Miata Mods

Mat Matters

CTBNL 2

Put the original wheels back on the Miata. The 16″ wheels did look better, but turns out the 4.4 pounds more of unsprung weight at each corner was noticeably detrimental to the ride quality. I think I could eventually learn to like the look of this combination, while Donna feels just the opposite. Right now we are going to try a relatively inexpensive fix of chrome lug nuts instead of the black and paint the center caps silver and add some of RevLimiter‘s retro Mazda logo center cap inserts.

The velcro on the roll bar was a resounding success n the passenger side, so another trip to Walmart was made to pick up another package of the 2″ x 4″ pieces. The red mats were not so loved, they looked good peeking at them from outside the car, but they didn’t really lighten up the atmosphere of the car once you sat in the seats.

So on our visit to Walmart for the velcro we also revisited the “cheap accent rug” aisle scouting some lighter colored options. We found a set that we had dismissed the first time and decided to try something different with them and see how it looked. The mats in the car are 18″ wide at the widest and 27″ at their longest. These second attempt rugs were 21″ x 37″, so they were big enough and there predominate surface was a nice light gray/dark gray mix, but there was a 3″band of the dark gray all around the perimeter. This meant that it was impossible to have a single solid 18″ wide block color(s), so I had to incorporate the 3″ band of solid color along one side of the new “mat.” To make things sort of even I also left the 3″ band at the bottom and made sure to put the side band towards the outside of the vehicle. Not bad looking, but the problem with these and the red before is what they are made of, very thin with a slight rubber backing, so they slip and slide during ingress and egress. Not the perfect solution for sure. Stayed tuned…

It’s The Little Things

The new Miata is fantastic, but not perfect. What David did to this thing when he first bought it is right out of the text book on Miata improvements. The addition of the roll bar was icing on the cake. Although roll bars are foremost thought of as primarily a safety improvement or a necessity for track usage, a huge benefit of one is it tightens up the rigidity of the open top car to near that of a closed one.

None of our previous Miatas had a roll bar and while they do have tremendous benefits, we have been contemplating taking this one out. One of the nice thing about the installed Hard Dog Ace bar is that allows full seat travel and tilt. It sure does, but it doesn’t mention how noisy it is while doing so. The seat goes all the way back, but the top of the seat rubs the top of the bar and the upper back of the seat rubs the diagonal brace of the bar. The vinyl back of the seat squeaks in both places. Our only remedy so far is to move the seat back up one notch towards vertical. And this is a very weird feeling for both of us who have spent the last 13 years in the Emperor with the seat back tilted one inch further back. Physically that is not much, but psychologically it is miles. I feel like a little old man scooted up to the steering wheel so I can see over the hood. Donna feels like she is in a smaller car.

Also contributing to that smaller car feeling is the near total lack of any color except black. Our first two Miatas had all black interiors, but again we have been spoiled by the baker’s dozen worth years in the light beige (Parchment in Mazda parlance) interior of the previous one. It is not too bad with the top down, but when it is up, and you guessed it, it has a black underside, even I think we are going to need more than the silver shift knob and e-brake handle to cut the dimness.

Last night we took a couple small steps to fix both issues. A trip to Walmart netted us some 2″ x 4″ strips of black velcro hook & loop fastener tape and a cheap 2′ x 4′ piece of red, gray & black throw rug. Tonight I stuck the fuzzy side of the tape in three places on the roll bar where it was contacting Donna’s seat back. Sitting in the seat in the garage there were no squeaks, hopefully a road test will turn out the same way. If it does, we’ll buy some more for my side. The carpet was subjected to Brian’s patented Presto Chango treatment and came out the other side, dun, dun, duh – Miata Floor Mats. Garage testing these was a little less conclusive than the roll bar squeak issue, better, but probably not enough.

Tuxedo Cummerbund Color

Continuing the school girl crush analogy from the other day…

Now that I have been asked to the prom and I have convinced my date to go with a silver tux to compliment my gown, we just need to pick out our accent color. To help me visualize what he’ll look like walking towards me I photo-shopped three images. one with a dark gray, one with a maroon and one with a blue.

Because I knew when we were dancing cheek to cheek in the spotlight on the gym floor all the other girls would be jealous because of my date’s muscular, football toned backside, I photo-shopped the same three colors onto the rear view.

Donna and I had talked about maybe putting stripes on a new Miata if we bought a white one, so I wanted to take a quick look at some stripes on a silver car. A good place to see all kinds of stripes in various colors on various color Miatas is the Feztastic Stripe Gallery. After looking trough all 11 pages of silver cars using the somewhat clunky interface I found this car with the right sized stripes. The gray is what is in the original photos, I just tweaked them to come up with some other possible options. The maroon is supposed to represent the old Miata and the blue is there because that is my favorite color.

Not so sure I want to do the stripe thing, but we both are in agreement that the silver is kind of dull looking compared to all the other cars we’ve ever owned1. We need to live with the car for longer that three days before we make that kind of change. After all, I didn’t think I’d ever like the Garnet Red color of the Emperor, but after about 6 or 7 years I actually started to like it.

1. With the exception of Donna’s first car which was a 1972 VW Super Beetle in khaki.

Wred & Wrinkled

Wred & Wrinkly

A couple years ago I needed something to do at the MMC’s Tech Day and I though my little oil drippings on the garage floor were from a leaking valve cover gasket, so I bought a new one to put in that Saturday. While I had the cover off I figured I needed to paint it red gain about 5 rear-wheel HP. So I headed on down to my local chain parts store and picked up a can of VHT Wrinkle Plus Coating.

It turned out I didn’t paint the cover, too much work, so the can of paint has remained in a cabinet in the garage. Back when I was looking for a muffler to try out for fixing the now ugly exhaust note, one member of the Club offered his stock unit up for the job. I went another way (I’m looking at you Mr. Borla), but I offered him the can of wrinkle paint as a token of my appreciation for his generous offer. He declined.

Fast forward to last Friday and seeing as I had some of the valve cover parts off the car while troubleshooting the VVT issue and I had about a 5 day wait for the o-ring/gasket set to get here from California, I decided now might a good time to try that painting it red thing again. Friday night I used some Simple Green and a toothbrush to clean up the cover. Saturday morning I fine cleaned the rest of it with some brake cleaner and q-tips. Next I masked off the 8 to 10 machined surfaces and oil return connections. Saturday afternoon I painted that sucker red. Instructions said to let it sit a couple hours and it should start to wrinkle up as it dries.

It did start wrinkling, but there were several spots that were still smooth as, well, freshly sprayed paint. Further down the can it said that if it wrinkles didn’t form to hit those spots with another coat. For final curing place in a 200° oven and bake for 1 hour. Somehow I didn’t think that Donna would have taken kindly to me placing that engine part in the same place as she bakes cookies in, so I didn’t even broach the subject. Who cares if I’ve got a few non-wrinkly areas, not me.

Today the o-ring/gasket was set in the mailbox, so tonight I buttoned every thing back up and at least started the car to check for leaks. None were obvious, so I shut the car back down. It was raining to heavy to go for a full-fledged shakedown cruise. Maybe tomorrow.

While researching a link for the paint I was at the VHT web sight and noticed at the bottom of the page for the paint a little blurb:
VHT Wrinkle Plus only attains its unique properties after correct curing.
– Bake at 200°F (93°C) for 20 minutes.
– The inherent heat of engine operation will also accomplish curing.
I wonder if that second one will still work if the paint has been drying for 3 days before I get some inherent engine heat applied to it?

Modification or Maintenance

I say a little of both.

Neither Donna nor I were happy with the suddenly somewhat louder, uglier exhaust note, so I marinated on what to do for a couple of days. The shop had checked for leaks and there were none, so it was one (hopefully) of three things: muffler, catalytic converter or resonator. The easiest thing to check would be the muffler as it separate and held on by only two bolts and some rubber hangers. I sent an email to everyone in the MMC asking if anyone had a stock muffler for a 1999-2005 Miata laying around.

I got two replies. One person’s car was torn apart in the middle of a roll bar install and would gladly pull his to let me test with it. And Clunk, of the famed wrenching and auto advice duo Clunk and Thunk, had a used Borla muffler he would sell me for a mere $40 and even help me install it. The second sounded like a winner because if the muffler was in fact the issue and it sounded good, we were done. If the muffler fixed the noise and I didn’t like the exhaust note I could decline the sale and then pick up a used stock one somewhere or make the investment in a new Racing Beat.

At the last minute, Thunk volunteered a stock muffler, plus a whole mid-pipe (the piece with the cat & resonator) off a ’99 that he had inherited from a fellow racer. He said he’d give it the Clunk to bring over and if that was the way I went we could haggle over cost later.

I had doused the nuts holding the muffler to the mid-pipe flange with Liquid Wrench Friday night and then for good measure squirted some more on Saturday morning. I got the back of the car up on jack stands and with a bit of percussive persuasion I got the nuts off. About then Rudy arrived and brought out his foot and half long 1/2″ breaker bar and a can of silicone spray to get off those pesky rubber hangers. Ten minutes later we had mounted John’s stock muffler on the two exhaust side hangers and the flange. Started it up and revved the engine a few times. It sounded like, surprise, a stock muffler. This confirmed it must be something broken with the Racing Beat.

Because we missed the sportier sound of our previous Miata, one of the first modifications we did to the Emperor was adding the Racing Beat muffler. So knowing that both of us would be unsatisfied with the stock sound, I said to Rudy, “While we have it here, let’s go ahead and mount the Borla.” Even though they had recently been stretched and coated in silicone, those 2 rubber mounts were still a hassle to get lose. Got the Borla on there and revved it a few times – much more sports car-ish. I liked it, but I needed to get my co-driver to actually hear it too. We dropped the car off the jack stands and I collected Donna from the living room for a short test drive.

Overall it is a little louder than the Racing Beat at neighborhood throttle and when you stomp on the go pedal hard it is a little more than a little louder than the RB, but it is quieter and less ugly sounding than the Racing Beat had become. Donna pronounced that she could live with it. I paid Rudy for the muffler and both Donna and I are happier that we didn’t have to drop 10 times that cost on a new muffler.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 165

The Emperor Returns

New Pedals

The Cam Angle Sensor wiring harness was rubbing on a serpentine belt until it shorted out.

I was hoping to find a more local shop than Panic to take the Miata to when it needs work and it turns out Wayne’s won’t be it. Not that the quality of work is a problem, the car drove home just fine, but the intangibles sunk their chances.

When I got in the car to drive it home I noticed they had nicely laid one of those paper floor mats down to keep greasy footprints off the mats, but they had forgotten to put the fuse box cover back on and it was laying on the passenger seat. Back home I snapped the fuse cover back on and pulled up the paper floor mat. It had done its job because it had collected a couple greasy prints on it, but when I pulled it up, there were a lot more greasy areas on the real mats than on the paper. Good thing I still have some of that old carpet that I made these mats from. The topper came as I walked around the back of the car to go get that piece of carpet, there were four big greasy hand prints on the trunk from where they had pushed it into the shop.

Finally spent the $50 Gift Certificate we won for 2015’s Motoring Challenge. There was not really anything in the catalog that I really wanted. The only thing that I needed in there in the right price range were some replacement rubber pads for the brake and clutch pedals, but what would I do with the remaining twenty bucks. Plus I really didn’t like the ‘Roadster’ script on them. The fancy I.L. Motorsports aluminum ones were $15 over the sum of the GC, so what the heck, I bought them. They of course arrived on Thursday while the Miata was off at the shop. Put them on Friday night while I was cutting a new mat and wiping off the trunk lid.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 159

Plasti Dip Is The Bomb

Blacked Logo

All the cool kids have known about Plasti Dip‘s awsomeness for years, me I’m just catching on. Continuing on with the black accent theme on the New & Improved Emperor I spent six bucks on a can of the stuff. A little masking tape, an hour of my Sunday afternoon and TADA! Blacked out Mazda Logo on the nose.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 37