Mazduh

Oh really? I'll add it too the list of things to do.

Mazduh

Some updates...

Obligatory miata next to truck photo:



Got some goodies in the mail:





Apparently I'm one of the first people to get 5xracing's new zinc coated timing wheels.

Also picked up a new wheel:



Yes I know I'm missing some bolts... I put them down somewhere any can't seem to find them lol.

Mazduh

I noticed the car at idle was getting a little hott at idle and couldn't hear the fans kicking on. So I did some digging and discovered this:







Nothing some JB weld couldn't fix temporarily. I have my radiator and SPAL fan setup still on the MSM. I haven't felt like getting around to swapping that over yet. I haven't quite got to pulling parts off the MSM that would keep it from running. I still need to move it to storage at some point before winter.

I also managed to pull the HD ACE bar out of the MSM. Waiting on this guy to pick it up, but keeps flaking on me. It's for sale, asking $500 obo if you're local to Chicago and want it.



Also, I have way to many shift *****.

2manyhobyz

iTrader: (4)

Nice find Phil.
I believe the MSM has the better brakes than the 99. I'm sure you'll be swapping them too. I don't know if the boosters and masters are the same, but it will be interesting to see what you think.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

Booster and master are different. Don't swap the whole setup over. Use the brackets in back for the bigger rotors, retain your 1.8 brakes. Add Wilwoods up front and a 1" master (929 or Wilwood) and win at life.

Mazduh

This is pretty much the plan. I'll get around to it at some point.


I also randomly discovered the car came with an FM clutch switch. I was sitting in the car and absent-minded-ly went to start the car and forgot to depress the clutch. But the car still started. LOL Sitting there dumbfounded I pulled out my flashlight and looked below and yeah turns out the little C-clip is there. I have one on the MSM I was eventually going to swap over at some point.

So there's that... My guess is the lady's name on the title before me must have installed it for the convenience. It does seem like to me this car was well taken care of and may or may have not been sort of modded. The suspension etc for sure has never been touched. but things like the radio and sun visors etc were sort of janky, must have just been reinstalled quickly before being traded in etc. There's a few things around the engine bay that look like should have a vacuum line there but are capped. Not sure if that has to do with this being a base model and things that would be there for like cruise etc aren't or there were things there, but have been removed, then just capped off to make it passable. Car doesn't throw any codes or anything though.

So I dunno... Met up with a few other local miata guys and they all said the car sounds extremely good with the Enthuza Catback.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

Drop that clutch switch in the mail to me, will ya?

Mazduh

I've been looking into this a little more. I'm just now learning all the little tricks that can be done to squeeze a little more out of these cars. It never really was an issue to concern myself with starting out with the MSM and moving to a standalone right away.

But anyways, just to double check. If I do swap the MSM intake cam over to the 99 motor, as well as do the 5xracing timing wheel. I should still be relatively safe on the stock ecu right? I guess I could swap the AFR gauge over to the 99 just to be sure but without having a header I'd have to weld a bung on the stock header etc and I'm entirely too lazy to do all that lol.

Mazduh

I could probably do that... If I break my back though while getting it out, you'll owe me. Haha

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

Or you can just slap a BP5A ecu on that thing.

I'll pay for a chiropractor if you hurt yourself.

I'll give you a hundo right now today for that MSM intake cam. My car runs funny because it doesn't have that cam.

Mazduh

Never! Stay away you vulture! I like having an entire extra car full of parts to pull things off of when I need.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

But but but, your **** will run funny WITH that cam. My **** runs funny because it needs that cam. We can help each other!


Or just let me borrow it?

Mazduh

I want mad discounts on all future amsoil purchases... LOL

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

I think we can arrange that.

Mazduh

No huge updates. But I just want to say that I spent maybe 2 hours jerking off all the weather stripping and rubber seals on the 99 with lube and am very pleased with the results.



This stuff is simply amazeballs. My hardtop seals were on their last leg and would leak at both the passenger and driver's side window. I'd always have to run out and cover the car before it rained. Super annoying especially when a hardtop is supposed to seal better. I picked up this stuff based on recommendations from here and s2000 people and holy crap did it work. I went through practically every seal and weatherstrip on the car and it gave it a nice shine and made it look like new. Most everything on the car was sun-bathed and dried out. It did the best work on the windshield rubber seal. I must have fingered and rubbed that guy for atleast 30 minutes. Looks practically new now. I wish I would have had the thought to do a before and after photo but I'm not that intelligent. You'll have to take my word for it that it's awesome.

After I was done lubing my car I put the HT back on and took it to the carwash to clean off all the excess lube that got on paint and windows. I must say this is the first time I've ever washed a miata where I didn't get atleast some water leaking through the seals. Again, seriously impressed.

Obligatory sexy shot:



Also got my license plates in. Now when I park in the city and go to the little meter machine for my parking ticket and have to input the last 3 digits of my plate I'm going to giggle to myself every time.

Mazduh

That last post was pretty perverted... LOL

Anyways no real updates today, just replaced a valve cover gasket and cleaned the 99 vc. Checked the spark plugs and regapped them accordingly. Replaced some of the solid hard rubber vacuum lines and pcv gasket on the car with new ones and swapped over the MSM's 323gtx pcv valve.





I played around with swapping the MSM vc over to the 99 but decided against it since the brackets for the coil packs on the msm don't exist on the 99 vc and I need the MSM to still kinda run for moving around to storage.

Here's some quick comparison shots, pretty similar but some differences.





For the luls, here's a local donk that I frequently see at the auto parts store around the corner from me.

curly

iTrader: (25)

Just an FYI, if you get a catalyst code on the 99, it's generally failed coils clogging your cat with fuel, and you'll need to spend ~$600 just in parts (coils and cat) to truly fix it. But, the 99 coils fail because they're miserable. A better idea would be to replace the coils with something else (COPS, GM, etc). Or even wire up the 01+ coils from the MSM, then you could use the spiffy MSM valve cover.

Mazduh

I've been thinking about going the fab9 route but I'm on the edge since I've been hearing the controller modules don't hold up to heat on track days.

But thanks for the heads up!

Is it worthwhile if I come up on a super cheap 01+ header to use it? Or is that just some miata.net bs I read?

curly

iTrader: (25)

Nope that's legit. Good gains over a 99. Dunno if te stock computer will give you anything though.

Mazduh

Totally forgot to take photos. But I finally got around to replacing the oem radiator. Swapped the mishimoto rad in from the MSM with the 13" SPAL and shroud setup I made for that car.

The NB barely gets up to 190*F now just driving around town. Before on the stock unit with one fan broken I'd see easy 200*F+.

I was slightly concerned the SPAL might suck too much power and cause some weird issues or stall the car since it took some tweaking on the MSM and ms2e to get it working right. On the 99 though it comes on fine with barely a noticeable idle droop.

I need to replace the radiator hoses, I learned the stock MSM radiator hose I recently replaced on the MSM is not identical to the one on normal NB's. I thought I could get away with just using the one off the MSM. But the NB one hangs lower and doesn't interfere with the NB intake. So woe is me... :roll:

Quick photos: