera is your friend. Take photos of EVERYTHING! Not just for the build thread but to see how it was before you messed with it. I can’t tell you how many times I went back to my photo file to see where that bracket went or how whatever tank bolted on. Yes you will think it is a waste of time and you will never look at a shot you are taking but trust me on this one you can't take too many photos as you go.

11 Be careful what you sell or toss. I went to my Camaro carcass more times than I could count for things I never dreamed I would need. Need a line for the overflow tank? No problem the Camaro fuel line is perfect. Need a heat shield? No problem the Camaro has tons of them. Need a longer 15mm bolt? You get the picture don’t clean out the parts pile till you have some miles on the build.

I hope this post has been beneficial to you as you consider your build process. When you get frustrated and down just remember this