'92 Miata: Budget Project Car

[Huzer]

The foamectomy was brilliant, honestly. I took about 3 inches or so off the bottom, and 1.5~2 or so from the seat back. It took me from my legs touching the steering wheel all of the time to not at all. I have about an inch clearance from the bottom of the wheel to my legs. The comfort of the seat is actually better, as I'm more "in" the seat, rather than "on" it. I had my doubts as to the effectiveness of it, so I removed it in as much of a single chunk as I could to make it potentially reversible. I had my old seats as spares anyway.

My last remaining leak may be the rear main. I have a really, really small leak coming from the clutch fork area. The boot was not even in the transmission (jerks that replaced the slave!) I got that back in. The slave itself is fine. Not leaking/not wet, and I have a receipt from the PO from about 6 months ago.

[Shadowden]

If foamectomy is better, did you do passenger seat as well? Perhaps you could dig out only enough of the seat bottom to create a stepped 3" bolster for smaller people...

[Huzer]

Replaced all the bulbs in the car last night. Shaved/polished the turn signal lenses, too. Much cleaner without all of that raised lettering on there to catch wax when the car is worthy of being waxed. For now, the shiniest bits on the car are indeed the lenses.

I have a vacuum/coolant hose kit showing up today, and that will complete replacing all of the hoses under hood.

[Huzer]

I have installed 2 of the 9 hoses from the coolant hose kit. I also now have a set of FM springs and Tokico Illuminas in the garage. I'll be getting the FM tophats for the rear, bumpstops, various boots, and a few other vacuum hoses that I noticed are split. Before I place the final order for underneath the car, I need to do some more poking around to see what else is needed.

[Shadowden]

I have installed 2 of the 9 hoses from the coolant hose kit. I also now have a set of FM springs and Tokico Illuminas in the garage. I'll be getting the FM tophats for the rear, bumpstops, various boots, and a few other vacuum hoses that I noticed are split. Before I place the final order for underneath the car, I need to do some more poking around to see what else is needed.

You are far too experienced to make such a statement:D

[Huzer]

You are far too experienced to make such a statement:D

Oh, I simply meant for the suspension refresh/install I'll be doing.

[G-Man]

It's pretty impressive to see the work you are doing, and the success. Congratulations!

I'm interested:
1. Where did you get the parts and pieces you bought?
2. Ignoring your time and labor, how much money have you spent on the car since you bought it?

I may have a shot at a similar car - rougher motor and body - and I'm wondering what it is going to cost me. And if it is worth it.
Thanks!

[Huzer]

I got into the car for $900, and I'm about $900 into it.

• Tires: $300
• Brakes: $90 (all 4 corners, rotors and pads from NAPA)
• Coolant/Vacuum (All coolant lines, most vacuum lines, $150 from Rosenthal)
• Maintenance (Bulbs/Filters/Etc): AdvanceAuto, used coupons $50
• Springs/Shocks: $450 (Springs:used. Shocks:from local member, NIB )

So, overall, I'm $1940 into the Miata already. It runs strong, will soon handle well, and needs bodywork. Right now, it's a 50-100 footer. Hehe.

[tsx_guy]

that's not bad, impressive miT... good work sir!

[Huzer]

The mirrors looked like crap, so I dipped them today. They look better-ish than the mirrors did, but I'm not a giant fan. They'll get painted body color when I get the car painted. Pics when the blinding sun sets a little bit.

Before:

[Huzer]

I decided to go ahead and order the upper shock mounts for the front. I'll have the new suspension assembled, so next weekend, I'll just have to remove the old, and swap in the new. I'm pretty excited to have a Miata that can handle! I'm forgoing a few things that I should be doing at the same time, but the car is going to get stripped back down in the winter, so I'm not too concerned. I may or may not do sways sometime this summer. I'd say other than break/fix, I'm trying to to spend anything else on the car. Cosmetics drive me crazy, but I want to do them all at once.

I also desperately need to bleed the brakes. The brakes feel like crap.

[coloskydiver]

I would invest in some braided SS lines. The rubber lines that go from the hard line to the caliper get really squsshy over time, especially on a classic like yours. A fairly cheap and worth every cent.

[Huzer]

I would invest in some braided SS lines. The rubber lines that go from the hard line to the caliper get really squsshy over time, especially on a classic like yours. A fairly cheap and worth every cent.

That completely didn't even cross my mind. Thanks for the reminder, I'll be picking up a set.

[erod550]

The rears are a snap. The fronts can be maddening lol. It can be difficult to get everything to hold still while you get the little tongue lined up for the bottom bolt. I have a big dent in my left front fender that may not have been there before the last time I swapped out my suspension. I wish I had punched something else instead, lol.

[Huzer]

Mostly a duplicate post, if you're read the tech meet thread, but the CMZC pit crew installed the new suspension on the Miata this weekend. Fronts, we used the long bolt method. Very easy, once I figured out how to snake the long bolt out. I had prepped on Friday night, pre-assembling the new front and rears, and incorrectly preassembling 1 of the rears (forgot the bumpstop). Assembly time was probably about an hour for all 4, using hand tools. The fronts did not require a compressor. The rears did. Removing/replacing the shocks was relatively quick.

The rears were just as easy (if not a little easier). It was easy to get enough force by foot to get the control arm low enough to get the shock assembly out.

The blurry end result of the suspension install:



The driving impressions thus far are great. Much different having a functional performance suspension, vs a completely failed 21 year old OEM one with 217k miles. Ha!