Just bought a MX-5. General Questions

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 1:47 pm

OK, for the NA8 you will need this book. New copies available from MX5 Mania for $82.95.

mazmad · Postby **mazmad** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 2:56 pm

booki89 wrote:Also the windows are slow as anything - Scared they won't come back up if i put them all the way down. Seems I need some special grease...don't think it would be readily available at supercheap auto would it? Know of any alternatives?

Hi and welcome to the obsession ;)

The windows run up and down in 'guides', if the na (series 1) is the same as the NB (series 2). The rollers get incredibly disgustingly gunked up (I had my windows out this morning, again, so can vouch for that). Whatever lube Mazda put in turns pretty gloopy.

Suggest you clean the rollers and guides up, will help. BUT BEWARE the dreaded black goo (more gunk

) that sits behind the door cards, sticky messy stuff.

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 3:59 pm

$82 - thats a lot of money for a book- so many books available for free loan or often used cheap. I thought young blokes had no money.

The dreaded black goo is butyl tape- and its tends to get pretty messy after some years. You can always remove it with a solvent and either cut a new plastic liner and then reapply butyl tape if you can get it our just buy butyl mastik made by Selleys and available from Bunnings- in tubes= around $20. And why use butyl- because it can be resealed unlike glues, And why the plastic liner - because it acts as a buffer between the door trim and ingress of water and moisture like window glass. The plastic is available from garden suppliers by the metre and you can get reinforced product which is bit thin, strong and easy to cut. Standard bag plastics are too thin.

mazmad · Postby **mazmad** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 4:11 pm

Mr Morlock wrote: The dreaded black goo is butyl tape- and its tends to get pretty messy after some years. You can always remove it with a solvent

I used a combo of Wd40 and meth's to remove it. A very messy and slow process, one afternoon I will never get back. Gloves highly recommended!!

booki89 · Postby **booki89** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 4:41 pm

Guran wrote:OK, for the NA8 you will need this book. New copies available from MX5 Mania for $82.95.

Seems there are quite a few books for this car.

I was having a quick read of this one, are most similar with lots of color pictures?

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=RjN ... &q&f=false

booki89 · Postby **booki89** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 4:46 pm

Some of the yank's on miata.net seem to think this kid does wonders

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mazda-Miata- ... 3f8&_uhb=1

Has anybody had experiance changing these guides? Is it nessasry or am I better off just giving everything a good clean?

Went hunting around for a battery for the MX-5 today....and was I shocked

ha ha. Nobody had one in stock, and to top it off its gonna hit me around $230~

Here I am thinking mx-5 parts are cheap! Must just be the battery ;)

mazdaz · Postby **mazdaz** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 7:53 pm

you can download na owners manual on this forum.

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:00 pm

Search is your friend and is easy to do:

http://www.five-speed.dk/Download/NAOwnersManual.pdf

Note there are 151 pages of this so it won't download instantly.

22Silver · Postby **22Silver** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 9:53 am

booki89 wrote:Some of the yank's on miata.net seem to think this kid does wonders

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mazda-Miata- ... 3f8&_uhb=1

Has anybody had experiance changing these guides? Is it nessasry or am I better off just giving everything a good clean?

Went hunting around for a battery for the MX-5 today....and was I shocked ha ha. Nobody had one in stock, and to top it off its gonna hit me around $230~

Here I am thinking mx-5 parts are cheap! Must just be the battery ;)

The MX-5 Battery is fairly slim, and sealed.

Also, don't bother to change the guides. I had one good window and one sloooooww window.
I cleaned the slooooowwww window, hoping the speed would catch up to the good one. Boy did it! By the time it was clean it was going up even faster than the good window.

A clean and some silicone spray on the guides was more than enough to get my windows back to their former glory, after one was starting to not come up at all.

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:18 am

booki89 wrote:Seems there are quite a few books for this car.
I was having a quick read of this one, are most similar with lots of color pictures?

Yes there are quite a few MX5 books, & Keith Tanner's books are good, but they're not workshop manuals - if you need something in addition to the factory workshop manual http://www.mellens.net/mazda/ then the best one currently available is the one Guran linked to & can be picked up for a reasonable price used.

booki89 wrote:Went hunting around for a battery for the MX-5 today....and was I shocked ha ha. Nobody had one in stock, and to top it off its gonna hit me around $230~

There's better out there: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=60764

booki89 · Postby **booki89** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:50 pm

Hmmm I am now a bit confused on which battery to get.

My local has a federal agm batter in for me today. $235. From the quick research I've done. Its a after market version of the OEM battery (Panasonic).

Should I stick with what my batter shop has recommened?

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 1:53 pm

Basically, as long as it fits, and is either able to be vented like the stock one, or made in a manner to not vent gasses, it should work fine.

The venting won't affect it's performance, but will help prevent the boot rusting in future.

Federal is a common choice, as is one of the Supercharge gold batteries (not sure what model)

The supercharge ones seem to work rather well, and hold charge well.
My GF had one in her MX5 for a fair while, and when she replaced the battery (to a smaller one) the supercharge just got left in the driveway in the rain.

18months later, stuck it into a Nissan Silvia and it fired right up, minimal charge lost.

booki89 · Postby **booki89** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:40 pm

Got a Federal battery today, fitted up no issues. Breathers on good peace of mind.

Was giving the car a bit of a check over, needs some brake pads.

Anybody know a place in melbourne that stocks them? Need both front and rear for RWC. Everything else checks out.

Also changed my engine and gearbox oil. Next is the diff - I plan on using the same oil I put in the gearbox (got a single spinner diff, assuming its ok?)

I put in some Nulon 75w-90 and 10w-40 into the motor.

Is there a easy way to crank the car to stop it starting? To build up oil pressure before it fires?

booki89 · Postby **booki89** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:06 pm

And man that oil filter is in a little prick of a spot!

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:28 pm

booki89 wrote:Also changed my engine and gearbox oil. Next is the diff - I plan on using the same oil I put in the gearbox (got a single spinner diff, assuming its ok?)

Is there a easy way to crank the car to stop it starting? To build up oil pressure before it fires?

Diff needs something GL4, and gearbox can use either GL4 or GL5 (check the manual, it may be the other way around)
So as long as the box is using the one the diff also likes, it's all ok to use the same.

As for the cranking, unless you've taken the engine apart there's no reason to dry-crank and build pressure.
I tend to pre-fill the oil filter before putting it on, but plenty of people don't bother.

Just make sure it's got enough oil per the dipstick before starting it. (and after the first start let it run for a min or two then leave it for a few mins and check again, topup if below the full mark)