Lachstock and Four Turbo Charged Cylinders ['04 NB SE]

[ManiacLachy]

Thanks guys. I might give them another call later today and see if they can get off their asses. It did seem like they would have more than enough information to find out who to ping.

[Manitu]

there are phone apps that may help?
google "rego phone app"
i had some one do a hit and run on my car and a woman pulled over and told us who the car belonged to ( a used car yard )
found it from the rego on her phone app.

[ManiacLachy]

Thanks for the tip, I'll see what I can find.

I got the quote done and its only $450 or so, and I'm sure my excess is more than that!

[cookie]

In qld it's easy. It'll give you vin and current rego status. Then go to shannons with the vin and license number. If that's not enough they're pathetic.

[Nevyn72]

I got the quote done and its only $450 or so, and I'm sure my excess is more than that!

If that's the case then just pay cash as the excess + reduced no claim bonus will cost you more......

If you actually have the contact details of the other party, see if they will contribute based on not making a claim. If they aren't claiming on their insurance for damage to their car then they avoid having to pay an excess on their policy when your insurer comes knocking for your claim.

[ManiacLachy]

So, the damage was all sorted. I called Shannon's back to give them the quote details and asked them to explain the situation with the other party's details again, and suddenly they had their details. The repairs went ahead, and they even cleaned up some damage to the front bar from where the license plate rubbed when I first installed - but didn't space out - the Auto+ bracket. The results are good, can't spot the repairs. I'm not out of pocket, so it ended as well as it could have.

Right, onwards.

Today I had a day off in lieu of some weekend work I'd done recently so I pulled my HSDs. They'll be up for sale soon and cheap. I've done the rears about 4 times now, but this was my first time doing the fronts, Magpie did them the one and only time. Long bolt method is easy. The only bother is removing and replacing the splash guard.

After a lot of lying down, standing up, squatting down and more, I'm exhausted. It's a lot of movement for an office worker like me!

The test drive showed I still have a squeek from the rear, so next up will be removal of the 949 endlinks, back to stock to check that. Failing that I might have to pull the rear sway bar to test.

And I also removed an idle/low rpm rattle is get from the BOV bouncing up and down on the oil filter (relocated by the Thompson kit). I tried shortening the original BOV house, but to no avail.

Before:


I bought a 45 degree elbow to move the BOV back out of the way, and it worked perfectly. This was the easiest part of my day.

After:

[bruce]

I look at those two pictures and think 'normal' and 'aroused'.

[ManiacLachy]

Lol. What has been seen can't be unseen!

[ManiacLachy]

I swapped the rear endlinks back to stock yesterday afternoon, but the squeek remains. So, it's either the sway bar bushings, or the control arm bushings. I'm leaning towards the conrol arms, but it'll be easier to illiminate the sway bar as a suspect so I'll do that first. When I get 5 minutes I'll pull the rear sway bar out completely and see how it goes.

Control arm bushing are going to be a b!tch, especially as if I'm have to do it for the one corner, I'm going to do it all around. I'm thinking I'd go with the I.L. Motorsports rubber bushing kit if/when I do.

[pezchops]

is it too dodgy to spray some silicon lube or wd 40 over the areas you think are the problem?
one at a time until you see which one is the problem.

[ManiacLachy]

I read that as a suggestion somewhere along the line, might be worth a go, even if it's just to prove it is actually a bushing. I'll give it a shot this weekend I think.

[billybunter]

looking at both photos -number two shows a power increase with good blood ERRRRRR! I mean airflow

[ManiacLachy]

is it too dodgy to spray some silicon lube or wd 40 over the areas you think are the problem?
one at a time until you see which one is the problem.

The squeek was still present without the sway bar, so that went back in last week. I haven't gotten around to spraying the bushes yet, but it's on the cards.

[ManiacLachy]

I'm finally happy with my suspension! Well ... 95% happy - doubt I'll ever completely satisfied.

It's a small saga, so I'll brake it up over a few posts.

You may recall I said a little while back that I pulled out the HSDs, but I didn't say what I put in. Fed up with my experiences with HSD I didn't want to roll the dice with BCs, or even MCAs, I didn't want another length adjustable shock that was sorta kinda applicable to an MX-5, I decided to go straight to the top shelf, and got 949 Xidas. I did consider Flyin' Miata's new FOX shocks, but when I was looking to order there just weren't enough reviews around to sway me.


Front and Rear SE shocks, HSD shocks and Xida shocks

You don't have to look far to find reviews on Xidas, all exclaiming amazing performance in both handling and in ride quality. What really appealed to me was that these were designed specifically for MX-5s, not adapted to fit. The fixed length shock is designed to fit our cars and maximises travel in the front and rear. With the whole shock body dedicated to dampning, the components can do their job better also. And they have the added bonus of being even a bit lighter than a length adjustable coilover.

I ordered mine in 550/350 (9.8kg/6.2kg) spring rates, Emilio advised that the spring rates should be matched to the grip you're chasing. If I was looking for really good track grip and went for a bigger front sway, 15x9 wheels running a 225 width ~200 treadwear tyre, then 700/400 (12.5kg/7.1kg) would be the ticket. But as this will be a primarily street dríven car, and given the lack of suitable 225/15 tyres locally, I decided I'll stick with the stock SE sway bar, and though I'll probably change to a 15x8 wheel eventually, it'll still be running a 205 tyre, and likely be >200 treadwear, so the 550/350 combo is better suited. It's an easy upgrade later if I decide to move to the stiffer setup though.


Front Drivers Side Xida installed

It's taken me a long time to write these posts, I initially wasn't totally happy. I wanted to get everything sorted out so I could tell the full story before posting. I was getting a lot of scrubbing in the front wheel wells, and that's not pleasant. Also, my driver's side required a lot of pre-load, especially in the rear to level out the car, almost to the point of completely binding the helper spring at full droop (ie, when the car was on stands).

Peformance wise, even with these issues, they're much better than the HSDs. The clunking I was getting was gone completely, the car settles smoothly and quickly after short rough choppy bumps, and the car felt like it pulled itself over bumps, maintianing contact with the road, rather than bounching over them. A much better ride on the street, no question. But given the scrubbing and realising that with so much uneven preload, I knew I wasn't getting the most from my new and quite expensive coilovers.

To be continued.

[Magpie]

Hopefully you get it sorted out. Interested in the feedback on the 949 setup.