What have you done to your Miata today?

Good to see you putting that lathe to use.

Measured the height of the front coilovers and compared them side-to-side. Turns out they were only a couple of mms different. That got me to thinking and after I hoisted her ass into the air I checked the recommended spring length on the installation instructions against actual. Turned out both sides were off by 5-7 mm. I made those adjustments to bring them into the correct length. All of the nuts were tight so I don't think anything moved, I must have just done them wrong the last time I messed with them. I double-checked the length of the rear springs but both were correct.

Then it was on to the main event. I took a good look at the muffler the other day and found the driver's side was hanging lower than the passenger side, which allowed it to contact the lower diffuser. Note that NB1s have four hangers for the muffler, while NB2s only have three. The FM muffler I have only has three mounting points. I used urethane hangers thinking that would provide enough support, but with the extra piping of the dual outlet muffler the weight overcomes the lone hanger on the driver's side. I found that the piping had been resting on the 949 subframe brace I have in the rear (this is the piece I had previously relieved for some clearance). You can see the height difference here:

44341964232_3d5326d057_h.jpg


After some research I found this lovely little number:

43483431755_cc6661611e_h.jpg


Since I don't have access to a welder, this seemed like it would do what I needed. This is where it needed to go:

44341962202_2257c9bd8d_h.jpg


For easier access I removed the lower diffuser. Figured I would be able to get it cleaner while it was off, and it was a good thing I did as I was carrying some extra weight around from MATG:

29454500267_4164b294fa_h.jpg


30523723918_8e7233ac4c_h.jpg


After some playing with the hanger and removing the excess material, here is what I ended up with:

42582579160_f1bce7737d_h.jpg


Final comparison shot to see how the muffler is even side-to-side now:

30523721538_2efb1013f1_h.jpg


Test drive showed I am no longer rubbing on the front driver's side fender liner, and I have less vibration being transmitted into the car. I had noticed what I thought was more vibration when I first got her all back together in May, but thought maybe because it had been so long since I last drove her I had forgotten the normal level of vibration. I'm now pretty sure that was due to the exhaust sitting on the subframe brace.
 
Good to see you putting that lathe to use.

Measured the height of the front coilovers and compared them side-to-side. Turns out they were only a couple of mms different. That got me to thinking and after I hoisted her ass into the air I checked the recommended spring length on the installation instructions against actual. Turned out both sides were off by 5-7 mm. I made those adjustments to bring them into the correct length. All of the nuts were tight so I don't think anything moved, I must have just done them wrong the last time I messed with them. I double-checked the length of the rear springs but both were correct.

Then it was on to the main event. I took a good look at the muffler the other day and found the driver's side was hanging lower than the passenger side, which allowed it to contact the lower diffuser. Note that NB1s have four hangers for the muffler, while NB2s only have three. The FM muffler I have only has three mounting points. I used urethane hangers thinking that would provide enough support, but with the extra piping of the dual outlet muffler the weight overcomes the lone hanger on the driver's side. I found that the piping had been resting on the 949 subframe brace I have in the rear (this is the piece I had previously relieved for some clearance). You can see the height difference here:

44341964232_3d5326d057_h.jpg


After some research I found this lovely little number:

43483431755_cc6661611e_h.jpg


Since I don't have access to a welder, this seemed like it would do what I needed. This is where it needed to go:

44341962202_2257c9bd8d_h.jpg


For easier access I removed the lower diffuser. Figured I would be able to get it cleaner while it was off, and it was a good thing I did as I was carrying some extra weight around from MATG:

29454500267_4164b294fa_h.jpg


30523723918_8e7233ac4c_h.jpg


After some playing with the hanger and removing the excess material, here is what I ended up with:

42582579160_f1bce7737d_h.jpg


Final comparison shot to see how the muffler is even side-to-side now:

30523721538_2efb1013f1_h.jpg


Test drive showed I am no longer rubbing on the front driver's side fender liner, and I have less vibration being transmitted into the car. I had noticed what I thought was more vibration when I first got her all back together in May, but thought maybe because it had been so long since I last drove her I had forgotten the normal level of vibration. I'm now pretty sure that was due to the exhaust sitting on the subframe brace.

Good work, looks right!!
 
Drove her for the first time in six weeks!!!

Back on July 26th, I partially tore my right Achilles while playing basketball at work during my lunch break.

So excited to be able to drive myself to work tomorrow!
 
Drove her for the first time in six weeks!!!

Back on July 26th, I partially tore my right Achilles while playing basketball at work during my lunch break.

So excited to be able to drive myself to work tomorrow!

congrats on getting back behind the wheel, i feel your pain on missing time behind the wheels and not being able to drive yourself for a long time. i partially tore the lateral ligaments in my ankle last summer, i was in a boot for 8 weeks and it was 12 weeks before i was able to drive the miata.
 
Drove her for the first time in six weeks!!!

Back on July 26th, I partially tore my right Achilles while playing basketball at work during my lunch break.

So excited to be able to drive myself to work tomorrow!

Whoa! Achilles is a tough injury.... glad youre ok! Drive it right!
 
congrats on getting back behind the wheel, i feel your pain on missing time behind the wheels and not being able to drive yourself for a long time. i partially tore the lateral ligaments in my ankle last summer, i was in a boot for 8 weeks and it was 12 weeks before i was able to drive the miata.

Thanks Levi and Ouch! Yeah, it sucked not having the freedom to just get behind the wheel and go somewhere. Thankfully I have a couple of nice co-workers who took turns bringing me to the office. I was in a boot for the full six weeks but thankfully I only had to sleep with it for the first three.

Whoa! Achilles is a tough injury.... glad you*re ok! Drive it right!

Thanks Mark! Indeed it is, I'm just thankful that it wasn't a full rupture that required surgery. I've heard/read quite a few stories of six month recovery times after Achilles surgery. I intend to! :)
 
Jeff, good to hear you are healing well. I know how much it pains me to be without driving my Miata when I'm gone, it would suck that much more when I am home!
 
Took the kids out to a vacant school parking lot to get a little bit of a feel for their kart. We'll probably do this one more time before hitting up a practice day at the local kart track.





 
Took the kids out to a vacant school parking lot to get a little bit of a feel for their kart. We'll probably do this one more time before hitting up a practice day at the local kart track.

It is great you are sharing this with them, and that they are taking to it with excitement.
 
Thanks Mark! Indeed it is, I'm just thankful that it wasn't a full rupture that required surgery. I've heard/read quite a few stories of six month recovery times after Achilles surgery. I intend to! :)[/QUOTE]

I had a full break with my Achilles. not a fun recovery. Glad to hear you're ok
 
Jeff, good to hear you are healing well. I know how much it pains me to be without driving my Miata when I'm gone, it would suck that much more when I am home!

Thanks Mike! Yeah, it sucked walking past her every morning to meet my ride in the driveway.

BTW, yours is looking good. Love that a$$ shot with the diffuser.

We'll see if that excitement holds once it turns into work

Trick is to try and make that work seem like fun.

Can't believe how grown the boys are. Great shot with the thumbs up. :)

Thanks Mark! Indeed it is, I'm just thankful that it wasn't a full rupture that required surgery. I've heard/read quite a few stories of six month recovery times after Achilles surgery. I intend to! :)

I had a full break with my Achilles. not a fun recovery. Glad to hear you're ok[/QUOTE]

Thanks Bruce and how the hell have you been? Haven't seen you around in a while.

This recovery with a partial is a PITA, I can only imagine trying to recover from a full tear.
 
Had a little break while I went for some work-related training. Last week was the eighth anniversary of my buying her, there have been a lot of changes over that time.

While I was gone I was thinking about the unusual and intermittent issue I have been having with stumbling after the car has been running for a bit. This was showing with the AFR gauge swinging up and down. One thing I came across is the fuel pump relay tends to fail gradually and causes the sort of problem I have been seeing. Since they aren't that expensive I went ahead and ordered one so it was waiting when I got home. Went out today to install that sucker, and in the process found out what everyone was bitching about with changing it.

First of all, it is mounted on a bracket underneath the dash (just inboard of the steering column) with four other relays. After fighting it for a bit and not being able to get the relay to come off the bracket I decided to just pull the bracket. One (hidden) 10mm nut later and with all the wire connectors removed I had it in my hand. The problem with the fuel pump relay (and only that one in this group) is the raised nub that locks into a hole in the mounting tab, seen here:

44151971344_0b781b91fd_h.jpg


You can't really see it but the nub is beveled to make it easier to insert, however the high part of the nub interferes with easy removal. My solution was to use a couple of jeweler's screwdrivers to lift the metal bracket enough to provide clearance for the nub to get the damn thing off:

44151969804_2430540806_h.jpg


Once the old one is off the new one slides right on. Then it's just put the bracket back in place and get the nut on (my work experience with working blind helped a lot with that), then reconnect all the relays. It's been raining here and I have done a lot of driving lately so I'm waiting until tomorrow for a test drive to see if that will fix the problem.
 
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SCCA Time Trial Nationals prep completed.

...at least, for the car. Still have all the gear to pack and get ready, but that'll probably happen Tuesday & Wednesday evening.

We have: installed the seat back brace, installed a pair of stock Miata mirrors, swapped in the shorter ratio diff, removed the ballast, swapped on new pads & rotors up front (rears are already HP+), bled the brakes and did a general nut & bolt & fluid maintenance.

I'm SO excited for this event :D

Tho the car looks pretty weird with mirrors after being nice and sleek for the last several years.

 
SCCA Time Trial Nationals prep completed.

...at least, for the car. Still have all the gear to pack and get ready, but that'll probably happen Tuesday & Wednesday evening.

We have: installed the seat back brace, installed a pair of stock Miata mirrors, swapped in the shorter ratio diff, removed the ballast, swapped on new pads & rotors up front (rears are already HP+), bled the brakes and did a general nut & bolt & fluid maintenance.

I'm SO excited for this event :D

Tho the car looks pretty weird with mirrors after being nice and sleek for the last several years.


Good luck Andrew!
 
Nice trick Mike. I often throw four letter words at those damn things but that doesn't work as well.

Good luck Andrew and let us know how it goes!

Last week I found water in my trunk. The padding to the carpet was saturated and I could have used the trunk as a bird bath. I pulled the carpet and all of the plastic out and cleaned up the mess. Saturday, I broke out the trombone brush to clean the drains and couldn't get it to push into the tubes (cleaning the NB tubes is much easier!). Pulled up some youtube vids to get some tricks and finally got through on the DS. Not much in debris came out and the brush head was wet to the touch. Get to the PS and I can't get the brush in at all. Waited until I was back in the office on Monday where we taped some welding rod to it to make it firmer and still nothing. Next we tried straight welding rod and can push it through a little but then get a lot of resistance and nothing. Broke out the borescope and verified we were getting into the tube and can see the sludge but just can't get it to move. Lunch was just about over so we packed it in. If the rain clears up today, we are going to try to blow it out with the compressor. Just hoping it doesn't backfire. haha

I'm pretty sure it is the drain tubes as I washed the car on Saturday and made sure to fill the area between the top and the trunk up with water several times to see how they drained. Water was draining under the car but not where the tubes exit. While washing the car, I made sure to spray around the third brake light area, tail lights and license plate lights as I know they can have seal issues. Trunk was bone dry when I finished.

We just got another good downpour for a couple of hours. I went out and checked and had another small puddle. The confusing thing is that I can not figure out where the water came from as the rest of the trunk was dry?

A few minutes ago
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Thanks y'all. We made the drive up and got through tech and all that just fine. Got to see the Corvette museum w/ the kids, which was awesome because man, those boys LOVE them some Corvettes :D







 
Maff, you're bringing them up right. Starting their love for Corvettes may come back and bite you in the future though!

Unfortunately the fuel pump relay didn't solve my shuddering problem. The rain finally let up and I drove her Wednesday/Thursday for some errands. It didn't seem as bad as it had been when it did occur (wishful thinking?) but it was still there.

This morning I washed her and then went to run some errands. As I pulled out of the garage I heard an unusual noise that was kind of an intermittent ping, like something was turning on and off. Pulled back in and popped the hood, what I saw was the supercharger belt moving on and off the pulley corresponding with the noise. So shut that sucker down and drove the wife's car instead.

When I got home I poked around and found the 'charger belt was rubbing on the power steering pump pulley along its bottom edge. Easily resolved by loosening the 'charger mounting bolts and moving it back forward where it belongs (around 1/8"). What is puzzling is that all the bolts were tight, so how did the damn thing move? Just got back from a test drive and all is well. For now at least...
 
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