Author Archives: Maxime Lacroix

Product Review – Jet Stream Gurney Hood Flap

Introduction

Jet Stream introduced this item a few years back, showcasing it on a handful of their customer cars. Although it never made it to their catalog as a new release, they’ve been more than happy to craft it upon request.

The Dilemma 

Unfortunately, the gurney flap does block the OEM windshield spray nozzle. So, if you’re keen on keeping this feature, you might want to consider opting for a nozzle relocation kit, which is entirely optional.

Installation Process – Nozzle 

To install the nozzle, it’s necessary to remove the wiper cowl. A separate blog post detailing the steps involved in removing the cowl cover can be found here.

Once the cowl is off, mark the drilling location for the 10mm hole needed for the new nozzle. Using the center screw location of the cowl as a reference, measure 2 inches to the right and then half an inch towards the bottom. However, I chose to position it more centrally, opting for a distance of 1 1/4 inch instead of 2 inches.

A step drill bit comes in handy for this task.

The nozzle simply slips through the hole and is secured in place with a threaded plastic collar.

After mocking the cowl back onto the vehicle to ensure there are no clearance issues, proceed to add the rubber hose for the washer fluid. Depending on your setup, like my NB with the NOPRO relocation tank, you might need to adjust the length of the rubber hose accordingly. Just be cautious not to make it too short, risking kinking.

Remember to route the rubber hose behind the wiper arm link. Secure the cowl with the screws.

Installation Process – Gurney Flap

Now, onto the gurney flap. Prep the hood area by wiping it with alcohol to ensure a clean surface.

The item comes with a roll of double-sided adhesive, which you’ll apply to the bottom of the flap, ensuring it’s evenly spaced from the edge and firmly pressed. I opted for a single strip, but there’s enough tape provided if you prefer to add a second.

Once aligned perfectly, use masking tape to prevent any shifting during the final glue down. Peel off the tape backing strip while pressing down, working your way down to the other side of the vehicle. And that concludes the installation!

Conclusion

Since fitting this, I’ve taken the vehicle on a highway run and can confirm the wiper arms remain steady even at speeds over 85mph. Visibility isn’t compromised, and it’s easy to forget it’s there. Plus, I really admire the aesthetic it brings to the car, neatly concealing the majority of the wiper arms from a frontal view.

The nozzle spray performs just as well as those from the hood. In fact, the relocation actually tidies up the engine bay once you remove the OEM hoses for the hood spray nozzles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Product Review – Garage HRS Air Conditioning Filter

Introducing the Garage HRS Filter

One of the most exciting advancements in automotive accessories over the past year has been the introduction of cabin filters for our beloved Roadsters. Thanks to the wonders of 3D printing, finding a solution for this long-awaited upgrade has become a breeze.

Enter the Garage HRS Filter: a beautifully designed 3D-printed product that not only looks the part straight out of the box but also feels impressively good.

Installation Process 

Now, let’s dive into the installation process. Prepare your toolbox with essentials like a Phillips screwdriver, masking tape, and a 12mm socket and ratchet. Additionally, having a pry tool on hand will prove invaluable.

Pro tip: Use a piece of masking tape to mark the glass where the wiper blades rest to ensure they’re aligned upon reinstallation.

Removing the wiper arms involves removing the rubber cap and loosening the 12mm nut before gently pulling the arm upwards. Be prepared to apply some force, especially if it’s the first time the arm has been removed.

Next, the wiper cowl, held in place by six screws hidden beneath plastic cap covers. Carefully pry these covers off using a scalpel or small flat-head screwdriver, exercising caution to avoid damaging the plastic.

Finally, the rain/water diverter panel, secured with five screws and three plastic clips.

Pay special attention to the clips on the firewall, ensuring you pry the inner piece first before rotating it off like a regular screw.

A clip/pry tool will come in handy for the third clip.

With those hurdles cleared, it’s time to address the AC air intake. For NB Roadsters like mine, the existing metal mesh offers limited protection against debris entering the AC blower, making a cabin filter a welcomed addition.

Take advantage of this opportunity to give the area a thorough clean, promoting fresher air circulation within the cabin.

While the Garage HRS Filter boasts impressive design, one flaw surfaced during installation: a less-than-secure fit within the rectangular intake. My simple yet effective solution involved adding a 1/16th-inch weather seal tape to the filter housing’s inner edge.

This minor adjustment significantly enhanced the housing’s stability and sealing, resulting in a snugger fit and improved performance. Curious to replicate this solution? Here’s a link to the weather seal tape. https://a.co/d/iOWnzlu

So far, my experience with the filter has been nothing short of delightful. Not a hint of strong odors from the outside world has infiltrated my sanctuary on wheels.

In conclusion, installing a cabin filter in our Roadsters not only enhances air quality but also adds a touch of innovation to our driving experience. Here’s to many more miles of fresh, exhilarating adventures ahead!

 

 

Golden Week 2024 Schedule

Hey everyone! Most of you never heard of Golden Week, but it’s a National Holiday in Japan.

For Japanese people, it’s the equivalent of “Spring Break”.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused, all customers with orders affected by Golden Week will be contacted by email.

You can find more information about this holiday by following this link.

When is Golden Week?

Golden Week takes place from April 27th to May 6th this year.

What usually happens during Golden Week?

The whole country of Japan kind of “shuts down”. Most factories are closed and people take time to visit their family, do sightseeing or travel. This year, it’ll just be time to relax at home.

Why do we talk about Golden Week?

As you may know already, 99% of our parts ship straight from Japan. During Golden Week, our shipping department is no different and all operations will be halted during Golden Week. Jenvey or Nardi products are not affected by this holiday.

Will your order be affected?

If you placed a order after April 11th and it didn’t ship yet, your order may be delayed by ~5-7 business days (but we will do our best to ship it before). Orders placed between April 26th and May 3rd will not be processed until May 7th, since we need to wait for shops to come back from vacation. We will proceed all orders in order of oldest to newest, so if there is limited stock of a product, the orders first received will be prioritized.

Time to enjoy life.

We’ve been doing the REV9 Autosport adventure for over 15 years now! It’s a lot of work, but so enjoyable. It’s the only time of the year that we can really take time for ourselves and recharge before the summer season!

Sales inquiries between April 26th and May 3rd will be limited because most questions that we do not have answer to cannot be answered during that period.

Cheers, time to drive!

-Max

Quick Fix For Credit Card Payment Issue

Sometimes, credit card processor or bank have special requirements such as space in zip code (or no space), company field empty, etc. and the processing of the order cannot be done using the regular “Credit Card or Debit Card” method.

We have a workaround that should fix the problem!

During checkout, fill all your information as usual, but instead of choosing “Credit Card or Debit Card”, please choose “PayPal” option :

After pressing “PLACE ORDER NOW”, you will be prompted to a PayPal page and you will need to select “Pay with a credit or Visa Debit card” :

In the next page, fill out all your card and billing information and then you just need to click “No Thanks”, confirm the checkbox and click “Pay Now” et voila!

We are very sorry about how complicated the process is, but sometimes banks/credit card issuers make it difficult to order from our website.

Japan Post New Size Restrictions (2023)

Dear Roadster Lovers,

Unfortunately, some countries have put limitations on the most awesome shipping service in the world : Japan Post EMS (this also affects Japan Post Air Mail & ePacket).  We have used Japan Post EMS for the past 15+ years with success, pre-pandemic being a reliable 3-5 days shipping method. During and after pandemic, it’s safe to say the quality of service suffered and prices went up, but it was and is still the most cost effective way to ship “normal size” aerodynamic piece (big in volume, light in weight).

Most countries have a limit of around 150cm (longest size), which allows us to send most small aerodynamics pieces at a fraction of the cost of DHL or UPS.

Since 2023, some countries have restricted Japan Post dimensions to 105cm which means the prices shown on the website may be inaccurate for the following countries :

 

Australia

Argentina

Uruguay

United Arab Emirates

Oman

Saudi Arabia

Spain

Rwanda

 

As it’s impossible for our website to distinguish the shipping dimension limits of these few countries, our website shows the EMS/Air Mail/ePacket rate for all countries, but we need to manually calculate DHL or UPS shipping price for the aforementioned countries. The calculation is done after ordering for the countries mentioned earlier, which may translate to additional shipping charges. You can contact us before ordering or we’ll inform you after the order is placed. If the extra cost is too high, we will refund you fully and cancel the order.

 

Cheers!

-Max

Golden Week 2022 Schedule

Hey everyone! Most of you never heard of Golden Week, but it’s a National Holiday in Japan.

For Japanese people, it’s the equivalent of “Spring Break”.

We usually plan this holiday weeks ahead, but with all shipping disruptions caused by the COVID-19, we kind of let this slide. We apologize for the inconvenient, all customers with orders affected by Golden Week will be contacted by email.

You can find more information about this holiday by following this link.

When is Golden Week?

Golden Week takes place from April 29th to May 5th  this year.

What usually happens during Golden Week?

The whole country of Japan kind of “shuts down”. Most factories are closed and people take time to visit their family, do sightseeing or travel. This year, it’ll just be time to relax at home.

Why do we talk about Golden Week?

As you may know already, 99% of our parts ship straight from Japan. During Golden Week, our shipping department is no different and all operations will be halted during Golden Week. REV9 USA, Jenvey or Nardi are not affected by this holiday.

Will your order be affected?

If you placed a order after April 19th  and it didn’t ship yet, your order may be delayed by +5-7 business days (but we will do our best to ship it before). If it is affected, we will inform you right away! Orders placed between 28th of April and May 5th will not be processed until May 6th, since we need to wait for shops to come back from vacation. We will proceed all orders in order of oldest to newest, so if there is limited stock of a product, the orders first received will be prioritized.

Time to enjoy life.

We’ve been doing the REV9 Autosport adventure for over 10 years now! It’s a lot of work, but so enjoyable. It’s the only time of the year that we can really take time for ourselves and recharge before the summer season!

Sales inquiries between 29th of April and May 6th will be limited because most questions that we do not have answer to cannot be answered during that period.

Cheers, time to drive!

-Max

REV9 2021/2022 Holiday Schedule

Even though we’re an online store, we also take some holidays!

The customer service & sales will still be on limited operation throughout the holidays, however, the shipping department will be shut down from 28th of December to 3rd of January. Every order placed during period of 23rd of December to 3rd of January may be delayed by up to an extra ~5 business days as most shops we deal with will be closed. On January 4th, when shops resume business, if your order has a longer production lead time than 5-10 business days, we will inform you and re-confirm order. Otherwise, we will ship within a time frame of 5-10 business days (from 4th of January) as usual.

Very sorry about that, hope it’ll be alright for most of you!

In the meantime, take it easy, it’s been a tough year (again)!

We appreciate everyone’s help in making this year one of our best years ever. We are working on improving our processes for 2022 for faster processing/shipping speed.

Happy Holidays~

-Max & the team!

The Road(Ster) Trip – Los Angeles feat. Project-G

At this rhythm, I’ll finish publishing my 2017 Roadster Trip by year 2025… I’m really sorry about all the time it takes to produce these blog posts, but we’ve been really busy improving the website speed, design and small things that you cannot see but makes the experience at our store more enjoyable!

 

So, here’s my post about the trip, of the city of angels: Los Angeles!

 

I gotta say, LA was one of the places I did enjoy the most during my trip. What a lively city.

Beautiful beaches…

 

Self-serve craft beer bars…!

 

Beverly Hills, wow!

 

And one hell of a cool sunset!

 

Did I, at one point, feel like at the beginning of The Fast And Furious… yup!

 

We announced the event a few weeks before it and our fine friends at Project-G helped us promote the event with this cool banner!

 

The event was planned as follows : we meet in a huge parking (Peter’s Marina) and then we go on a drive for photoshoot on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). Unfortunately, things did not go as smooth as planned… haha!

This meeting was by far the BIGGEST one we did! Over 100+ Miatas showed up and we literally created traffic everywhere we moved haha!

 

I gotta say that the meeting location was PACKED before we arrived, so there were Roadsters everywhere! Really early in the meeting, we were asked to move the meeting, so all the photos I took were a bit rushed (sorry for bad quality)!

 

Here are the photos at Peter’s Marina :

This is the famous JonB’s NA Miata. It’s rocking some pretty rare Rays TE37 SL in 15×8 +25 and you can see it’s rocking the Project-G Corner Flares, (discontinued) Side G-Fusers & G-String Bikini Top! Such a clean car modded with taste!

This is Steve’s (from Project-G) NA with ultra-rare one-of-a-kind SSR EXC Fins 15” Wheels. You can also see the Project-G Corner Flares, (discontinued) Side G-Fusers & G-String Bikini Top as well as their new G-Vents!

This one is Joe’s (Steve’s partner) which is pretty much rocking the same parts as the previous one, but on a red car! The wheels are super nice SSR SP1R 15” Wheels~

This BRG NA was so clean! It had a neat tan color Project-G Bikini Top and some beautiful Runabout S800 Mirrors! The wheels were super wide Star Road Glowstar MSS 15” Wheels!

This NA was had some pretty wide/low offset Work CR01 15” Wheels.

This NC probably has my favorite wheel fitment ever. It had some very concave (now discontinued) Advan RS 17” Wheels!

Some more photos…

So, this was the end of our meet at Peter’s Marina, we had to move. It was good while it lasted~

 

We then tried to move to different location, but as I don’t know any place in Los Angeles, I told everyone to meet on PCH (which is a HUGE road)… all you could see is confused Miatas driving everywhere in every direction.

 

We somehow managed to find the parking lot of a restaurant that was not opened and we filled it completely.

 

As I was enjoying the awesomeness of such a thing, it took about 2 minutes before a security guard kicked us of our 2nd meeting in the same day. I tried to grab as many pictures as I could, so these were rushed (again). Hope you’ll enjoy, still!

Some intruders can be seen…~

Gotta love the near Enkei RPF1 15” Wheels on this silver NB~

This is Chris’ ND, he was one of our first customers to drill the trunk of their ND to fit a GT Wing. What a neat result. Car has the Odula Front Lip and Odula Carbon GT Wing. He gave me a Jackson Racing T-Shirt when we met (thanks!!).

Very cool (and rough) NA!

Peter-san’s NA with the Garage Vary Tail Lights, some ultra-rare SSR Star Shark 14” Wheels, the REV9 1028 Mirrors, full Nakamae interior, Barchetta Front Bumper, Garage Vary Headlight Lid and so much more! What a clean car.

Lee’s ultra clean ND that somehow reminded me of my car before the color change! It had the nice Rays ZE40 17” Wheels, Runduce Big Brake Kit, Kansai Service Front Diffusers, TUCKIN99 Side Skirts, TK Style Rear Diffuser & Garage Vary Rear Spoiler! This is such a quality build, the photos don’t do it justice.

Here’s Sean’s (just-finished) NC that was rocking the Jet Stream Gran Turismo Fender Flares as well as some super rare (and wide) SSR 17” (Type-C?) Wheels. The Front Lip was the Garage Vary Glide Front Lip!

Hmmm…

Here’s another ND that had an out-of-this-world shine (owner was a professional car detailer)! It had the Garage Vary Glide Front Lip, some (discontinued) Rays MTE37 17” Wheels, Rocket Bunny Rear Diffuser and Rallybacker Low Ducktail Spoiler! Love the “ND RF” plate~

Look at those SUPER WIDE Rays TE37v 15” Wheels~

Some more photos…

It all ended up with the best way to end a trip… getting caught at 90mph in a 65 zone…

I want to thank EVERYONE who came to this messy event! I’m sorry I was not able to talk with so many people due to being rushed out of both locations, but I do appreciate how nice it was for everyone to leave their place to meet us during their weekends! Special thanks for Joe & Steve at Project-G for helping me throughout the years and to organize this meeting, love you guys! I’ve added some more content (below) if you want to see more (nicer) photos and video!

Video of the event :

 

More photos : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003103025512&sk=media_set&set=a.1404578649655556.1073742134.100003103025512&type=1&l=ee1ee4e4e0

Shipping Delays & Restrictions from COVID-19

Dear Roadster lovers, On April 1st 2020, Japan Post announced that they temporarily suspend shipping to countries heavily affected by Coronavirus (COVID-19).

We always took great care of our customers and this is really challenging times. We always aimed at providing the best possible service and we’re working every hours of the day to solve this problem one way or another.

***THIS DOES NOT AFFECT ORDERS SHIPPED VIA UPS (OVERSIZED)***

All of our oversized products such as aerodynamics and our heavier products such as wheels & coilovers can still be shipped worldwide! If you combine oversized & regular product, we can ship worldwide!

***UPDATED NOVEMBER 5TH 2022***

What are we doing to solve this problem ?

We are now shipping to all countries with the COVID-19 restriction via DHL or UPS. The DHL and UPS services are extremely quick and usually reach the customer within 2-3 business day. If the country is not affected by the Japan Post suspension, we ship the same way as usual. 

Are there extras to pay ?
90% of the orders will ship with zero extra to pay.

The DHL & UPS service cost start at ~$20.00 (compared to $10.50 for Japan Post).

Most extras that are charged are for $5.50 to $9.50.

Can I know if I need to pay extra ?
Sure, you can send us an email with the product(s) you want to order and we’ll let you know if there are any extras to pay. You can also place the order as usual and if there is an extra, we’ll send you an email with link to pay the extra fee.

Can I order and wait until Japan Post resumes service to my country ?
Totally! We’ve had some customers who ordered items that are not time sensitive and they shipped a few weeks/months later when the service resumed to their country. Please note that we cannot give ETA on when the service will resume (for example, it’s been over 3 months for Australia). We strongly suggest upgrading to DHL or UPS for the peace of mind and rapidity/reliability of the service.

USA customers :

As a big volume of orders go to USA, we managed to get very good prices on DHL & UPS, so the extras are usually much lower than normal (if any). We shipped hundreds of orders since Japan Post halted shipping to USA and the turnaround time has been incredibly fast.

 

Below is the list of countries where shipping is temporarily halted (updated list from November 5th 2022):

Asia :

Afghanistan
East Timor
Brunei
Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Europe :

Austria
Sweden
Czech Republic 
Denmark
Norway
Hungary
Poland
Portugal
Latvia
Lithuania
Estonia
Luxembourg
Croatia
Slovenia
Bulgaria
Azerbaijan
Albania
Armenia
Uzbekistan
North Macedonia
Kyrgyz
Greenland
Kosovo
Georgia
Slovakia
Turkmenistan
Faroe Islands
Belarus
Moldova
Montenegro
Russian Federation

Middle East :

United Arab Emirates
Syria
Bahrain

North & Central America :

Aruba
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
British Virgin Islands
El Salvador
Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius
Grenada
Cayman Islands
Costa Rica
Jamaica
Saint Maarten
Saint Christopher and Nevis
Saint Vincent
Saint Lucia
Turks and Caicos
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Trinidad and Tobago
Nicaragua
Bermuda
Haiti
Bahamas
Barbados
Virgin Islands
Belize
Puerto Rico
Montserrat
Guatemala
St. Pierre and Miquelon
Honduras
Martinique

Oceania :

Wake Island
Northern Mariana Islands
Kiribati
Guam
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Saipan
Independent State of Samoa
Tuvalu
Tonga
Nauru
Norfolk Island
Vanuatu
Papua New Guinea
Palau
Pitcairn
Fiji
French Polynesia
American Samoa
Marshall Islands
Midway Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Wallis and Futuna

South America

Guyana
Uruguay
Ecuador
Suriname
Paraguay
French Guiana
Venezuela

Africa

Please contact us if you want details on shipping service to your country.

Is production affected/delayed?

95% of our products are proudly made in Japan where the Coronavirus spread has not been too bad. Workers continue working, but with extra precautions and, so far, production lead time has not been affected at all.

Take care!

We appreciate all your business, but first, please be careful. This virus is no jokes! It’s time to take some time off, and one of the safest thing to do at the moment is work on your car (haha)! The global situation is hard on everyone and we hope that everything will come back to normal soon. Don’t forget, it’s safer to stay about 1 Miata width from each other.

 

Nakamae Wait Times

Nakamae has been the leader in extremely high-quality leather products one can buy for the Mazda MX-5 Miata. We have been the official distributor for their products outside of Japan for 10 years!

For those who don’t know, Nakamae is a single-man operated business. He takes pride in offering his craftmanship at a very fair price. He always prefers to take his time and do a perfect stitch rather than rush a product that won’t satisfy his perfectionism.

The carefully chosen leather/synthetic leather, perfect fit, beautiful stitching and matching colors to factory specs is what makes it a perfect choice for anyone that wants a perfect build.

Often copied, but never duplicated, we’re proud to offer these ORIGINAL products designed & hand built by the legendary Nakamae-san.

For the past few years, Nakamae-san has had small health issues (he’s over 70 years old) and decided to reduce his work load. Unfortunately, his queue remains high as the work he does is just so perfect and beautiful.

Nakamae’s current production lead time is approximately 3-4 months. This is not a delay for bulk orders, it’s literally the queue to get a new custom product from Nakamae. This lead time is not a guarantee (it could be shorter, it could be longer), but please estimate around this time frame for all new orders of Nakamae products.

If you order other parts along with Nakamae products, we can ship the other product earlier (depending on the situation & by request), but by default, we’ll do 1 shipment.

We appreciate the time you took to read this announcement and hope you’ll consider Nakamae products as a choice for your high quality build.