MattyRedlocks' MX-5: Moxxi the NB

[smy0003]

Gonig by the price, I'm guessing that those brake lines aren't the braided type?

[slug_dub]

Yay clutch jobs are ezpz mate look forward to it

Does that mean I can relax in an armchair and supervise?

Gonig by the price, I'm guessing that those brake lines aren't the braided type?

They are braided.

[mattyredlocks]

Yay clutch jobs are ezpz mate look forward to it

I'll hold you to that

Which engine mounts did you go with?

Factory Mazdaspeed/Spec Miata/whatever-they-are-called uprated ones.

[smy0003]

Gonig by the price, I'm guessing that those brake lines aren't the braided type?

They are braided.

That's an absolute bargain then. Will jump on that when I do brakes.

[mattyredlocks]

That's an absolute bargain then. Will jump on that when I do brakes.

Yep, easily the cheapest ADR approved ones I've seen. Have been put to use on one track day, haven't leaked yet so I guess that's a plus.

[Jelzahar]

Yay clutch jobs are ezpz mate look forward to it

I'll hold you to that

Which engine mounts did you go with?

Factory Mazdaspeed/Spec Miata/whatever-they-are-called uprated ones.

Told ya mate easy peasy job


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mattyredlocks]

Told ya mate easy peasy job

Well, only because you make it look easy

[mattyredlocks]

New clutch, flywheel and engine mounts went in yesterday - all more or less according to plan.

Big thanks to Andrew and Jamal for their help (read: they knew what they were doing, I just pretended and winged it) and tools, very smooth job and way less kicking and screaming than I expected. Guess that comes from working with people that have done it many times before! No nasty surprises once we got into it, only one stripped bolt (looks like it was cross threaded and then rattle-gunned on) and nothing missing.

Some pics!

Once we got the gearbox out, old oem (we think) clutch sitting in all it's glory:


Bit of oil in the bellhousing... rear main was definitely weeping:




Old flywheel vs the new one:


Old engine mounts a little squished and warped (this was the better of the two next to a new one):


Both the old mounts (the worse one had also started to split off the base):


New clutch aligned and torqued up:


Also managed to get the wideband sensor (Innovate LC-2) I picked up in - at the moment in where the stock one goes, emulating a narrowband and feeding that signal into the (still stock) ECU.

Took it for a quick spin after we got everything back in the car, can confirm I did not stall it on the first drive - can also confirm that I did today a couple times. Lightened flywheel feels so bloody nice to drive (not at all as hard or 'unstreetable' as some people suggested), and the clutch actually bites! Engine mounts have made a huge difference too, definitey getting less shakes in the cabin at idle, way less movement of the shifter too. All in all, worth every minute in the garage doing it (even wrestling with getting the mounts back in).

Now for the numbers (as weighed on bathroom scales, so who knows how accurate this is):
Stock flywheel and pressure plate: 8.1 and 4.4 kilos for a total of 12.5 kilos.
New flywheel and pressure plate: 4.0 and 3.7 kilos for a total of 7.7 kilos.

All in all, great day working on the car for a great result. Thanks again Andrew and Jamal <3

[mattyredlocks]

Post clutch install review and first track day since post, go!

First of all, new clutch, flywheel and mounts has made a huge difference on the street. Done a few hundred km now, definitely nice to have a new clutch in there. Lightened fly took no time at all to get used to, don't even think about it now when taking off - notice it when down shifting though! Heel-toe just got a thousand times easier. Short version is it's totally an improvement, if anyone reading this is worried about streetability of a lightened NA6 clutch on a VVT motor, don't. It's great. Had a non-enthusiast (but still a manual daily driver) give it a go, reckoned it was a little weird at first, but got us from A to B without stalling or riding the clutch.

As for what else has changed...



Got a new radiator in, eBay special 42mm ASI one. Seems solid, fitted fine without any fiddling (got the one with slimline fans to ensure that). Had the guys at my local rad shop weld on a bung for a second temp sensor - little neater than an in-hose adapter:



And the fans (which, by the way, are way louder than stock, but do the job just fine):



Had to cut and splice in my own connectors for the fans, can confirm does not come with stock connectors.

As for the track day...



Worked a treat. Car didn't get anywhere near as hot as last time (my digital display showed a sustained 106 degrees at the hottest, towards the end of the second Clubman session), which is rather less than the 115 degrees I was getting at Lakeside on a colder day.

New clutch/flywheel made a huge difference, as above, heel-toe'in on a downshift is now a billion times easier. Managed a 70.7 on Clubman and a 67.4 on Sprint, which yes, isn't terribly fast but puts me on my way to some decent times.

Going to need some better pads (OEM Mazda ones aren't great, let's put it that way), and umm. This happened:



Yep. Got hit by a rock at some point between lap one and two on Sprint, cracked the windscreen. Lame. New one is in now, so I'm a little bit poorer. Eh, these things happen.

More to come! Been working on the digital display - still a prototype so no pics yet. Pics come when it's 'finished'.

[Magpie]

Go winmax pads or A1RM's.

[mattyredlocks]

Go winmax pads or A1RM's.

A1RMs are likely the go, I don't drive hard enough for the Winmax pads yet. Plus, they're cheaper.

[Magpie]

Around $175 for W1's from memory.

[Trackphotos]

Only $119 for a1rms though mark. Matt doesn't push hard enough to cook them or lock them up either, so they'll be more than enough for a while at least.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

[mattyredlocks]

Matt doesn't push hard enough to cook them or lock them up either, so they'll be more than enough for a while at least.

^ this

[Magpie]

Good call. Just pushing my Winmax wheelbarrow