The Miata

[Cookie Monster]

They should have given you back all the money they charged for the subsequent suspension fuckery.

Glad it's sorted out though.

[CaminoRacer]

Did you swap to stiffer springs with the Bilsteins? Gonna go back to those?

[Rich]

April 2014 - bought bilstein shocks to replace the stock shocks. Warne motors installed it

The car was riding high, decided to give it a bit to settle

July 2014 - I essentially leave for deployment until November 2015 and give the car to friends to use/store

June 2015 - the car still hasn't gotten appreciably lower. Friends take the car back to Warne motors to ensure the bilstein spring perches were not upside down. Said they were installed correctly.

July 2015 - welp fuck this 4x4 look, I bought FM springs to lower the car, and as I've read on many topics on Miata.net, will keep the ride almost like stock and off the bump stops. Some even said the ride is better than stock.

September 2015- friends drop the car off with MX-5 Restorer in southern England (great shop btw, just quite a distance away). I have a bunch of stuff done, inluding installation of FM springs

November 16th - I get back and pick up my car up from MX5 Restorer and it's not a 4x4 anymore!!  I drive it back home and my kidneys took a beating.

November 23rd - I drop the car off at Warne motors again since they are closer, to have the stock springs and put back in and sachs shocks ( afew other things, too). They sent me a picture a few days later of the FM springs and Sachs shocks. When it was wayyyyyy higher than it had ridden just days before with the FM springs and bilsteins I figured something had to be up.

So I asked them to put the stock springs and Sachs shocks back in.

Luckily they did it according to instructions on an Internet forum and it worked.

[Cookie Monster]

Called it.

Fuck that first shop.


Also I'm surprised you thought the FM springs were too stiff.

[Rich]

Me too. But at 80mph on the highway an ndulation felt like a gut punch. I haven't spent much time in modded cars, but have driven many sporty cars without problem

[Rich]

[Eye of the Tiger]

Looks good. Shit.

[Rupert]

Nice, finally! You can always leave them bad (honest) reviews. :P

[Rich]

I have a clunk coming from what I think is the right front.  I've done some research and it seems the common areas for a clunk over small and large bumps are from the camber bolts or the nut for the top hat. 

Is the nut for the top hat what is in the pictures below?  Why does one side have 2 nuts and the other only 1?

[CaminoRacer]

Top picture is a nylock nut so it doesn't need a second nut to keep it tight.

I'd assume that's what they mean by "top hat", but I'm not a MiataGuy. Wiggle the car with the hood open and see if you can notice any movement (maybe get a friend to wiggle while you hold the strut and feel if it's moving)

[Cookie Monster]

The top hat nuts are those rusty nuts holding the shock tower bar on. The center nut you're talking about actually threads onto the shock shaft and keeps the top hat and spring on. That shouldn't come loose since the spring is putting tension on it. Not sure why one has two and the other has one.

I'd check your top hat nuts (the rusty ones) as those can come loose and cause clunks.

[Rich]

I took it to a local shop to have the bilstein's put back on.  The Sachs that were on were absolute shit, and maybe not even the correct shocks based on how shitty they were. 

anyway, the local Spanish shop didn't tighten the suspension down under load, so I'm back to 4x4 until I get back to the US. 

The CEL is on with a P0402 EGR "A" Flow Excessive Detected.  Asked the shop to see if they could clean the EGR/replace it.  Dude reset the CEL and said short trips were causing it and that it should be fine.   

So, I'm gonna take it into my own hands and see what I can do because fuck trying to explain how to fix cars to car fixers. 

Buying a ratchet with a few sockets, an EGR valve+gasket, throttle body cleaner, a wire brush and doing this myself on a weekend.  Very well could fuck up my car but without intervention I fear it'll consume too much of it's own exhaust.


I'll need to remove the top part of the intake manifold and clean out the passageway that pipes in the exhaust air into the intake from the valve.  I'll clean off the throttle body and hopefully pick up a few MPG, maybe some more power. 

Edit--the CEL comes back on with regular frequency--I've reset it 3-4 times since October, and now just leave it on because fuck.

[MrH]

Can you rent shop space somewhere?  You can remove the bind in the bushings yourself.

[Rich]

No, not really.  Maybe down in Rota.  but I have 0 idea what I need to do to fix that.  I'll do some research over the next few days

[MrH]

Raise vehicle, loosen things, lower, tighten things.  Tada.

[Rich]

Raise vehicle, loosen things, lower, tighten things.  Tada.

which bolts, how big, which order, can I get to them when the car is on the ground, what if I break a bolt, alignment....

[Eye of the Tiger]

Take it over some sweet jumps. The suspension will settle.

[Rich]

I jumped the car back in England. Can confirm jumping is not something I want to do.

Anyway. I took the center console out. I opened up the lock cylinder for the storage lock and fixed that. Surprised myself. Screwed the hinge in that was glued on to the console cover  by the old mechanic. Fixed the clips that had broken on the window switch unit.



I've also worked some more on the 949 wheels. Only one more to go and should have it done tonight. I'm not sure if I should put clearcoat on after I'm done polishing them.

[Eye of the Tiger]

That is a nice looking wheel. What is the weight?

[Rich]

10-11lbs

[Eye of the Tiger]

My imitation Spoon wheels are 12.8 lbs

[MrH]

I think you're realizing what I realized. As shitty as I am doing my own work on my car, I'll still do a better job than like 90% of the shops out there because I care about the end product. it just might take me forever.

Those 949 wheels look great. Yeah, I'd probably clear coat them afterwards.

[Rich]

But what made them look so shitty in the first place was the crapping out of the clear coat. And sanding through this clear coat to restore them is a BITCH. At least if the aluminum corrodes all I need to do is polish it up.

Re: self mechanic...  ideally I'd like Singer level work but shops like that are super scarce and I'd probably not be able to afford the hourly rate for that

After some research I found that the shift boot installer didn't transfer the trim ring where the boot meets the shifter. I'd been wondering why it looked sloppy but chalked it up to the boot being from redline goods and not OEM.

Much better now

[MX793]

If you don't mind having to re-polish your wheels fairly frequently, you can probably leave the clear off.  My brother always used to clean the clear off of the aluminum swingarms on his MX bikes and polish them because he liked the polished look.  Had to re-polish it on a nearly weekly basis to keep it looking good, but no other harm.  Although a swingarm wouldn't have to deal with brake dust, which can be corrosive.  A good coat of wax after the polish would probably help both protect from brake dust and extend polishing intervals.

[Rich]

:thinking:

I don't want to have to polish the rim once a week or risk it getting eaten alive by brake dust.

I also don't want to have to sand through clearcoat every 3 years

[Eye of the Tiger]

:thinking:

I don't want to have to polish the rim once a week or risk it getting eaten alive by brake dust.

I also don't want to have to sand through clearcoat every 3 years

Get them powder coated in gloss silvery, or whatever color. Neon pink.

[CaminoRacer]

Get them powder coated in gloss silvery, or whatever color. Neon pink.

+1

[MX793]

Unless you're driving in some harsh environments (like salt), a properly applied clearcoat should still look good for many years if properly cared for.

[Rich]

Did a coolant system pressure test and it's pouring from the front of the engine block.  Guessing it's the water pump

Also checked for rust to see if I should sell the thing when I got back to the US.  The frame looks great, but there are some rusty bits:

Something around the fuel tank area... looks like a panel.  I'm guessing the box with the tubes is the fuel pump.  Cylinder thing off camera I think was the fuel filter.



I have no idea TF this thing is:



Control arm:


Frame for reference:

[Eye of the Tiger]

Water pump is an easy fix. Is it timing belt driven? If so, replace everything.
I am not a Miata expert, but I imagine the box with hoses is the evaporative emissions system pump. Fuel pump should be in tank, I imagine.