Allow me to introduce my affordable Japanese roadster...Alotta. Alotta Miata.

[Fishbulb]

So my sister-in-law picked up an ND sport and I had a little time to enjoy it this weekend. ("We need stuff from the store." "Yeah, I guess I can run and get that...")

With just a tick over 300 miles on it, I really could not flog it appropriately, but even short shifting it around 4K she really, really wants to go. Car is so tight compared to my wet noodle, broken engine mount '90.

Overall, I would happily park one in my garage. I had an '06 for about two years, and this is packaged similar (Interior/top set up, etc.), but just seems more driver focused. It's been awhile since the NC, but I feel like the ND wraps around you more. Almost like you wear it!

My NC was a daily, and was great for that. I think the ND would bring more of the NA/NB spirit to a car that would still be very comfortable to daily.

Great car and very thankful to I was able to enjoy it longer than just a test drive loop with some dealership jack-wad. Now, how much is that FM Butterfly brace again?

[Fishbulb]

I don't think I have waited as eagerly for something to arrive in the mailbox since the mail-away Admiral Akbar figure!

[Fishbulb]

Since my trunk had some leaks I have been parking 'nose down' on my sloped driveway. Well, turns out that was not a good idea either.

Footwells were soaked. I had cleaned out the drains when I got the car, but something had gotten in there and clogged it up again. We had a lot of heavy rain, and the driver side footwell was filled.



So, I know my license plate light gaskets were shot, saw that some folks were cutting their own with craft foam from the local craft store. I'm always building things around the house, at work, so I had part of a sheet and decided to give it a shot.

Car has been tapped in the back at least once, the light housing was cracked and not helping seal out water:



Traced the dry, crispy gasket on the foam and cut it out with an Xacto knife.





Old, new and the housing.



So, the trunk is now sealed...except for the damned dead gasket around the key cylinder! That will be next weekend...

[NCGreasemonkey]

What the heck was that between you nose and floor mat? Four pounds of Shiitake?

I have to park the L.L. Bean similarly because the RR roof drain for the duel-sunroof is busted.

[Fishbulb]

I wish it was that much Shiitake, at least I could do something with that!

That is all the soaked insulation pad from under the carpet. ALL OF IT

[MLambert19]

For what it's worth: I just pulled all that old insulation from under my carpet, too. There's some behind the seats and also on the rear decklid.

I was able to replace it all with Dynamat's Dynapad, non-adhesive matting. That way I can pull it out to clean or wrench. One roll (32x54, I think) was enough to replace all the old sound deadening I mention above, for $100. There may be cheaper alternatives, but so far I'm happy with this.

[Fishbulb]

That is on my down the road to-do list. I like the fact that it is removable.

Did it cut down on cabin heat, or just noise?

Thanks!

[MLambert19]

It certainly cut down on noise. Not sure about heat, it's been in the 80's lately here in Maine, but I've been top-down every time I take the car.

[Fishbulb]

So, it's been a while since my last update, but we have been chipping away at things.

Picked up a few more parts of the car I grabbed the finish panel from, the most important is an FM front shock tower brace for about $50. I had not seen this newer style design, I thought he just threw an FM sticker on an eBay brace or something. But, it checks out! Promptly removed the sticker (Sorry FM...love you guys!)

Results: the mirrors rattle a little less over bumps...

[Fishbulb]

"The better to see you with, my dear..."

I installed a set of Hella H4 housings as soon as I got the car. I found them used (but new-in-box) on craigslist before I found the car. And, there was more light.

But, it's not 2003 anymore. The last few cars and my current foul weather vehicle all have Xenons, and they are just so much better. (Most of them were MINIs and had an additional 2 or 4 Hella 500 driving lights as well). So, to put it mildly, I have been pretty spoiled with excellent lighting.



Unfortunately, I don't have the cash for the Truck Lite 7" LED replacements. Someday maybe, but not right now.

Did some research on what we could do to improve the lighting situation. Over on some of the other sites there was a pretty in-depth comparison between the Hella H4's we all know and love and the Cibie alternative. Short story, bit good, but the Cibie puts more light down in the places you need it (sides of the road, etc.) And the Hella has a weird hot spot when the high beams are on that is above the road by a good bit.

Keep in mind that the Cibies always used to be about twice the price of the Hellas, so they were often ignored. Well, prices have come down and they are now in the same range, so I picked a set up.

Hella on the left, Cibie on right.



Now Cibie on the left. The Hella has a much flatter face, the Cibie has a very distinct pattern on it. (none of which make a bit of difference when the lights are down!)



The housings are very similar, the rear gaskets are a little different. Cibie on the left.



I find the Cibies to be more useful on the PA back roads that I normally drive. They have a better spread and I find the light placement to be more useful. Still feels like a pair of candles compared to other cars, but we are getting there.

I do have a fuse block and relays that I will be adding soon to make sure that the lights are getting full power.

Also, the Hellas are headed to a pretty cool new home, my buddy's '53 Dodge Truck! Just have to finish wiring her for 12v!

[Fishbulb]

My brother helped pick up a (very slightly) used Racing Beat exhaust with the resonated midpipe from a guy who was building an Excocet. He said it was too nice to cut up for his build, and I agree. The only snag was the hanger had been sliced off of the midpipe, but we will get to that.

This is how I picked it up..not bad. Ended up giving it a little polish before I installed it.





So, back to the Case of the Missing Exhaust Hanger. I have the cheap Harbor Freight wire feed welder for situations just like this. It's far from great, but it allows me to glue two pieces of steel together. And, when you paint it black, well it almost looks concours...

So, this is a piece of tubing, welded to a cut down piece of angle steel with holes in it. Added a Stainless U-Bolt to the mix and we have a temporary exhaust hanger. Remember that guy with the '53 Dodge. He is a welder...we will fix this properly soon.



No install pics. Picked up a lightly used FM 1.6L high flow cat to go with it as well. Had to buy new gaskets (i'll have some info on that shortly). Both the RB and FM parts were 100% proper fitting, no issues at all. They only do Miata (well, Mazda for RB) and it shows. These parts are designed to fit these cars, and they do very well.

All in, the car runs much better, it just runs up through the revs instead of kind of hitting the wall around 5-6K. And, it sounds sooooo much nicer than the stock exhaust with the hole in the muffler. Not super loud, but it just sounds sweet everywhere.

And the tip fits just right, and looks great.

[Fishbulb]

Not too much to report, at least from a picture stand point.

Changed the oil with Mobil1 10w-30 and a Bosch 3323. Right at start up, oil pressure is up quite a bit. It's my first oil change on the car, I have no idea what oil it had in it.

Still pissing oil out of every possible seal. Can't wait to do my timing belt and change EVERYTHING.

Also finally adjusted the parking brake. Silly thing, but for some reason I thought it was adjusted at the rear brakes. Yeah, well, it's not. One screw to take off the plastic cover, and a 10mm right next to the lever. So nice to have that adjusted!

[Fishbulb]

So, as we all know the stock horn...blows.

Here is my down and dirty solution to get at least something that makes noise under the hood: Bolt the Supertone to the shock tower brace and run a wire from the stock horn.

Not optimal, but with me not able to hear my own stock horn, this is at least a 347% improvement. I'll find a nicer mounting solution for both of them in the future.

[Fishbulb]

Not that anyone is surprised (myself included) but the Old and Busted seals did not take kindly to synthetic oil.

What had been two quarter size drops a day escalated to this mess. My driveway hates me.

CLIFFHANGER: Will changing crank and cam seals fix this mess? Will Batman escape the car crusher?

[Fishbulb]

So, the time came to trek to my Father's garage in Jersey for the Super Timing Belt/Brakes/Suspension/Other Stuff Weekend!



Tried to use the Harbor Freight Clamshell spring compressor on the stock NB springs, that did not go well. The compressor was way too big to get it and the shock and associated items in there. Not to mention that "C IS FOR COIL SPRING"...look at the hook on that thing! Ended up using the wall mounted spring comepressor at the shop I pumped gas when I was a kid. Much easier.