Progression of the Miata thread

[m1ataman]

If your short shifter is like the one I had on my old Miata you need the heavy shift knob to dampen vibrations. Looking good Dustin!

[IceyHot]

Thought you might like this:

Thanks for that Iceyhot :P

Picked up some goodies today and installed them:

- Replaced my Sony Xplod 222 Watt amp with a SAS Bazooka BA260 amp
- Replaced my SAS Bazooka NOS6 bass cannon with a SAS Bazooka BT6024DVC Dual Voice Coil 6.5" Bass Cannon.

Going to the better amp and the better bass cannon made a HUGE difference. The bass hits way harder, and it uses less trunk space! w00t. Now on to the pics

[Demosthenes X]

By "uses less trunk space", do you mean, "I STILL have more trunk space than a Solstice"?

[ENDER]

^I dont know...It doesnt look like a guitar would fit in there, I guess the trunk isnt ENDER approved! I guess Im one to talk though haha, but I must say I can get my Marshall 4X12 guitar cabinet in my car with about 2 millimeters to spare! I couldnt own a miata, but this one is pretty sweet in my books...

Originally posted by ENDER
^I dont know...It doesnt look like a guitar would fit in there, I guess the trunk isnt ENDER approved! I guess Im one to talk though haha, but I must say I can get my Marshall 4X12 guitar cabinet in my car with about 2 millimeters to spare! I couldnt own a miata, but this one is pretty sweet in my books...

I can fit my golf bag in there with a full set of clubs. So that's really all that matters

Originally posted by Demosthenes X
By "uses less trunk space", do you mean, "I STILL have more trunk space than a Solstice"?

Exactly :P

Just got home from Kelowna. What a horrible, horrible trip. I left friday morning with another guy from the miata club. We were going to a big miata rally (over 200 of them), and decided to take the Fraser canyon to Ashcroft, then the 97C to Merritt, then continue on to Kelowna over the 97C. Everything was going great until I got into Merritt. My car decided it didn't want to shift anymore, and having the clutch in did nothing. So I drove it like a n old truck to Kelowna (shifting with the rpms).

I made it to Westbank and had to pull into a Midas. They were able to do a couple of adjustments to my clutch pedal which allowed me to get into Kelowna. Once I got over the bridge every time I put the pedal in I got this hideous grinding noise.

The only place that could take a look was the Midas in west bank, so I drove it back there early the next morning (6 am). It barely made it. A few hours later, the transmission was pulled and the bad news was discovered. My release bearing decided to disintegrate, then damage the pressure plate, and then damage the pilot bearing sleeve.

Anyways, Kelowna didn't have all the parts I needed, so I got in touch with some miata folk and picked up a few used parts. The one piece I couldn't find was the bearing sleeve, so we sanded the groove down and re used it temporarily. $850 later and my car was running again, but only after I missed all of the events.

So I drive home this morning, and just outside of Kelowna my check engine light comes on. Everytime I stopped the car it would go away, but came back 3 times on my way home. I'll run some diagnostics tonight and see if the ECU has any error codes stored.

Anyways, it was a horrible trip and a horrible waste of money. The clutch + bearings I had were only 2 months old also... Anyone want to buy a miata?

It's hard to tell in this pic, but some forks are bent on the pressure plate, and all those pieces and bits are the throwout bearing.


Oh yah, the error code I got was for a faulty 02 sensor. It may have just been the altitude change, but I think I might replace it anyways. They're uber cheap.

Well i'm going back to basics on the interior. I'm removing all the "blue" things, and focusing on the brushed/polished/black look. I'll keep the seats black and blue, but I think the car will look a lot sharper with the blue gone.

Here's a couple of pics with the black instrument shroud back on.



Oh yah, has anyone seen a miata on a salvage lot recently? I'm going to need a few pieces

[Randomorbit]

Hey nice car, I'm a recent Miata owner now and I was wondering if you knew what causes the shimmy at about 100-120 kph. I've had it alligned and I've put on new tires and of course they've been balanced. This is starting to get expensive to fix, any ideas?
Thanks,
Ted.

Originally posted by Randomorbit
Hey nice car, I'm a recent Miata owner now and I was wondering if you knew what causes the shimmy at about 100-120 kph. I've had it alligned and I've put on new tires and of course they've been balanced. This is starting to get expensive to fix, any ideas?
Thanks,
Ted.

Well, it could be a bunch of things. My car is solid up to the "higher" speed ranges without a shimmy. It's been quite a while since I installed braces on my car, so I can't quite recall which one fixed it. Essentially, there are two lower chassis braces which helped quite a bit. They were added to miata's after the 94 year, so one can assume that they are a good upgrade. I picked up these ones myself:

http://www.miatamania.com/Shop/ViewP...eIndexID=33207

Also, getting a proper roll bar or a seatbelt tower brace will help that. It could also be that your suspension is done. Apparently the stock suspension was only "good" until the 50,000km mark, and then it needs to be replaced if you want the car to drive decently.

http://www.miatamania.com/Shop/ViewP...eIndexID=39032

Anyways, congrats on the miata purchase. They're a ton of fun, and so much aftermarket as well.

Oh yah, just thought of one more thing. Chances are if you haven't replaced your engine mounts, then they're pretty screwed. Many folks have complained about "shimmy" in their miata, only to have it fixed with new mounts. The rubber in them doesn't really last 15 years, and it's pretty much guaranteed that they are hosed.

[m1ataman]

Originally posted by Randomorbit
Hey nice car, I'm a recent Miata owner now and I was wondering if you knew what causes the shimmy at about 100-120 kph. I've had it alligned and I've put on new tires and of course they've been balanced. This is starting to get expensive to fix, any ideas?
Thanks,
Ted.

Miatas are really sensitive to tire pressure so I'm guessing you're running more than the 26 or so spec'd. Drop it back and I bet your shimmy goes away.

[Randomorbit]

Hey thanks guys I'll definatly look at some of those lower chassis braces for the car, I was looking through the hanes manual at pictures of the under side of the car and that was one of the first things I noticed was the lack of some of those extra braces in the lower suspention. As for upper suspention braces I think I'm OK as I have a four point cage out back and a strut tower bar up front. I looks as though I have some auto wrecker shopping to do in the near future. As for tire pressure... boy you aren't kidding. I have the pressure down to 28psi on all corners right now and I'll try dropping it down again, I usually play with tire pressure every time I get a new car but most seem to like lots of pressure, this is different. Thanks for the help and if you think of anything else LMK. I have a few things to figure out on this car as of yet as it's the first car that I've bought where someone else has done all of the work before I got it.

Thanks again,
Ted

[Randomorbit]

Sooo, I put the tire pressure down to 26 psi, I thought I was at 28 but as it turns out I was running 30 psi. Wow that made quite a differance, I can't say how supprised I am. I still have a high speed shake but it's lessened and is now just around 110 or so kph. I'll still have to sort that out as 110 kph is about where I drive on the freeway.
Thanks again.
Ted.

[hud 91gt]

You say your tires are balanced, but maybe not properly, or maybe a weight fell off. If you have tried everything, maybe check to see if they are still balanced?

[Randomorbit]

I'm pretty sure they're still balanced, I had the old tires balanced two weeks ago when I had the alignment done and then I bought new tires last week which were of course balanced at the time of purchace.

Hey Dustin how much of a difference did the four pounds make with your flywheel? I've been thinking of perhaps going for an aluminum flywheel after I take care of the shake.

Ted

Originally posted by Randomorbit

Hey Dustin how much of a difference did the four pounds make with your flywheel? I've been thinking of perhaps going for an aluminum flywheel after I take care of the shake.

Ted

Lightening the flywheel made a HUGE difference. The car accelerates so freely now, it's absolutely amazing. I'd never go back to a stock weight again now that I've experienced the car this way. Now on the pre 1994 miata's, having a lighter flywheel can have some side effects. In 1994 Mazda put a much larger + better driveshaft plus differential in the car. The 89-93 year miata's has been shown to be pretty flimsy, and with a light flywheel it creates a lot of vibration. A few years ago I installed a 94 rear end with a torsen LSD so that wasn't a concern for me.

Other issues can be stalling. What I would suggest is staying away from the really light 6-9lb flywheels and buying this instead:

http://www.miatamania.com/Shop/ViewP...eIndexID=53145

The 94+ Act streetLight flywheel at 13 LBS it is a pretty good weight, and all you need to do is buy a 94+ clutch to go with it. That way you'll have the lighter fly wheel, and a higher HP rated clutch. The 94 flywheel and clutch fit perfectly into all 89-93 miata's.

Or you could lighten the flywheel like I did if your clutch is still in good shape.

I removed the door speaker covers and the glove box today and put a fresh coat of black paint on them. In between spraying I decided to take some pics of the car. Excuse the dirt.

The miata is finally going on the dyno tomorrow to get some tuning done. I'll post a video and info tomorrow night!

Well, I had Chris tune the miata today at $$$$$$$$. A stock 1990 miata will put down 93HP at the wheel. I have a racing beat intake, tri-y header, and obx exhaust. My timing is also advanced to about 14 degrees. Chris hooked me up with an Apexi S-AFC 2 fuel computer and then did his magic. The first dyno run with no modifications listed a peak horsepower of 113.4. This is quite a large increase over stock, and I was very surprised. Typically a lot of guys throw the 10 extra HP from doing intake, header, exhaust. So at least my engine is running very strong. This is what I got after the tuning:


I'm extremely happy with 119.6HP on an NA 1.6 motor. The car rides very strong now, and acceleration is smooth. If anyone is interested, here's a short video of one of the runs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erNC3jVUJ3M

[Victoria SiR]

No pics of chris in the miata? That could be worth money.

Originally posted by Super WOP
No pics of chris in the miata? That could be worth money.

haha, no. I wouldn't do that to him

[DragonsMaw]

Lovin' it and I just joined the miata army. What kind of mileage are you getting though? I'm up to 12L/100km and a bit concerned, probably try to look for that second sensor you mentioned next time I'm in the garage.

Also, is that the stock AFM or did you pick up an Rx-7 one?

Well my mileage got better after the dyno tune. I'm up to 10.25L / 100 km. I was at 13.98L/100KM before the tune. What miata did you pick up?

Just turned a big number today:


Here's hoping the next 55,000 are relatively trouble free.

And some random pics: