Slug Dub's NA

[Bizi]

Yes, thanks, I am referring to the crashpads at the top of the doors.
I suspect your suede/alcantara/whatever work would look better than flocking them (though you've rebuilt rather than just covered them!).

Pics, when you are happy with them, would be greatly appreciated.

[slug_dub]

This weekend it was back to work on new toys for the NA6, as Josh has acquired quite a bunch of stuff for it.

New rubber for the BBS wheels, 205/45/16 595 RSR.


Although the BBS are still on my car for the moment so I guess thats more fun for me for a few more days!

Main things swapped were shocks and the diff.

Old stuff to come out:


The car now has a Kaaz 1.5 diff (thanks Greengoat!) and Tein Monoflex.




Diff swaps.. very easy with two! Not as much of a hassle as I thought it might be. Pretty glad the diff package came with the hubs on the ends of the halfshafts as one of the hub bolts on the car just did not want to move so it was easier to ignore it

Now there's also an EDFC kit with these Tein toys but we didn't have time to fit that so it'll fun set aside for another day soon.
Also ran out of time to do a swap of the NA6 diff into the NA8 so we can see how it goes with 4:3... another weekend.

Just a little bit different when we took the car for a drive after finishing up!

In the next few weeks we'll need to do some brakes fun and play around working out what feels best with the adjustables on both cars, and they should be right to both have a fang at Lakeside.

[Okibi]

Make sure you find time to fit the EDFC, mine sat on the shelf for years until I pulled my finger out and installed it, once it was in I kicked myself for not putting it in earlier.

[slug_dub]

Hehe don't worry... Josh is a sucker for buttons to press and knobs to twiddle... it won't have an opportunity to be shelved very long!

[myredmx5]

Paul, to answer your question about the construction... I didn't document very much of it with any photos but I did indeed make new doorcards from MDF. Pulled apart completely the old card and used the fibreboard as a template. Doorcards that don't already have the teardrop speaker grills have a 4" hole for speakers, whereas the teardrops need 5".
I got the thinnest MDF I could find at Bun Buns which was actually 3mm, whereas the stock cards are 2mm. Without wanting to spend a lot of time hunting down 2mm material I just went with the 3mm. It has the melamine coating on one side for a bit more water resistance. Had a drill press to do most of the holes. The MDF is so soft you must use some sort of wood under it when you drill and go slowly like you're routing otherwise it just fragments. I also had to route out a millimetre of thickness around each of the holes for the plastic clips so that they would fit. Drilled out the three metal clip fittings that are riveted to the board and re-riveted them to the new card. Undercoated and painted the card in a gloss coat to help with water resistance.
Although all the clip holes were cut well enough to fit the clips, with the paint on top they were actually very difficult to fit, gave myself a blood blister with the force required! However the doorcards are quite solid and when removing them again I don't think the clips would break before the card.

Covered first in a thin layer of wadding for the padding gluing it to the MDF all over, then the material. I only glued the material to the back side and not the front, so it could be pulled just enough to be taut.
Finally, used a small leather punch to punch through the material at all the points where screws would go through to the front side (teardrop attachment and handles).

Bizi, sorry do you mean the crashpads? Unfortunately I was bad and didn't take any photos of much during construction at all... but I can take a phot of the backside of the completed doorcard. I am not done yet covering the crashpads that go along the front. I covered in suede the small one on the driver side between gauges and door, but wasn't very happy with it and may do it again... complex shape to those.

Looking forward to seeing pictures of the rear of the completed door cards as I would like to do mine.

[slug_dub]

I've been very slack and haven't been able to get around to finishing the other side... also I need to build up the enthusiasm to clean off the thick double sided tape from the crashpad which is a real horror to remove! So I apologise for not having more info on it for you yet.

There hasn't been too much action on the MX5's for a bit, except for taking the NA8 to the track this week which was lots of fun of course.

I have the distinct feeling the gearbox is the cause of the gravelly noises I've been hearing for the last few months, and while it still behaves exactly as it should, and also still holds up to a thrashing on track, it'll be the next main thing to change.

Unfortunately the NA6 was involved in a bingle and copped a squashed in front drivers side again (and not that long after we fixed that very area!) so it needs a new bonnet, bumper, drivers turn signal light and headlight cover, as well as either bashing out the chassis again or perhaps replacing it. The upside is that we'll just take it off the road and get going on the turbo motor for it while we are at it.

[Steampunk]

I'll pop around soon to drop off the front bumper I told you about. If the gate is open I'll go in and leave it at the steps, if not, I'll try and gently drop it over the fence. Either way, if no one's home I'll txt you to tell you it's there.

[slug_dub]

A long time since doing an update here!
First half of the year there was very little activity on playing with cars, though we did go to a couple of trackdays and are looking forward to making the November day.

The NA6 is quite the grip monster with the RSR's and the Teins have been very nice to play on. Hasn't been dríven much for a long while since it got into another accident and the front end was smooshed. We've got a new front bumper, bonnet, headlights, parker lights and passenger guard, as well as an empty front halfcut to swap out and weld in a replacement piece across the top front of the engine thats been bent twice now.
Cleared a space in the shed for it and will start dismantling that car soon, it will be offline for a while since we will finally put in the turbo motor thats been laying around for ages as well!

The NA8 has been going solidly but lots of little things to sort out... rear brake pads clunking, a weird rattle that I thought was heat shields but does not appear to be so, and the exhaust is still tied off with wire to stop hitting the bracing underneath.
Tried to swap in a different midpipe and a Mazdaspeed muffler we have but couldn't get the bolts to line up where the pipe meets the muffler... not sure if it was ever used together but may have been because I was trying to do it on jackstands and there's just not enough room to work properly.
Since I am keen to get some extractors on it soon I will leave it til I can sort a full system since I'm worried about extractors and new cat converter not lining up properly without another midpipe being made up.
Yellowspeeds haven't been playing properly since I put them on but mainly thats because I haven't actually done any proper adjusting on them. Raised the spring perch on the rear by 5mm a side and its much better already but still some fiddling to go.
I *still* haven't completed the driver side doorcard yet

Some bright spark backed into it a while back so have to replace a panel on it too.


Our pair of red slugs have become officially a fleet!


Our other pal Greg has bought FMS01's turbonator NA6. Mighty fun! It's been good to have a good play with a turbo NA and get proper impressions of what its like. Some work to do on this car, lots of cleaning to remove some surface corrosion on various parts, have to swap out the soft top for one you can see out of, and its fair to say that KU31's may not be quite grippy enough for this much power. All the plastic panels have cracks or holes in them so will be replacing those.

The Jag has been hogging the hoist for most of this year but is able to be dríven again so looking forward to being able to work on the three 5's again.

[NitroDann]

Give us all an update mate

Dann

[slug_dub]

Give us all an update mate

So long since I checked this thread I didn't even see that you had asked Dan!

I like to wait until I have some photos but its been so long
Things have happened but mostly in the acquisition department... I'll get to that in a sec.

Attended the MX5 Club trackday at Lakeside in July. A fun day as always, but not a great day of driving for me. I was a bit hesitant at first since it was the first time on track with these Nitto NeoGen tyres... and then it started to rain and I spun twice in one run... wasn't feeling I had any grip with them. Thinking about it afterwards there was more I could have played with... shocks set too stiff, and its quite oversteery at the moment too, plus just lacking experience driving in anger in the wet.
On the road and going up the mountain I feel these tyres are at least as good as the KU31's they replaced.

Turbonator had a reasonably good day, overheating did not occur and felt reasonably solid.

Pics!

I look like I can drive here!


Turbonator


Silver PRT behind belongs to my friend Chris who valiantly took all the photos this day (thanks Chris!)... I'm yet to convince him to drive his car on the track! Still haven't changed that dinted front guard on my car yet


Novice1's yellow NA6 dríven by Steampunk, very much liking how this car is looking Ron!




So updates on the cars:

The NA6 hasn't been dríven very much. It's multicoloured on the front now having had another front bingle fixed (not my fault this time!).
Wheel bearings broke at the trackday before last and need replacing, hence lack of driving lately!
EDFC still not fitted (see post dated 2011!)
There's a stack of toys now awaiting to go on this car; FM rails and butterfly, roll bar, boostiness of some description... can be either snail or stupidcharging now!

Turbonator has been behaving itself but the airflow and cooling is being tinkered with. Also has new front nose and rear bumper, and a plethora of wheels and tyres!

What have I been doing on the NA8?
Drivers door card still not made! The suede on the passenger side did fade quite badly, so I need to remake the crashpad with UV stable stuff I haven't bought yet, then do the other crashpads and make the drivers door.

Mazdaspeed steering wheel finally made it onto the car.


Replaced front pads and rotors.

Put on a decent intake, and now has a full exhaust replacement - Maximworks manifold, high flow catalytic converter, and Racing beat 2.5" midpipe and muffler. Tasty. Should I make a video of the sound?

Put the NA6 4.3 diff on it. With all this stuff finally the car likes to rev.

Tax Office was very kind to me so bought a bunch of stuff!

To do:
* Add MX5plus Twin Hoop roll bar

* Add FM rails and brace

* Finish doors, redo suede, acquired R-Speed tri-bevelled vent rings, get stereo and speakers in the car one of these days

* Bought an MS3/MS3x, need to make up a loom and get IAT going, then will have go at it in the car as it is now... with I/H/E done should be nice to play with... I'll get the COP's going on this motor now too.

* Swap suspension again, I have some KYB AGX and awaiting Eibach springs (cmoooorn already Germany!) - I really need to add some ride comfort back in, and I don't think my driving ability requires more (yet!) Also have a full SuperPro bush set awaiting install.

* I also bought a VVT motor I'm working towards swapping to. I need a few things for it before that's ready to go, and will play with the MS3 on the existing motor first to get some practice in before trying to get the extra things going that this new engine will entail. I'm hoping that with the higher compression and better intake manifold this motor has, and MS3 I can make it ~110kw

I'll see if I can get some photos to explain all this stuff

Someone loves my car...

[Gladiator]

Really like that cluster, Andrew.

[Beelzeboss]

+1 that cluster is amazing

[Muzdaman]

RS Refine gauge rings?

[slug_dub]

Yes indeed.

[D.A.M]

looks awesome!