Cus' NA6

[Cus]

While I do use git religiously, there's no github yet. I'm partway through re-jigging things so it behaves as a bunch of modules. Right now most functions rely on other ones being present: eg: locking the doors will always turn the interior lights off (because opening the doors can turn the lights on) the goal being able to build just lights or locks, or whatever.

At the current rate of development, we should have code in github by christmas 2025 (There's another project I'm being awfully slow with, and I still don't have my rear wheels bearings in from two posts ago....)

[Cus]

Someone in japan had a roadster with this paint job.



I had to adjust the colours a little bit in photoshop so you could actually see the fleck; the pink is pink the fleck is purpley-blue.

[Cus]

Drove from Bendigo to Coffs Harbor and back in Three-and-a-bit days. Entered the data for "the fuel game", and I've set some new Personal Records!

Record #1: Most distance on one tank of fuel: 599.1KM (Previous: 516.7KM)
Record #2: Most fuel put into tank at a fill: 42.27L (Previous: 39.25L)
Same tank; Freeman's Waterhole to Holbrook through Sydney at 6PM, and a f*ckin massive storm at about 9 to 10PM. Also Tarcutta closes on sunday nights, but you can drive from there to Holbrook with the needle on the E.

Record #3: Best Fuel Economy; 6.76L/100KM. 409.6Km, 27.5L. Coffs Harbour to Freeman's Waterhole. (Previous: 7.05L/100KM, Tarcutta to Bendigo, 402.1KM)


Apparatus used: Stock NA6 Longnose w/ 4-1 extractors of unknown origin, 13 degrees advance, stock ECU, pod filter with a milo tin heat shield next to the extractors, AD08s pumped up to 32PSI 5000km earlier (1 week, it's been a busy week) - 2000km old oil, 5500km old wheel bearings + diff oil.

[Cus]

Time for a road trip story, with pictures!

Picture one: Lil Red, 3 weeks ago. Chillin' topless in the afternoon sun.


2 weekends ago I took Lil Red to MX5 Mania to get my mystery noise sorted out.

Turns out it was the butterfly brace hitting the cat. Easy as pie to see up on the hoist, less so up on jack stands.

All told the excursion was ~2500Kms, including three laps of Mt Panorama after the Mania visit, and a morning *run* across "Bell's Line of Road", and an afternoon crawl back. Completely worth it to drive around Mt Panorama. It's bloody hard to restrain yourself to 60 clicks when you're on an actual race track, but I managed. Driving over skyline and into the esses is some kind of Holy Experience.

Picture two: Chilling in the morning sun somewhere along Bell's Line of Road.

I "stayed" at the Lithgow caravan park on the way up (they're not actually open at 2am whodathunkit?) I've fairly mastered the art of sleeping in a roadster. I think the tent might just live in the boot from now on. On the way home I actually booked into a hotel in Bathurst, which was amazing. I was asleep by sundown.

Picture three: The view from the top of Mt Panorama .


On the return trip I set two fuel usage records; most fuel used in a distance (bathurst to tarcutta via all the "b" roads), and least fuel used in a distance (tarcutta to bendigo, mostly freeway).

The A/C has stopped at some point over winter, jumpering the pressure switch turns the compressor on, so I'm fairly certain it's related to the mapie Lil Red ate halfway through winter. I decided that needs to be fixed. And I needed to either tint the windows, or put some kind of blinds on the back window so the sun didn't roast me to death. Driving along the freeway it was a nice tempreature outside, but the sun was blasting in the back window, murdering me to death. I've always liked the visibility of the un-tinted windows, but at a certain point, a man will change his priorities.

Picture Potato: I also discovered that my rims also double as bug-catchers.


The day after getting home we had a local public holiday so they could race horses, and getting either the windows tinted or the A/C fixed before my next excursion the following Friday seemed highly unlikely. I did manage to get the windows tinted on the Thursday and was told I can't put the windows down for 48 hours. I was about to drive 1500K's in those 48 hours! Yup, I thought that one out... (topless wasn't an option, the soft top makes just enough noise to drive me up the wall, plus also, new tint, baby!)

Well, it turned out to be excellent anyway. The back window I suspect is a shade darker than it should be, but it is also the most amazing thing ever in the history of amazing things. I said to the man "I don't want the sun to bake me to death" and he came though with the goods. In approximately 1800Ks of night-time driving I've had one car behind me that actually dazzled me, and that was because I looked at him in the side mirrors. You can see the headlights behind you are bright, but they're not distracting. Anyone that's had a new Jeep behind them will know what I mean. And as for the primary purpose: they turn the sun down from "firey rage" to "slow roast"

I have found a whole bunch of "new" heat sources (transmission tunnel, firewall, etc) though, so I'll need to think about those. Probably transmission tunnel first, I had my phone in the centre console doing gps + music via bluetooth and it got so hot it locked up. Silicon does not like that kind of hot.

Picture square: Little red after a bit of a tinting.


Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. In the day of no shops I washed and polished the car, because love. I also did the 5k oil change and checked to make sure everything else was as full or empty as it needed to be.

Then on Friday my little-little-sister an I got into Lil Red, pointed ourselves north, and took off - with windows we weren't allowed to put down, an A/C that didn't - for an engagement party where one of us was maid of honor at 11am the next morning.

Picture Eleventeen: Mammal driving.


How to get chauffeured around: buy a roadster that you don't let anyone else drive. Let your little sister drive it once. Have a spare driver on call for all eternity. (or until she gets her own...)

Two things happened on this trip:
1) The #1 spark plug lead kept coming off the coil pack. I bent the copper connector in the plug out a bit, and she's been apples since.
2) On the return trip it started to get warm after 4 hours on the freeway so we stopped for a rest (needle pointing directly up, instead of it's usual left-tilt)

Picture Green: Lil Red chillin' (Literally)


The cause is the lack of under tray. Yes, I know, I know... But! I'd never actually seen the needle be anywhere other than it's "spot" so it was never a concern. I'll put it back....

That particular section ended up smashing my previous fuel economy record, it was 7.05L/100km, got it down to 6.76L/100km.

Because the A/C isn't actually working, it gave me an extra fan I could turn on and off, which I ended up having to do before I got to sydney (it started getting warm again, but didn't go past half way) ... then there was an awesome storm, and suddenly heat was the least of my issues.

Picture Bacon: JDM Yo, at a random servo.


AD08s really like to aquaplane. Or there was a shitload of water. Or the hume really is a horrible freeway. Or some combination of the three. This was the first time I'd dríven on these tyres in more than a light sprinkle of rain, and it was a fair initiation.
At one point I almost aquaplaned right off the road. It was on a bend in a valley, one second a car is going passed me because I'm only doing 80 in a 110 zone, then there's a wall of water (they hit a huge puddle), their tail lights move around to my driver's side window (i hit the same puddle), and then we're driving along the shoulder of the freeway (i dunno, i was just in the driver's seat, man). I suspect I used a large amount of my luck reserve, whatever kept us on the road wasn't entirely my doing

Later that same trip I managed to squeeze 599.1KM out of a tank of fuel because the servo I was planning to stop at in Tarcutta was closed. I believe I have mastered the art of not using fuel while driving, or more of that luck reserve has been used. Either way, I didn't have to push the car!

Picture: Trip Meter / Receipt for the mostest epicest tank of fuel ever consumed..est.


All up in two weeks I've dríven about 5,500Km, got my windows tinted, slept in the roadster more than anyone should have to, and dríven around Mt. Panorama. Not a bad couple of weeks!

[Nevyn72]

Love these road trip write-ups!

Good to see the car being used the way it should although a shame you had the lid on......

If you do ever stop in Sunny Sinny for a visit, make sure you don't park beside Speed's car, you'll have trouble working out which is yours..... well at least until you start it up as his is a little more, errrr..... vocal than your average NA.

[speed]

Interstate twins!

My 4WD ride height would be a dead give away ;)

Cus, Nevyn72 is the guy that was prepared to take a wheel off to check how our wheels fit over those brakes. Nice bloke.

And yes my car whines.. almost as much and loudly as I do

Had I'd known you were coming up our way, I'd have organised something

Next time

[Cus]

Ooh, thanks Nevyn

Speed In the new year I should be on the move again, hopefully at a somewhat more leisurely pace - I'll let you know when I'm up your way next, we can drive around 20 seconds apart and make people think there's a glitch in the matrix

At the start of Dec I'm "sneaking" across to WA (in lil red, of course) to see one of my mates. (He does not know yet, but his missus does, and she said he can have friends over for the week... lol)

[Nevyn72]

And yes my car whines.. almost as much and loudly as I do

I'd liken the sound to being more akin to a distressed cat being tied to your throttle position sensor......

Cus, let us know if you're in danger of coming back up to Sydney again, we'll make sure you come to your senses before you get here...... Otherwise we'll make sure you don't get into too much trouble while in town, honest!

[Cus]

Today lil red went into a shop to have people other than myself work on it for the fourth-and-half time since I've owned it. (Exhaust, Exhaust.5, Alignment, Mania (Butterfly Brace) and now, AIR CON!!!!!!

I've got a very trusting nature. I know people are sh*t, but I give them all a chance. Except with my car. The very first shop I encountered "saw me coming" and I've been skeptical ever since.

At some point over winter, the A/C stopped. Also at some point over winter, we ate a bird at a nontrivial speed.

Using my cause-and-effect reasoning powers, I came to the conclusion that the A/C didn't work because the magpie in his final moments on this earth took the A/C condenser out with it. It's what I would have done if some ground-dweller had just killed me with his red-roller.

Fearing the worst, I dropped lil red off, leaving instructions to call me if there's anything other than a re-gas needed. Half a day later, the shop calls back "Just needed a regas and half a dozen o-rings, $190" - "done, see you after lunch!"
Skeptical trigger: that price is $50 more than the 'just a regas' I was quoted, but I understand the "whys" of the o-rings, so I just rolled with it, and $50 for the extra time spent is a fair enough price, and still way cheaper than I'd previously feared.

Side note for the people with sisters. When one says "want to come out for lunch?" check to see who else is coming first, sometimes it's the friend with the baby. Nothing wrong with the friend, or the baby for that matter, but they never seem to be in a rush. Well, they're always in a rush, but they never get anywhere quickly. This is only a problem when your own baby is waiting across town for you to collect it.

ANYWAY! Hours later, I get back to the shop, the condenser core is "pretty stuffed, but there's no leaks" and the o-rings are to do with changing from the old gas to the new gas. (in short: old gas was good for cold not good for the environment, new gas is less good for cold and o-rings but better for the environment)

So I jump in the car, crank the A/C up to maximum and just sit there, laughing manically holding my hands up to the vents. It was actually hot as hotness, the car had been sitting in the sun most of the day with the windows up. BUT THERE WAS COLD AIR COMING OUT!!!

I fiddled with the settings a bit (Serious question, what use is recirculated air? I always have it on external air) and began the leisurely drive home, windows rolled up to indicate to the other drivers "I have A/C!"

While driving home thinking "well that wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought it was going to be" the bluetooth starts making its beep-boops indicating that someone's calling. "Hello, it's the shop, you car has leaked something that's eaten paint off the workshop floor, you probably want to get that looked at, looks like it would have come from driver's side rear of the car, probably power steering or brake fluid" there was a side-comment about the shop floor having "just" been painted, and that I should probably bring the car back for a check-up.

Now, I'm just going to ignore the part about the power steering (and the paint, and taking the car back...) - I was speaking with the office girl not the mechanics, so she was most likely repeating verbatim what she was told - I've heard a few weird assumptions about MX-5s in my stint as an owner, but rear-wheel-steer is possibly the strangest one yet. (And lil red has no power steering up the front, either)

The thing I didn't ignore was the fact that the last person to touch the brake system was me, and the distribution block is about where they said the leak would have been coming from, and basically, I just assumed I've done a bad a job and was about to die as a result of my own workmanship. (Completely forgetting I've dríven the car well over 7000k's since the brake work was done)

I pulled over and had a roadside squizz - nothing seemed wet, the brake fluid res is still exactly on the max marker, and holding the pedal down is steady. Based on this quick check my car has better brakes than half the cars on the road, so I hop back in and gingerly continue my drive home, expecting the brake pedal to drop the the floor at any moment. Most of the corners can be taken at the speed limit, and the one that really can't has a giant ditch next to it, so I've got options.

I get home, park up on the slab and do some more poking and prodding. No evidence anywhere of anything leaking out (except weeping oil, because someone still hasn't put in all the new seals....) Getting worried that there's a leak I'm unable to find, I call the shop back for more questions.

The fluid "looked like it was a yellowy colour", and "your car is the only one that has been in that work bay today" and "it definitely would have been coming from the right-rear" but it's been cleaned up now, so they're less certain about the smell/texture. I ask the girl to have a look in the car park where the car sat for a few hours and report back, because I'm not able to find any leaks anywhere.

My brake fluid is blue. My clutch fluid is black-ish. My other fluids don't eat paint. (and are green[clt], honey[oil] and pink[fuel])

Eventually the office girl comes back and informs me that while my car is the only one that's been worked on in that particular bay today, there had been a "crusty old van" parked there overnight, which is probably the cause of the leak and nobody noticed until my car was moved back out. Very sorry, have a nice day.

18 months ago I probably would have just taken the car back at the first call to let them perform a wild goose chase while emptying my wallet - but Kudos to the shop for at least calling me and getting me on a wild goose chase, as opposed to just cleaning their floor and moving on to the next job.

So now I have cold air, I've confirmed fairly conclusively my work on the brakes was spot-on, and nothing was unexpectedly expensive. Win.

[LiteIsRite]

Thanks, Cus, for once again entertaining me with your wit

The aircon in my NA6 would always loose gas through the winter - I ended up removing it altogether (losing about 15kg in the process).

Regarding your question about the recirculated air setting, my understanding is that it draws air into the system from within the cabin rather than from outside. Using that on a really hot day helps the system do it's job more effectively, as the inside air temp should already be lower than the outside... unless, of course, you're on fire.

[gslender]

my understanding is that it draws air into the system from within the cabin rather than from outside. Using that on a really hot day helps the system do it's job more effectively, as the inside air temp should already be lower than the outside... unless, of course, you're on fire.

....that, and the air pressure in the cabin with the windows all up and closed makes it positive and forcing in fresh air from outside means that you'll need some air to escape (or crush you under the increasing air pressure). The alternative is that the blower fan isn't as effective in bringing incoming air to the cabin, so in some way, internal re-circulation is more efficient at getting more volume of air cooled than the incoming air unless you crack open the window a wee bit (which then allows cool air to escape etc and so on).

Obviously the cabin isn't air tight, but every little bit can help in some cases!!

G

[Cus]

Air pressure does make sense, I've done most of the legwork to have my windows auto up/down a little bit to solve the air-tightness issues. (Open door, window drops a bit, close door, goes back up - idea shamelessly stolen from droo) But when the car's been sitting in the sun and I'm not in a hurry I'll crack both windows and blast air on full a bit before getting in, I figure completely replacing super-heated air is going to be slightly more efficient than trying to cool it - and when cool air comes out of the gap, it's "safe" to get in

But, that's not why I'm here today.

I'm here to tell you all a tale, it's an interesting tale, and one which will quite rightly strike fear into some of my readers. But it's a tale nonetheless, and it needs to be told. Here goes.

Friday, last week (8 days ago) I finally decided to change my water pump & timing belt, and the front seals in the engine. No biggie, right? It's not like I'm halfway stupid and do stupid things that a normal mechanical-type wouldn't.... or would I?

Well, yes I would - and I did!

Initially the plan was to make the event a two-day affair, pull-down on friday night, clean as much as I could be bothered, then clean the remainder and reassemble on the saturday. I also decided to get some of that "coolant flush" goop, and new coolant, new oil & filter, new cam seals, no cas seal for some reason, front crank seal. Almost half a litre of wax & grease remover.

So, the plan was: drop the existing coolant. Put in tap water with coolant flush in it. Run it. Let it cool, drop the coolant, pull rad hoses off, pump water in and out of water hoses until clear water comes out. move the car off the grass.

That took bloody ages, most of the friday night was taken up with sitting around wating for the car to cool. That's an A+ for Planning!

I started the mission without a crank tool, having arranged to borrow one. After my day one setback, the schedule for meeting people to borrow home-made tools off them was slightly ruined, so I ended up contracting a mate to chomp one out of a bit of steel I had kicking around.

By now it was Monday, and I hadn't actually taken a picture yet.

So I took a picture.
Here it is.

I call it "abstract man contemplating", watercolour on canvas.


Enhance. Doot-doot-doot.



There was a lot of oil and dirt down there. I'd already cleaned the front of the head, that was black too.

By tuesday the front of the engine looked like this:


Inspired by my ability to clean things, I started putting things back together, realising along the way that the thins I'd cleaned were not going to be visible to the outside world. Oh well. When the seals start leaking again, I'll have fresh oil marks!

Gratuitious progress shot:


Thing were going along swimmingly. I had a system when I took things off, so I could put things back on in the same order. Got hold of a torque wrench to do the important bolts, and on bolt #2, disaster stuck. *dramatric trill*



Well, I promptly cracked the shits, and that was it for the day.

The fault turned out to be mine, in that I had the wrong numbers dialled into the torque wrench. The intake bolt torqued up just fine, but the exhaust didn't. I now know what a stretching bolt feels like though, so that's a lesson in the bag.

The next day I paid a visit to a mate who happens to drive a tool truck. He sent me on my way with everything needed to solve my problem: A charged cordless drill, a 3mm Drill bit, a Centre Punch, a set of extraction tools and an explanation of what needed to happen - tap the hole, drill the hole, hammer the extraction tool into the hole gently, and twist it out with a shifter.

And it was that easy:



I got some new bolts from Bolts & Fasteners, and away we go! I got the timing belt on with a minumum of fuss. I torqued all of my bolts up in 25% increments. I don't actually know if this is a good idea or not, but I was worried about having another broken bolt incident shooting straight for the mark, so I did it 'gently' (Yep, that's a thing now)



Progress stalled here - it seems my amazing system of keeping track of things failed me with one small item: one of the bolts that holds the water pump pulley on. The next evening I toddled myself into bunings and purchased their shortest two types of M6 bolts.

Both types turned out to be too long, once again wasting another day.

During all of the 'nothing' time I performed little tasks; the crank and waterpump pulley had paint that was starting to come off due to surface rust underneath. I happened to also have a can of killrust in 'gloss matte black' - so the pulleys were cleaned up and resprayed on the front faces, and degreased on the belt faces. I was rather happy with how they turned out, but you can't actually see them.... I did give the cam cover a bit of a light sand, so it looks a little bit metallic instead of slightly oily and grey.

Then, we were done.



All that was left at this point was to put coolant in it, and start it.

This was somewhat nerve racking. I went through the list in my head; all the bolts, screws, connectors - I don't think I've missed any of them. That can't be true can it?

One more check of things.

Bravery mode engage.

Turn the ignition.

The very first stroke it seemed to struggle, like the battery was going flat.

The second and third strokes it was up to it's usual pace. On the 4th stroke it started, and began to idle.

I don't believe it. You probably don't believe it. I go for a putt down the road and it seems to feel fine. On the way back I give it a little squirt and it seems to not want to boogie properly. What have you done Lucas?

Turns out what I'd done is forgot to do up the clamp on the intake to the thottle body, and it was three quaters off. We've now been tot he supermarket, and things seem to be nominal.



All up it took me 8 days to do what I'd planned to do in two, and takes an actual mechanic just a few hours. I set out from the start to not be in a hurry. A little bit more hurry would have been good, but I did learn some things along the way, and think I have a pretty good grasp on the timing system now. The worst part of the whole event in hind sight was having to drive a Falcon Wagon. The interior light logic in that car is mind-numbing. Opening a door won't turn the light on, but closing a door will turn it off..... No, I won't be drawn into a rant...

It's time to drive my car. I've missed it.

[smy0003]

I love your posts cus.
I'm about to embark on the same journey so it was a good read

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Cus]

Thanks smy, some of these posts get a little bit wordy, I could almost call the thread "creative writing with cus"

If you've not done anything like this before, check out this page: http://www.mx5unleashed.com/tech/timing-belt-mx5.html

Specifically video number 2 from about 4 minutes to 6 minutes. (Lock the tensioner to the loosest setting, then start from minute 4) for the actual installation and adjustment of the timing belt. m.net recommend holding the two cams in place with 'an aparatus' but if you keep in mind that they move and follow old mate's instructions above, it's not needed as long as you get to TDC before you start removing things. The rest of that guy's videos seem to be full of good information, but he rambles a lot so you've got to persevere until you get to the nuggets. You make it through my posts though, so you should be right!

If you're using the m.net guides, check and double check any torque figures they give, they randomly jump between ft/lb, in/lb and nm, which leads to broken bolts and tantrums if you're not paying attention! Read a couple of different guides before you start so you get the concept, but stick to one guide once you start.

You will definitely need a crank tool; a long-nose NA6 crank bolt needs to be torqued up more than the car can actually produce if it's stock, so you can overpower your brakes and move the car swinging on the crank bolt without one. There is a convenient "template" that is attached to the front of the crank pulley to trace onto a bit of metal.

Randomly you'll get to instructions that are simply "remove the pulley" and then they show the pulley coming off with fingers. This does not always happen as described if your car has never had the timing belt off, so don't be surprised, get creative.

Take your under tray off before you start, dropped tools go straight to the ground, it's way easier to retrieve them. A lot of guides recommend dropping the sway bar out of the way, and/or pulling the radiator and fans out. Neither are required (I didn't) but sometimes that extra little bit of room would have been handy.

Finally, clean everything you touch; it looks nicer, and when it's dirty again you know it's fresh dirt from last time you worked on that part, not old dirt from who-knows-when, like a "High Tide" mark.

Nothing is actually hard or complicated though, just take your time and follow the process.

// End random "advice"

[smy0003]

Thanks Cus. The crankshaft locking tool thing seems to appear in some guides and not others. Some say just whack the handbrake on, chock the wheels and put it in fifth gear. I should really make one before, but I'll probably end up making one if I need to at the time, because I like to be generally unprepared and unexpected set backs make me happy.