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What car projects did you get to over the Xmas break?


kev
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So, what car projects did you get to over the past week?

This was the first year in my career, ~24 years, that I had to work between Xmas and New Years.  That sucked but still was able to get into the garage.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to work on either of my quests despite my kids getting me a set of Motocam360 hood struts for my blue car.    But I spent this past weekend helping my son put a new convertible top on his Miata.   Let me tell you, that was some ordeal!   I'm not sure it would have even been possible with only one person.   I'm very glad conquests aren't convertibles, haha.  But despite the hours of hard work, it was still fun.  

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I got my spare torque tube and rear gear setup al cleaned up and inspected.  Its a lower mileage unit from my parts car, torque tube splines and everything looked really good I cleaned it up and put it all back together ready to swap.  Once I have this installed the entire drivetrain from my parts car will have made it into my primary car.  It had 116K miles vs 194K on the primary car.  

I got the Conquest, The Barracuda, and my Jeep out this weekend.  I had someone inquire about buying my Conquest at a cars and coffee I stopped at on new years day.  I am awaiting to see if that turns into a real offer or not.  I have a number I would sell it for that isn't out of line for the market but can't decide if I would really let it go.  I need the space more than the money.  

As far as your convertible project, could you imagine the extra nightmares with a drop top Starquest....yikes! lol 

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Are you saying it was difficult to get the fresh top secured to the body? When I replaced my Miata top I had to really push hard to get it to latch. Make sure to keep it latches for a week or so. It also helps to let it sit in the sun to soften the top fabric.

If he is ever looking for a decent set of coilovers for the Miata I currently run the Flyin Miata coilovers. They ride very well.

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19 hours ago, BlueCuda said:

I got the Conquest, The Barracuda, and my Jeep out this weekend.  I had someone inquire about buying my Conquest at a cars and coffee I stopped at on new years day.  I am awaiting to see if that turns into a real offer or not.  I have a number I would sell it for that isn't out of line for the market but can't decide if I would really let it go.  I need the space more than the money.  

You'll regret it if you sell her away...and most likely will end up with another one a few years later.   The prices for these things are on the rise which means that replacing it down the road will be more difficult.   

2 hours ago, Turbo Cary said:

Are you saying it was difficult to get the fresh top secured to the body? When I replaced my Miata top I had to really push hard to get it to latch. Make sure to keep it latches for a week or so. It also helps to let it sit in the sun to soften the top fabric.

If he is ever looking for a decent set of coilovers for the Miata I currently run the Flyin Miata coilovers. They ride very well.

It was difficult to get the new top on the frame (particularly on the bottom of the B pillar area).   Then it was difficult installing the top/rain rail to the body.   We bought a Robbins top but a lower model with the plastic window.   I heard that the glass windows are even harder to install due to the weight of the glass.   Actually, closing the top wasn't too hard.   We used ratchet straps to slowly pull far enough to get it latched.   Right now, the latches are at their longest setting and will need to be dialed in but we are waiting for the top to stretch a bit first.    It was probably not a good idea to install a new top in the middle of winter but his was leaking bad and it needed to be done.    I already told him not to plan on lowering the top at all this winter, even if we have another warm weekend, such that the top stretches good.   

Thanks for the tip on the coilovers.  As of now, he is content with it stock.   The ride is pretty good and we just replaced upper/lower ball joints and tie rod ends.   This car has 175k on it but runs and looks great.   Hopefully it will be fairly reliable for him and he keeps it in one piece.  

 

 

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I had to go with the plastic rear window because of my roll bar setup. The Hard Dog Double Diagonal doesn't allow for a glass rear window. I don't mind it actually cause it will last longer than the glass window. The weight of the glass causes the seams to tear over time. My only gripe is that I can't tint the plastic. In the summer whenever I do drive it I usually have the top down. 

Do you still have the old top? If so I could use it to make a bikini top for my Miata. Such as this

 

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Edited by Turbo Cary
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I went out to the garage at one point and realized I had left the driver side window down on the Starion back in September, so I put it up. Then I went back inside.  Lol.

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9 hours ago, techboy said:

I went out to the garage at one point and realized I had left the driver side window down on the Starion back in September, so I put it up. Then I went back inside.  Lol.

Haha. I can envision that.  
 

 

On 1/5/2023 at 6:56 AM, Turbo Cary said:

I had to go with the plastic rear window because of my roll bar setup. The Hard Dog Double Diagonal doesn't allow for a glass rear window. I don't mind it actually cause it will last longer than the glass window. The weight of the glass causes the seams to tear over time. My only gripe is that I can't tint the plastic. In the summer whenever I do drive it I usually have the top down. 

Do you still have the old top? If so I could use it to make a bikini top for my Miata. Such as this

 

18541525_53313490_04978c90-6480-4466-a1b

that’s a great idea!   I can see how you fastened it in the rear via the frankenbolts but how is it secured up front?  He has a fake rollbar in his, it’s just for looks and is a different style but it might work for supporting a bikini top. 
 

 

I got in my black cq last night and have zero power. Won’t even light a light.  Pulled the battery and it’s very low.  This was fully out of the blue and it’s a one year old battery.  I suspect a bad rectifier in the alternator because my battery gauge has been reading pretty high the past few weeks, around 15.5v.   So it looks like that is my project this weekend.  
 

 

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I got out and fixed my drivers side auto belt.  I had a known good motor from my parts car and cleaned it up and swapped it in.  It works great!  My previous 87 I had in the late 90s didn't have a working drivers belt either so it was nice to fix this one.  

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20 hours ago, BlueCuda said:

I got out and fixed my drivers side auto belt.  I had a known good motor from my parts car and cleaned it up and swapped it in.  It works great!  My previous 87 I had in the late 90s didn't have a working drivers belt either so it was nice to fix this one.  

So I ran some errands today and tried to unbuckle it every single stop I made.....smh.  

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16 hours ago, BlueCuda said:

So I ran some errands today and tried to unbuckle it every single stop I made.....smh.  

Haha...yes, that happens.    I was so used to the manual belts that I have on my blue car that it took me a bit to get use to the automatic belts again on my black car.   Now, I forget when I go back to the blue one.    

As a mentioned above, my battery was completely dead the other day.   Well, I found the problem which is kind of ironic that we are talking about belts.   My son was with me the day before and when he got out of the car, the lap belt must have got caught in the door jam which kept it from fully latching....i.e. dead battery the next day.    I didn't notice it until I charged the battery and energized the car  (obviously never walked around to the passenger side).    Here I was concerned that my rectifier in my alternator was bad.   Measuring it at the battery, I'm at 14.5V.  A little higher than I am used to for these cars but I'm not concerned.    So, this was an easy fix.     Now I need to pull that lap belt out and see if I can lubricate it to get the mechanism to actually pull the belt back without manual assistance, so this doesn't keep happening.   It put a little ding on my rocker panel which is annoying but not the end of the world because I'll be getting back to doing bodywork on this car later in the winter.  

 

 

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