Josh's Na6

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Mon May 30, 2011 5:19 pm

Ok, I'm finally getting my finances back on track after a couple of weeks in the poor house.

Currently job hunting and recovering cash. Have a few big plans for the mx5 and keeping a lid on it until then.

In other news, I've had a few ignition problems I'm sorting out this week. Turns out it's just plugs and leads. Today I'm going to FINALLY fix that idle problem once and for all and later in the week I'll have a decent wheel alignment. Looking at tinkering with my coilover heights in a minute as I'm not completely happy with the current height. I think it's still a tad high in the rear so I'll even it out a little. I've tried to keep it higher at the back but I think it's still sitting a little proud.

In other news, i'm keeping to my other plans on the list. I have a few additional goals to tick off in the near future but that's under wraps until I have the money to make the dream a reality. For the now it's a matter of stiffening the car up. After the wheel alignment, I'm planning to get a set of sway bars and end links as well as a roll bar. That should stiffen things up.
In terms of the coilovers, I'm still very happy with the ride but I've been leaning towards taking the car into pedders and getting them to adjust the preload for me. I'd rather not adjust it myself since I don't want to upset the balance or make the car handle unevenly. Currently a little unsure about what I want in terms of next buy. It's either gonna be roll bar or sway bars/end links. It's a 50/50. I'll be getting both so I'm not too fussed which comes first but a roll bar is something I've been dying for since day one.

Other than that, there isn't a lot to update here. Though as I lent the car to Dad today, I noticed as he was backing out of the driveway that I need a wing. A ducktail spoiler would DEFINITELY make the car look badass hahah.

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Tue May 31, 2011 5:30 pm

Well I took all the pipes off the throttle body and cleaned it out as well as readjusted my throttle. It was idling at around 1500-2000 before hand. I managed to get the idle down to around 800rpm so I'm pretty happy. The car is a little quieter and doesn't sound like someone is holding the throttle down anymore.

For a while now my car has had a dead spot in the throttle. When pressing the pedal down it has a fairly large stutter before it gets going. It's been quite prevalent lately and I assumed it was either a vacuum leak or a problem with spark plugs/leads. I went through the pipes from the throttle body to the air flow meter and couldn't find a single split so I check the plugs and leads. I was surprised to find that they were in decent condition as well.

After a lot of mucking around, it appears that the air-fuel mix is messed up.... now I have to find out how to fix this. It seems like it's overfueling or something.

daffyflyer · Postby **daffyflyer** » Tue May 31, 2011 6:18 pm

I don't know how much the MX5 ecus are able to do this, but some newer ECUS can self learn to correct the air fuel ratios, so perhaps the crap in the intake caused it correct itself somehow?

My thought being - leave the battery disconnected for a while and see if it resets? (purely speculation, but easy enough to try!)

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Tue May 31, 2011 6:26 pm

Glad to hear than the idle problem diagnosis was correct and it actually fixed the problem =) I would have felt pretty bad if you did all that work and it didn't do anything!

As for the other problem... My ideas would be either o2 sensor (I've been meaning to change mine), fuel filter (I've been meaning to change that too actually- even have on in the cupboard) or the coolant temperature sensor (fooling the car into thinking it's cold when it's not so the ECU over fuels). That or you could have just a crappy clogged up air filter or something blocking the exhaust (dead cat?)

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 2:30 pm

Blackboard yo

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:25 pm

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:04 pm

Who's is the other NA6?

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:27 pm

Gareths!

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:30 pm

Thought so, i realised when i saw it on FB!

RedMX · Postby **RedMX** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:51 pm

CheyneX5 wrote:Who's is the other NA6?

International Na of mystery :lol:

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:51 pm

Just picked up the car from Pedders today after my new wheel alignment! Car handles noticably better!!!

Check out what I was running before.... I knew it was mental but woah, didn't think the specs were that far out. I guess it makes sense because It was setup pretty aggressive before putting in the coilovers so it stands to reason that after replacing all the suspension components and dropping the car a good 2.5", the natural camber would have spiked.

I haven't had a chance to really get much driving in today but it definitely feels better. Though I noticed some bump steer on the way home. First time I've really encountered it before.
I must say though, I do feel like the car needs sway bars soon. Or at least some kind of bracing. The suspension is stiff but I can feel the body roll now. After taking Cheyne's car out every so often over the last few months, I do see where mine could improve.

For the most part I'm happy but it really could be stiffer from a chassis point of view and also less tyre roll. I've been thinking of many ways to tackle the power of the car for a while now and have a few plans up my sleeve for big gains but right now I'm looking at cleaning up what I've got.

I can say for a fact that the Apex'i 4-1 extractors have definitely killed off a lot of low down to mid-range torque in favor of top end. I'm extremely tempted to sell them off for a cheap 4-2-1 setup to potentially regain some of the perkiness down low.
The other thing I've been tempted to do away with is the mania intake. I love the sound but I don't love my glove compartment vibrating and the crappy fit quality. No hate to mania for build quality since I've seen these fit fine in many other peoples cars, but I picked mine up second hand for real low cheap and as such it doesn't sit the best. Plus I have a split at the base of the case and It's sucking in unfiltered air.
If I can get my hands on a cheap 180 degree bend, I'll be bolting it onto the AFM and putting a pod on it so it faces my headlight. Next plan would be to ceramic wrap the extractors and DIY a heat shield. Should do basically the same work as the Mania intake but a bit quieter and less vibration on the dash.