Lee's 1991 Mariner Blue Eunos Roadster

[Mr nanotech]

Woah that DOES look like glass! Good job man! I'll have to do mine again. Though you gotta get rid of that gross spoiler still!!!

[lee]

The pictures never do it justice. It feels great! Although the bonnet doesn't feel as good as it did the other day, as a bird did a business on it while I was at work

I'd get rid of the spoiler if I had the smaller OEM lip thing to replace it, as I'm not keen on the idea of having holes or off-coloured putty in my car

[Mr nanotech]

Just use duct tape

[slug_dub]

The paint on that car really is very good!

Lee I forgot we had talked a bit about suspension last week... definitely its worth having a look at Fatcat Motorsports at some of their options and also have a play with the suspension calculator: http://fatcatmotorsports.com/FRC_1_6NA/ ... _1_6NA.htm

It will perhaps help you narrow down sway bar options and spring and shock combos if you might go that way, even if you don't need any Fatcat items.

[lee]

Thanks for the links, Andrew. There are a lot of variables there to wrap my head around, but I'm sure I can manage it

[lee]

In typical Melbourne style, January has been extraordinarily wet, which has given me a chance to find out how my tyres cope in the wet. In short, they are s***house. There's a tight left hand corner in my area which goes onto a 3 lane road, and even with moderate throttle, I've found myself dialling in quite a bit of countersteer to avoid parking my car in a tree or a telephone pole. The first time it happened, I nearly soiled myself, but I can imagine it would have looked hilarious to observer

In light of this, I'm putting fresh rubber on the top of my list of things to buy. I don't need anything particularly sporty, just something to let me have a bit of fun while remaining grippy in the wet. I'm thinking I'll go with Yokohama C-Drives for everyday road use.

I'm also looking to get some 15" wheels. Part of this is to reduce sidewall flex, but to be honest, most of it is for the aesthetics. There's a member here selling a set of Mazdaspeed MX-03s, which look interesting. I've photoshopped the picture of the wheels on a mariner blue NA;



I reckon they suit the car pretty well. The only problem is, I'm not exactly rolling in money at the moment. I need new rubber ASAP, so I'm wondering if I should just get rubber for my 14"s for the time being, and get some 15"s later on. It just makes it easier if I can do it all at once.


In other recent news, I did the AAMI skilled drivers course yesterday. They didn't really teach me anything advanced, but it did give me a chance to test the limits of the car in a controlled environment. In each test, I had the instructor sitting in the passenger seat.

The first test I did was a straight stop from 40km/h. I stopped in 9 metres, but I reckon I could have reduced that (I locked up the front wheels, and it was in the wet). Still, it was much better than most of the other drivers there; there was a TS Astra (no abs) which took 16 metres to stop!

Next test was a slalom, between 6 cones placed 12 metres apart at 35-45km/h. 45 felt rather hasty, and I clipped a few cones, but 35 was a walk in the park. I reckon with sway bars fitted, I could have coped pretty well at 45

After the slalom was a hairpin test. As before, the test was run multiple times at speeds between 35 to 45km/h. First run I did was at 45km/h. It felt fast, but I could hold it. I ran the test again at 35km/h, and as before, it was a walk in the park. I ran the test one more time at 45km/h, but this time looking deeper into the corner. It felt much more stable, and I think I may have been creeping towards 50km/h.

The last test we did was simulating a sudden stop ahead of us. The setup is difficult to explain in text, but long story short, 2 seconds behind the car in front is much easier to manage in an emergency than 1 second

[taminga16]

The last test we did was simulating a sudden stop ahead of us. The setup is difficult to explain in text, but long story short, 2 seconds behind the car in front is much easier to manage in an emergency than 1 second

Hence the importance of understanding time over distance, park your car some where and measure 17.5 metres and mark it, hop back behind the wheel and recognise that that is how far you will travel in 1 second at 60 kph (the same distance that it takes to apply the brake,ie; reaction time). See, the course did offer some advancement.
Greg and Kerry.
P.S. We look forward to seeing your car.

[lee]

ODO; 117,780

I fitted my door speakers the other day, but I won't go into detail, as I don't have pictures to make it interesting :p

What I can say is I checked to see what the odometer reading was when I bought the car; at the time of signing, it was reading 115,174. Three weeks and three days (24 days) later, it's sitting at 117780. That works out to be about 2606 kilometres, or almost 110 ks per day!

As of this post onwards, I'm going to start the post off with the latest odometer reading. I feel this will make the story seem more flowing for future reading. I just have to remember to keep it up

[CheyneX5]

I have some photos for you Lee.

The first one is a topic you have not touched on yet in here, fitting de_bounce's NB8B wheels. Ill let you do all the explaining

[lee]

ODO; 118,345 (more than 3,000 ks!)
I've been neglecting my Garage Thread updating lately...

As Cheyne's post indicates, I was fortunate enough to be loaned 4 NB8B wheels wrapped in Pirelli Dragons by de bounce at last week's Garage Cafe meet. I was interested to see what a lower profile tyre feels like, and to just get me off the rubbish Kelly Ritmo HPs I was driving on with the stock 14"s. The NB8B wheels certainly make the car look a lot more modern, and I like the feel of a more rigid sidewall. I really need to get some more low to really fill out the wheel arches. The Dragons are much more grippy than the Kellys, but they tend to tramline easily. All in all, I do prefer the feeling of lower profile tyres, but I think cost will play a factor in my decision between 15" or 16" wheels. Many thanks to Bob for lending me the NB8Bs!

In another mod, Cheyne and I drilled some holes in my airbox a couple of days ago. It has definitely given the car a much more aggressive intake noise, and it seems to be breathing more easily. The noise it's making is incredible! Now I just have to figure out a way of getting cold air into it

One more thing; I'm currently in the process of removing the orange lenses from my parking light assembly. It's a pain to do, but it looks great when it's done. I'll post pics when I'm actually finished.

[lee]

ODO; 120,100 (roughly)
There are a couple of things i've done or bought since I last posted. I've done one of the parking lights, and I hope to do the other one some time this week. It was a royal pain to do; I ended up heating the whole light assembly in the oven at about 80 degrees for 20 mins at a time until the glue became soft enough to release. I think I must have had it in there for about an hour before I could get the front lens off. After that, it was a matter of unscrewing the orange lens and putting it all back together again with silicone. I needed an orange globe, and it was actually quite difficult to find the right one. I eventually settled for lens dye, which does the job sufficiently.

Here's a picture of the original (drivers side) and modified (passenger side) lights;


And the difference in colour;



During the heavy rain earlier in February, my car was parked on the street in front of the shop I work at. A combination of water dripping in from a break in the rubber seal on the soft top and having to drive though some uncomfortably deep puddles meant my carpets and drivers seat were quite wet. The next day involved many hours spent trying to mop up as much water as we could, and eventually leaving a small heater on to evaporate any remaining dampness. It was after this epic cleaning and drying event that I decided I needed a hard top. I spotted a glossy black one on ebay for $700, and made a point of contacting the seller as soon as I could. After some closer inspection, it was obvious it was a respray (there are still some sections where Neo Green is visible), and it has a demister (which the seller said was non-functional; still, it's there!) and sound insulation. It didn't come with any blots or side latches, but a pair of Frankenstein bolts from MX5 Factory was enough to hold it in place. At some point, I'd like to sand it down and paint it matte black, but that will happen in the fullness of time. Pictures are further down.


At the recommendation of various members, I joined Cheyne in getting a wheel alignment performed today. I suspect it's probably the first alignment the car's had since it left the factory, so the numbers were pretty far out;

Previous values
Front toe; +2.0mm (+1.7mm LHS, +0.3mm RHS)
Front Camber; -00*55' LHS, +00*10' RHS (yes, that's a positive camber value!)
Caster; +4*27' LHS, +4*21' RHS

Rear toe; +2.2mm (+2.0mm LHS, +0.2mm RHS)
Rear Camber; -1*19' LHS, -1*34' RHS

New values
Front toe; +1.6mm (+0.8mm each side)
Front Camber; -0*58' LHS, 0*50' RHS
Caster; +4*19' LHS, +4*26' RHS

Rear toe; +2.0mm (+0.8mm LHS, +1.2mm RHS)
Rear Camber; -2*00' LHS, -1*56' RHS

Although the difference isn't as dramatic as it is in Cheyne's car with almost every suspension component being aftermarket, it does make the car feel much more balanced around corners. I'm going to go for a spirited drive some time soon to properly set it in

Here are some pictures of the day;









Next project is to finish the orange lens removal, and to paint the cam cover

[lee]

ODO; ~123,500

So I started off posting updates involving trivial changes to the car, and then I don't update for about 10 weeks

IN THIS POST; Wheels, front sway, rear brace, pod filter

The last couple of months have involved me spending more money than I was really planning on. I had a scary and potentially very bad incident while turning left off a freeway exit ramp; the back end stepped out on me, and I ended up drifting around the corner, with the front left wheel on the kerb. While it would have looked badass on a track, it felt terrifying on the public roads. It was definitely something I'd like to avoid repeating. I put it down to the old, stone hard tyres (the Kellys) I was running on at the time, and also I reckon I probably was pushing the limits of speed through that particular corner...

Anyway, I decided to make it a priority to get some new tyres, whether it meant just buying some new rubber, or buying a second hand set. I saw a member here was selling some NB8A stock wheels at a good price, so I investigated that route. The wheels were immaculate, but the tyres had a bit of age in them. After checking the rest of the market out, I felt I couldn't hold off any longer, so I picked them up. I'm glad I did it, because I don't think I'll buy a new set of wheels for a long time to come. They don't feel any heavier than the stock 14" wheels, and they certainly feel better to drive on. I'll probably end up painting them at some point, but that's a job for later.





As for the other three additions to my car, I get by with a little help from my friends Ben donated a pod filter to me, which has been a nice addition. I retract what I said in the previous post; a drilled airbox doesn't really sound incredible. It did make it breathe easier, but it sounded almost like it was breathing through a bong. The pod filter has a much smoother sound throughout the rev range. I'm still interested in a cold air intake, but again, it's a job for later on.

Cheyne found me a couple of bits as well; a front Whiteline sway bar, and a little rear stiffening brace. The rear brace made the back feel a bit more planted and connected, but the sway bar is the big piece. It has made a world of difference. The car turns in like it's on rails. It hasn't made much difference in terms of body roll, so I'm looking forward to seeing what aftermarket shocks & springs can do




And a picture of the scene;



All in all, the car is slowly becoming driving nirvana. I've been thinking of a couple of goals I'd like to achieve. I'd like to see how much power I can squeeze from the engine while keeping it a sensible and reliable daily drive. I'll be stoked if I can get 80-90 kW at the wheels without forced induction. I'd also like to brighten up the interior by getting some blue carpets, replacing the stock seats with something more sporty (Mazdaspeed seats?), getting some NA8 door cards, and getting those RS products pieces linked from the first post. Looks like I'll be living with my parents for a while

I'm not sure what I'll do next. The mods will be very sparse until I come back from Europe in August. When I return, I'm going to get some good rubber on the wheels, and maybe an N-Power muffler

[PaulF]

How awesome are those RS Products pieces!! Love 'em.

[lee]

in this post; custom hazard light toggle switches, tyres, a sneak peek at a current project...

Wow, so much for keeping everything up to date. I've dríven about 11,000 ks since I last updated my garage thread, and that includes an 8 week period where I was on the other side of the planet. In that time, I've made the car more liveable, while also adding a few touches to make it unique. Europe was an absolute blast. I can't wait to go back there, although next time, I'll have my full drivers licence, and I'll make sure I have an international licence and some track experience as well. It was hugely disappointing to miss out on Nurburgring and the brilliant highway system that is the Autobahn...

The first change I've made is the custom version of the RS Products classic toggle switches. I've been lusting after this part since I saw it on Rev9, but the stupidly high price tag put me off. After taking apart the hazard light button assembly from my car, I decided it couldn't be too hard to make my own. I started scouting around for parts. I needed two toggle switches which were large enough to look impressive, a complete original assembly for the housing and electronics, and a metal plate to dress up the front of it. I found the switches at Jaycar (20A 240V switches; they're pretty serious switches!) for $5.45 a piece, I had a sheet of aluminium under the house, and Dick Richey from MX5 Factory was kind enough to donate the original assembly.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the build process. It's probably not particularly interesting anyway; just lots of hacking away to make the switches fit, and meticulous shaping of the metal plate to ensure it fitted neatly. Here are some pics of the finished product;





This pic also shows the gear shift boot and handbrake boot I bought from de bounce. They feel way better than stock, and they look the part as well. Cheers, Bob!

I reckon I could have done a better job with the metal plate. I spray painted it quickly, so it went on thick, giving a dull finish, and the aluminium is very soft, so it has bowed under the tension of the nuts I used. I'd like to recreate another plate using stainless steel, and give it an anodised or brushed black finish. Ideally, I'd like to laser-etch some text and arrows into the plate, just as the RS Products ones do. I'd also like to shop around for some more fitting nuts; the hex ones don't really fit the look I was going for.


When I was at Garage Cafe one night, Dale noticed one of my tyres was running quite low. Turns out I ran over a nail, and it embedded itself deep in the sidewall. I had no choice but to get new rubber put on. It was good timing as well, as Bridgestone had recently released the RE002 range. I got them fitted the next day! They are brilliant tyres. They grip better in the wet than my Kelly's did in the dry! The mx5s really do deserve good rubber. They lose so much with crappy tyres. I'm really happy with them, and I'll probably end up buying another set when these wear out.


I've done some other things to the car, but I seem to have lost the pics. I don't really want this post to be a wall of pure text, so I'll leave them for another time. In the meantime, I'm currently making a couple of custom parts which should be done by next Thursday. Here's a preview;

[lee]

Found the missing pics

I bought a non-adjustable whiteline rear sway bar from wazman, and got the help of cheyneX5 and nanotech to fit it.









It hasn't made as much difference as the front one did, but it does seem to stiffen up the back end a bit. I suspect the difference will probably become apparent when I eventually get stiffer and lower shocks & springs put in.


I've taken a few pics to show off the car over the past few months. There are many, many more where these came from!










My next purchases will likely be (in this order) Brown Davis roll bar, suspension (probably Bilstein & Eibach at this stage), exhaust (perhaps Car Make Corn*s?), Mazdaspeed MS-01s (in bronze), and then little trim things from there on. I'm looking at ways to sit lower in the car, which could be something as cheap as modifying the existing seat to something a little more expensive like modifying an NB8B seat, or perhaps something as radical as fitting a Lotus Exige seat. The project never ends!