2006 MX-5 2.0 Option Pack
Discussion
Accelebrate said:
Kev_Mk3 said:
Do you have a link for the harnesses at all as the sliding down always factors on my mind.
I did 1352 miles in the swift last year. That was to the ring for a track day and back
I've just cancelled all the bookings we'd made and asked CD for credit as we were meant to be attending the July day I did 1352 miles in the swift last year. That was to the ring for a track day and back
I bought the 'Clubman' harness...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371081193044
There's also the more expensive Profi II, I couldn't work out the difference in the photos but having received mine it looks like the Profi has nicer alu shoulder adjusters...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301511546730
This out-of-FIA-date pair look like a decent buy...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174787451350
I have the same ones in my Fiesta track car and they are a very nice fit .
I was looking to do the same Ring date as you after speaking to Alex on here and on FSTOC but have pulled the plug on this until next year
I was looking to do the same Ring date as you after speaking to Alex on here and on FSTOC but have pulled the plug on this until next year
Accelebrate said:
I've just cancelled all the bookings we'd made and asked CD for credit as we were meant to be attending the July day
I bought the 'Clubman' harness...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371081193044
There's also the more expensive Profi II, I couldn't work out the difference in the photos but having received mine it looks like the Profi has nicer alu shoulder adjusters...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301511546730
This out-of-FIA-date pair look like a decent buy...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174787451350
I bought the 'Clubman' harness...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371081193044
There's also the more expensive Profi II, I couldn't work out the difference in the photos but having received mine it looks like the Profi has nicer alu shoulder adjusters...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301511546730
This out-of-FIA-date pair look like a decent buy...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174787451350
Kaveney said:
was looking to do the same Ring date as you after speaking to Alex on here and on FSTOC but have pulled the plug on this until next year
Llandow is available on 24th... Just!Go on, do it
https://opentrack.co.uk/view-dates
It does look good just need to see if i can be ready for the 24th .
Its my own fault for keep on buying new parts to fit
Its my own fault for keep on buying new parts to fit
alex98uk said:
Spotted! Saw you heading in the direction of the Bodicote classic meet on Wednesday, unfortunately I was already well on my way back (on foot). I didn't dare take my grubby NC although looking at some of the 'display' cars it would have fit right in
I've been dabbling with brakes but mainly sorting out sticky calipers, having done the fronts last year I fitted new slider pins at the back alongside Brembo discs/pads. Not been near a track to see if the judder issue has gone but I no longer have wedge-shaped brake pads so I'm inclined to believe there will be some improvement. Sadly imminent family expansion will limit my ability to get to one any time soon too.
I've been dabbling with brakes but mainly sorting out sticky calipers, having done the fronts last year I fitted new slider pins at the back alongside Brembo discs/pads. Not been near a track to see if the judder issue has gone but I no longer have wedge-shaped brake pads so I'm inclined to believe there will be some improvement. Sadly imminent family expansion will limit my ability to get to one any time soon too.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
You have the advantage of interesting Liquid Yellow paint 
Kev_Mk3 said:
Thank you, Just done the same myself and have admitted that track action at the ring is going to be 0 for this year. First time in 13 years
A great pity, but a 13 year run is good going!Kaveney said:
I have the same ones in my Fiesta track car and they are a very nice fit .
They look good! My seat mount finally arrived yesterday, I'm looking forward to finding some time to fit them. Hopefully we'll all make it over to the ring next year.EdmondDantes said:
I've thoroughly enjoyed this thread. I cannot wait to get back to the Nordschleife, although not sure if it will happen this year!
Thank you RenesisEvo said:
Spotted! Saw you heading in the direction of the Bodicote classic meet on Wednesday, unfortunately I was already well on my way back (on foot). I didn't dare take my grubby NC although looking at some of the 'display' cars it would have fit right in
I've been dabbling with brakes but mainly sorting out sticky calipers, having done the fronts last year I fitted new slider pins at the back alongside Brembo discs/pads. Not been near a track to see if the judder issue has gone but I no longer have wedge-shaped brake pads so I'm inclined to believe there will be some improvement. Sadly imminent family expansion will limit my ability to get to one any time soon too.
I think that's the first time I've been spotted!I've been dabbling with brakes but mainly sorting out sticky calipers, having done the fronts last year I fitted new slider pins at the back alongside Brembo discs/pads. Not been near a track to see if the judder issue has gone but I no longer have wedge-shaped brake pads so I'm inclined to believe there will be some improvement. Sadly imminent family expansion will limit my ability to get to one any time soon too.
It was busy, I arrived late and ended up in the new overflow car park outside the cricket club. Which is fine, I don't think my car is in any way show worthy, but I do enjoy the eclectic mix at that show. Did you see the XK based 'creation' at the last event? Congratulations on the family expansion, it certainly changes things. I was late as I was tied up with the child's bedtime, but it seems like a minor victory if you still manage to get out and do something for yourself once in a while.
As previously mentioned, the Cybul seat mount finally arrived last week...
I wanted to ideally fit a seat slider between the base and side mounts. Possibly not the best idea as you lose the height of the slider in precious headroom, but I enjoy 'car swapping' with friends on track days and it seemed a bit mean to prevent my wife from using the car if the wrong seat was fitted.
A slider would also make my original plan of having something I could bolt in and out for track days a lot easier as it means you can easily get to the rear floor bolts by moving the seat forwards. With a fixed seat I'd probably have to install the mount in the car without the seat and then try to squeeze a spanner between the seat and the trans tunnel to install the side bolts into the seat.
After quite a bit of fiddling I ended up with this arrangement...
It might look like the seat could drop down another hole on the mount, but the curve of the seat base and the vertical bolts for the side mounts to the slider or base mean that it can't. Amazingly, I only had to drill a couple of new holes in the slider and add a bit of a bend to the adjustment handle, everything else lined up with the Cybul holes.
At first glance the seat appeared to sit slightly higher than I'd managed to get the OE seat with the lowering brackets that I fabricated. However, because the seat base is deeper and not as heavily padded I'm ultimately sat slightly lower in the car. I can now wear a helmet with the soft top roof up and clear the low hanging roof rail that I previously constantly touched. It would be nice to sit a little lower still, but I'm willing to accept this position as a compromise for the benefits the slider provides.
Onto the interior, I removed all the plastics to reveal the section of alu angle I'd added to retain some mounting holes for trim clips, this would need to be trimmed to provide access to the harness bar.
I drilled a hole into the trans tunnel to install a spreader plate, I roughly emulated the position of the seat belt bolt that I'd be using on the other side.
I didn't weld the spreader plate in the end, both the Motorsport UK and Schroth suggest they should just be installed with a little sealant to prevent water ingress. The access wasn't great so this seemed preferable. I ran a tap through the secondary hole to give me an easy way of securing the plate whilst the PU adhesive dried.
I wanted to fit the harness I'd purchased and retain the original seatbelt for road use. My original plan was to use eyelet bolts on both sides through the original belt and belt receiver like this...
There were two issues with this. The eyelet on the trans tunnel fouled on the seat sidemount, only just, I probably could have made this work. But the bigger issue was that the eyelet bolts lacked a smooth, slightly thicker section without thread that allows the belt and belt receiver to pivot freely allowing the seatbelt to sit nicely regardless of body size and seat position.
I ended up using a set of low profile eyelets from Schroth, bolted up using the original bolts with one of the many OE washers removed to account for the thickness of the eyelet. You bend them into your desired shape in a vice prior to installation.
https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/schroth-harness-en...
Wiring wise, I added a 2ohm resistor to disable the seat airbag warning. The NC has a seat belt warning that beeps if you drive away without connecting your belt (very annoying when moving around car parks on track days), I needed to disable it to avoid a constant beeping whilst wearing the harness. This is controlled by the connector that runs to the belt receiver. It's a simple circuit with two wires, connecting the belt breaks the circuit, so disabling it is simply a case of leaving it disconnected. A bit odd that a safety device would fail in the off state.
I considered moving the other half of the large plug that lives under the original seat over to retain the heated seat connector, but it made the whole thing quite bulky and space under the seat is at a premium, so I opted for some hot snot instead. It should be strong enough to stop anything rattling loose, but easy to reverse if I refit the old seat.
I hadn't wrapped a harness before, Schroth have a good video that made it easy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcN-JAMw3c
Looking serious!
I added some more holes to the interior trim for the harness to pass through. I 3D printed a couple of simple surrounds that mimic the trim on bucket seats, it's great being able to quickly produce simple little parts like this that make things look a lot neater.
The interior seemed to go back together fine with the alu angle trimmed down. Given how much has now been cut out of it for the rollbar and harness it would have been a lot easier to get rid, but I find the storage boxes useful during trips to the ring and I quite like the Clubsport neatly butchered interior look.
All back together. I'm pretty happy with what I bought, the Cybul mount made mounting a lot easier, there were holes in all the positions that I would have drilled and the floor bolts lined up perfectly. The seat seems good so far, comfy enough, holds me in place nicely but slim enough in the shoulders that it just clears the B pillar trim and the central storage box can still be opened. The harness is nice, if I'd seen it in person I might have spent the extra on the Profi II rather than the Clubman as the steel adjusters are a little bulky.
I stated in one of my previous posts that the new seat was only 7.6kg, compared to the OE seat at 14kg that seemed great. However, with the well made but hefty steel base, side mounts and slider added the new setup is 1.3kg heavier than the old seat at 15.3kg
Oh well, removing weight is always nice, but it wasn't the primary objective here. I've got a UK track day booked next week as a consolation for not being in Germany, I'm looking forward to seeing how being strapped in place alters the experience.
I did a short test drive on the road, you feel a bit of a plum fiddling with a harness in the supermarket car park, but it definitely feels great once you're enjoying some corners. The heated seat pads I added work really well, quite amusing to still have them functioning on an aftermarket seat.
The seating position is quite different and took a little while to get used to, there's no danger of coming back from the next track day with bruises on my knee from the doorcard cupholder, but the new position does highlight the slight offset between the steering wheel and pedals. Oddly, although I know I'm sat slightly lower it feels higher. I think this is because as a large man driving a car that's too small I had a tendency to slouch forwards away from the seat back which would also lower my eyeline a little, this isn't an option when you're pulled in tight by a harness. I'll get used to it, good for the posture if nothing else.
I wanted to ideally fit a seat slider between the base and side mounts. Possibly not the best idea as you lose the height of the slider in precious headroom, but I enjoy 'car swapping' with friends on track days and it seemed a bit mean to prevent my wife from using the car if the wrong seat was fitted.
A slider would also make my original plan of having something I could bolt in and out for track days a lot easier as it means you can easily get to the rear floor bolts by moving the seat forwards. With a fixed seat I'd probably have to install the mount in the car without the seat and then try to squeeze a spanner between the seat and the trans tunnel to install the side bolts into the seat.
After quite a bit of fiddling I ended up with this arrangement...
It might look like the seat could drop down another hole on the mount, but the curve of the seat base and the vertical bolts for the side mounts to the slider or base mean that it can't. Amazingly, I only had to drill a couple of new holes in the slider and add a bit of a bend to the adjustment handle, everything else lined up with the Cybul holes.
At first glance the seat appeared to sit slightly higher than I'd managed to get the OE seat with the lowering brackets that I fabricated. However, because the seat base is deeper and not as heavily padded I'm ultimately sat slightly lower in the car. I can now wear a helmet with the soft top roof up and clear the low hanging roof rail that I previously constantly touched. It would be nice to sit a little lower still, but I'm willing to accept this position as a compromise for the benefits the slider provides.
Onto the interior, I removed all the plastics to reveal the section of alu angle I'd added to retain some mounting holes for trim clips, this would need to be trimmed to provide access to the harness bar.
I drilled a hole into the trans tunnel to install a spreader plate, I roughly emulated the position of the seat belt bolt that I'd be using on the other side.
I didn't weld the spreader plate in the end, both the Motorsport UK and Schroth suggest they should just be installed with a little sealant to prevent water ingress. The access wasn't great so this seemed preferable. I ran a tap through the secondary hole to give me an easy way of securing the plate whilst the PU adhesive dried.
I wanted to fit the harness I'd purchased and retain the original seatbelt for road use. My original plan was to use eyelet bolts on both sides through the original belt and belt receiver like this...
There were two issues with this. The eyelet on the trans tunnel fouled on the seat sidemount, only just, I probably could have made this work. But the bigger issue was that the eyelet bolts lacked a smooth, slightly thicker section without thread that allows the belt and belt receiver to pivot freely allowing the seatbelt to sit nicely regardless of body size and seat position.
I ended up using a set of low profile eyelets from Schroth, bolted up using the original bolts with one of the many OE washers removed to account for the thickness of the eyelet. You bend them into your desired shape in a vice prior to installation.
https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/schroth-harness-en...
Wiring wise, I added a 2ohm resistor to disable the seat airbag warning. The NC has a seat belt warning that beeps if you drive away without connecting your belt (very annoying when moving around car parks on track days), I needed to disable it to avoid a constant beeping whilst wearing the harness. This is controlled by the connector that runs to the belt receiver. It's a simple circuit with two wires, connecting the belt breaks the circuit, so disabling it is simply a case of leaving it disconnected. A bit odd that a safety device would fail in the off state.
I considered moving the other half of the large plug that lives under the original seat over to retain the heated seat connector, but it made the whole thing quite bulky and space under the seat is at a premium, so I opted for some hot snot instead. It should be strong enough to stop anything rattling loose, but easy to reverse if I refit the old seat.
I hadn't wrapped a harness before, Schroth have a good video that made it easy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcN-JAMw3c
Looking serious!
I added some more holes to the interior trim for the harness to pass through. I 3D printed a couple of simple surrounds that mimic the trim on bucket seats, it's great being able to quickly produce simple little parts like this that make things look a lot neater.
The interior seemed to go back together fine with the alu angle trimmed down. Given how much has now been cut out of it for the rollbar and harness it would have been a lot easier to get rid, but I find the storage boxes useful during trips to the ring and I quite like the Clubsport neatly butchered interior look.
All back together. I'm pretty happy with what I bought, the Cybul mount made mounting a lot easier, there were holes in all the positions that I would have drilled and the floor bolts lined up perfectly. The seat seems good so far, comfy enough, holds me in place nicely but slim enough in the shoulders that it just clears the B pillar trim and the central storage box can still be opened. The harness is nice, if I'd seen it in person I might have spent the extra on the Profi II rather than the Clubman as the steel adjusters are a little bulky.
I stated in one of my previous posts that the new seat was only 7.6kg, compared to the OE seat at 14kg that seemed great. However, with the well made but hefty steel base, side mounts and slider added the new setup is 1.3kg heavier than the old seat at 15.3kg
Oh well, removing weight is always nice, but it wasn't the primary objective here. I've got a UK track day booked next week as a consolation for not being in Germany, I'm looking forward to seeing how being strapped in place alters the experience.I did a short test drive on the road, you feel a bit of a plum fiddling with a harness in the supermarket car park, but it definitely feels great once you're enjoying some corners. The heated seat pads I added work really well, quite amusing to still have them functioning on an aftermarket seat.
The seating position is quite different and took a little while to get used to, there's no danger of coming back from the next track day with bruises on my knee from the doorcard cupholder, but the new position does highlight the slight offset between the steering wheel and pedals. Oddly, although I know I'm sat slightly lower it feels higher. I think this is because as a large man driving a car that's too small I had a tendency to slouch forwards away from the seat back which would also lower my eyeline a little, this isn't an option when you're pulled in tight by a harness. I'll get used to it, good for the posture if nothing else.
drgoatboy said:
Our of interest how tall are you runners? I found quite a lot of difference when I was shopping around with 25mm being the best I found.
They’re about 32mm, I don’t suppose you remember who made the 25mm set you found? The slider I fitted was only cheap as I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use it or not, might be a good option for an upgrade now I know the principle works.
Accelebrate said:
They’re about 32mm, I don’t suppose you remember who made the 25mm set you found?
The slider I fitted was only cheap as I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use it or not, might be a good option for an upgrade now I know the principle works.
It was just a cheap job off eBay. Not sure if it was this one but very similar. Seemed pretty robust. The slider I fitted was only cheap as I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use it or not, might be a good option for an upgrade now I know the principle works.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Bucket-Seat-R...
7mm is a useful saving....
In lieu of not being able to go to the ring we booked a day at Mallory Park, probably not a circuit we'd have picked under normal circumstances as it's a bit lacking in corners and fast, but the date worked and it wasn't too far to travel.
I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. I always assume that an MX5 won't be that well suited to faster circuits, but Mallory is essentially an oval with a hairpin added, the straights are short and it's all about how much speed you're willing to carry through the big sweeping Gerard's bend and less about horsepower. At times I found myself being held up by a lot of more powerful machinery and a bit of bravery through the bends would yield enough momentum to keep the 'fast on the straights but slow in the corners' brigade at bay down the short straights.
This was a good test of my new seat/harness setup, it definitely helped, being able to focus on your driving inputs rather than bracing yourself in the seat helps a lot and I felt like I had a better insight into what the car was doing around me.
It was also my first outing on track with the Nankang NS2Rs. They seem good, they gave me plenty of confidence carrying some pretty big speeds through corners and my car didn't have enough power to overwhelm them if I planted the throttle in second coming out the of the hairpin. The wear rate seems good too. The only time I got slightly loose was when I encountered some coolant that I'd watched a Clio drop on the previous lap and foolishly didn't avoid...
Curiously, I now understand what people mean about them being noisy, they weren't prior to the track day but once they'd got some heat into them and picked up some marbles they've developed quite a drone. That or I've got a wheel bearing on the way out, the noise seemed to improve on the journey home though.
We did a bit of car swapping, I took the Fiesta and 350z out for a few laps. The Fiesta has gained some power and bigger brakes since I last drove it and the Nissan has had a set of Konis, both subtly improved as a result.
I befriended the owner of a very stock red NC, it was his second track day and he was very keen to know what I'd done to my car. We played cat and mouse for a while at the end of the day. Given that he was on stock suspension and cheap road tyres he was lapping very well, much quicker than the start of the day.
No substitute for a day at the ring - our friends in Germany were kind enough to send us lots of photos of the great time they had at Circuit Days with only a handful of cars on circuit and perfect weather, but Mallory was a lot more fun than I expected.
I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. I always assume that an MX5 won't be that well suited to faster circuits, but Mallory is essentially an oval with a hairpin added, the straights are short and it's all about how much speed you're willing to carry through the big sweeping Gerard's bend and less about horsepower. At times I found myself being held up by a lot of more powerful machinery and a bit of bravery through the bends would yield enough momentum to keep the 'fast on the straights but slow in the corners' brigade at bay down the short straights.
This was a good test of my new seat/harness setup, it definitely helped, being able to focus on your driving inputs rather than bracing yourself in the seat helps a lot and I felt like I had a better insight into what the car was doing around me.
It was also my first outing on track with the Nankang NS2Rs. They seem good, they gave me plenty of confidence carrying some pretty big speeds through corners and my car didn't have enough power to overwhelm them if I planted the throttle in second coming out the of the hairpin. The wear rate seems good too. The only time I got slightly loose was when I encountered some coolant that I'd watched a Clio drop on the previous lap and foolishly didn't avoid...
Curiously, I now understand what people mean about them being noisy, they weren't prior to the track day but once they'd got some heat into them and picked up some marbles they've developed quite a drone. That or I've got a wheel bearing on the way out, the noise seemed to improve on the journey home though.
We did a bit of car swapping, I took the Fiesta and 350z out for a few laps. The Fiesta has gained some power and bigger brakes since I last drove it and the Nissan has had a set of Konis, both subtly improved as a result.
I befriended the owner of a very stock red NC, it was his second track day and he was very keen to know what I'd done to my car. We played cat and mouse for a while at the end of the day. Given that he was on stock suspension and cheap road tyres he was lapping very well, much quicker than the start of the day.
No substitute for a day at the ring - our friends in Germany were kind enough to send us lots of photos of the great time they had at Circuit Days with only a handful of cars on circuit and perfect weather, but Mallory was a lot more fun than I expected.
great thread i've read through since stumbling across it at the weekend. i've not been here for some time but a neighbour picked up an 09 NC a few months ago for not much money and it gave me cause to have a bit more of a look at them. something relatively cheap, easy to work on, and small enough to get down narrow roads without worrying too much about it may be just the ticket.
seems like the power and torque figures achieved came fairly cheaply and easily and are not to be sniffed at too OP?
seems like the power and torque figures achieved came fairly cheaply and easily and are not to be sniffed at too OP?
It seems I was wrong about the NS2Rs being noisy, after swapping back to road tyres the noise and a slight vibration remained. My first thought were wheel bearings, but I couldn’t find any play in any of the wheels. My thoughts moved onto what else it might be, maybe the diff or engine mounts? I’d been pondering upgrading the engine mounts as I’d noticed how much the gearstick moves around whilst cornering in track footage, this seemed like a good excuse so I ordered a set of ILM 40% stiffer mounts:
Deep down I knew this was unlikely to be the issue, but I'd helped Alex upgrade the mounts on his Fiesta before Mallory and I didn't want to be left out. After some more miles I realised the noise was worse when turning right and practically disappeared when turning left. A post on an NC group returned unanimous verdict of wheel bearings and a number of people stating that they had replaced failed bearings with no obvious play. Given the effect that cornering has on the noise a failed nearside bearing made the most sense.
I was under a bit of pressure to get the car fixed before our next trackday in a week. I didn’t want to be stuck waiting for parts so I ordered a pair of front and rear bearings. I was hoping that it would be the nearside front, which would make sense as it’s the corner that probably gets lent on the most on the mostly-clockwise circuits that we’ve visited. The fronts are a lot easier to swap on the NC than the rear, they’re a complete unit that just needs to be slide hammered out with a few bolts removed. Whereas the rears are a lot more involved with probably-seized driveshafts and many suspension arms that need to be undone to remove the rear hubs and then the bearings need to be pressed out and in. Ideally an alignment should also be carried out once complete.
There was a lot more choice when it came to rear bearings, I opted for FAG bearings as I’ve always found FAG or SKF to be high quality and durable. For the front hub/bearing/ABS unit there was a lot less choice and not a lot of well known names to choose from. A popular ‘upgrade’ for the NC is to fit the hubs from 2009+ RX8s which are supposedly slightly beefier and unlike the earlier RX8s use the same style of ABS connector as the NC. I say supposedly as I later found some contrary opinion claiming that in reality it’s the same size of bearing in either part.
The RX8 part number is F1893304X, without doing much research I ordered a pair of Blue Print ADM58239. It seemed like a good option as Blue Print are part of the Febi-Bilstein group and they came with a 3yr warranty:
https://partsfinder.bilsteingroup.com/en/article/b...
Unfortunately, some retrospective FB group research found a number of reports of bearing failure after minimal mileage and ABS sensor issues. I think once the fronts have been broken loose once swapping them a second time shouldn’t take too long, so I’m willing to give them a go.
Beyond that the options seem a bit limited, I found a couple of Supercup racers who were buying up used OE hubs as they seemed to be the most reliable option without spending dealership money. I haven’t priced the hubs in a UK dealer and I should. I get the impression they’re expensive and it’s never an easy option as I live in a bit of a Mazda dealership no-man’s land. Things are easier in the US where they can buy the Timken HA590360 for about $100:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/timken,HA590360,...
The Timken hubs are made in Japan and come bearing Mazda logos, so it’s probably safe to assume it’s an OE part. Annoyingly, I can’t find a UK stockist. Amazon will deliver them from the US with duty paid for £120 a side, but they only have one in stock and I’d like to replace them in a pair. Rock Auto will also ship to the UK for a reasonable £230 for a pair including delivery and VAT paid, but I think I’d still be hit with an unknown and seemingly random amount of import charges. I’m hopefully off to the US in a few months, so assuming the Blue Prints have failed by then and Mazda are expensive I might try and bring a pair back.
With my parts assembled I did what I probably should have done first and investigated further. I started with the mostly likely suspect the NSF hub:
Bingo! Seems very noisy there, but it wasn't at all obvious until the caliper was removed and the sound of the pads dragging lightly was out of the equation. This was great news as it means I didn't need to mess about with the rear before the trackday. I'll probably keep the bearings, if I ever get around to dropping the rear subframe to paint and treat it I'll refresh the bushes and bearings at the same time. They were also a very reasonable £44 for the pair from Parts in Motion on eBay, ECP wanted £80 per bearing for the same thing, even after discounts.
The front hubs are held on by four bolts, and there's also an ABS sensor to carefully remove:
I had a slide hammer from the blind bearing pulling kit I bought for replacing the flywheel bearing when I changed the clutch. I drilled some holes in some thick sheet steel to make a hub adapter...
I'd like to say this worked well, but the slide hammer was a bit weedy and it didn't do much. What did work really well was the M12 connector nut from the slide hammer kit combined with a spare bolt, jammed up against the hub carrier in various places and expanded with a pair of spanners it made light work of popping the hubs on both sides out.
Here's a side by side view of the RX8 hub and the MX5:
Measuring across the bearing casing the RX8 hub was 6.4mm thicker, it also weighed more at 3kg vs. 2.6kg, so it would appear that the RX8 does indeed use a slightly larger bearing.
I cleaned up the hub carrier with some wet and dry and applied some high temp grease to hopefully make this job much easier in the future. I installed the bolts using blue loctite. I gave the hub faces a light coating of copper grease to stop them from sticking to the discs. Although my OS bearing was still working fine I swapped it over to the RX8 bearing, given the slight weight/spec difference and the 120k that's on the original bearing this seemed to make sense. If the Blue Prints turn out to be rubbish I'll swap them both as a pair again. I considered treating the dust shields to a wire wheel and lick of paint, but they're crusty enough that it didn't seem worth it. I think they're a cheap part, I'll pick up a pair if I end up redoing this job.
And the same on the OS...
I'm happy to report that the noise and vibration is gone. I've had no ABS errors either, so any reports of the Blue Print hubs not working with the NC must be down to faulty hubs rather than any compatibility issues. I am however still dubious about the longevity of the Blue Prints, I put about 50 miles on the NS hub to check that everything worked after fitting before moving onto the OS, I can already detect a hint of play within the bearing which doesn't bode well.
Whilst the car was on stands I also fitted the new engine mounts. I'd done this job once before when I swapped my originals for a used set from a lower mileage car. Access is easy through each wheelarch:
You remove two 17mm nuts, one side at a time, and then lift the engine using a jack on the sump to lean it over to one side enough to extract the mount. The ILM mounts replace the inner section of the mount, there are a couple of 14mm nuts to remove the old mount from the housing:
New mount bolted into the housing:
Rinse and repeat on the other side. There's a slight increase in cabin vibration at idle, changing gear and releasing the clutch at speed seems a lot more pleasant and consistent. It might be placebo but everything feels a little bit tighter when pressing on, it'll be interesting to see if the gearbox/stick still leans from side to side in track footage.
Deep down I knew this was unlikely to be the issue, but I'd helped Alex upgrade the mounts on his Fiesta before Mallory and I didn't want to be left out. After some more miles I realised the noise was worse when turning right and practically disappeared when turning left. A post on an NC group returned unanimous verdict of wheel bearings and a number of people stating that they had replaced failed bearings with no obvious play. Given the effect that cornering has on the noise a failed nearside bearing made the most sense.
I was under a bit of pressure to get the car fixed before our next trackday in a week. I didn’t want to be stuck waiting for parts so I ordered a pair of front and rear bearings. I was hoping that it would be the nearside front, which would make sense as it’s the corner that probably gets lent on the most on the mostly-clockwise circuits that we’ve visited. The fronts are a lot easier to swap on the NC than the rear, they’re a complete unit that just needs to be slide hammered out with a few bolts removed. Whereas the rears are a lot more involved with probably-seized driveshafts and many suspension arms that need to be undone to remove the rear hubs and then the bearings need to be pressed out and in. Ideally an alignment should also be carried out once complete.
There was a lot more choice when it came to rear bearings, I opted for FAG bearings as I’ve always found FAG or SKF to be high quality and durable. For the front hub/bearing/ABS unit there was a lot less choice and not a lot of well known names to choose from. A popular ‘upgrade’ for the NC is to fit the hubs from 2009+ RX8s which are supposedly slightly beefier and unlike the earlier RX8s use the same style of ABS connector as the NC. I say supposedly as I later found some contrary opinion claiming that in reality it’s the same size of bearing in either part.
The RX8 part number is F1893304X, without doing much research I ordered a pair of Blue Print ADM58239. It seemed like a good option as Blue Print are part of the Febi-Bilstein group and they came with a 3yr warranty:
https://partsfinder.bilsteingroup.com/en/article/b...
Unfortunately, some retrospective FB group research found a number of reports of bearing failure after minimal mileage and ABS sensor issues. I think once the fronts have been broken loose once swapping them a second time shouldn’t take too long, so I’m willing to give them a go.
Beyond that the options seem a bit limited, I found a couple of Supercup racers who were buying up used OE hubs as they seemed to be the most reliable option without spending dealership money. I haven’t priced the hubs in a UK dealer and I should. I get the impression they’re expensive and it’s never an easy option as I live in a bit of a Mazda dealership no-man’s land. Things are easier in the US where they can buy the Timken HA590360 for about $100:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/timken,HA590360,...
The Timken hubs are made in Japan and come bearing Mazda logos, so it’s probably safe to assume it’s an OE part. Annoyingly, I can’t find a UK stockist. Amazon will deliver them from the US with duty paid for £120 a side, but they only have one in stock and I’d like to replace them in a pair. Rock Auto will also ship to the UK for a reasonable £230 for a pair including delivery and VAT paid, but I think I’d still be hit with an unknown and seemingly random amount of import charges. I’m hopefully off to the US in a few months, so assuming the Blue Prints have failed by then and Mazda are expensive I might try and bring a pair back.
With my parts assembled I did what I probably should have done first and investigated further. I started with the mostly likely suspect the NSF hub:
Bingo! Seems very noisy there, but it wasn't at all obvious until the caliper was removed and the sound of the pads dragging lightly was out of the equation. This was great news as it means I didn't need to mess about with the rear before the trackday. I'll probably keep the bearings, if I ever get around to dropping the rear subframe to paint and treat it I'll refresh the bushes and bearings at the same time. They were also a very reasonable £44 for the pair from Parts in Motion on eBay, ECP wanted £80 per bearing for the same thing, even after discounts.
The front hubs are held on by four bolts, and there's also an ABS sensor to carefully remove:
I had a slide hammer from the blind bearing pulling kit I bought for replacing the flywheel bearing when I changed the clutch. I drilled some holes in some thick sheet steel to make a hub adapter...
I'd like to say this worked well, but the slide hammer was a bit weedy and it didn't do much. What did work really well was the M12 connector nut from the slide hammer kit combined with a spare bolt, jammed up against the hub carrier in various places and expanded with a pair of spanners it made light work of popping the hubs on both sides out.
Here's a side by side view of the RX8 hub and the MX5:
Measuring across the bearing casing the RX8 hub was 6.4mm thicker, it also weighed more at 3kg vs. 2.6kg, so it would appear that the RX8 does indeed use a slightly larger bearing.
I cleaned up the hub carrier with some wet and dry and applied some high temp grease to hopefully make this job much easier in the future. I installed the bolts using blue loctite. I gave the hub faces a light coating of copper grease to stop them from sticking to the discs. Although my OS bearing was still working fine I swapped it over to the RX8 bearing, given the slight weight/spec difference and the 120k that's on the original bearing this seemed to make sense. If the Blue Prints turn out to be rubbish I'll swap them both as a pair again. I considered treating the dust shields to a wire wheel and lick of paint, but they're crusty enough that it didn't seem worth it. I think they're a cheap part, I'll pick up a pair if I end up redoing this job.
And the same on the OS...
I'm happy to report that the noise and vibration is gone. I've had no ABS errors either, so any reports of the Blue Print hubs not working with the NC must be down to faulty hubs rather than any compatibility issues. I am however still dubious about the longevity of the Blue Prints, I put about 50 miles on the NS hub to check that everything worked after fitting before moving onto the OS, I can already detect a hint of play within the bearing which doesn't bode well.
Whilst the car was on stands I also fitted the new engine mounts. I'd done this job once before when I swapped my originals for a used set from a lower mileage car. Access is easy through each wheelarch:
You remove two 17mm nuts, one side at a time, and then lift the engine using a jack on the sump to lean it over to one side enough to extract the mount. The ILM mounts replace the inner section of the mount, there are a couple of 14mm nuts to remove the old mount from the housing:
New mount bolted into the housing:
Rinse and repeat on the other side. There's a slight increase in cabin vibration at idle, changing gear and releasing the clutch at speed seems a lot more pleasant and consistent. It might be placebo but everything feels a little bit tighter when pressing on, it'll be interesting to see if the gearbox/stick still leans from side to side in track footage.
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