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Showing posts from October, 2012

Miata: More stereo work

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Door speaker cabling done!  Also have a solution set up (99%) for the tweeters, and keeping them in the OEM location.  Very woot.  It involved a lot of sacrificial dremeling, but fits perfectly, and should be solid once I'm finished with it. Also turns out that after getting 35' of speaker wire, I'll have JUST enough to do it all.  Surprising for a little car!!!  Hopefully will have time tonight to finish the tweeters, re-assemble the doors/dash, and get started on the amp mounting. Also have to remind myself...the steering wheel is 1-tooth off center...need to adjust that. PROGRESS!!! No wonder the old speakers sounded like crap! This was marginally less frustration than the driver side Mommy, wow! Heatshrink turned out real purty. Woofer install Tweeter install

Miata: Fluids & Filters

Really just noting these here for my reference.  I was at Tool Tyme in Whitby last night to get speaker wire (that was the place that initially got me into audio systems), but turns out they no longer do stereo stuff at all!!  So sad.  Just 'accessories' and whatnot.  Now they do stock Momo wheels, so got to feel what they were like.  Wow...ya a bazillion times nicer on the hands than the Mazda wheel. Anywho, they also are able to get RedLine fluids (per order basis), and that is just fine by me.  Better than driving out to Concord on my lunch, at any rate.  I still need the diff oil, brake/clutch fluid, Shin Etsu grease, 303 stuff, and possibly something else I'm forgetting. Fluids & Filters (redline) Coolant 6.0L 1 17.99 17.99 Ethylene Glycol-based (55water:45coolant) Transmission 3.0L 3 18 54 Ford Motorcraft MTF (XT-M5-QS), trans needs 2, a little more for shift turret Diff 0.65L

Miata: Door speaker cabling

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Wow.  That was the closest I've come to outright profanity in a long time.  For whatever reason the door grommet/gasket thingy in the Miata is an 'S' shape, and makes routing cabling through it nigh impossible. Also, I had the choice between 18- and 14-gauge wiring for the speakers, not the 16- I wanted.  Probably should have gone with 18-gauge, as the 14- is rather chunky.  I was barely able to route the two runs of it through the door grommet, but it is done.  If you're curious, you must remove the grommet from the door and body - otherwise it's impossible to run.  I tried for an hour with various methods, ended up having to use a rod with the cabling taped to it even with the grommet removed. I only got the one door done.  Between the high winds (media calling it a hurricane) and my wife wanting to watch Castle with me (who am I kidding, Nathan Fillion is witty and charming), didn't have time to do the passenger side. Tomorrow hopefully will see the spe

Miata: New stereo plans

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Ok, I love the headrest speakers, very nifty idea in a convertible, but dang the rest of the system stinks.  Probably because it's 19 years-old, but probably also because it stinks.  The bass is provided by some novel 'vibrator' thingies in the lumbar area.  Unique, but gimmicky.  The MSSS portion relies on those, and is ultimately useless. SO. Head unit.  Gone.  MSSS unit.  Gone.  Door speakers/tweeters.  Gone.   Headrest speakers.  Disconnected. (or maybe Gone.) New system as follows: Head unit provided by my phone w. line-out direct into amplifier Going to hard-wire a charger Ordered 3 different suction mounts, just in case (yay eBay) Going to run a shielded 3.5mm -> RCA cable under the carpet and up to the suction mount Amplifier is an older Alpine V12 MR something or other. 30A fuse, so can't be all bad. 2ch, 100wrms@4ohms @12v (so a little more at 14.4v) Neglected to take a pic...sorry. Speakers are some fun little ditties...pictures say it

Miata: New wheels

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Picked these up from a guy in Bradford who had them listed on Kijiji.  Turns out he's a long-time Mazda mechanic who for many years did runs down to the southern states to get Miata parts rust-free.  However, since the economy went bad and people driving Miatas up here tended to be cheapskates (his opinions), he's sold off all his parts - these were the last set of wheels he had.  They're in pretty nice shape, just slight curb rash on one or two, easily remedied. I initially thought they were the hollow-spoke wheels, but turns out they are 'semi-hollow'.  These came on the 94-97 automatic Miatas.  BTW, the weights for hollow/semi-hollow/solid spoke wheels are 10.8/11.2/11.5lbs each.  Still a heck of a lot lighter than the 16" NB wheels Mia is currently rockin', at 15.3lbs each. The unsprung weight reduction should lead to a number of benefits: Better mileage (less weight for the drivetrain to spin) Better ride quality (less work for the suspension t

Miata: Rust issues to deal with

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Since I have a paint gun and small compressor (and access to a much larger one if necessary), I'll be doing these repairs myself.  I have done body work in the past (full restoration of a 1985 RX-7 GSL-SE), so it's not completely foreign to me. Sill issues I mentioned: I was not kidding about the electrical tape.  It's like this on both sides. Rocker panel rust: One side is okay, the other side still not awful, but ready to get worse. For those of you interested in this, the Miata has roof drains that go through the body, exiting just behind the seam there.  Over the years, owners do not clean them out, they get clogged, water doesn't get evacuated, and rust forms from the inside out.  If you are seeing rust down here, it's probably worse inside.  That's why I mentioned cutting/welding material.  The nice thing is if you catch it sooner than later, that part of the body is pretty easy to cover up new paint/metal patches due to the anti-chip paint f

Miata: Stickers all gone

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The guy I bought the car from is super nice, but really liked stickers.  I can see the appeal, but it's just not for me, so off they came! Before: After: Yay.  Didn't get a pic of the trunk trim piece, it was 100% plastered, took me a good 1.5 hours total to remove them all.  I left the band-aid sticker on the fender crunch.  Some humour to alleviate the sorry shape it's in. And yes, I need to clean the goop off.  Until I'm certain what to use, I'm fine with leaving residue.  Haha 100% of the trunk trim piece is already coated in 'protective dust'.

New car!

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As per protocol, my sister had to name the car.  'Mia' Miata.  I could explain the name, which has very very funny roots, but it would come across rather racist, I'm afraid, even if it was not intended that way.  In the last picture, you can see that Mia has made a friend!  (special friend??)  Whoever that is started parking next to me last week. SpecList(tm): 1993 Mazda MX-5 (Miata) w. 152kms on the clock 1.6L inline-4, redline@7k 5-spd transmission Viscous LSD (according to miata.net peeps, doesn't really work as an LSD that well) C-package = power windows/steering/antenna/mirrors, tan leather interior (seats) w. tan soft top (aftermarket, unzippable vinyl window), air conditioning, etc 'MPSS' or something radio...supposed to increase volume with vehicle speed, but it's old and on its last legs. ABS (I'm told a rare factory option) Matching hard top (w. defrost!) Pop-up headlights (are awesome) Aftermarket front/rear lip (rear lip