Duncan Ellis

Hello,

Just wanted to introduce myself and share my new car. It's a 1990 C4 Cabriolet. The car belonged to my father who had owned it since the late 1990's. His car collection has since expanded to the point where he wasn't driving the car much so we worked out a deal that included him acquiring my Spec Miata. At the time he offered the 964 I had been building a 2001 Mazda Miata to use as a summer car. Since our family limit for red convertibles is one, that car will be re-homed to make room for the Porsche.

My plan is to go through the 964 over the next 1-2 years bring it up to standard. I'm still formalizing my plan, but I've listed some initial thoughts below. I have a few other projects to get done before I start on this in earnest. Plan is to make this a street car. I doubt it will ever see the track. Racing Spec Miata has taught me it's best to only track cars that you have no emotional attachment to.

Initial Part's Ordered
* Wheels and tires. Current tires on the car were 16 and 18 years old respectively. Will be upgrading to 18" wheels (CCW) 8" front and 9.5" rear. Tires will be 225/40/R18 and 265/35/R18 respectively.
* 9Eleven Raven-S headlights. We live in the country and I took one drive at night and was basically told by my wife who is spoiled by the headlights on her Volvo XC-90 that I had to address the light output.
* Misc Interior Parts: Repair git for broken console clips, Continental radio with bluetooth, new passenger side blower, and two replacement window switches.
* Removed the gauges and sent them to North Hollywood Speedometer for refurbishment. The odometer was broken and many of the faces were cloudy.
* New dash pad to replace the badly warped piece on the car.
* Will be taking a close look at the car to inspect all the rubber fuel lines, etc.. to make sure they're in good condition. Probably some replacement will need to be done sooner rather than later.

I think the current order of operations will be... I'm happy to take opinions on anything listed. I'm not firmly committed yet to any course of action.
1. Go through the suspension and replace the old tired parts. The car has 140K miles and most everything is original.
2. Serious paint recondition or respray. I'll also be adding the D-Morris hardtop. I suspect I'll need to repaint to get a paint match I'm happy with on the top. Opinions here would be welcomed.
3. Address the engine. It has some oil leaks, and I suspect the valve guides are tired.
4. Interior. Pretty much everything here is at the end of its life with the exception of the front seats, which have been recently recovered.
5. Brakes. For aesthetic reasons, I like big calipers and rotors.

Current suspension thoughts.
* Debating between Bilstein HD / H&R springs or KW coilovers or Von Shocks from Elephant Racing. Price is not the primary determinant. I would like a reasonable ride on the street, and the ability to lower the car from it's current 4x4 ride height. Since I live in an area where corrosion can be a problem, I'd also prefer a shock body that will stay nice looking. KW seems to have an edge here.
* Replace the bushings with the parts from elephant. New ball joints, tie rods, top hats, and end links. Debating on RS uprights vs bump-steer tie rods vs leave it stock.

Current engine thoughts.
* Engine is original, but clutch was recently replaced. Haven't quite decided where on the continuum I want to land between "reseal and stop the leaks" vs 3.8 upgrade.

Some pictures.

My new 964


Mazda Miata I was planning to build as a summer car. With acquisition of 964 the plans have changed. I have found a new home for the Miata, so just finishing the re-assembly so I can clear the space out of the garage. You might notice it's also Guard's Red. Always loved the color.

Old Miata


1. My Old Spec Miata

911Jetta

Welcome and thanks for saying hello. Great intro.

We just did some of the same to my dad's Cab.

Cosmetically it was in great shape, just needed to update the moving parts. New Bill B6, HR springs, steering rack brace, Elephant Racing tie rod kit, cat bypass, primary bypass, RS motor mounts, FD Goldenrod and short shift kit, Das Sport roll bar, and a bunch of interior bits. Totally transformed the car, and very fun to drive. Coming from a coupe, the chassis rigidity is quite impressive (especially for a 30 year old car)!

Sounds like this 964 is in good hands!

(Out practicing shifting gears with my son)

BHMav8r

Love histories like this. Enjoy!

spartansix

Hi Duncan - nice car. If you are installing 18" wheels on a C4, you might want to install a steering rack brace. If you haven't already ordered tires, you might also want to consider a 255/35R18 rear, as this will give you a perfect match in diameter with your 225/40R18 front tire. Matching diameters make the C4 drivetrain happy!

Duncan Ellis

Both the 255 (.4%) and the 265 (-.8%) are very close in diameter to the 225. I have the tires already, and they were essentially "free" due to racing contingency so I'll try and stick with them for now. I will do some searching on the steering rack brace.

Duncan Ellis

Things have been progressing very slowly as I've been caught up in another project, building a garage to house the 964. We just signed the contract and hopefully construction will start soon. Here's a quick drawing. This will be a completely conditioned space with a tile floor and in-ground scissor lift.

Duncan Ellis

But in the meantime these did arrive.

Duncan Ellis

I had North Hollywood Speedometer go through all the gauges and rebuild them. They look amazing now.

titleistaddict87

Looks sweet! Congrats! Can you share what work was done and the cost? Feel free to PM as well if you'd prefer.

Duncan Ellis

Have been making some progress here and there. I've been slowly going through the car trying to assess what does and doesn't work, as well as clean it up. I feel like I've removed about 20 lbs of gravel road dust from all areas of the car.

Things I know don't work.

* Both front HVAC fans
* CCU fan
* Radio works, but is ancient and getting replaced
* Shifter is ratty
* Center console clips are all broken.
* A/C has been removed, but the condenser is still in place as well as the A/C lines that run down the driver's side.
* Two door switches are inop
* Dash pad is badly warped
* Neither top actuator works

I think I have the right parts of the way to address all of the above, but I'm sure I'll find more things as I go. Some progress from the last weekend.

Cleaned out the trunk. It was very dirty

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Wheel wells cleaned up nicely. Suspension removed and to be replaced with KW V3 coil-overs


Pile of broken HVAC fans. One was basically seized.

Car has camber plates installed. I cleaned them up and will re-use them with the coil-overs
Cleaned out the headlight buckets to accept the 9Eleven headlights. I'm planning on polishing the paint first before I put them in. It's in good shape, but pretty faded.

Here's where the car sits at the end of the weekend.

Duncan Ellis

Slowing making progress.

*Coilovers and Elephant bump steer tie-rods installed. Swapped in the thicker steering stops as well.
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/65673636@N06/, on Flickr

Front suitcase back together. All the fans and servos now working correctly.
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/65673636@N06/, on Flickr

Working on getting the A/C hooked up again. My father removed the compressor and cut down the bracket, but left the condenser, evaporator, and the dryer in place.
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/65673636@N06/, on Flickr

Removed the rear bumper and the rear engine carrier to get to the A/C bracket. It's wet behind the pulley. The car does leak oil on the ground if parked after it's run. Maybe the crank seal? I couldn't go any further because I didn't have the crank pulley removal tool, or a bolt with the correct thread size.
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/65673636@N06/, on Flickr

Looking for some advice on things that make sense to replace given I've now got decent access to the rear of the engine.

Duncan Ellis

Been making some progress over the last few weeks.

* Refitted the factory air conditioning complete with R134a conversion


* Fittted a new dash pad to replace the badly warped one in the car. Also replaced the radio and added the Rennline phone mount.


* New door handles


* Cup holder


* Fixed all the broken clips and replaced the leather shifter boot


* New headlights.

Next steps.

1. Set the ride height. I think I'm going to ditch the camber plates in the front and replace them with stock mounts. I have the front set to the KW min, but it's still 3/4" higher than the front.
2. Do some restorative work on the paint.

Dingo

Great stuff, really enjoying reading along

Todynot

Would you recommend North Hollywood and can you say a few words about your experience with them? What is the shade of yellow used on your tach. Looks very nice.

chsu74

Welcome! I would take note of spartansix's suggestion. Wider rears will understeer more than stock built in already; especially on a C4. Many source a C2 rear sway to dial the C4 understeer out with stock setup.

As for paint, I have the same issue but decided that your car is only original once. Will try to wet sand and bring back as much as possible. The original OEM single stage is quite durable.