Josh's Na6

[Mr nanotech]

With a bucket youd be silly not to remove the plastic stalk to allow you to put the buckle through the hole, this is possible in all seats.

Also you obviously should put the belt itself through the right hand hole too (on the case of a drivers side, left hole for passenger).

Dann

For sure man

[Mr nanotech]

Hi Josh,

Great to hear that things are starting to look up for you. I wish you the best in finding a job as well.
As for the car, few points/questions.
-Ride height: You can just raise your coilovers right?
-A pillars makes sense if you are rocking a red hard top, but I did like the black ones...

I know you will do your research, but just be careful in selecting a bucket. Some bucket designs either prevent or make it difficult for the normal seatbelt to function. I dont know which ones, but I have seen some that will allow you to stick the seat belt stalk through a hole in the side of the bucket, this is much better than going over the bolstering.

I am thinking about a roll bar down the track as well...

Sorry for not replying to this sooner lol!

I'm on coilovers so I can adjust the cars height via the lower locking collar on the base of the shockers. Alternatively I can also adjust the preload to stiffen the car up, this will make the ride a lot firmer by reducing spring travel and as such, affect the cars height.
I'm not quite sure what you mean about the A Pillars though.... To reiterate what I'm doing though, I have a gloss black hard top on the car at the moment which used to be faded red. I had it resprayed by my brother who is a painter by trade. He was away in Bali for a few weeks on holiday a while back, so while he was out of the country I decided to use a rattle can and spray the A-pillars gloss black to match the hard top. That way the entire roof would be gloss black.
However I screwed up and used the wrong primer, long story short it came out matte rather than glossy.
I talked to my brother recently and It turned out that he still had gloss black paint left over from the hard top. Next month when the sun starts to shine again and we have some warmer weather here in Geelong, my brother is going to sand the pillars back and respray the pillars with the same gloss black paint used to paint the hard top. That way it will be colour matched to the roof instead of having one glossy finish and one matte finish. Both will be gloss!
Hope that explained it lol.

As for the seatbelt thing, read Dann's comment below your original one.

[Mr nanotech]

Progress!

So I've finally decided I want a fujitsubo exhaust. I could wait until I have the money to buy one then sell the RSR, buuuut I needed to gives myself a huge kick to get myself motivated.

Yep, It's officially for sale now!

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=48127

I'm going to seriously regret this... I love that exhaust but it's time to move on. Actually scares me a little that I'm doing this but I need a catalyst to give myself the much needed kick in the ass so I can start being productive. I've set myself a goal so now it's concrete.

Since I already have a custom midpipe on the car already, the plan is to book into either TnC exhausts or Exhaust Brothers and have a custom axle back 2.25" free flowing sports muffler made up with either a stock tip or something with a bigger diameter and a little more aggressive.

The bonnet is up for grabs for whoever wants it as well. Make an offer and it's yours! (THE BLACK BONNET THAT IS!!!!!!!)

[NitroDann]

Its the big tip that makes it drone.

Thought you would have learned by now

Dann

[Mr nanotech]

Well this is a little depressing. I have basically sold the rsr and have a stock muffler coming on Saturday.

The plan was originally to get a FGK as a replacement but since the one I was looking at was already sold, I missed that deal. So I decided to look around and settled on a Flyin Miata exhaust. Price was right and definately a fan of it's performance and sound.
However I got a message today from them quoting shipping... in short its' gonna cost close to 3 times more than the muffler to buy it and have it shipped here! yes, shipping is nearly double the costs of the product itself

So I've been hunting around and decided to settle on a Racing Beat but still I can't find an Aus distributor

Not sure what I'm gonna do now. This sorta sucks because I had my hopes up to take the plunge on this buy next week but I guess that's not happening.

Well, I guess I've not lost anything and i'll be getting money from the RSR still. So I'm contemplating sticking with the stock tailpipe for a while and investing the money plus some of my own and getting a roll bar instead.

[hks_kansei]

thought about an N*Power?

basically the racing beat without the brand, and from all accounts I've heard their quality is pretty good.

[davidau]

Well this is a little depressing. I have basically sold the rsr and have a stock muffler coming on Saturday.

The plan was originally to get a FGK as a replacement but since the one I was looking at was already sold, I missed that deal. So I decided to look around and settled on a Flyin Miata exhaust. Price was right and definately a fan of it's performance and sound.
However I got a message today from them quoting shipping... in short its' gonna cost close to 3 times more than the muffler to buy it and have it shipped here! yes, shipping is nearly double the costs of the product itself

So I've been hunting around and decided to settle on a Racing Beat but still I can't find an Aus distributor

Not sure what I'm gonna do now. This sorta sucks because I had my hopes up to take the plunge on this buy next week but I guess that's not happening.

Well, I guess I've not lost anything and i'll be getting money from the RSR still. So I'm contemplating sticking with the stock tailpipe for a while and investing the money plus some of my own and getting a roll bar instead.

Hey what happen to the original plan getting the fujitsubo system!!!!save up for that!

[Mr nanotech]

Deal fell through and I can't find another Fujitsubo under a grant lol

[CheyneX5]

Just get an N*power muffler, they are a good and cheap unit. A lot of guys here use them.

[Mr nanotech]

Been warned time and time again not to go N*Power. I've read they're pretty poor quality so I'm not sure on them still.

Just sucks that I had my heart set on a specific thing but the costs make it prohibitively expensive!

[Mr nanotech]

Ok not really an update, more of a flashback.

My brothers gf just found some pics of my car the day I bought it! I didn't even know she took these photo's so it was awesome finding out.

So here they are! I can't get over how clean and different it looks. I makes me want to go back to that look so I can relive buying it again XD






This gives me the biggest motivation push to clean the car up. This week I'll cut out all the scratches, and clay the whole car and give it a few coats of wax. Wheels need to be sanded back and repainted either white/bronze/metallic dark grey and the coilovers have to be readjusted in the rear (sitting an inch too high at the back).
Then next month my bro is repainting the pillars and might be touching up some chips in the hard top. Although I love matte colours, I REALLY want this car to shine all over. I want to feel like I have something shiny and new again

Oh and thanks Gareth for Armoralling my interior! I found some in Dad's car so i'll go over the interior and detail the crap out of it all during the week. Should have a nice shiny car for Thursdays garage cafe! Though the wheels may take a little longer.

Oh and speaking of wheels, I took the car out for a quite a few spirited drives this week and it's given me a better perspective on what's gotta change.
Absolute FIRST thing that has to be replaced is tyres. These have a heap of sidewall flex and they feel glossy as on the road, there is no grip on them at all. It pulls the whole car down.
Next is brakes. I'm currently sitting on a set of warped oem discs, pretty average pads and the handbreak jams when you reverse the car (no farking idea why...). So that's gotta be sorted out. I'm looking into a few options, either ebc slotted discs and pads or oem na8 brake upgrade.
Since I'm still flogging the safety horse, I'll be purchasing a MX5Plus bar next with a pair of Sparco Sprint V's. Realistically I only need one but I can't help but feel the car will look odd with only one bucket. Plus I'd prefer my girlfriends head not smashing into a padded roll bar if I can help it.
In terms of power I'm still happy with stock, I honestly don't think these cars need to chase big numbers. Stock power is more than enough for most things when you learn to rev it out. I think the only thing I'd hunt for is more low down torque since I think the 1600's seem to be missing that. Just want enough to be able to hold out a slide when I feel like it- which leads into the last thing, an lsd.

Aesthetically, I have a few plans but I think I'm gonna keep that all to myself and just post it up when I have it.

[NitroDann]

Holding a slide in a stock na6. With a locked diff they hardly to doughnuts, let alone powerslide in second. And of course 3rd etc is impossible.

Dann

[RedMX]

Oh and thanks Gareth for Armoralling my interior! I found some in Dad's car so i'll go over the interior and detail the crap out of it all during the week. Should have a nice shiny car for Thursdays garage cafe! Though the wheels may take a little longer.

Haha no stress bloke, even tho i said it was still a rough job with the Amourall ;) i dont like soaking the poor car in the stuff because it can look tacky.....

[ave]

Those are nice pics of the car when you first got it, looks really clean.

Plans sound good mate. Only question is why do you want slotted discs, do you do/ have plans for track work? In my humble opinion the standard brakes in the MX-5 are more than adequate for spirited road driving. I find it is easy to lock up the front wheels. Perhaps I drive too slow .

[Mr nanotech]

Yeah I'm just gonna get stock replacement na6 RDA rotors and some decent pads Nick.

So I decided it was time to fix the heights of the rear coilovers. I knew they were off for some time so I took out my tape measure and went to work. I found there was about 2.5cm difference in height between each side!!!!!!!
After a bit of mucking around I got them even. The rears are at the lowest adjustment for the lower locking collar. I was a little disappointed in the height since I was hoping for lower but at least it's not all over the place like before.
Right now the spring preload and distances between each collar is identical left to right. I'm happy to have an even height at least. From what it looks like, the car is sitting flat now rather than an inch higher at the back. I'll see how it looks later this week, assuming it's going to settle.

While putting the wheels back on, I noticed there was a degree of play in the rear. The handbrake was on but I could turn the wheel about 5cm rotation in each direction. It seems like the caliper isn't grabbing the disc properly. Could this be the one that's causing the screech?
I'll have a look on the weekend in terms of adjusting and flushing the brake lines. Brake fluid hasn't been replacing in a looong time so that's a must anyway.