20 year old nb owner from Australia
 

Hello guys, my name is Sam, turned 20 3 months ago and have been an owner of a 2000 nb mx5 (nb1) that I manual swapped by myself with my friend.

Did what other people do, coilovers, 2 way maruha lsd install etc, and am proud of myself for doing it.

My current mod is a DIY Coolant reroute kit (spacerless reroute), kinda stuck because my piping is leaking and am considering to just return it to stock cooling system as i want to drive the car and have fun :D

looking to turbo it soon as well, been searching the forums and have lots to study haha.

Thanks guys

G'Day icjned,

Welcome to the premiere Miata/MX-5 "mod" forum, where you'll get the best DIY advice from those of us who've DIYed successfully and can/will relate our DIY failures so that you can learn from them and know what NOT to do!

I installed the QMax coolant re-route kit with the engine still in the car.
You can laugh at my experience starting at: Lokiel's QMax coolant re-route - it goes over 2 pages because I had to do it 3x times due to leaks, mostly due to NOT cleaning the rear gasket off cleanly.
Take your time with this, if ANY original gasket remains it will leak.
The simplest way to check this while the engine's in the car is to take pictures from every angle using your phone's camera to be sure you haven't missed any.
I ended up buying an inspection camera because after 2x attempts I didn't want the 3rd to fail and an inspection camera is a nice tool to have for future work (eg. finding that 10mm socket that's dropped in the engine bay and hasn't fallen through).

Also, add your details to your profile, there are several members here from Australia that may offer assistance or tools specific to a job if you're local to them.
We also have a large mx5cartalk.com forum too - unfortunately it's not as busy as it used to be due to Facebook (which is OK in my opinion, they tend to focus on meet-ups, stance and simple/unresearched questions which drive regular forum users nuts - their spare parts I regret not having access to) but there are still active members who do useful things other than simply "washing their car" and it's useful to read people's garage threads.

Edit: Pictures are MANDATORY, otherwise "It didn't happen!" so please post photos too.

Agree that old gasket removal is the most difficult part of a re-route.

As a final step for surface preparation, I like to hone with a whetstone. That helps with flatness, and gets down to clean aluminum, making a visual check of full gasket removal easier.

Hi Lokiel, thanks for welcoming me to this forum, I joined with the intention of turbo'ing my car by the end of next year, I will add more information to my profile as you mentioned.

Have a nice day!

Welcome!

Do try and keep your MX5 shiny-side up.
Best to get your "need for speed" out at a closed track then on the street.

Welcome from another local(ish?) to you!

Seconding some more info - and pictures - it all helps those who may be able to help you!

Yes, this is a mine of info that will help you avoid frustrating and/or costly mistakes. Reading the stickies is a good place to start.