2006 MX-5 2.0 Option Pack
Discussion
Great thread, I’ve been following for a while and want to do similar to mine but lack the space and equipment to do so.
The upgraded speakers are easy enough though and piqued my interest as my passenger door speaker has been distorting sometimes (any excuse to upgrade). Did the 6”x8” size fit perfectly into the existing mountings and what impedance are the speakers as I didn’t want to go too low without an extra amp?
The upgraded speakers are easy enough though and piqued my interest as my passenger door speaker has been distorting sometimes (any excuse to upgrade). Did the 6”x8” size fit perfectly into the existing mountings and what impedance are the speakers as I didn’t want to go too low without an extra amp?
Yes, the 6x8" speakers are a direct replacement, they screw directly into the existing holes on my non-Bose car. I think the Bose model uses a slightly larger round speaker (you can just about make out the holes and cutout for it in the photos of my existing speakers).
Both the old and the new speakers are 4?...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Both the old and the new speakers are 4?...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 12:18
Great Thread and some brilliant info and pictures!
I purchased a Mk3 Mx5 three weeks ago and am still learning whats what so this is really helpful and informative.
I've never driven an Mx5 before, it's like a go-kart, so much fun, I'm absolutely loving it so far, it's got a fair few mods fitted to it already and seems a fantastic base for a fun/track car, it's currently getting a new exhaust system made as it's way too loud for me due to having a stainless manifold. Once that's sorted I'll be saving up for a few trackdays.
Keep up the good work
I purchased a Mk3 Mx5 three weeks ago and am still learning whats what so this is really helpful and informative.
I've never driven an Mx5 before, it's like a go-kart, so much fun, I'm absolutely loving it so far, it's got a fair few mods fitted to it already and seems a fantastic base for a fun/track car, it's currently getting a new exhaust system made as it's way too loud for me due to having a stainless manifold. Once that's sorted I'll be saving up for a few trackdays.
Keep up the good work
Thanks 
I'd noticed that there seemed to be more vibration coming through the gearstick at idle than I remembered. I was a passenger in the car the other day and the gearstick also seemed to be moving about more than you might expect whilst accelerating. I had a feeling it might be the engine mounts.
I wasn't entirely convinced that I wasn't imagining things, so I cheaped out and ordered a secondhand set from a much lower mileage and newer car for a whopping £12 delivered.
There are only two mounts, held on with only a couple of nuts, located behind the brake lines in each front arch.
I did one side at a time, undoing both nuts and then pivoting the engine by lifting from the sump. This felt rather scary but the internet suggested the standard sump is plenty thick. I sandwiched a piece of wood to spread the load.
Old mount out...
New-ish vs. old...
It's the same process on the nearside, there's a tab on the mounts to secure part of the loom.
Looks like I wasn't imagining things, there was an instant improvement in the amount of vibration at idle. The old mounts looked fine but must have been past their best.
I might revisit this with new parts, MX5Parts will sell you an OE set for £90 or a 40% stiffer 'competition' set by IL Motorsport for £80. I'm undecided if that's a good idea or not for my usage.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
I'd noticed that there seemed to be more vibration coming through the gearstick at idle than I remembered. I was a passenger in the car the other day and the gearstick also seemed to be moving about more than you might expect whilst accelerating. I had a feeling it might be the engine mounts.
I wasn't entirely convinced that I wasn't imagining things, so I cheaped out and ordered a secondhand set from a much lower mileage and newer car for a whopping £12 delivered.
There are only two mounts, held on with only a couple of nuts, located behind the brake lines in each front arch.
I did one side at a time, undoing both nuts and then pivoting the engine by lifting from the sump. This felt rather scary but the internet suggested the standard sump is plenty thick. I sandwiched a piece of wood to spread the load.
Old mount out...
New-ish vs. old...
It's the same process on the nearside, there's a tab on the mounts to secure part of the loom.
Looks like I wasn't imagining things, there was an instant improvement in the amount of vibration at idle. The old mounts looked fine but must have been past their best.
I might revisit this with new parts, MX5Parts will sell you an OE set for £90 or a 40% stiffer 'competition' set by IL Motorsport for £80. I'm undecided if that's a good idea or not for my usage.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 12:19
Accelebrate said:
This thread might be of interest if you haven't already seen it:
https://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/yaf_postst95060_FROM...
According to a poster on there, the difference between SH01 and LF10 filters is down to the relief/bypass valve opening pressure (different weight of spring, I guess?). It looks like I asked him about the difference between 9A and 9B suffix and it's purely down to where they're manufactured.
I binned my 9B because I chopped it open, along with the first filter I removed from the car as I was curious to see if there was any difference in size and volume of what had been captured in the filter medium as the car aged and was tracked. I couldn't spot any obvious differences, but it was messy and not particularly scientific or interesting so I didn't bother taking any photos or writing about it.
I don't think there was an anti-drain valve on the filter, but I might be wrong. I'll take a look at the 9A filter and I think I've got a new Mann filter waiting to go on. With the location and orientation of the filter, I wouldn't have thought they really needed one?
Yes you're right to question it, it's the Yanks who are twittering on about fitting filters with anti-drain back valves, claiming it stops start up rattle so I got some filters, did some research and tests. I got a K&N with ADBV, the up to date Mazda one (no ADBV) and a couple of other spurious like Fram etc which have no ADBV. https://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/yaf_postst95060_FROM...
According to a poster on there, the difference between SH01 and LF10 filters is down to the relief/bypass valve opening pressure (different weight of spring, I guess?). It looks like I asked him about the difference between 9A and 9B suffix and it's purely down to where they're manufactured.
I binned my 9B because I chopped it open, along with the first filter I removed from the car as I was curious to see if there was any difference in size and volume of what had been captured in the filter medium as the car aged and was tracked. I couldn't spot any obvious differences, but it was messy and not particularly scientific or interesting so I didn't bother taking any photos or writing about it.
I don't think there was an anti-drain valve on the filter, but I might be wrong. I'll take a look at the 9A filter and I think I've got a new Mann filter waiting to go on. With the location and orientation of the filter, I wouldn't have thought they really needed one?
Salient points and conclusions:
An ADBV is to stop oil from draining FROM the filter, not from the engine and the filter has to be fitted sideways or thread down for it to work. It seems pointless (in our situation) if it's hung from the threads although I did wonder if the oil could drain from high up, into the filter and then back out of the entry, but I don't think so.
If you want to stop start up rattle then you can:
Spin the engine with accelerator fully depressed, the engine will not start, oil pressure will build, then start as normal when pedal is released. This is a bit embarrassing to do as it looks like you're having problems with your car....
Or fit a new VVT unit as it may be worn out. There was a bulletin issued by Mazda that the early models were fitted with a VVT unit which suffered from premature wear.
Unanswered questions:
Why does my 2010 low mileage (43k) have start up rattle? Changing filters did nothing, putting in an oil with a start weight of 10 lessens it. I'm probably not going to investigate it.
Should we be worried about it anyhow? I don't really think so as it's only for a second and doesn't seem to do any harm, in reality it's like two gears with a huge amount of lash between them clacking together momentarily until oil pressure stops it.
Sorry if i've clogged up your thread with this, hope you find it of some interest even there are no really useful conclusions, well not unless you have it and are prepared to examine the VVT mechanism.
Accelebrate said:
Thanks
I'd noticed that there seemed to be more vibration coming through the gearstick at idle than I remembered. I was a passenger in the car the other day and the gearstick also seemed to be moving about more than you might expect whilst accelerating. I had a feeling it might be the engine mounts.
I wasn't entirely convinced that I wasn't imagining things, so I cheaped out and ordered a secondhand set from a much lower mileage and newer car for a whopping £12 delivered.
Looks like I wasn't imagining things, there was an instant improvement in the amount of vibration at idle. The old mounts looked fine but must have been past their best.
I might revisit this with new parts, MX5Parts will sell you an OE set for £90 or a 40% stiffer 'competition' set by IL Motorsport for £80. I'm undecided if that's a good idea or not for my usage.
You can also use the pie key method of injecting car body sealant/adhesive (Tigerseal etc) into the voids to make them a bit more solid. It works ok, bit it's even better to put a metal plate on either side if you do to stop it from squashing out, even when its set as it doesn't bond to the original bush very well sometimes. Whether due to it being dirty, rusty or not sticking to rubber i'm not sure.I'd noticed that there seemed to be more vibration coming through the gearstick at idle than I remembered. I was a passenger in the car the other day and the gearstick also seemed to be moving about more than you might expect whilst accelerating. I had a feeling it might be the engine mounts.
I wasn't entirely convinced that I wasn't imagining things, so I cheaped out and ordered a secondhand set from a much lower mileage and newer car for a whopping £12 delivered.
Looks like I wasn't imagining things, there was an instant improvement in the amount of vibration at idle. The old mounts looked fine but must have been past their best.
I might revisit this with new parts, MX5Parts will sell you an OE set for £90 or a 40% stiffer 'competition' set by IL Motorsport for £80. I'm undecided if that's a good idea or not for my usage.
Evoluzione said:
Sorry if i've clogged up your thread with this, hope you find it of some interest even there are no really useful conclusions, well not unless you have it and are prepared to examine the VVT mechanism.
Don't apologise, it's interesting. I'm far from an expert but I find looking at photos of the guts of various brands of chopped up oil filters on the https://www.bobistheoilguy.com forums more fascinating than I probably should. I'll give the accelerator depressed start a go and see if I can notice a difference.Evoluzione said:
You can also use the pie key method of injecting car body sealant/adhesive (Tigerseal etc) into the voids to make them a bit more solid. It works ok, bit it's even better to put a metal plate on either side if you do to stop it from squashing out, even when its set as it doesn't bond to the original bush very well sometimes. Whether due to it being dirty, rusty or not sticking to rubber i'm not sure.
I might experiment with my old mounts, I reckon I could repeat the swap pretty quickly a second time.I'd been meaning to get the Mazda aligned since fitting the Koni shocks that lowered it a further 10mm but didn't find the time before Snetterton. I had a Hunter 4 wheel alignment done after fitting the 30mm lowering springs last year, but that was essentially a 'factory settings' alignment. I found I was still tending to scrub the outside edge of tyres during track days, despite keeping an eye on tyre pressures.
I'd heard good things about A-Line in the West Midlands - https://www.facebook.com/aline.wheelalignment they seem to handle a lot of interesting stuff and will carry out a custom alignment tailored to your usage. I'd got cause to be in the Midlands so it worked out quite nicely.
A-Line work on a first-come-first-served basis, no reservations. I was reasonably lucky and only had to wait for half an hour or so, by the time I was on the ramps there was a 2hr+ queue behind me and they were turning people away. This was on a Friday, Saturdays are apparently manic.
They listened to what I was after and we agreed on what others would probably call a 'fast road' setup, mostly a bit more negative camber to even out tyre wear. The Koni shocks have meant that the car is now 10mm lower than the lowest height that Hunter carries a factory alignment spec for so A-Line worked out the ratios that everything altered by if they raised by 10mm, then projected that down 10mm to give them a base to work from.
It seems I'd accidentally already done half the work, the lower shocks had effectively already added some negative camber. This explains why the tyres wore more evenly at Snetterton. The alignment wasn't too bad, apart from a bit too much toe out on one of the rear wheels.
The Mazda put up the usual fight with rusty bits, they struggled to get some of the adjustments completely dialled in. We also came to the conclusion that the steering wheel is visually wonky - when set level with a spirit level it looked wrong. In the end, we decided to set it by eye. This was followed by a fight with the tie rod ends requiring the application of heat and swearing.
Here's the previous alignment after 30mm springs but before the shocks alongside the new setup...
My next track day is next week, so we'll see how I get on. A-Line stressed that they store all the data so I can return to tweak individual adjustments for a lower cost if anything isn't to my taste. They were very reasonable price wise, a 'custom alignment' was the same price as I'd paid in Reading last year.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
I'd heard good things about A-Line in the West Midlands - https://www.facebook.com/aline.wheelalignment they seem to handle a lot of interesting stuff and will carry out a custom alignment tailored to your usage. I'd got cause to be in the Midlands so it worked out quite nicely.
A-Line work on a first-come-first-served basis, no reservations. I was reasonably lucky and only had to wait for half an hour or so, by the time I was on the ramps there was a 2hr+ queue behind me and they were turning people away. This was on a Friday, Saturdays are apparently manic.
They listened to what I was after and we agreed on what others would probably call a 'fast road' setup, mostly a bit more negative camber to even out tyre wear. The Koni shocks have meant that the car is now 10mm lower than the lowest height that Hunter carries a factory alignment spec for so A-Line worked out the ratios that everything altered by if they raised by 10mm, then projected that down 10mm to give them a base to work from.
It seems I'd accidentally already done half the work, the lower shocks had effectively already added some negative camber. This explains why the tyres wore more evenly at Snetterton. The alignment wasn't too bad, apart from a bit too much toe out on one of the rear wheels.
The Mazda put up the usual fight with rusty bits, they struggled to get some of the adjustments completely dialled in. We also came to the conclusion that the steering wheel is visually wonky - when set level with a spirit level it looked wrong. In the end, we decided to set it by eye. This was followed by a fight with the tie rod ends requiring the application of heat and swearing.
Here's the previous alignment after 30mm springs but before the shocks alongside the new setup...
My next track day is next week, so we'll see how I get on. A-Line stressed that they store all the data so I can return to tweak individual adjustments for a lower cost if anything isn't to my taste. They were very reasonable price wise, a 'custom alignment' was the same price as I'd paid in Reading last year.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 12:19
I ordered a few bits from a salvage yard...
The trim is to replace the coin tray that the previous owner cut a hole in, maybe to hold an iPod. Along with a rear arch splash guard to replace mine which is held together with duct tape. These two items weren't very successful, the coin tray had all the clips snapped off on one side. I bodged it into place with double-sided tape. The splash guard was the wrong shape, I presume they sent out a facelift part despite me confirming the year whilst ordering.
The main part of the order was thankfully as expected. Because my car isn't the 'sport' model it's missing the strut brace. There's some debate about if the brace actually does anything. There are aftermarket options that are potentially stiffer, but most of them require the bracket that mounts under the windscreen scuttle panel. I figured I'd start with the OE brace and see how things go from there, now that the scuttle bracket is fitted I can go aftermarket easily if I wish.
I had to remove quite a lot to get to the bracket...
Here are the two brackets side by side, same thing but with a couple of protruding mounting points.
I needed to drill some holes in the brace so that I can still adjust my shocks. I can't take credit for this idea as I read it somewhere else online, but it worked so well it seemed to be worth sharing. I cut a small piece of tubing and placed it over the adjuster, adding a dab of paint on top...
I test fitted the brace, perfect hole position marking!
I gave the holes a quick spray of black paint. Unfortunately, I hadn't got any gloss black. The Koni adjusters are over 16mm wide, so I had to go up to a 18mm hole to allow easy adjustment. I'm not sure how I managed without a set of step drills for so long, I seem to use them so regularly now.
I'll see if there's any tangible difference. If nothing else the engine bay looks a little more complete.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
The trim is to replace the coin tray that the previous owner cut a hole in, maybe to hold an iPod. Along with a rear arch splash guard to replace mine which is held together with duct tape. These two items weren't very successful, the coin tray had all the clips snapped off on one side. I bodged it into place with double-sided tape. The splash guard was the wrong shape, I presume they sent out a facelift part despite me confirming the year whilst ordering.
The main part of the order was thankfully as expected. Because my car isn't the 'sport' model it's missing the strut brace. There's some debate about if the brace actually does anything. There are aftermarket options that are potentially stiffer, but most of them require the bracket that mounts under the windscreen scuttle panel. I figured I'd start with the OE brace and see how things go from there, now that the scuttle bracket is fitted I can go aftermarket easily if I wish.
I had to remove quite a lot to get to the bracket...
Here are the two brackets side by side, same thing but with a couple of protruding mounting points.
I needed to drill some holes in the brace so that I can still adjust my shocks. I can't take credit for this idea as I read it somewhere else online, but it worked so well it seemed to be worth sharing. I cut a small piece of tubing and placed it over the adjuster, adding a dab of paint on top...
I test fitted the brace, perfect hole position marking!
I gave the holes a quick spray of black paint. Unfortunately, I hadn't got any gloss black. The Koni adjusters are over 16mm wide, so I had to go up to a 18mm hole to allow easy adjustment. I'm not sure how I managed without a set of step drills for so long, I seem to use them so regularly now.
I'll see if there's any tangible difference. If nothing else the engine bay looks a little more complete.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 12:20
This year's Ring trip started at a Tesco in Folkestone with some spare wheel shuffling and running repairs to Roshan's 350z. Nervous about overheating he'd recently had a vented carbon bonnet fitted, but one of the fixings had stripped. I bought some of those combined drill and tap drill bits recently, they're quickly turning into one of my favourite tools.
A man wearing a t-shirt with a picture of his own face on it was most amused by our car park DIY efforts. He entertained us with tales of swapping rear axles in Kwik Save whilst we worked.
We then headed over to the Eurotunnel, drove within a few cars of the check-in barriers and then didn't move for over an hour. The air conditioning had failed leading to lengthy delays.
It was an unpleasantly warm day, I'd got the roof up and the AC on but it seemed to be struggling to make much difference. I remembered I'd packed my heat gun in the centre console thinking I could use it to monitor brakes temps on track. I switched it ambient mode and was surprised to see 44.1c
Captive with nothing better to do I tweeted the photo. Before long the BBC and Reuters replied asking if they could use it...
It was also discussed on BBC radio. There must be a fair few people wondering why some nutter is driving around with a heat gun in their car.
In the end, I think we spent about four hours at Eurotunnel slowly being cooked alive. They turned on sprinklers to keep dogs and people cool and dished out emergency bottles of water.
It was unpleasant, and an annoying delay when you've got a lot of miles to cover. But we made some friends and fitted some bonnet pins to the Nissan.
Three very different cars from the same country, all great in their own way.
Somewhere near Spa.
We didn't get to the AirBnB we'd rented until about 9:30pm. Straight to bed without a single Bitburger, ready for a 6am start the next morning.
The trackday was organised by a Belgian company called Skylimit Events. They seem to take quite a laid-back approach, after transferring some Euros to a Belgian bank account we didn't receive any information in advance of the day. The briefing a sheet of paper handed over during registration that covered flags and not a lot else.
When we went to Anglesey Roshan's Dad referred to the 350z as "The Sizzler" in a Facebook comment. The name has stuck, although he didn't seem particularly impressed with the present I got for him. I feel like it's the car equivalent of a terrible stag do t-shirt.
The Skylimit photographer appears to be as laid-back as the rest of the company. He only sat near the carousel and appears to have taken very little and what he did take was underexposed. Here's the only photo the Mazda appears in, I can't think why he didn't focus on me
The track day was good, probably quieter than Circuit Days last year. There was only one closure during the day and as with last year the Döttinger Höhe was left open so you could stay out lapping. I managed 22 laps in total bringing the Mazdas total to 42 laps. If you’re able to get a decent amount of laps in track days at the Ring start to look like quite good value compared to just doing TF.
I seem to remember last year ran more like a UK track day with drivers yielding for anyone who caught them. There seemed to be less of that this year. This could be a little frustrating in the Mazda which is now pretty competent through bends but lacks the power to pass on the straights. That said it was quite amusing catching much more expensive stuff, I think the late dive into the carousel from this 458 was just to block me from passing there again...
https://youtu.be/gAyocOvppjk
You could pass on either side this year. I had a slight moment coming out of foxhole trying to keep up with the DC2. I thought the final Swift was yielding...
https://youtu.be/kn7qg4yDtaQ
Our Airbnb host asked for a photo of our cars in front of his house to add to his listing. I suspect he might be disappointed. Maybe in the mid-00's, this might have looked vaguely cool
Things sounded a little clunky on the drive home. It turns out I must have left one of my ARB bushes behind. Not quite sure how that even happens! My experiments with cheaper polybushes have been a bit failure. At least I found this out before commiting to an entire suspension set.
Given that that was the only mechanical failure of the trip I'd say that was quite a success.
The journey back was hot but uneventful, with only an hours delay at the Eurotunnel. Positively speedy! My passenger wasn't particularly chatty...
I carried a couple of spare wheels just in case I picked up a puncture in my R888Rs or they weren't legal after the track day.
So, another good trip. I'm left wondering if it's time to move onto something more powerful for track days, but the Mazda is heaps of fun, reliable and cheap to run. I'm very happy with the way it handles now. I might investigate the manifold and remap options again, it seems a little counter-intuitive to spend half the cost of the car on those two items for a relatively small HP increase but I'm happy with the rest of the car and it's probably a lot less than I'd spend moving to something else.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
A man wearing a t-shirt with a picture of his own face on it was most amused by our car park DIY efforts. He entertained us with tales of swapping rear axles in Kwik Save whilst we worked.
We then headed over to the Eurotunnel, drove within a few cars of the check-in barriers and then didn't move for over an hour. The air conditioning had failed leading to lengthy delays.
It was an unpleasantly warm day, I'd got the roof up and the AC on but it seemed to be struggling to make much difference. I remembered I'd packed my heat gun in the centre console thinking I could use it to monitor brakes temps on track. I switched it ambient mode and was surprised to see 44.1c
Captive with nothing better to do I tweeted the photo. Before long the BBC and Reuters replied asking if they could use it...
It was also discussed on BBC radio. There must be a fair few people wondering why some nutter is driving around with a heat gun in their car.
In the end, I think we spent about four hours at Eurotunnel slowly being cooked alive. They turned on sprinklers to keep dogs and people cool and dished out emergency bottles of water.
It was unpleasant, and an annoying delay when you've got a lot of miles to cover. But we made some friends and fitted some bonnet pins to the Nissan.
Three very different cars from the same country, all great in their own way.
Somewhere near Spa.
We didn't get to the AirBnB we'd rented until about 9:30pm. Straight to bed without a single Bitburger, ready for a 6am start the next morning.
The trackday was organised by a Belgian company called Skylimit Events. They seem to take quite a laid-back approach, after transferring some Euros to a Belgian bank account we didn't receive any information in advance of the day. The briefing a sheet of paper handed over during registration that covered flags and not a lot else.
When we went to Anglesey Roshan's Dad referred to the 350z as "The Sizzler" in a Facebook comment. The name has stuck, although he didn't seem particularly impressed with the present I got for him. I feel like it's the car equivalent of a terrible stag do t-shirt.
The Skylimit photographer appears to be as laid-back as the rest of the company. He only sat near the carousel and appears to have taken very little and what he did take was underexposed. Here's the only photo the Mazda appears in, I can't think why he didn't focus on me
The track day was good, probably quieter than Circuit Days last year. There was only one closure during the day and as with last year the Döttinger Höhe was left open so you could stay out lapping. I managed 22 laps in total bringing the Mazdas total to 42 laps. If you’re able to get a decent amount of laps in track days at the Ring start to look like quite good value compared to just doing TF.
I seem to remember last year ran more like a UK track day with drivers yielding for anyone who caught them. There seemed to be less of that this year. This could be a little frustrating in the Mazda which is now pretty competent through bends but lacks the power to pass on the straights. That said it was quite amusing catching much more expensive stuff, I think the late dive into the carousel from this 458 was just to block me from passing there again...
https://youtu.be/gAyocOvppjk
You could pass on either side this year. I had a slight moment coming out of foxhole trying to keep up with the DC2. I thought the final Swift was yielding...
https://youtu.be/kn7qg4yDtaQ
Our Airbnb host asked for a photo of our cars in front of his house to add to his listing. I suspect he might be disappointed. Maybe in the mid-00's, this might have looked vaguely cool
Things sounded a little clunky on the drive home. It turns out I must have left one of my ARB bushes behind. Not quite sure how that even happens! My experiments with cheaper polybushes have been a bit failure. At least I found this out before commiting to an entire suspension set.
Given that that was the only mechanical failure of the trip I'd say that was quite a success.
The journey back was hot but uneventful, with only an hours delay at the Eurotunnel. Positively speedy! My passenger wasn't particularly chatty...
I carried a couple of spare wheels just in case I picked up a puncture in my R888Rs or they weren't legal after the track day.
So, another good trip. I'm left wondering if it's time to move onto something more powerful for track days, but the Mazda is heaps of fun, reliable and cheap to run. I'm very happy with the way it handles now. I might investigate the manifold and remap options again, it seems a little counter-intuitive to spend half the cost of the car on those two items for a relatively small HP increase but I'm happy with the rest of the car and it's probably a lot less than I'd spend moving to something else.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 12:20
Horney - Thanks, I might have to take you up on that.
It's been a while since I updated this thread, when I left off I'd just limped back from The Ring missing an ARB bush. The very next day I was going on holiday with my wife. I'd treated her to the very best Easyjet flight from Bristol with parking in the sort of airport car park where you leave your keys and your car gets boxed in somewhere else. I wanted to take the Mazda to Bristol as it's the least valuable and most cosmetically challenged of our cars. So that's how I found myself swapping wheels and bushes at 10pm after driving 500 miles across Europe.
As a result, I rushed and screwed up, snapping one of the studs on the subframe whilst using too big a wrench. Spot the bolt sitting in the newly tapped and drilled hole...
The remaining polybush was heavily deformed, it still hasn't returned to the original shape months later.
The Mazda made it to Bristol quite happily and clunk free the next morning. I think it looked quite cool still stickered up, I left them for longer than is probably acceptable
I checked it over a bit more thoroughly once we were back. There's an amazing amount of meat left on the Stoptech pads after 3 or 4 track days. I've got a new set with new discs waiting to go on, but it seems like a waste at the moment.
I had to adapt my entry into the Carousel at The Ring as it was bottoming out slightly. It looks like the rear PPF bolt is the low point, along with the exhaust.
It looks like I've got a diff leak in this photo, it made me check it again. It's either residual from the last change or a slight leak on the drain plugs, I must check the level soon.
Alex came over to do some Fiesta ST mods recently
. We fitted in an oil change and brake fluid flush on the Mazda as well. I've moved over to 5w40 to see if it reduces consumption on track.
Despite only hand tightening it I really struggled to get the old filter off. I ended up resorting to punching a screwdriver through it, even then it required a few holes. Lesson learned, I now own a lovely set of oil filter wrenches.
I also acquired another set of facelift 16" wheels. They were local and only £40.
Like my other set they looked ok from a distance, but up close was a different matter!
I decided to give the infamous £20 wheel powder coater in Birmingham a try, if only as a bit of a test before using them for some nicer wheels in the future. Reviews online are mixed, but they're roughly on my way to visit family so I dropped them off one Saturday.
They were ready the following weekend as promised. I couldn't resist spending an extra £10 per wheel for something a bit silly...
The collection trip wasn't a complete success, my wife disappeared into the nearby Bullring shopping centre which took a while and cost a lot. However, small blessings, despite parking her Mini in this car park it was amazingly still there and undamaged when we returned...
The wheel finish isn't bad, for the price paid it seems very good. But for nicer wheels going on a nicer car it's probably not what you'd want. This might have something to do with the state the wheels were in when I dropped them off, but it looks like they could have spent a bit longer on the blasting/prep stage. There are a few areas like this where it looks like they left a few bits before the powder coat was applied:
The other thing that didn't seem quite right was that they hadn't masked off the wheel nut holes or hub face. A bit of Googling produced a worrying number of people claiming that they'd had wheel nuts back off on fully coated wheels, particularly people using them on track. The consensus seems to be that the layer of powder coat might soften slightly at track temps and provide enough play for the nuts to no longer be tight.
Maybe I'm overthinking things, but I knew it would be at the back of my mind during the next track day. I hand sanded the hub face back to bare metal on each wheel.
For the angled wheel nut faces I stole an idea from someone else and added some notches to a spare wheel nut with a chisel. I retained the grooved nut in a socket with some paper and span it briefly in each hole with a drill. This worked great and took no more powder coat off than needed.
Finally, I got some new tyres. Yokohama AD08Rs. Not as soft as the Toyo R888Rs on my other facelift 16" wheels, but I'm hoping that with a wet rating of B rather than E they'll be a better all rounder if I'm caught out by a wet track like I was at Anglesey. They're also cheaper and readily available, I'm not expecting the grip to be quite as good as the Toyos but I'll report back.
The wheels are a funny colour to photograph, they look lighter in the flesh. I like them, I would have hated them a few years ago, maybe I'm regressing
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
It's been a while since I updated this thread, when I left off I'd just limped back from The Ring missing an ARB bush. The very next day I was going on holiday with my wife. I'd treated her to the very best Easyjet flight from Bristol with parking in the sort of airport car park where you leave your keys and your car gets boxed in somewhere else. I wanted to take the Mazda to Bristol as it's the least valuable and most cosmetically challenged of our cars. So that's how I found myself swapping wheels and bushes at 10pm after driving 500 miles across Europe.
As a result, I rushed and screwed up, snapping one of the studs on the subframe whilst using too big a wrench. Spot the bolt sitting in the newly tapped and drilled hole...
The remaining polybush was heavily deformed, it still hasn't returned to the original shape months later.
The Mazda made it to Bristol quite happily and clunk free the next morning. I think it looked quite cool still stickered up, I left them for longer than is probably acceptable
I checked it over a bit more thoroughly once we were back. There's an amazing amount of meat left on the Stoptech pads after 3 or 4 track days. I've got a new set with new discs waiting to go on, but it seems like a waste at the moment.
I had to adapt my entry into the Carousel at The Ring as it was bottoming out slightly. It looks like the rear PPF bolt is the low point, along with the exhaust.
It looks like I've got a diff leak in this photo, it made me check it again. It's either residual from the last change or a slight leak on the drain plugs, I must check the level soon.
Alex came over to do some Fiesta ST mods recently
. We fitted in an oil change and brake fluid flush on the Mazda as well. I've moved over to 5w40 to see if it reduces consumption on track.Despite only hand tightening it I really struggled to get the old filter off. I ended up resorting to punching a screwdriver through it, even then it required a few holes. Lesson learned, I now own a lovely set of oil filter wrenches.
I also acquired another set of facelift 16" wheels. They were local and only £40.
Like my other set they looked ok from a distance, but up close was a different matter!
I decided to give the infamous £20 wheel powder coater in Birmingham a try, if only as a bit of a test before using them for some nicer wheels in the future. Reviews online are mixed, but they're roughly on my way to visit family so I dropped them off one Saturday.
They were ready the following weekend as promised. I couldn't resist spending an extra £10 per wheel for something a bit silly...
The collection trip wasn't a complete success, my wife disappeared into the nearby Bullring shopping centre which took a while and cost a lot. However, small blessings, despite parking her Mini in this car park it was amazingly still there and undamaged when we returned...
The wheel finish isn't bad, for the price paid it seems very good. But for nicer wheels going on a nicer car it's probably not what you'd want. This might have something to do with the state the wheels were in when I dropped them off, but it looks like they could have spent a bit longer on the blasting/prep stage. There are a few areas like this where it looks like they left a few bits before the powder coat was applied:
The other thing that didn't seem quite right was that they hadn't masked off the wheel nut holes or hub face. A bit of Googling produced a worrying number of people claiming that they'd had wheel nuts back off on fully coated wheels, particularly people using them on track. The consensus seems to be that the layer of powder coat might soften slightly at track temps and provide enough play for the nuts to no longer be tight.
Maybe I'm overthinking things, but I knew it would be at the back of my mind during the next track day. I hand sanded the hub face back to bare metal on each wheel.
For the angled wheel nut faces I stole an idea from someone else and added some notches to a spare wheel nut with a chisel. I retained the grooved nut in a socket with some paper and span it briefly in each hole with a drill. This worked great and took no more powder coat off than needed.
Finally, I got some new tyres. Yokohama AD08Rs. Not as soft as the Toyo R888Rs on my other facelift 16" wheels, but I'm hoping that with a wet rating of B rather than E they'll be a better all rounder if I'm caught out by a wet track like I was at Anglesey. They're also cheaper and readily available, I'm not expecting the grip to be quite as good as the Toyos but I'll report back.
The wheels are a funny colour to photograph, they look lighter in the flesh. I like them, I would have hated them a few years ago, maybe I'm regressing
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 12:21
Accelebrate said:
Finally, I got some new tyres. Yokohama AD08Rs. Not as soft as the Toyo R888Rs on my other facelift 16" wheels, but I'm hoping that with a wet rating of B rather than E they'll be a better all rounder if I'm caught out by a wet track like I was at Anglesey. They're also cheaper and readily available, I'm not expecting the grip to be quite as good as the Toyos but I'll report back.
I find the AD08R's more than adequate on track, they don't have the outright grip of an 888 or an AR-1 but the price and longevity more than makes up for it. They are fine in wet conditions, but I did struggle for grip at Bedford in Feb, a wet track and 1 degree temperature made for tricky conditions! To be fair to the tyres, a guy took me out in a new Elise 260 Cup on R1R's and he didn't seem to have any more grip than me!The Mk3 MX5's are very underrated in my opinion and make a great fast road/ track car with a few choice modifications.
I like the look of the new wheels.
MagicalTrevor said:
They’re underrated because, as standard, the suspension is a bit rubbish. Once you put some decent coilovers on them then they’re transformed into an impressive track car
The facelift version was significanlty better, even without coilovers.Thanks for the positive wheel comments. I put 100 wet miles on the AD08Rs last week and so far I'm impressed. They don't aquaplane like the R888Rs do, they also don't howl at speed. As long as the dry grip is reasonable then they seem like a great balance.
I've signed up for a Bedford track day later this month. I'm looking forward to it as although I've been there a few times already I've never driven the full circuit as it was closed for resurfacing and being run in the smaller 'SEN' configuration during my previous visits.
I've signed up for a Bedford track day later this month. I'm looking forward to it as although I've been there a few times already I've never driven the full circuit as it was closed for resurfacing and being run in the smaller 'SEN' configuration during my previous visits.
It's been a while since I ventured here! Looks great on those wheels.
On that subject - I've been offered a set of 16" wheels on winter rubber, debating whether to go for it now I have a place to store them. Can I get your thoughts on 16 vs 17"? My 17"s have Michelin PS3/4s with a lot of life in them yet, the question will be whether to make the 16" the winter wheels, or to wear those out, make the 16" the track wheels and then switch the 17" to road/winter use.
I guess a factor is the cost of track rubber, but then I'm not sure if more grip is what I'm after - if anything I'd like to extra sidewall to soften the ride for road use.
On that subject - I've been offered a set of 16" wheels on winter rubber, debating whether to go for it now I have a place to store them. Can I get your thoughts on 16 vs 17"? My 17"s have Michelin PS3/4s with a lot of life in them yet, the question will be whether to make the 16" the winter wheels, or to wear those out, make the 16" the track wheels and then switch the 17" to road/winter use.
I guess a factor is the cost of track rubber, but then I'm not sure if more grip is what I'm after - if anything I'd like to extra sidewall to soften the ride for road use.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff