Patcon

How is he building a 3.5 engine? What are the components? Bore and stroke?

If your car is this early, you probably have the early style hinges. You need to post up a picture. They were very different

That was an excellent deal on that kit!

You could probably rent a lift for the day fairly cheap. Or if you're like me you use it as an excuse to go by one"...but honey, it was on sale!" If you already have the cross member to put back in, you would only need for a few hours.

Maybe you could wait until the sheriff auctions it off after they seize it?

Hmmm, interesting

I don't believe the rockers have ever been changed. This is a southwest car so virtually no rust. They look too pristine to have been replaced. I could look closer... The lines on my rockers look exactly the same as yours. Same location and by the thin amount of filler, the same depth. I wonder if all the factory rockers have this but it was filled in when the cars were painted. Maybe it's a result of a metal forming operation when the rockers were first made. I guess I will skim them out and cover them up.

@kats You made a comment earlier, lamenting the poor translations and maybe your lack of proper English grammar. I have always enjoyed your contributions here even if they run through a translator! Don't ever feel badly for not having perfect English grammar. There are many people that have grown up with English as their primary language and still don't use proper grammar, myself included. I am quite confident your English is better than my Japanese!

Thanks Wheee!

Nobody's got any input on the rocker panels???

I had that hoodie ad come up too. I had to show the family

I like the creative aspect but I have gone to wearing a respirator while doing it. So that makes it less pleasant and I stink the whole shop up doing filler work. Also I have dust everywhere! I do like the look when you can tell a panel has slicked out.

So it's only got 14k miles on it 32 years. The engine just needs some miles on it. I would get it running good and drive it for a year. Then test it again and see if it sealed up the rest of the way. Zed is right. The main thing is they are really pretty even across the board

Thanks for that. Good looking products

Excellent!!! That was good thinking to experiment on the panel to be recoated. I am filling and blocking right now. I'll take wet sanding over that any day.

We had a first Gen Miata at one point. It was like a gokart. Exit ramps at 60 mph, no problem. I will keep an eye out for that Red NA!

Ok we have another episode of "Ugly Welds" So I was looking at the drivers side of the hood and it wasn't right either. So I broke out the welder again, but I ground the primer back further so I wouldn't have to blow the flames out after each weld. A little welding Then some grinding with a 2" Roloc and then some flat file hand work. I actually made a second pass on this side to weld up some of the voids Looks ok now. I ran a coat of fiberglass to seal any pin holes and shape it up. On a different note, I need some feedback from you guys. I was blocking the rocker panels and there is a pretty straight groove near the bottom of the rocker. Is it supposed to be there? It is on both sides and pretty consistent. So I don't know if it's factory or if somehow the car got damaged exactly the same way on both sides. Which seems kind of odd, but maybe. In the second picture, it's the upper shadow line. It's maybe 1/2" to 3/4" from the bottom edge of the rocker where it turns under the car. They appear to run the full length of the rockers. Here is the tip of the day. I use Evercoat fillers. They cost a little more but they sand nice and work easily. Sometime thought the filler is difficult to get pulled out thin enough. Well, one day when I was browsing Evercoat's site trying to figure out the differences in each of the fillers they made. I came across this From what I have found online, it's straight styrene. It has a golden color and you use it to make the filler more flowable. I put some filler on the mixing board. Then you add some honey and mix it up. Then you add hardener, then mix and fill. It lengthens the working time of the filler and the filler has more of a glazing putty consistency. I really like it. I could almost just add a cup or so to the gallon can of filler to reduce it, instead of doing each individual batch.

Sarah, Not only have I enjoyed your post here but I benefited greatly from a thread you had about Z3 roof leaks. Because of that I was able to seal the little seals at the roof corners and get the Z3 much drier. At least as dry as a convertible can get. ? Take care and be safe. Enjoy the ride, however you get there! Charles

I have you verified your fuel pressure at idle with a reliable gauge?

@DoomGazey SteveJ was offering to come help you. He lives not far from Atlanta and he knows electrical!

I have heard the same thing. Although I have no actual experience to confirm it.

Here are some ideas I found in a quick Googling: You weren't joking when you said it's running rich. Standard injectors? Bad fpr? What are you're A/F readings (I don't understand the A/F reading lean.........) If you have a signal or ground problem with the sensor, the ECU is seeing lean, and that's why it's dumping more fuel. Well, if both sensors are giving a lean signal, you have a problem that is most likely electrical. And like I said, your ECU is seeing this signal, just like your meter is, and over compensating by dumping more fuel. You need to find out why your getting a low voltage signal from your 02 sensors. Bad ground, bad wiring, bad something. There should be 2 grounds also. Sensor ground, which should go to the ECU ground pin, 100. and heater ground, that should go to the chassis ground point, like 22,23,94. The heater lead should go to a switched 12VDC source, 69 looks correct. And of course the sensor signal should go to what ever pin the ECU is looking for the low voltage A/F from (57). Got it fixed. The iacv and vsv needed a 12 volt switched source. Runs perfect now. No more miss and pop. Thanks for all the advice guys. More than helpful as always

You may be right. I guess that's good and bad. Fewer VOC's, health issues and more easily changeable. I just love the look of a fabulous paint job.

I hate they cut up two cars!!! and the car is just covered in a wrap??? That kind of obsession with the fabrication and we skip top notch paint work?

That is exactly backwards of the perceived steering weight. More travel per revolution should feel heavier