Bought a hardtop

"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa) 07/10/2016 at 23:26 • Filed to: miata

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Tonight on “Jake makes bad financial decisions”

Traded a brand-new-in-box aftermarket “big window” soft top, a soft top tonneau cover (goes over the top when it’s folded down) and $400 for this mint condition Smoothline hardtop, retail $1200. It made my Miata far, far more civilized. Chassis rigidity got noticeably better and NVH is worlds apart from what it was. I’m pretty damn happy.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/10/2016 at 23:29

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There are days where you don’t make bad financial decisions?

Slant6 > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/10/2016 at 23:30

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You know, we all give you a lot of shit about spending your own money on multiple crap cars, but you pull it off really well.

Like I doubt I could pull off owning as many crappy cars as you do at once. You keep doing you.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Slant6 07/10/2016 at 23:33

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My goal now is to get the Miata in some fashion to drive to Wisconsin to my girlfriend’s rich grandpa’s house, who happens to be an enormous Miata aficionado. Which means I have a month to get this thing running on 91 octane fuel. if I wire the wastegate open it’s all good, so that might end up being the key.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero 07/10/2016 at 23:34

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Yesterday I only bought food. It was a salad and some corn flakes, then a microwave casserole for dinner.

Am I adulting yet?

AM3R shamefully returns > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/10/2016 at 23:44

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I'd hardly call a hardtop a bad decision, looks good. Any plans on painting it or anything? I feel like you could make a cool color scheme or livery to go along with the rest of the body.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > AM3R shamefully returns 07/10/2016 at 23:49

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I’m not sure. Every silver-on-silver hardtop I’ve seen looked like booty, so I might try to find some way to fit the matte black into my “theme”.

Scary__goongala! > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/10/2016 at 23:49

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I’ve also spent a good amount of money on my NA this summer so far.

AM3R shamefully returns > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/10/2016 at 23:53

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Hear me out, I've seen this on an S2k with a spoon hardtop (sexy, look up if you aren't hip) gloss black hardtop with silver body and gloss black wheels looks amazing on a sleek roadster. Even better if you add other small black accents.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > AM3R shamefully returns 07/11/2016 at 00:04

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I’m thinking silver car, bronze wheels, matte black hardtop, matte black A pillar/windshield frame, and a big fuck-off wing like this one:

Scary__goongala! > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 00:12

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I missed the post where you turob’d the thing. What set up did you go with?

AM3R shamefully returns > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 00:18

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Ugh that Miata is perfect. I absolutely love the stance on it.

Spridget > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 00:19

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Ooo matte black the hardtop, wheels, pillars, and windshield, ditch the stickers, and paint a big white circle (what’s that really called?) on the side like you see on old race cars.

Mitch Moen > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 00:24

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There are not many mods that I would be willing to pay more for...but a hard top on a miata is actually a major resale bonus.

96Formula6spd > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 01:06

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I went on vacation and came back with a hardtop. The market in Canada is crazy cheap. This nice black oem one was a nice $700 usd. Granted when I can drive again it will come back off. So much eww. Prefer soft top as its down all the time. I just bought mine for track day use. 355 days a year it will sit in the garage.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Spridget 07/11/2016 at 01:07

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Pillars, yes, but I HATE matte black wheels. They’re getting painted bronze. The stickers are going away as soon as I can find a matching paint for that door (currently a totally different shade of silver)

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Scary__goongala! 07/11/2016 at 01:09

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OEM turbo from a 3000GT VR-4 with a home made manifold and downpipe. It’s an incredibly compact turbo and stunningly efficient. Spools up right at 2500RPM. I built this to handle 6psi but an overzealous WOT test resulted in 10psi before I realized the silly amount of predetonation that was happening and let off. Right now the wastegate is wired open so I get zero boost, since I have no intercooler at the moment and my oil return line is a bit janky and needs done properly. Once I get those two items taken care of I should be good to go.

Spridget > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 01:11

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Well, you obviously have to paint the whole car then! Maybe that Mazda “California license plate” blue . . . .?

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 07:52

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I wonder how the smoothline hard tops compare to OEM. I have been told that its a poor choice to buy anything but OEM when it comes to hard tops. I plan to get one some day just because I think they look so good on Miatas. I would much rather run no softtop and just keep the hard top at home if the weather looks poor and I still want to go driving.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 07/11/2016 at 08:45

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The smoothline is very nice. Carpet headliner, robust-feeling latch mechanisms, no glaring quality issues. The rear window, however, is miniscule. I now have Saturn Sky-levels of rear visibility.

Scary__goongala! > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 09:21

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Cool. Hope that all goes well. I’m in the process of reupholstering my seats. I got the passenger seat done and I’m pretty happy with how it looks. Hopefully when I get back from vacation I can do an even better job with the driver’s seat.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Scary__goongala! 07/11/2016 at 09:26

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I’m really happy with how my seats turned out. Not bad for a $120-ish reupholstery kit. First seat took four hours ‘cuz I didn’t have double-action cutting dykes, second seat took an hour and a half or less.

Scary__goongala! > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 11:45

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Those look like the ones I got. But mine are tan. I expect the 2nd seat to take me a lot less time. Did you put the new ones on with zip ties?

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Scary__goongala! 07/11/2016 at 12:45

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Zip ties? People do that? I used hog rings and hog ring pliers like they did at the factory, lol.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 13:47

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Ahh that sucks. I thought that was one of the main advantages of getting a hard top. To get the bigger rear window. I cant imagine having less than the soft top already lol.

Scary__goongala! > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 18:01

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Most comments I see about diy seat repair, peeps are usually using zip ties to put the new skins on. I used them. It makes the process wayyyyyyy easier.

daender > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 18:33

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Welcome to hardtop world! Nice job scoring a matte black one, please trust me on getting the windshield frame plasti-dipped to match for awesome two-tone-ness.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > daender 07/11/2016 at 19:13

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ohgodyes that looks dope as hell. Turns “mismatched top” into “intentional two tone” which is AWESOME.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Scary__goongala! 07/11/2016 at 19:14

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I can imagine, but also isn’t quite as durable.

Scary__goongala! > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 19:19

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Maybe not. I haven’t seen anyone complain aboutusing them. They really don’t need to be as durable. I don’t need these seats to last 22 years.

daender > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 07/11/2016 at 20:45

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Bingo, that’s what I did with mine. Also, you might have noticed this already, but there’s a lot of wind noise at highway speeds around the “b-pillar” of the hardtop since it’s a bit broadside-on to the wind. If you run your fans without circulation then it cuts down on about half the noise and I typically aim it at torso and/or my feet (damn you hot transmission tunnel!).