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This is more pie in the sky than anything, but how much can a miata tow? A friend just went down to the "dragon" and while I may go next year on my motorcycle, I know I'd love to do it in the miata as well. The perfect solution would obviously be towing the bike down with the miata. Would a 4'x8' + motorcycle + storage box with random junk in it be too much? '91 Miata and a BMW F650 (probably ~450lbs wet) are the vehicles in question.
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Jul 28, 2010 16:35
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I believe the NA manuals state 900lb as a max, but don't quote me on that.
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Jul 28, 2010 16:38
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You can't tow a bike with a Miata. Just towing tires can be sketchy with one.
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Jul 28, 2010 17:59
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Phone posted:You can't tow a bike with a Miata. Just towing tires can be sketchy with one. Odd. I haven't heard anything negative from the tire towers in my club.
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Jul 28, 2010 19:53
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You can do it with relatively no problem, but you're in a 2200lbs car towing a few hundred pounds worth of trailer, tires, and tools. Doing an actual bike would be sketchy as gently caress. Not to mention sweet 10mpgness.
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Jul 28, 2010 20:00
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Damnit. Well, I probably wasn't going to do it anyway, so there is that.
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Jul 28, 2010 21:13
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Phone posted:You can do it with relatively no problem, but you're in a 2200lbs car towing a few hundred pounds worth of trailer, tires, and tools. Doing an actual bike would be sketchy as gently caress. Not to mention sweet 10mpgness.  there's no way you're going to get 10mpg. I'd say low 20's at worst.
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Jul 28, 2010 21:27
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There's a goon in the cycle subforum that have done it in 2700lb Honda Civic hatches. It can't be THAT bad. ... Can it?
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Jul 28, 2010 21:34
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I think you are better off towing the miata with the motorcycle.
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Jul 28, 2010 21:55
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dreesemonkey posted:This is more pie in the sky than anything, but how much can a miata tow? A friend just went down to the "dragon" and while I may go next year on my motorcycle, I know I'd love to do it in the miata as well. The perfect solution would obviously be towing the bike down with the miata. I once saw an NA Miata towing a motorcycle that appeared to be prepped for the track west of Cleveland. I don't have any idea how far he was going though. I bet it could be done.
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Jul 29, 2010 00:32
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destructo posted:Typical EE talk But.. I get low 20s normally in my miata.
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Jul 29, 2010 05:56
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Ziploc posted:There's a goon in the cycle subforum that have done it in 2700lb Honda Civic hatches. It can't be THAT bad. My dad tows his Hobie 16 (fiberglass sailboat...about 400 pounds plus the trailer) with my mom's Focus and it only weights 2600...
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Jul 29, 2010 06:00
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Tactical Bonnet posted:But.. I get low 20s normally in my miata. Inspect your foot for traces of lead.
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Jul 29, 2010 06:27
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Tactical Bonnet posted:But.. I get low 20s normally in my miata. I'm glad I'm not alone. 
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Jul 29, 2010 06:43
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Tactical Bonnet posted:But.. I get low 20s normally in my miata. If you're getting more then you aren't driving it properly.
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Jul 29, 2010 15:04
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Yes I know.  Whenever people ask me about my mileage they always look so shocked and surprised. My boss was like "My F150 gets 22, how do you only get 20?!" I just laughed and told him it was because I have more fun driving my miata that he does his truck.
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Jul 29, 2010 16:38
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If you don't have a poo poo-eating grin at least once every time you're in your car (especially a Miata), you're doing something wrong.
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Jul 29, 2010 17:21
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I'm getting tray to replace the stereo in my 2006. I have the face plate adapter and wiring harness. To remove the old one, do I pry off the panels on the sides of the radio with a flat head screwdriver?
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Jul 29, 2010 18:16
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My shifter bushing has obviously shat itself recently. Where is the best place to pick up a new one and what else should I pick up with it? Is it something I can get locally (for a price more reasonable than online + shipping)? I'm thinking at least getting new rubber boots but I didn't know if there were other pieces I should consider replacing simultaneously.
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Jul 31, 2010 03:09
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Picked up a '94 today and loving it. There's a squeaky belt noise when I turn the AC on, but just at the moment when I push the button then goes away. The guy I bought it from only drove it in nice weather and didn't use AC i'm guessing, could not using AC to me using it cause that? Aside from that it was pouring down rain on my way back home and having never driven rwd car experienced lift off oversteer for the first time 
Russian Bear fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Jul 31, 2010 |
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Jul 31, 2010 05:40
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ChiliMac posted:My shifter bushing has obviously shat itself recently. Where is the best place to pick up a new one and what else should I pick up with it? Is it something I can get locally (for a price more reasonable than online + shipping)? Quoting myself from a few pages back: Piano posted:The Large Boot That's the full shifter rebuild kit, as far as I could tell. Disclaimer: haven't personally done this yet. Chance the parts may be incorrect.
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Jul 31, 2010 06:51
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Aug 1, 2010 19:10
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What is going on with your bumper texture btw?
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Aug 1, 2010 23:43
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Piano posted:What is going on with your bumper texture btw? The bumpers are plastic and are damaged by the sun much more quickly than the rest of the car. My bumpers look like that too, even faded to almost white in a few spots.
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Aug 2, 2010 00:40
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Phone posted:
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Aug 2, 2010 01:18
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BusinessWallet posted:When you look at the exhaust manifold, you can see the O2 sensor that I replaced in the picture below I have a 99 as well. It has 2 cats and 2 sensors around the front cat. You've been replacing the front sensor, you should also replace the rear sensor as well. There is also the possibility that your front cat (aka pre-cat) is clogged. In that case you have 3 options, you can replace it, or get a 01+ manifold which doesn't have a cat and will give you more power or get a replacement header. If you do either of the latter 2 you will have to extend the o2 wires and put the front o2 where your rear one is now, and weld in a bung behind your 2nd cat for the rear o2 sensor. I got a Raceland header from Ebay for $110 and lengthened the o2's and welded in a rear bung. The fitment was pretty terrible on the header and it took a couple days to get it installed, but what do you expect for $110. I had leaks and had to open up some holes. http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=320531 I did get a noticeable power bump though
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Aug 2, 2010 01:52
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Phone posted:You can't tow a bike with a Miata. Just towing tires can be sketchy with one. Phone posted:You can do it with relatively no problem, but you're in a 2200lbs car towing a few hundred pounds worth of trailer, tires, and tools. Doing an actual bike would be sketchy as gently caress. Not to mention sweet 10mpgness. sry but I have disagree I've been towing street motorcycles for years with my little 2200lb Scirocco. Two bieks at a time and it's even FWD. There is no problem with stablity on the freeway or in heavy winds, acceleration is fine, the only thing is braking needs a bit more care but you're towing poo poo so that's a given. Plus you get the best looks driving down the freeway  I tow 400 miles at a time to the track and back. The one caveat is that I welded up the hitch to my Scirocco. I got some massive class III hitch for an International off craigslist and basically replaced the rear bumper with it. I haven't seen any off-the-shelf Miata hitches that I would trust because they all look flimsy going down and under the bumper. Maybe if you cut up the rear bumper cover and made a solid mount to the frame it would work.
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Aug 2, 2010 02:03
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Been competing in a autocross series this year, currently coming 3rd in class after the weekends last race. Am considering moving to some semi slicks. Thoughts on these? 225/50/15 http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=307550895 seem cheap enough to be a decent improvement over the econo tires on it atm. Is 225/50 likely to rub? Car is fairly low: 
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Aug 2, 2010 02:08
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Is there a good tire site that will give us an idea of what is available? Hankook RS-3, Bridgestone RE-11, Dunlop Z1 Star Spec or Kuhmo XS are your top choices for autocross street tires. Although I'm not sure what you have available there.
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Aug 2, 2010 02:54
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poisoned pie posted:Been competing in a autocross series this year, currently coming 3rd in class after the weekends last race. Am considering moving to some semi slicks. Can't speak to those tires, but I was just at a track day yesterday and for the first time I ran these Nitto NT-01's 205/55-14's on my stock Miata 14's and they are awesome. http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/findTireProductCategoryDetailStyl.do?tc=NITHZ8&typ=Competition They are so much faster than my 16" Yokohama street tires it's insane, and they held up all day in 100 degree heat. I'm always wary of used race tires because even if the tread is still good they can go off quickly with too many heat cycles. edit: sorry I don't know if this applies to auto-x
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Aug 2, 2010 03:48
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225/50 is probably gonna rub, you can just use the miata.net tire calculator to figure out how much clearance you're going to lose.
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Aug 2, 2010 04:02
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 94 from a few posts up, it's so tiny compared to everything else I can't wait to park it to my step dad's avalanche. What do auto shops usually charge to do the timing belt/water pump/seals all at once? I'm debating if it's worth paying someone else to do it or just going to our friend's lift in his garage and taking a weekend to do it ourselves. Edit: AC squeak went away. Russian Bear fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Aug 3, 2010 |
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Aug 2, 2010 05:02
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Russian Bear posted:
After we changed the belts, my car did the same thing for awhile. It only got worse and worse until I couldn't have the AC on without a loud screech. Turns out we didn't have the belt on tight enough, and it just got more loose as I drove. Tightened it up and everything was 100% again.
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Aug 2, 2010 05:14
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Russian Bear posted:What do auto shops usually charge to do the timing belt/water pump/seals all at once? I'm debating if it's worth paying someone else to do it or just going to our friend's lift in his garage and taking a weekend to do it ourselves. It's not hard work at all, and the lift will be convenient a few times but the vast majority of the work is done from up top anyway. I've seen quotes on the order of ~$1k for the whole job; you can do it yourself for about a fifth of that. It is a lot of work (I took two days to do mine) but it really is all easy work to do, nothing absurdly tedious or anything like that.
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Aug 2, 2010 05:23
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IOwnCalculus posted:It's not hard work at all, and the lift will be convenient a few times but the vast majority of the work is done from up top anyway. I was just reading up on miatanet about the whole ordeal and I guess the lining up of the timing belt sounded something that's really easy to gently caress up and it spooked me a bit. My friend with a lift is into cars(uhh he has a lift in his garage) but I don't know if he's worked on miatas before, but I think with his help we'll get it done. Where is the cheapest place to source all the OEM parts? I also had a question about changing oil; I've seen some guys on miatanet use full synthetic in their cars and go for 10k intervals which seemed a little long, i would probably feel better with a 5k interval on synthetic since it's suppose to last longer and all that. Should I use synthetic oil and if so, is there a preferred brand?
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Aug 2, 2010 05:41
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Mobil 1 10w30 has been great to me. You can get all the parts (good ones too) off of ebay for ~$100 for the timing belt change. Should include timing belt, water pump, valve cover gasket, accessory belts and tensioners.
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Aug 2, 2010 05:53
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I've never personally done it but I heard a trick that involves cutting the old belt in the middle lengthwise all the way around, slipping off the front half, putting on the new belt half way, snipping off whats left of the old one and slipping the new one all the way on. Actually ends up being more work I'm sure but it sounds 100% idiot-proof.
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Aug 2, 2010 05:53
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Piano posted:I've never personally done it but I heard a trick that involves cutting the old belt in the middle lengthwise all the way around, slipping off the front half, putting on the new belt half way, snipping off whats left of the old one and slipping the new one all the way on. Actually ends up being more work I'm sure but it sounds 100% idiot-proof. Cool idea, but don't think that will work if you're doing the w/p too as it's behind everything
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Aug 2, 2010 06:51
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destructo posted:225/50 is probably gonna rub, you can just use the miata.net tire calculator to figure out how much clearance you're going to lose. These are another option of mine: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=307732014 The reason I ask, is because auto-cross in NZ is a bit different from autocross in the USA. Over here, its closer to 'run what you brung and go hard'. This series has 6 rounds, and 3 classes (AWD, engine over drive, engine not over drive). Your placing in each round awards you points, and your total points places you in the series. Only 5 rounds count, as you have to drop your 'worst' round. It's nowhere near as spergy or technical as the way autocross comes across from the states. Anyway, currently I'm placing 3rd, as the person who is doing slightly better than me did not run at the last event. So he can drop 0 points, but I will need to drop some points (my worst round). Because of wanting to hold my 3rd place, I'll need to step up my game to try and best him in the last two rounds. I figured some used semis would be a good advantage over the road tires I use now, as there is only 2 rounds left and I don't want to spend $1000 on new semi slicks for just two rounds of auto-cross. Some footage of my car from the last round here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTrP7aBz2GQ
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Aug 2, 2010 07:58
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poisoned pie posted:Some footage of my car from the last round here: That looks like a lot of fun. I wish there was an autox track near me 
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Aug 2, 2010 09:32
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