Jacky's NB8A - Round 2!

[yangtastic]

Hi MX5 Car Talk!

Driver
Name: Jacky
Occupation: IT Assistant
Location: Northern Beaches, NSW
Previous Cars: 98 Mitsubishi Mirage CE, 98 Mazda MX5 NB8A, 97 Honda Civic VTI-R EK4
Current Cars: 05 Honda Civic Type R EP3, 99 Mazda MX5 NB8A, 99 Honda Integra Type R DC2

Great to be back with another car!


Same colour, same chassis.
Previous thread can be found here http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=69513

Reasons why I bought another:

• Civic doesn't have the low driving position as an MX5 and doesn't feel as confident
• On the road, I found out power plays very little impact on fun
• Mature, knowledgeable community
• Very affordable!

What my current plans are...

• Keep it standard
• Drive it as much as possible
• Keep it clean
• Keep on top of maintenance

Any questions, comments or suggestions, let me know. I 'm keen to learn more about these cars.
Also if anyone can point me to the way of the meetups of the Northern Beaches/North Shore, I'd like to know you guys.

Everyone like pics, so I'll leave you with pictures!
My set is here. http://imgur.com/a/zyVDL

[Todd77]

Congrats on the purchase and welcome back

[syx]

Identical to mine, high five !

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[yangtastic]

Congrats on the purchase and welcome back

Thank you Todd.

Identical to mine, high five !

Be together. Not the same.

Today, I replaced the brake and clutch fluid.
Brakes were easy. Done that heaps before. Clutch fluid, however, a little bit of a challenge.

After cracking open the bleeder @ the slave, the clutch fluid in the lines could be emptied, but the reservoir still maintained full capacity...
So I thought something was blocked and back tracked the line all the way back to the master cylinder.
I was really close to buying a new master cylinder until I tried bleeding from the master cylinder. Leaving it for a few seconds and one pump of the pedal meant it fluid could bleed, however, consecutive pumps would not bleed anything but air. The levels wouldn't drop.
Assuming this is the way it should behave, we tightened everything back up and made slow and gradual pumps to bleed the clutch system.

As I type this now... I have a feeling my master cylinder needs replacement. But as of now the car is functioning as normal.

Here's some photos to round off this post. Every forum likes photos right?

[yangtastic]

Not much update apart from my friend bought his own Mazda MX5 as a daily driver to his 180SX Type X.
Same chassis. Same year. Same colour.
His is lightly modified whilst mine remains standard.

Here are a few pictures of it with my car.

[The Dude]

looks awesome mate.

[billybunter]

that shot right in the centre bought back a memory flash from 1970 when I parked a near new valiant vf pacer into a parked car. I think I was only 18 and the old bustardo stationary car I hit ( an eh holden) he would have been pretty old say 30

he certainly had the shits that day lucky the cops were there. ...and they mearsure out the 110 feet of skid marks

[yangtastic]

So my plan to keep my MX5 stock has ended. It's going to the track!
Parts to be installed:

• QFM A1RM
• DBA 4000 front rotors
• TRW racing brake fluid
• HEL braided brake lines
• Solid door bushings
• Federal 595RSR

All parts are new besides the tires. I bought them with stock wheels included so I can easily switch between track and street. After all, this is my daily driver.

I installed the solid door bushings this afternoon and surprisingly, they make quite a difference. Not too sure if they'll benefit in terms of handling but driving on the streets, a lot of rattling was eliminated and the car felt more like it was one piece. There is a clear feeling that the car has less flex than before.

Wheel alignment will happen this weekend. 949Racing Dual Duty alignment will be the guide. Will try to get as close as possible to those specifications on a stock standard car.

[Okibi]

Awesome decision Jacky. A good roll bar will help stiffen the car up a bit and give you of extra safety. A harness also stops you moving around in the seat and lets you focus on steering more.

[beavis]

Nice work Jacky
I'm a fan of the 595 RSR for a budget sticky tyre.

Next time, try out the Hawk HP+ pad. That's my preference for a street/track day car.
And with regard to brake fluid, you will probably find that general purpose Castrol or Penrite Dot 4 at around $10 / 500ml will do you fine.

[yangtastic]

Awesome decision Jacky. A good roll bar will help stiffen the car up a bit and give you of extra safety. A harness also stops you moving around in the seat and lets you focus on steering more.

Definitely did like the sound of a roll bar and a harness.
However, I would love to extract as much performance as possible out of the car whilst maintaining the factory appearance.

Nice work Jacky
I'm a fan of the 595 RSR for a budget sticky tyre.

Next time, try out the Hawk HP+ pad. That's my preference for a street/track day car.
And with regard to brake fluid, you will probably find that general purpose Castrol or Penrite Dot 4 at around $10 / 500ml will do you fine.

Thanks for processing my order beavis!
Very interesting you mention general purpose DOT4 fluid... Today I bought two bottles of the Penrite stuff that apparently has a boiling point higher than 500'C.

Now... the reason why I picked up general purpose brake fluid, even though I had TRW high temp fluid coming in.
I've been daily driving the car for just under a month with a little problem. The handbrake light stayed on when the handbrake was down.
Did not think too much of it... until today.
I drove to work fine, brakes still felt ok. Then at lunch time, I needed to pick up something so I jumped in the MX5. Immediately, brake pedal just gave in. Brakes would work but would take the extra few centimetres for it to bite.
So I picked up some Penrite brake fluid from Repco and filled up the reservoir (without a fluid bleed, this does nothing). However, it did do something. My handbrake light functionality returned to normal!
TODAY I LEARNED THAT THE HANDBRAKE LIGHT SENSES THE LEVEL OF BRAKE FLUID RESERVOIR!

Bled the brake fluid after work tonight and braking returned back to normal. Perhaps beyond normal.
The MX5 is going to track day in 7 days time. Will definitely keep a close eye on the fluid levels. The worst thing is that I have yet to pin point how the brake fluid escaped. I checked the brake lines on all 4 corners, the brake bleeders, the master cylinder and the rigid lines coming out of it. As of now, if anything is wrong, I can only assume that it is near the gearbox. Will look in to it further this weekend.

[yangtastic]

Took the MX5 to join Circuit Club @ Wakefield today.

Rotors from Brakes Direct didn't come in time so only manged to install the brake pads, braided brake lines and brake fluid.
Had the 595RSRs on stock wheels from Nuddy on as well. Tread levels around 40%.
Apart from that, car is stock standard with Pedders Comfort Gas suspension.
Wheel alignment was done. A combo of the 949Racing Street/Dual Duty alignment.

Clocked a 1:21.3 in timed sessions, but managed a 1:21.0 in a midday passenger session.
I managed a 1:19.5 on the last session of the day. It was a passenger session and was not Natsoft timed. No traffic in this one. 5 cars, 3 laps.
I don't want to blame the traffic, but...

A few things to take away from today:

• Lift off oversteer everywhere. Powering on will settle the rear similar to my Civic.
• Out of the corners, my MX5 is quite gutless. Carry as much speed as possible.

For the future:

• I FOUND THE BRAKE FLUID LEAK! It's leaking from the brake booster. The black paint under the master cylinder has bubbled up. Need to replace brake booster.
• Suspension modification required. I had my uncle chase me in a CRX and apparently, the car would roll so much that the inner side would lift significantly.
• Power is desired, but not essential. I feel like the car needs a push out of the corners.

Comments/suggestions welcome. I'm keen to learn from the experience of others to guide me.

[yangtastic]

Correction, brake booster paint bubbling. Suspecting a leaking brake master cylinder.

[RS2000]

[*]I FOUND THE BRAKE FLUID LEAK! It's leaking from the brake booster. The black paint under the master cylinder has bubbled up. Need to replace brake booster.

There's no fluid in the booster. That is the master cylinder leaking, or fluid has been spilt.
Cheers

[yangtastic]

[*]I FOUND THE BRAKE FLUID LEAK! It's leaking from the brake booster. The black paint under the master cylinder has bubbled up. Need to replace brake booster.

There's no fluid in the booster. That is the master cylinder leaking, or fluid has been spilt.
Cheers

Yep. Correction in later post.
Any idea where I could find a brand new brake master cylinder for NB8A?

Also wandering how I can improve my lap times...
The car does experience quite a bit of body roll.
If there's any driving advice, I would appreciate that too.