NA Miata Build Part 4

It’s been a couple months since our NA Miata build update, Classic Rust.

Progress has slowed down a bit over the summer as a result of other projects, but I’m happy to report that all of the body panels now have a coat of primer. There’s peace of mind that comes with not having to deal with an actively growing patina exoskeleton.

Now that the bare metal is protected from rust, body work has slowed down in lieu of getting the car running and driving well.

The engine seems to have persistent stutter and inconsistent idle, and it has occasionally thrown a P0300 misfire code. In addition, I have a laundry list of maintenance items to catch up on. Every piece of ~25 year old rubber looks to be dry-rotted, and as we all know “lifetime” fluids are not really lifetime.

That being said, progress is coming along. The engine bay in particular is looking much prettier these days. I recently swapped out the leaky valve cover gasket and used it as an opportunity (or excuse?) to repaint the cover as well as clean up the exhaust manifold cover.

As you can see from the picture on the left, the valve cover was previously painted red, although most of that was chipping away, and all in all it just looked terrible. I stripped off all of the old paint and did a three-stage paint job with primer, VHT flat black paint, and a satin clear.

For the exhaust manifold, I spent quite a bit of time with a wire wheel to remove as much of the surface rust as possible. I followed up with a few coats of Eastwood’s matte silver exhaust paint. I’ll be curious to see how this paint holds up to the extreme temps, but for now I think the result looks fantastic.

Stay tuned for more updates and follow us on social media for more updates on our NA Miata build!