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h018871
h018871 None
3/13/18 9:42 a.m.
Cousin_Eddie said:

I'm an old guy

My wife doesn't want to kill me in my sleep near as often after I work on a project and get full OCD on it. It keeps my head screwed on right.

I read this to my wife, she said “Y’all must be brothers.........”

I think there was a compliment in there 

 

outstanding work on on the car, I’m hooked 

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/13/18 12:27 p.m.

More detailing today.

This thing needs some love.

Stuff like this truly causes me to lose sleep. There is much soda blasting and powdercoating ahead.

 

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/13/18 6:57 p.m.

Much damn better. My wife said she hasn't seen me as chill as I am today. Getting my OCD freak on by slinging powder does the brain good.

MazdaFace
MazdaFace HalfDork
3/14/18 7:57 a.m.

Phenomenal work. 

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/14/18 8:11 a.m.
MazdaFace said:

Phenomenal work. 

Thank you Craig. Many parts ordered. Much JDM. Great success. More to come in a few days.

wae
wae Dork
3/14/18 8:15 a.m.

Oh wow.  That is gorgeous.  Thanks for making more work for me.  There's no way I can put my cruddy intake back on after seeing this...

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/14/18 8:22 a.m.
wae said:

Oh wow.  That is gorgeous.  Thanks for making more work for me.  There's no way I can put my cruddy intake back on after seeing this...

Just release the brakes and coast into the sickness. Welcome to the OCD nuthouse. 

Gunchsta
Gunchsta Reader
3/14/18 11:08 a.m.

MORE JDM? 

 

Great success!! 

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/14/18 12:52 p.m.
Gunchsta said:

MORE JDM? 

 

Great success!! 

Yes sir.

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/16/18 11:56 a.m.

Yesterday while I was at the station, a lot of the things I ordered showed up.

It's a beautiful 80 degree day here in Texas, perfect to reassemble an engine.

MazdaFace
MazdaFace HalfDork
3/16/18 2:05 p.m.

ooooo I approve

thatsnowinnebago
thatsnowinnebago GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
3/16/18 3:08 p.m.

Are you familiar with voodoo shift knobs? I had one on my 91 and was pretty happy with it. They make nice matching e-brake handles too. 

MazdaFace
MazdaFace HalfDork
3/16/18 5:05 p.m.

i've been trying to get my hands on one of the new miata 6speed shift knobs. 

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/16/18 5:45 p.m.

I'm very attached to my brake lever handle. It's an IL Motorsport from Germany.

However, I'm definitely not married to the shift knob. I just haven't found one that talks to me yet. Most of the aftermarket ones are made of stuff that would get blistering hot here in Texas. I'd like to have a leather and al-you-men-ium knob if I could find one, to match the Momo wheel and IL  Motorsport brake handle.

 

MazdaFace
MazdaFace HalfDork
3/16/18 5:49 p.m.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie :

that's why i'm going to get a knob from the new miata's. leather wrapped w/the shift pattern engraved on it. it's perfect

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/16/18 5:59 p.m.
MazdaFace said:

In reply to Cousin_Eddie :

that's why i'm going to get a knob from the new miata's. leather wrapped w/the shift pattern engraved on it. it's perfect

I guess I should research newer Miatas with 5 speeds to see if I could find one to suit me. The stocker doesn't really weigh on me much though. Mazda got it right when they built the shifters on these cars.

MazdaFace
MazdaFace HalfDork
3/16/18 6:39 p.m.

I have a strong dislike for the OE shifter in my 6. The OE miata shifter is an upgrade I am looking forward to more than is probably reasonable to the average person.

mazdeuce - Seth
mazdeuce - Seth Mod Squad
3/16/18 9:26 p.m.

What's your process for cleaning and powdercoating the big aluminum pieces? I don't suppose we could entice you to do a walk through of the procedure for us with lots of pictures? I have a couple of cars that look like your before that I would like to look like your after.

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/17/18 4:19 a.m.
mazdeuce - Seth said:

What's your process for cleaning and powdercoating the big aluminum pieces? I don't suppose we could entice you to do a walk through of the procedure for us with lots of pictures? I have a couple of cars that look like your before that I would like to look like your after.

 

This will be long, so go get a sandwich and settle in.

I used to do this semi-professionally about 4-5 days a week. I'm a fireman so I have lots of time outside of my main bread and butter. Anyone who reads one of my threads will get the idea that I enjoy tedious projects and don't cut corners. So my process might seem unduly laborious to some, but it always worked for me and I developed a core of customers who would pay for the extra detail. I am proud to say that several powder companies used pictures of my powder and ceramic work as showpieces on their websites. 

  • Gross degreasing in the parts washer
  • Put in oven and cook at 400 for minimum of 30 minutes. This hardens and bakes any oil or grease
  • Soda blast or media blast in my cabinet depending on what kind of part it is.
  • Thorough clean with high pressure water and compressed air to remove any soda residue (if soda blasted)
  • Bake at 400 for half an hour or so to outgas the pores of the casting. This is important on castings !. 
  • Mask gasket surfaces, plug threaded holes and vacuum hose bibs
  • Shoot powder
  • Cure
  • Unmask and chase any threads for good measure

The above steps are for castings. On an intake like this car has, it took a lot of effort to get all of the insides and outsides completely spotless. Soda works fantastically to take carbon and baked smook off.

A nice slow outgas cook before prep and powder is paramount for smooth finishes on castings. Some coaters skip this step and their end product shows pock marks so they tell the customer it can't be avoided. Well, it can. That's also why some coaters are so quick to shoot a wrinkle or texture powder on castings, to hide the blemishes from outgassing.

I miss the work a lot and am really considering setting my shop up to go back into the business. Powdercoating allowed me to truly get my mental freak on. No compromise. Shop door locked, dead silent, phone turned off, no radio, work for 8-12 hours in total silent concentration. It does the brain good.

Random pictures of castings I coated.

I have thousands of pictures, but I'll stop there. 

 

mazdeuce - Seth
mazdeuce - Seth Mod Squad
3/17/18 5:22 a.m.

Holy moly!surprise

That is actually a huge help. I never considered the initial bake to harden things or the second outgassing bake. This gives me a lot to mull over when I'm on the road picking up the new project today. Thank you very much for that. 

I can't wait to see the engine bay when you're done. 

icaneat50eggs
icaneat50eggs Dork
3/17/18 7:52 a.m.

Wow I’m impressed.  

You are the polar opposite of me as far as caring about cosmetics, I normally just don’t think it matters at all but man you do impressive work.

 

what do you not like about the hardtop?  I couldn’t stand my 95 m with the soft top but fell totally in love with it once I found a hardtop. 

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/17/18 8:41 a.m.
icaneat50eggs said:

what do you not like about the hardtop?  I couldn’t stand my 95 m with the soft top but fell totally in love with it once I found a hardtop. 

Maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase with the soft top. I'm in Texas and the weather varies a lot throughout the day. Often it's coat weather in the morning and running the AC on high in the afternoon. I like the soft top giving me the ability to have it up or down. The hard top requires getting my wife to help me with removal and installation, so once it's on, it's a lot of trouble to remove when the weather is conducive. Plus the hard top squeaks. I guess I need to throw some money at it with adjusting or replacing the little plastic doo dads on the rear Frankenstein bolt receivers.

yupididit
yupididit SuperDork
3/17/18 10:07 a.m.

Wow that's some good work. If you're ever interested in powder coating for members for $ let me know. I havea few things I want coated but I've been burned by businesses that charge a lot but don't do such a great job. 

icaneat50eggs
icaneat50eggs Dork
3/17/18 11:30 a.m.

I’m in Texas too.  But I’m old and bald so taking the top off just means a sunburned head.  Also I got over the infatuation with top down cruising when I passed a cattle truck and had a refreshing mist of cow pee settle over me.  My hardtop was miles miles whiter than the soft top.

 

also I live in the panhandle so if I want to feel the wind whipping through my 6 remaining hairs I just have to walk outside

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie Reader
3/17/18 12:53 p.m.

Sweet overnight delivery of parts from Japan.

No pictures yet, but it's way nicer than I expected.

 

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