Yeah, I know. Still am sorry you and Michelle won't be there.
Trying to get the bumper trim on. Special editions says to remove the rubber center to remove the bolts and center and mark the holes. Any suggestions as to how to remove the rubber center? It came out of the side molding fairly easily but the bumper molding is narrower and very tight.
Temp here is about 65F.
Gently massage the rubber a few inches at a time with a heat gun on low. A hair dryer on high might get it to move but it'll take a looong time. Don't get too aggressive with the heat or the rubber will blister - you just want to warm it up about a foot at a time and then pull it straight away, rather than trying to slide it along the length of the aluminum piece.
Yeah, what he said. If it was warmer I'd recommend just putting it out in the sun for a while, but not this weekend.
Gordon & Lane, thanks for the advice. I managed to get the two rocker rub strips installed as well as the rear bumper trim. Not fun. Though I did have able help from my wife, Angela. She want to know when I will be “finished”…
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Finished??? it will never be "finished"
Nice work, Chris!
Some pics from two weeks ago when my brother flew in from California to help me get it started. He is the guy without the white hair…
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Chris: Were you able to get the bumper aluminum deco ends to lay flat against the FG bumper? In past builds, I've used a block of wood and a C' clamp to draw the aluminum down, occasionally a small gap would remain. My fix, a self-tap 5/15" hex head screws every 2" ( do a small pilot hole ) it draws down and the heads are hidden by the rubber deco strip. I used a cut off wheel to remove the screws extending through the back side of the bumper.
Excellent pics and what great help you have there. Two peas in a pod, looks like. You just could not bring yourself to drill into that great paint, eh?? Had to lay that off on the help. Tell me about the CV half shafts. Who mfr?
Saranac -- they make a very fine beer.
@El Frazoo, yes, my brother was a great help. And yes, I did give him the task of drilling into beautiful paint on new fiberglass. In my earlier life, I was a big air cooled guy, but he was much more serious. He spent three and a half years in Zuffenhausen in the late eighties, early nineties as an apprentice at Porsche. But he could only be here one weekend so now I’m drilling holes in my rocker panels and bumper. The CV joints and axles are EMPI, came in the hardware kit from Carey at Special Editions. And yes, Saranac is a great NY beer. Unfortunately I cannot find it in SC.
@Alan_Merklin, the bumper aluminum strip had hard bends at the end which meant straightening it with some scrap 1x4s and channel lock pliers. Then used some rubber strips and wood blocks to bend it to match the curve of the bumper. I like your fix of the small screws every two inches. I will try that on the front bumper. Thank you for the advice!
I recently had "some issue" with my left-side drive line, documented in another thread. Long sad story having to do with loose castle nut. Anyway, "while I was at it" I decided the CV joints needed to be replaced. I was not sure that the ones there (EMPI) were OK or not, but upon removal, it seemed to me not everything was kosher. I shopped around and found a pair (Chinese made, but AB-SO-LUTELY, gauran-fking-teed to be better than OEM, finest possible materials used, exceeding all specs, and etc. etc.) And a very favorable price where some other suppliers cost more and were "out of stock". Upon receipt, I had to admit they looked pretty good and I can say they turned very smoothly by hand vs. the EMPIs I took off. So that was a hard lesson learned: those damn castle nuts need to be tight as can be, plus another 25 ft-lbs -- 250 is not too much, they say. And retourqued from time to time as a maintenance item. Just so you know.
PS and BTW: your car is gorgeous.
Hey, wait a minute. Are you a NY transplant to SC? I see NY plate, and yes, Saranac is a good beer. But more importantly, the Adirondacks are a GREAT area. Where were you from? I'm in the Hudson Valley, somewhat near Newburgh and Middletown, just south of New Paltz.
Car is looking great!
@DannyP yes, we are transplants from NY to SC. I grew up in Duchess county, we raised our kids in Orange County in Cornwall, NY. We love the Adirondacks, spent many Summers camping up there. We still visit on a regular basis as one of our daughters lives outside Albany.
Down here we spend a lot of time on the “upstate” of SC, that is the Northwest corner of the state. Great driving roads there and into Western NC.
Chris, PM me if you come up to Albany, I'm in Ulster County Wallkill, about 15 minutes off I-87. That is, unless you fly to Albany, then umm, that's a bit(90 minutes) further...
You are correct, western NC and northern SC are gorgeous! Ditto for north Georgia.
Another update. Followed Alan’s advice and the front bumper trim went on much easier.
Installed a floor jack in the spare tie well with leather straps to hold the tool kit. Also added bracket and belt for spare tire.
Major milestone today, it is now registered and on the road in SC!
I would like to thank everyone on this site who offered great advice and support, it is much appreciated. Special thanks to Carey and the team at Special Edition for the great support. And last but not least, thanks to @Lane Anderson with all of the assistance getting the engine installed.
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Gorgeous, Chris. Sorry I missed you at Ale and Octane last weekend.
I plan to start on the updated Speedster owners' manual in the next week or so and will probably need to schedule some time with you for a photo shoot with your car, if that's ok. I know @chines1 will be glad to see some progress there.
Lane, no problem, just let me know when you want to get together.
So, some observations after taking the car on a “confidence run” today. I filled the tank, certainly tricky with the short filler neck `AWZtrying not to get any on the trunk carpet. I think it was full but the fuel gauge only went between 1/2 and 3/4. Probably cannot expect big accuracy when it is at the corner of the tank. I put about 90 miles on it today, bringing the total to just over 100. That’s more than some of the Speedsters sold on BAT…
Driving it at speed (two 30 minute legs of 65-80 mph) makes it clear that one is quite exposed to the elements. It makes the Miata feel large and quiet.
It is a blast to drive, very quick. It has a great rush from 3,800 rpm to 5,000 when accelerating hard. The webers sound very nice. I was impressed with how much “push” I felt when hitting the gas while cruising at 75-80 mph. 80 mph is just over 3,600 rpm. After arriving at work I got out to hear a dull roar, now I have confirmed that the oil cooler fan thermostat switch is functioning!
Getting the mirror adjustment right is tricky, they are small mirrors and this car does not have any square edges for reference when backing up.
Brakes are very good, not having power brakes brings back memories of my old beetles, though the four wheel disks on this car have much better bite.
When going over a bridge at speed in windy conditions, it did remind me a bit of sailing, the front feels light. I have the tire pressures set at 28psi rear and 20 psi front.
Checking underneath, noticed some seepage from the valve covers onto the heater boxes. The gaskets will get replaced in 200 miles when I do the 300 mile initial oil change and valve adjustment.
Lots of attention at the gas station and thumbs up from people in the street. The car just makes people smile. Looking forward to the madness!
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So the typical 90 degree bent arm fuel float is notoriously inaccurate because of the way the tank is set in the frunk. As you discovered a full tank reads at a 1/2 tank and it won't move for a while then it takes off and seems to empty rather quickly. You can remove the sender/float assembly, bend the arm a little more and reinsert the float assembly so that it reads closer to full. Be careful though with the amount of fuel in the tank so it doesn't spill out if it's full. It might actually be easier to empty the tank and put in 2-3 gallons and get it to read empty. At least that way when you have 2-3 gallons left it will read empty but with a 2-3 gallon reserve and you'll want to go get fuel. You can do this with whatever amount of fuel makes you comfortable.
If it's the same gauge set as in my Coupe you should be able to set the upper and lower limits on the fuel gauge by buttons on the interface box (can't remember the name) between the sender and the gauge itself. I'll see if I still have the file from Mike Fincher with instructions. If not, we can get it from him.
For mirrors I posted this sometime ago and have mine adjusted this way and it eliminates the blind spot. It does not do much for parking to see the car edge though.
Some have convex passenger side mirrors btw. Here is a link and there are others if you search
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Looks like you have the Aero mirror like I had on my Speedster, but yours are door-mounted, which is much better for visibility. You may want to consider replacing the passenger side one with a convex mirror.
After I changed my fender mounted passenger side mirror to convex I decided to do the same on the driver’s side. I find them both fairly useful now.
But I still have problems backing into a parking spot dead straight - especially when rolling into a cars and coffee.
I have convex on both sides too on my door-mounted mirrors.
@Jon T posted:After I changed my fender mounted passenger side mirror to convex I decided to do the same on the driver’s side. I find them both fairly useful now.
But I still have problems backing into a parking spot dead straight - especially when rolling into a cars and coffee.
Is it the mirrors? . Just kidding
The reason I keep posting the how to eliminate the blind spot is that it is particularly handy with smaller mirrors like my VW GTI 2020 where they shrink them because you need to buy the BSM Blind spot monitor module. but on my IM it works really well for me but then I have all my cars set up that way (helps to remember ) except the new Atlas 2023 where BSM blind spot works pretty well and seeing the side of the vehicle is imperative as VW has not yet figured out how to dip the mirror on the passenger side like my MDX Acura did in 2012. BTW My 16 Honda Odyssey had side view mirror with a camera for lane changes.
Sometimes the Germans are asleep.
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Thanks Stan. That’s the perfect solution for my Spyder. For some reason, my lexan screen sits lower than most and any mirror that is dash mounted underneath it is too low to see over the hump in the clamshell. I’ve been contemplating drilling a hole through it to mount one at the top.
Since they’re so cheap, I think I’ll get the rectangular one, too, and see which one I prefer.
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@IaM-Ray Thanks for mention, Ray!
On my previous VS, I used this detachable mirror to eliminate passenger-side blind spots when I had my surfboard in the car. Click on pics to enlarge.
On my currents VS, this is the detachable mirror I use when surfboard is in the car.
Both mirrors also helped eliminate passenger-side blind spots when the top is up (with or without side curtains).
Hope you find these visual references helpful.
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@IaM-Ray posted:The only other option is to install a 911 rear tail light pod but make it a camera of sorts and have a screen under the dash that flips up
I have a Rexing rearview mirror dashcam on my wife's SUV and putting the rear mount camera in the 911's tail light pod maybe an interesting way to get a full camera view in the Speedster.
This will eliminate any issues seeing what's behind, backing up, and it'll record any accidents both front and rear. Interesting thought.
You could always have a cylinder that props it up and down or vice versa
Yeah, but… um…
never mind.
@dlearl476 posted:Thanks Stan. That’s the perfect solution for my Spyder. For some reason, my lexan screen sits lower than most and any mirror that is dash mounted underneath it is too low to see over the hump in the clamshell. I’ve been contemplating drilling a hole through it to mount one at the top.
Since they’re so cheap, I think I’ll get the rectangular one, too, and see which one I prefer.
I got my mirrors today. The clip is kind of hard plastic so I’m going to put some of my vinyl protective tape over the edge of my windscreen, both to protect it and give it a softer surface to grip onto.
Also thinking the suction cup might work. It’s cheesy plastic, but it will work.
BTW, I spent some time at Chris' place last weekend taking pictures for the updated Beck manual. It is really a beautiful car.