Sunday, March 29, 2020

Untitled


Monday, March 23, 2020

Miata: Tires, Brakes, Wheel Bearings, Hubs, Federals

Rear driver-side is done. Remembered I had a wheel bearing puller from forever ago, so it made quick work of removing and installing the wheel bearings and hubs. The biggest issue was getting the C-clip out and back in. Coated everything in some high temp grease and re-installed. Had to refurbish the caliper, but it wasn't a big deal. Some rust remover, solvent, and a plastic wire brush made it easy. Cleaned, re-painted, and re-greased everything before putting it all back together. Noticed one of the infamous anti-rattle "M" springs fell out, so I'll probably order a replacement set before finishing the other side, even though I know they aren't necessary. The Supermiata braided SS brake line is installed and good to go. I rounded the compression fitting nut taking the old line off because I didn't have a line wrench, but a small pipe wrench got it off and all back together. I can put off buying a flare tool...for now. While I was at it I cleaned the wheel arch and suspension components. My buddy, Alec, also got the  Federals mounted! Finishing up the passenger side brakes and then I'll swap wheel spacers up front (going 0.25" wider) and get this thing road worthy again. I think my battery shit the bed, so add that to the list of things I need to waste money on.


 
 

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Miata: Rear Brake Disassembly


Started working on the rear brakes after my Supermiata braided stainless steel lines came in only to realize that my rear wheel bearings are toast. Ordered some replacements that should be here soon as well as some 205/50/15 Federal 595 RS-RR's.Found some deer jerky remnants from an incident a few months ago, but Otis made quick work of it. Cleaning and refurbishing the calipers before putting it all back together.


Saturday, March 7, 2020

Miata: Gutting, Front Brakes, Gram Lights, and Banner

I recently bought a truck (1998 GMC C1500) and no more than 2 days into owning it I started drunkenly tearing the Miata apart one night. I woke up the next day and kind of regretted it, but hey, thats why I bought the new toy-hauler and daily. After fully gutting the interior I trimmed the dash and painted it, re-loomed and simplified the chassis harness, painted the dash bar, and made a tombstone delete plate (it'll be color matched and house a few switches). Basically I'm removing weight, any unnecessary items, and simplifying wiring. Planning on color matching the interior sheet metal Montego Blue, getting a few gauges, getting a driverside bucket, and maybe a shift knob. That'll be it interior wise until I fully cage the thing.

 
 




Then my friend, Alec Shaddox (@lowstylestang), found a set of 15x8 Gramlights 57DRs for a price I couldn't refuse, so I picked them up to use as steer-ers and daily wheels with plans of repainting them silver or bronze, but the white is kind of growing on me. That and they're basically brand fucking new, so I'd feel bad about refinishing them.


 Soon after that I sarted cleaning up my suspension and wound up breaking a slider bolt in the front driverside caliper, so I sourced on from a local junkyard, painted it, and continued working. Cleaned and repainted or cleared the parts I would keep and then installed the new rotors, brake pads, upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, and brake lines. Not using my brake lines as a bungee cord anymore is pretty tight and now I can actually get full lock from the ArrowFab modified knuckles.




Made a radiator cooling plate that has since been color matched Montego Blue. The maitas paint is pretty rough. It's been hit total of 5 times so far since I've owned it and I've hit a handful of curbs streeting, so i'm not in a rush to fix it. I'll save that for when I get a new kit.


While waiting on some more parts such as tires for the Gramlights, rear brake lines, and other small items I decided to clean up and re-spray my OEM daisys aluminum silver since I hated the black/machine the previous owner did. Not perfect, but they look a LOT better and it's good enough for a drift car.


Also had my friend Seth Allen (@smithnosebar) make a handful of new VERMIN banners that I designed. Turned out pretty rad. These aren't for sale; I'm giving them to homies with cars I think are tight. 

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Integra: Photo Timeline

I recently signed onto an old build thread account over at clubintegra.net (CI) and noticed it's gone to shit. I've lost a lot of photos thanks to tinypic, photobucket, and design changes at CI, so I decided to save and scavenge up all I can and dump it here for future reference. These are for the most part in chronological order, but no promises. A lot of things happened between all these photos; big and small, but I'm not going to upload photos of or explain every little change. Check the (Integra) page for a current build sheet and a maybe a few photos.


Right before high school graduation I totaled my truck in a head on collision (not my fault) and needed a car to go back and forth to college and a shitty delivery driver job. It's wild that I originally bought this as a commuter for college with no intentions of keeping it more than a few years. Here's a small look into the history of my ownership of the car I'll never sell.

 Earliest photos I could find of the Integra. I know this isn't the day I bought it because it had hubcaps that I rocked for a few months until I lost one. This early-mid 2009.

Got some GSR Blades after months of searching on CL for a decent set.

Then got some coilovers, 949 6UL's, painted my corner lights, and an ebay ITR lip. Color matched skirts too. This is when I really started to enjoy the car.

Pulling the Stock B18B1 in 2012? A few months after purchasing the DB I rode in a friends turbo DC and was hooked. I started slowly buying parts while working and being in college full time. I was so fucking broke, but it was worth it. I had been collecting B18C1 parts for almost 3 years. / Pops and I during the first start. He was exhausted, haha.

 
B18C1 swap complete. / Initial turbo set-up installed.

 
 Heading to Fusion works to get tuned. Fun fact: the tow truck driver monster trucked a curb and the integra almost fell off the truck bed. / First dyno runs at Wichita Dyno. Tuning by Ray of (Fusionworks).

I had terrible over-heat issues so I wrapped the manifold and downpipe.

 Had a local fab shop weld a cage in and I color matched it.

Cut to door bars out to fit some new seats. / These bad boys.

Cut the rest of the cage out because that shit aint safe without buckets and 5-points... plus I was never happy with it in the first place.

 
COP Kit and Circuit Hero strut tower brace installed.

 
Another dyno session at Wichita Dyno. This is probably the 3rd or 4th one. Focus was boost-by-gear. Notice the new hub dyno 👍. Tuning by Ray of Fusionworks.


 Bought my dream wheels as a college graduation gift to myself.

Got a new GSR trans with LSD and did a ton suspension work. A little while later ( maybe a year?) I got aSpeedFactory tucked intercooler because I was still having overheat issues. This is by far my favorite addition since turbo. I can beat the shit out of it non-stop on a summer day and stay below 203*F.

That's about it for now. I'll post as more shit happens, but I'm pretty content with where it sits. So don't expect much that often. I have a drift miata and a motorcycle to work on, so I've  just been maintaining and enjoying the integra as much as possible.