Hey! I parked my platinum in that same storage lot last year....
Hey! I parked my platinum in that same storage lot last year....
What does all the welding of all those areas do exactly? I have a project that may need that if it does what I think it does.
SV reX said:Note to anyone thinking of doing this:
The seam sealer is a massive effort. We scraped, and grinded, and burned, and sand blasted over and over. It's a lot of work, but necessary for clean welds.
The car is glued together.
Now that it's stitched, I will re-seal the joints to maximize the bond, and keep water out.
The Crud Thug is my tool of choice for seam sealer removal.
In reply to MyMiatas :
Stiffens the chassis.
When you take a Miata apart this far, it's astounding how few spot welds hold it together. At stress points, adjacent metal panels flex. The welding reduces the flex at the stress points.
It's usually for race cars.
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
And you, SV reX, and others are always welcome here!
I know this is off topic but this is the first time I've seen those tire rack wheels (first page) I'm a fan. How did you like them?
In reply to Shavarsh :
I like them a lot! (But I only have 3 of them now)
What makes you say Tire Rack?
I kinda forgot stitch welding was a thing. I'm working on putting an NA shell together right now and it would've been a good time for that. Oh well, maybe later. Though I think long tern this one will get a cage, so it may be less of a benefit.
In reply to SV reX :
whoops! I assumed that TR Motorsports was tire rack. Looks like that isn't the case
Edit: After a bit of digging it looks like TR Motorsports actually is owned by tire rack
In reply to AWSX1686 (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, but BOTH is better! 
Not a lot of visible progress, but lots of detail grinding and prep. Mostly because I want my engine bay to look pretty.
Now it's off to the sandblasting shop.
Shavarsh said:In reply to SV reX :
whoops! I assumed that TR Motorsports was tire rack. Looks like that isn't the case
Edit: After a bit of digging it looks like TR Motorsports actually is owned by tire rack
TR Motorsports is the Tire Rack house brand. They've had a few over the years, but the "TR" is a pretty blatant clue.
Removing all the seam sealer for seam welding is a PITA, but it's gotta be done. We did that on all the V8 builds. On later cars, I think we reapplied it with a splatter gun because spreading it by hand is a sloooow process and is clearly done by hand, but by hand is the way to do it on a one-off for yourself.
Catching up here - with regards to the NB body parts, are you a member of Mazda's Team Support program? You can get signed up while building a car, and you have to do two events (autox, track day, sanctioned race) per year to stay valid. OE parts at a significant discount and IIRC the shipping costs are cheap.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Good tip... thanks!
I'm reviving this.
Progress has been really slow. The sandblasting shop had a couple military contracts come in, and my only option was to sit and wait. It sat there 4 months. 
The shell has now been completely sandblasted.
...and the reason I waited on this guy is that he actually has an oven big enough to powder coat the whole thing!
Powder coated epoxy. Chassis black.
Unfortunately, the paint shop is also gonna be slow...
In reply to SV reX :
Ok, that's sweet.
In reply to SV reX :
dang, that looks good. any issues getting top coat to adhere to powder?
Why bother top coating if you've powdercoated it?
That's a first :)
It's technically an epoxy primer. So, topcoat is easy.
Its not UV stable, so it can't be left exposed. It's good on the undercarriage and where sun won't hit, but if it is left in the direct sun it will chalk badly. Doesn't hurt the paint performance, but it looks ugly.
I'm glad I came back and read all this...... good on you PF .......what exterior color this time titanium with cinnamon interior....wink?
That thing should never rust! Any more details on the coating? I've never heard of such a thing.
759NRNG said:I'm glad I came back and read all this...... good on you PF .......what exterior color this time titanium with cinnamon interior....wink?
Haha!
After lots of thinking about it, I decided to stick with a color that works well for me- orange. It will be the 30th anniversary Racing Orange.
Can you wrap it in that color to save time?
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