MX5 Owners in here....bring your curling tongs

adam cool dude said:
This is exactly what my friend done. Bought a horrible looking MX5. Had both sills and chassis legs done but no paint. Just black stonechip. He bought an LSD for it from a 1.8i S which was cheap enough and used moi to fit it for him.
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As its just a straight swap for the diff, the chassis was crucial factor. Will I miss bum warmers and aircon though?
 
Brookert said:
As its just a straight swap for the diff, the chassis was crucial factor. Will I miss bum warmers and aircon though?
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As long as it has the 1.8 (Not sure about the 1.6) The diff was a straight swap. Just make sure you get the right ratio as the 6 speed LSD's are longer. Even used the same drive shafts. We did it in a day but that included cleaning up stuff and burning out the bushes as we polybushed the diff hangers as the diff is a part of the xframe unlike some other cars where the diff has its own cradle.
 
adam cool dude said:
As long as it has the 1.8 (Not sure about the 1.6) The diff was a straight swap. Just make sure you get the right ratio as the 6 speed LSD's are longer. Even used the same drive shafts. We did it in a day but that included cleaning up stuff and burning out the bushes as we polybushed the diff hangers as the diff is a part of the xframe unlike some other cars where the diff has its own cradle.
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It's only early (pre 96 I think) 1.6s that had said smaller diff
 
Not having a great time with suspension. After the Evo snapped a coil spring, I took the MX5 for it's NCT(MOT) and lo-and-behold, two broken coil springs - one offside front, and the other offside rear - so not even on the same axle.

And of course Koni has discontinued the coilovers now and has no spare parts. I was surprised to hear that they actually subcontracted this coilover out to Vogtland to build originally. Vogtland can't help either.

So i've spent the last two days looking for options. I've managed to get the spring specifications from the TUV document from Koni, except the spring rate.

Koni and their resellers have actually been very helpful - except for being not able to provide specifications for one of their products. One of their reps I believe is going to try and do me a deal on a Koni Sport kit although i'm not optimistic that it will be a decent enough price.

Realistically I have the following options:
  1. Hope the Koni guy comes through with a decent offer.
  2. Pick a close spring rate (I have a ballpark rate from miata.net) and buy new custom springs, which will be fun as the original springs are progressive and appear to have different internal diameters at both ends.
  3. Buy new decent coilovers (which I can't really afford).
  4. Buy new cheap ebay junk coilovers (which i'm not going to do).
Generally a bit baffled though - the roads aren't the best here but I drive with such a high degree of mechanical sympathy so i'm not sure why they've given up.

If anyone has any advice - would be grateful to know!
 
Are the coil-overs in otherwise good condition? Maybe you can find a cheaper used set so you then have some future spares.

Not sure the ID thing is a product of making them progressive or not but as long as the new spring seats properly I'm sure that detail doesn't matter. I'd reckon most coil-over kits have a spring rate within a certain range for the car so you could look at others for a good figure.

Hopefully you can find an off-the-shelf set of springs to fit at a reasonable rate, it's an expensive kit to just have the springs snap!

As I have to say every time I look in this thead, I miss my Mk1 :( (that had Meisters on it, it was ridiculous fun).
 
adam cool dude said:
As long as it has the 1.8 (Not sure about the 1.6) The diff was a straight swap. Just make sure you get the right ratio as the 6 speed LSD's are longer. Even used the same drive shafts. We did it in a day but that included cleaning up stuff and burning out the bushes as we polybushed the diff hangers as the diff is a part of the xframe unlike some other cars where the diff has its own cradle.
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Its a 1.8 5 speed. If I enjoy it enough I'll do it. The car is in great shape. Also as long as there's nothing that needs fixing first.
 
Took the MX5 for it's MOT today, and it failed on the handbrake. Looking at the test results, it appears one side is holding strong on the foot brake, but not as strong on the handbrake, and the other side is opposite, so strong on the handbrake and weaker on the foot brake. Not sure whether to just get two refurbed calipers or not, as I haven't touched the rear brakes at all since I got it
 
Booked mine in for some love in August by MX5Restorers, to include:
- MOT
- Full under-sealing
- Fit the stainless steel Cobalt exhaust that I recently bought from MOSS when it was on sale. Apparently it's not significantly louder than a standard one, but clearly shouldn't rust

This weekend, I'm looking at giving the drivers seat a "foamectomy". Was watching some videos yesterday on how to do it and it looks fairly straightforward, if a little time consuming to do it well.
I find myself a little too close to the bottom of my steering wheel and apparently this gives a good inch extra room.
 
-westy- said:
How about some decent, second hand coilovers? There are plenty about and tend to be lower mileage, too.
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Thanks for the advice - I've thought about that option and there's a few issues:
  1. There's not much around in Ireland
  2. UK sellers don't really want to send to Ireland
  3. Complicates things if I wanted to return them
  4. MX5nutz forums appears to be suffering from a DB issue - i would have usually browsed there first.
  5. Won't buy any TA Technics/Racelands rubbish and most better coilovers (Meister/HSD) go for 400 pounds or over second hand before delivery.
  6. I'm happy with my Koni's and the shocks are in good condition, and can potentially get springs for 250 ish
  7. I put a lot of mileage on the car and as you know it's my daily driver and I live in the sticks, so I need OEM grade suspension.
I'm not closed to the idea however. One of the worst parts of the Koni's is that the ride height is set by the preload for instance and it uses the original top mounts.

Are there any other groups I should keep an eye on for parts? Come to mention to it, I should probably rejoin the mx5nutz groups, but the stance/skidz krew were doing my head in last time.

I'm currently talking with two spring companies, but only anecdotally "knowing" the spring rates is causing some problems. (I.e. second hand information from americans who emailed Koni years ago when the suspension wasn't EOL)
 
Gayjin said:
Thanks for the advice - I've thought about that option and there's a few issues:
  1. There's not much around in Ireland
  2. UK sellers don't really want to send to Ireland
  3. Complicates things if I wanted to return them
  4. MX5nutz forums appears to be suffering from a DB issue - i would have usually browsed there first.
  5. Won't buy any TA Technics/Racelands rubbish and most better coilovers (Meister/HSD) go for 400 pounds or over second hand before delivery.
  6. I'm happy with my Koni's and the shocks are in good condition, and can potentially get springs for 250 ish
  7. I put a lot of mileage on the car and as you know it's my daily driver and I live in the sticks, so I need OEM grade suspension.
I'm not closed to the idea however. One of the worst parts of the Koni's is that the ride height is set by the preload for instance and it uses the original top mounts.

Are there any other groups I should keep an eye on for parts? Come to mention to it, I should probably rejoin the mx5nutz groups, but the stance/skidz krew were doing my head in last time.

I'm currently talking with two spring companies, but only anecdotally "knowing" the spring rates is causing some problems. (I.e. second hand information from americans who emailed Koni years ago when the suspension wasn't EOL)
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I put H&R -35mm springs on mine with stock shocks a couple of months ago, they're probably a lot lower than you want it to be but they do ride well
 
Frozennova said:
I put H&R -35mm springs on mine with stock shocks a couple of months ago, they're probably a lot lower than you want it to be but they do ride well
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I think i'm already at the lowest ride height that I'd want to be at (horizontal lower wishbones) and I can't really go lower due to the local terrain (nor would I want to anyway).

If swapping out the shocks, i'll need to have some dremel fun with the rear lower wishbones by the looks of it as the lower shock bolts spins as the captive nut is no longer well errr.......... captive
 
Gayjin said:
I think i'm already at the lowest ride height that I'd want to be at (horizontal lower wishbones) and I can't really go lower due to the local terrain (nor would I want to anyway).

If swapping out the shocks, i'll need to have some dremel fun with the rear lower wishbones by the looks of it as the lower shock bolts spins as the captive nut is no longer well errr.......... captive
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Nuts were still captive but I ended up cutting the top bolts out on mine.

I don't think my lower arms are past horizontal. I can grab some measurements on Sunday so you could compare to your current ride height if you want

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Gayjin said:
I think i'm already at the lowest ride height that I'd want to be at (horizontal lower wishbones) and I can't really go lower due to the local terrain (nor would I want to anyway).

If swapping out the shocks, i'll need to have some dremel fun with the rear lower wishbones by the looks of it as the lower shock bolts spins as the captive nut is no longer well errr.......... captive
Click to expand...

They are a pain! I managed to get a spanner in on one, but the other side ended up cutting a piece out with the grinder, welding the nut captive again, and then welding the patch back in!
 
Completed my "foamectomy" on Sunday morning. Only took around 45 mins.
Watched a couple of videos on how to do it. One was very much how NOT to do it, the other was genuinely useful.
Took a square out of the base roughly 20mm thick using an electric carving knife. Also means that if I change my mind, than it's possible to re-insert the foam lump that I've cut out.
The results are very positive. No apparent change to comfort, but a drop of 20mm in the car, meaning better clearance between my legs and the bottom of the steering wheel and also improved visibility of the indicator lights. For the effort, definitely worth it.

Tools required were a philips screwdriver, 12 and 14mm sockets, pliers, bunch of plastic wire ties and the carving knife.
 
Good work - I fall into the category of being "over-zealous" when it came to a foamectomy - being 6'3'' and 16 stone. Ended up having to pad out the back with a rolled up cloth.

Will probably end up putting Sparco Sprints or similar in it later in the year once i've sorted this suspension issue out (assuming I fit)
 
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