Madboys BRG & Tan

[CheyneX5]

Looks the goods, the oem bootlid spoiler really completes the back of the car, I have one on my 5.

[madboy]

Nice BRG mate.

Just a couple of questions.. what roll bar is it?...does it fit under the hardtop and/or compatible with glass window??..
and finally... where can I get one

Thanks m8,

Not sure about the roll bar, I brought the car with that attached, by the looks it was imported like that. As for hard top fitting? not too sure, the top clears the soft top my mere mm and the virticals are hard up against the hardtop striker plates on the seat belt towers, it would be a very tight fit for a hard top. But defiantly something i want to look at in the near future. Where you could get one? nfi sorry. It looks like its been on the car for some time.

Looks the goods, the oem bootlid spoiler really completes the back of the car, I have one on my 5.

Yeah i like it too, its loose tho, need to find something to secure it a bit more firmly.

[madboy]

Managed to find some time today and spent it on my 5, although I ended up with visitors before it got a wash haha ok well, later this week.

What I did manage to get done was a closer inspection of the front suspension to try and find my clunk. hmm i need to spend some money! anything rubber has perished(brake lines are all good tho!). Bushings and boots... all of them, upper and lower ball joint, tie-rod ends, rack end boots, the lot, its all perished and cracked and gaping holes, I even had water pour out of the stuffed rack end boots and get my shirt wet! oh well, I will need to talk tot he treasurer to secure the funds...but her car needs new rubber and shocks/struts 1st and .....

Had a closer look at why I can't seem to get the idle speed to change. I read somewhere that 1 and a half turns back from the bottom was about factory standard... well, mine was about 8-9! anyway, my 5 idles at about 750rpm when warmed up and nothing i seem to do can change it, I'd like to have it a little higher, say 850-900. I bridge gnd and ten, start the car(warmed up), adjusted the idle screw back 2 turns from bottom and it was idling perfect. Pull the bridge and it settles right back down to 750... So, I take a closer look at everything, trace back most of the vacum lines until I notice that the clamp holding the intake to the TB was loose! pushed it with my finger and it moved! sigh, on closer inspection, the intake pipe is only just hanging onto the TB, so, pushed her back on there and clamped her nice and tight. So after all that, still couldn't change the idle, must be another leak somewhere(most of the vac lines where pretty hard, should prob replace them all with fresh line), but! it seems to be running and idling much smoother.

After reading in another thread I decided it would be a good idea to clean out the drain holes that are behind the seat belt pillars, got a bunch of leaves out of one side and the other...well, lets just say they weren't blocking the hole up, but wtf! I found these in there!

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the one on the left went back onto the drivers side seat belt, the one on the right was the missing cover for the left hand rail end of the drivers seat... the middle one, could not find a single spot for that one. erm, no comment on the hose connector

Last but not least, I removed the JDM fog lamps and the front tow eyes! all I need now is a slim line plate and a bumper respray to cover the stone chips! haha wot!

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Cheers
MB

[JBT]

If you change the "base" idle away from the factory setting by bridging the TEN and GND terminals in the diagnostic box, the ECU will pull it back to around 750-800RPM (factory setting) once you take out the bridging wire. You may sufer idle dip or idle surge if there is a big difference in the "base" idle and the factory idle settings.

[madboy]

So whats the point of a mechanical idle control if the ECU is going to force it back to factory anyway? and yes, I have noticed some idle dip when I pull to a stop.

Cheers
MB

[JBT]

So whats the point of a mechanical idle control if the ECU is going to force it back to factory anyway?

To stop the idle issues you have.

The mechanical stop is there so that the engine will run at idle if the other functions fail I guess. It should never be changed from factory setting.

You set the base idle speed (with the air bleed screw in the throttle body) so that when you remove the bridge wire, the idle speed doesn't change. Then base idle = ECU idle.

Eveeeeeentually, the ECU will learn and recover from any mismatch so you would never know. But, when you replace the battery or disconnect it, the idle dip will become apparent.

[madboy]

Makes sense I guess. Cheers

[PUR157]

AHAH... I was looking for your thread a while ago...
were you still wondering what your rims are?
They look like the Enkei JSpeed II

Also... that middle bit that you fished out of your drain holes looks like the cap that fits over the seat belt bracket... (the one where it mounts on the chassis behind your shoulder)

[madboy]

AHAH... I was looking for your thread a while ago...
were you still wondering what your rims are?
They look like the Enkei JSpeed II

Yep i was still wondering and after some google searching, I agree they look like J Speed II's, but bloody hell, there isn't much info on these about, plenty about the III's, i can't even find a weight for them! Lets hope I can keep them in good condition, because I doubt i could find a replacement if 1 of the dies!

[madboy]

Looks like a full major service is on the cards, funny enough, I have been planning to do that over easter for the last couple of weeks, came up short on the $ side, mortgage is more important than my wheels so,it got put off. Well, looks like the 5 was feeling under appreciated and let me know about it!

IMG_6351.JPG

took that pic, 7:30 qld time, oh dear

I first noticed water under the car Saturday after a drive, thought it was overflow looked closely and saw it was the water pump. I though OK, that is just way too weird! I figured it was just the usual water pump failure after a drive type thing, figured it would last to next weekend, hmm not! I started the car Sunday to move it a little so I could get the door open fully while installing a jaycar auto locking kit and saw some water after that, thought nothing of it.

So, cold motor for probably 48hrs, its still leaking like that, something is really busted in there! I don't think I want to start it again and will work on it over the next week after work. lets hope the missus is OK with sharing the family wagon.

oh well, good always comes with the bad! at least the central locking is working! jahaha!

I'll give Jaycar 10/10 for that kit, it was great, $32, 2 actuators, mounting parts and a full wiring loom! That part was the best! funny tho, the loom was made up for a 4 door kit, no probs there, 2 cuts and I wound up about 3m of wire for later use. In the end I took it quite slow, took me about 5hrs all up, hardest part, getting the loom wires into the door space and the drivers side with 5 wires was the easiest! I was thinking later about how easy the whole kit was to install and realised, if the 5 didn't have that void in the door in that spot, it would have been a whole different story! try fitting one of those to a Gemini! heh you have to make cuts in the steel to make it fit! also, it even auto locks! Part of the immobilisers functions is to auto arm after about 2minutes, looks like it triggers the doors as well! I'm very happy and when the missus asked me how much it was, all I got was a big smile.

[madboy]

I know this is a common mod but after reading the Kakuna Miata page I got some inspiration and decided to pay some attention to the lenses on the roadster.

I used 400 grit to get the letters off, then 1200, then 2000 then some mothers plastic polish and my supercheap special dremil wannabe tool and gave the finish a buff up.

Here are some before and afters, there comparison is a bit off, the befores are taken with sun up no flash, the afters in the dark with the flash on.

IMG_6352.JPG

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I think the best result was the side indicators, they were really fogged up.

Cracks me up seeing a filthy car and clear reflectors

[madboy]

Finally got it all back together last night, took 4 days for mazda to get me the parts i needed, they got lost, twice...

I love it when things go back together and sound like they are running better then they were before you pulled them apart... warm fuzzy feeling of something accomplished with $ saved

Two things to remember for next time tho, get drive belt numbers off the old belts before you buy, they may not be the same as the book. Make the extra effort to take the radiator completely out, not just the fans, even if it means losening a bunch of ac piping mounts to get the bottom pin out, the extra space would have been handy and no matter how carefull you are, you will always bend some fins on the back

so, next stop on the maintenance schedule, Bushes, boots and ball joints... yippie!

[madboy]

I am having this overwhelming itch to get more power...but 1st things 1st,

1. Get a job.
2. Get wheels fixed
3. Replace shagged bushes
4. Replace or revalue the billy's
5. Closed in airbox of some sort(leaning towards JR CAI)
6. MSPNP
7. MORE POWER...(would prefer SC but i think a hairdryer will be more in my price range)

and somewhere in that list will be some new tread... *sigh* more power seems like a long way off!

[madboy]

Well, its been a while since i have been able to do anything to my roadster, but over time i have been kinda pushed into a corner and now stuff has to get done.

So, took a trip on saturday morning to see Richard at MX5 plus and grab some goodies. I went up to grab some NA8 brake brackets and calipers, went away with a bit more

SDC11002.jpg

Brakes on left, Stock bilsteins out of and RS NB8C on right, low kms, right price

Now, I was planning to replace all my bushings but after a chat with Richard about the merit of doing so, I had a good think on my drive home and decided that I really didn't need to. I was going to hold off pulling anything major apart until I had the bushes to put in and do it all at once. Seeing as how I wasn't going to change bushes... in went the shocks.

Not such a hard process but in the end i had to pull the alignment bolts on the front lower control to get the NB shocks to fit(the tops are a good bit taller), in doing so I think i found the source of a clunk i have in the form of two worn and damaged bolts on the left side. but of course once they were back in again, no amount of marking could avoid messing with the alignment and I'll have to chase down some new bolts on Monday

Now i was aware that these shocks were standard heights for car they came out of and that my car has been running on lowered and most likely tired shocks and springs, I was still not prepared for the end result after the car had been lowered to the ground again.

SDC11007.jpg

Its not the best of pics, but damn thing looks like a 4x4! I had to laugh at myself for not expecting such a result. so going from being able to only just get a flat hand between the front wheel and guard to being able to fit my fist in there...sigh, it almost looks higher than stock!

One thing tho, even tho the alignment is now out, it rides sooo much nicer! my old shocks must be trashed!

[sliq]

good work