Wilch's NA6 Car Diary (comic book style)

[wilch]

I have heard rumours of these wheels, can't wait to see them fitted.

Rumours, really?

I also can't wait. Where's a 24 hour tyre shop when you need one!

[-alex]

There is one in My Colah. I know this guy.

Yes rumours, all good though!!

[Jeo]

Meister?

[wilch]

Mt Colah hey... Hmmm. Nah, all good, I'm booked in for tomorrow for tyres in Castle Hill.

Nope, not Meisters

[wilch]

Ok, well... Today's been an eventful day. Pretty much non-stop for me. Started with getting tyres put on and me on my way home by 8:10am, followed by me going back when I realised that the tyres had been put on the wrong way!!#$!$!@! The day then ended with me lowering the car, finding that I couldn't get out of my driveway anymore, and then me raising the car up 5mm...

I also have a bunch of photos to go through for the comic, and I'm yet to put the roof on and take some proper photos. BUT, I'm exhausted atm. So that'll all have to wait .


....but you won't have to wait for this:



To say I'm stoked doesn't quite describe the way I feel atm. HUGE thanks again to Phill B Enterprises. From rolling, to ordering the wheels, to delivery...zero dramas...all too easy.

more soon......'ish

[-alex]

YaY and they look just as awesome as I had imagined.
My day is complete now, sleep time.

[Jeo]

I'll admit that I did Google it before I posted, but VSKF right?

[wilch]

Yep, Work VSKF Mighty in 15x7 and 15x8. I'm running 195/50's on front and back though.

[wilch]

Now, to continue the story.

Many months ago when I organised to get my guards rolled by Phill, I didn't know that he was also able import wheels too. Whether they be new or used, through the yahoo auctions or otherwise he could get a price, and let me know.



During the guard rolling "day", it didn't really take him the whole day to do it, but I sat out there with him just chatting about cars, Skylines, fitment, wheels, the car scene...everything to do with cars. lol.

It was then that he let me know about his wheel services. So we got to talking about sizes, and fitment, and what I was thinking. He left with me letting him know that I'd be in touch.

I'm sure he's come across a few guys like me who like to dream the dream. So I think he got a shock when I emailed the following night (State Of Origin night) with an auction that was ending in a few hours. But I had questions about the wheels. The yahoo ad told me size and offset, but not PCD. With my fingers crossed I shot through an email to Phill asking about them, and if he could contact the seller (I didn't know how) to find out the PCD and if it suits, and that I'd buy them as long as the price was within reason (including shipping).



I promptly got a response from Phill, he'd contacted the seller and all seemed sweet. He also gave me a shipping estimate (time and cost), and let me know that he was going out in a few minutes (for the game no doubt) and to let him know asap so we could nab them up before the auction end.

Five minutes later my bank balance was hating me...and the long wait began.


...I got an email on Friday 2nd of September from PhillB letting me know that the wheels were in Australia and that he would be picking them up on the Monday. To say I was excited is an understatement. But, I tried to not be too excited.

On the Monday Phill contacted me so we could organise to get the wheels on ASAP. I think he was just as excited as I was.

On Tuesday I managed to get some time off work from Wednesday onwards, and organised to meet Phill, on the way back from one of his jobs, to pick up the wheels. I also ordered my tyres and booked in fitting and balancing on the Thursday morning.



They were exactly as described in the yahoo auction. So clean, so very very clean!! I was lucky.



As soon as I got home I had to try them on. I had to know if they fit. I'd done all the measuring but you never can tell.





PHEW!





But then I'd have to wait for the following day to get the tyres on to see if I'd have any guard rubbing issues. Phill was on standby to massage the guards some more, just incase.

[wilch]

My tyre guys are always there from 7 onwards. The owner fit the tyres for me. BUT, I stupidly failed to mention to him that the wheels were staggered. So I ended up with tread going the wrong way. I was home by 8:15am, but I had to go all the way back again. D'oh!



It was only when I put the car up in the air and took the front drivers side wheel off that I realised. D'oh D'oh!!

Once on, I didn't like the way the car sat. It was too high.

So off came the wheels again, and out came the c-spanners.

There aren't any pictures of this because I started getting the shits. lol.

With the wheels back on, and the car sitting awesomely, I put everything away in the garage, locked up, and decided it was time to go for a drive to see if any guard massaging would be needed.

Started reversing, and got to the top of my driveway and, "SCRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPEEEEE!!" *TYRES SPIN*

"!#%!@$!@$!$111!@#$!@1241!!!@$!@$!$!!!!"

The car was hung up on the crest of my driveway. Rails sitting on the crest. ARGH!#%!@

So back down again, tools out, wheels off, c-spanners, blah blah blah.

...and now it sits the way it does in the following photos, no further guard massaging was required. Phill did it perfectly first go.

[wilch]

...and a quick shoot on Sunday:

[Bizi]

Fantastic pics and paint. Not to mention shooting site!

You must be so happy with it now.

Looking forward to seeing it on a drive.

How are the new wheels and tyres in spirited, twisty corners?

[wilch]

Fantastic pics and paint. Not to mention shooting site!

You must be so happy with it now.

Looking forward to seeing it on a drive.

How are the new wheels and tyres in spirited, twisty corners?

Thanks Bizi .

I look forward to meeting you on a drive!

They're actually better than the old 17x6" ones on twisty corners.

I think there is such a thing as too little offset. The 17's use to scrub the front wheel arch inner liners (just inside the guard lip) under hard cornering. But the 15's, despite the car being lower and there being more offset, don't touch at all!

I've also got better tyres on the Work's. They're not the "best" seeing as they're only SS 595's, but they're better than the Nankang's that were on the 17's.

[CoffeeBoss]

With regards to the lack of rubbing compared with before, you should consider all the changes that have occurred - ride height, guard roll, but most importantly the change in rolling diameter.
Remembering tire profile is a ratio of the width, so the actual tire height varies for the same profile with different widths (and as the tire wears as well of course).
So this may also have something to do with it.

But Wow... the tire improvement alone has made this all worthwhile!

Seriously looks good, looking forward to seeing this in the metal.
Eventually.
At some point.

[wilch]

With regards to the lack of rubbing compared with before, you should consider all the changes that have occurred - ride height, guard roll, but most importantly the change in rolling diameter.
Remembering tire profile is a ratio of the width, so the actual tire height varies for the same profile with different widths (and as the tire wears as well of course).
So this may also have something to do with it.

But Wow... the tire improvement alone has made this all worthwhile!

Seriously looks good, looking forward to seeing this in the metal.
Eventually.
At some point.

That makes sense

....

Well, it's not all been smooth sailing since I put the wheels on. After having the CAS o-ring changed at MX5 Mania I started to have an intermittent missfire/stuttering/bucking problem. CAS o-ring replacement shouldn't be related, right? It was. But it wasn't Mania's fault, read on to find out why.

When cruising, the car would just stop firing, tacho would drop, then suddenly burst back into life.

Because it was intermittent (could go for weeks without a problem), I didn't feel like wasting my money at mechanic's having them to try to diagnose it. So instead, I turned to google, and a search of this forum and a few others.

I narrowed down the problem to being electrical, and possibly a sensor. It was one of these: coilpacks, plug leads, plugs thermosensor at the back of the engine, CAS, MAF, piggy back computers, vacuum leak, fuel pump+fuel filter. One, all, or any combination.

Quite a few of them mean big money, so I thought I'd start with other stuff.

Plugs, and leads were new.

Coilpacks...20 years old. Might as well get a new set, can't hurt. Money though...

Thermosensor....fixed Taz's problem on here. Might give that a go too.

So, anyway, a few clicks on mx5parts.co.uk and I had a box at my door.


I also bought some other items. Some bling, and fiddly replacement rubbers for the roof and hardtop.



...and away I went.

First, something pretty.




Then something annoying.


There's a bolt at the back of this, at the bottom, that is insanely hard to get to. I've got big'ish hands and there was no way in hell that I could get to it with the tools I had. Ended up getting a 12mm ratchet angled head wrench. That got it.

Thankfully, the new coilpack I have is an aftermarket one, with a modified bracket. The bottom of this bracket is open and "clips" onto the bottom bolt. So there's no need to undo it again, ever.

The thermosensor is on it's way from the UK still. $68 delivered as opposed to $167 from Mazda here in Australia. So I'll do that later.

In the meantime though, the missfire came back with a vengeance. Was very noticeable this time, and the car was running insanely rich.

"It has to have something to do with when Mania had the CAS out", I thought. Plus the previous owner recently mentioned to me to check the wiring.

So I looked at the CAS wiring. It was tight, very tight, and there was bunch of electrical tape over a lumpy area. So, what does one do when they see bumpy bits covered by something? GRAB THEM ofcourse

Felt like plastic, so immediately I thought, they've been crimped and come loose.

So, engine on, go out and grab... engine nearly stalls and starts to run badly. Move around, smooths out....Definitely a wiring problem. This is what I found after I snipped all the electrical tape away:


GAH!@!

HATE THESE THINGS. Really hate these plastic splice things, always have, always will.

Needless to say the spliced wires had fallen out of their seats, probably during the CAS o-ring replacement. *facepalm*

The wires head to the piggy-back timing computer, so I'm guessing timing was being thrown all over the place. Explains the coughing, stuttering, rich running, and occasional power dip.

I've since soldered the wires up properly and insulated them, and gone for a drive. Night and day difference. The engine actually sounds smoother, and it's not idling rich anymore. Yet to go for a long drive to test it properly though.

The thermosensor is still on it's way. Hopefully I don't need it. When it gets here I'll probably just replace it for the sake of it.