What have you done to your Miata today?

It has arrived:

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Now that I have it all together and operating, here are the money shots:

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This thing is slick. I got the 120v version, it's plenty fast enough for me so I can't imagine how much faster the 12v version is.

If you get one, you do have to assemble it a little. This means putting fittings on the air and hydraulic cylinder as well as the hoses, filling the reservoir with 2 quarts of ATF and then bleeding the system. I had a slight problem with one of the Schrader valves on the air cylinder, it wasn't holding at all. After pulling it apart a couple of times I found the valve stem wasn't tight. Took care of that and all was well. Here is the ATF I used:

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You will also need 17/19mm wrenches, 5/6mm Allen wrenches, a couple of Crescent wrenches and some Teflon tape. I performed the bleeding of the hydraulic cylinders per the instructions, but what really did the job was putting a load on the unit by raising and lowering the car a few times. You do want to raise/lower the ramps a couple of times with no weight on it as they will move unevenly due to air in the system. One thing to note, due to the movement of the lift as it raises the car will move to the rear of where it starts out (or to the front depending upon how you orient the ramps).

I don't know if I was responsible for this or not, but Flyin' Miata now lists how many of this model lift are available (I was a little nervous when I didn't hear anything for nearly a business week). You can get it delivered to your home but it will cost extra. Despite mine being delivered to the freight terminal Monday it took me until today to receive it. My life working on any of our cars got a lot easier.
 
Nice Chief, would love one of those.

Ordered a new clutch and flywheel. Will get it installed next month when I get home.
 
I know. I was giggling as I lifted her for the first time. I have to get a lo-pro creeper now.
 
What with the Atlantic separating us most of the year, I don't get to do too many fun projects like this with the old man, so I put a little something together documenting it.





I also broke the table in putting together the 2 "Fab Squares" / fixture squares I grabbed from Tab & Slot. These will come in handy.

 
Coming back from lunch yesterday, the CEL came on again. It was another P2177 code and approx. 600 miles since I tightened the MAF down and cleared it. I have since cleaned the MAF and cleared the code.

That's awesome Mike! Consider me jealous as well. One day I hope to have one added to my garage as well.

Cool vid there Maff!
 
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Someone asked me if this would go high enough to do a clutch job. I took these pictures to show it is possible. This first one shows the lift in the lowest position, with one of the jack stands I used for my clutch jobs in its highest position as I used it.

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This second picture shows the lift in its highest position. The point I used to place the jack stand is about 4 1/2" higher than what it was on the jack stand.

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Coming back from lunch yesterday, the CEL came on again. It was another P2177 code and approx. 600 miles since I tightened the MAF down and cleared it. I have since cleaned the MAF and cleared the code.

Jeff,

What did you use to clean the MAF? I've seen issues with some cleaners online.
 
Jeff,

What did you use to clean the MAF? I've seen issues with some cleaners online.
CRC MAF cleaner. Bought it at Autozone and used it before to clean the MAF on the P5.

Sent from my Galaxy S7 Edge using Tapatalk
 
Ok, these I'm REALLY excited about. And another reason why I wanted a "fixture" table. I can put these anywhere on the table...or off of the table with the fixture squares.








Also added on board storage for my clamps. I think I want to make a rack for my grinder wheels next.

 
Despite it being cold today, I decided to make up for my sloughing off this week and swap out mufflers. I didn't have any real problems, one thing to note is the NB1 has four hangers on the muffler, while the NB2 only has three. It is perfectly secure on mine with just the three. I also took the opportunity to replace the urethane hanger I put on last year for a new factory rubber one in the interest of reducing some noise transmission into the cabin. I do have some contact now between the rear section of the exhaust and my 949 rear subframe brace so when it warms up I'll pull that off again and do some clearancing with my grinder like I did before. I also found that some roadkill I ran over a while back left more residue than I thought on the underside, so I got rid of all that.

I mentioned before that the car will travel some horizontally as the QuickJack raises. In the interest of general knowledge I took some measurements to see how far it moves. The car will move 3 1/4" when putting it into the low position, that is with the locks in place. Add 1/2" of travel for those to clear to pull them out. For the high position, the car will move 10 3/8" with the locks in place. Add 1 3/4" to that when you take the locks off.

Finally, I measured 18 1/4" clearance from the bottom of my FM frame rails to the floor in the highest position. That is using the thinner rubber blocks, the thicker ones are 3" thick so will add around 1 1/2" of additional clearance.
 
I've got a budding career as a car model (rlaugh)




I also met my kids' favorite racecar driver again :D
(yeah, it was feckin' cold. I had 4 layers of both tops and bottoms on lol)

 
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Don't quit your day job Maff. :)

After some thought, I decided to buy a set of NB2 seats in parchment leather. While I love my Recaros, they aren't very comfortable for longer trips. Since the wife and I are headed to MATG in August I figured it would be a good buy. They should be here next week.

Still haven't heard anything from Jon Bond Performance about my supercharger despite several efforts to get in touch with them. I may need to look into options for action.
 
I sent a message to JBP last night and heard back within a very short time. From what he told me this must be a busy time of year for them, plus they have had snow and illness impacting their productivity. He said mine has been disassembled and he will be in touch shortly with an evaluation.
 
Customer communications is one of those basic ass things that so many companies completely drop the ball on :(
Glad everything seems to be on the up & up.
 
Customer communications is one of those basic ass things that so many companies completely drop the ball on :(
Glad everything seems to be on the up & up.

I know. I can understand having a backlog, but it shouldn't be that difficult to send an e-mail upon receipt of the unit with a projected timeframe on when the owner can expect to hear something. Oh well, at least I know it got there and is being looked at.
 
Received the condition analysis and repair cost estimate for the supercharger. It had bearing failure (likely due to the lack of oil, which was probably due to faulty seals), some rotor contact with the housing, a failed bypass valve and failing rotor coatings. The casing and housings can be repaired without replacement, rotors will be cleaned up and coated, the housing will be honed to remove the marks. All the consumable items will be replaced. I think I dodged a big bullet by catching it when I did. Based on their advertised turnaround time, it should be back here waiting on me when I get back home.
 
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