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Eesh. I'm thinking about picking up a Miata as an AW11 replacement, but the examples i'm seeing in my price range mostly have tan interiors and wooden steering wheels. I think they're meant to be some kind of "luxury" interior on the NAs, but I really dislike the swathes of yellowy-brown  Are they really as ghastly as they seem on photos? I think i'd prefer cloth...
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Apr 22, 2009 21:50
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I got myself a gorgeous blue eunos roadster from a chap over in Warrington last week  I've been thinking about replacing my MK1 MR2 with an MX5 for quite a few months - the main reason being aftermarket parts availability for the MR2 being pants and the MX5 having a strong enthusiast community. When I test-drove it the first time it had a blowing exhaust which he was about to replace. Apart from the loud noises at the back it drove OK, and only had a few dings like sill protector scratches, and a bit of stretched stitching on the soft-top. Oh, and a wet trunk where the apprentice had apparently got a bit too handy with the pressure-washer. I'd seen a few 5s the previous week, and in comparison this one was like new. I put a deposit down, and left them to install the exhaust and correct a few scratches. I picked the car up a week later. Over the next few days I sorted out a few niggles, some of which i'd asked to be sorted out for me, and others that cropped up:
The troubling thing is the noises it started to make. I noticed a little bit of buzzing/graunching from underneath on my way back from Warrington but thought it was just "unfamiliar new car" noises. Over the week it got worse. I bet some of it is just heatshield noise from a rushed cheap exhaust install, but some of it is definitely clutch related. When you clutch out to set off, at about half-way up the clutch will make shuddering/scraping/squealing noises. Occasionally, when you're sitting at lights, it'll sound like it catches and it'll squeal loudly for a few seconds then go quiet again... After seeing the glowing recommendations about Steve at MX5 Motors I gave him a ring and he had a look. I'd got a 1-month "warranty" from the guy I bought the car from, but personally it's less hassle for me to take it to someone who knows 5s for them to have a listen, rather than truck all the way over to Warrington again on a dodgy clutch!  Me mincing in front of the old MR2  AWOL light seal   The 5! A few days later... Steve from MX5 Motors was right. It was the pilot bearing - he replaced it, and checked the rest of the clutch over. The final price came in WELL under his original quote too. Brilliant.  Still a bit of a quieter exhaust rattle at 3K, but I can deal with that for now... meltie fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Jul 26, 2009 |
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Jul 26, 2009 23:36
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DreamOn13 posted:Got a question for the miata experts. I'm hearing a pretty nasty bearing rubbing/grinding sound from my car. It only happens when putting in the clutch intermittently. Almost every time I put it into gear though the noise starts, and doesn't go away even if taken out of gear. It only goes away when letting the clutch back out. I don't hear any transmission noises while driving either. Just at idle if I'm putting in the clutch and until I start moving. I was told on the miata forums that it was the TOB or pilot bearing and not the input shaft bearing because it doesn't spin unless you're moving. What do you guys think? I've got the clutch and pilot bearing to do the job, but don't want to slap the trans. back on if I'm still going to have the problem. The car in question only has 86k miles on it. From what you've said, it sounds like the problem with mine which turned out to be the pilot bearing.
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Aug 6, 2009 01:08
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Oil woes. My miata's back at the menders after losing all its oil within 1300km. After a low-oil alert three weeks after picking the car up, my mechanic said that someone had DIYed the cam cover and tried to glue the gasket down with caulk - and then left the cam cover bolts finger-tight. He cleaned the caulk off and torqued the cam cover down correctly for me. He also replaced the PCV as he thought something was pressurising the head. After 1300km i've checked the oil and it's at the low mark again. It's not burning it at startup, and after a long run if you look at the engine block it's definitely still weeping engine oil through the cam cover gasket. My mechanic thinks something's still pressurising the head, so the car's gone back to him to look at some more. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this?
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Sep 23, 2009 22:19
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DreamOn13 posted:Did he put on a new gasket or just remove the caulk? I'd start with that since it's probably like $20. If the PCV valve is working correctly that should vent the pressure beneath the valve cover. The valve stem seals could be leaking a bit and pressuring under the cover, which would also explain the oil burning. But since it doesn't do it at start up, I'm guessing that's not the issue. Fix all the leaks with new gaskets. Bugger. He's had a look and he reckons it is now burning oil. Burning oil + smoking + leaking block? Piston rings or somesuch. He's quoted me £400 in the past to source and fit a used engine - I might take him up on it
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Sep 24, 2009 18:59
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destructo posted:It was good for a second until I saw the portholes. And then the mirrors. And then the slightly silly wing. Then I didn't like it. I could probably rock the sunshade though 
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Nov 18, 2009 19:53
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Dominoes posted:It's not like I can in my mostly stock miata. Ditto. I end up looking over at the other side of the junction or cranking the window down...
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Nov 18, 2009 21:43
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I love Gummi Pflege. The 5 has a leaky roof - I want a new roof but for now cash is a bit tight with two birthdays and a halloween holiday in Whitby just gone, and an engine replacement on the horizon. Over time the weatherstrip over the window has lost its rubberyness and the roof leaks down through the splits. It also dribbles in between the windscreen corners and the roof seal because the seals got old and flattened so doesn't drain all that well. This means that the seats get really wet! I'm bored of driving around sitting on a binliner so I used something that worked quite well in the past on the MR2's T-tops. Gummi Phlege is a product for restoring rubbery seals - I think its source is originally BMW. It comes in a bottle with a built-in applicator sponge. Wipe it on your leaky weatherstrip, let it dry and close everything up again. It's meant to hydrate the seals and plump everything up without corroding them like vaseline will. I did this to the roof seals yesterday in anticipation of the rain we're supposed to be getting. It's a good sign that I went to the car this morning and found it dry inside, and I opened the roof up and got a dribble of water out of the top which the seals had kept out I've Pfleged the seals again this afternoon - here's hoping that it holds well enough over the weekend. It's not that expensive a bottle on ebay - a fiver or so. If you're getting wet legs give it a go. I'll let you know how it is after the deluge...
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Nov 19, 2009 01:09
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Russian Bear posted:Hey guys, is this Miata worth checking out? "deep snow version"? "Great in bad weather - as long as you like to slide around in the snow and imagine yourself sliding under pickup trucks"? Sounds like it's got some rough history the owner's pretty raw over... 
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Nov 19, 2009 02:17
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Phone posted:I haven't done anything about it yet, but I have water in my trunk. I have great suspicion that it's the gaskets around the tail lamps. It's hard to have bad rain rail drainage when you have a hardtop. Definitely check your rear lights - it's only a few bolts from the inside. One of my seals was completely missing!
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Dec 2, 2009 09:33
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IOwnCalculus posted:I haven't tried the top on my sister-in-law's '95 (she has a Robbins glass-window top now) but on my '99, both with the OEM and with the Robbins glass-window replacement, you just fold the top down - no extra bar to move or anything. I have had a non-zip glass window top made for me, and basically there's bits of elastic webbing that pull the bar out of the way when it folds.
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Dec 30, 2009 10:39
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Atomizer posted:Thanks for the info, Guinness. If you do get the chance to take some photos they would be much appreciated. No hurry, though. Most of the bars aren't attached to the hood any longer. The hood material slides back over the bars so the upper edge of the window drops down, then the bars fold in over the window.
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Jan 1, 2010 11:52
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Atomizer posted:Ah, it's beginning to make more sense now. Thank you! It's OK - i've just had a hood made for me (£260 including fitting and VAT, for mohair  ) and it confused me how it was going to work too!
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Jan 1, 2010 22:30
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Guinness posted:No. I'm actually really bad at using the handbrake for hill starts, especially in a car I'm unfamiliar with. It's much more natural for me to just do it like I would on flat ground, just quicker and a with a bit more gas. The handbrake isn't a crutch, it's there to be used
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Jan 16, 2010 09:43
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Goddamnit bird poo on my new mohair top raaaaargh!
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Jan 19, 2010 15:54
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Ziploc posted:This got me good. Its amazing what that oil can do to a coolant hose. It was so perfectly placed there too! I had CAS seepage onto my heater hoses. Blew a fine mist of coolant everywhere when it went.
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Jan 25, 2010 19:57
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destructo posted:Or just to ignore them completely I've been driving back from work in the evenings with the roof off this week. In the rainy and windy UK
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Feb 25, 2010 23:14
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Top-down weather only a month away!
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Nnnnnnnnnngh. I've had problems with my 1.6 '90 for a while. I was getting really low oil pressure on hot idle - the needle was barely off the bottom stop after a long drive, and there was quite a bit of smoke out of the exhaust when idling in the garage. At the same time, oil was constantly weeping out of the sides of the cam cover even after new gaskets and PCV valve and another load was disappearing elsewhere. My mechanic took a look and found oil caked everywhere around the outside of the block, even up inside the timing belt - no idea how it happened. It was going through a small bottle of oil a fortnight by the end. He said it was the worst 1.6 engine he'd seen. He reckoned that a piston ring had gone, and recommended that it would be easiest to source a used 1.6 short block and swap it in. We found an engine from a rear-end crash that had had the accessories removed. He did a new timing belt and water pump, swapped my accessories over and fit the engine. Two weeks go past after the fitting and all of a sudden i've found a bit of oil weeping out of the sides of my 'new' engine's cam cover and around the PCV again. I can smell it through the hood after a long drive. Aaargh! The difference is the oil pressure: it seems OK at hot idle, sitting just down at 11o'clock and at 4000RPM+ at 1-2o'clock / 4kg/cm². It's rattly when it's cold but OK when warmed up, and the PCV doesn't seem blocked. I hope that it's just a bit of bad luck with the gasket perhaps being old; i've ordered a new one (and a CAS seal at the same time) and HOPEFULLY it'll seal and not actually be indicative of a deeper problem again. Has anyone else experienced this? I know i'm being jumpy because of my old engine, but i'm worried by the weepage. Are those oil pressure readings OK, coarse as they are from a 20-year-old gauge? I bloody wish oil would stay INSIDE my 1.6s
meltie fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Mar 1, 2010 |
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Mar 1, 2010 20:34
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My diff's going, and i've found someone local who's willing to let theirs go for a nice price. I've offered to go over and help remove it from their chassis as the evenings are light and it's good to wrench with someone. What prep / tools do I need? What's the general technique? Any tips and stuff to look out for beyond "read the miata.net article"?
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Apr 14, 2010 22:10
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Phone posted:What year is your car? LSD? Open? Viscous? I have an early NA 1.6 with an open diff and ABS. The donor is a 1.8 with a Torsen and no ABS. The driveshaft, engine and gearbox have already been taken. I know that i'll need a 1.8 driveshaft from somewhere, and I think i'll need to find ABS 1.8 halfshafts from elsewhere too.
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Apr 15, 2010 17:48
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Atomizer posted:Yeah, I alluded to this in the prior post. After I posted, like I said I would I actually went out and used the WD-40 on the headlight mechanism that I thought was causing the issue and it vastly improved it. Whereas the headlight (driver's side) has more frequently been encountering resistance upon actuation, the WD-40 all but eliminated it in an instant; there's just a little hesitation right at the end of the extension process. White grease for almost everything that moves. Penetrating oil - Kroil or PlusGas - on bolts and parts to help you you take them apart. Copper slip on the threads of most bolts when you are putting something back together. There are of course exceptions to this, brakes and engine bits mostly, but eh, those are the general guidelines. WD40 is for spraying on stuff as a Water Displacer. I use it for coating my tools after i've worked in the rain
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Apr 20, 2010 08:11
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Bollocks. Went for a spirited drive last night, and pulled over when I heard a rattle then a buzz. Whilst I was scratching my head (almost all my heatshields have been removed at various points so i'm stumped) I noticed it was leaking coolant too. The coolant's coming down the front face of the engine just underneath the water pump. Damnit. The current waterpump's only about four months old. Perhaps it was duff, or has a duff seal. I'll have to take the belts off and see - perhaps the buzz/rumble is the waterpump bearings actually. It has been suggested that my coolant's looking fairly rusty so it could be a freeze plug instead? Is there one round the front?
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May 28, 2010 22:19
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meltie posted:The coolant's coming down the front face of the engine just underneath the water pump. Damnit. The current waterpump's only about four months old. Perhaps it was duff, or has a duff seal. I'll have to take the belts off and see - perhaps the buzz/rumble is the waterpump bearings actually. Waded in and replaced the waterpump and gaskets. Gasket prep is nice stuff. Sorted now. The angry buzz was the starter bracket - the engine mount bolt had backed out and the bracket was lodged against the block. In other news - i've had a 1.8 Torsen fitted 
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Jun 7, 2010 17:53
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destructo posted:FYI, everyone with an NA or NB ought to try and take off their windshield visors sometime. The increased field of view and decreased interior noise was a no-brainer for me to leave them off, as you ought to have a pair of sunglasses in the car at all times anyway. Increased visibility definitely. Decreased interior noise?! Seriously? I like mine. I use it as a parasol shielding me from mid-afternoon sun when stuck in traffic with the roof down.
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Jun 11, 2010 00:37
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Russian Bear posted: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. This is the best writeup I found changing timing belt / pump / seals / accessory belts: http://mx5unleashed.com/tech/timing-belt-mx5.html Took about nine hours on my own - well, my pump seal blew out so I retained the newish belt by putting some white-out on it If you're doing a new belt be sure to pick up a crank alignment lever thingie from a miata forum or eBay, and the 21mm(?) socket for the crank bolt.Make sure you have beer, cake and good music available
meltie fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Aug 2, 2010 |
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Aug 2, 2010 21:56
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destructo posted:
One of the best colours My insurance document says 'metallic blue' and I feel like phoning up and getting it changed to 'flat' or 'non-metallic' just to make a point.With a matching hard-top too, that's fairly rare for Mariner DU.
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Aug 4, 2010 00:41
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Ziploc posted:Which Nardi knob has this? I have the wooden knob (hurr) and it's got the set screw on the collar.
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Dec 4, 2010 11:12
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FireTora posted:Some human being busted my taillight while I was snowboarding today for 3 hours. Lack of other damage suggests that they might have been trying to break in to the trunk. Smash the left-hand light in, then pull the cable release. It's the easiest way in without a key...
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Dec 5, 2010 10:29
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 Click here for the full 1600x1200 image.  Click here for the full 1200x1600 image.  Click here for the full 1200x1600 image. It got taken from outside the house a few months ago, on a really wet night before the UK's snowfall. It was found in a council estate in town with the radio missing. It's still got most of the petrol I had in it, so I think it only got taken as transport on a crap night. Radio's gone, centre console's bust up, ignition's hosed up, wires everywhere, roof's slashed and it's sat outside in an assessor's yard for a month whilst it has snowed. Despite being fully comprehensive, the insurance company are playing hide-and-seek with me. Aaaargh.
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Dec 22, 2010 01:01
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willie_dee posted:I'm so sorry for your loss. Why did they slash the roof, to gain entry to the vehicle? Yeah, must've been. I'm very tempted to buy the 'wreck' back and fix it up. Bit of stormsure glue and some new fascia bits...
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Dec 22, 2010 20:13
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AkrisD posted:God, it's been over a year since I got to drive my little NB. I love it so much, it's so raw and responsive. I knew there was a reason I don't like driving newer cars. They make me feel all claustrophobic and like I can't see anything, even my wife's NC gives me that. So good to be home for a bit to drive the ol' gal. Definitely a sooner-rather-than-later issue, especially if it's anywhere near salt (ie UK cars)
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Dec 24, 2010 12:30
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Brain Issues posted:
Oh nooo!
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Jan 25, 2011 21:55
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oh rly posted:When I bought my NA Miata back in February, it came with a full tonneau cover. It has the 4 clips on the dash and 2 buttons on the mirrors. I used it one day to go to the grocery store with the top down. I'm not too fond of it. To me, it's a pain in the rear end. I really love the idea of them. I've never seen one in the UK
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May 25, 2011 19:23
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Granite Octopus posted:I've started seriously considering painting the stock wheels on my '99. I don't really like any aftermarket wheels (or want to spend any money) but want something a bit different. First Time Caller posted:Here's what stock NB wheels look like after a rattle can respray. Pretty good I think. Don't hate. Too broke for real wheels right now. I think it looks good!
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May 29, 2011 10:00
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revmoo posted:Hey we just went to pick up our MSM after getting the top slashed. The top would not go down at all, it was interfering with the glass window. The shop said this was normal but it definitely does not seem normal to me. I expected some tightness, but the problem is that the glass it causing it to stick, not the fabric. It sounds like the mechanism that pulls one of the hoops out of the way of the glass isn't working properly. On my handmade top i've got some fat elastic sewn in that pulls it out of the way.
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Jun 23, 2011 19:19
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FatCow posted:Your car isn't OBD-II so the code readers like newer cars use won't work. Coolant temp is screwed into the back of the head, near/underneath the coil pack, with a green plastic body... I think. The one on the front 'union' is the radiator fan sensor - that's the thermostat under there. http://www.miata.net/garage/CoolingSystemProblems.html
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Jul 1, 2011 00:25
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revmoo posted:With an allen-wrench socket? It is until the callipers stick and you strip the bolt. I know they can be replaced quite easily but it's still a pain when they go.
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Jul 1, 2011 08:40
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jammyozzy posted:I just test drove my first MX-5 and oh my god I'm hooked on buying one now. It looks like arse but mechanically everything seems fantastic. Steering feels tight, engine pulls strong and smooth, suspension feels good & there's no odd noises going on anywhere. Has some body rust but nothing major, door sills & wheel arches are solid. No obvious leaks. Where are you located? I seem to remember you're UK-based...
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Jul 25, 2011 22:25
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DreamOn13 posted:One of the long bolts on the PPF to diff would not budge unless I took an impact to it, so hopefully you're prepared for that. It isn't even rusty, either. Same happened here. Had to borrow an impact to get a few bolts out which had only been put in a year or so before.
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Aug 13, 2011 02:36
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IOwnCalculus posted:Unless it's really loud, it's nothing unusual. My NB did it practically from day one at 42k miles and currently is closing in on 110k. My MS3 does it, and my Ranger does it. My NA did it. I greased the clutch slave pushrod (you can do it from outside the car, reaching into the back of the right wheelwell) with some bike BB grease and it shut right up.
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Aug 31, 2011 00:29
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