JoshuaM's Midnight Blue NB8B

[mx5002]

Just out of curiosity.

How hard is your car revving at 110 or thereabouts on the highway. I put a 4.1 in mine but have smaller wheels/tyres.

Have you corrected the speedo?

[joshuam]

Your car is coming along very nicely I.L. Motorsport make some nice stuff, don't they?

They do indeed! I really don't understand why more people don't order directly thoough them. You have to order a couple of things at once to play your cards right with the shipping, but it is quality stuff and much cheaper than anything here.

Just out of curiosity.

How hard is your car revving at 110 or thereabouts on the highway. I put a 4.1 in mine but have smaller wheels/tyres.

Have you corrected the speedo?

At 100 it is around 3300rpm, at 110 it is about 3600rpm. I haven't actually taken it out on any long 110kph drives since I put it in, so I'm yet to see how annoying that it But I definitely wouldn't go back - SO much fun.

Yes, we put in the speed sensor from a NB8A that came factory with the 4.1. I was looking to buy one but the guy I bought the diff from was kind enough to just give it to me!


I.L. Motorsport quickshift was installed yesterday.... was a little bit fiddly to install, and annoyingly you need to break several pieces in the process so it wouldn't be an easy one to remove if I wanted to sell the car.

Well, they weren't freaking kidding! The shifter barely moves anymore, its crazy! Rifle-bolt shifting I would best describe it as, and you need a firm hand to do it. I wasn't too keen initially (just too much) but it grew on me a lot on the way into the city today - should be good

I've been doing a bit of work on my other car getting it ready for sale, but the next thing for the MX5 will probably be to decide on the new replacement top and get that installed.

[joshuam]

NOT cool -.- I washed my car this afternoon, then this happened on the way home -.-

I guess it was lucky I had the top up for a change

[ManiacLachy]

You got bombed good! I haven't had a fly by attack yet, so I've been lucky in that regard.

For your shifter, look at getting a weighted knob like the Blox knobs, it will help make the shifts easier. I went with the Miata Roadster short shifter, and when it was first in I felt like I had to be sure it actually went into gear because the throw was so short! Sounds like you've got a similar action.

[Roadrunner]

Woah two of those would have been close to a head shot if the roof was down!
Very lucky

My greatest fear when I first got the MX-5 was getting bird poop on my face while driving now I try not to think about it

[speed freak]

Haha lucky the roof was up. When I first got mine, I was sitting at a set of light one day with the roof down, then thought about bird fly overs haha lucky I never got any incidents.

[joshuam]

Yeah, close call The next day after I cleaned it off I had bat poo all over the back when I woke up, and then 2 days after that another doozy on the drivers door..... would be nice if I could do something other than just wash it

I figured I'd put up a couple of shots of the LED third brake light since I forgot to take any when I installed it. I was thinking about putting a red tint over it, but not sure





Weighted shift knob would be nice, but I think I need to stop spending money if I'm going to have any hope of getting to Europe at the end of the year We'll see.

[Lokiel]

I have a clear rear brake light in my Ti too but thought it stuck out too much so gave it a couple of coats of VHT Nite Shades to tone it down - looks much better IMO since it matches the body better.

If you do decide to use Nite Shades, use light coats and don't use more than 3 or 4, otherwise it's too dark.

[ManiacLachy]

I vote go with a red tint. I think the night shade suited Lokiel's Titanium colour, but with your blue I think the red will look better. I'm not a fan of the clear.

[joshuam]

MX5 Life :'(



Just turned car on, headlights on, waiting to pull out of my park at the shopping centre. Car next to me pulls out first and commodore goes to reverse into the spot. Starts backing into the bay and then just went straight for my car. I was on the horn in plenty of time but he was oblivious. Should've had the air horn installed

Really pissed off because this corner of the car was mint - all original and perfect paint.

Couldn't drive it home so got a friend to bring my coilover spanners and we raised that corner up and pulled out the guard as much we could.

The guy that hit me was a nice bloke, stayed around for ages to make sure I wasn't stranded. But his brother was a mobile panel beater and he wanted him to fix it without insurance involved - felt very much like grab a panel off gumtree, give it a coat of paint and she'll be right mate.

I didn't feel comfortable with that, and I have full comp. insurance (a first for me) with lifetime guarantee on repairs so I put through a claim with them (AAMI). They are going to pick it up Monday. They deemed me to be not at fault since the reversing driver always has the greater duty of car, and also I was stationary.

Damage I can find: Quarter panel is completely shot, front bumper has paint damage and retaining clips are broken, under guard plastics damaged and broken mounting points and the wheel had paint transfer (chipped through the coating in a couple of places). Doesn't appear to have done any chassis / steering / suspension damage.

I am very happy that the powder coaters have taken so long with my wheels.... they were supposed to have gone on early this week which would have meant a damaged good wheel, and also more significant damage to everything else since it would've been 15mm further out (so greater chance of steering damage).

[Lokiel]

Always sorry to see this sort of incident.

I had a close shave like this when a guy was backing into me and I too was on the OEM horn, which I liken to a "duck's fart", that he was totally oblivious to. If it hadn't been for people in the Bunning's carpark that were walking nearby waving at him to stop, he would've T-boned me. I was boxed-in waiting for another car ahead of me to finish backing out and had another car behind me so had nowhere to go and he couldn't see me. I bought the Nautilus air-horn immediately after that and have needed it on several occasions so get one ASAP.

Carrying a few hakki sacks in the glovebox is a good idea for parking lots too, you can chuck them at the rear window of the approaching car, it sounds really loud inside the car and they'll stop immediately.

Good to see that you stuck with your insurance, you'll get the best end result if you do it officially (I've seen some really bad paint matching).

[Roadrunner]

Carrying a few hakki sacks in the glovebox is a good idea for parking lots too, you can chuck them at the rear window of the approaching car, it sounds really loud inside the car and they'll stop immediately.

That's a really good idea.

I was in a similar situation many years ago but in an old pulsar. Guy started reversing out on me. I hit the horn: horn didn't work
Luckily the guy behind me honked and they stopped.
If they can't see your car they sure can't see you waving like a mad man inside the car!

[joshuam]

I anticipated such a scnario and bought a nautilus air horn a few weeks ago - just hadn't had a chance to install it!

[ManiacLachy]

That sucks man! You're doing the right thing sticking with the insurance option, get it done right!

I nearly had a similar event not long ago, a ute reversing out and I was stuck behind him. Luckily he heard my horn in time!

[joshuam]

I spent a few hours that weekend and raised the car up to stock height so it was properly drivable (and legal height... just in case they cared). Took it into the repair shop at my appointment time expecting it to be all fixed in a week, before they told me that they can't get one of the bumper mounting points or splash guard in the country, and they won't be here until the 27th August (I checked my PDS - they only ever pay to sea freight parts from overseas). So that's painful. They also refused any co-contributions, so I can't pay them to respray the whole front bumper to get the scratch on the other side.

Driving it raised is weird.... it is stock height, but since the Flex coilovers have independent height adjustment to preload, the car is just as stiff as it is lowered. It is a weird combination (mainly because the height encourages you to just throw it around instead of slowing right down for obstacles).

Wheels are done;







They looked AMAZING!!! I also realised when I was dropping them off at the shop that my uncle's parents owned the place! So I got a great price and they put a lot of effort into them.

I had to choose tires. I didn't want anything too sticky - I love the way the MX5 squirms around on the road when you are pushing it (even just around town).... not drifting, but just a little movement to remind you that it is willing to play. At the same time though, the car needs all the help it can get in the wet, and since it is my only car I need something that I can drive home in the pouring rain at midnight after a late night at uni and not be worried about losing control when just driving normally.

Unfortunately there are no good deals around on 16" tires at the moment. I was hoping for a buy 3 get one free or something, but no such luck. A friend has Falken ZE-912 on his MX5 that are good in the dry, but they are pretty scary in the wet. They are also wearing quite fast. I ended up going for a set of Pirelli Cinturato P1 in 205/45R16 for $170 per corner. Hopefully they should give good enough dry grip, pretty decent wet grip and last a while. If I get into autocross stuff I will buy some other rims with sticky tires.

Unfortunately when the shop was balancing the wheels they managed to chip the finish of two of the wheels (They also didn't wipe their mess off any of them, and took 1.5 hours to mount the wheels on the car, after I had already dropped the rims off 2 days prior and called at lunch time to ask the ideal time to be there).





So the car went back in today and they took those wheels off so their repair guy can look at them. It is hard to say whose fault it is, whether it was thin powder coverage at that point, or a lack of car when using the equipment, but I am happy that they are taking care of it.

Only a quick iPhone pic of how it looks;



It is loud I think it will look much better with a little bit of camber and back lowered again after the repairs are done.

I was planning to paint the centre caps white, with the outside ring and 'RACING' text matched to the body colour (as well as the brake calipers), but they look good enough for now.



I like the way they wheels sit (16x7 +32).... doesn't look anorexic like the stock wheels, but I don't need to worry about scrubbing out or anything.



I ended up selling the EDFC Active Pro kit in order to fund all the other maintenance stuff that I've been doing. I'll try and buy another at the start of next year after I get back from Europe. On that note, flights are booked, so no more MX5 money this year (and no track time ).

I did order the dark blue cloth Robbins replacement soft top w rain rail from the states. Came in at about $940 shipped. Expecting delivery at the end of the month.