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Go to home depot and get one or two "Damp-rid" buckets. , park it with the windows up in the sun, and lay some dry towels on the floor. http://www.homedepot.com/p/DampRid-64-oz-Fragrance-Free-High-Capacity-Moisture-Absorber-FG50T/100391308
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Jul 25, 2015 18:42
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I just bought that product for the first time this week. I work for a company that was having moisture build up in our boxes mounted above stone CNC machines in the south. The cooling pad inside was causing condensation and degrading performance. I stuck a small bucket of Damprid up there (with the provided strainer) and the pad was dry as a bone the next morning and worked at full strength. Damprid would need replaced often, so we're going to use a long term silica gel packet solution but the Damprid worked faster so I could figure out that the moisture was the culprit.
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Jul 25, 2015 18:49
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I too have the airbag light from water in the car. Does that mean the passenger airbag is kaput?
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Jul 25, 2015 19:49
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I just want to thank the previous owner of my NC for never driving it in the rain or snow and keeping it in a garage. I've never had an easier time removing exhaust bolts. I installed the roadstersport midpipe and roadstersport super q muffler today and it was the easiest exhaust install ever. Sounds great, especially off throttle. I bought one of these and used it for the first time for this project and it's awesome. I've seen a lot of complaints online about leaking and uneven lifting but it was perfect for me. I envision using this thing a lot for maintenance on all of our cars.
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Jul 25, 2015 23:20
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GutBomb posted:I just want to thank the previous owner of my NC for never driving it in the rain or snow and keeping it in a garage. I've never had an easier time removing exhaust bolts. Plan on getting the header? I'm considering taking my resonators back out of my Q.
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Jul 25, 2015 23:22
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Nah, I got the sound I wanted without having to go the header route. (I say that now but in a couple of months I'll probably be posting about installing the header.)
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Jul 25, 2015 23:27
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Goodwin exhausts get much louder over time. IMO its the real reason they have removable baffles. A friend called my exhaust noise "Terminal" this year.
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Jul 25, 2015 23:43
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It is so much quieter than the nameless exhaust I put on the FRS which rumbled the whole house.
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Jul 26, 2015 00:13
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GutBomb posted:It is so much quieter than the nameless exhaust I put on the FRS which rumbled the whole house. My first car (old V8 Camaro with more-or-less straight pipes) would set off the neighbor's car alarm if I revved it in my driveway.  I can always tell when my wife is taking our BMW out of the garage because I can hear the exhaust rumbling through the floor when I'm upstairs. I'd love to have a four banger with an exhaust that rumbly/growly without sounding like a hive of bees armed with whoopie cushions as soon as the revs go up. e: MattD1zzl3 posted:"Attempted manslaughter" is like someone saying "I was electrocuted". You can only reply with "No, you were not". https://www.justia.com/criminal/docs/calcrim/500/603.html 
Militant Lesbian fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Jul 26, 2015 |
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Jul 26, 2015 00:41
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Are any of yall hardtop wizards? I finally got my cheapo hardtop yesterday and the first 24 hours have been fairly bittersweet. Cosmetic stuff that I half knew about aside, it's suffering from some pretty bad fitment problems at the moment. Biggest problem is that the front is bowing up slightly in the middle which gives me a death whistle above 45kph or when the HVAC fan is turned up too high. For now I've jammed a towel in the gap. Other problem is the seal around the back creaks really badly with any body flex. Any suggestions? Also I'm assuming the screws on the sides of the catches at the back should open up but I think they're corroded on and I don't wanna strip the heads trying. Phone, I know you said plastidip is awful but this thing is currently red with white spots where the red paint gave up. 
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Jul 27, 2015 13:42
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RillAkBea posted:Are any of yall hardtop wizards? I finally got my cheapo hardtop yesterday and the first 24 hours have been fairly bittersweet. Cosmetic stuff that I half knew about aside, it's suffering from some pretty bad fitment problems at the moment. Adjust the latches and strikers; it'll be a little while before the hardtop deforms to your specific car. Are you sure that you have the hardtop around the Frankenstein bolts? It can be easy to have it resting on versus around them. Vinyl wrapping is going to be just as much of a pain in the rear end as plastidip; however, it won't look like dog poo poo.
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Jul 27, 2015 14:11
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This weekend I replaced the soft top on my Montego Blue 1997 NA. I got basically the cheapest 3rd party top I could find in Europe. The top that came on the car (not sure if original or not) was for some inexplicable reason tan. Ok, if the interior had been tan, sure, have a tan top, but when it matches literally nothing else on the car? It actually surprised me how much difference it made. Not only did it make the car look better color-wise with a black top and gives me a non-broken window that actually keeps rain out, but it also just looks so much better when it's actually tight and not sagging everywhere. It was a bit of an ordeal, especially having to fabricate a new tension cable out of a wire from an IKEA lamp and some electric crimp connectors (the passenger side was broken, which I hadn't noticed earlier). But me and my brother pulled it off. Happy now. 
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Jul 27, 2015 22:48
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Phone got it right on the head, Its a whistling rattling fiberglass paradise. You need to think of the NA coupe more as a boat or light aircraft, not a comfortable car. Down the road it will conform itself to your car and you can do fancy stuff like putting fabric or grease on the connecting points to stop rattles, but until you learn a few little tricks it is noisy.
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Jul 27, 2015 23:12
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My NA with the hardtop didn't have any of the issues you guys are mentioning. ionn posted:This weekend I replaced the soft top on my Montego Blue 1997 NA. I got basically the cheapest 3rd party top I could find in Europe. The top that came on the car (not sure if original or not) was for some inexplicable reason tan. Ok, if the interior had been tan, sure, have a tan top, but when it matches literally nothing else on the car? My '97 STO had a tan top, with black & tan interior. The exterior was the same color as yours, too, as far as I can tell, just with a different name (Twilight Blue Mica.) I don't have any photos readily available though, but I can find some if you're interested. I guess blue & tan & black might sound like a strange color combo but I thought it looked fine.
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Jul 27, 2015 23:23
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Atomizer posted:My NA with the hardtop didn't have any of the issues you guys are mentioning. Did your car come with a hardtop or did you buy one off of another car?
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Jul 27, 2015 23:34
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Phone posted:Did your car come with a hardtop or did you buy one off of another car? It was from another car. Actually purchased off eBay and shipped to the house, back when my Dad owned the '97. It may have even been used on his '95. Never had any problem with the top on any of the cars, and that's even after I got it fit on my NB after switching the latches and connector (although I haven't driven this car in the Winter.) I left the hardtop on the '97 for the whole year up until I got rear-ended to postpone the softtop replacement. The top worked well through the Summer and Winter, and is still intact after the impact. (Fun fact: the Miata hardtop can fit completely inside a Ford Explorer!  ) I think this top has been in the family for 15+ years at this point, and is probably 20 years old. It's a shame I don't really need it anymore.
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Jul 28, 2015 00:48
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The hard top on my NA had none of these issues either.
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Jul 28, 2015 01:49
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As implied, your mileage may vary based on how well your top happens to match your car.
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Jul 28, 2015 02:00
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Oh, I understand how that could be a possibility. I was just surprised that hardtop fitment was an issue at all because I hadn't heard about it until now, a good quarter-century since they first appeared. I don't personally know a whole lot of people with Miatas, but even still I hadn't read about this problem until just now. I guess I had always figured that for something as expensive as a hardtop (not to mention a car itself) it would be manufactured to reasonably tight tolerances. Aftermarket tops could be a whole other story, though. Mine is OEM as far as I know.
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Jul 28, 2015 03:40
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The tops are made out of fiberglass, so just like anything else made out of fiberglass or a fiberglass-like material, there's a lot of stuff that can gently caress it up, especially after a few decades. I've had two tops on my '97 now and one of them needed a good two-footed shove to get it to crank straight enough to do up the top latches.
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Jul 28, 2015 03:43
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Thats correct. Some hardtops lived in alaska in the snow, some in an air conditioned garage, some parked in the sun in florida. Some lived on the car 24/7, some were left in a storage shed with heavy boxes on them, By now they are all physically different shapes. There is even the NA/NB striker plate incompatibility that a lot of used buyers just ignore. Mazda also might not have been very good at making cars at the time. (says the guy who bought 3 90s-00s mazdas in a row) Come to think of it the market for a brand new OEM factory hardtop is a baffling thing to me. How many people chose to buy one for their NC last year? MattD1zzl3 fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Jul 28, 2015 |
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Jul 28, 2015 03:49
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MattD1zzl3 posted:Come to think of it the market for a brand new OEM factory hardtop is a baffling thing to me. How many people chose to buy one for their NC last year? I looked into it but without Autocrossing the new ones are too pricey and used ones are nonexistant around here. Edit: Saw this on FB just a bit ago, it's cool but I guess we don't need rear windows? 
Rhyno fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Jul 28, 2015 |
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Jul 28, 2015 03:53
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Phone posted:Adjust the latches and strikers; it'll be a little while before the hardtop deforms to your specific car. Are you sure that you have the hardtop around the Frankenstein bolts? It can be easy to have it resting on versus around them. I put the strikers as far apart as they'll go and that's cleaned up the death whistle quite nicely. As for the frankenstein bolts they're in place as far as I can see but the screws that hold the adjustment cover on are corroded on so I'm gonna have to try to drill them out if I wanna see inside. I've actually decided I'm gonna go ahead and do a crappy rattle can color match job anyway. If it sucks I'll wrap it then.
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Jul 28, 2015 06:58
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Rhyno posted:I looked into it but without Autocrossing the new ones are too pricey and used ones are nonexistant around here. It's like a mullet miata, Viper in front, exige out back.
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Jul 28, 2015 11:16
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Speaking of tops, I'm due to replace the soft top on my NA. How hard is it to do, really? Depending on where I look, I read about stretching, and glue, and problems with rivets and the fabric bunching, creasing, or whatnot. I'm pretty handy with a wrench, but a convertible top seems like a much different kind of job than I'm used to, so I'm wondering if it's worth it to bring it to a Miata specialist garage nearby. It also seems like opinions on Robbins tops are back and forth, but they're basically the only place still making them. Am I going to be severely disappointed with a Robbins replacement top compared to the original?
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Jul 28, 2015 14:47
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Robbins has gone way, way downhill since they became the go-to replacement top option. You can do it yourself, but i'd say 4/5 people that try get it wrong somehow (and just live with the results)
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Jul 28, 2015 15:10
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I'm going to overhaul the suspension on my NC but I'm a total noob with stuff like that so I need some advice. My main aim is to get rid of the abyss of wheel gap on the front because it looks horrible, but I also want to make things slightly more oversteery, without making the ride uncomfortable on the street. I'm probably also going to do some autocross. I don't know what route to go to achieve this. I know a lot of guys get RX-8 sway bars so I've ordered those, but I don't know what else to do. Koni shocks and progress springs? BC racing Coilovers? I don't know anything about spring rates or camber, caster, toe and how they affect this kind of thing, and whenever I read anything about that stuff it's always written in such a dry way that it ends up completely over my head. I know that since I'm going to be driving on the street and doing autocross I probably want some adjustability so I probably want coilovers? But I don't really know what I'm adjusting so maybe not? Oh, and I'm going to do all the work (except the alignment afterwards) myself. And I'm looking to keep the stock wheels (16s). What should I do? GutBomb fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Jul 28, 2015 |
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Jul 28, 2015 15:48
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Viper915 posted:Speaking of tops, I'm due to replace the soft top on my NA. How hard is it to do, really? Depending on where I look, I read about stretching, and glue, and problems with rivets and the fabric bunching, creasing, or whatnot. I'm pretty handy with a wrench, but a convertible top seems like a much different kind of job than I'm used to, so I'm wondering if it's worth it to bring it to a Miata specialist garage nearby. It also seems like opinions on Robbins tops are back and forth, but they're basically the only place still making them. Am I going to be severely disappointed with a Robbins replacement top compared to the original? Yes you'll be disappointed with the quality but you don't really have much of a choice. And yes you can do it yourself in a day or two but if you want it to be perfect take it to a upholstery shop.
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Jul 28, 2015 16:10
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GutBomb posted:What should I do? Buy some decent coils and a rear sway bar. Not sure what the options are for an NC but I'd read up on peoples impressions of the different spring rates and choose accordingly or talk to some vendors about what you want and get their recommendation. The higher you go, the stiffer and less comfortable the ride will be. Sway bars don't really have the same impact on ride harshness that springs do, so I'd grab a large adjustable one so you can dial it to how "oversteery" you want it.
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Jul 28, 2015 16:17
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What sort of chemical do you guys use to keep your top black and or stop cracking?
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Jul 28, 2015 16:18
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GutBomb posted:I don't know anything about spring rates or camber, caster, toe and how they affect this kind of thing, and whenever I read anything about that stuff it's always written in such a dry way that it ends up completely over my head. With camber more is usually better, but it depends on the tire compound. An ordinary street tire doesn't generate enough grip to need 3 degrees of camber up front. Lots of factory alignments have more rear camber because it creates stability and isn't dangerous, but you'll want to reverse that ratio with more up front than out back. Caster is the increase in camber as you increase steering input(turn the steering wheel). If you have 3 degrees static camber, then in a corner at speed the caster may add an additional 1.5 degrees of camber so you'll effectively have 4.5 degrees in that moment when you need it most. Toe in can also help stability. Most German sedans that are super stable at high speeds have toe in for the rear, the effect at lower autocross speeds is they won't want to change directions as quickly. It's usually better to not be dramatic with toe, maybe slight toe out up front so it's more "darty". For a street car big toe changes will cause more tire wear than anything else. Get sway bars. I remember chasing a NC up and down deals gap with RX8 sway bars and koni shocks, it was fantastic. Do you know about the MS-R Miata? Just set yours up like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya-6j1acc1c This is Dave Coleman talking about creating the MS-R setup for your car. Chriskory fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Jul 28, 2015 |
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Jul 28, 2015 16:21
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ethanol posted:What sort of chemical do you guys use to keep your top black and or stop cracking? Best stuff on the market currently: http://www.amazon.com/303-30306-Protectant-Trigger-Sprayer/dp/B000XBCURW
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Jul 28, 2015 16:40
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Yeah, I used the expensive Auto Glym convertible top cleaner and it faded after not even a full season. I accidentally got some 303 on the top when I was trying to clean a piece of trim in my hand, and it stayed shiny and nice for a few weeks, so I did the whole thing. Needed almost no effort compared to the convertible top cleaner and looks amazing still.
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Jul 28, 2015 16:47
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Atomizer posted:My '97 STO had a tan top, with black & tan interior. The exterior was the same color as yours, too, as far as I can tell, just with a different name (Twilight Blue Mica.) I don't have any photos readily available though, but I can find some if you're interested. I guess blue & tan & black might sound like a strange color combo but I thought it looked fine. The color didn't look horrible, I just thought it was odd with nothing else on the car being that color. The interior is all black. I'm suddenly a bit unsure of what color my car actually is. I just assumed it was Montego Blue Mica (that's the one it looked the most similar to, given photos I've seen), but maybe it's Twilight Blue? It came with the 5-spoke 15x6" Enkei wheels* that apparently came with the STO/Limited in 1997, and that was Twilight Blue. I just assumed I had bought a "regular car", not some special edition thing. Some of this is confused by the fact that this is a Euro-MX5, not sure if the various editions/colors/years match up (all web sites I find reference north-american stuff). I've seen the color code but never bothered to take note of it, guess I'll have to go and check what it says (M8 or 12K or something else). *) Obviously not on car at the moment, those are off to be repainted.
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Jul 28, 2015 17:24
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Rhyno posted:I looked into it but without Autocrossing the new ones are too pricey and used ones are nonexistant around here. Do two autocrosses, you cheap rear end. http://mazdamotorsports.com/webapp/...tm_medium=email
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Jul 28, 2015 17:28
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Viper915 posted:Speaking of tops, I'm due to replace the soft top on my NA. How hard is it to do, really? I managed to replace my top in a few hours work (with the help of my brother), having no prior experience with it. I'm decently handy with general car mechanic stuff, but this was a bit different. The trickiest bits (apart from not having a replacement tension cable at hand) was getting the new top into those three "channels" on the frame (patience + lube is the path to success) and just putting the whole assembly back on the car without breaking the old fragile rain rail. Other than that, while there are many steps to it none of them are particularly difficult. I may have been lucky with the fit, but there were no problems there whatsoever.
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Jul 28, 2015 17:32
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I'm not sure $1,000 for an unpainted race car quality part is what he is looking for.
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Jul 28, 2015 18:15
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$200 Macco job comes out to $1200-1300 total versus $2500 through Mazdaspeed or $3300 through the dealer.
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Jul 28, 2015 18:20
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Phone posted:Do two autocrosses, you cheap rear end. http://mazdamotorsports.com/webapp/...tm_medium=email The local SCCA are all cunts.
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Jul 28, 2015 18:38
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NC suspension and wheel gap chat: This is with H&R Sport Springs and Adjustable Konis. The wheel gap is exactly what I want, the ride is firm but not rough at all. I also have the racing beat front and rear sways along with the racing beat end links, so body roll is extremely low to non existent. I've yet to show up to an autocross so Phone can drive it and pass the miatadamus verdict, but I expect driver skill to be the limiting factor with this setup for a long time to come if I'm behind the wheel.
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Jul 28, 2015 19:42
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