Selene - Nev's NB SE

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Tue May 27, 2014 6:44 pm

A few small updates to the engine bay before I move on to the interior stuff.

First off I deleted the black plastic upright panel that sits behind the passenger side headlight and remounted the three relays it held to a location up near the strut tower mount point. I simply used a metal right angle bracket I had lying around, added one extra bend and drilled three new holes for the relay, easy!

Since I removed the intake snorkel to the airbox it actually partly blocked the pathway of cold air into the airbox that it used to protect.
A lot cleaner and more open now. :mrgreen:

Next up was to install the radiator cap that came with the new Koyo radiator although didn't arrive until 4 days later..... :roll:

It's a higher pressure unit 1.3 bar rather than the factory 1.1 bar but after doing some some research I couldn't see any real issues with going for the higher pressure and some potential benefits given the SE gets a bit hot under the collar when having a bit of a go!

There, looks much better, the added JDM must be worth some killerwasps! :wink:

Now with so many new bits about the engine bay the poor old coolant overflow bottle was looking a bit tired so I ordered a new one and picked it up from Mania today.
Unfortunately what no-one knew was that the SE has a different bottle to every other NB out there! WTF?

After standing outside the shop with our heads under the bonnet we came to the conclusion there was no reason why the standard NB bottle wouldn't fit and couldn't work out why the SE one was different anyway..... The standard bottle is a more compact design (I later discovered has exactly the same volume), takes up less space but isn't, for want of a better word, as 'sleek', go figure.

Here are the two bottles side by side.

And here's the new 'standard' bottle installed.

I'm still unsure which design I prefer, each has it's own character but the standard one leaves more room around it at the expense of being more 'blocky' and in your face. Mania have ordered the correct one in for stock so if I decide I can't live with this one I'll swap it out and flog off the new standard one.

One final thing I bought while in store was a bit of bling, it was there, it was cheap, and I liked it, so shoot me! :mrgreen:

ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Tue May 27, 2014 7:19 pm

Bling bling! Looking forward to seeing the interior changes to come.

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Tue May 27, 2014 9:37 pm

ManiacLachy wrote:Bling bling! Looking forward to seeing the interior changes to come.

I'm toying with the idea of laying all the bits to install in the interior out on a table for a photo, I'm just not sure if I have a table big enough...... :oops:

ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Tue May 27, 2014 9:38 pm

Such a tease

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Wed May 28, 2014 12:00 am

I bought the genuine MAZDASPEED oilcap when I first got my car; in the US they came with it but they replaced it here in Australia with a stock NB one since it had "MAZDASPEED" written on it which is bad apparently because badging such as this promotes reckless driving:

I always thought it looked too big and it eventually developed an oil leak which probably requires just replacing the O-ring. MINX's leaks too so I suspect this is a common issue with the genuine MAZDASPEED oilcap.

Jason at MX5 Plus replaced it with a stock one which just doesn't look right so I bought the same one as you too - hasn't leaked yet and looks better than the stock NB radiator cap!

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Wed May 28, 2014 6:22 am

Just remember the cap will be too hot to touch when the car is hot

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ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:12 am

I'm a fan of the Project-G oil caps :mrgreen:

(and their other bits of engine bling)

http://www.projectgla.com/ps_oilcap.html

One day ...

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:01 am

Lokiel wrote: I always thought it (Mazdaspeed one) looked too big....

I thought the same thing too but wanted something a bit dressier than the factory plastic one..... Mania had 3 different ones in store so I grabbed them and laid each in tern on the rocker cover until I decided which I liked best. For $26.50 it's a nice cheap bit of bling. :mrgreen:

sailaholic wrote:Just remember the cap will be too hot to touch when the car is hot

I thought that would be the case, hopefully it's not something that needs to be touched very often! :wink:

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:05 am

ManiacLachy wrote:I'm a fan of the Project-G oil caps (and their other bits of engine bling)

Bit plain for my taste but everyone goes for their own style. :wink:

One day ...

Well hurry up and buy a car! :mrgreen:

Then you can start spending money on jewelry for the 'other woman' and really annoy your missus....... :lol:

emily_mx5 · Postby **emily_mx5** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:11 am

I don't have a pic on me, but I have an M2 oil cap (really rare tuned NAs) brushed alloy and slim, matches the rocker cover letters perfectly.

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ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:39 am

Nevyn72 wrote:Then you can start spending money on jewelry for the 'other woman' and really annoy your missus.......

I already am!

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Wed May 28, 2014 11:29 am

sailaholic wrote:Just remember the cap will be too hot to touch when the car is hot
:

I have a black VooDoo gearknob that can get REALLY hot in summer so as long as I remember to unscrew the oil cap with my left hand I should be OK since it's now been conditioned to tolerate scorching hot metal

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed May 28, 2014 1:22 pm

So here's all the stuff to be installed in the interior. :mrgreen:

I could have unpacked the boxes, etc. but didn't have the space. :wink:

Hmmm, think this might take a while.......

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed May 28, 2014 5:54 pm

Tick two items off the list! :mrgreen:

Installed the Innovate LC2 and wideband O2 sensor, hopefully that will be last time I need to put the car up on stands for a while. I ended up having to pull the whole butterfly brace off to get the sensor into the bung I had welded into the exhaust. I wish the sensor had a free spinning nut, you have to spin the whole wiring loom to thread the beastie which means pulling the centre console to free the wires in order to calibrate it when required.

The LC2 itself will live under the HVAC unit towards the firewall to make life easier making the connection to the gauge and eventually ECU. I still need to work out what to do with the excess metre+ of cabling though.....

I also installed the Miata Roadster short shifter kit at long last..... OH BABY!! :mrgreen:

If you don't have one of these yet, do it! It's absolutely transformed the gearbox, they're not kidding when they say it's like a rifle bolt. The two problem gearshifts I had previously, 3rd -> 2nd and 5th -> 6th are now perfect, and unlike others I have no issues finding reverse, but never had before so I must have got one of the good boxes. :wink:

I was also pleasantly surprised to find the large gear boot in perfect condition (the small one was stuffed) so I reused it and kept the new one that came with the kit in it's bag. Not sure what I'll do with it, either keep it as a spare or sell it off.

Tomorrow gets interesting, some major dash disassembly going to happen.....