My era of MX5 ownership! Twilight Blue NB8A

philz · Postby **philz** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:01 pm

get an oil filter wrench specific to the mx5, best $12 spent. You'll twist it out with 1 hand.

sliq · Postby **sliq** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:06 pm

what philz said.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:51 pm

So I took some photos yesterday, the car was clean and I'd just fitted the front wheels (finally found a tyre shop that's not far from me, and not a greedy arsehole)

here's a few of the better pics:

Ignore the filthy fingerprints on the windscreen, I havent cleaned the interior yet and didn't notice the dirty marks.

so yeah, the car's looking good right now, just a few more pieces left to get it exactly how I want.

NB8B tail lights (the orange indicator is clear)
Paint the hard top
Lowered a bit (Thinking Tein S-Tech, a usable lowering amount, according to my measurements they'll be almost legal. Nose will be more than 100mm, the muffler will sit at about 90mm though.... but a pair of 55 profile tyres will fix that!)
and I think the back end needs something. I'm thinking possibly the spoiler from an SE will complete it.

not sure, I'll need to leave it until last before I decide.

philz · Postby **philz** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:58 pm

very nice, now more low. Ms03 are soo much win.

Pamex · Postby **Pamex** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 1:31 pm

Merry Christmas! :-D

Yes, we have matching wheels. Yes, we're super sad.

slug_dub · Postby **slug_dub** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 2:25 pm

The MS03's look good on your car HKS! Pam lets see a photo of your red beasty on the MS03's :mrgreen:

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 6:55 pm

sorry to be so slow.

here's Pam's on her MS03s

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:52 pm

New brake pads in over the weekend.

Managed to get maximum value from the old ones! the fronts had about 0.5mm of material left. Which explains why they've felt like sh*t for the past few weeks.

it's a much easier job than I expected! the only annoying part was adjusting the rear calipers, I did it to Mazda's spec (tighten until it starts to grab, then back off by 1/3 turn) but after a quick drive I discovered they were dragging (came back and discovered the rear discs had rather a lot of blue discoluring on them... can't see any cracks or marks on the surface though, and they arent warped), so I backed them off a bit more.

result, no more dragging rears, and the handbrake grabs properly now.

and while I was there I re-greased the slider pins, except the top ones on the rear...... I forgot them and remembered AFTER the wheel was back on. meh, it still has old grease so it's fine.

Pads I used are "AXXIS" fronts, and Raybestos rears (according to the box "AS USED IN NASCAR!) so yeah, I'm safe now if I ever need to turn left 500 times.

after the quick drives I've had they feel pretty good, they're still a bit green, but they feel like they bite ok. They certainly arent a track pad by any means, they're almost as good as the Sumitomo OEM pads.

the difference is, these ones cost $20 each axle. So I can afford to change them more often.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:53 pm

oh, and despite the name and price, both pads are non-asbestos.

even though, I still avoided breathing any of the dust.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:50 pm

made a new number plate bracket today.

same positioning as the old one (as in pic above), the plate sits maybe an inch further to the side (purely accidental as I didn't measure anything)

the main thing is it's more rigid, the old mount was a dodgy I did one day with a tiny thing piece of metal that I just bashed with a hammer until it fit. on the highway the plate bent back and rubbed the bumper so I needed to put padding behind it.

the new one is much more sturdy! no more flexing.

cost = $0 again.

we had a tree fall a few months back and wreck our fence, as a result there's a few bits of mangled box section, with the magical help of a grinder it becomes an L shape, then voila, it fits!

(it has been prettied up with some paint and some tape.)

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:20 pm

so the car's going to be lowered in the future.

I won an auction and as a result I'll be getting a set of Mazdaspeed/Eibach springs.

rates are about 30% stiffer than factory, and they should lower the car by about 25mm (still legal!!!!)

now the waiting game. they probably won't be here for another 6 months or so (container freight)

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 12:08 pm

Container left on the 18th of March.

Splings should only be a few weeks away.

and with that I'll probably hold off on mods for a while, employment has ended so I'll be focusing on getting a new job, and then I'll be saving cash to rebuild my savings.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:34 am

Minor update.

Have A motorkhana and autocross this weekend so need to do some minor prep work.

Stickers added (tow and battery triangle)
Now just ned to make a set of mud flaps to protect the paint from gravel on the autocross.
Nothing pretty, just some flute board crap to use on the day.

Looking forward to it!

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Mon May 02, 2011 9:48 pm

Lowered the car today.

about an inch drop all round, but might go a little lower as the springs settle.

as mentioned above, used Mazdaspeed/Eibach springs.

anyway, they are about 30% stiffer than stock, but unlike stock they're progressive rate.

after a quick drive I can report that they feel pretty much like stock! which is a nice surprise instead of them being spine breaking.

so I've kept the MX5 feel, and as a bonus have the nice look of lowness.