|
destructo posted:Wheels: Enkeis look nice. 949 Racing 6UL's are wider and cheaper. A ridiculous amount of people run them (me included), top notch wheels. Interesting. I'm wondering what the hell is the point of dual valve stems though?
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2009 19:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 05:32 |
|
|
aventari posted:Interesting. I'm wondering what the hell is the point of dual valve stems though? FULL NITROGEN PURGE HHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH But seriously, the 6ULs are awesome looking and performing wheels. Cheap, light, and in the right offset/bolt-pattern.
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2009 19:42
|
|
|
for ten bux more I like the Enkei's look and they're lighter  Yeah they lose 1" of width but on the street not a big deal
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2009 19:57
|
|
|
So my top was slashed open in my parking lot again. The car was unlocked and there was nothing in it to steal. At this point moving is definitely an option, but I think I want to seek out a hard top. The closest one I found is this: http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/pts/1464475609.html I sent him some follow up questions about the glass and mounting hardware, but is there anything else I should ask about other than brand and what not?
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 01:41
|
|
|
Make sure it's not a SnugTop and that it is OEM. Find out what the condition of the weatherstrip is. A new weatherstrip kit is $300. SnugTops have terrible latches and unadjustable weatherstrip.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 02:19
|
|
|
Hog Obituary posted:Make sure it's not a SnugTop and that it is OEM. Find out what the condition of the weatherstrip is. A new weatherstrip kit is $300. SnugTops have terrible latches and unadjustable weatherstrip.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 02:32
|
|
|
destructo posted:Shape of the glass doesn't look like the Snugtop, and yeah, definitely find out what the rest of the stripping is like. You can pick up a new "carbon fiber" hardtop off clubroadster.net for a little bit more. Looks like the group buy closed down, or am I missing something there? I'd rather buy the top new so I know exactly what I'm getting but most new tops have been incredibly expensive.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 02:36
|
|
|
Schwack posted:Looks like the group buy closed down, or am I missing something there? I'd rather buy the top new so I know exactly what I'm getting but most new tops have been incredibly expensive.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 02:47
|
|
|
destructo posted:Shape of the glass doesn't look like the Snugtop, and yeah, definitely find out what the rest of the stripping is like. You can pick up a new "carbon fiber" hardtop off clubroadster.net for a little bit more. I thought the SnugTop was made from a mold of the OEM top. Isn't the glass the same shape?
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 04:33
|
|
|
destructo posted:Wheels: Enkeis look nice. 949 Racing 6UL's are wider and cheaper. A ridiculous amount of people run them (me included), top notch wheels. This reminds me... any issues with running the new 6ULs on an NA? I've been looking at them for some time and hopefully will be able to get a set after all the Christmas stuff settles down. Mainly, I was wondering if there was any issue with rubbing in turns, or issues with running them on a lowered suspension (springs and new shocks will hopefully follow the new wheels and tires).
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 18:40
|
|
|
949's FAQ should pretty much explain everything: http://949racing.com/6ulfaqsandfitmentinfo.aspx
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 18:55
|
|
|
WFjiJfBK+wrstsF!~~_3.JPG) 
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 19:34
|
|
|
destructo posted:It was good for a second until I saw the portholes. And then the mirrors. And then the slightly silly wing. Then I didn't like it. I could probably rock the sunshade though 
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 19:53
|
|
|
meltie posted:I could probably rock the sunshade though Good luck ever being able to see a stop light.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 20:08
|
|
|
kimbo305 posted:Good luck ever being able to see a stop light.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 21:29
|
|
|
Dominoes posted:It's not like I can in my mostly stock miata. Ditto. I end up looking over at the other side of the junction or cranking the window down...
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 21:43
|
|
|
meltie posted:Ditto. I end up looking over at the other side of the junction or cranking the window down...
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 21:52
|
|
|
Dominoes posted:It's not like I can in my mostly stock miata. yeah, now you'd have to break your spine to find out when it's green. I mentioned that I had a Miata book a couple posts back. Here is a collection of the stories that stood out from the various engineer heads that worked on the car. Hope some of these are new to people: M. Watanabe: "One automobile critic told me that the best height of a seat from ground level is one in which the driver car grind out his cigarette on the road from a seated position with the door open. This was obviously not possible in a modern automobile, in which an exhaust catalyst must be located under the body (raising the floor height)." On the difficulty of measuring the volume of the complex-shaped gas tank: "After the tank design was more or less determined, a plastic foam model was made to confirm its capacity. Although there was a computer program available to calculate the capacity, data preparation was too time consuming and we took a short cut by submerging the oam block into water. ... The fuel tank mock-up had too much buoyancy, and it was impossible to submerge it with even three people! Finally we broke the tank mockup into pieces and found its capacity that way" N. Ikemizu: "One unexpected benefit of such common [parts bin] usage was the fact that the parking brake lever was located near the left seat, again focused for left-hand drive models, so that a right-hand drive car driver could touch his date's knee! Accidentally, of course...  ""One year prior to the start of production, we testede several prototype cars in the US. By coincidence we met with a team of Australian Ford engineers who were also testing a small convertible. Since Mazda was supplying the engines we knew about the new car they had under development. Theirs was an FF vehicle, and ours looked much better. I sensed that our car would win over theirs, and at the same time I felt the strong responsibility to put the car into production as quickly as possible. During the same period, while we were testing in the mountains of California, we met a highway patrol. We explained to the police our purpose for being there, and they just smiled and left us alone. They came back over the next two days to see us testing the car -- they, too, seemed to be enjoying it." T. Matano: "The newscaster was talking to this lady at a dealership and he said: 'I understand that you've just taken delivery of this car. How come you were sitting in the passenger side with such a big smile?' She answered: 'I fell in love with this car from the moment I saw it and I had to order it right away.' Fortunately, she placed her order early enough to make it to the top ten on the waiting list. When the dealer called her to come and pick up her car that morning, she didn't know that it was equipped with a manual transmission, and she didn't know how to drive it. At the end of her story, she finally gave her reason for being in the passenger side: 'This young salesman will be teaching me how to drive a manual.'" S. Tanaka: "When we were fighting over the [complex and expensive design of the] tail lamp, I never thought it would be accepted as a piece of art. When I was asked by the curator of MOMA what was the most memorable part of the car, I answered: 'The entire car is, of course, but if you ask for a specific part, then it is the tail lamp.' The curator said: 'I agree. Because of this tail lamp, we do not want the whole car, just the tail lamp. The whole essence of the car is concentrated in the tail lamp.' I majored in sculpture at art school, sketching nude models all day before making life-size clay figures. Later, I turned to metallic sculpture, and at that time I wanted some day to have my work shown at MOMA. Somehow, I became an industrial designer, and after so many years of detour, the tail lamp that I'd designed became a permanent resident in the New York collection. I can live with that!" "The pressed rear fender did not have the tension I wanted. Therefore the die (it weighs five tons) was disassembled and whet stoned and then another test presng made: this process was repeated over and over. A manager in charge of press working came and stopped the process claiming that it would exceed the tolerance of the die. I insisted that we continue, because I was not satisfied. Then, an old press worker came along with various sheets of paper in his hand. He put a carefully selected sheet of paper between the die and the steel. 'Go on, press,' he said. The, after the 10,000-ton press was released, the panel had a perfect profile! However, pressed into the sheet of paper was a little mosquito that had wandered between the die and the paper: the flattened mosquito on the paper is something I'll always remember!" Y. Shibuta: "My assistant was a young woman in her early twenties. She was working hard generating input data [for the CAD simulation model], although there were many design details missing. One of them was the rear wheel housing design. We could not create our own wheelhouse design, but there was no time to wait for the drawings to arive. Feeling the pinch, she called up the designer, and asked him to draw a line indicating the missing wheelhouse. Although there were no drawings available, its design must have been clear in his head, and with a trembling hand, the designer drew the line. It was doubtful that this line had been accurately drawn, but that was all we had. Silently, my assistant read off the coordinates and entered the numbers as CAD data input. A few days later, the design of the wheelhouse became available as CAD data, and, upon comparison, we were astonished by the accuracy of the freehand line drawn by the designer and the numbers my assistant read off from it. They were within 2mm of each other!" And finally, the quote that sticks with me the most-- T. Hirai: "I conveyed my thoughts about how Japanese industrial products, although high in quality, were becoming increasingly bland, characterless, and a far from accurate reflection of the Japanese culture. I explained that, with the Miata, we wanted to present to the world our own automobile culture."
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2009 22:02
|
|
|
I love Gummi Pflege. The 5 has a leaky roof - I want a new roof but for now cash is a bit tight with two birthdays and a halloween holiday in Whitby just gone, and an engine replacement on the horizon. Over time the weatherstrip over the window has lost its rubberyness and the roof leaks down through the splits. It also dribbles in between the windscreen corners and the roof seal because the seals got old and flattened so doesn't drain all that well. This means that the seats get really wet! I'm bored of driving around sitting on a binliner so I used something that worked quite well in the past on the MR2's T-tops. Gummi Phlege is a product for restoring rubbery seals - I think its source is originally BMW. It comes in a bottle with a built-in applicator sponge. Wipe it on your leaky weatherstrip, let it dry and close everything up again. It's meant to hydrate the seals and plump everything up without corroding them like vaseline will. I did this to the roof seals yesterday in anticipation of the rain we're supposed to be getting. It's a good sign that I went to the car this morning and found it dry inside, and I opened the roof up and got a dribble of water out of the top which the seals had kept out  I've Pfleged the seals again this afternoon - here's hoping that it holds well enough over the weekend. It's not that expensive a bottle on ebay - a fiver or so. If you're getting wet legs give it a go. I'll let you know how it is after the deluge...
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 01:09
|
|
|
Hey guys, is this Miata worth checking out? http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/1441810589.html I did some reading on the miata.net buyers guide and a back window fix is said to cost around $400, is that about right? I know kbb values don't much apply to miatas, so how is this price? Edit: I'm gonna email the owner, but are there any immediate red flags that I don't see? Russian Bear fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Nov 19, 2009 |
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 01:32
|
|
|
meltie posted:I love Gummi Pflege. Wow this sounds like exactly what I need for my door seals. I had no idea anything like that existed.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 02:12
|
|
|
Russian Bear posted:Hey guys, is this Miata worth checking out? "deep snow version"? "Great in bad weather - as long as you like to slide around in the snow and imagine yourself sliding under pickup trucks"? Sounds like it's got some rough history the owner's pretty raw over... 
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 02:17
|
|
|
meltie posted:Ditto. I end up looking over at the other side of the junction or cranking the window down... Driving my Miata is one of the few times that I am glad that on a good day I tower above the ground at 5'6. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 02:34
|
|
|
kimbo305 posted:S. Tanaka: "When we were fighting over the [complex and expensive design of the] tail lamp, I never thought it would be accepted as a piece of art. When I was asked by the curator of MOMA what was the most memorable part of the car, I answered: 'The entire car is, of course, but if you ask for a specific part, then it is the tail lamp.' The curator said: 'I agree. Because of this tail lamp, we do not want the whole car, just the tail lamp. The whole essence of the car is concentrated in the tail lamp.' This is incredible and has absolutely convinced me to buy an MX-5. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 03:09
|
|
|
kimbo305, which Miata book is that from?
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 05:05
|
|
|
Phone posted:kimbo305, which Miata book is that from? http://www.amazon.com/Mazda-Miata-Roadster-Toshihiko-Hirai/dp/1904788297 this one. Highly recommended. The one downside is that while a lot of the original sketches and documents are shown, they don't bother to translate anything in them from Japanese, which makes some of them mere wallpaper. If anyone wants to cover shipping for it, they can have my copy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 06:05
|
|
|
How much is shipping to 27606?
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 06:46
|
|
|
According to USPS, something like 3 or 4 bucks on media mail. I'm guessing no more than 5.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 07:15
|
|
|
meltie posted:"deep snow version"? "Great in bad weather - as long as you like to slide around in the snow and imagine yourself sliding under pickup trucks"? Hm, you have a point. I was hoping it was just jokes, but you can never be too safe. Maybe a better question would be, is a miata a good idea if I want a decently reliable car under 4 grand? Was just hoping to have some fun driving along with it(and there's something about roadsters).
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 07:36
|
|
|
Phone posted:How much is shipping to 27606? I have that book. It's fantastic. Lots of awesome technical drawings too. If you have an NA you can go through the book and figure out exactly why the door handles are the way they are, or why the suspension is the way it is. I love it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 08:05
|
|
|
Russian Bear posted:Hm, you have a point. I was hoping it was just jokes, but you can never be too safe. ), But as a whole the car is reliable as hell, there's nothing to break anyway. 4k will definitely get you a nice example of an NA.
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 08:08
|
|
|
what sort of mileage do you guys see out of your miatas? I seem to only be getting about 20-22 out of mine on average. I'm sure it has nothing to do with 5500rpm shifts and generally enjoying my commute. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 23:00
|
|
|
I've done 15K miles this year and have averaged 26.76542MPG. Best, coming back from Deals Gap on May 7: 31.27MPG Worst, 2 day autocross on Sept 26&27 : 22.28MPG
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 23:24
|
|
|
Tactical Bonnet posted:what sort of mileage do you guys see out of your miatas? I seem to only be getting about 20-22 out of mine on average. Average 26 MPG during my usual driving, which is mixed highway/city but mostly city. When I really drive it hard I get around 22-24 MPG. This is with the 1.8 liter. I've never had a tank average of more than 26MPG, even if I try. Some people claim to get 30+ but I think they're either hypermiling or just plain out lying. Edit: I see you have a 1995, its possible you just have some minor wear in your engine, reducing compression slightly and therefore efficency. Over time, a block just isn't as efficient as it used to be due to normal wear on rings, valves, and many other components that affect fuel mileage. There is probably not much you can do to improve it other than an overhaul. Brain Issues fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Nov 19, 2009 |
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 23:41
|
|
|
Brain Issues posted:Some people claim to get 30+ but I think they're either hypermiling or just plain out lying. Some people claim to get 40+. With a 1.6 in a non-Ethanol state, going 55 the whole time, I could see it. In CA (10% ethanol), driving like an 18 year old normally does, I would get 21-22mpg pretty consistently when my car was still stock. Once I turboed it, the highway mileage went up to 24ish and the city mileage dropped to 16-17. Best I ever got was 29.6mpg, 65mph the whole way (although it was over a twisty mountain-y pass so I could probably see 31 on flat ground). Worst I ever got was 12mpg on the street, but boy howdy I wasn't late very much. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 19, 2009 23:46
|
|
|
On 100% Highway I can eek out 38-41MPG UK which is about 33MPG US. Week to week I can see anywhere from 28-31MPG US with mixed driving. I usually manage 490-500km to a tank when autocross doesn't get in the way. Average Days Between Fill Up 8.0 Average Litres Per Fill 36.31 Average Distance Per Fill 432.40km Average L/100km 8.42 Average MPG 28.06 Average MPG UK 33.70 This car is driven 365 in Canada. I love Excel.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2009 00:24
|
|
|
25 or 26 mpg, but I've only put about 1000 miles on it. Edit: 94 R package, for the record.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2009 00:33
|
|
|
Brain Issues posted:Some people claim to get 30+ but I think they're either hypermiling or just plain out lying. I get about 20-25 around town
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2009 02:45
|
|
|
Tactical Bonnet posted:what sort of mileage do you guys see out of your miatas? I seem to only be getting about 20-22 out of mine on average. I usually average 22-24 in my 95, which only has 82k miles. But I don't drive like a granny at all. I live in a city and really only drive within the city, so lots of red lights and stop signs. I'm almost never on rural roads, and when I'm on the freeway I'm almost always doing at least 80. If you're in my way, I will floor it to get around you. I rarely keep fuel efficiency in mind. Even if I try, after a little while I give up because driving like that is mind numbingly boring. I think the old adage goes, "it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow" and I live up to it on a regular basis. It probably makes matters worse that I don't use my car for commuting - it's a strictly personal/fun car. My best ever was like 27.5mpg on a 220 mile all highway trip averaging 80-85 with the top down. My worst ever was just above 19, which I think was the second tank I went through after I bought the car. So yeah, people who claim to get near/above 30 are either the most passive drivers ever, only drive on rural highways with 50mph speed limits (and stick to it), or are plain lying. P.S., if you are trying to drive with fuel efficiency in mind, shift just below 4000 RPMs. That's about the point where the ECU goes into open loop and starts dumping fuel into the engine. Mazdas already tend to run rich, and that just makes it even worse. Sucks that 4000 RPM in 5th is more or less 80mph on the dot. Guinness fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Nov 20, 2009 |
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2009 05:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 05:32 |
|
|
I never said I was worried about it, I was just curious if my mileage was normal, seems it is.  If I was worried about mileage I'd go back to riding a motorcycle. Nothing says efficiency like 50mpg.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2009 05:30
|
|