Loud Noises!

Craigslist Fix

I'm a Craigslist Junkie.

  I love hitting the site up and looking for deals for my cars.  Sometimes you get lucky and find a smoking deal, and sometimes you find something that you REALLY want, but don't have the room, time or money to buy.  So you have to pass on it, and that REALLY sucks.

Hello, What's This?

One night doing my usual Craigslist crawl, I spotted a pretty good deal for the Miata.  Someone had a 99-00 Racing Beat "Cold Air" Intake setup for $100. It included a brand new Hardware Kit, the Intake Housing, a recently Cleaned and Oiled Filter, along with a "custom" Aluminum Crossover Tube.  It seemed like a good deal, so I emailed the seller.  We set up a time and I asked for his address, which he gave.  I checked on the location...and it was in Kansas City.

Bummer. 

Living in the D/FW Metroplex had spoiled me quite a bit with the parts selection available.  If I wanted this thing, I was going to need to drive three hours.

Well, I've done stupider things before.  Let's go!

Roadtrip! 

The Miata was down due to the whole great Oil Pan Debacle, so I decided to take the TDI out for the trip.  Checked it over, fueled up and headed out.  After about three hours or so of "scenic" Kansas roads, I met up with the seller at his job, outside Kansas City.

He had a really clean white or silver NB, and I got to check it out before I left.  He loaded everything up in the Golf  after I checked everything over and I got ready to head back to Wichita.

Not So Shiny Intake

I unboxed everything and did a quick inventory and got a better look at what I bought.  The Crossover Tube looked like it could be used with my car with a few mods, and the filter and hardware kit were in great shape.  The cast aluminum Intake Housing however, had some surface corrosion.

Just A Little Cruddy

Time To Make The Doughnuts

I hit the outer surface of the Intake Housing with a wire wheel on a electric drill motor.  I used a piece of wood in my vise to hold the housing in place while I cleaned off as much crud as I could with the drill and wire wheel.

Hey...It Works

After the wire wheel treatment, I hit the hard to reach areas with some 400 Grit Sandpaper soaked in WD40.  I also went over the whole surface with some 800 Grit Sandpaper and WD40 as well to try and clean it up as mush as possible.

Hit it with some brake cleaner and used some Mothers Aluminum Polish, applied with a old T-Shirt, and started working the polish onto the metal.  A Craftsman Buffing wheel mounted in the same electric drill was used to try and buff it out.  It wasn't perfect, but I think it looks a lot better than it did when I got it.

Shiny

Cry Havoc And Let Slip The Hamsters of War!

I installed the intake according to the instructions and I'm pretty happy with it.  I honestly can't tell if it added any actual power, but I love the way this thing sounds at WOT.

In the old days, I was more interested in parts that made power rather than pretty things for the engine bay.   So the fact that I like this Intake is kind of amusing to me.  I would eventually like to get the RB Carbon Fiber Intake Cover for this and I have plans to modify the "custom" Aluminum Crossover Tube that I got with this intake.

I'm not sure if I want to powder coat or ceramic coat the Intake Housing and Crossover Tube once I get everything situated.

Eh, I'll Figure It Out...

Alpha, Mike, Foxtrot....