This Miata is coming along great! Mr. Awesome Boyfriend and I bought some chrome accents and painted them with DupliColor Metalcast metallic purple. It adds a little pigtails touch. It was not easy. We let the paint dry for a week. Then sanded most of the pieces with 2000 grit sandpaper and repainted them. After another week of drying, we wet sanded them again. After a dawn dish soap wash, we started polishing the old fashion way (by hand). We used Griot’s Machine Polish 1 first. Then, polished a second coat with Meguiars ultimate compound. We found that both sanding and the two different polishes gave the pieces a mirror shine. Just make sure to do some stretches because your in for a work out!
We also got some new tires and rims from e-bay. They were $2000 mounted, balanced and delivered. The wheels are Enkei RPF1 17×9 +45 and the tires are Toyo R1R 235/40/R17. Over the weekend, Mr. Awesome Boyfriend and I were able to change the oil, put on an upgraded brake kit (rotors, pads and stainless steal brake lines), and the new wheels & tires. Not too bad for a days work. Finally, we replaced the stabilizing bars in the front and the back with RX-8 Red Dot and Yellow Dot Stabilizer bars respectivly. I highly recommend the upgrade because the old bars where as thin as an extension cord. You can immediately feel a difference when taking a corner. You don’t feel like you will tip over.
We also decided to change to shifter to a short shifter I.L Motor Sports short shifter. It took some time to change out but it was worth it! The original shifter is very long and flow-ie. The short shift feels more exact. You know when you are changing gears and there is no: “opps I went into the wrong gear”! That was one of my mistakes when learning how to drive stick.
In future posts we are adding: tint to the back & side windows, tint to the markers, a Nautalis horn, front and rear dams, “eye” lids, a cold air intake, day time running lights, and a purple mesh grill. Stay tuned!
-girl in pigtails
