Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

[Dweezle]

BOO YAH!!!!!

Dude seriously something I would never stop bragging about.

Now hurry up and break the 2 min barrier. ;)


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[s13deviat]

Awesome stuff! I cant wait to get out there and gauge how quick i can go in a MX5 compared to the old silvia!

Not knowing comparisons, but i can imagine sub 2:00 is flying in an NA6!!! Well done!

[evil_weevil]

was skafie on semi's? lol

Ando - This is the Na6 that is giving me a run for my money!!!

[Guran]

Nah, Skaife was on 1993 vintage stock tyres, of course . Can't help but wonder what he might have done in an NA6 though. The extra power, TorSen, Bilsteins, and swaybar of the Clubman must surely be worth at least a second at EC. The diff in particular because i get lots of inside wheelspin. So if R specs are worth a couple of seconds, my time seems to be roughly line ball with Skaife's. There's possibly not much left, but rest assured, I'll be hunting for another couple of tenths to grab the Class 1A record and then 1:59s will be the goal. I'd love to beat my old PB in my modified Cooper S (2.00.0).

[evil_weevil]

Im sure you will beat it mate!
everytime you have gone there you go quicker and quicker!

[Guran]

I've been in China (Shanghai and Guangzhou) for the last ten days for work, and arrived home yesterday just in time to attend the MX-5 Club of NSW AGM. Came home with this lovely trophy as a reward for posting the fastest lap for Class 1 in the 2009/10 season.



I was also voted in as the new Publicity Officer for the club, which means that I will be responsible for producing the Club Torque magazine for the next year. I've already got a few new ideas for new content, and some forum regulars can expect to hear from me soon!

And this morning I had new genuine swaybar bushes and swaybar links fitted to Little Reddy. I took the easy option and paid Pedders to fit them for me. Now there's no more creaking and groaning when driving over curbs. All good to go for the club trackday at Wakefield Park on Sunday.

[SIB]

Congratulations mate, you have worked very hard for that!

[Jeo]

Congrats mate. See you on Sunday.

[slug_dub]

Well done Guran!

[Guran]

24th October 2010

MX-5 Club of NSW track day - Wakefield Park

The weather forecast for Sunday wasn't too promising with the prospect of showers throughout the day. So none of us were expecting quick times. Thankfully the rain never arrived, apart from some early mist and a few drops after lunch. Otherwise, the chilly air meant that most of the 67 entrants (47 MX-5s) finished with PBs; many were even faster than on the "perfect day" in June this year. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of those and my best was 1:17.28, which was only a few tenths off (1:17.00).

The quickest MX-5 on the day was Mark Hellmund (as usual) with a 1:10.16, but Phil Ashton pushed him hard with a new PB of 1:10.64. They were closely followed by Colin Moore with a 1:10.81. The quickest cars on the day were four regular State Supersprinters: Eric Scheeren 1:07.40, Leigh Hemmings 1:07.47, Ian Diven 1:08.04 in Clubmans, and Roger Rantfl 1:09.70 in a Commodore; in addition to a visitor in an XR6T Falcon (1:10.01).

Hammer and I had yet another ding-dong battle in Class 1. Here's how it played out:

Run 1: me 1:18.42, Allan 1:17.94 ... Allan led by 0.46s (I overcooked the fishhook at the end of my 3rd lap which was on target for a 1:17.7 but finished with a 360 spin)
Run 2: me 1:18.33, Allan 1:17.75 ... Allan led by 0.58s (I had heaps of traffic and no clear lap)
Run 3: me 1:17.28, Allan 1:18.67 ... I led by 0.47s (thought I had it with this one ...)
Run 4: me 1:17.92, Allan 1:17.10 ... Allan led by 0.18s (... then Allan pipped me only minutes later)
Run 5: me 1:18.02, Allan 1:17.92 ... no change
Run 6: me 1:17.45, Allan 1:17.49 ... no change
Run 7: me 1:17.88, Allan 1:18.05 ... no change

Round two for 2010/11 goes to Hammer! Thanks Allan, it was great fun once again!

Here for your viewing pleasure is my bloopers reel that focusses on my turn 5 adventures, where I was having heaps of fun with four-wheel drifts that mostly worked but sometimes didn't. My big spin at the fishhook in my first run is also included at the end: in fact, there are two different angles of it.



Thank you very much to the club officials who did a great job once again. Especially thanks to Keith Monaghan and Glenn Thomas who helped out with marshalling in addition to driving.

Later at home, after analysing my PerformanceBox data, I discovered that I was consistently losing three or four tenths on turn 10. I got it right in my third run, but then was trying too hard for the rest of the day, and getting too much understeer as a result. Bugger.

[Hammer]

Great video Bryan. I should get my butt in gear and also do a bloopers video of the day. I had enough of them.

Congratulations also for your "Fastest Lap" trophy. Well deserved.

[CoffeeBoss]

The battle wages on! Bryan, perhaps you should change your forum signature to Tongs...? *boom tish*

Congratulations on the trophy btw, very well deserved.

Same goes for the publicity appointment

[gobsmax]

LOL, great vid Guran! Congrats on the trophy and new appointment

[Guran]

I've been putting up with a slow leak of coolant over recent months, and it's gradually been getting faster (now ~70mL/hr while driving or as engine cools). The scrutineer at the last club trackday noticed it and advised I should fix it ASAP. So this morning I had time to have a close look for the source. After taking off the undertray the photos show that it's mainly coming from behind the crank pulley. So it seems that the water pump is shot. Bugger!

The timing belt was changed before I took ownership of the car, and I suspect it was a backyard job and they probably skipped the water pump. After checking my workshop manual, it looks like changing the water pump requires removing the timing belt. Big job! And I'm not brave enough to try it myself. So I now have Little Reddy booked at MX5 Mania to get a complete 200,000km service which includes the water pump and timing belt, plus a few gaskets and seals which will hopefully fix a slight oil leak on the back of the engine.

While I had the car up on jack stands, I also took the opportunity to rotate the tyres and bleed the brakes. Once the service is done, I'll be good to go for the club trackday on 5th December and then Phillip Island on 12th December.

View from the underneath

IMG_0329 by Guran5, on Flickr

View from the top

IMG_0332 by Guran5, on Flickr

[Guran]

Little Reddy was treated to a 200,000km major service pampering at MX5 Mania yesterday. This was done "early" (she's only got 178,000km on the clock), because there was little point in only replacing the failed water pump when everything else forward of the engine had to come out. Steve at MX5 Mania did a great job and didn't mind me clicking away with the camera. It was great to watch him work - he was very methodical, precise, and quick. I guess you learn that after doing several hundreds of these things!

I bought most of the parts needed from mazdatenfive ($400 for this lot), and the guys didn't mind fitting what I supplied. The only extra things needed were a crankshaft seal, water inlet gasket, sump plug washer, woodruff key, and thermostat O-ring ($32 in total).

20101119_parts by Guran5, on Flickr

Oh, and I also had a new radiator fitted ($280). The old one wasn't leaking (yet), but it was either brown or white (!!!) where it was meant to be black. It was a ticking timebomb.

20101119_IMG_0621 by Guran5, on Flickr

Here she is with her private parts exposed for all to see. Radiator and cambox cover are out, showing the old timing belt and pulleys.
There was plenty of leaked coolant around the crank pulley.

20101119_IMG_0622 by Guran5, on Flickr

Cam pulleys and thermostat removed, with the failed waterpump exposed to view.

20101119_IMG_0625 by Guran5, on Flickr

Outer crankshaft pulley is off and the timing belt removed, showing the crankshaft inner pulley
and woodruff key in place.

20101119_IMG_0626 by Guran5, on Flickr

Inner crankshaft pulley removed. It came out quite easily. The guide plate, which came out before it, required a bit more convincing and a special tool.

20101119_IMG_0627 by Guran5, on Flickr

The old waterpump out and in it's new home ... the bin!

20101119_IMG_0629 by Guran5, on Flickr

Waterpump gasket surface was pretty badly pitted.

20101119_IMG_0628 by Guran5, on Flickr

Steve tidied up the gasket seats with a polishing wheel. A nice trick that I would no doubt have missed if I'd done this job myself.

20101119_IMG_0630 by Guran5, on Flickr

New bits fitted: crankshaft pulley seals, waterpump, crankshaft seal, and woodruff key to lock the crankshaft pulley.

20101119_IMG_0631 by Guran5, on Flickr

More new bits fitted: timing belt, tensioner wheel, tensioner spring, and idler wheel.

20101119_IMG_0636 by Guran5, on Flickr

Fitting a new O-ring on the camshaft angle sensor was a damn sight easier with the cam cover removed!

20101119_IMG_0639 by Guran5, on Flickr

And here she is with everything else back in: cam cover (and gasket), new radiator, air trunking, etc.

20101119_IMG_0640 by Guran5, on Flickr

The service also included fitting a new fuel filter, new oil filter and oil, and checking/tightening lots of bolts under the car. Five and half hours of labour ($440) was worth every cent for a job that would have taken me 2-3 days and the stress of getting things wrong would have shortened my life by years! On the other hand, now that I've seen it done, I'd be inclined to give it a try myself next time. However, I don't think I'll need to do it again for more many many years!

I also picked up a set of Hawk HP+ front brake pads ($150), which I'll hopefully fit before the club trackday on 4th December. I'm interested to see how these go compared with the Bendix Ultimates.