The Mite
Part: 41

Gas tank, bumperettes, Mounting Tec-2

 

Transmission seal One of the few things that I have not done myself is shortening the driveshaft. I have a stock Miata driveshaft and the rear flange also fits on the RX-7 differential. I took some measurements from the seal on the transmission, seen here.....
Rear axle flange To the flange on the rear axle, indicated by the red arrow in this picture
Stock miata driveshaft vs. shortened one

That came to 19 1/4", and I took the Miata driveshaft and the measurement down to
Dick's Driveshaft in Phoenix. They let me know that the Miata has non-replaceable u-joints and they'd have to make an entirely new shaft using all new components. The new shaft has replaceable, regreasable universal joints. The price was $250, and they called the day after I dropped off the measurements to apologize that the job was going to take 2 days. Highly recommended. The new shaft fits perfectly.
Gas tank in sprite I put in the gas tank, too.
Gas filler tube And the gas filler neck with new rubber parts and a new locking gas cap
Bumperette Bugeye bumperettes were used on the back for that vintage look. The bugeye brackets worked perfectly, once I put a small bend in the lower bracket where it meets the bumperette. These are new repro's got cheap on ebay.
Bugeye bumperette Another view of the bumperettes and gas filler
Bugeye bumperette and chrome locking gas cap Next was the 2 pipe-to-dash 6 a/n fittings on the gas tank sump
New rear lights And then a new set of rear tail lights from Moss.
New license plate lite And a bright and shiney new license plate lite, too
Electromotive Tec-2 in a sprite I pulled the coil packs on the Electromotive Tec-2 computer and sprayed the unit with gray paint. It looks a lot better than the faded yellow anodize that was originally on the computer. Also fabbed a cover for the heater box and mounted the Tec to the cover. The stock Miata plug wires will fit just fine.
EZ wiring harness Next order of business is the wiring harness. I've made a couple myself for sand cars and old VW's, but this time I waited for a deal on an EZ harness on ebay. I bought one a while ago and now I'm ready to install it
EZ wiring harness in car Here's the wires coming into the car from under the dash.
Sprite dash with Dolphin Gauges And, I put the gauges, switches and lights in the dashboard
Sprite dash with Dolphin Gauges

A closer view of the Dolphin Gauges. They were good looking and at a good price.

 
Sprite dash with Dolphin Gauges Now to wire up the back of the gauges, the switches, indicator lights and chassis harness. Then the Tec unit and engine sensors.

 

 

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