Wilch's NA6 Car Diary (comic book style)

wilch · Postby **wilch** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:45 am

Jeo wrote:Yeah... I read similar things on the US forums before I bought my MX5+ bar. I wasn't sure how to take it either.

I saw what they were saying about the MX5+ bar too. Harsh critics I tell ya.

Guran wrote:I suggest you phone Brown Davis and ask. They are a reputable business that has been around for many many years, and they thoroughly engineer and test their products. They are NOT style bars. However it is important that they are correctly installed.

I think I will tomorrow.

wilch · Postby **wilch** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:50 pm

One thing that's been on my nerves since I bought the car is the lack of audio. The left speaker did nothing but buzz.

Now, I have tweeters mounted on my door cards, but when looking through my speaker grill I could see what looked like a 5" Kenwood 2-way coax. Weird no?

So, after washing the car I decided to pop the door card off and have a look. The speaker was definitely a 2-way coax, and the tweeter was wired in, BUT, there was no sign of a resistor or anything....WTF!?

I pulled the speaker out, and holy crap was it soaked. Really wet. VERY wet. The fact the tweeter was being fed the full audio range was also confirmed at this point. No wonder neither of them make a sound. Both 100% dead.

After seeing how wet it all was I decided it best to not spend $200+ on some splits, and do some google searching about the wetness (that's what she said). I came across quite a few threads about NA's, wet speakers, stock speakers having rain guards, and this rather shocking video showing just how much water travels through the door:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRX_NkPEaPc

(note: that plastic crap on the inside of your door is supposedly there to stop your door card from getting wet from the water running through the door.)

The American's also had a readily available solution...to them. "Speaker baffles" which are a ready made tub that fits on the backside of your speakers. You cut out the bottom third so you can access the wires, and allow the speaker to "breathe".

We don't have such things. So I decided to make my own out of a pack of disposable containers from Woolworths (bought for $2.98), and gaffa tape.

I also decided I'd look for some plain 6.5" coax's. All were mediocre sounding (Sony, Pioneer, Cadence), and all around $100...I couldn't bring myself to spend the money. But then I saw something in an email from Jaycar. New 6.5" coaxial's for $34! The frequency response range was equivalent or better than the Sony's and Pioneer's.

So today I went and had a listen and bought them straight away. Very clear, with a decent amount of bass, a defined midrange, and smooth high's (I listen to metal). At $34 it would've been a waste to not buy them.

...and now that they're in, I don't think I'll change them. They sound great. I don't believe in spending money on car audio (unless you don't have a room in a house you can spend money on for audio, or you hate headphones). You're kinda pushing sh*t up hill IMO with car audio. Imaging-wise the sound stage will never be right, and then you've got road noise to contend with.

Plus, these $34 speakers mean more money for everything else

wilch · Postby **wilch** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:01 am

two40 · Postby **two40** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:21 pm

Nice photos. Car's looking good. Don't know where that is but it's a good location.

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:58 pm

The car looks great..!
I'm enjoying your thread, it's a an interesting way to go about documenting your story and quite entertaining! Thanks

wilch · Postby **wilch** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 6:57 am

two40 wrote:Nice photos. Car's looking good. Don't know where that is but it's a good location.

Thanks dude.

bensale wrote:The car looks great..!
I'm enjoying your thread, it's a an interesting way to go about documenting your story and quite entertaining! Thanks

Cheers, bensale!

So, after quite a long wait, a package containing goods I had ordered soon after I bought my car, arrived. I was actually shocked when I got the email on Sunday advising that my item had been dropped off at a local post office in Tokyo, and that 'here' is my tracking number.

I spent many nights looking for replacement mirrors for my MX5. Countless hours were spent searching NA picture threads on jdmstyletuning, Clubroadster, here, and any MX5 forum I could find. But it wasn't on any forum that I found the mirrors that I wanted. It was a Google search! Yes, a Google search!

I found the mirrors I wanted on Tetsuya Garage, and when I saw the mirrors I decided I had to email the seller. It was a long shot as the date on his entry was old, and I had never heard of the seller before. But I had to have these mirrors.

The first response was grim, "Hi Will...im not sure if Garage 502 is still taking orders for the NA but i can check..."

This was in November, with an expected delivery date in late February.

Within a day I received the following, "I just talked to Garage502 and i can still order them..."

!#@$!@$!!

I jumped at the opportunity and sent through my hard earned via paypal without even checking online for feedback on Tetsuya Garage, and what's worse, I sent through the money without even waiting for Rod to send me a paypal payment request! I really jumped the gun on this one. I think I really wanted these mirrors.

Fast forward to yesterday, and I had them in my hands. They will be mounted soon, and the comic book story images will come.

But until then, here they are. The detail is amazing. Works of art these Garage502 racing mirrors. Works of art.