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Dilly's 2014 Build Thread: Extended

53K views 288 replies 97 participants last post by  Sploinkin 
#1 · (Edited)
I'd like to start off by saying Happy New Year to everyone.

I finally have a neat build thread, sorta. Though I'm gonna have to warn you, once I get past all the old stuff, I will be lacking new content for a while till I save up enough for more parts.

Sometime during the middle of 2012, I decided I wanted to do a complete exterior makeover on Kayla. She’s been hurt/damaged quite a bit during the last 3 years I've had her. So it’s that time to fix her up to put a smile on my face.

I purchased my 96 M Edition (Starlight Mica Blue) back in December of '08 after totaling my first Miata, heh. I bought this beauty off of my step brothers co-worker. **** was PRESTENE. Bone stock with an St May exhaust, Simpson Design tail lights, and AGX/H&R combo. What a cool guy, right? Back then, I thought to myself, "The hell is up with these tail lights and exhaust? Fuckin ugly". But I am so damn glad that I have learned about them and appreciated those parts. I still have the St. May, btw. Anybody wanna buy it?

Also, please excuse all the different edits throughout the thread. My ugly photography has changed a lot throughout the years.

The very first thing I did was swap over my Buddyclub seat, steering wheel setup and shift knob/shifter extender from my old Civic/first Miata. All was a must. As you all know, the factory NA Miata steering wheel is hideous. If you enjoy the look of them... eat a wiener. A few months after I bought Kayla, my brother brought my old Miata back to life and used that as his daily. Little by little, I kept swapping more parts over from the old to new.





To be continued... (currently on my 4th shot and counting)

: 3gears:
 
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#14 ·
Towards the end of March '09, what I thought had come to an end of Kayla happened. My brother and I had switched cars for the day because his car wasn't running healthy and I only had to drive 5 mins to school while he had to drive 45 to work. Being in a rush as he always is, he ran out of gas a couple blocks from work on a hill. After calling his co-worker for assistance, this dumbass in an older Camaro thought he could speed up and cut off another car to avoid my brother. He failed at doing so and rammed into the back of Kayla real hard. Fucker didn't even speak English and tried to offer my brother $20. After my brother shot down his offer and asked for all the necessary insurance information, the damn immigrant (don't be offended, please) jumped back in the car and took off. Wow... yeah. Police report was filed but of course, nothing happened and they never got caught. The damage to Kayla was pretty severe. To my surprise, she still drove straight and turned fine.















After dealing with my insurance, Kayla obviously got totaled and I bought her back. Weeks went by and I decided to keep her and take her to a frame shop to get the rear pulled. A friend of mine suggested a place in Montclair called State Frame. It's own by a dad and his son. Very nice people and they do great work. I dropped my car off the next day after getting an estimate and waited about a week when I got a call from the shop saying my car was ready. I was super excited but nervous at the same time when my friend was driving me to pick up my car. As we neared our destination, I let out a breath of relief when I saw how well they pulled my frame. I wish I took more photos of the after.



I went to YLM junkyard in Irwindale; they had a bunch of Miata's. I really hoped they had a junked Starlight Mica blue Miata with a fresh rear bumper. But I knew there wasn't going to be one. I had a choice of a white bumper and a Montego blue bumper. I decided on the Montego blue for it was a better match in color than the white. I also got my hands on a black finish panel, too.

 
#16 ·
A little after the rear end accident, I swapped over my RPF1's with 20mm spacers and sold the 6UL's later on down the road. Around January or February of 2010, the best deal in my life happened. I bought a hardtop for $300. It was such a risky purchase because I was still jobless at the time and I was left with $100 in my bank after the purchase. I reallyyyyy wanted it.







 
#20 ·
Fast forward to December of 2010, Kayla was involved in another accident. This one was a stupid accident and I wish it never ever ever ever happened. My front end was perfect before. You know how 90% of Miata's have the retarded dip in the bumper or misaligned headlight lids that won't sit 100% even no matter how many times you adjust it? Mine had none of that problem. I was driving down a street at night when I noticed an object bouncing towards me from the opposing traffic. The object was flying towards me so fast I couldn't make out what it was until the very last min. It was a fucking wheel! By the time it had registered into my head, there was a car to my left and a curb to my right. I had no choice but to slam on my brakes and yell "Oh shitttt!". The wheel slammed into my front bumper and bounced over a high school fence and disappeared into the night. My passenger air bag deployed, smashed the front windshield and smacked my passenger in the face real good. Lol. He was fine, btw. I filed another police report and went through insurance with the guy who's wheel hit me. My car was deemed a total lost again. Went through the bullshit of buying her back and called a mobile windshield service company to replace the broken windshield on Christmas Eve.

Where the wheel bounced off. Underneath the bumper skin, the support beam was super fucked up.



Misaligned my perfect front end fitment. You can also sorta see the hood bent up top towards the front.



Deployment of the airbag.





Nothing much exciting happened after that. Swapped a couple sets of wheels with my friend for fun and slapped on my trunk rack.







 
#24 ·
I know, white wheels are sick on dark-colored cars...thinking of striping my black 6ul and paint them white...
They just look right on dark colored cars. :icon_cheers:

That is some crazy luck with that car, I do dig the rear rack, what brand?
Thanks. It's an I.L. Motorsport rack.
 
#30 ·
Damn.. Awesome you kept her through all of that.. lol

Those fucking white wheels on it <3 looks so good.

Also, This is one of my absolute favorite pictures ever.

You even made the 15" RPF1's look sort of flat faced lol.
great looking car and glad you've kept it through all the bad luck, always like seeing the new pictures of it on Flickr
Thanks guys. I'm glad as well that I kept it. She has quite a character now.
 
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