1990 Miata Build by switched

4 minute(s) of a 297 minute read

ok welding time.

I got just about everything that needs to be welded done minus the clutch fork and exhaust, which must wait until everything is back in the car so I know how/where to route it. We started with the rear fenders. I ran a grinder over them to clean them up and clamped them together as we welded them up.

Here is a shot of both fenders all welded up before I cleaned them up a bit. I didn't go nuts smoothing the welds down as they are going to be covered anyways.

passenger rear fender

body filler burns

This time I ground about an inch back from the weld joint before we started

and with a coat of 3m undercoat

Here are some of the brackets I made for the next steps...

I ditched the original bracket idea for the frame notch as I was thinking and I don't want to have to worry about it breaking, so I cut out another piece of channel to fit in between the bolts for the k member (all the way to the right) 2 of the 3 "squares" are end plates for the big angle bracket, and one is for the rear antenna hole. Here is the antenna hole welded up

it cleaned up pretty nicely with the grinder

Since I no longer have the PPF, I needed some way to hang the wire bundle that used to mount directly to the PPF. I cut out 4 pieces of square tubing and welded them to the upper inside of the transmission tunnel, like so:

I'll either use a hose clamp or a zip tie to keep the wire tucked up nice and high and out of harm's way.

Now on to the main event. Here is what I am working with. I cut out this section so that I wouldn't have to modify the manifold.


Next I got out the dremel tool and cleaned up all the weld surfaces so there would be a good surface to weld on.

Here is a shot of the support gusset. It is welded on 3 sides. The welder tip was too large to get to the side facing the motor, but it should be plenty strong.


Here are 2 end plates burned in and the big angle bracket tacked in place


and all burned in...


Well a little time with the flap disc on the grinder to smooth the welds out and some paint and I am good to go! I'm planning another big weekend for the car this weekend so I'll have more updates to follow. I'm on the downward slope now!