Emily's 04 VR SE

Postby **NitroDann** » Tue May 15, 2012 9:02 pm

Kinda sexist..?

Its just brake pads.

Should meet some female boiler makers, some are pretty nice on the eye.

Dann

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Tue May 15, 2012 9:41 pm

OFFTOPIC: My girlfriend can only top up her wash water, although my brother is dating an apprentice mechanic.

shake and bake · Postby **shake and bake** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:55 pm

Car looks great Emily!

Keep up the good work.

Gladiator · Postby **Gladiator** » Mon May 28, 2012 6:11 pm

GREAT WORK Emily

I've just finished reading this entire thread, and I must say I'm impressed. I guess youth + enthusiasm = great results. You should be very proud of your achievements.

Andrew

Kev05 · Postby **Kev05** » Mon May 28, 2012 6:39 pm

Excellent build up Emily.

As Apu puts it, you certainly put a few guys to shame and I'm one of them.

Good work!

emily_mx5 · Postby **emily_mx5** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:26 pm

shake and bake wrote:Car looks great Emily!
Keep up the good work.

Gladiator wrote:GREAT WORK Emily
I've just finished reading this entire thread, and I must say I'm impressed. I guess youth + enthusiasm = great results. You should be very proud of your achievements.
Andrew

Kev05 wrote:Excellent build up Emily.
As Apu puts it, you certainly put a few guys to shame and I'm one of them.
Good work!

haha thanks guys :lol:

emily_mx5 · Postby **emily_mx5** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:27 pm

Throttle body cleaning
So I was still having trouble starting my car when it was cold, so the next step was to clean the throttle body and cold start valve.
Thanks to spikes who came over to help me

Had to make gaskets out of "Gasket Goo" its pretty cool stuff haha.
We cleaned the butterfly plate with "Nulon Throttle Body Cleaner"; it was really gunked up with carbon :/
I am pleased to report a noticeable improvement in starting the car, and it seems slightly more responsive now

Coolant Hoses
Finally did the last of the coolant hoses, the heater ones were so hard and brittle.
It was fiddly getting them off, and in the process broke the dipstick haha but s'all good got another one and it looks nice now.

Alternator
So my NEW alternator started to fail. AGAIN. It sounded much worse this time, grinding and rattling and horrible :/
I was able to pick up another one, korean aftermarket unit from a wrecker, it is 10amp higher rating (70 as opposed to 60 oem) But I was told this is ok. It was pretty quick changing it over haha as I knew what to do from last time :roll:

But just as I was tightening it up, the motherfcking bolt snapped :evil:

So I had to go get another one and it made the whole job take just as long as last time lol.
At least the noise has gone now.

BUT NO now the god damn A/C compressor is starting to make the same noise.
Not gonna lie I'm really over all the sounds this car makes that it shouldn't :frown:

evil_weevil · Postby **evil_weevil** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:52 pm

put the exhaust back on...wont hear any othber noises...problem fixed. thats what I do. ha!

emily_mx5 · Postby **emily_mx5** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:56 pm

Haha yeah I took the RS*R off today, It was just too loud lolz :oops:

emily_mx5 · Postby **emily_mx5** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 8:56 pm

Headunitless/mini amp install
Since spikes has helped me out a few times I thought it was time to repay the favour, So I helped him out with the install of a tiny amp that replaces the head unit. It has RCA in and 2 channel out at 50rms each.
His car had the biggest mess behind the tombstone lol, this is all the stuff we cut out / didn't use

Very simple:
Mazda oem harness cut and soldered onto a male ISO harness, so a normal head unit can be plugged in if need be, then female ISO harness cut and soldered into amp harness.
Donesies!

Sounds pretty decent actually. Next step is to mount it up in the dash/under steering column, and just have the input and volume knob accessible in the cubbyhole void.

I think I am helping Hjt next with a head unit install, and now my neighbour has asked me to "make it so i can have my iPhone music in the car"
:lol:

spikes · Postby **spikes** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:41 pm

Should probably also note that this amp costs $0.99 + $5 postage from eBay China haha

emily_mx5 · Postby **emily_mx5** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:16 pm

Exactly why I was surprised it sounded ok haha

emily_mx5 · Postby **emily_mx5** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:18 pm

Front Lip options?
So I am majorly struggling to make a choice.

1. OEM lip

2. Garage Vary lip

3. 100mm Trap lip

opinions

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:24 pm

Personally I think the OEM lip would suit yours best.

The Garage Vary lip seems to only work when the car is quite low and has other somewhat aggressive parts.

The Trap personally only works when you've also got a similar styled boot lip and have a more retro look to the car.

Dweezle · Postby **Dweezle** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:26 pm

I love the TRAP lip but it really needs the guards and wide wheels to pull it off!

OEM lip is pretty trouble free in regards to speed humps etc while also adding a bit of edge to the profile of the car i believe anyway.