We todd did Miata

[mekken]

I bought this around October of 2012 so this will be more like a catch up or log book of the work I've done. I've taken a shit ton of photos and there will be plenty posted so enjoy I guess The original intent was to just daily drive it while I worked on other projects, or at least thats what i told my gf ..... So about the car, its a 1999 with a few factory options installed like a nardi steering wheel, front lip and side skirts, ugly trunk rack, bose stereo system, and a LSD . The condition of the car was horrible. Every panel had a dent or scratch of some sort. The tires were bald, interior was gross and the top was ripped in multiple spots but.... it was cheap and i like cheap!!!



The car is completely different now so bear with me untill i get to the good stuff!!!



Pics start to get better a little later on btw... The day i brought it home.









Pics hide flaws so heres some close up shots...







Stick on wood grain and a style bar...score!!







Wood grain went bye bye very fast

[mekken]

A week or two went bye and i started to feel like a dickwad driving a beat up stock Miata around. So i started doing small clean up type stuff. Not pictured but i also removed the style bar and ugly pin striping.

I fixed the front lip since it was cracked in multiple places and sprayed it flat black... I sanded it, Zip tied it, Plastic welded it, filled it, and primed and painted it lol



This shit had alot of cracks







Painted and installed





GF's dad had a brand new set of Toyo's in my size that he donated to my cause. These get recycled onto some new wheels in the future so remember them...



This photo made me realize my headlights looked terrible so a little wet sanding and polishing and they looked good as new..... before and after







Next my front license plate bracket was bent and rusted to hell so i found some scrap aluminum and bent up and welded a new one.



Test fit



Drill it and mount it







My bumper looked like shit from the old bracket hitting it but a little compound made it look somewhat better later on.

[Thate34Guy]

Looks good nice progress.

[electricalbox]

Awesome, keep it up!

Sometimes doing the minor stuff like you are doing really makes a huge difference when it finally gets the "low and wide" treatment.

[mekken]

Now at the time the Miata was just supposed to be a daily and not a project..... At least thats what i told my girlfriend . I had a project Jeep that i had been working on/dumping money into for years already so she was not pleased with me when when Miata and Jeep parts started showing up together.

Sadly i sold the Jeep a few months ago. I just lost interest and it was sitting around not being driven. I regret selling it but it freed up alot of project money for my girly car. Speaking of my Jeep


This is how she looked when i got her after sitting in weeds for a couple years.







And the way she looked before selling her...









Anyway...... I couldn't stand the 4x4ness and stock poorly spray painted wheels of the miata soooo......



Purchases where made....





Wheel size is 15x9 -0 offset. Yes their shitty XXR's... (dont worry this will change in the future)

Getting the tire to seat on the bead was fun.. The ether/hairspray method scared me and I didn't have access to a cheeta air tank so I improvised with a junk 22" tire and some straps. Remember those new Toyo proxes?? They were a perfect fit. A little tall but they work great. Tire size is 195-50-15.









I couldn't fit the wheels without the lowlows so a few days later my favorite big brown truck dropped off these Megan EZ street coils

[C.Johnston]

sorry but how does

this, look better than...


this..


bent bracket nobody can see.. or damaged front bumper with plate off to the side... i don't get it

[mekken]

Looks good nice progress.

Thanks

Awesome, keep it up!

Sometimes doing the minor stuff like you are doing really makes a huge difference when it finally gets the "low and wide" treatment.

Im pretty meticulous so the small things mean alot to me.

sorry but how does

this, look better than...

this..


bent bracket nobody can see.. or damaged front bumper with plate off to the side... i don't get it

Honestly that bracket was made out of free material and boredom on a saturday. I know it wasn't necessary or aesthetically pleasing at the time but the stock bracket looked like shit from every other angle. Could i have made a bracket to mount in the center?? Yes but mounting it to the tow hook was much easier.

[electricalbox]

I think he is referring to the center mounted plate blocking all the scrapes and such on the middle of the bumper, not technically the plate placement.

[mekken]

I know..... It definitely showed the scratches but like i said it was just something made out of boredom. It's not even on the car anymore

[mekken]

My GF surprised me with this awesome key holder



Its a gun key holder thing She hates when i spend money on the car but likes to buy stuff herself when she thinks its cool. makes no damn sense to me....

Before installing anything I figured I would freshen up the wheel wells and clean the brakes.

Before..



After..




Next up I needed to roll my fenders and couldn't see myself spending $200+ on a fender roller so while exploring my option's I watched a DIY bat method video and figured what the hell.. If shit went south while doing it I would buy a fender roller. I'm pretty meticulous and it took me a few hours but it came out perfect. FYI heat gun is a must!!!!

[mekken]

I wound up having to trim some tabs along with the fender roll but after that nothing rubbed. I did a little cell phone photoshoot and was pretty pleased with the turn out!!

[SoLOwX3]

lmfao at thread title had to read it out loud a few times before I got it. Not a fan off 002s but would like to see where this goes. Keep it up bro.

[XkokidureX]

Hmm, interesting...

[mekken]

Thanks guys^^^

Gave my boy Jack a ride (miatas are not big dog friendly) and tinted the tailliights all red.







Shortly after Hurricane Sandy i picked up a hard top on craigslist for $400 bucks!!! It was a little rough paint wise but good as a whole. It came off a flooded 90 NA a towing company was parting out and I don't think they looked up the value of these tops since they took my first offer.... should have offered less

[mike-81-240d]

Everybody is getting steals on hardtops these days... My brother still hasn't found one below a grand locally haha.

Fenders came out great btw!