Round 2 - Back in an NB8B after 5 years.

[SileNceR]

It's definitely louder at idle now, I heard my wife leave in the car this morning and was outside when she got home.

Sunday arvo washes are a thing now as she finishes work at 4PM and daylight savings means I still have sun on the driveway (despite the terrible orientation of the house which normally puts the driveway in shadow from early afternoon.)

[SileNceR]

Just placed an order from MX5Parts UK for clear reflectors, repeaters, and chrome plated amber globes. This is the same stuff I had on the green car. I'm undecided if it'll look a bit too bright against the black - I'll evaluate once on the car and if required night-shades and clear coat them.

Also had a rattle at about 3000rpm from when I bought it, did a quick google this evening and people suggested heat shield on the headers, which makes sense given it was most noticable when revving the engine with the bonnet open. Tapped around the heatshield with a cold engine and then discovered a bolt missing from the back. Found a suitable sized bolt and it was the right thread, put it in and viola; vibration/rattle gone!

[SileNceR]

Did a foamectomy on the drivers seat tonight. Took some pictures but my computer is out of action so I'll hold off posting them for now (maybe tomorrow from work). Initial impression is wow; what a difference!

[joshuam]

Woooo, shiny bits!!!

The indicators will probably be fine, but a light coat of night shade on the reflectors would probably be good (just get the glossy one, no need for clear coat).

Yeah I saw you talking to Richard about the foamectomy... I haven't done it on mine yet but I definitely want to when I get a chance. Did you cut out from the bottom like him, or sculpt from the top?

[SileNceR]

I cut from the bottom up, the top has wires in the hold the leather down (not sure if the cloth seats are the same, but I couldn't bothered pulling out more hog rings - the 18 you need to remove the cover/foam from the base is more than enough).

I also initially cut mine crooked like he did and thanks to his mention of it was paying enough attention to notice and resolve it before re-assembling the seat:



(I actually used a hand saw, then scraped across with a bread knife to level it out, instead of initially using a knife because it looked quicker and I didn't have to go inside to get it!)



Vision is heaps better now, I'd posted a photo before (I think) showing how badly the visor affected my vision, I might actually re-install the passenger visor now




Before:



Foam before modifying (I didn't take one after I was done, unfortunately, but I just cut off the whole hump section.



This shows the bucket area of the seat for anyone interested in doing it.



The bottom of the seat with modified foam:



It's amazing how much difference it makes; I squeezed the removed section between my fingers and it compressed from just over an inch to less than 5mm; but I guess the best way to explain it is that's point loaded, when you sit on the seat it's spread over the entire foam so it makes more difference than you'd imagine. I have an occasionally bad lower back, and the seat previously hadn't felt great; now it's much more supportive. Initially it feels odd because it's different; but the description of it being like sitting in a big baseball glove sort of makes sense.

The armrest makes more sense too now (and the area around it) and my hair doesn't touch the headliner unless I'm looking around, my legs aren't quite correct in my work shoes (which have reasonably thick soles) but it's much better in bare feat or normal flat shoes than it was before; in terms of not running my hands into my thighs while turning the wheel through it's full range of motion. The seat back seems to hold me better (just by sitting that bit lower) and you can tell you're more out of the wind. Previously to experience this (especially getting down out of the wind on colder nights at 100kph) I had to hunch down in the seat and push my butt forwards so much that my legs actually came up high enough to contact the back of the steering wheel. I'm closer to center of the windscreen too. I'd actually consider a roll bar for the car now (previously I'd seen no point, since in an accident my head would have been sticking past it anyway)



Because I didn't cut from the top of the seat base, the shape of the leather shouldn't get effected too much, and because it's tight around the bottom and the whole lot (foam, leather and all) moves down as you sit on it, it shouldn't really stretch much with any luck. I've seen some good tricks involving steam to tighten leather back up anyway if it becomes a problem.

[KevGoat]

The previous owner of the fabric SE seats that I fitted to my previous NB8A had done a foamectomy on the driver's seat. Makes a huge difference. I agree with your comment that the bolsters give much better support when sitting lower. Unfortunately for me, my back problems slowly made it harder for me to climb out and I was quite happy when I purchased my SE with leather seats and found how easy it is for me to get in and out! Luckily, I'm only 5' 11 so I don't have any height issues with the windscreen ...

[Joshhh]

Loved reading this, I have a serious soft spot for black NB's. A very nice cleaning job on the paint early in the thread as well.

[SileNceR]

Thanks Still waiting for my clear indicators and repeaters to arrive; last time I did an order from mx5parts it took only about 2 days so with any luck it will arrive this week.

I've got the car in for an alignment today; hopefully the place weights the driver's seat as requested. I've gone with a similar setup to what I ran on my old '5 only this time the car isn't lowered;

Front Caster - max
Front Camber -1.75
Front Toe 0

Rear Camber -1.25
Rear Toe 0.1 (I get a tiny bit of rear bump steer at the moment on my daily drive and trying to keep that at bay; I'm travelling next week with luggage and camera gear in the boot which will affect the rear toe a touch too)

I've requested a before and after printout from the aligners as well. I'm not really spoiled for choice here; so I've got it done through the blokes that work use for Pre Delivery alignments (All Hyundai's need them) which should work out reasonably cheap

[SileNceR]

Not sure if I should be concerned or amused with the note that came back after the alignment was done:



Although I guess they're covering their own backsides. Apparently this is as close as they could get - no doubt when I get around to lowering it I'll be able to get more camber out of the front.



Here's the driver's side showing a bit of camber... and proof that it's not always spotless - I didn't wash it this Sunday as we had a storm due overnight.



And the passenger side:



Initial impressions are.... that it's not a great idea to try and transport a carton of eggs straight after getting a wheel alignment.... no, I didn't break any - but I didn't get much chance to test it out either. It seems much better over off-camber corners including roundabouts though, which I'd noticed being bad before - a lot more direct in the steering - and more importantly, more like I remember an MX-5 being.

[SileNceR]

Bits!



I'll fit them tonight

[smy0003]

Holy crap your seat pans are CLEAN!
How are they so clean?!

Mine needed sanding and rust priming.

The reflectors are slightly different front to back, I think I fitted mine incorrectly. It's only very slight, and there's no marking on them to show which is which.
The chrome bulbs are an awesome detail, I never got round to that with my NB.

[SileNceR]

I'm not quite sure how they're so neat still; unfortunately I doubt they will stay that way for long, now they're living on the coast.

I did notice, they appear to have a front and back pair (the front ones are thicker) and a left and right. I am pretty certain I've got it right, but the back ones aren't anywhere near as nice a fit as the front.





The car is in desperate need of a wash. I'll probably do that tomorrow after work if it's nice.



I tried to get a photo of them on but only caught the very start or end; they're bright enough.

[SileNceR]

Looking at them today in daylight, I think the rear ones might be on the wrong sides. I'll try swapping them over tonight and see how they look.

[Magpie]

Correct me if I am wrong but the final results from the alignment is from +2.6mm toe rear to +6.3 mm toe rear. This will destroy tyres on the road, hence the note!

I would be concerned about the difference in camber on the R, -0.55° (F) and -1.20° (R). If there is a problem getting the required settings I would expect a phone call.

Generally caster is traded off for camber. If the best they could have gotten was -1.20° (RR) camber then the LR should have been matched and the front set at about -1.00°. The rear needs to be investigated as to why there is so little camber.

[SileNceR]

What rear toe should I be aiming for?

I specified .1 degree as per the alignment thread; thinking I'll get it re-done elsewhere - so target values would be ideal for the new one.

The car actually feels really stable at speed, but obviously if it's going to wear the tyres to suit no purpose, there's no point in that!


I've got a 2600km trip planned next week (https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=zPqlWnJIHoGA.kjWyDmZHTIL8) through the Vic Alpine regions (black spur, reefton spur, great alpine road including mt buffalo road and falls creek road) - is it something I should have adjusted before that or will it work in my favour handling wise, and just get it fixed when I return?