Montgomery the 2nd

[MX5CHIC]

SE Wheels for sale ? ............. I'm waiting

What kind of stereo system is that?

[Boyracer]

Had no doubt you would end up in a SE once you drove one Chris...well done...have been driving around in my new SE...great car.

Lou, you must be the only person on this forum (probably in aus) to have ever owned the most amount of SE's.

I have only owned 4 of them if you include the Turbo Roadster...

The red SE roadie has to go soon...the SE race car isn't looking like selling and MrsRacer wants a new Mazda3.

If anyone is after a cheap SE I have one.

[blackster]

I have only owned 4 of them if you include the Turbo Roadster...

I dont think anyone will put there hand up, to say they have owned 3; let alone 4.

[Boyracer]

I have only owned 4 of them if you include the Turbo Roadster...

I dont think anyone will put there hand up, to say they have owned 3; let alone 4.

Was just thinking about it and it's actually 5...forgot the Silver SE race car.

[sliq]

Was just thinking about it and it's actually 5...forgot the Silver SE race car.

sorry to go o/t, but the fact that you had to THINK about how many SE's you've owned says a lot

[zawrilla]

Good weather this weekend and remembered that I had bought some car care products around 6 months ago that I have yet to used so decided to give the car a bit of a clean.

I've been using this Ultra Wash that I picked up from Mania. Does a good job, foams like crazy, and smells really nice .
Tried to go over a few light scratches with ScratchX from Meguirs, but I'm not convinced with the product. I know it's a bit more gentle than cut and polish, but it is nowhere near as effective.

I also went over the car with claybar. I used the Meguirs Quick Clay. I've heard of stories about it and people saying it works...and it REALLY works. I just did a quick job to test it out and wow. Half a bar of clay (that could easily be used all over again), some quick detailer and a microfibre cloth was all I needed. The paint literally feels like glass. It was really cool to feel the part I had just done and then go over the parts I hadn't.

Also had some time to get give the bonnet and boot a wax with Carnuaba Wax, also from Meguirs. Didn't get a chance to finish the rest of the car though. Will try next weekend.

Also picked up some tyres today. I wasn't going for these originally, but I bought them virtually brand new off someone else so managed to save myself a few dollars. It will do the job for now.

Nice and shiney




RE001 - Made in Japan

[philz]

ScratchX is NOT a cut and polish, it's a filler, hence the poor results.

[hks_kansei]

yep, scratchX is absolute garbage.
I gave away my tube because it was so sh*t.

if you want to get into detailing and learn a heap about it I recommend joining, and reading, the Detail Addiction forums.

[zawrilla]

ScratchX is NOT a cut and polish, it's a filler, hence the poor results.

That would explain quite a lot then

I have lots of little scratches that aren't bad enough for me to justify getting a professional to detail it, especially because the likelihood of scratches, and stone chips occuring is always high. But it would be good to get rid of them if I could. I'm a bit reluctant to cut back everywhere, although I have done that previously on my old cars. Doesn't really matter, I'm not going to bother right now considering I've just clayed and waxed/will wax the rest this weekend. I'll do a bit of research in between now and the next time I decide to detail the car.

The plan for this week is get the tyres fitted on the rear and a new wheel alignment + possibly raise the car up 1cm. I'm a bit tired of having all the chassis bracing scrape on every speed bump. Also with my current offset, the height doesn't work too well. The best thing will be getting rid of these shitty Nankang NSIIs I have on them now.

Rego is also up this month, so will need to sort that out... blergh, more money that I can't spend on mods.

[zawrilla]

Took the car to Spinning Wheel Tyres today. After Matt recommended them and also hearing good things about them elsewhere, I thought I would give them a try.

On the cards today was fit and balance two new tyres, raise the car by 10mm and get a wheel alignment that was still nice for some spirited driving, but not really a 'track-oriented' set up. As I don't intend to track the car in the next few months due to money and not having the car set up the way I want - brakes, intercooler, tuning etc.

Stuart took a look at it and immediately told me to raise it, within me even suggesting it. Basically the car was too low. It looked good (even though I didn't have the offset), but it wasn't really practical, and was clearly ruining handling/ride.

He raised it up 20mm, but then we brought it back down to 15mm. The car now sits at a sensible height.. still lower than stock height, and makes driving a bit less on edge as I'm no longer worried about scraping the under-chasis bracing everywhere.

From this:


To this:


Popped on the two new tyres, a pair of Japanese made Adrenalin Potenzas on the rear (I have Dunlop Sportmax on the front, with around 70%-80% left).





Stuart then started on the alignment. I was amazed at the time he spent. The shop was building up, with quite a few customers waiting, but he just kept working - took the car off the hoist twice to give it a test drive before he was happy to give it back to me.

I didn't bother with a print out, but he said it was similar to what he's done for others that have asked for 'spirited driving', with around 1.5 neg camber at the back and a bit less than that at the front; some more castor and a bit of toe in front and rear.

Was also great just being able to wonder around the shop and watch all the work that was being done. He took the time to explain/chat as he worked. They seem to have a good customer base as well.. people roll in and everyone knows each other by name.

Pricing is very reasonable.. all up, wheel alignment, fitting/balancing of 2 tyres, and 1 hour workshop time set me back just over $200.

My thoughts:

I highly recommend Spinning Wheel Tyres

Getting rid of the crappy Nankangs on the rear is probably one of the best things I'll ever do to this car. Yes, I gave it a bit of a test on the way back.. it gripped through first unlike before, I could accelerate fairly hard out of turns/corners. I didn't go all out as I was just on the road, but I could confidently corner without feeling my car was just about to snap out

The wheel alignment is great. Sharp and tight, and should still see around 10-15thousand kms or more out of the tyers. I asked for this as not being a daily driver, that's more than enough kms out of the tyres for me

Raising the car has improved it immensely. I was previously ridding on the bumpstops on the rear, and just slightly off the front. A bit of suspension travel does wonders - the car has reduced bump steering/tram lining; some more comfort has been achieved without touching the shock dampening; and just makes the car more sensible to drive around on the roads. Sorry to say Adam (MXHEVN), but it's just too hard to argue that having it that low doesn't impact on handling

And just for some good measure, a couple of pictures of the car from an MX5 run I did a few weeks back. Thanks to Matt and Alan for these photos..really cool looking shots. My two favourtie shots I currently have of the car.





Next to come... get some new brake pads. I will be sticking Hawk HP+ into this car, just as in the old one.

[blehbear]

nice ride height zawrilla.

What suspension setup are u running?

[zawrilla]

I have Buddy Club Junior Spec coilovers in the car. They are set at a level that leaves a bit of clearance from the bumpstops so that there's still a bit of travel in them. Also running reasonably stiff, around 12 out of the 16 levels of dampening. I don't think this is too stiff and with the car off the bumpstops, it definitely is nicer of rough roads.

You could go softer, but I didn't buy the car for luxury and comfort.

[CoffeeBoss]

Hey Chris,
great to hear that Spinning Wheel has another happy customer. It's nice to be vindicated
Stu is a wizard with MX5s, particularly NA's and NB's. I continue to be impressed with the change he wrought with my NC.

Car is looking great. By which i mean, it looks genuinely the good steer that it is. In a, come one, let's go for a drive kind of way. If that makes any sense.

Montgomery II aye? We weren't formally introduced. I shall remember for next time. So embarrassing when you forget a car's name...

Matt

[zawrilla]

Don't really have much to update, but I'm on leave from work this week with study (but we all know not studying is more fun) and felt like updating/putting down some thoughts.

I'm still really enjoying driving the car. My problem with the cars I've previously owned is that I have all these big plans for the car and either due to money or boredom I don't follow through with them. However, with Montgomery II I can feel myself becoming slowly more attached to the car and just won't turn down any excuse to have a drive, no matter how mundane it is. I suppose the fact that I don't use this to commute to work may keep that desire going. Hopefully this is a car for which I'll want to hold onto and really make it mine. I want it to look, drive, and feel like it was made just for me.

I was also hoping I could be sensible with regards to modifying, and that's why I started to de-mod my original Monty. However I got bored of that and then wanted a new car!
The SE was supposed to stop me from wanting more, because it's pretty much what I wanted to get my NA8 to....however, I don't think that will last long. I'm already finding things I want to change and things that should be changed.

The most important thing on my list would probably be to get my braking issue checked out. May have already said this, but I'm finding that when I'm braking with the steering pointing left then when it gets to about 5km to a stop I get a shudder from the left front. Possible that the ABS module is playing up? I know I really should, but I'm afraid to find out what the damage is already. Also and that I was hoping that since I bought a car that's relatively new compared to all the others I've owned that I could avoid these sorts of maintenance headaches for a while at least.

In regards to modifying, I'm a bit unsure about the direction I want to go, or rather where I want to spend first, because at the end of the day, I think I want it all (yes, I'm very greedy).
The late onset of boost that I said was okay because it meant that you could accelerate without being too stupid, is actually sort of getting to me know. I suppose knowing that the power is there, but not being able to get off the line is a bit annoying. It would just add a bit more driveability to an already excellent drive.
With the current 'no tune' the car continues to dump a load of fuel when I give it a boot which I personally don't mind too much, but I'm sure the environment, and the car, sparkplugs etc do.
An ECU and tune is definitely the smart way to go, but it's expensive and it will open up a whole new door to further modifying that I'm a bit apprehensive to go into right now, as it's just going to mean I have more things to throw my money at.
Other things on my mind are upgrading the intercooler, brakes (probably just pads), a rollbar and then stupid cosmetic parts that serve no purpose but just to make it a bit prettier. Then there are always the smaller, wider, lower offset wheels I want.

I think the best and the worst thing about modifying/wanting to modify is that nothing is a standalone job. You can't upgrade one thing and then leave another... or if you upgrade one thing, then you need to upgrade another. For example, if I do the ECU upgrade, I'll probably tune it for more power... and then to make the car even more capable I'll throw some upgraded injectors and boost control and what not... but then that leads to probably getting the IC done for safety, and upgrading brakes so the car can stop in time with the new power etc. Everything just connects.

But it's just oh so fun

Anyway, here's a pic that I shamelessly ripped from Matt's photos because I think the car looks damn cool in it




Anyway, that's just my thoughts on the car right now.

[Sasso]

hmmm If i had an se I'd pull out the turbo and put a Garrett GT2560R then ecu, IC and 550cc injectors and run 1bar. yumm. Your brakes should be ok, maybe get some DBA rotors and agressive pads and you'll be fine. I'd keep to 16" wheels though and put some crazy good tyres on there like R888's. Once you're there then start tuning the suspension and driving.

You'll always want more, but at least you have a good base car to start with. Looks great in the photo.