Carcass Featured Projects

Carcass Builds

Parts Used In This Episode

Summit Racing
Konig Rewind Graphite Wheels
Summit Racing
Summit Racing 2.1 VOC Clear Coat Hardener
Summit Racing
Summit Racing 2.1 VOC Primer Sealer
Summit Racing
Summit Racing Single Stage Paints
Summit Racing
Summit Racing Wax & Grease Remover
Summit Racing
Toyo Proxes RR Tires
The Industrial Depot
Tools, Hardware, Shop Supplies

Episode Transcript

(Jeremy)>> You're watching Powernation!

(Jimmy)>> Today on Carcass our Spec Miata has a few things left before we head out to the races. We show you some quick tips on how to get rid of clear coat, and then prep and paint our Mazda.

(Jeremy)>> We take care of a little fabrication on the door panels and add some new rubber made for the course. Then it's track time. We hammer down on the course to see if we can shave any time off our laps. ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> Hey guys, welcome to Carcass. We've come a long way on our Spec Miata. Put a roll cage and seat in it, did some engine work, clutch, suspension, and brakes, and now we're ready to change the look.

(Jeremy)>> So we're heading down to the paint and the prep booth. We're gonna show you guys a couple of tips and tricks on how to get your car ready for paint. We'll go ahead and take care of this faded out clear coat too. ♪ ♪ So tiny! The steering's tight, and stop. Alright well we're in the paint booth and we're ready to get started, but before we do anything on the outside of the car, we're gonna take care of a couple of things on the inside.

(Jimmy)>> We're gonna put a few coats of paint on the roll cage. Obviously, it's in bare metal. So, we have to do something to protect it, and then we're gonna take care of some of the bigger areas on the inside, and also make it look a little bit nicer, and then we will finally get to the outside.

(Jeremy)>> I'm gonna take the seat out.

(Jimmy)>> I'll get some paint. ♪ ♪ [ grinder buzzing ]

(Jimmy)>> To prep the areas that have surface rust we'll use a bristle disk to clean it up and it'll be ready for paint. [ grinder buzzing ] ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> While Jimmy's prepping inside I'll mask off the windows and some parts outside. ♪ ♪ You know it's kinda like wrapping a present, but I was never any good at that either. So, it's just very, very crude. [ paper crackling ]

(Jeremy)>> That'll work!

(Jimmy)>> Then we'll wipe down the roll cage with some acetone and lay down three coats of paint. ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> The inside of the Miata's all done. Now it's time to move on to the outside. We're really painting this car for two main reasons. One is we want to give it a different look, and two it's to do with taking care of this faded out clear coat. Now clear coat serves two main purposes. One, it's to make your car look shiny, but the second more important one is to add a layer of u/v protection on top of your paint. Now after years of this thing sitting in the sun and having a lot of abuse the clear coat has really started to chip and peel off the top of the car. Now when we go to lay our new paint on here, we've got to find a way to make sure this blends out really well. So, an easy way to get started with that is just to use some compressed air. Then we'll come back with our sanders, we'll hit the deck lid and the rest of the car, and we'll blend all of this out. [ compressed air hissing ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright, well now it's time to start sanding. I'm gonna go ahead and get started on the front. Jimmy's gonna take care of a couple of things in the back and make our life a little bit easier.

(Jimmy)>> We'll take off a few things to make masking off the car a little bit easier. ♪ ♪ [ sander buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> To prep our paint we'll be using a d-a. We'll start with 320 grit and slowly work our way up to somewhere around 600 grit. [ sander buzzing ] ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> Alright, well the car is basically prepped. So now we're gonna roll this thing into the paint booth before we mask it off because we're got to be able to get to the steering wheel, and then we'll go ahead and give this thing a good wipe down, mask it off, and be one step closer to paint. It's so easy to roll ain't it?

(Jimmy)>> Light car, tiny car!

(Jeremy)>> All that's left to do is paint. We start the transformation from street to race car.

(Jeremy)>> Hey guys, we're in the paint booth and we're getting ready to lay down some color on the Spec Miata, but there's a couple of things that we have to do first. One of those things is wipe the car down really good with some wax and grease remover, and then we're gonna move on to some masking.

(Jimmy)>> And all this prep work is really what's gonna make the paint job look great, and I can't wait to see what this thing transforms into.

(Jeremy)>> Let's get started. We'll wipe the car down with some Summit Racing wax and grease remover, and then move on to masking. ♪ ♪ Jimmy want to know a little trick here? Since we don't have seals in our doors cause it's a race car. You don't want paint to get inside. Wad up a little bit of paper and we'll throw it in the jamb area, and when we shut the door, it makes its own little seal.

(Jimmy)>> That's pretty smart.

(Jeremy)>> I got taught that in school. ♪ ♪ Just like that! Tuck the corners in.

(Jimmy)>> I'll do that over here in a second. ♪ ♪ We've got the Miata all masked off now and Jeremy's giving it one last wipe down. So, the first step here is to lay down some primer/sealer, and for that we're going with Summit Racing's white. This is a pretty obvious choice because the car's gonna be painted white. We'll mix it with some of their hardener, and then we'll get shooting on this thing. ♪ ♪ [ spray gun hissing ]

(Jimmy)>> With the car eventually being painted white I'll only do a couple of light coats here and we'll have no problem getting the coverage we need. [ spray gun hissing ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright, well Jimmy has the sealer all laid down and it's time to move on to paint. We're gonna be spraying Summit Racing's single stage bright white. Now the best part about this is it has the u/v protection, or the clear coat built directly into the paint. So, if we get a little bit of body damage when we're out on the track it's not a big deal. We just have to prep the surface and then lay this down, versus laying down a base coat and then a clear coat. This mix is pretty simple. It mixes four to one. So, we'll just mix them up, head into the booth. We'll lay down two wet coats and we'll be all set. ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> It may be a little challenging to lay down white paint over white sealer because it's hard to see your wet edge, but make sure you have the correct overlap so you can get a nice, smooth finish. [ spray gun hissing ]

(Jeremy)>> And after we give the first coat enough time to flash, we'll lay down our second coat. [ spray gun hissing ] ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> You know I like it! I think it turned out pretty good!

(Jimmy)>> This thing doesn't have to be crazy nice because over its lifetime it's gonna get beat up anyway.

(Jeremy)>> It is a race car, and you know what they say about race cars.

(Jimmy)>> Rubbing's racing!

(Jeremy)>> I think from here we'll unmask. We'll go ahead and throw the old wheels and tires on it. Then we'll bring it down to the studio, mount the new wheels and tires, and then we've still got to wrap up the whole interior.

(Jimmy)>> We're getting close. [ paper crackling ]

(Jimmy)>> A little cut here and a tuck there and we're almost ready to hit the track.

(Jimmy)>> The car looks great, and we have it back in our shop now. At this point we just have to wrap up some interior stuff. I'm gonna be working on the door panels, one of which I do have to modify, and Jeremy you're gonna take care of the dash?

(Jeremy)>> Yeah, we'll get it in there somehow.

(Jimmy)>> Let's get started.

For the passenger's side it's pretty straightforward because the door bars just go straight forward from the main hoop. So once I get this in here the door will be able to close just like that, but on the driver's side we do have to modify it a little bit. This side is a little bit different because of how the roll cage is designed. The door bars on this side actually protrude out into the door area instead of going just straight forward like we have on the passenger side, and in the Spec Miata rule book if you have the cage designed this way you can modify any interior panels accordingly because of course safety is first, looks are second. So, from the looks of it if we set this in here I already know where the handle sits. So, I'm thinking I'm just gonna have to cut the door panel just under the handle, and I'll start by taking this handle off, and then we'll just cut it with the body saw. ♪ ♪ Here you go! Easy as that! ♪ ♪ I'll lay out some tape to make a nice line to follow with the body saw. [ saw buzzing ] ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> Alright, install this thing and for good. Push pin! ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> With the door panels in now we're gonna move on to the dash. Now we've already modified this to fit around the roll cage. So, all we have to do is get this in. We'll bolt it up and then hook up a couple of connections. ♪ ♪ Alright now all we have to do is just slide the big plastic piece over here. We'll get it in here somehow. ♪ ♪ We bolt it all down. ♪ ♪ Well now that we have the interior all buttoned up it's time to focus on the exterior. Now before we put any parts on that car, especially these headlights, we're gonna restore them with a headlight restoration kit that we got from Sonax. Pretty simple to use. Involves some sanding, and then a little bit of polishing, and then we'll get them right back on the car. ♪ ♪ [ scratching ]

(Jeremy)>> This first step is 1,000 grit. Then from here we go up to 2,000, and then all we do is just polish it out with their wool pad they provide in the kit. This should take care of the 1,000 grit. We'll jump on to the 2,000 here. Spray these down quick again. ♪ ♪ Give this a little wipe down and then we'll go ahead and start polishing. ♪ ♪ [ buzzing ] ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> So the last thing we'll do is apply some of this headlight protection, spray it on the rig, and then we'll go ahead and just wipe it on the headlight, and then we just have to let this dry. So, while that's drying go ahead and get started on the second set.

(Jimmy)>> To finish off the outside of our Miata we have a new wheel and tire combination that we got from Summit Racing. The wheels are Konig 15 by 7's along with Toyo Proxes RRs in 205/50-15. Those sizes are specific to the Spec Miata class. So, we can't deviate from that at all, and because this is a DOT competition specific tire they're gonna be a lot more predictable and consistent when we're out on the track, and it'll be quite a bit different experience than what we had last time with just street tires on it. Not only that but these look about 10 million times better. So that's a big plus too. ♪ ♪ [ drill humming ] ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> Woo, wee, this thing looks like a real race car now!

(Jimmy)>> It looks cool man! The wheels and tires really changed it up, and it sits lower too.

(Jeremy)>> I think the whole package together should turn out to be a blast out on the racetrack. I'll go get the truck and trailer. Let's load this up and let's just get out of here.

(Jimmy)>> Let's do it!

(Jeremy)>> Coming up, we take our Spec Miata for a little rip around the race course.

(Jeremy)>> Alright guys, well it's track day. It's the day that Jimmy and I have been waiting for. We have the Miata back up here at NCM Motorsports Park, and we're ready to take a couple of laps and see how this car handles.

(Jimmy)>> We built this thing for Spec Miata. This thing's pretty setup, and you're the guy that drove this last time. So, I'm curious what your feedback's gonna be. How much better the car is now cause it should be a lot stiffer with the cage and also, we've got sticky tires and suspension on it.

(Jeremy)>> It's a little cooler today but I think we'll be able to set some pretty quickish times. We'll see what happens. So, I'm gonna hop in, go take it for a couple of laps. If I can get in this thing. ♪ ♪ [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> Wow, this thing's way quicker than it was before. So, I just pulled back onto the track for the first time since we got this whole thing done, and I can tell you one thing right now. This car's way faster than it was before. You know it's got something to do with the horsepower cause we gained a little, but just with the cage and everything the car's stiffer. It's got a tighter feeling to it. The coil overs I'm sure help big time, and we've got sticky tires on. Granted they're not warmed up yet, and I'm not going crazy fast. I'm just trying to warm my tires up right now and remember the track cause it's been a while since we've been out here, but the car is a completely different car. I can see how with a good setup on a car this can get pretty addicting. This car hugs way different than before. This thing's amazing! Like crazy fast right now!

(Jimmy)>> It's hard to tell how he's doing from up here, but the car looks really good. Like way better than it used to. The nice white, the cage and everything, it just looks like a true race car, and that's awesome!

(Jeremy)>> Yeah, I could have a whole lot of fun in this car. This thing handles great, and it's quick. It's got a lot of pick up off the line. We had real big tires on it before. When we bought it it had big oversize tires, bigger than stock, and we've gotten down to a smaller tire size. We've got sticky tires on it now, and this thing's crazy. Like wicked fast. I've got to be careful cause it's been a while since I've been on the track. I definitely don't want to push myself too hard but it sticks. It absolutely sticks in the corners. Like this thing is a blast, and the feeling you have the seat itself gives you that comfort. It allows you to almost throw yourself around. Like I'm not moving in the cab, but you could almost throw yourself around in here because you're not moving all that much. You've got to just hole the lines. These tires are crazy good. They just stick like they're nobody's business, but I love it. The car sounds good. It's holding together nicely. Steering wheel's in the perfect position. The brakes are awesome. The car is fast. Like the car is really fast, like a lot of fun, a whole lot of fun, and really the amount of work we put into it. I mean the car was relatively inexpensive when we bought it. I mean we paid some good money for it, but it wasn't like going out and buying a $50,000 dollar car that you have to now turn into a race car. It's buying a $6,000 dollar car. Diving decent money into it but safety's huge. So, like the cage, the coil overs, tires. We gained some horsepower, did some good brakes, and I've got a race car I think could hang with some pretty wicked built race cars. They don't weigh anything. Power to weight ratio is nuts on this car, and it's just fast, just a fast car. So, I'm gonna make myself car sick if anything. This thing's fun! That's 80! This thing's an absolute ball to drive. I could do this all day.

(Jimmy)>> Alright dude, you looked fast but how was it?

(Jeremy)>> Dare I say this is probably the most fun I've had in a race car. I totally want you to feel this for yourself. So, I'm not gonna divulge too much information. I want you to hop in here and I'm gonna go up in the crow's nest here and watch you do a couple of laps. ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> If you like anything you've seen on today's show be sure to check out more of Powernation TV.
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