thejeans 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata

Sounds dangerously like a plan. I didn't realize you had a Hydra ECU, getting data from it to see what it is doing will be quite helpful.
 
That thing makes nice logs too. You can map more information than you know what to do with. Only thing that sucks is diagnosing little goofy issues when they arise. "This is what it's doing, but why?"
 
little weekend update...

new Coil packs came in Saturday, installed them and proceeded to take the car for a drive. it idles better and runs a good bit better as well, still something slightly off on the car BUT the coils drastically improved the car, could just be the gas at this point (its set since Easter and thats still crappy winter blend time in PA haha)

got the laptop set up yesterday to connect and monitor stuff on the Hydra, looking forward to learning more with that and seeing what its capable of.

So far the car has gotten 50 miles on the new motor and as long as there isnt too much rain this week ill drive it as much as i can to get some miles on the rebuild.

also tore into the dash and pulled a couple dummy lights out of the gauge cluster that no longer needed to be there to keep them from flashing at me.
14931043307_4ce29cb275_z.jpg


did a little restoration on the plastic cover of the cluster, looked like Armor_All got sprayed on it and never cleaned off and as a result always looked dirty. wet sanding with 1000-3000 grit took care of all that with a light polish to finish the job.
15114603651_3d80aa4fc4_z.jpg


the final product
15117242392_8b7c3e3822_z.jpg


After that i wanted to start working on a way to clear up a little more room, i started toying with the idea of removing the door handle and seeing what for leg room i could gain. I gained a solid inch of leg room without the door handle and that got me digging on here where i found a writeup (on TubroMiata) where the guy used NA door tops and fabbed up his own door cards with ABS Plastic in his 10AE, i think that will be the next step for me, Id like the added room and i think his actually looks really good as well, so good non miata people wouldnt know they werent stock IMO

15114608471_e52f79cd19_z.jpg



Here is the inspiration
5992048066_3a9fe33509_b.jpg
 
Last edited:
After that i wanted to start working on a way to clear up a little more room, i started toying with the idea of removing the door handle and seeing what for leg room i could gain. I gained a solid inch of leg room without the door handle and that got me digging on here where i found a writeup (on TubroMiata) where the guy used NA door tops and fabbed up his own door cards with ABS Plastic in his 10AE, i think that will be the next step for me, Id like the added room and i think his actually looks really good as well, so good non miata people wouldnt know they werent stock IMO

15114608471_e52f79cd19_z.jpg



Here is the inspiration
5992048066_3a9fe33509_b.jpg

You should have heard me talking about the RX7 on Sunday. I don't need the room but I'm going to be doing the exact, same thing to my RX7 because the lower door cards are destroyed. I was thinking about using fiberglass though. It's probably lighter than ABS and I have a bunch left over from my fan shroud build. It shouldn't be too hard to lay-up some decently flat, bubble-free sheets. Either way, I'll be checking in on this if you decide to do the same.
 
You should have heard me talking about the RX7 on Sunday. I don't need the room but I'm going to be doing the exact, same thing to my RX7 because the lower door cards are destroyed. I was thinking about using fiberglass though. It's probably lighter than ABS and I have a bunch left over from my fan shroud build. It shouldn't be too hard to lay-up some decently flat, bubble-free sheets. Either way, I'll be checking in on this if you decide to do the same.

if you lived closer, iI'd say ill come help and learn from yours, to try making my own haha

ill probably look into doing some of this over the next month or two BUT probably want actually attack it til the MSM goes to storage, thatll give me a couple projects to fiddle with on the car
 
if you lived closer, iI'd say ill come help and learn from yours, to try making my own haha

ill probably look into doing some of this over the next month or two BUT probably want actually attack it til the MSM goes to storage, thatll give me a couple projects to fiddle with on the car

I'm curious how complex the door cards of the MSM are. The RX7's looked like fleet panels but there's actually a decent amount of 3D-ness to them. It may not be necessary but until I have the car back I can't know for sure. I was planning on doing the same red nylon straps and all.
 
You should have heard me talking about the RX7 on Sunday. I don't need the room but I'm going to be doing the exact, same thing to my RX7 because the lower door cards are destroyed. I was thinking about using fiberglass though. It's probably lighter than ABS and I have a bunch left over from my fan shroud build. It shouldn't be too hard to lay-up some decently flat, bubble-free sheets. Either way, I'll be checking in on this if you decide to do the same.

If by "probably" you mean "definitely not" then sure! (bs)

ABS is about 1g/cc, fiberglass and polyester resin is about 1.5g/cc.

Where theJeans is going to need to drill holes, cut out chunks, etc. and the panels are non-structural ABS is a good solution for a non-winter car. A plastic capable of sustaining lower temperatures might be a good idea if it will see cooler temperatures. See McMaster for guidance: http://www.mcmaster.com/#about-plastics/=tjsswj

I am partial to UHMWPE and PETG as low-cost durable plastics.

A co-worker of mine and I had discussed making similar door cards, though out of sheet metal. We concluded that using riv-nuts would be a good way to fasten the panels to the doors.
 
If by "probably" you mean "definitely not" then sure! (bs)

ABS is about 1g/cc, fiberglass and polyester resin is about 1.5g/cc.

Where theJeans is going to need to drill holes, cut out chunks, etc. and the panels are non-structural ABS is a good solution for a non-winter car. A plastic capable of sustaining lower temperatures might be a good idea if it will see cooler temperatures. See McMaster for guidance: http://www.mcmaster.com/#about-plastics/=tjsswj

I am partial to UHMWPE and PETG as low-cost durable plastics.

A co-worker of mine and I had discussed making similar door cards, though out of sheet metal. We concluded that using riv-nuts would be a good way to fasten the panels to the doors.

itll be in a 40-45 degree garage all winter, its not heated but it is insulated so the ABS should be ok.

and thanks for the link James, ill check it out then

i primarily am just looking for a way to fit a linebacker into a miata as comfortably as possible. creating new door cards combo'd, with a foamectomy (down the road a new seat) and new wheel will free up a fair bit of space to help me fit better and results in me enjoying driving that much more haha. Ill be completely honest, im not that worried about weight savings/gains i may or may not get from new door cards cause lets be honest, this car is a sunday cruiser that will see 3-5 autocrosses a year. no sense in acting like its a BRC mod haha
 
itll be in a 40-45 degree garage all winter, its not heated but it is insulated so the ABS should be ok.

and thanks for the link James, ill check it out then

i primarily am just looking for a way to fit a linebacker into a miata as comfortably as possible. creating new door cards combo'd, with a foamectomy (down the road a new seat) and new wheel will free up a fair bit of space to help me fit better and results in me enjoying driving that much more haha. Ill be completely honest, im not that worried about weight savings/gains i may or may not get from new door cards cause lets be honest, this car is a sunday cruiser that will see 3-5 autocrosses a year. no sense in acting like its a BRC mod haha

There's a remarkable amount of common sense there!

It looks like just replacing the handle with a nylon strap would buy you a lot.
 
There's a remarkable amount of common sense there!

It looks like just replacing the handle with a nylon strap would buy you a lot.

it would and short term for the rest of this summer it may happen but long term keeping the stock door half gutted is far uglier than making the ABS door cards haha
 
I've always been a fan of the ABS plastic door cards with pull straps. Can't wait to see the finished product.
 
If by "probably" you mean "definitely not" then sure! (bs)

ABS is about 1g/cc, fiberglass and polyester resin is about 1.5g/cc.

Where theJeans is going to need to drill holes, cut out chunks, etc. and the panels are non-structural ABS is a good solution for a non-winter car. A plastic capable of sustaining lower temperatures might be a good idea if it will see cooler temperatures. See McMaster for guidance: http://www.mcmaster.com/#about-plastics/=tjsswj

I am partial to UHMWPE and PETG as low-cost durable plastics.

I didn't realize you could get ABS and UHMW in 1/16" sheets. My assumption was based on how thin I could make fiberglass panels versus what I thought was commercially available for ABS and UHMW rather than weight/volume. Good to know.
 
I didn't realize you could get ABS and UHMW in 1/16" sheets. My assumption was based on how thin I could make fiberglass panels versus what I thought was commercially available for ABS and UHMW rather than weight/volume. Good to know.

Hehe, I think you can go as thin as 0.004in in UHMW and 0.003in in ABS (basically a sheet of decent copy paper). Far too thin for this application, but there's a wide range of plastic thicknesses that are easily purchased.
 
so i think i found the culprit to the misfire over the winter. honestly i am just going to have to chalk up how i missed this last summer as me just being exhausted. not looking at the car for a little while allowed my brain to reset and i found what i believe is the issue.
the timing wheel is missing a tooth, with only 3 of the 4 teeth it would make sense as to why it seems like it was only running on 3 cylinders. I am ordering the FM 36-2 wheel to replace the stock one and hopefully that does the trick.
I know the wheel fell last summer but i didnt catch the damage when i installed it, thats my bad. just happy i caught it now and hopefully can lead to me having a fun summer with the car
 
Last edited:
Hope it does the trick for you!
 
Even if it's not THE problem (and let's be honest, it probably is), it WILL keep the car from running right. Not fixing it would be like trying to diagnose a car not starting while the fuel tank is empty. Sure, maybe the timing is set out of phase, but it ain't ever gonna be right until you get the whole "empty tank" thing sorted ;)
 
Even if it's not THE problem (and let's be honest, it probably is), it WILL keep the car from running right. Not fixing it would be like trying to diagnose a car not starting while the fuel tank is empty. Sure, maybe the timing is set out of phase, but it ain't ever gonna be right until you get the whole "empty tank" thing sorted ;)

yeah plus the 36-2 wheel from Flyin Miata is cheaper than the stock wheel with 4 triggers. i figure not only will the 34 tooth wheel allow more precise timing readings/tweaks in the future but since its cheaper why not upgrade haha
 
yeah plus the 36-2 wheel from Flyin Miata is cheaper than the stock wheel with 4 triggers. i figure not only will the 34 tooth wheel allow more precise timing readings/tweaks in the future but since its cheaper why not upgrade haha

Bingo. It's also damn solid (I've got one on the workbench currently).
 
Bingo. It's also damn solid (I've got one on the workbench currently).

im currently debating whether or not to pull the trigger on the jongbloed aero 500 15x9 Bronze wheels when i place order for the timing wheel and a few other little things
 
Back