klvru's first mx5 :)

[klvru]

So I finally got myself a NA6 Absolutely love the non power steering!!!

Cleaned it up today as the interior was fairly dirty!!

List of things to do (in order of importance)
1. 160,000km service (planning to get it done at mx5plus so might get the tall-boy roll bar as well though they didnt reply me email last week)
2. need to check the a/c, when it turns on some knocking/grinding sound is audible during idle BUT when you depress the clutch the sound goes away (not sure if is compressor)
3. change the steering wheel (it was awfully dirty), looking at Nardi Deep Corn or Classic but would need to get the momo-nardi adapter, can't seem to find anything that I like from momo
4. to be updated

Looks good from far but the paint has faded a bit, need to detail it when my polishing pads arrive



Some paint crack will be respraying bit of it next year


it has some cheap ass spray paint on the fuel door, luckily I have some 3m 1080 cf at home, planning to replace it with an aluminium or chrome one






how my clothe looks like after cleaning the interior with Optimum Power Clean


Is it suppose to have a collar that holds the shift boot? Will need to get the boot and knob replace


The soft-top latch, will eventually replace it along with the soft top, currently it is quite worn


how do I remove the antenna (i thought it was just turning it)? Doesn't seem to butch



found these 2 unconnected on the passenger light, what is it?

[meanmx]

Looks great. Welcome

[klvru]

Nothing fancy just some minor restoring work and applied intake cleaner today. I also noticed the engine is producing some weird chirping noise when it vibrates, even when the engine is not running (if you shake the car or close the door hard enough)

While waiting for the tall-boy (at least 2 months time), decided to fix the rusty chrome style bar

Before



Sanded with 240, 400, 600 and 800


The rust ate the chrome finishing

After








Restored both the wipers and soft top latch as well







By the way, is there any aftermarket seat belt assembly or used is the only way? Mine is pretty worn and faded

[PaulF]

Style bar, latches and wipers look heaps better, nice work.

Regarding the antenna, the silver part is just threaded into the black part. If you can get vice grips or something onto the flats it should come out.

[Smacca]

Nice work! It's always the little things that can make a huge difference.

[hks_kansei]

3. change the steering wheel (it was awfully dirty), looking at Nardi Deep Corn or Classic but would need to get the momo-nardi adapter, can't seem to find anything that I like from momo

There's no need for an adapter (I'm not sure they even exist?)

What you need is a Boss kit, you remove the fat hub part from under the wheel and replace it with one to suit the new wheel.
You can also get some with multifit patterns to suit momo and nardi.

they look like this:


(that's a universal one, with two sets of holes)



But, for the MX5 make sure whichever you buy has the right horn ground at the back, one like this:

It needs the flat metal ring for the horn to work, otherwise when you turn a corner it will just snap off the horn ground thingy on the column.




Also remember that the NA8 had a Nardi wheel from memory, so you might be able to just buy an NA8 boss/hub (check the horn thing though, in case NA8 used a different system)

[sailaholic]

Mx5parts in the UK for new seat belts

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[klvru]

Style bar, latches and wipers look heaps better, nice work.

Regarding the antenna, the silver part is just threaded into the black part. If you can get vice grips or something onto the flats it should come out.

I tried using a vice grip today and rotate it but it doesn't budge at all, I did remove the nut located in the boot.

I noticed the upper collar of the black piece unscrew as well, but only a bit and it got stuck again (managed to damage it a bit )

Nice work! It's always the little things that can make a huge difference.

Couldn't agree more!!

3. change the steering wheel (it was awfully dirty), looking at Nardi Deep Corn or Classic but would need to get the momo-nardi adapter, can't seem to find anything that I like from momo

There's no need for an adapter (I'm not sure they even exist?)

What you need is a Boss kit, you remove the fat hub part from under the wheel and replace it with one to suit the new wheel.
You can also get some with multifit patterns to suit momo and nardi.

they look like this:


(that's a universal one, with two sets of holes)



But, for the MX5 make sure whichever you buy has the right horn ground at the back, one like this:

It needs the flat metal ring for the horn to work, otherwise when you turn a corner it will just snap off the horn ground thingy on the column.




Also remember that the NA8 had a Nardi wheel from memory, so you might be able to just buy an NA8 boss/hub (check the horn thing though, in case NA8 used a different system)

Too late, hah bought the adapter along with the wheel on Monday from JDMyard and received it today (http://www.jdmyard.com/index.php?route= ... uct_id=311)

Should have bought the boss kit though




Bits of stuffs that arrive today along with my first Nardi (Nardi Classic), the rim is a bit too thin though but I'll get use to it







I.L motorsport pedal (the brake and clutch pedal was a PITA to install)


mx5 mania handbrake and shift boot



Thanks to hks_kansei who made me realize that the previous owner installed an adapter on the gear lever (couldn't screw in the voodoo knob before that)






A question on the horn, while I was using the previous OMP steering wheel, the horn sometimes work and sometimes don't so I pulled it out and have a look and realize that the black wire comes out from the hub's hole (the red arrow in the pic) as well (not attached). Now I tried to put it back in and earth it with the green wire, it doesn't work anymore! I used a screw driver to touch the plate inside the hole and the horn works fine

[klvru]

Exam is over and what not so finally got time to update my thread

Firstly, had install the PS1000 on the car by All Star Tuning at Brendale (and tuned), am I happy with them? I would probably say no, was quoted 2000-2600$ but got charged 3700$ (I then googled and found a few with similar story). Brought the car in on Thursday morning (few weeks back) and was told that I can pick it up on Friday morning, received a call around evening asking me if I am sure my car was running 7PSI because his dyno was reading 30PSI and went WHAT?!?! Then few moments later he realize it was in the wrong scale, the dyno was in kPa . So Friday morning took the bus (about 1.5 hours of bus ride) to collect the 5, and was told that the car is not ready because they had some problem installing the potentiometer (the white arrow in the pic, can't really remember if is this since is few weeks back) at the throttle body as he didn't realize it is different thus needing an adapter and he had to leave around 1pm so he said Monday morning. Monday morning gave them a call and was told there is some problem with fuel pressure, saying it is very low even though i have 1/4 tank of fuel and asked me to come by around 4pm. Gave them another call at 3pm, and they told me they wont be able to give me the car by today as he is fitting the oil catch can soon and then tune, and I was like wtf? Received a call on Tuesday morning saying my car was ready, so went and picked it up, and he told me the fuel pump and everything is healthy so not sure why the dyno was reading low fuel pressure and because the car has a 330cc injector so it is at 95% duty cycle and thus he limited the rev to 5.5k and recommended me to change to a 750cc injector that they have(and he didn't tune the boost as well because he said he wasn't sure if the engine would take higher boost ALTHOUGH at the beginning I told him that it will easily take 12psi so long it is below 250rwhp it will be fine but I am looking around 200 just to be safe. I told him again at the end and he was like that's great it will easily make 200rwhp ).

Oh I also asked them to remove the 5th injector, reroute my filter, and fabricate a heat shield box around the filter. Guess what? None of those was done!!!!!!!! At the beginning, he was like sure no problem at all!

I was quite sure I don't need such big injectors so I told them I will come back to them since 4sfed5 was running 145 rwkw with his 330cc 1.6. At the end, contacted Jason from mx5plus again and organized a set of 440cc RX8 injectors and tune next Wednesday, can't wait for it!! By the way, is there anyway I can check if my ecu is lock before I bring it to mx5plus? Heard a few story saying that all star tuning lock the ecu so you had to go back to them for further tuning.

All and all, quite disappointed with them! If only I knew earlier that mx5plus was able to supply, fit and tune Haltec








Few weeks later, bought some new spark plugs and ignition lead At first, I thought I could gap down the 1.1mm ngk but the gapping tool bended before changing the gap lol! And since I threw away the old one, I put them in for a day and went and order a 0.8mm (should have waited), now I have 1 day usage set of 1.1 plugs sitting in my garage rotting!


The original plug


NGK 1.1mm iridium plugs, the car was having slight misfiring with these


After 1 day of usage, now this is a bit worrying lol from what I found, it seems like my engine is running too rich or something? Why is the top bit (near the electrode) blacked after one day of usage?? Possible to clean them off? The silver stuff are the anti seize



NGK 0.8mm plugs, everything works fine now


Topgun Max 300 leads


They are a bit long though



And I received my new Blox filter today!! Wanted a pod filter so that I can reroute it better to compliment the vented headlight cover and TSI. I went with a 3" inlet filter and Dann was saying it would be better to have a bellmouth so I searched around and found that the 3" Blox filter came with bellmouth etc BUT IT IS HUGE!!!! Now it is too big to sit at the yellow or white position shown in the pic (bought a 45 and 90degree bend reducer silicone piping), not with the current piping anyway:( Will see what Jason can do lol








It is a little bit close to this as well, for now ( is not touching but only a few mm away)




Might sell it and get a 2.5" inlet filter instead. Or keep this and suffer heat soak (not sure if I can reroute it and implement a heat shield box with this big ass pod filter)


Anyone know if this HKS SSQV is adjustable? Can't seem to see the adjustment nut like what everyone else says





Gave the car a good detailing, few days ago

Left side is unpolish while the right been through a single pass hand polish



I'm not really happy with the result, is not very noticeable but it could be a lot better though my friends said they are fine . Might get it done professionally to remove some small scratches or get a dual-action polisher myself, since it is very similar in price


Removed the seat, and I found this pile of sand lol


After everything was cleaned





So far I have spent about 5.5k on the car + approx 1k next week for the injectors and tune. After that, I will have about 600-1000 left to spend unless I got a job during the summer in which case
I am just wondering, which of the following is the best bang for buck?

1. BC Coilover (a bit of a stretch) or Yellowspeed Coilover
the car currently have koni red shock in it and koni blue springs (if i'm not mistaken), find them a bit soft for my liking. I might remove it and adjust it to the stiffest setting when I'm free

2. Braces, particularly butterfly brace + frame reinforcement or thicker sway bars
3. Tall-boy roll bar
4. 6UL wheel or rota grid + sway bar maybe? It is running some China made rims
5. Aluminized-steel turbo back exhaust? Currently it has a mild steel system
6. Suggestion?

I am leaning towards coilover or braces + new set of alignment?

[speed freak]

What a great looking mx5, love it! Pretty sure I seen this for sale on carsales a while back.

Love what you done to the interior, small mods make such a huge difference.

Id recommend either coilovers and a good wheel alignment by someone who knows what they are doing (Accurate Suspension, Slacks Creek
or the butterfly and frame rail braces. Iv heard these make a huge difference on the NA models, and swaybars

[track_addict]

Great looking car. The interior looks realy nice with the few changes you have made. My old NA had coilovers, f & r sways, roll bar and front subframe brace and handled great. I was thinking of frame rails and boss frog arms before I sold it, to try and add some chassis stiffness.

So you know. You cant gap iridium plugs. Iridium is a very hard, but brittle metal. If you do manage to change the gap you run the risk of breaking the electrode.

[Moggy]

Very nice car! I really like the way you're going about it. Those paint cracks you show in the first post look like impact damage from the battery bouncing around and hitting the inside of the panel (assuming it's in that area, I can't tell for sure from the pic). If it is, just make sure the battery is properly secured.

[Magpie]

a good wheel alignment by someone who knows what they are doing (Accurate Suspension, Slacks Creek

This is good advice, not expensive and can make the car feel a whole lot better. Even get a corner balance and wheel alignment if all your mods are finished (provided you have height adjustable suspension).

tune next Wednesday, can't wait for it!!

Hopefully yours will get in to be tuned before mine, but in an evil way I hope mine gets done before yours as I really want my car ready before 26/11/13

[mloo]

I really like what you've done to your interior man. Hope to follow you down a very similar path in terms of shift boot, hand brake boot and steering wheel.

How did you clean up the soft top latches and the windscreen wipers?