The Cure for Miata's Cancer

[MazKid]

Hah, sorry I forgot to bring the camera each time I went over. But, brought the car home tonight.
Primered! Will be painted(along with the quarters and rockers, well, sorta) starting Thursday.

[Lex]

Looking good - rust is a bitch to get rid of and you did a good job!

[Jho]

Looks much better Ryan.

[MazKid]

I only did a bit of welding, my friend Tom did all of the work. He's amazing at this stuff. It wasn't just surface rust either, part of the structure behind the body was also rusted, on both sides. I learned a lot watching as well.

But, after driving the Miata home, I realize it is awful slow. So, I'm thinking of doing a KL swap. I talked to my brother and it's not a hard thing...just need a Grand Vitara engine, KL ECU and harness(he has lots of KL parts), and maybe a custom intake manifold depending on how a stock FWD KL manfold fits(will be facing the firewall but I might be able to route it into the huge cowl space which would be great for cool, pressurized air anyway). This project will happen after the Pro is turboed, which will happen once my brother gets a BP in the storage unit and I am able to make oil lines and stuff.

[Jho]

I only did a bit of welding, my friend Tom did all of the work. He's amazing at this stuff. It wasn't just surface rust either, part of the structure behind the body was also rusted, on both sides. I learned a lot watching as well.

But, after driving the Miata home, I realize it is awful slow. So, I'm thinking of doing a KL swap. I talked to my brother and it's not a hard thing...just need a Grand Vitara engine, KL ECU and harness(he has lots of KL parts), and maybe a custom intake manifold depending on how a stock FWD KL manfold fits(will be facing the firewall but I might be able to route it into the huge cowl space which would be great for cool, pressurized air anyway). This project will happen after the Pro is turboed, which will happen once my brother gets a BP in the storage unit and I am able to make oil lines and stuff.

All sorts of big projects in store huh?

[MazKid]

All sorts of big projects in store huh?

Hey, gotta keep myself occupied. The Miata's proposed swap will happen once my brother gets this shop he's been looking at. That'll give me a place for it...the turboing of the Protege can happen at my house as it's a much easier and quicker project. Fixing the rust is a very nice step into the future of the Miata. Sure, said and done it'll cost $1K or so, but it's either spend the 1K now or wait for the car to rust apart and hope to find another in as good of shape - but it'd still cost a lot or would require a lot of work.

[gtx510]

AJ-V6 swap from a Jag Type-S or Lincoln LS?

[aliennation95gt]

on miata.net ther ewere pics of a kl swap already done if that hels.
for a 1.6 in mine there pretty peppy, i kept up decent with newer cars and 160,000 mile son mine.

But looking good gettign rid of the rust
(for that price i woudl have sold you a whole car lol) playing.

But lookign good

[MazKid]

on miata.net ther ewere pics of a kl swap already done if that hels.
for a 1.6 in mine there pretty peppy, i kept up decent with newer cars and 160,000 mile son mine.

But looking good gettign rid of the rust
(for that price i woudl have sold you a whole car lol) playing.

But lookign good

Yeah I saw that Mariner Blue KL-ZE Miata on Miata.net, and saw a video of it. Man, it's freggin amazing. The sound is brilliant. I think using the RWD KL in the Vitara would be even easier to swap in. Finding one seems to be the hard part.

Yeah the rust repair is pretty costly but it's either I get it fixed or I have to buy another car/chassis...then there's the hassle of swaping everything over and all of that. It's an investment to get the rust fixed - it means I'll own the car forever. I haven't sold a car, and I don't plan on selling either of my cars EVER. Might seem foolish, but it works for me.

[Jho]

Foolish? No. I would never ever consider selling my car. I've invested way too much of myself into it.

[MazKid]

All done. Only 3 pics because my camera is choosing to quit doing quality photos.
Pics brightened so you can see the car better.

[Turpro]

that came out really good.thats not orange peel right, it thats rough paint they do from the factory correct?

[EricM]

awesome job

still in love and drooling over the a spec air dam

[MazKid]

that came out really good.thats not orange peel right, it thats rough paint they do from the factory correct?

? Nope...that's how the paint came out.

Hah, yes that's Mazda's rust prevention. Every first gen Miata has it. My friend who did all of the rust repairs said it was a pain to get the texture to match but he did a great job. I'm taking the car back to him in a month or 2 and we'll take out the interior side panels and coat the inside with rust prevention stuff. Should be good to go for another 13 years!

[MazKid]

awesome job

still in love and drooling over the a spec air dam

Yup I love the R-package lip, makes the car look a lot more "serious". I might put one of my Titanium hard tops on the car today since I don't think it'll be warm enough for top-down driving until next year.