mitch_f1's mariner NA6

[mitch_f1]

Sure is!!

Jace, I am not sure, but I will ask dad when he gets home.

[mitch_f1]

Dad is not sure when he got it (he thinks early 80s maybe), how he got it, or if it has ever been on a car (my guess is not).

Anywho, thanks to Trung on the forum I was able to swap my badly scratched one for his nice and sexy and not scratched one


Also, and prepare yourselves for this, please ensure you are seated, I made this!!!!


SO PROUD!!! I didn't like the look of the Mazda OEM plastic one, which has holes in it (for access to air con stuff), and was flimsy and rubbish. So I cut a template out of cardboard, elongated some margins for tighter clearances, and to make it look nicer. It is made of 0.5mm aluminium (what bunnings had), which I think should be fine, as it isn't weight bearing or any of that. The plastic is more flimsy than this!! But yeh, it started looking like this, but it had a lot of surface scratches on it, so I decided to go for a bit of a brushed look (final pic up there) and hit it with many passes of some 1200grit


There was also the little matter of the front bumper mounting bracket is raised above where the cooling panel bolts in. So I measured this depth, and cut out several spacers from a broken tripod I had lying around.


Then I went for a drive, and had to take this photo

[mitch_f1]

So dad was kind enough to bring me home some more of my favourite brake pads; the S500 pads by RS factory stage (JDM YO!). They deliver the same cold braking performance as a stock pad, same race performance as the HP PLUS and no squeal (this was killing me about the hawks of late; they just squeal sooooo bloody much!!!).

Removed HP PLus and noticed a weird wear pattern on them all; there was a dusty portion in the top middle of the inside pads front and rear, I am curious to know if this has a diagnostic value



Also, melted paint of HP PLus


Also, beginning of diagonal wear on outside pad


I love the Japanese and their neatness!!


Red makes them faster


I also gave the car a very very good clean with a friend; we washed the car, clayed the car, washed it again, polished it, and waxed it in that order. In the process my mazda badge fell off, and I wanted something to cover the holes while i procrastinate cutting out the double sided tape to put the mazda badge back

[mitch_f1]

So i've been wanting to buy the loom for my passenger side parker/indicator since I got the car, but either I missed the sale, or it's already broken. So today I went to fix this
Problem:
The tabs on the bayonet break, and results in the bulb moving around and melting the housing.



I go to pick n payless every now and then and just pick up random stuff that I may have use for at some point. I found this loom from something or other (I think it was a 323 astina), and the bayonette was about as close to perfect as I was going to get. I had to shave off a few of the tabs, but it would suit fine. I started by drilling out the hole in the housing (see above photo)



The drilling out of said hole resulted in shavings inside the housing, as well as other shrapnel. Enter the tool of the hour: tape on a screw driver


Small collection



Chop and change loom, and done! Problem band-aided ;)




While at this end of the car I noticed my headlights were in a sorry state, so they got a clean



I also had some remnants of duct tape on my radiator support, so got rid of that


And the duct tape goo on the dash, which is being very stubborn, but I got most of it


I put a post out asking why my bottom capiler slider pin was soo stiff. I had a variety of suggested issues come back, some more relevant than others. A combination of them got me thinking; maybe I have too much grease in there, and it is blocking the hole at the end which allows you to pull the pin out (otherwise a vacuum is created). So I removed caliper and bracket and rubbers to clean them with degreaser, and put them back. Interestingly with just the bracket and the pin it was f*cking difficult to insert and remove. In putting the rubber for the lower pin (which is actually a rubber sleeve), I used a generous amount of rubber grease on the exterior so that it can twist happily in its housing. Reason being I think that part of my issue was that it wasnt able to move, so undoing the bolt would cause small creases which would push against the bolt, making it more difficult to remove. Anyway, after I was done it is nice and smooth to insert and remove



Grease/degreaser mixture from end of sleeve


As it was removed, dry as a bone


Rubbish photo of it greased up and back in place


Problem hole. It has flaps on it so that dust does not get in and cause increased friction. I made this hole slightly bigger, by partially removing one of the flaps



I have done compression tests on two friends cars, but never my own. So today I decided to do my own car
I discovered that plug 4 at the back of the head had slight corrosion inside. I guess just further proof that this engine is pretty messed up (see several pages back when I did the cooling system)


There was some concerning metal filings underneath the washer of plug 3. Thumb for size reference



Overall very happy with the condition of the plugs, which were new when I got the car thanks to the previous owner. Gaps were a consistent 1.05mm. Front of engine is on left


Compression figures were
1 - 174psi
2 - 171psi
3 - 160psi
4 - 180psi

Which are within normal (Rod's book says 28psi difference is the largest acceptable), and pretty decent (Rod's rekons 135psi is for a tired engine)

Also, before I went on my road trip I removed my G-wing (hard top spoiler), as it was detaching itself on one side (wasn't put on properly; was about 5-10mm off center) and I didn't want it flying off. I finally got around to removing all the 3M double sided tape from it. I tell ya, this stuff is made to stick!! Took me a good 2 hours to get it all off!!!

[Hjt]

That third cylinder does seem low though, wouldn't jump off a bridge over it yet though! Just gives you more excuses why your not in the 1.15's ;)

[mitch_f1]

Yeh, it is slightly concerning, not really sure what to make of it. I might try it again some time soon now that I think of it. This one was done for 6 cranks, I might try for 7 or 8 next time.

[evil_weevil]

when I did mine a month or so ago, one of mine was on 160psi, did the others, came back and went up to 165 or so

she'll be right, gotta understand its an old motor now that gets flogged on the track!

I wouldnt be worried.

[mitch_f1]

Dad sold his M3 a while back, and this is a photo of its new home from the new owner:


Also, I got a pair(??) of king G overalls from vinnies for $6....no your eyes do not deceive you, and it was not a typo....SIX DOLLARS!!! I love vinnies!

[Guran]

Vinnies is great isn't it. My wife shops there regularly. Last time she dragged me along (I hate shopping!), I came home with four pairs of jeans, a couple pairs of shorts and a business suit - all for about $40! Yay, now I'll never need to go clothes shopping for another decade.

[-alex]

Fun stuff =)
Keep up with the updates feels like Wednesday nights!

[mitch_f1]

If you are cool, you will vote for my car (please).
http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread.php ... -Month-%29

Love you all

[mitch_f1]

I borrowed a friends Sparco Ultra (same as Monte Carlo/Tec) to try fit in the car, but struck issues with the stock rails contacting where they weren't supposed to.

You can see under here that the slider mechanism was at fault:


Which meant that at the unbolted end there was an unholy gap


Also this plastic washer (??) was hitting, removing it didn't fix the issue


It would have fit if I had grinded away a bit of the fibreglass, but truely I am having a bit of buyers remorse over selling the Sparco Evo. That was the most damn comfy seat I've ever sat in!!! I kinda want it back, and to make it fit!

Which brings me to my next question; if you have a bucket seat in your NA that is on the stock rails and isn't a Spring/Junior and you live in Sydney could you message me; I want to come around and have a sit. Gonna see if I can get 'Evo' comfy with 'Sprint' easiness

Weather was perfect on sat for the JDMST EOMM, where are some pics (none mine)






Somewhat related I have decided that my modifying days are mainly over; I have spent way too much money on the car. What I am doing now is just maintenance/little things to the car. Here is a few to do's
-install new rear bumper and possibly give it a cutout
-little front indicator project, once I get my hands on a good set
-remove soft top, put rear parcel shelf carpet back
-install some better interior lighting
-find out where my burning oil smell is coming from (its not dropping any oil, which is weird)
-heaps of trackdays so I can get into the 13s

[Hjt]

Nice pics Mitch.

[mitch_f1]

I wonder if getting a torsen diff could constitute maintenance?? The stock open diff is humming along nicely right now. It was barely noticeable before, now it is quite loud.

Also I have a lot of flywheel chatter which is really annoying me

[mitch_f1]

Made the move to Nulon 10w40 fully synthetic today. While under the car I had a look at the diff, and look what I found:




Leaking oil, which it wasn't before the RNP run last night (jacked it up to have a look what was going on). Also noticed that there is several degrees of play on the flange which mounts to the prop shaft, which I can only assume is not supposed to be the case. Eren came around and had a look and rekons that the front bearing may have collapsed, which isn't good news. But, I am somewhat relieved, as it explains my burning oil smell:



Bonus video for all you kids playing at home


So I guess now my car has forced my hand, and I am now looking at my options in terms of LSD swaps. Speaking of LSD, I confirmed that I have a viscous LSD today thanks to this incredibly useful page: http://www.miata.net/garage/diffguide/index.html But this confuses me because having the VLSD I would assume that it would be difficult to spin the inside wheel, which I was doing at fish hook and the last corner at Wakefield?? Possibly my sticking rear caliper from a while back may have f*cked it up by creating too much friction on one wheel? Is this a logical assumption?? But yeh, it is also annoying because I had wanted to do a trackday sometime soon, as I haven't done one in a while. But with my uni commitments I am probably not going to have the time until after this semester, which means can't drive until after this semester....BUM!!!!!

While doing oil change I noticed a random bung near the oil filter, I was wondering if someone can tell me what it is please (it's in the center of this photo)?